Introduction
This book explains some of the most important yet misunderstood concepts, principles and doctrines of the Bible. This will not be an easy study. If it were, such a study would be misguided and therefore useless. The Bible can be read and understood at many levels, from a cursory level to the deep concepts explaining the person of God Himself. Unfortunately, many Bible scholars have used the words “inscrutable” and "unknowable" about deep concepts of the Bible, believing many issues could not be understood this side of heaven. They were mistaken. Everything revealed through the Bible was meant to be understood, including the deepest subjects. Because “The Word of God is alive and powerful" and "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" it is therefore critical to the spiritual life of believers to understand what the Bible says, not just at a top level but also at the deep levels. It is the instruction manual for the Christian way of life. The deeper levels of the Bible are by definition hard to fathom, and it should be no surprise to the believer in Jesus Christ that God is a deep thinker. But God wants His believers to understand Him, and we can only know Him through His Word, and the deeper the level of spiritual knowledge a believer has, the closer that person comes to knowing and understanding God Himself. This book explores deep truths from God’s Word, the information which transforms our thinking and renovates our minds, making our relationship with God deeper, stronger and more personal. In other words, it increases our faith, and faith is what we must live by.
The difficulty of understanding the deep concepts of the Bible is twofold, first the task of sorting out those deep subject areas God has woven into the fabric of the Bible, and secondly to overcome personal biases and misconceptions which are often firmly held. On the road to understanding the deep concepts of the Bible these two issues cause many to fall by the wayside. This book deals with and explains deep issues which are certainly difficult to understand. But since believers often have misconceptions about Biblical subjects, some things contained in this book will not line up with those previously held misconceptions. This issue is likely to be a serious barrier to understanding the contents of this book. Remember, we are trying to understand God Himself at a deep level, and if that were easy to do, we would be on the wrong track.
It is knowledge from the Word of God which reveals God, not emotionalism or rationalism or empirical evidence or mysticism or speculation or anything else. God has told us what He wants us to know, but not everything we want to know. That is because God requires us to ultimately live by faith, but faith is increased and strengthened by knowledge of Him and His plan which can only be learned from His Word. This is why understanding the deep concepts and doctrines of the Bible is important. It is not an intellectual enterprise, or learning for the sake of simply gaining knowledge, but rather it is learning about God for the purpose of understanding Him so we can worship and glorify Him to the maximum degree possible.
When dealing with deep concepts of the Bible a common question from believers goes something like “What Bible verse says that?” The fact is the more advanced doctrines of the Bible cannot be found or explained in a single verse of Scripture, or even several verses. The Bible makes the simplest issues clear in a verse or so. For example, salvation must be very clear and easy to understand for all casual readers, since God wants all to be saved, and He has made salvation simple for mankind to grasp. It is "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31) and other single verses with the simple message of salvation. But when it comes to complex principles and doctrines such as explaining the Trinity, eternity, the inner workings of the soul and human spirit, Satan’s plan, the Tribulation and many other issues we will cover, the information comes from understanding the entire Bible and pulling together many basic and advanced principles into a complete interwoven package. This is because God is the most complex subject imaginable, and we are mere mortals. But God has made understanding Him possible to a large degree, and this takes serious hard study and piecing together complex information from across the entire Bible. So when we begin to discuss the Trinity, and someone is tempted to ask “What Bible verse says that?” just realize the word Trinity is not even found in the Bible. But the Trinity is a true doctrine. It requires deep understanding of numerous principles from multiple places in the Bible, therefore getting to the deepest principles in the Bible is like a jigsaw puzzle. One piece does not complete the entire picture. It is only by connecting piece to piece to piece that the full picture eventually comes into view. Therefore, no complex doctrine of the Word of God can be understood from a single verse or often several verses.
Although this is a book about the deeper things of the Bible, we will start with a very brief review of some of the basic fundamentals taught in the Bible since they are not understood by many believers today. As with any complex study, the basic levels of the Bible must be understood correctly in order to understand the deeper levels. To many this basic information may even appear to be deep principles. Many go astray on their way to the deeper levels of understanding by failing to lay a firm foundation in the basic principles and doctrines of the Word of God, since the Bible builds knowledge upon knowledge just as a wall is built brick upon brick. A good foundation results in a good outcome. A shaky foundation leads to a heap of bricks. Learning advanced principles is based on knowing the basic principles.
If a believer wants to understand what the Bible says about God and spiritual issues at a deep level, that is what this book seeks to accomplish. The information contained in this book has been carefully studied over a lifetime, and faithfully reported as the best available information on the subjects presented herein. The spiritual growth of the person reading this information is the only purpose for the book.