I know this is extremely long, but please take the time to read it all, if you want to improve your Bible study time. This is not just for preachers, but this is for all the people of God. As many of you who will repost, or share this. This revelation has changed my life, and I have put it to use for years now.
Have you ever found an interesting Scripture that stuck out to you while you were reading the Bible? That at first glance it didn't make sense to you, causing you to ask yourself the question, why was that stated like that? Since we know that 2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that...
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
With that said it should settle some unshakable truths in each of us. One, we can see that everything written within the lids of our Bible is inspired by God through the Holy Spirit to speak to us, because it actually is the "Word" of God. Two, I want you to see and realize that the Bible will never contradict itself. So if you are reading your Bible and you come upon a verse that appears to contradict itself from other Scriptures that you have read, rest assured it does not.
The devil will use findings like these to try to get you to mistrust the validity of God's Word, but the Holy Spirit on the other hand, will use times like these to inspire each of us to study deeper. When I find Scriptures that seem to contradict themselves, I get excited, because that tells me that here in lies a piece of a revelation that I don't know about God.
So how do I find the other pieces of the revelation, because God doesn't leave us hanging. He desires for us to know more about Him and his ways, but he doesn't always tell us the revelation all at once. God desires for us to seek it out through his Word, through prayer, through listening to sound doctrinal teaching on the subject. A revelation from God is a treasure form God each time we get one, whether he gives it to us quickly, or we receive it over time through Bible study.
Let's talk about receiving it through Bible study a little more, these next few verses are key in these situations.
Isaiah 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isaiah 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Okay, pick any verse in your Bible it may contain one line, or multiple lines, and with in those lines they could contain multiple meanings to more than one truth, or revelation. This is not meant to be confusing, so let me explain. Look at Isaiah 28:10 again.
A precept (in my own words) is simply a piece of a statute, or a law. It is what we would call a clause, and if a person would put all of the clauses together that would make up a subject, or apply to the subject. Then that person would hold in their hands the entire law, or statute. So when you pick up your Bible you are now holding all of God's laws compiled together for you to live, and enjoy your life. For instance, the United States of America's constitution has many clauses, but as a whole it is still only one constitution. The law of God, the Bible is laid out the same way.
So say we start a Bible study on a specific subject, we know through the Scriptures how to go about this. Start by compiling all the verses in the Bible on that subject. This is easy if you use Bible software such as Esword, Quick Verse, or even www.biblegateway.com; just to name a few. By using the keyword search provided there for you. Once you have compiled and read all of the verses you will begin to see the complete law of God on this particular subject, or clause begin to form.
Let's go back to Isaiah 28:10 again, notice the second part, line upon line, line upon line; If a verse has multiple lines look at it one line at a time, but do not take it out of it's proper context. Here's why, One or more of those lines may be a part of the revelation that you are seeking, or play a very important part of forming God's statute on the subject. So it is vitally important to compile those lines to, they could be in the verses that you have already looked up, but always be aware that there could be more. Be as thorough as you can be here because the Scriptures are purposefully scattered throughout the Bible. Thus, we see here the importance of the last part of Isaiah 28:10 as it says, here a little and there a little.
Do you now see how one Scripture can sometimes seem to be contradicting itself with another, because you didn't see, or understand the whole picture. If you don't have, or understand all of the pieces, then there is absolutely no correctly way to rightly divide the truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
There are still other ways to broaden your understanding of the Scriptures. Word studies in English, or in the Hebrew and Greek, knowing the customs of the times, and what was taking place when it was written; but equally important here, if not more important is the need for prayer as you endeavor to know more about God and his ways. If you really want to know about him and his ways he has put it all together in the form of a treasure hunt, in the #1 Best Seller the Bible. It is a love story, a thriller, an adventure, a how to book for dummies L.O.L, and so much more.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.