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thought about what Jesus was really saying?
Let's take a look at the first principle for finding the real meaning of biblical words, sentences and
paragraphs, books, and really the message of the whole Bible. This is an amazing principle,
because most people when they find it out are not pleased with it. They do not like the way God
has written the Scriptures. That is more than likely because the natural mind that is educated can
read the words in the Scripture, but sometimes those words may not have the real meaning
behind them that God intends. People normally do not like that. But if you want to really grow in
grace and knowledge, then we must learn to deal with this principle.
That Principle is: Though we can read the words which are in the Scriptures (and even if you could
read in the original Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, and understand those languages perfectly), it still
does not mean that you will understand the real sense behind those words. God has told us in the
Old and New Testaments that you cannot understand or comprehend the meaning of those words
unless you have, as I pointed out earlier, the Holy Spirit to open your mind to know what they
actually mean.
You can know what the words say. You can analyze the grammar perfectly but you cannot know
their meaning of the words unless you have some other ingredient. That ingredient is the Holy
Spirit of God. This principle is found throughout the Scripture. Let me sum it up very quickly then I
will give you some details.
What God has done by writing His Bible in the fashion that He has, is to give clear, plain, simple
Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words, which can be translated into simple and plain English words,
simple and plain Italian words, simple and plain Russian words, or German, or French, or
whatever. But even when you have the words simply put in the languages that you can understand,
so far as the natural man is concerned, you will still lack a knowledge of the spiritual teaching
behind those words unless God opens your mind. That is the first principle.
This principle is clearly defined in Scripture. You know what God does? God says in effect: I am
giving you in these (in the King James Bible) some 1356 pages, I am giving you My Word. It is
something that you can read, but you know what? I will hide it. I will hide the real meaning in
section after section after section; and I will hide it in the open. I will hide the real meaning from
people in the world who can read the words but they will not be able to understand them.
The first thing that God does is to tell you how He is doing it. God does not hide the fact that He is
hiding the meaning. In fact, He says this: I will give you words that you can comprehend, but you
cannot necessarily get the meaning out of those words that is intended by Me.
You will need something else. You need the Holy Spirit to enable you, or me, or anyone to see
what those words actually convey to us who are His children. In a sense the Bible is written for the
initiated, those who are initiated into an understanding of what God’s principles are in the first
place. He has given you understanding how to interpret these words that He has not given to the
world. God stated openly in the Bible that that is how He wrote His Word. That is how He intends it
to be understood. He said it time and time and time again.
If the natural man wants to really understand God, he should first read those Scriptures about how
God is hiding the real meaning. If you want to know the real meaning behind the words of
Scripture, you must get the meaning from God’s point of view. You will not get it from man. You will
not get it from yourself or your own experiences, though they are helpful. You must have the
understanding of the knowledge of God given to you from the outside. It must come from
somewhere else.
It comes from God. It comes from our Elder Brother through the Holy Spirit uniting with our minds,
our spirit, so we can extract the real meaning behind those words in the Holy Scriptures. The way
you do that is to be selected by God to be able to understand these words — supernaturally.
God created everyone from Adam down to today. There are almost 6 billion souls on this earth
here today. And only very, very few understand the real meaning behind the Scriptures. Several
billion people (1½ to 2 billion) call themselves Christian. That is a large number of people who
have the Bible in their midst which they claim to live by.
At the same time they can read and even argue about what the words say, but they do not
understand or comprehend the real meaning behind these words they read, because they are not
in touch with God in the way that He wants them to be, because He has not yet called them to His
truth.
Jesus spoke to the Pharisees in the Gospel of John chapter 6. Those Pharisees were made up of
Jews, of the Abrahamic race, from Jacob, from the 12 tribes. They had privileges that others did
not have concerning the knowledge of God. Those Pharisees disputed with Christ time and again.
Finally He was crucified because the people did not agree with Him that He was the very Son of
God bringing the Father’s message to them. If they had understood who He was, they would not
have killed Him (1 Corinthians 2:8).
They killed Him because they did not know who He was. They did not comprehend His words.
They heard His words and were quite capable of putting the sentences together and the
paragraphs, but they were unable to get the full meaning of the message of Christ or His reason
for coming here on this earth.
Christ understood that. Those people back at Christ’s time could not help themselves. How can
you be guilty of something when God has not given it to you yet? Jesus said to those people back
there in John 6:44: “No man can come to Me except the Father, which has sent me, draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day.” That statement shows that God gives certain people an
understanding of Himself and draws them to Him, while He does not do so for others at the
present time. You may call that discriminatory — and it is — but God has stated that this is the
way He operates.
Christ Jesus later restated the same principle. He knew why most of the people were not
accepting Him and His teachings at the time. It was because God had not opened their minds to
it. He gave a reason why in John 6:65: “And he said, ‘Therefore said I unto you, that no man can
come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.’” There you are again.
The very fact that you believe the Scripture, that you know the Scripture (as I will show) allows you
to realize the full meaning of the Scripture. You are able to do that and know that because God the
Father has supernaturally opened your mind to see it. It is not something of your own making. The
Father has done it.
John 8:43 says virtually the same thing. Pay close attention to these short verses tucked away in
longer passages of Scripture. “Why do you not understand my speech? [After He had given a long
discourse to these people, He answers His own question.] because you cannot hear my word”
(John 8:43).
They heard the words, but they did not “hear” the Word. They knew what He said in Greek (or
Hebrew if He was speaking that language). They knew the sentences, the words and all the
components of speech, but they were not able to put them together correctly. Why not? Because
they were not called of God — yet. We see the same thing later in John:
“But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him: that the
saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, when he spoke, ‘Lord, who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’ Therefore they could not believe, Jesus
said, because that Isaiah said again, ‘he has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that
they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should
heal them.’ These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spoke of him.”
John 12:37–40
So you see, God has the ability to hide the meaning of His truth from people even when the words
are plain. He has done it and He continues to do it.
Jesus Himself told people He was teaching that even though many miracles were done before
them, that they would not accept His teachings, and they would not believe on Him. That was not
their fault! He goes on to say by quoting Isaiah chapter 42:19–20 that it was the Lord, YHVH, who
blinded their eyes. 5
The difficulty most people have with this is that they say, “God seems to be discriminating. Why
does He do it this way?” We will get to that later. The fact is, this is the way that He does it. He
actually puts down His words from the beginning of Genesis to the end of the Book of Revelation,
gives it to everyone on earth. Then He tells them this, “This is My Word. What you need to do is to
search out its meaning. Because it is hidden from the world.” These words, in themselves, must
be sought out for their real meaning.