Sometimes we read a passage one way for years and then, after studying it more closely or hearing another perspective, realize there may be more to it than we thought.
Is there a passage or Bible story that you understand differently today than you once did? What changed your understanding?
I sure have. Several verses. I was post trib rapture believer and I kept studying it and listening to different messages about it and then it was like, whoa I never thought of that, that makes a difference! Do you want the actual scriptures? I could get em in my notes.
Matthew 23:15
“**15 **Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell[a] as yourselves.”
I looked at this Scripture for years and understood the sentiment but overlooked the simple fact that Hebrew people don’t go looking for converts into their faith. When I realized this, the Scripture gained quite a bit more nuance.
Alfred Hitchcock liked to play cameo roles in his movies.(1) And we have this habit of photobombing God’s great story by barging in on someone else’s story.(2) We read of the amazing prophecies Jesus fulfilled that were addressed to the this generation He was addressing, and try to make those admonitions apply to us. Bad idea. We create a set of false expectations of doom ‘n’ gloom for ourselves and our children – or maybe not even bother having children.
All of the Bible was written for us. But very little of it (except, perhaps, John 20:31) is written to us. For me, it was a radical paradigm shift to see Rev. 1:1-3 as addressed to a specific audience, an audience that needed that message, and audience to whom that message would apply.
Surprise! The Great Tribulation is not an ominous crisis to look forward to with apprehension, but the fulfilled prophecy of our Lord!
Get the time frame right, and the whole New Testament pops into vivid focus and makes sense. Life is GREAT! God’s plans are AMAZING! Let’s go move some mountains for His glory!
Most of the prophecies in the Olivet Discourse, and John’s more detailed retelling of that discourse in prophetic (visual, right-brain) imagery, refers to the Jewish War, which lasted 7 years, started on schedule 40 years after Jesus pronounced God’s pending judgment upon “this generation,” and kicked the feet out from under the Kingdom of God’s two chief enemies – Rome, and apostate Israel.
Get the time frame right, and you can even explain Apocalypse to Turkish Muslims in a way that makes sense.