THINK PERSONALLY — NOT GLOBALLY
There is a strong tendency for religionists to think in global terms when reading the Bible. By that we mean that Jews, for example, tend to think about Biblical events in terms of what happened to Israel as a whole tribe of people instead of what happened to individuals. Christians make the same mistake of thinking about Biblical events in terms of what happened to the collective church instead of what happened to individuals. This kind of thinking causes several problems for individual people and for God.
Individuals tend to lose a sense of personal responsibility for obedience — except to be a part of the larger group (i.e. Jew or Christian). Both religions put so much emphasis on being a part of the larger group that individuals tend to think that their main responsibility is to be a member in good standing of a synagogue or a church, or a ministry or a religious movement or a denomination. Thus the institution — not God — becomes the authority that directs and drives what individuals do. God calls this idolatry.
We see this tendency at work in the emphasis on the name brand church, denomination, synagogue, or religious movement to which people belong. For example, it is not uncommon in Christian circles for adults to attend the denomination into which they are born. This is less true today than in days past but it is still true that most people find one denominational style (e.g. protestant, catholic, Pentecostal, reform, orthodox, etc.) and stick with it. There is some crossover within a denominational style but little between styles. Thus people tend to identify themselves by the label of the religious organization (e.g. Catholic, Lutheran, Pentecostal, Orthodox, etc.) to which they belong. For the more radical religionists, such labels carry as much weight as skin color, ethnicity and political labels. Again, the orientation is on the religious organization — not on the individual.
One of the consequences of this orientation is that people are more concerned about the church that their friends attend than they are about the spiritual well-being of the friend. For example when people who formerly went to church with someone who no longer attends that church encounter the missing acquaintance on the street, they are likely to say something like “I have not seen you in church lately.” Or they might ask the old acquaintance about the name of the church that they now attend. The focus is on identity with the church — not on the individual.
When people read the Bible they see application in terms of what the people (e.g. Israelites, Pharisees, Disciples, etc.) did do or should have done — not in terms of the personal responsibility of individual members of the group. A good example is found in the warnings to the seven churches in Revelation. Indeed the warnings are addressed to the churches, but the typical interpretation is always applied to the collective, corporate “churches,” not to individuals Thus, people think in terms of what should “we” do to be be Biblical, not in terms of what should “I” do.
Corporate church bodies are known by their preferred traditions and doctrines. Thus, when church leaders say “we follow a particular religious tradition,” the religionists of that church follow it. Members of the congregation trust that the leaders understand what the Bible says and therefore know the right thing to do. Then they do it religiously as a group. Individuals do not make personal studies of right doctrines or behaviors. They all willingly submit to the authority of church leaders and follow the accepted traditions which are always fulfilled in congregational gatherings and rarely on the personal level.
Christians entertain themselves and others with studies and speculations about disputable matters such as the Second Coming of Christ, the Rapture, baptism, speaking in tongues, women in ministry and many other issues that distinguish one religion from another. Participation in such speculations are indicators of super spirituality for religious leaders and spiritual wannabes, even though the Bible clearly warns against such disputes.
Such fleshly exercises are examples of signs and wonders that Old/First Covenant religionists are compelled to seek because they lack New Covenant faith that enables them to interpret scripture symbolically instead of literally. Not only are these studies and speculations a waste of time and contrary to what God says, but they also deceive people into thinking globally to the exclusion of personal, here and now application of prophecy and Bible stories.
The point we are trying to make is that New Covenant disciples must retrain themselves to interpret the Bible for its application to them as individuals right now — not in the unknown future. They must stop thinking in terms of global future events that will affect everyone and focus on what God wants for them as individuals today. People who read prophecy for its global application at some unknown future time will miss the personal application for themselves now. Hebrews 4:1-12 has much to say about the here and now application of scripture:
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest,'” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this place he said, “They shall never enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later of another day. 9 So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the people of God; 10 for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
What we learn from this scripture is that people who hear (i.e. read) God’s voice in prophecy and project the application of it to people of some future time have effectively hardened their hearts to what God wants them to learn today. They have resisted the living word’s ability to pierce their hearts.
In God’s timing the emphasis is always on today as is revealed in these scriptures:
2 Corinthians 6:1-2: Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
Luke 19:5-10 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchae’us, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he made haste and came down, and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it they all murmured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchae’us stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded any one of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The Bible must be read in terms of how it applies to individuals. It does apply to larger groups, of course, but that is true only to the extent that individuals with the right heart attitudes make up the larger group. We become members of the nation of Israel or the church by virtue of the spiritual condition of our heart — not because we have a physical or legal presence in the group. God only recognizes spiritual groups of individuals with common spiritual qualities (i.e. New Covenant disciples). He does not consider his chosen people to be those who have tied themselves to an organization. Such people are under the law of the organization — not under God’s law (i.e. law written on the heart). They are idolaters because they have put the organization ahead of God.
Making this adjustment will be hard because all religionists have been trained in the traditions of their religion of choice. And all of those religions employ religious leaders who study and report what the literal Bible says to naive followers. It is a big mistake for individuals to let others interpret the Bible without digging their personal spiritual wells. It is also a big mistake to blindly follow the traditions and teachings of any religious organization. That attitude and practice does not line up with what it means to be a New Covenant disciple.
Religious leaders are trained and conditioned to interpret the Bible in ways that will benefit religious leaders and the institutions (e.g. church, denomination, etc.) they serve. They have Old/First Covenant filters that see Bible application in terms the organization — not the individual. They are motivated and trained to lead large numbers of people in religious activities that are conducted under the authority of the organization — not by God. Listening to religious leaders is not the way to New Covenant discipleship. It is idolatry because the emphasis is on what the leader says — not on listening to God’s voice.