EBible Fellowship Sunday Bible Study – 18-Jan-2009

GOD WROTE THE WHOLE BIBLE 

by Robert Daniels

www.ebiblefellowship.com

One of the things I think I will look at today is very familiar to all of us.  I figured we would go back again and look at it.  It has been my experience that when speaking to people about the Bible (or salvation, or election, or any parts of the Bible), many people do not understand that the whole Bible is written by God, that the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation is God-breathed. 

I was speaking to someone the other day, and they said to me that only the red letters in the Bible, in the New Testament, are the Word of Christ.  (Whoever decided to write the letters in red did a terrible thing that should have never been.)  They kept insisting to me that only the red letters in the New Testament are the Word of God.  So I asked them, “What about the Old Testament, which was not written with red letters; is not that also the Word of God?”  No answer.  “What about the book of Matthew?  What about Genesis?  What about any parts of the Old Testament?  Is not that also written by God?”  They could not answer the question.  They keep insisting that parts of the Bible are not God’s.  “What part of the Bible is written by man?”  No answer, and no matter what I say to this person, they keep insisting what they believe to be the Bible is the Bible.

Many, many people are like that in our day.  They believe part of the Bible is written by man and part is written by God, and whatever they believe.  That is so wrong, because if we do not believe that the entire Bible is written by God, then we do not have a leg to stand on; we do not have a leg to stand on at all.  The entire Bible is God-breathed. 

If you look at Jeremiah 36, God tells us how He wrote the Bible, all the Bible.  God tells us that “holy men of God” wrote as God the Holy Spirit moved them (2 Peter 1:21).  The entire Bible, whether we understand what we are reading or not, the whole Bible came from the very mouth of God.  In Jeremiah 36:1-7, we read:

And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

See where it came from?  It came from the LORD, the entire Bible:

Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch …

He was the scribe; he was the secretary of Jeremiah:

… the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, …

So we see that God put the words in Jeremiah’s mouth, and Jeremiah was dictating them to Baruch, and he was just simply writing them down:

… which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD: Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, …

The mouth of Jeremiah:

… the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.

So you see how God put the words in these people’s mouths, and they simply wrote it.  In another part of the Bible, in 2 Peter 1:21, God tells us:

… but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The entire Bible is the Word of God.  Look at verse 16 of Jeremiah 36:

Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.

Now remember, this king, he is going to burn the Word of God when he hears it.  Verses 17-18:

And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, …

Jeremiah is speaking to him:

… and I wrote them with ink in the book.

So all he was doing was writing down what Jeremiah was telling him as God put the words in Jeremiah’s mouth.  Look at verse 32:

Then took Jeremiah another roll, …

Remember when the king burned the Bible?  Here, God is telling us that He is going to have Jeremiah now write again what the king burned:

Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

So you see, God wrote the entire Bible—absolutely no doubt about it.  But there are those who do not understand how God wrote the Bible.  First they say that God wrote this part and He did not write this part, this part was written by man, and whatever it is.  How sad that is.  The whole Bible came from the very mouth of God, from the infinite mind of God.  God wrote the Bible.  We have to start out with that.  If you do not believe that the entire Bible is the Word of God, as I said, you do not have a leg to stand on.  The Bible is the Word of God.  Either you believe it or you believe it is not. 

We are going to look at how God has written the Bible.  A lot of people run into trouble here.  If you speak to someone about the Bible and they do not understand that God wrote the Bible in parables, they do not understand that.  So when you tell someone the day of the return of Christ, or that the church age is over, or you tell them that the end of the world is 2011, they say, “Well show me in the Bible where it says that, May 21, 2011.”  They look at you as if you have lost your mind.  They do not understand how God has written the Bible. 

So when you tell them any part, whether election, or anything you are talking to them about, they cannot see it because they do not understand that God has written the Bible in parables.  So when you tell them these things, they are going to argue with you.  They are going to think you are losing your mind.  “How can you know the day of Christ’s return?  No one knows the day or the hour.”  See, they take that verse and they hide behind it.  They take it and run with it because they do not understand that God wrote the Bible in parables, and that the Bible is very difficult to understand. 

