I say I know the Bible, many of us do, but what good is that, even Satan knows the Bible. I don’t want to just know the Bible I want to have an understanding of it, dig deeper, and experience the words as they jump off the page.
I can quote quite a bit of scripture if it came to it, but there is still so much I don’t know. I am weaning off the milk and getting to the meat of God’s word. I want to be like Gaspar, who, when he received a copy of the Bible in his possession Gaspar carried it like it was more precious than gold. If I’m honest I treat my Bible more like a cup of coffee, a quick pick me up, often forgetting I left it open, not returning to it for days on end, realizing I have become lukewarm.
Despite having grown up in the church I often forget the simple things from praying regularly to sharing Christ with others. I’m going back to the basics. I am starting over from the beginning of the Bible to the end as if I were once again a child. I will do my best to share all that I discover and if any questions arise please ask and we will do our best to find the answers together or direct you to someone who can.
Written by: Jay Sea
Editors Comments:
The four levels of Jewish interpretation of the scriptures are known as PaRDeS:
The Hebrew/Aramaic word PARDES is spelled in Hebrew and Aramaic without vowels as PRDS. PaRDeS refers to a park or garden, esp. the Garden of Eden. The word appears three times in the Aramaic New Testament (Lk. 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4 & Rev. 2:7).
The word PRDS is also an acronym (called in Judaism “notarikon”) for:
[P]ashat….in Hebrew…”simple”
[R]emez….in Hebrew…”hint”
[D]rash….in Hebrew…”search”
[S]od…In Hebrew…”hidden”
As you dive deeper into your own personal studies of the scriptures PRDS can help when you think of surface level reading. When Jesus Christ is quoted as speaking in the New Testament scriptures there is almost always a hint or reference to the Old Testament which would then send you on a search. Finally there are simply things that only God, Himself can reveal to you through a relationship with Jesus Christ and revealed through the Holy Spirit.
The Mercy Table 