1. “Revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10).
Even though the Bible has been revealed through the Holy Spirit, there are yet many deep and mysterious things of God in the Bible that only the Spirit can search out and reveal to us. The depths of the Bible are out of God, of God, and concerning God. No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Therefore, if we want to read the Bible and understand it, we must seek the Spirit’s enlightenment. Our natural intellect is unable to understand the Bible. We must be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit’s revelation so that we can understand the Bible. Therefore, when we read the Bible, we should not depend on our intelligence but seek the enlightenment and revelation of the Holy Spirit.
Furthermore, if we want to understand the Bible, we need to do more than seek the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit; we also need to live in the Holy Spirit and become a spiritual person. The word of the Bible is a spiritual word, and the Bible speaks of spiritual matters. Only those who are spiritual can understand spiritual words and matters. Certain kinds of people understand certain kinds of words and matters. It takes a spiritual person to understand spiritual words, and it takes a spiritual person to understand spiritual matters. Only the spiritual can understand the spiritual. Since the Bible is spiritual, we must be spiritual in order to understand the words that it contains. The degree of our understanding of the Bible is based on the degree of our spirituality. Therefore, if we want to understand the Bible, we must be spiritual, learn to live in the Spirit, and become a spiritual person.
1. “Whenever their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).
We must not only be spiritual to read the Bible, but we must turn our heart to the Lord. Whether we understand the Bible and receive light when we read it depends on our spiritual condition and our heart. There will be a problem if our spirit is not right, and there will be a problem if our heart is not right. If we want to understand the Bible when we read it, our heart must turn to the Lord. If our heart is not turned to the Lord, it will be difficult for us to understand the Bible and see its light; there will be a veil on our heart that prevents us from seeing the light in the Bible. Once our heart turns to the Lord, however, the veil is taken away. Then we will see the Lord in the light of His Word, and we will understand and know the Bible. If we want to know the Bible, we must turn our heart to the Lord; that is, we must turn away from every person, thing, and matter outside of the Lord and return to the Lord.
1. “If anyone resolves to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching” (John 7:17).
When we read the Bible, we must resolve to do His will in order to understand the Word. The Lord does not reveal His teachings to those who have no heart to keep them. He makes them known to those who have a heart to keep them and who resolve to keep them. Therefore, we must be a person of such resolve in order to understand the words in the Bible.
1. “Search”; “Study diligently” (John 5:39; a note in the Chinese Union Version on Daniel 12:4 indicates that here and there can be translated as “search or study carefully”).
The Bible is a book that must be searched and studied. This requires time and effort, so we need to pay the price. Anyone who is not willing to pay the price to spend the time and make the effort to diligently search and study the Bible will not be able to understand much of the Bible, especially its depths. If we read the Bible in a light way, we will not understand much. We must make an effort to search and diligently study the Bible in order to truly understand.
The Bible is too rich and mysterious. It really is worthy of searching and study. Even though many have spent much time to study the Bible throughout the ages, there are still many portions that need to be studied. Many who have Ph.D.s, who have spent an entire lifetime carefully studying the Bible, feel as if they are trying to measure the ocean with a dipper. Some very particular and special methods have been used to study the Bible throughout the ages. For example, the author of Young’s Concordance counted every Hebrew and Greek word in the Old and New Testaments. Moreover, he counted how many times each word was used in the original language (either Hebrew or Greek), recorded their meaning, and then detailed how these words were translated into English in the King James Version, including how many times each translated word was used and the location of each translated word. Then he compiled these words into an alphabetical concordance so that they could be located easily. It is difficult to say how much time and effort was put into this matter. Others calculated the numbers represented by every letter of every word in the Old Testament Hebrew and the New Testament Greek. (In Hebrew and Greek, each letter stands for a number.) They counted the letters one by one and totaled their numerical value; they discovered that in both the Old and New Testaments, the numeric total of all the letters of all the words is divisible by seven. This means that the numeric total of every word in every verse in every chapter in every book of the Bible is divisible by seven. This is a truly marvelous kind of study, and it took much time and effort. Others have also spent much time and effort. May we be willing to take the time to study the Bible. May there be some among us who are willing to rise up and apply special effort to study this marvelous book.