Let us look at Proverbs.  Let us look at some verses in the Bible.  There are many other verses we could look at, but in Proverbs 1 (you know, the Proverbs — that is a give away right there; the book of Parables — the word “proverbs” is the word “parables”) we read in verses 1-6:

The Proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; To know wisdom …

Ultimately, Christ is wisdom.  He “is made unto us wisdom” (1 Corinthians 1:30) and understanding and so forth:

To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, …

Spiritually, we become wise when we become born again because God is made unto us wisdom” and He has given us spiritual ears to hear.  We are going to hear, the true believers:

… and will increase learning; …

As God opens our understanding, we are going to increase in learning.  We are going to learn more about the truths of the Gospel as we study and pray for wisdom.  We are not relying on our own understanding, but we are relying on God as He opens the Bible to us.  Particularly in our day, we are increasing learning because now we understand we are at the end of the world, the church age is over, and these things pertaining to the end of the world.  We are increase learning:

… a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

The Bible is our counselor:

To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; …

To understand a parable.  We have to look for the interpretation of it.  What does God mean when He is speaking to us in this language?  We have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning, the interpretation of it:

… the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

It is a deeper meaning there.  When God is speaking to us from the pages of the Bible, they are dark sayings.  We are looking for a deeper spiritual meaning.  And God goes on.  So you see, let us look at Proverbs 9:9 for instance.  God tells us the same thing there:

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

God has made us just.  As we study the Bible and as God opens our understanding, we are going to increase our learning about what God is speaking of.  Remember, some things in the Bible were shut up.  You could not know such things about some things in the Bible until our day.  We are increasing in learning; we are learning more about God’s judgment process in the last few months. 

When we examine these things throughout the Bible, we see that it is so.  We are increasing in learning about these things now.  In particular, we did not know that faith was a work; we are learning these things.  Now is God’s timing, that He is going to open up all these difficult passages to us in the Bible. 

Let us look at Job, another passage.  In Job 27:1, God is telling us how He has written the Bible.  There we read:

Moreover Job continued his parable, …

See, parabolic language:

Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

So you see, it is a parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  We have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning. 

If you look also in Psalm 49:1-4:

Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world: Both low and high, rich and poor, together.

God wants everyone to hear this:

My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding. I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

Is God speaking about a musical instrument?  No, harp, we read, as we declare the Word of God.  We are declaring the Word of God.  It says:

I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

And God goes on.  You see, there is a deeper meaning there that we should look for as we study the Bible.  But there are those who just take these verses as they see them and take the literal meaning of them.  You cannot do that.  You are going to run into a lot of trouble.  It is not going to add up. 

Is God, like in Revelation 20, speaking about a literal 1,000 years?  No.  Is a literal beast going to come out of the earth, like we read in Revelation?  No, we have to look for the spiritual meaning.  We have to compare spiritual with spiritual; we have to look for the deeper meaning.  If we do not do that, we will not come to truth.  We have to follow the rules that God lays down in the Bible.  We are to compare spiritual things with spiritual. 

When He is speaking about the land of Israel, when they dwell there forever, is it the literal land over there?  No, we know that the world is going to be destroyed shortly so it cannot be that.  You have to look for a deeper meaning to what God is speaking about. 

Look at another familiar passage in Psalm 78, the same book.  God is insisting how He has written the Bible.  In Psalm 78:1-2:

Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

Same idea there, that the Bible came from God’s mouth:

I will open my mouth in a parable: …

God is telling us how He has written the Bible:

… I will utter dark sayings of old:

It is how He has written it — in parables and parables.  Until we understand that and start looking for a deeper meaning, we will never come to truth. 

There are those people in those churches that believe God is speaking to them.  It is a wrong interpretation, wrong understanding; their spiritual eyes are not opened to truth.  They do not understand how God has written the Bible.  So no matter how you talk to this person about certain things in the Bible, they will not see it.  They cannot see it.  They are spiritually blinded. 

