A lot of the Bible is easy to read and understand but we all know it can be hard to read and understand. Many Christians are continually dissatisfied with their comprehension of their Bible reading and that frustration can revolve around putting the whole story together. You can understand clearly what is on one puzzle piece but if you can’t figure out where it fits in the larger picture, it’s annoying. That’s how Bible reading feels to many.
That’s why one of the first steps to learning how to read the Bible is to understand the big picture. If it’s a puzzle, we have to know the picture on the box cover. If it’s a book or a movie, we have to know the one-paragraph summary of what it’s all about. Without that big picture understanding, we can feel lost for a time.
So, what’s the Bible all about? What’s the big idea? Let’s answer that in two steps.
Step one, it’s not about us. We naturally think it’s about us, who we are, our character, our actions, and the like. It does talks about us. It is written for us. But it’s not about us at the bedrock. It is about God, who He is, His character, and His actions. If the Bible were a puzzle, the front cover picture would include us but unmistakably emphasize God. If it were a movie, the paragraph summary would mention us but God would be the unmistakable emphasis.
Step two, when I say it’s about God I’m saying it is an unfolding story revealing who God is, what He is like, and what He has done, is doing, and will do. What we find is that God is the savior of sinners. The Bible is a hero story. God is the hero who rescues His undeserving enemies by becoming like them in every way yet without sin. He lives the life they should have lived. He dies a sacrificial death for their sin. He then rises from the dead in victory over sin, Satan, and death.
It’s all wild and unexpected.
After Jesus rose from the dead He walked with a couple of men who were down because they thought Jesus was still dead. Shockingly, Jesus confronts them by showing them in the Bible that they should have known that God would become a man, live, die, and rise. “And he said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27). In other words, the Bible has been revolving around and telling this story for a long time.
Consider this specific example. We might think the story of Jonah is about Jonah and us avoiding his sin and learning life lessons. While we do learn those kinds of things, Jonah isn’t about us. It’s about what Jesus was going to do for us. Jesus said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Mt. 12:40). This means when we read the story of Jonah, we should think things like, “Jonah was a bad prophet. We need a better prophet to rescue us. Jonah was sacrificed into the heart of a fish so that others might be saved from a storm. We need a better Jonah to be sacrificed into the heart of death itself so that others might be saved from sin. Jonah had little to no compassion on sinners. We need a Savior with compassion for sinners.”
We need to read the Bible like Jesus and the other New Testament authors who clearly saw the Scriptures as being about God and His work in and through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. When we remember that the Gospel is at the heart of the Bible from beginning to end, each puzzle piece will fall into place a bit quicker and new light will be shined on the Word.
