Symbols

So you say, where do you get your symbols? I just showed you out from Jesus himself. He talked about demonic spirits and he called them serpents and scorpions, right? Here, he's talking about Satan stealing word and he calls Satan and his army.

He called them birds of the air. Today, the title of the message is symbols, just the not like drum symbols, the S here, symbols, because I want to show you some symbols in scripture and the Bible is full of symbolic scripture. And so if when I first saw this, when I was in my early 20s, I got saved at 19. This is what caused me to just devour the Bible, to read it and read it and read it because I saw all these symbols. Now, let me say this too about the book and about us, okay?

Let me say this about us first. We have a tendency to believe that we are humans having a spiritual experience, but the truth is we are spirits having a human experience. So now let me make this statement about the Bible. This is a spiritual book written by a spiritual being to spiritual beings. And by the way, the natural man, which means the man who's not born again, here's what the Bible says, can't even understand this book.

Can't even understand. So I'm going to show you some spiritual signs. So here's point number one. The Bible is full of spiritual symbols. The Bible is full of spiritual symbols. Psalm 105 verses 40 and 41. The people asked and he brought quail and satisfied them with bread, the bread of heaven, the bread of heaven. He opened the rock and water gushed out. Now see, bread, water, rock.

I talked about bread and water in the spring in this series. Now you say, yeah, but I don't understand how you get the spiritual symbols. Okay, let me make another statement here. The Bible interprets itself.

Here's another good one. You don't interpret the Bible, the Bible interprets you. But the Bible will also interpret itself. When I say there's a spiritual symbol, I've got a book chapter and verse for it. So let me show you spiritual symbols here now. I read that in Psalm 105. Now let me show you the New Testament that tells me what the symbols are.

First Corinthians 10, verse one. Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud and they all passed through the sea. By the way, verse two have three symbols in them. These are the three baptisms right here. All were baptized in the Moses that was into their deliverer, which for us we get baptized into Jesus when we get saved.

In the cloud, that would represent spirit, and in the sea, that would represent water. So there are the three baptisms right there, a symbols of them. But watch verse three, and they all ate the same spiritual food. They all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Okay, so where do I get spiritual symbols from?

Right there. But you see it says right there, spiritual. They ate of spiritual bread, spiritual water, and that rock was Christ. Now look at Luke 10.

I'm going to show you some symbols, and I'm going to show you how easy it is to let the Bible define symbols, okay? Luke 10, verse 17. Luke 10, 17. Then the 70 returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And he said to them, really? No, he didn't say that. Imagine them saying, even demons are subject. Jesus going, wow, you know, that's really, it's amazing. So watch what he does say. I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

In other words, here's what he's saying. I'm unimpressed. I'm unimpressed that demons are subject to my name. I want when Satan came against my father and me, we kicked him out and he fell like lightning from heaven. All right, but I want you to notice the context. We're doing really a contextual exegesis of these four verses. They're talking about demons. Then Jesus uses the word Satan. Then verse 19, watch, behold, I give you authority to trample on your two symbols, serpents and scorpions. Watch and over all the power of the enemy. Look at the word enemy. See, I'm just showing you the context and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits, see the context, demonic spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.

Did you see that? Jesus said, I gave you the power to tread on serpents and scorpions. He is not talking about snakes and stinging critters. He is talking about demons, evil spirits, Satan, the enemy.

That's the context. Everyone with me? But it says serpents and scorpions. But let me just remind you of something. One guy wrote this whole thing.

Listen, 39 men pinned it, but there's only one author. So if serpents and scorpions represents demons in Luke 10. Wonder what they represent Revelation, wonder what they represent Genesis, wonder what they represent Ezekiel, wonder what they represent Jeremiah.

Same thing. This is what got me so excited. This is why you hear when you hear me preach. I show you scriptures from all over this book because I see it as one book. There's one book written by a spiritual being, two spiritual beings.

Are you following me? So let me show you how easy it is to understand the Bible. Many people say, I can't understand the book of Revelation. Read it in context with the rest of the Bible.

