The Big Questions About the BibleSample

Is There a Secret Code to Understanding the Bible?

This is a fascinating question. Yes, secrets codes are embedded in the Bible, but they’re not the ones you might think. There is an ultimate code that will unlock the meaning of the Bible, and I will tell you what it is. I can tell you because it’s not so secret!

First, let me tell you about the secret codes of the Bible. The cultures from which the Bible came, the Hebrew and Jewish cultures, were very big on the idea that numbers had symbolic meanings pointing to spiritual realities. Every number had a meaning that went well beyond the scientific idea of numbers as we understand them today. Just as a few examples, the number three represented divinity, the number four represented the world, and the number five represented the grace of God, and so on. Similarly, the names of people and places, colors, different kinds of materials, and so on all had spiritual meanings.

But – and this is an important but – the Bible is meant to be understood plainly and simply. Throughout most of the Bible, you don’t need to understand any symbolism to understand what God is trying to tell you through the Bible. If you do, it will just enhance your understanding, that’s all.

It’s not a secret code in the sense you have to crack it to understand the Bible. Not at all! Some people get so caught up with the whole business of numbers in the Bible – and it can get pretty complicated, by the way – they miss the whole point of what the Bible is trying to say.

There is an ultimate “code” that, if you understand it, will unlock the real meaning of the whole Bible.

So here it is: the purpose of the entire Bible is ultimately to point to Jesus and his saving death and resurrection. If you don’t understand that, then as you read the Bible, you will go down all kinds of winding valleys and gulches, and you’ll lose sight of where you should be heading. You will find yourself obsessed with history, genealogies, dates, and prophecies, and you’ll lose sight of the point of all these things, and the point is to lead us to focus on Jesus Christ, his crucifixion for our sins, and victorious over death.

Jesus told the Jewish people that’s where they had gone wrong in reading the Bible. They’d focused on so many details they’d lost sight of the whole point, and he was it! The prophecies ultimately pointed to him. The stories of the Old Testament ultimately pointed to him. All the history of the Bible was ultimately leading up to him.

“Christ and him crucified” should be like the special superpower glasses you put on whenever you’re going to read the Word of God. It’s the ultimate secret code for understanding the Bible.

– Eliezer Gonzalez