Simple Salvation Church of God

TIPS ON STUDYING THE BIBLE
 

People have studied the Bible their entire lives and never run out of learning new truths. The Word of God is simple and in plain sight, but the more you get to know Who God is, the more He will reveal to you His hidden truths tucked inside the verses. God has written many mysteries in the scriptures and they are very relevant and prophetic for these end times.
 

There are many ways of interpreting the mystery scriptures, but most scholars agree the best and most accurate way is to let the Bible interpret the Bible. Why? Because God spoke the Words and His Words bypass time and space and the more you understand that, you will see how the same truth was recorded again hundreds of years later through another prophet.

In practical terms, letting the Bible interpret the Bible is when you find a scripture that you don’t understand, and you find all the other places in the Bible that mention the same thing.  The more places you find, the more your understanding grows.  In other words, if you are trying to understand the book of Revelations and you come across the word candlestick, find out how God described its meaning and purpose other places in the Bible.  You will be amazed when you start applying this principal in interpreting and understanding mystery places in scripture. 

Another way to find the important "buzz" word that seems to be a mystery word, is to find the places where scripture uses the identical Hebrew or Greek word.  The list of places that use the identical words are also in the Strong's Concordance.  Englishman's Concordance also lists these in PC Study Bible. That one tip alone will open your eyes to understand God's messages and how they connect together in time.

The best way to understand the scripture is to ASK the Lord.  Understanding the scripture is an EXPERIENCE in God.  

Luke 24:45 NKJV

And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

 

Luke 9:45  NKJV

But they did not understand this saying, and it was hidden from them so that they did not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this saying.

 

Luke 18:34  NKJV

But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken.

 

Luke 24:27  NKJV

And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

THE LAW OF FIRST MENTION

A most important way to understand mystery scriptures is what they call the Law of First Mention.  It is basically the first time a Hebrew or Greek word was recorded in the Bible.  Scholars have found wonderful truths about the hidden revelations through connecting the verses that use the LOFM and cross references using the same Greek or Hebrew word.

The LOFM is found after you look up the original Hebrew or Greek word in the verse you are pondering.  You can use the Strong’s Concordance to look up the English word in the exact verse you are reading, and then see the original Hebrew or Greek word that it came from, and its translation and definition.  You can see the very first time that original word was used in the Bible.  The first time it was recorded becomes the best way to understand the context and environment from which the word was originally used.  From then on, whenever they use that same word, they may enlarge upon it for another situation, but the way it was first used was always an important foundation.