HOW I READ THE BIBLE

Bible reading may be hazardous to your faith!

The more carefully you read the Bible, the more confused or discouraged you may become.  Already in the first two chapters we see contradictory details of creation.  Then all your Bible heroes turn out to be flawed people with questionable morals.  That God you encounter in the Old Testament seems easily angered and not much like the Father Jesus talked about.  By the time you get to the psalms, the prayer life of the writers seems bi-polar, violent and contradictory.  Even the Jesus stories in the New Testament present different details as they tell the story.  What do you make of all this?

THE KEY TO UNLOCK YOUR BIBLE

I believe the key to understanding the Bible is to interpret everything in light of Jesus.  Everything in the Old Testament  pointed toward him.  The New Testament tells us about him and what he did. He is at the center of it.  Jesus is the perfect representation of God and the ultimate prototype for humanity.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.  Hebrews 1:1-4

THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.   Colossians 1:15-20

HOW TO READ THE BIBLE WITH JESUS AT THE CENTER

1. Start seeing Jesus as the exact picture of God and the perfect prototype of humanity.
2. Think of everything written before him as backstory about him.
3. See everything written after him as commentary about him.
4. Read everything in conversation with him, his Spirit and his Father.

DON’T STUDY THE BIBLE AND MISS THE POINT! JESUS IS THE POINT.

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.  John 5:39-40