Interpreting Scripture (2)

By David Hobbs



The Holy Spirit was not done with “Interpreting the Scriptures” and has continued opening up the subject to me, which has given me some additional, precious understanding. If you haven't already, please read the last post first so this will make sense.


First let me clarify that I am not dissing the laws of hermeneutics. They are real, they are valuable, and in many situations they can help one arrive at a more accurate understanding of Scripture. But they are science based, formulated by the minds of men as a result of countless hours poring over the Bible. They will stand one in good stead when studying things like the Ten Commandments, history passages, the moral law, Psalms and Proverbs, etc. But where they fail is in the prophetic passages. God is a Spirit; prophetic passages are straight from His heart and are also spirit. As such, they can never be analyzed and figured out by the mind of man, like dreams can’t. Just look at how Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams and how Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream—there’s no way they could have humanly figured their interpretations out, it took direct revelation from God, which is why the magicians and wise men failed completely.

The spiritual realm is superior in every way to the natural realm; the Bible makes that plain:

I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Cor. 15:50)

This is the important lesson: the only way spiritual truths can be gotten is by direct revelation from God. Just as man can’t find his way to God, man’s wisdom can never unlock and reveal the mind of God to man. That’s why human wisdom, as advanced in the laws of hermeneutics (or any other forum), can never reveal the truths of prophecy, or even what is prophecy and what isn’t.

We can see that in Matt. 16 where Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do people say the son of man is?” (vs.13). And they answered Him with the human wisdom of the day that was floating around on the dusty streets of Galilee, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (vs.14). Notice that not one of them had the right answer, because they were all based on human reasoning and opinions.

So Jesus went on, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” (vs.15). Simon Peter blurted out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (vs.16). Bingo, Simon got it! Notice Jesus’ response, “Blessed are you, Simon … for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven” (vs.17).

Prophetic truth can only be revealed by God, it can never be figured out by man. And Jesus wanted to see if the path of revelation had been opened up from God to His disciples—were they able yet to hear from God? Only then does Jesus talk about building His church, a church that would defeat the devil, possess the keys of the kingdom, bind and loose, etc. And while the rock on which He would build the church was certainly the revelation itself--that He was the Messiah--it was also important that His disciples had been able to get it from God directly, even before they had been baptized in the Holy Spirit. (Notice that while the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is important, it is not a prerequisite to hearing from God.) If they couldn't hear from God, what would they do once Jesus returned to heaven?

That is what my good seminary professor for all his learning failed to understand: prophetic truths can only be learned by direct revelation from God, there is no human way to figure them out.

Suddenly a verse that I never understood in all my 38 years of Christianity, fell into place. It’s Revelation 19:10—“‘For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’” I've puzzled over that one for years. Now I see: the testimony of or about Jesus is always prophetic, therefore always spirit, so it's outside the realm of the mind of man. As we saw in my last post, many of the messianic prophecies as interpreted by the New Testament writers, flagrantly violate the laws of hermeneutics, yet are enshrined as infallible Scripture for eternity. It’s because they are spirit, from the mind of God, and only God can reveal their meaning. That’s true in everything that pertains to Jesus. (“‘The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’”) That’s why the scholars missed Him when He came the first time, and the whole world will miss Him when He comes the next time, until it’s too late. Only those who can hear the voice of God will receive the necessary revelation and instruction to avoid disaster. Consider the story of Lot. Lot received the instructions of God through the angels, fled Sodom and was saved. His sons-in-law couldn't discern the warning as being from God even though their spiritual covering, Lot, tried to warn them. They perished.

We need to be able to hear the voice of God.