The Bible isn’t  such a complex document that it requires years of formal education before you can begin to comprehend it. I’ve always believed the Bible was meant to be understood by any believer who can read and has a serious interest in knowing what it says.  I  say this because I believe the Bible is best approached by relying on the power of the Holy Spirit rather than one’s own intellect.  James 1:5 says that any of us who lacks wisdom need only ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault. Conversely the man without the Spirit can not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God regardless of his mental prowess. (1 Cor. 2:14) This is why we hear of people who tried to read the Bible as non-believers and found they couldn’t figure it out, but as soon as they were born again it began to make sense. They didn’t suddenly become more intelligent, they simply gained the supernatural insight of the Holy Spirit who teaches us all things. (John 14:26)

Over the 25 years or so I’ve been studying the Bible I’ve picked up a handful of principles that have also given me a better understand what it says. They help keep me honest so I know it’s the Holy Spirit teaching me, and not just my sin infested intellect coming to its own conclusion.  From time to time I get asked about these principles, having mentioned them in answers to various questions, so here they are.

The Golden Rule of Interpretation
“When the plain sense of scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context,
studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”  Dr. D.L. Cooper

This hasn’t become known as the Golden Rule of Interpretation for nothing.  If you ignore all the others and only follow this one rule you will avoid almost all the mistakes people make in reading the Bible.   And the next one is like it, sort of an expanded version of the first.

Literal, Historical, Grammatical, Contextual
These could be called the most important words in Biblical Hermeneutics, which is the science of  properly interpreting the Bible.

Literal means that each word is given the same exact basic meaning it would have in normal, ordinary, customary usage, whether employed in writing, speaking or thinking. Unless it’s clearly indicated otherwise, we’re to assume the Bible means exactly what it says.  Examples of passages that are not intended to be taken literally are parables, dreams, and visions.  These are all identified as such, alerting us to the fact that they’re meant to be understood symbolically.

Historical means that each passage is put into its proper historical setting and surrounded with the thoughts, attitudes, and feelings prevalent at the time of its writing. In Biblical times the Jewish view of the Messiah was one of a charismatic leader like King David.  In other words, a man, not God in human form. Knowing that helps us understand how they failed to recognize Him, and why they accused Him of blasphemy when He claimed to be God.

Grammatical means that words are given meanings consistent with their common understanding in the original language at the time of writing. Grammatical interpretation also includes following recognized  rules of grammar and in its more advanced form, applying the nuances of the Hebrew and Greek languages to the understanding of a passage.

A good example showing the importance of following the rules of grammar can found in Daniel 9:27 where the subject of the first sentence in the verse is a personal pronoun.  “He will confirm a covenant with (the) many.”  The rule of grammar regarding personal pronouns is that they refer to the closest preceding personal noun. In this case it’s “the ruler who will come” in verse 26 indicating that the person who will confirm the covenant with Israel is the anti-Christ, not the Lord as some commentators assert.

Contextual interpretation involves always taking the surrounding context of a verse/passage into consideration when trying to determine its meaning. The Holy Spirit has usually prompted the Bible’s writers to place indicators in the text surrounding a passage to guide you in interpreting it.  In 1 Cor. 9:24-27Paul compares our life to that of an athlete, training and competing for crowns. The mention of crowns tells us the passage is not about salvation, which is a free gift, but rewards believers can win after being saved.  (In this case it’s the crown of victory, awarded to those who overcome the ways of the flesh by getting rid of selfish desires, bad habits and attitudes, etc.)

When you stop to think about it, reading the Bible this way actually makes perfect sense.  If you received a letter from a friend you wouldn’t have to be reminded to apply these principles.  You would naturally assume that your friend was using words that meant the same thing to both of you.  You would understand them within the parameters of your shared history, you would assume that the rules of grammar you had both been taught applied, and you would interpret what was written  within the context of your relationship.  You would expect your friend to alert you if any of these assumptions were not going to apply, and explain the reason for it.

The only difference with the Bible is that it was written over a long period of time, during which the meanings of some words changed, and society is generally different now than it was when the Bible was written.  This makes books on Bible history and a good concordance valuable additions to your library.

Expositional Constancy
This is a fancy term to remind us that symbolism in scripture tends to be consistent.  For example, through out the Bible leaven, or yeast, is used symbolically to stand for sin. Therefore there’s no justification for claiming that in the Parable of the Yeast (Matt. 13:33) and there alone, it stands for the Gospel. Expositional Constancy only applies to words that are used symbolically, so be careful.  Peter’s statement in 2 Peter 3:9 that with the Lord a day is like 1000 years and 1000 years is like a day does not justify substituting 1000 years for a day every time it comes up.  Peter was simply explaining that the Lord’s concept of time is way different from ours.