If God so wished to open their eyes to truth, then they will see it; but other than that, they cannot, and it could be plain as day.  They are spiritually blinded.  They do not understand the way God has written the Bible.  They are taking the literal thing, that this is it.  You try to say to them, “Well, what about this verse over here?  What about this verse?  What about that verse?”  They cannot see it.  They cannot see it because their spiritual eyes are not opened. 

Let us look at Matthew 13; we are going to look at some parables.  Do you remember the parable of the sower of the seed?  Christ, He gave us this parable and then He went on to explain it.  He went on to explain what He meant.  Look at verse 3:

 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

Then He tells us all this information in verses 4-7.  He tells us that He is speaking to them in parables.  Turn over to verse 10, let us pick up at verse 10:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?

“Lord, why are You speaking to them in parables?”  And He said in verse 11:

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

It is given to the true believers, as God opens their eyes.  It is given to us to know these things because God opened our spiritual eyes to truth.  But He is saying unto these people that it is not given, that they are not going to know it.  God is the One who has to open our spiritual eyes. 

Yes, intellectually, we could understand a lot about the Bible.  We could know a lot, but it is not in our heart.  God has to open our heart.  Having an intellectual understanding of the Bible does not make someone saved.  Yes, someone could come out of the church.  Yes, they should, but that does not make them saved either.  God has to do a work of grace within our hearts. 

We could know all these things; we could understand all these things.  Remember in 1 Corinthians 13, a person could do all these things — give the ultimate sacrifice, his life, his body to be burned — but if he does not have the love of God in him, what does it profit that person?  That person is not saved.  God has to do the work of grace within us and save us.  I do not want to read the whole thing, but look at verse 18 of Matthew 13:

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

Christ is now going to explain.  Here His disciples are saying, “Why are You speaking to them in parables?”  And then in verse 18 and on down, you can see where God is now going to explain to them what He truly meant.  That is how we are to approach the Bible.  We have to look for that deeper spiritual meaning.  It is written in parabolic form so we have to look for the meaning of it. 

This is the perfect example of how God has written the Bible.  He wrote it this way, and then we have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning.  Here, Christ spoke to them in parables this way, and now He is coming down and He is going to explain it.  And that is how all of us should read the Bible, to look for the deeper spiritual meaning. 

For many, many years, many of us thought that there was going to be an eternal damnation, where people were going to be roasting in hell forever.  Now we see that they are going to be destroyed, that they are going to be annihilated.  So the true believers, when we learn something in the Bible, are not going to take the word of a man.  But if this person is a faithful teacher of the Bible and has proven to be a faithful teacher of the Bible, then when they teach something new from the Bible, what should we do?  Take that person’s word for it?  No, we are going to search it out in the Bible.  “Is this so?”  And if it is found to be true, we praise God for it.  We praise God for it. 

But here, Christ explained what He meant when He spoke to them in parables.  He went on to explain it.  He gave us the meaning of what He was really speaking about.  And that is how He has written a lot of the Bible: in a parabolic form. 

Let us look at verse 24 of Matthew 13, and it says:

Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

Another parable.  Verses 34-35:

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; …

That is a hint to go back to the Old Testament, the verses we just read in Psalms.  Matthew 13 continues:

… I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

And particularly in our day, what has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world”?  Pertaining to the end of the world in which we live — we did not know a lot of Information pertaining to the end of the world until our day.  It has been kept secret by God, and now we are learning more and more about the end of the world.  In verse 36:

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

They are always asking Christ, “Explain to us what You just said; explain to us that parable.”  And Christ, He would go on to explain what He meant, because He spoke to them in parables.  At least His disciples recognized that, that Christ was speaking to them in parables.  And so as we read the Bible, we have to always keep in mind, “Is there a deeper spiritual meaning to what God is saying to us?”  We should always search for the spiritual meaning.  Turn over to Matthew 21:32-33; He says:

For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, …

Another parable.  Again, that is another parable, and we should search for the spiritual meaning. 

