In this article, we’ll examine the methods I discovered for recognizing and interpreting symbols. In The Death and Resurrection of the West and Home Christianity, you will see examples of these. Although they took me a long time to collect, you will find them simple to learn. Let’s get started.
The entire Bible centres on Christ. This includes the Old Testament, as well as the new. He is the focus of the Bible and all Christian civilization. Men in the Bible often act as types of Christ, in Biblical “skits.” Revelation 19.10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
All of life, history and destiny pivot on Christ’s cross. It is His death and resurrection which enables all personal and social progress. We often think of ourselves as living at the pinnacle of history and we are indeed headed for a giant change. But Christ’s resurrection was the turning-point in the history of the struggle of His people against the devil and his global system. It is the sacrifice of Christ, to remove our guilt before God, which will enable our fallen culture to revive and accomplish new things.
The Bible is holistic. Therefore we must always keep in mind its overall message–which is the triumph of God, Christ’s people and all good over the devil and all evil.
The prophecies are about the Western World, today. The Bible tells the story of the children of “Adam,” which means to show blood in the face, to blush red, to flush and turn rosy. It tells of our fall from God in Heaven and His plan to get us back, through obedience to Christ.
We must look for types and patterns and all of the symbols fit into an overall pattern.
“The Law of First Mention” means the first listing of a symbol in the Bible sets the pattern, of which later mentions of the same symbol may flesh out the meaning. For this clue I thank the late Frank W. Dowsett, as published in The Kingdom Herald.
Bible characters act out “skits” foretelling our future. 1st Corinthians 10.6 of The Holy Bible in Modern English says the characters in the Bible are “types for us.” The New Testament in Modern English puts it as, “Our ancestors stand as examples to us.” The first meaning is that they are role models for us. But there is yet a deeper, symbolic meaning for our society as a whole. By the predestination of God, the lives of people of old were lived by patterns we are predestined to repeat. The history of their lives is prophecy about events to come in Christendom. Acting out “skits” is totally Biblical. God often commanded the prophets to do that.
The “Body of Christ” is a a symbol of our Western, Christian culture, which is meant to accomplish the work of Christ on earth, during His physical absence. Jesus and other biblical heroes often act this part, foretelling the direction our society will go.
The “Bride of Christ” is another symbol of the Body of Christ, our culture, as named by Jesus Christ Himself. This symbol shows the love and closeness between Jesus Christ and His followers. We can see biblical heroines acting this part in biblical “skits.” The Bride-symbol is sometimes expanded as a “widow,” which symbolizes Christ’s people remaining faithful to Him, since He has gone to Heaven.
Women. (1) All mentions of women or femininity in the Bible from the male-dominated past must now be viewed as major cracks in an unbalanced system between the sexes which God predestined to fall from the start. Biblical “skits” predict God now giving women the lead toward the building of a higher, fairer Christian civilization. (2) Christian civilization itself is symbolized as a woman, who out of the love of Christ will give birth to His Kingdom on the earth. His Kingdom is an advanced culture which we are near to enter.
Time periods in the Bible must be accurately assessed, to make sense of the prophecies. The Death and Resurrection of the West uses five different, concurring methods to show where we stand today and where we’re going.
Using more than one translation of the Bible is important. Translating the Bible is a lot of work and most translators bring out clues that others have missed.
Prophecy is the history of the future. Even prophecies which came true in the past can have meaning today, because 2nd Peter 1.20 says, “No prophecy of Scripture is of a single meaning” (Holy Bible in Modern English). So God sometimes “recycles” prophecies over time and each time history repeats, it happens on a larger scale. With these words of Peter in mind, sometimes we can even detect two overlapping prophecies happening at once.
The ancient Law of Moses can only be correctly understood when filtered through the life and words of Christ and His apostles (Hebrews 10.1).
Numbers in the Bible all have symbolic meanings. This includes numbers mentioned in the story, as well as chapter and verse numbers. Measurement numbers can also sometimes symbolize periods of time. The meanings of individual numbers are explained in a separate article on this blog.
Names of people in the Bible often have literal meanings, which colour the parts they play in biblical “skits.” Names of vocations and places can add to the meaning. Even objects like “rock,” “sword,” “silver” and “gold” have symbolic meanings, which draw us deeper into the Bible’s message for today.
Measurements of objects or distances in the Bible can sometimes symbolize periods of time.
Consistency. Symbols have the same, basic meaning throughout the Bible.
Meaning derived by default. Here we look for what is missing from the picture, to understand a bigger message. For example, if you can’t afford a new car, the meaning is not in the car. The meaning is that you lack the money to buy it.
Flipping the coin. Sometimes we can flip symbols over, to discover a big surprise. For example, God’s Law says “You shall not steal.” But Jesus is seven times described in the New Testament as a “thief” Who will steal us away from the devil’s control! Notice how as the context changes, the symbol changes its meaning. This is really fun and I use it often in The Death and Resurrection of the West.
Words are only carriers for values, in the same way a bucket can carry items which we value as good or bad. For example, the word “gay” expresses a totally different value today than it did sixty years ago! Therefore, to correctly interpret the Bible’s symbols, we must employ values from the Bible alone.
Paul wrote 14 books of the New Testament and he has been criticized for outlining a lesser role for women in church. But when we look deeper into his system of thought, we find him predicting vastly improved conditions for women and for us all, in this post-church age. In fact, we learn to view him as a rebel, who taught us to believe in the ever-expanding progress of the human condition.
Repetition. The Bible uses minimal words. So each time we find a repetition in the story, that can be a clue to look for an additional meaning.
Confirmation. God’s Law says no judgement shall be made without the testimony of two or more witnesses. So a symbol’s meaning must be confirmed from at least one other reference from the Bible. If no such reference exists, the proposed meaning must be discarded as false, for lack of evidence. A simple way to confirm a symbol is to look up the word in a Bible Concordance, to see what it means elsewhere in the Bible. Failing to follow this rule can get the Bible-reader totally lost in imagination. A prime example of this confusion is fear of a physical “mark of the beast.” The media and many churches have wrongfully interpreted that symbol, because they cannot cite confirming references from the remainder of the Bible. All of God’s faith and all of His symbols fit into a pattern. In Home Christianity, I quote other parts of the Bible to show why millions of people are wrong about this “mark” and I reveal exactly how it fits into the Bible’s overall pattern.
Poetic style. Much of the Bible was written as poetry, or song. Therefore it sometimes delivers meaning through poetic techniques like imagery, symbolism, metaphor and simile–to create a wider picture than the words alone convey.
Colours are also symbols. For example, white means purity. Red, or blood, means death. Black symbolizes evil, or darkness. Green symbolizes new growth, or progress.
The Holy Spirit is necessary to interpret the Bible correctly and it has vanished from society today, including the church. After you receive it, the symbols begin to step off the pages of the Bible and form a pattern in the mind. Home Christianity explains how to get the Holy Spirit at home, for free.
Every prophecy is positive for Christ’s people, who get all the way onto His side. The scary prophecies are only for those who remain at enmity with Christ.
These are the simple tools I used to write my books. It took me years to gather them. Now I’m giving them to you. I believe that if my readers can begin where I left off, many will surpass me. Thank you for learning them. The future of each of us and our civilization depends upon our faith. And that faith must be grounded upon a more solid, more expansive understanding of God’s plan for us than the outdated church has provided.