It's got all these things in it, all these nouns. And if you took those nouns and read them everywhere else in the Bible, like scorpions, you know what they are. Right here in Luke 10, scorpions represent demonic spirits.

Watch Revelation 9, verse 3. Then out of the smoke, locusts came upon the earth. Locusts. Now, I wonder what these locusts are. Well, watch. And to them was given power. See, I don't think these are natural locusts. To them was given power.

Watch. As the scorpions of the earth have power. Well, we know what scorpions are because Jesus told us. See, demonic spirits. Now, watch how this works. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. If you don't understand symbols, that's hard to understand. But think about it. He said they can't harm green trees.

That's basically what he said. Grass, trees and green things. Green trees. They can't harm green trees. Psalm 1 says a man who will meditate on the word of God is like a tree planted by the water. The demonic spirits are released to the end times.

They can harm men who don't have the seal of God on their forehead, but they can't harm men who meditate on the word of God. That's what that says. That's what that says. You might not know everything yet. There might be some things in this book you've never seen and some things I've never seen. And that's why I read it every day.

Every day. Because this book was written by a higher being. A spiritual being. And it has all sorts of spiritual symbols in it. So, number one, the Bible is full of spiritual symbols. Number two, sheep have an enemy. The reason I'm doing this is because we know sheep represent something. Psalm 100, verse 3. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Everyone know that? So, we're called sheep.

Right? Okay. So, now we're going to read another verse. See, you already believe in the symbols. You believe in the Bible. It talks about the sheep of his pasture that's talking about the people of God.

Right? Okay. Ezekiel 34, verse 1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Alright, stop for a moment. Do you think he's talking about literal shepherds?

Of course not. He's not talking about a guy on the side of a hill with a dress and a stick. That's not what he's talking about. What's he talking about here? He's talking about pastors. Spiritual leaders.

Right? But it says shepherds. Alright. Why does it say shepherds? Because we're sheep.

Okay. Woe to the shepherds. Prophesy against the shepherds and say to them, Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds. Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves, should not the shepherds feed the flocks.

You see that? So shepherds are spiritual leaders. Flocks are the people of God.

Right? Okay, so I'm going to show you another verse where flocks mean people. The sheep mean people. Shepherds mean pastors. But there's another symbol. And you need to understand that there's a symbol that it means something to in the spiritual language.

Alright? In the spiritual world that's going on around us. Ezekiel 34 verse 5. So they, that's sheep, that's his people, were scattered because there was no shepherd. No shepherd feeding them the word of God. And they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

Now see, here's what bothers me. We say now sheep, it says sheep, but it doesn't mean sheep pasture, it means people. And it says shepherds, but it doesn't mean literal shepherds, it means pastors.

But beasts of the field, that means lions and tigers. No, it means demonic spirits. And I'll prove it to you. Okay, so here's the symbol. Here's Revelation 12 verse 9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan. So that tells us who the serpent is. You see, you follow me?

But I'm not just making it up. I'm not just saying, well I think that this represents the devil. There's a verse that tells me it represents the devil. Now, remember I told you beasts of the field represented demonic spirits. Remember when Satan fell, he took a third of the angels with him and those were the demonic spirits.

And beasts of the field, okay. Now when you read Genesis 3 verse 1, you read those first three words, now the serpent, you know the serpent represents something, right? It represents Satan. Watch the rest of the verse, you might see something you've never seen before.

Genesis 3, 1. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. He's the most cunning of all the fallen angels. We just read that when the people of God aren't fed the word of God, they become food for all the beasts of the field. And now we read that Satan is the most subtle of all the beasts of the field.

He's the smartest one. You follow me? Okay, Mark chapter 4. Then he taught them many things by parables. Alright, stop. Did Jesus teach by parables?

Okay. Did Jesus also say, I don't do anything unless I first see my Father do it? So when did he see the Father first speak in parables? Old Testament. Now everything happened, but there were many times God spoke in parables in the Old Testament.