Go over to Matthew 24.  In Matthew 24, God gives a lot of information about the tribulation period and the end of the world.  Look in verse 32:

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; …

We have to figure out what does the fig tree represent.  Is He speaking about a literal fig tree?  He cannot be speaking about that; we know it is pointing to Israel:

Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:

You see, in all this language here in Matthew 24, in all these verses, we have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning.  If we do not do that, the Scripture is not going to fit.  You will not find truth.  You cannot look for a literal earthquake, although there have been earthquakes throughout the history of the world.  When Christ says here in Matthew 24:7:

For nation shall rise against nation …

Which nation is that?  We know there are two kingdoms in the world that are against each other: the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of Satan.  Kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation.  There have always been wars throughout the history of the world.  We know that God is not speaking about that.  We have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning. 

That is the way we are to approach the Bible.  And it takes study; it takes work.  We have to spend time in the Bible.  The more I read the Bible, the more I see I do not know anything — I do not know anything.  That is how we are to approach the Bible.  “Oh Lord, You teach me; what do I know.”  But we have to follow the rules that God has set forth for us as to how we are to study the Bible.  If we do not, we will never come to truth.  We are always going to go down the wrong path, because God has given us the rules how we are to study the Bible.  Let us look at another familiar verse, 2 Timothy 2:15.  Here God tells us:

Study …

You cannot be lazy.  Studying takes work, it takes time.  And we have to always pray, “Oh Lord, open my eyes; give me understanding.”  We have to approach the Bible that way:

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

We are to study.  That word “study” there is the Greek word “Strong’s #4704”, and one of the ways it is translated is “endeavoring.”  I do not know if you have ever seen that, but it is translated as “endeavoring.”  Let us look at Ephesians 4, and we will start reading at verse 1:

I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring …

See that word, it is the word here that is translated as “study”:

… Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

That is the same word there that is translated as “study.”  It is also translated a couple of other ways, as “labour” or as “diligence.”  Let us look at another verse where it is used.  In Hebrews 4 — let us pick up the context there in verse 8 — Hebrews 4:8 says, and I will read to verse 11:

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour …

Same word there as “study”:

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

It is the same word there.  It is translated as “labour” here in Hebrews 4.  And also, let us look at 2 Peter.  Turn back over to 2 Peter 3:14:

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent …

We have to be diligent students of the Bible.  We should not be casual readers of the Bible, but a true believer is going to be a diligent student of the Bible.  That word there, “diligent,” is the word “study”:

… that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

So you see, it is used these three ways in the Bible.  We will look at a couple; look at 1 Thessalonians 2:17:

But we, brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire.

The word there “endeavoured” — see, that word “study” is translated as “endeavoured,” “labour.”  We labor in the Word of God.  We are to study as God commands us to do so. 

God gives people different abilities, some to study.  But we ought to at least be spending time reading the Bible.  This thing I spoke about last time was that during this new year, as we enter into the start of 2009, our desire ought to be spending more time in God’s Word and in prayer.  That ought to be our desire, that when we look back over last year, how much time have we spent reading the Bible?  How much time have we spent studying the Bible?  But not only do we have to read the Bible, we have to pray.  “Oh Lord, help me to be obedient to what I have read.”  We have to pray for obedience.  We have to read the Bible, read it, consistently read it, read it, read it, and we also have to pray for obedience.  We have to read it, “Oh Lord, help me to be obedient to what I have read,” because we of ourselves cannot do it.  We have to pray to God for obedience. 

Remember, God tells us not to only be hearers of the Word, but to be doers of it.  Be doers of it; do what He tells us to do.  They do say, “I am reading the Bible,” but if we are not doing what God tells us to do, then what are we doing?  Pray for obedience.  Do what He says.  Remember God says to us:

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

In John 14:15.  Keeping God’s commandments is doing what He says.  See, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  We have to do it.  He gives us commands.  For example, I am married, so God says, “Husbands, love your wives,” I have to do it (Ephesians 5:25).  You do what He says.  “Children, obey your parents,” you do it (Ephesians 6:1).  You have to do what He says, these things.  We cannot simply read it, read it, read God’s Word and read it, but we have to actually do what He says. 

