Can I get a witness!? Ultimately, the Bible is a witness of God’s work and plan in the world, moving history toward his great redemption.

Before we touch on a few specifics, let’s consider a few keys for unlocking scripture.  

• First, the Bible is intended for all people, whether young or old, educated or not, and so on. This means it requires the help of the Holy Spirit, prayer, diligent study, and perhaps most importantly humility, no matter who you are. The Bible is a supernatural book. Even though a child can understand the main idea, it does require commitment and supernatural assistance in order to grow.

  
  

• Second, it is essential to understand scripture from both the Big picture and the Small picture. These two perspectives are critical for understanding God’s message. You can get an idea of this visually by taking a piece of paper with a picture on it. Simply, move it close to your face and then far away. As it gets close, take notice of the details you see. As it moves away, you will notice different aspects. A dual view of both the details and the big picture will help us avoid misunderstanding one or the other.

  
  

• Third, and this is perhaps the most important interpretive key, the Bible is ultimately all about God. Surely, it is full of human stories and words. Yet, there is not a single verse or word in which God is not the main character, even in places where he is only in the background.  

  
  

• Fourth, and this builds on the previous idea, the Bible was not written TO us. However, it was written FOR us. This is an ancient text written by ancient people to ancient people. The ideas and interests and perspectives we find in it were given through a particular lens and for particular purposes. Plus, more than just foreign names and places, it's full of strange ideas and worldviews, many of which fall on deaf ears in modern times. Yet, we are told that it was recorded and transmitted for our good (Rom 15:4) and for a people yet born (Ps 102:18).

Just as a side note, I want to emphasize the importance of this endeavor. How we read the Bible will affect how we think about God, how we treat others, how we think about ourselves, and how we go about our day-to-day lives. If we get it wrong, if we misunderstand or disregard scripture, we will make a real mess of it all. So, it's absolutely vital to our own spiritual well-being and to the eternal life of others that we try our best to get it right!

Alright, now let’s think about the Small Picture and the Big Picture.

How to Read the Bible – Small Picture

To begin, we must actually know the Story. We may take this for granted, especially if it’s a story we’ve heard many times, but it is something we have to take seriously. The Bible is literature, meaning it has characters, poetry, illustrations, and events, among many other subtle details and features. If we miss or perhaps misunderstand some details, we may miss the entire point of the story! So, take your time. Read and re-read.

We must seek to know the context of the passage. What does this mean? Well, this is the surrounding story or broader text in which we find our passage. If you were to read Isaiah 8, you would need to also read Isaiah 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12. It would also be helpful to read the entire book of Isaiah since many of the ideas or details appear elsewhere in the prophetic book. There is a common saying that "context is king." Another common saying is that "a text without its context is a pretext for whatever you want it to say."

We must ask the 3 Q’s that help us rightly approach the ultimate meaning of a passage. Although these are simple questions, they may end up more challenging than you expected, especially as you try to uncover how the passage actually answers these questions. In my experience, the third question is often where we go first. Yet, there's a treasure trove of theological gems hidden within each passage just waiting to be unearthed and polished. It is to our benefit that we do not skip over them. So, take your time to fully explore the passage with these questions.

• What does this teach me about God?

• What does this teach me about humans?

• How does this point to the work of Jesus and apply to us now?

As a brief example, let’s look at a familiar story from the Old Testament. This is the story of Elijah and his cosmic duel with the prophets of Ba'al. We find it in 1 Kings 17-19. Take a minute to go read it before we discuss it further.

The Story: As the story begins and unfolds, we start with Elijah praying for a drought and then performing a few miracles. This establishes that he is indeed a true prophet of the Almighty. We then see that he takes on the prophets of Baal, mocking them and their gods. It shows that the God of Israel is not like the lesser gods of the nations in many ways. We then see him praying to undo the drought and bring about a returned blessing for Israel. Yet, due to his conflict with the king and queen of Israel, he flees to the wilderness and feels great loneliness and despair. In this moment of weakness, God provides and comforts him. Elijah is refreshed and encouraged. What are some details that you noticed? How do you think they impact the story?

The context: This story occurs and is provided within a broader context of a divided Israel. After Solomon, the nation of Israel became politically separated into the northern and southern kingdoms, referred to as Israel and Judah. We see this development in 1 Kings 11-16. From the time of Solomon until Elijah was probably about 100 years. So, it was a long time in one sense. Yet, in another sense, it was not that long ago that Israel was in its prime. In this context, we also learn more about King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. They were quite wicked and did not fear Yahweh. Their evil ways are recorded in 1 Kings 20-22, described as wicked, ruthless, unjust, idolaters. All these qualities are abominations to the Lord. If you continue on in Kings, you'll see failed king and failed king. The prophets call upon the people and the leaders to return to the Lord.