I got one for you. In Ezekiel, he was talking about the king of Egypt and the king of Babylon. And this is not the king of Egypt with Moses and Charlton Heston and all that.

That one's in this one, okay? There were lots of pharaohs, okay? Here's what he said. He said, I'm going to break pharaoh's arms. But he never broke his literal arms. So either God lied or he was speaking allegorically. He meant I'm going to break his strength. Here's what he also said. I'm going to strengthen the king of Babylon's arms.

And I'm going to break pharaoh's arms. And this is what he said. Both of them.

This one that does this and this one that does this. He wasn't talking about right and left arms. He was speaking in a parable. Matter of fact, I remember I said I have a verse on all of it. Psalm 78 verse 2.

I didn't put it on the screen, but you can look at that later. God said, when I speak, I speak in parables. That's in the Old Testament. Jesus said, Jesus taught many things by parables. Then he said, I don't do anything unless I first see my father do it. He'd seen his father do it. When the father talked about shepherds and sheep and beasts of the field and serpents and all of that all through the Bible.

So now watch. He's going to speak in a parable. Verse 2. Then he taught them many things by parables. And he said to them in his teaching, listen, behold, the sower went out to sow. And it happened as he sowed that some seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and devoured him. Everyone see that?

Birds of the air. Then later, the disciples asked him about it. They said, what does this mean?

Here was his response. Verse 13. And he said to them, do you not understand this parable? Now this is important and I don't have time to go into it.

I wish I did. How then will you understand all the parables? I'd like for you to just think about that. Here we are in Mark 4. Jesus said, you don't understand this one? How are you going to understand any of them if you can't understand this one?

That's pretty strong. Might be a parable you might want to study later this week some. Okay. Because of what Jesus said.

All right. So he explains it. The sower sows the word. So seed represents the word of God. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sowed. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Okay. Jesus. So you say, where do you get your symbols? I just showed you from Jesus himself. He talked about demonic spirits and he called them serpents and scorpions, right? Here, he's talking about Satan stealing the word and he calls Satan and his army in essence, because he has people that do his bidding, fallen angels. He called them birds of the air.

Okay. Jesus did that. Are y'all following me? And by the way, sometimes when the Bible talks about Satan, it's talking about the person of Satan. Sometimes he's talking about the work of Satan. There's just a whole lot of symbols in this Bible. So here's point three, but God has a plan.

God has a plan. Now there's a tree in Daniel that's in a dream. Nebuchadnezzar has a dream, remember? And it's about a big tree and nobody can interpret the dream except Daniel. Why can Daniel interpret the dream? Because Daniel's a spirit that knows the great spirit, the divine being.

He knows God. All right. And no one else could interpret it. But just watch and see the symbolism in this dream.

Okay. Daniel 4, verse 10. These were the visions, this is Nebuchadnezzar speaking, of my head while on my bed. I was looking, behold, a tree in the midst of the earth. It's okay.

Let me wait. I got to tell you one more thing. When he finishes, Daniel says the tree is you. The tree is Babylon and you. You represent the tree and it's the kingdom of Babylon. Babylon represents a mixture of the world and the church. The church went into bondage to Babylon and they so commingled, get this, they were there for 70 years because they disobeyed God. When God set them free, this is going to shock you, only 10% went back.

90% of them stayed. So when you read Babylon, because remember Babylon is also mentioned in the book of Revelation. We're going to read about it in just a minute. So it represents something. It represents a mixture of the church and the world. It's a mixture.

Okay. So watch. This tree that's growing up is this worldly church, this worldly mixture of the church and the world. Look at verse 11. The tree grew and became strong. Its height reached to the heavens and it could be seen to the ends of the earth. Its leaves were very lovely, its fruit abundant. And it was food for all. We keep seeing this word food.

Now watch this. The beasts of the field found shade under it and the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches. And all flesh was fed from it. Just want you to know it doesn't say spirit was fed from it. It says flesh.

