A Literal Interpretation

So what, now you know some interesting, obscure Bible facts, does it have any impact on how you look at the Bible tomorrow?  I hope so.  Here is one application you can make as you apply the teaching of the mystery to your spiritual life. 

First, I want to make a comment about literal interpretation of Scripture.  The Bible is a book intended to be applied literally.  In other words, the Red Sea really did part, a pillar of cloud and fire really did guide Israel through the desert, the walls of Jericho really did fall down after Israel marched around them.  I have heard gifted preachers and teachers take parts of Scripture and extrapolate meaning.  Now of course, if a prophet from Scripture or Jesus is speaking and relaying a dream or parable it is to be taken as it is explained. 

I will never forget several Christmases ago when a preacher was using the well known Christmas prophecy from Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders…”  He explained that this was referring to the governing of our lives will be on the shoulders of Christ.  He was explaining that Christ wants to govern our lives.  If I take a literal view of Scripture then this makes no sense.  It seems to me that the prophecy is predicting that a son would be born and He would be in charge of the government.  However, if we look at the life of Christ we never see Him in charge of any government.  Is this Scripture just another contradiction or something that can be explained away by adding meaning to the words of the Bible?  I believe there is an actual literal interpretation just as there is with all Scripture if you take the time to dig deep enough.    

Many people feel the need to make Scripture make sense by adding meaning to the words.  This is a very dangerous thing to do.  How can I pick and choose those portions that should be taken literally verses the portions that I can just designate some random meaning?  Be careful if you find yourself doing this, because before long you will find someone who wants to take a part of Scripture that you take literally and apply their own random meaning.  People can explain away the resurrection, it did not really happen.  Jesus’ followers were so devoted and felt such a loss that they comforted themselves with tales of Him appearing to them.  Spiritualizing Scripture is very dangerous, be careful when you hear someone add meaning to the text of the Bible.  There is plenty of meaning, God does not need us to add anything.   

So what does the passage from Isaiah 9:6 mean?  If you study prophecy literally, this is how things were supposed to happen.  Christ was to come and eventually set up an earthly kingdom.  It is no wonder that the disciples were always asking about it, they knew the prophecy about Messiah and a kingdom.  They had been waiting for it since Abraham (Genesis 12:3, 2 Samuel 7:8-17, I Chronicles 17:11-15, Isaiah 9:7, Jeremiah 33, Amos 9:11…and so on and so on).  Now we know this time of the mystery was an unprophecied, unpredicted time that was hidden in the heart of God.  So, according to prophecy Christ would come and then set up an earthly kingdom.  Because we live in the mystery we know that while God interrupted his original timeline, it does not mean He has thrown it out.  God is faithful to keep His promises, so Christ will come back and set up an earthly kingdom, one in which He will fulfill all of the prophecy written about Him, including that the government will be on His shoulders, that He will reign on the throne of David forever, and so on.  They mystery is a parenthesis to the prophetic timeline that God intends to keep. 

Thank you for studying Scripture with me, I hope that you have a blessed Christmas.  I will write about another implication to the mystery in my next blog.