So we have to spend time searching the Bible, studying it, seeing how He has written the Bible, because, as we know, God has hidden truth within the Bible and we must search it out.  And it takes time.  We have to turn that TV off; we have to turn that ballgame off.  We have to spend our time more wisely in God’s Word because we know that time is coming to a close.  We know the very day of Christ’s return, so what ought we to be doing?  Especially if you know you are not saved, what should you be doing?  Reading the Bible, because Christ tells us God is not going to change His law because of being lazy.  He said:

… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

In Romans 10:17.  So, you are going to put yourself under the hearing of the Word of God.  And many of us, if we look at our schedule, waste a lot of time doing nothing, do we not?  Really look at our time.  We spend that hour watching TV, or I know kids (I have four kids of my own) spend time on those games.  You know, that is time being wasted really.  I know a child is a child, but come on, I was a kid once.  I played, I had my toys, but there comes a time when you have to put these things away, put them away, and go in your room, close the door.  Any one of us could do this.  And we open the Bible for half-an-hour or an hour and just simply read God’s Word and pray for obedience. 

If we look at our schedule and what we are doing with our time, you would be amazed that in 24 hours, how we have wasted it, how we have wasted it.  That should not be if we call ourselves children of God.  Yes, I know, we have to spend time going to work.  A mother has to take care of her home.  All these things are important, but there comes a time.  Get that quiet time — it could be midnight, it could be 3:00am and everybody is asleep, or whatever time works for you — when we are going to sit and we are going to listen to the Bible in prayer, in Bible reading on our own, just simply listening to the Bible, listening to God speak to me.  And we speak to God through our prayers. 

Remember, I said last week that Christ tells us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16).  Who understands your situation better than God?  You could try to tell someone something, but they do not really get it because they are not in your situation.  But God does.  He understands perfectly; better than I do, better than you do.  He understands your situation.  But time is precious and the days are turning, the weeks are turning, the months are turning.  And before you know it, this year is over and then we are looking at 2010, and a few months after, we are at the end of the world.  We have to spend time reading the Bible. 

In Acts 17, we have to be this way, in Acts 17:9, remember the Bereans?  The Bereans, what did they do?  They spent time.  You hear these things are being taught in the Bible.  You hear it, you hear these doctrines — the end of the world, annihilation, judgment day, — are these things really so?  You are going to be like the Bereans.  You search it out, you search it out, and if it is true, you praise God for it.  That is how we ought to be with the Word of God.  We ought to study, study, study the Bible.  Especially when you open your eyes to see how God has written the Bible, the light should go off.  “Oh, this is how God has written the Bible.” 

Let us look at Proverbs 25:1-2, another familiar passage to us.  In Proverbs 25, remember what God tells us there in Proverbs 25?  Let us start in verse 1, Proverbs 25:1.  Here we read:

These are also proverbs …

Parables, see how God has written the Bible?  In a parabolic form.  We have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning:

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.

See how God has written the Bible?  He has hidden truth within the Bible.  He has written it in a parabolic form, He has written it in parables, and the true believers are going to search it out.  “What is God saying from this passage?”  And we compare spiritual things with spiritual. 

Look at 1 Corinthians 2, another familiar passage, 1 Corinthians 2:9-16.  We are looking at how God has written the Bible.  1 Corinthians 2:9-16 says:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

So you see, we have to search these things out in the Bible.  These are spiritual things, and as true believers, we are going to search them out.  And it goes on; verse 13 says:

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Spiritual things with spiritual.  It goes on:

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

When we become saved, we become spiritually minded, and we are going to look for the deeper spiritual things in the Word of God because we know that the Bible is written in parables.  Christ said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man taking a journey — what does that mean?  We have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning, or else we are going to go down a blind alley and we will not come to truth.  We have to recognize how God has written the Bible.  He has written it in parabolic form.  And we have to look for the deeper spiritual meaning.  There are those who are taking a lot of things in the Bible literally, and they are not going to come to truth that way.  We know a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, and we are going to search for the heavenly meaning; which is, when we come to the Gospel, the truth of whatever Christ is speaking about.  Let us close.