The 3 Q’s: Now that we have an idea of the story and context, though only briefly described, we can engage our key questions.

First, we ask, what does this story tell us about God? Well, there are many. We see that he has dominion over nature, starting and stopping rain. We see that he is greater than the other gods, clearly demonstrating his supremacy. We also see that he is near to those that call upon him, those who pray to him. Listen to what James says of Elijah in the New Testament,

“The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. 17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months, it did not rain on the earth. 18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit” (James 5:16-18)

As incredible as the miracles were, they were not due to Elijah’s greatness but God’s. Elijah was merely a faithful and humble servant of the Lord, no different in capability than any of us. We see too in this story that God is deeply gracious and patient. On one hand, the people of Israel were wildly evil and idolatrous. Although he allowed a time of discipline, the purpose was to show them that he was there and that he had the power to bless them if they would only be faithful. On the other, Elijah was discouraged after those big powerful events. So, God teaches him that he was with him both in the big moments and in the small ones.  

Second, we can ask, what does this story tell us about man? Here we find that people are naturally drawn to rebel against God. Furthermore, we find that people’s hearts are naturally drawn to worship anything other than God, even to their own harm. We see that people can be cruel and unfair, selfishly seeking their own benefit at the expense of others. We see that people are often helpless and vulnerable to corrupt, evil who take advantage of them or oppress them. We also see that people are prone to fear or become discouraged, even after seeing God’s incredible miracles. I know this is often true of me too!

Third, we can ask, how does this story point us to Jesus and how does it affect us? As we look to the rest of scripture and seek to understand the story of Elijah, we realize that many of Elijah’s qualities or prophetic abilities are found in Jesus. Yet, there is an important distinction. Jesus had power over nature in and of himself, unlike Elijah (Mark 4 – “Who is this?!”). We know too that Jesus himself overcame death and the gods in a cosmic battle. Paul gives an allusion to this in two passages,

Ephesians 1:19-21 “What is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”

Philippians 2:8-11 “Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Finally, because of Jesus, God is with us at all times, no matter what, because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit! For those who are united with Christ, God is ever present and intimately concerned as a father for a child. We have no need for fear of what mere humans or even angelic beings may seek to do to us. It is only according to the will and instruction of a good Father that we endure everything. And we know that Jesus understands our weakness and intercedes to his father for us, at all times. We are never alone.

Hebrews 2:16-18 "16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted."

Hebrews 7:25 "He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

Biblical themes – the Big Picture

As we begin our discussion about the big picture, let me tell you a little story.

One day I was walking to the park and a car was standing in the bucket, and you should’ve seen the trees blowing in the moon because it was a full day. But the best part was that Snickers had extradited a Formula One racecar in the Pocono mountains. So, we had Aladdin but the cat was out back until the maestro turned the key. 

Did you get that? If you did, you should question your sanity! That was an intentionally gibberish story in order to illustrate how we often feel about the Bible. After finishing a passage, we may be left feeling as though it were just a bunch of random words with little meaning or sense to it.

However, it's vital for us to understand that the Bible was not written like a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings novel. It is a complex book with many stories written over many centuries that all work together to paint a bigger picture. Each individual stroke of the paintbrush is essential but must be seen from a broader vantage point in order to make sense of the parts.

One of the ways we make sense of the Bible, then, is by looking for themes. These are ideas or patterns that occur throughout the individual books or the entire Bible. Understanding these repeating ideas often helps us see how all the pieces fit together. They create a painting within the painting.

There are many many themes in the Bible, for example: creation, disobedience, salvation, faith, covenant, and God’s glory, just to name a few. Together, they are woven like a hair braid or the sound of an orchestra. Sometimes the theme is front and center but sometimes the theme is subdued into the background.

Perhaps the most difficult part of seeing and using these themes is the pervasive knowledge of all scripture that it requires. In other words, you have to be familiar with the WHOLE bible in order to rightly understand its parts. It’s a both-and scenario. In order to understand the big picture, you have to understand the parts. To understand the parts, you have to understand the big picture. So, this does not happen all at once or even by reading the Bible once. It will require reading and re-reading and studying and following rabbit trails or quotes or ideas to other parts of the bible to better see how it's interwoven into the grand story arc. So, we must look for themes and follow them throughout the Bible.

The "Seed" Theme

As an example, let’s take a brief look at one important and central theme throughout the Bible. This is often referred to as the “seed” or “offspring” theme.

