You
may have wondered why there are so many different interpretation to
the Holy Scriptures. In 1974, Rev. SunMyung Moon
gave a message which helped me to understand some of the coded messages in the Bible:
What
is the Bible, more precisely? The Bible has been a book of mystery. However,
the Bible contains God's message to you and me.
The
Bible does not use plain language, but is written in symbols and parables. Do
you know why God has presented the Bible in symbols and parables? Why did He
not speak the truth clearly?
God
has had to deal with the world of evil. Throughout the ages, God has hand-picked
His workers, or champions, out of this evil world. Abraham was such a champion.
Noah was such a champion.
And
God's champions were always in the utter minority in the evil world. If God
revealed His strategy too openly or plainly, the enemy would use that
information against God's champions. Thus, the Bible was written as a coded
message, so that only God's agents or champions could decipher it.
Let
me make an analogy. To protect her security, America sends out many agents
overseas to collect vital information concerning potential enemies. When the
home headquarters is communicating with these agents overseas, particularly in
enemy territory, would they communicate openly and plainly? No. No one would be
that naive. They would communicate in coded messages — secret messages — so
that the enemy could not decipher them.
Throughout
history, righteous people have faced nothing but suffering on this earth,
simply because they were in enemy territory, and Satan did not want to have
God's agents prosper. Whenever Satan's forces discovered God's representatives,
they tried to destroy them.
We
must realize that God has had to give His instructions in coded messages. Thus
the Bible is written in symbols and parables. In a sense, the Bible is intended
to be mysterious. Then how can we know the true meaning of those symbols and
parables?
It
is simple, in a way. If you are an agent dispatched by your headquarters, and
you want to decipher a coded message, then you must either have a code book, or
communicate directly with your home headquarters.
By
the same token, the meaning of the symbols and parables in the Bible can only
be clear when we communicate with our "home headquarters" — God. This
is truly the only sure way we can know the ultimate meaning of the Bible.
Two
thousand years ago our Lord Jesus Christ brought the blueprint for the Kingdom
of Heaven on earth. However, he could not speak plainly about his plan even to
his own disciples. Jesus spoke in figures and parables. Why?
Jesus
knew the adverse circumstances in which he had to work. There was political
pressure from the Roman Empire. There was the ruling monarchy, who opposed any
change. And there was a strong religious system and tradition. These could all
be directed against the building of the Kingdom of God.
Jesus
came to kindle the fire of revolution in people, which would in due course
change the structure and the life of the entire nation. But he could not speak
plainly of any of this even to his own disciples. Instead, he had to speak in
figures and parables, saying,
'He who has ears to
hear, let him hear.'
~
Luke 14:35
If
you attempt to interpret the Bible literally, word for word, letter for letter,
without understanding the nature of the coded message of the Bible, you are
liable to make a big mistake.
Therefore,
in this day, at this hour, what the Christian world needs is a revelation from
God. God must reveal to us His plan; He must tell us His timetable, and give us
instructions as to what to do at this time. God indeed promised that by saying,
in Amos,
'Surely the Lord God
does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.'
~ Amos 3:7
Tonight
I am standing here at Madison Square Garden not according to my own will, but
in obedience to the divine will of God. God has called me as His instrument, to
reveal His message for His present day dispensation, so that there may be a
people prepared for the day of the Lord.
Tonight
I am going to concentrate on the divine revelation concerning the coming of the
Lord of the Second Advent — the vital issue of the Second Advent — the most
important question of our time. And in order to understand this more clearly,
we must first know the circumstances of the coming of Jesus Christ 2,000 years
ago.
Excerpted
from The New Future of Christianity, September
18, 1974--Rev. Sun Myung Moon--New York, New York
Even
the Jewish people believe that the Scriptures cannot be completely understood until
the Messiah comes. When he comes, he
will not only interpret each of the passages for us, but will interpret every
word and especially the meaning of the spaces between the letters.
“Think not that I am
come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil.
For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass
from the law, till all be fulfilled.”~ Matthew 5:17-18:
We
are living now in a special time of human history. May we have the right spirit to understand
the messages in the Bible and even be willing to look for deeper meanings
through our living relationship with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment