THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLICAL SYMBOLISM
It is beyond dispute that God is a spirit. As a Spirit, there is no visible proof that he exists, but we can see where he has been and what he has done.

We see this principle when Moses asked to see God’s glory, God placed him in the cleft of a rock and then basically showed Moses his back. Instead of revealing himself tangibly or visibly, God merely proclaimed his name. 

STUDY TIP: See Third Commandment for discussion about the symbolic meaning of God’s name.

This brief story about God’s glory is loaded with symbolic meaning that far exceeds the literal meaning. Here is a small sample:

When talking about Moses being in the cleft of the rock, it is important to recognize that the rock is a symbolic reference to Christ. And since Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, Moses was symbolically established in the New Covenant. Thus, the New Covenant was the vantage point from which he could see God’s glory. That means he could hear God’s voice. This is a reminder to us that we also need to be established in the New Covenant so that we can hear God’s voice and see God’s glory passing by in our lives.

God also revealed himself to Elijah, but only with a small voice — not with anything tangible that could be seen or touched. The small voice is symbolic of the Spirit. The smallness symbolically implies that what God revealed was a quiet revelation and not a loud and clear exclamation (i.e. literal, written words on a page of the Bible).

If that was all that God was willing to reveal to Moses and Elijah, two of his greatest prophets, we should not expect to receive anything more from God in terms of revelation of his glory.

Another basic point to remember about symbolic interpretation is that it opens us up to the fullness of who God is. The written words on a page are finite. There are a fixed number of them and each word has its own literal meanings. God, on the other hand is not finite. He is much bigger than words can possibly describe.

It is absurd to imagine that everything that can be known about God, or that everything he wants to teach his people can be contained in the written pages of the Bible or any collection of theological writings or sermons written and spoken by religious leaders. People who assume that all that can be known about God can be found in these creations of men have an exaggerated view of men and an underestimated view of a big God. These views discredit and devalue God.

Symbolic interpretation, on the other hand allows for an open-ended understanding of an infinite God because openness to deep symbolism creates the ripe environment in which God’s spirit can break through all of our preexisting worldly wisdom to reveal his truth to us. But, people who only accept the literal word of the Bible are not open to this expanded view of God. Thus they serve a very small god.

How to move from literal to symbolic interpretation is simple, but hard. It begins with repentance for believing that we were able to learn what we needed to know by listening to others and by using our natural intellect to understand. After that, the appropriate strategy to follow is to assume that everything we read in the Bible is a parable for which God has not yet given us the ability to understand. We can read it with our natural eyes and ears, but God has not yet given us a mind to understand, or eyes to see, or ears to hear. Why God chooses to open our eyes to  the deep mysteries of some scripture and not to others is a matter of the hardness of our own hearts.

What God reveals to whom and when he reveals it is a matter of him testing us to reveal what is in our hearts.  In our pride we think we love God deeply, and we do not know that hardness exists, but if we humbly acknowledge that we are not righteous and ask him to allow us to see our hearts as he sees them, he will reveal the truth to us. And when we are faithful to repent for our religious pride after God shows us our hearts, he will be faithful to open our eyes and ears to spiritual understanding of those difficult scriptures. Then we can move on with expectations that he will open our spiritual eyes and ears to some greater degree thereafter.

In this process of stumbling and repenting we make some small or great progress in our transition from being Old/First Covenant religionists to New Covenant disciples. It is not a momentary, all at once event, but it is a process that we go through little by little. Just as Israel passed through the wilderness little by little on its way to the promised land (i.e. New Covenant) while acquiring spiritual wealth and overcoming Old/First Covenant religious enemies along the way, we make the same trip by overcoming our enemies on the way to the promised land where we will know God more deeply because he gives to us the ability to interpret the symbols and parables.

We must be mindful, however, that even after Israel entered the promised land it continued doing battle with neighboring pagan nations that already occupied the land. Our enemies, however, are not natural enemies as represented in Old Testament stories. Rather, they are spiritual enemies within each one of us, and within the world of religion, that inhibit our spiritual growth. These enemies always argue strongly for continued literal interpretations upon which religion is founded.

Israel’s enemies are characterized as pagan nations such as the Hivite, Canaanite, and Hittite. These were no doubt real nations, but we must be careful that we interpret them as spiritual enemies and not simply as ancient, warring, pagan nations that bothered Israel but  no longer exist to bother us. Looking at the spiritual interpretations of these nations and their many encounters withe Israel we find that these ancient nations represent aggressive cultures that we know very well in these modern times as religious institutions that hold people in bondage to their deceptive religious practices.

STUDY TIP: See Religion is the Enemy, Gods at War, and Religion is Injustice Slavery and Oppression for understanding of spiritual enemies.

These enemies exist today as religious leaders, churches, synagogues, denominations, and ministries of all sizes, shapes and doctrines. They are typically led by a charismatic religious personalities that convincingly present themselves as experts in one or more areas of spiritual life. They are able to prosper and thrive in a competitive religious environment because they know what it takes to keep religious people coming back for more of the tasty, but spiritually empty, food these leaders keep dishing out week after week.

These leaders are the human manifestations of Trees of Knowledge of Good and Evil. They are pleasant to look at and good for food just like the tree of which Adam and Eve ate. They are Old/First Covenant religionists who survive because their followers are deceived into believing that they are spiritual and have a direct connection to God. The truth is, however, that  those who trust them and listen to them are Old/First Covenant religionists who, because they do not know how to discern good from evil, are not able to understand all the warnings the prophets gave to not listen to religious leaders. And so they continue to listen to false prophets.