Lesson 6
1. Opening Prayer
2. Bible Text Discovery
Rev. 12: 17 Dragon wroth with the woman.
3. How to use a Concordance
4. How to discover the Spiritual meaning of a word.
5. Closing Prayer
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Bible Text Discovery Sheet (401)
Bible Verse: Revelation 12:17
(SATAN) (GOD’S CHURCH))
“And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went
(GOD’S PEOPLE)
to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the
(SPIRIT OF PROPHECY)
commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ”.
What is the Main Physical thought of this text?
A “real” dragon is angry with a real woman and goes to war against her children.
Since real dragons do not exist, this text must be talking about a Spiritual Dragon who is angry with a Spiritual Woman and her Spiritual Children.
2. Think about the Spiritual Identify the Real Objects in the verse |
3. Discover the Spiritual Meaning (by using the Bible Word Pictures)
|
| DRAGON | SATAN Rev.12:7-9 |
| WOMAN | GOD’S CHURCH Isa.54:5,6 2 Cor.11:2 |
| SEED (her) | GOD’S PEOPLE Matt.13:38 |
| THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS | The Spirit of Prophecy Rev.19:10 |
Substitute the Spiritual meaning for the Real Objects.
Paraphrase:
And ( ) dragon was wroth with ( ) woman,
and went to make war with the remnant of ( ) her seed, which keep the commandments of God,
and have the ( ) testimony of Jesus Christ”.
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It is of great value to be able to use a Concordance
to help you study, so a brief description of
“How to use a Concordance” will now be given.
You use a concordance much like a dictionary. The words in a concordance are placed in alphabetical order and the concordance contains every word in the Bible and gives the location or Bible text where each word is found. When you want to explore a topic or subject you simply look up the word that describes your subject, such as “Angels” in your concordance and then proceed to read the Bible texts the concordance has listed for you.
Location of Bible texts using the “word”
Your Subject or “word”
Angels belong to God
God has thousands of angels
There are also evil angels
Something is
prepared for the
devil and his angels
God has given His angels
to have charge over us
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A
NGELS
there came two a to Sodom at even Gen 19:1 4397
then the a hastened Lot, saying Gen 19:15 4397
b
ehold the a of God ascending and Gen 28:18 4397
his way, and the a of God met him Gen 32:1 4397
h
is a he charged with folly Job 4:18 4397
him a little lower than the a Ps 8:5 430
thousand, even thousands of a Ps 68:17 8136
b
y sending evil a among them Ps 78:49 4397
shall give his a charge over thee Ps 91:11 4397
Bless the LORD, ye his a, that Ps 103:20 4397
Who maketh his a spirits Ps 104:4 4397
Praise ye him, all his a Ps 148:2 4397
He shall give his a charge Mt 4:6 32
a came and ministered unto him Mt 4:11 32
and the reapers are the a Mt 13:39 32
Son of man shall send forth his a Mt 13:41 32
the a shall come forth, and sever Mt 13:49 32
glory of his Father with his a Mt 16:27 32
That in heaven their a do always Mt 18:10 32
but are as the a of God in heaven Mt 22:30 32
he shall send his a with a great Mt 24:31 32
not the a of heaven, but my Mt 24:36 32
glory, and all the holy a with him Mt 25:31 32
p
repared for the devil and his a Mt 25:41 32
me more than twelve legions of a Mt 26:53 32
the a ministered unto him Mk 1:13 32
of his Father with the holy a Mk 8:38 32
but are as the a which are in Mk 12:25 32
And then shall he send his a Mk 13:27 32
not the a which are in heaven Mk 13:32 32
a
s the a were gone away from them Lk 2:15 32
shall give his a charge over thee Lk 4:10 32
in his Father’s, and of the holy a Lk 9:26 32
Notice how much you can learn by reading the texts.
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BIBLE STUDY PRINCIPLES
A concordance such as “Strong’s” contains a complete Hebrew and Greek dictionary that will be a great help to you in trying to learn the meaning of words used in the Bible that are not used today or are hard to understand.
Note: Always use the King James Bible to study from.