Internal Consistency
The Bible, being the word of God, cannot contradict itself.  The Lord is just and righteous so He can’t say something in one place and something different in another.  He knows the end from the beginning so He can’t change His mind or take back something He’s given.  Everything He says has to agree with everything else He says.  For example, if the Bible says it’s God who makes us stand firm in Christ, that He anointed us, set His seal of ownership on us and put His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee of what’s to come ( 2 Cor. 1:21-22), then it can’t say that we can walk away from our salvation or have it taken away from us someplace else.

Principle Of First Mention
Often when an important concept is mentioned for the first time there is elevated significance in the context of the passage in which it appears.  The first mention of the Church is in Matt.16:18 where Peter declared that Jesus is the Messiah, son of the living God.  Jesus said that this truth would be the foundation upon which He would build His Church. Notice who’s going to be doing the building and whose Church it is.  Studying the passage where an important concept first appears can be very helpful in interpreting subsequent passages on the same subject.

Use Clear Passages To Interpret Obscure Ones
Some passages of Scripture are more difficult to interpret correctly than others. When confronting one of these, it’s best to locate the clearest verses on the subject and use them to help interpret the difficult one.  A classic example is Hebrews 6:4-6 which, when taken alone, seems to say that we can fall away and lose our salvation, and if that should happen we can never get it back.  But the clearest verses on salvation are Ephesians 1:13-14 and 2 Cor. 1:21-22, and they plainly state the opposite.  The Ephesians passage says we were included in Christ when we first heard and believed the gospel.   Having believed we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, a deposit that guarantees our inheritance.  In 2 Corinthians Paul went even further saying that God himself has accepted responsibility for making us stand firm in Christ and has set His seal of ownership on us, like a rancher brands his cattle.

Applying the principles above we must conclude that the writer to Hebrews had to be talking about something else.  When we look at the context of the letter, we find that it was written to Jewish believers who were being lured back into the Levitical system, which used the sacrifice of a lamb to atone for sins.  For the Church, the Lord’s death fulfilled what the sacrifice only symbolized, so going back to this was tantamount to sacrificing Him all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace, because by their actions they were saying that His death was not sufficient to atone for their sins.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, going back to the sacrifice was no longer acceptable to God because the Law was only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves.  For that reason it could never make perfect those who draw near to worship no matter how many times they repeated it. (Hebr. 10:1)  But when the Lord  offered His sacrifice once for all time, He made perfect forever those who are being made holy (Hebr. 10:12-14)  During the Church Age all we have to do after sinning is confess our sins to receive forgiveness, be brought back to repentance, and be purified from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)  Now Hebrews 6:4-6 makes sense because it conforms to the internal consistency of God’s Word.

There are lots of other rules and principles man has developed for application to God’s word, but in my opinion if we just apply the ones I’ve listed above we’ll stand a good chance of avoiding the errors and misinterpretations that seem to be so common these days.

The Bible is quite simply the most incredible book ever written. Some parts of it were written at least 4000 years ago, and by 95AD its most recent chapters were finished.   But according to Paul it was written  to teach us, upon whom the end of the age has come. (Romans 15:4, 1 Cor. 10:11) If we’ll just read it the way we would any other document, as if it means what it says, the Holy Spirit will reveal wondrous truths from within its pages. Truths that will give us an anchor against the storms of deceit and controversy that have become so common in our time.  Maybe that’s why it was written primarily to us.

A while back I posted a study showing why the phrase “No one Knows The Day or Hour” was meant for the 2nd Coming, not the Rapture.  Even though it’s clear that the Great Tribulation is 1260 days long, and the 2nd Coming follows it, the Lord said people on Earth at the time will not know the day or hour of His coming. To emphasize this, He repeated it 4 times within the span of 28 verses (Matt. 24:36-37, 42-44, 50-51, 25:13)

A reader responded with the fascinating suggestion that this might help solve the  mystery of the 1290 days and 1335 days of Daniel 12:11-12. Here’s what she wrote.

I agree with you that Matt. 24:36-51 refers to the Lord’s return at the end of the Tribulation, also known as “the time of Jacob’s trouble.”  However, I can understand why so many Christians become confused and think those verses might refer to the rapture.  It used to seem strange to me that “the evil servant” mentioned in Matt. 24:48-51 could mistakenly think that “his Lord delayeth his coming” when there are so many places where the exact length of time of the final 3 1/2 years is spelled out in Daniel 12:7 and Rev. 12:14(time, times, and half a time), Rev. 12:6 (1260 days), and Rev. 13:5 (forty two months).  Because of those verses, most Christians tend to think that Jesus is going to return on the very last day of the Great Tribulation, so how could He “delay His coming.”  But then there  are those intriguing verses in Daniel 12:11-12:

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.   Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.”

I have always wondered if there is a little pause after the seven years of Tribulation ends and then the Lord returns, and Daniel 12:12 is speaking of that little pause.  Matt. 24:29-30 seems to confirm the short pause spoken of in Daniel.  Matt. 24:29-30:

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

If there is a bit of a pause between the end of the Tribulation and our Lord’s return to earth (with us following behind him on our white horses), that explains why some people on the earth who don’t maintain their faithfulness during that last little stretch of time after the Tribulation ends might be caught unfaithful, per Matt. 24:48-51:

“But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;  The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

A pause like this could also explain why the 10 bridesmaids “fell asleep” waiting for the Lord.

