UNDERSTANDING THE MYSTERY OF THE LAW
Bible literalists do not often accept or apply the fact that the Bible contains parables, mysteries and allegories. Because Jesus did not speak unless it was in a parable, and because Jesus only spoke God’s words, we must conclude that God also speaks in parables. Therefore, to be a follower of Jesus or a lover of God, it is imperative to understand the meanings of  parables, mysteries and allegories.

Lacking understanding of parables and mysteries, religious people  do their very best to obey God by focusing on the literal words of the Bible. With only a few exceptions, they give barely a thought to the spiritual interpretation of the literal words that is available to them by listening to God’s spoken voice. Instead, they make the mistake of believing that God’s written word is the same as his spoken voice. 

This is a big problem for Jews who strive for obedience to God and for Christians who claim to follow Jesus. Unable, and in many cases unwilling, to hear God’s spoken voice, they default to hearing the voices and reading the writings of religious leaders who claim to speak for God. Instead of eating the fruit of the tree of life, they sin by choosing  to eat from trees of knowledge of good and evil. Sadly, what they follow is the parables — not the spiritual meanings of the parables. The result is religion which is actually fake faith.

STUDY TIP: See Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 1, Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 2,Literal or Symbolic Interpretation Part 3, and Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns for details of what the Bible says about how to interpret it.

It is a curious fact that both Christians and Jews, despite the impossibility of making intellectual sense of a large portion of the Bible, do not waver in their belief that it should generally be interpreted literally. Thus they hold on to the few things that appear to make sense while effectively ignoring those many parts that defy comprehension. And they do it at great risk for their spiritual lives knowing that God has clearly warned them about subtracting from his word.

Given the Bible is necessarily written in parables and dark sayings because God speaks a unique language that humans do not understand intellectually with their natural minds, it is prudent for religious people to make a serious effort to learn how to interpret those parables and dark sayings. After all, all scripture is God breathed and useful for training in righteousness. Anyone who fails to make such investigations says to God and the world that they already have all the righteousness they need in their religious practices and beliefs and that they are exempted by God from his command to obey all of his laws. Such people are among those who bless themselves in their stubbornness in the belief that their religion keeps them safe. They forget, or ignore, that if they fail to observe one part of the law, God considers them guilty of disobeying all parts of the law.

Almost everyone knows that God has very high standards for obedience. Few understand or admit, however, that the literal laws found in Bibles are impossible to obey. Anyone who has read Leviticus with serious intent to obey the laws written there knows that they are impossible to understand and obey.

And yet, the world is full of Jews and Christians who are sincerely devoted to obeying God’s written word with the belief that they will find life there because the written word informs them about the laws they should obey and how to obey them. A few of those Christians and Jews are convinced that they understand all of God’s laws and have persuaded others to listen to and obey their interpretations of these deep things. The result is blind religious leaders leading blind followers because they see and understand with their natural eyes and ears instead of with their heart.

We might well wonder why understanding him and finding him is so difficult. Our logical human thinking says that God should make it easy for people to believe in him, trust him and follow him. And for most people it is relatively easy to read the Bible literally and make up a few rules for holy living that will yield eternal salvation. These are the rules that RELIGION creates and enforces, but man’s religious ways are not God’s way.

God is hard to understand because he is spirit and speaks a unique language. Being spirit he does not, and will not, employ natural, physical things to communicate with man or to reveal himself to man. All God has to work with, therefore, is his spirit which is his voice. That is why he is so adamant about listening to his voice. In other words, if you don’t hear God’s voice, you don’t know God.

Man finds it hard to understand God because man is flesh. As flesh, he finds it impossible to understand spiritual things — including God’s voice. So, instead of learning how to listen to God’s voice, people do what they know best how to do:

The result of this strategy is religion. Religious leaders will never teach people how to hear God’s voice because, after people learn how to hear God’s voice, they will have no need for religious leaders. Thus, they will lose their jobs and status.

Once religious people learn how to hear God’s voice, they learn from God that the following things are true about religion:

When people learn how to hear God’s voice, there is no need for religion because people who hear God’s voice have no time for religion. For people who have heard God’s voice, going back to religion is like a dog going back to its vomit and a clean pig going back to the mud. There is no substitute for listening to God’s voice, and having once heard it, there is no returning to religion. That is why God is calling his people to come out of religion.

The reason God wants people to come out of religion is so that he can write his laws on their hearts. While people are religious, they follow religious laws written by men. God wants his spiritual laws written on the hearts of men. But, as was written above, man finds it hard to listen to God’s voice because man is flesh and finds it impossible to understand spiritual things — including God’s voice.

God’s strategy to overcome man’s inability to hear his voice is to introduce himself through Mysteries,  Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Copies, and Shadows found in the written word of the Bible. But it is critical to understand that these are not God’s spiritual laws. They are, however, only natural representations of spiritual truths, and it is up to us to acquire Godly knowledge, wisdom, understanding from those Symbols, Signs, Types, Copies, Shadows and Patterns found in the written Bible.

But, understanding of these mysteries does not come without discipline and training in righteousness. They are like a puzzle to be assembled. Much study is required. God considers people who  diligently study to be approved as true disciples. Those who do not endeavor to learn through serious study effectively say that they only want to know a little bit about God and that the little they do know is enough. They are content with the little that religion teaches them and have no interest in what God will teach New Covenant disciples.

STUDY TIP: See Feeding the Five Thousand for a parable of being content with the little that religion teaches.

This casual, lazy attitude barely satisfies God’s command to love him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. To learn as much about God as is humanly possible demands the drive and discipline of a disciple — a learner. A casual, only-on-Sunday approach will yield nothing about God’s true nature and his ways.

So what does this review of discipline and study have to do with the law? It is just this: The law is not easy to comprehend; Understanding the law as God sees it is very challenging. That is why God warns us that the law is a stumbling block. But while understanding the law is challenging, so is the reward for disciplining ourselves to study. True, spiritual life is only available to people who can hear God’s spoken voice.