- Grace (hard to understand word)
2. Bible text is Ephesians 2:
(where hard word is located)
BIBLE TEXT Ephesians 2:8
grace
“For by are ye
saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God”
MAIN CONCORDANCE
3. Look up hard word “grace” in Concordance
4. Find the exact text
in the Bible where
hard word is used
5. Find the “number”
of the hard word
in the Greek dictionary
since the word is used
in the New Testament.
If word is in the Old
Testament, then you use
Hebrew Dictionary to
look up number.
6. The meaning of the
hard word “grace”
grace
G be to you and peace from God the Gal 1:3 5485
him that called you into the g of Gal 1:6 5485
womb, and called me by hi g Gal 1:15 5485
perceived the g that was given Gal 2:9 5485
I do not frustrate the g of God Gal 2:21 5485
ye are fallen from g Gal 5:4 5485
the g of our Lord Jesus Christ be Gal 6:18 5485
G be to you, and peace, from God Eph 1:2 5485
the praise of the glory of his g Eph 1:6 5485
according to the riches of his g Eph 1:7 5485
with Christ, by g ye are saved Eph 2:7 5485
his g in his kindness toward us Eph2:7 5485
For by g are ye saved through Eph 2:8 5485
of the dispensation of the g of Eph 3:2 5485
the g of God given unto me by the Eph3:7 5485
of all saints, is this g given Eph 3:8 5485
unto every one of us is given g Eph 4:7 5485
may minister g unto the hearers Eph 4:28 5485
G be with all them that love our Eph 6:24 5485
G be unto you, and peace, from God Phil 1:2 5485
ye all are partakers of my g Phil 1:7 5485
The g of our Lord Jesus Christ be Phil 4:23 5485
GREEK DICTIONARY OF THE
NEW TESTAMENT
5
485 Xápis charis khar’-ece: from 5463: graciousness (as gratifying) of manner or act (abstr. or concr.; lit, fig. or spiritual; espec. the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life; incl. gratitude: acceptable, benefit, favour. gift, grace(-ious), joy, liberality, pleasure, thank (-s, worthy)
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HOW TO DISCOVER THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
OF A KEY WORD
KEY WORDS
1. Key Words are usually nouns or “real things” that can be seen or felt.
2. When attempting to find the Spiritual Meaning of a key word, watch for “parallelism”, which is best described as “saying the same thing two different ways”. This usually makes the Spiritual Meaning of the key word much easier to understand.
Example “Parallelism” of a Bible verse:
Psm.119:130 “The entrance of thy words giveth light;
it giveth understanding unto the simple”.
COMPARING: Thy words giveth light
It giveth understanding.
CONCLUSION: To give light means
To give understanding
Thus, by comparing the “parallel” thoughts of a verse, we can arrive at the meaning of a key word.
We would then “add” this new key word to our Bible Vocabulary:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
Light Understanding Psm.119:130
3. Comparing “contrasting” Bible texts is another good way to discover the meaning of key words.
Example: “Contrasting” texts:
Prov.10:11 “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life”.
John 4:14 “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst… shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”.
2Peter 2:1 “But there were false prophets also… as there shall be false teachers among you..”.
2Peter 2:17 “These are wells without water…”.
COMPARING:
mouth of righteous man well of life
whosoever drinketh..I shall give well with water… everlasting life
false prophets, false teachers, wells without water
CONCLUSION:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
Well (with water) Righteous man (truth teacher) Prov.10:11 Jn.4:14
Well (without water) Unrighteous man (false teacher) 2Peter 2:1,17
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4. Use a Concordance, such as “Strongs” to locate a Key Word and then search the Bible texts for: the text or texts that reveal the “Spiritual Meaning” of the Key Word.
Example: Key Word = hammer
What is the “Spiritual Meaning of hammer?