I suppose that all this is a moot point for the Church, but it’s one of those things that I’ve pondered.  What do you think?”

Here’s what I think.  I think putting Daniel 12 and Matt. 24 together makes a lot of sense.  To explain why will require some speculation on my part because the Bible doesn’t go into much detail.  But if you’ll permit me a little latitude, I’l try not to stray away from the Bible’s intent in filling in some of the blanks concerning the time of the Lord’s coming.

Immediately after the end of the Great Tribulation, on the 1260th day after the Abomination of Desolation, the Sun and Moon will go dark, and the stars will fall from the sky.  An indeterminate period of total worldwide darkness will follow, and then a great sign will appear in the dark sky. This sign has not been described to us, but people on Earth will know it’s the sign of the Lord.  After that, on a day no one will have known in advance, the Lord will suddenly appear on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matt. 24:29-30).  Imagine if you can the contrast between the totally black sky and the brightness of His glory, especially after an extended period of total darkness. What a sight!

The armies of Heaven will be with Him (Rev. 19:14), as will the Church (Rev. 17:14).  He’ll be coming from the Jordanian desert where He will have defeated the enemy forces trying to wipe out the Jewish remnant hidden there. (Isaiah 63: 1-6) As His foot touches the Mt. Of Olives a giant earthquake will open a deep ravine running from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea.  Living water from the Temple north of Jerusalem will immediately fill the ravine, connecting the two bodies of water.  (Zechariah 14:1-9, Ezekiel 47:1-12)

With nothing more than the word of His mouth He’ll destroy the forces arrayed against Him. The anti-Christ and the False Prophet will be captured and thrown into the Lake of fire.  He’ll summon a lone angel who will seize the devil, bind him in chains, and cast him into the Abyss for 1000 years. (Rev. 19:11-20:3)

At the end of the day light will finally return to Earth (Zech. 14:6-7) brought by the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven. (Rev. 21:22-24) To say it’ll be a unique day is one of the greatest understatements of all time.

If His first official act is one of judgment, as Matt. 25:31-32 and Rev. 20:4seem to say, then perhaps it will begin immediately after His arrival.

This will be a judgment of Tribulation survivors.  Those who pass will have shown themselves to be believers and will be received unto the Lord and welcomed into the Kingdom Age to help re-populate Earth.  Those who fail will be put away, removed from the planet.  This is summarized in Matt. 24:40where the Greek word translated taken means to receive unto oneself, and the one for left means to be put away.

The Lord described this judgment in greater detail in the form of four parables.

The first one describes how He’ll deal with the false teachers, those who led people astray during the Great Tribulation. This is the Parable of the Servants (Matt. 24:45-51)

Then come those who lost heart and failed to maintain their own salvation, as will be required of Tribulation believers (Rev. 14:12 & 16:15).  This is the Parable of the 10 Virgins. (Matt. 25:1-13)

Next we see those who placed no value on His word.  They didn’t study it or share it, but in effect buried it in the ground and in the process lost even what little comprehension they originally had.  This is the Parable of the Talents. (Matt. 25:14-30)

And finally comes the judgment of people who stood by and watched the Lord’s people be nearly driven to extinction with out lifting a finger to help them. This is the story of the Sheep and Goats.  (Matt. 25:31-46)

The next task on the Lord’s agenda will involve cleansing the defiled Temple, making it fit for use again. (I’m convinced that the same Temple used during Daniel’s 70th week will be used in the Millennium. For more detail read my study called “The Coming Temple”.) By the time the Temple is re-dedicated, 1290 days will have passed since the Abomination of Desolation.  This is consistent with the view held by some that the 1290 day period from Daniel 12:11 pertains to the duration of the Temple’s desolation, not the Lord’s return.

But there will still be 45 more days before reaching the 1335 days given to Daniel as the duration of time from the Abomination of Desolation to the beginning of blessing, which I see as being the official start of the Millennium. I suggest that this time may be necessary to set up the Kingdom. There’s a lot that needs to be done, like crowning the Prince of Israel and installing his government, organizing the priesthood behind the family of Zadok (Ezek. 44:15-16) and teaching them their new duties, especially concerning the new cycle of sacrifices and Holy Days (Ezek. 44-46), positioning the New Jerusalem in its orbit above Earth (Rev. 21:2-3), reassigning the Tribal land allotments in Israel (Ezek, 45 & 48) and installing the governments of the Nations.  If these things unfold as I’ve described them, then 1335 days from the Abomination, the Millennial Kingdom will be officially inaugurated.

Those who have both waited for and actually reached that day will be truly blessed, because they will have been eyewitnesses to the most amazing events in human history, and at its conclusion will have found themselves among the victors, poised to experience the fulfillment of all their dreams. It will be a celebration such as has never before been seen on Earth.