The theme first appears with the first couple,

Gen 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Then we see the idea immediately resurface in Gen 4 with Cain and Able, yet without the term “seed.” This is because the next installment of the theme is actually with Seth,

Gen 4:25, “God has appointed for me another offspring in place of Abel.”

Although this implies that Abel was the first “seed,” Seth took the place of Abel as the "seed" after he was murdered.

The seed narrative takes a break until the re-emergence in Gen 9:9 after the flood, “I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you.” We see then that the “seed” is being carried through the line of Noah. Though Seth had many descendants, the world had become fully corrupted and the promise of Gen 3 was being fulfilled in Noah’s lineage, one who was blameless before the Lord (Gen 6:9).

After Noah, the seed theme is fast-forwarded to Abraham, though there were many between Noah and Abraham. And in fact, it was not Abraham himself but his “seed” that was to receive the special mission of being the "seed." So, we see God’s gift to Abraham’s seed in Gen 12:7, “The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’” This promise is further emphasized with Abraham several more times:

Gen 13:15-16 “I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth.”

Gen 15:3-6 “Abram said, 'Behold, you have given me no offspring … [the Lord] brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven, and number the stars if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ 6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”

Gen 15:13 “The LORD said to Abram, 'Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.'”

Gen 17:6-8 “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings.”

Gen 21:12 “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”

Gen 22:17-18 “I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, 18 and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”

The offspring theme passes through Isaac to Jacob and his sons. But in Exodus through Judges, the picture of the seed gets a little blurry. The theme seems to picture the entire people of Israel as the seed, though only indirectly, as we see in Exod 4:22, “Thus says the LORD, 'Israel is my firstborn son.'” Although we see a number of possible candidates, like Moses and Joshua, none were specifically named the seed or offspring.

Once we get to the story of Israel’s kings, in the book of Samuel, then we see the theme resurface. Of course, it was not Samuel or Saul or even David. Though each of these would have made sense for one reason or another, God specifically directs the seed theme somewhere else. Let’s take a look at this key emergence of the seed,

2 Samuel 7:12-14 “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.”

Strangely enough, though it would seem to be Solomon, who was rich and powerful and wise, we know that he became unfaithful and everything fell apart. It turns out he was only another stepping stone along the way. Following Solomon, the rest of Kings and Chronicles paint a bleak and depressing picture of Israel’s history. Despite waiting and hoping for a seed to defeat that ancient serpent, both books end with only a hope for the future, repeatedly mentioning the phrase "son of David" in Chronicles.

In the Psalms and prophets, we see glimmers of this theme but only in a more hidden and indirect manner.

Psalm 2:6-7 “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill. Then the LORD said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance.’”

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His rule on the throne of David and his peace over his kingdom will never end.”

Isaiah 11:1-4 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 and his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness, he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”

We see that this Son will have the power and presence of the Holy Spirit and he will be wise, righteous, faithful, and just.

Zecheriah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

Finally, we see that the long-awaited seed comes in the Gospels, the offspring, the Son. God had not forgotten. How do we know we’re on the right track with all of this? Paul gives us an explicit reference to the theme and its significance for the rest of Scripture.

Galatians 3:16 “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, who is Christ.”

In other words, to rightly understand Gen 3 and many of the references to “seed” or “son” in the Old Testament you have to rightly understand the big picture of the Bible. Although the original writers of the Old Testament did not have a clear picture of this “seed,” we now know how the whole picture fits together. Just as painting is not fully understood until the end, so it is with scripture. God is the ultimate author and director of both scripture and history. So, he knows the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10).

Alright, well now we can ask the important question: How does this apply to us? I think Paul further clarifies the value and purpose of this theme for us, as we see here,

Galatians 3:22-26 “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”

The expansive theme about the seed not only brings about a unifying and centralizing picture of Christ but it also points to those who are HIS seed or offspring. Of course, this is not genetically but spiritually through faith. In other words, the lineage of Christ, those who receive the blessing and promises of God, are sons of God through Christ. We are able to be sons and daughters of God through the Son who is the Seed. Through him, we are able to partake and are adopted as a seed or offspring with all its wonderful grace and glory.

The promises and blessings intended for the Son also apply to us when we are united with Jesus, when we put our trust in him.

This theme is so grand and important that we could go on and on about it and the implications it has for us. However, let us close with a brief reminder.

The Bible is open and available to each of us, if we will read it and if we will read it prayerfully, humbly, and diligently in order to know God and to serve others. When we read the scripture with these key principles in mind, paying attention to the small picture and big picture, the word of God will come alive and we will be able to understand his heart for us and the world.