1. Look up the Key Word “hammer” in the Concordance
Main Concordance page 433
J’g 4:21 took an h in her hand and went 4718
5:26 right hand to the workmen’s h 1989
5:26 and with the h she smote
1Ki.6:7 neither h nor axe nor any tool of 4717
Isa 41:7 he that smootheth with the h 6360
Jer 23:29 and like a h that breaketh 6360
Jer 50:23 and the h of the whole earth 6360
2. Quickly read the “partial sentences” using the Key Word in the Concordance to see if you can locate the Bible texts that are obviously using the Key Word in a “Spiritual Sense”.
Example: Jer.50:23 “…the hammer of the whole earth”. (No real hammer is of the whole earth and therefore this must be a “Spiritual Hammer”).
3. After locating, what appears to be a text using the Key Word in a Spiritual Sense, then look up that text in the Bible and read the complete text.
Example: Jer.50:23
How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken! How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations!
4. Using “parallelism” discover the Spiritual Meaning of the Key Word:
COMPARING: hammer of whole earth… broken
Babylon among nations… desolation
CONCLUSION: Key Word “hammer” represents Babylon
5. Add new Key Word to Bible Vocabulary list:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
hammer Babylon Jer.50:23
Sometimes there will be more than one Spiritual Meaning for a Key Word. This will be illustrated on the next page.
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Sometimes there will be more than one Spiritual Meaning for a Key Word. Also, sometimes you have to read each text when the “partial sentences” in the Concordance do not reveal any obviously Spiritual Meaning of the Key Word.
Example: Jer.23:29 “…And like a hammer that breaketh…”.
Not obviously Spiritual since a real hammer can break something.
1. Reading the complete text:
Jer.23:29 “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord: and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”.
2. Using “parallelism” to discover the Spiritual Meaning of the Key Word:
COMPARING: my word like a fire
my word like a hammer
CONCLUSION: 1. Key Word hammer represents God’s Word (the Bible)
2. Key Word fire represents God’s Word (the Bible)
When trying to understand the Spiritual Meaning of a Bible text by substituting the Spiritual Meaning of a Key Word in place of its literal one, it is important to use the “right” Spiritual Meaning when there is more than one meaning.
Example: Mat.13:33 “…Another parable spake he unto them: the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven…”.
Assuming “leaven” as the Key Word and checking our Bible Vocabulary List we find that there are two Spiritual Meanings for the Key Word “leaven”:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
leaven sin (malice and wickedness) 1Cor.5:8
leaven doctrine Mat.16:6,12
Which Spiritual Meaning should be used? The context of the text being examined will tell you!
Substitute the Spiritual Meaning of Key Word into the text:
Mat.13:33 “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven…”.
the kingdom of heaven is like unto “sin”
NO! Heaven is not like sin so this cannot be the “right” Spiritual Meaning.
Substitute the 2nd Spiritual Meaning of Key Word into the text:
Mat.13:33 “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven…”.
the kingdom of heaven is like unto “doctrine”
YES! Heaven could be like doctrine so this is the “right” Spiritual Meaning.
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When you discover a “Basic” Key Word a synonym will usually reveal the same meaning.
Example: Basic Key Word = garment
Synonyms: clothes, raiment, linen, apparel, robe
(They are all things to wear or to cover us)
For each Basic Key Word there are “shades of meaning” that are revealed by the adjectives describing the Basic Key Word.
Example: Basic Key Word = garment
“clean” garment (adjective: clean)
“filthy” garment (adjective: filthy)
Add new Key Word to Bible Vocabulary List:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
garment character
clean garment righteous character Rev.17:7,9
filthy garment sinful character Zech.3:3,4
Example: Basic Key Word = light
daybreak – light just beginning to overcome darkness
noonday – completely light, no darkness
Add new Key Word to Bible Vocabulary List:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
light understanding Psm.119:130
daybreak light just beginning to understand
noonday light complete understanding
Example: Basic Key Word = darkness
dusk – darkness overcoming light
midnight – complete darkness, no light
Add new Key Word to Bible Vocabulary List:
Key Word Spiritual Meaning Bible Ref.
darkness lack of understanding, error Psm 82:5
dusk almost complete lack of understanding
midnight complete lack of understanding, total error
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William T. Barrett
Bible Made Simple Ministry
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