I saw in the visions of my head while on my bed there was a watcher, a holy one coming down from heaven. He cried aloud and said chop down the tree, cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beast get out from under it and the birds from its branches. Nevertheless, leave the stump. Leave the stump.

Okay. So when they're going into bondage, the prophet is standing there prophesying. And he's saying the city that leaves by a thousand, only a hundred of you will return.

The one that goes out by a hundred, only a ten. He's already prophesying. There's going to be a remnant that comes back.

Only a remnant. And this is the tree. And he talks about this tree. Isaiah prophesying about this captivity before it ever happens. He talks about this bondage. But remember the famous story about Isaiah.

Everybody knows it. He goes into the temple. The Lord appears to him. And then Isaiah says these famous words. The Lord says to him, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Again, us represents the Trinity.

Isaiah says the famous words. Remember, Lord, here am I. Here am I. Send me.

Right? Lord, send me. Lord, send me. Then it says, I'm going to send you to a people who have ears but they can't hear. And have eyes but they can't see. This one I'm going to preach on next week.

Spiritual sight. Okay. And he said, and their hearts are dull and they're not going to repent.

Nobody. I've never heard anybody preach on this. Do you know what Isaiah said then? For the first time Isaiah says, Lord, send me. And then he says, okay, I'm going to send you to a rebellious people. And you're going to preach and they're not going to listen to you. Isaiah said, Lord, how long?

Look it up in Isaiah 6. That's the next thing you said. How long did you want me to hold that revival, Lord? And this is what God's answer is, until I chop down the tree. But I'm going to leave the stump. Now watch this. Remember we're talking about symbols.

I love it. Isaiah 6 13. Whose stump remains when it is cut down so the holy seed shall be its stump. In other words, the true believers, the remnant, they'll be left when I bring judgment on this worldly church.

All right? Ezekiel 31 verse 6. All the birds of the heavens made their nest in its bowels. That's branches. Under its branches, all the beasts of the field brought forth their young. And in its shadow, all great nations made their home.

All nations. We're talking about a worldly church. Notice birds and beasts, by the way. Oh, by the way, notice where the birds nest.

Where do the birds nest? In the branches. Anyone got a scripture on what branches are?

John 15 verse 5. I'm the vine. You're the branches.

Let me just tell you. Yes, demons would love to come and build a nest in your house. They would love to.

They'd love to nest in the branches if you let them. So we're talking about Babylon. I've just got a couple more scriptures. Revelation 18 verses 1 and 2. After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.

And he cried mildly with a loud voice, saying, Babylon the great, this worldly church is fallen, is fallen. Now watch the context and watch another symbol. And it has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. See, that's not literal birds. Also, by the way, I'm not saying if you have a parakeet, it's a demon.

I'm not saying that. But how else would you explain that scripture when it says it's become a place for every, for demons, foul spirits, and birds. And Jesus said, the birds of the air come and try to devour the word of God. And they say, what does that mean? He said, well, that's Satan. That's Satan, the work of Satan, and that's all his demonic spirits. Are y'all following me?

All right. Two more scriptures. Matthew 12, verse 43, Jesus speaking. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, that means he can get in, one. He goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. And then he says, I will return to my house. He calls the body a house from which I came.

And when he comes, he finds it. Watch three words, empty, swept, and then, of course, more than three words, I guess, but just the three sayings here, and put in order. Empty, swept, and put in order. Empty, swept, cleaned up, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last say that man is worse than the first.

Okay. So how did the demonic spirits get back in? His house was swept. He cleaned everything, cleaned his act up. He put things in order, but he was empty. He didn't fill his house with Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and the word of God. Think about this.

Have you ever known someone that was in bondage to something, started going to church, but really didn't commit all the way, really didn't go all the way with God, didn't read the Bible, didn't give his life to Jesus totally, didn't get filled up with the Spirit of God, didn't do this, and then he goes back into bondage, and the bondage that he goes back into is worse than even what he came out of. Okay. But here, it's saying this guy gets kind of set free, but then he gets seven more.

Okay. Watch an Old Testament scripture with a symbol in it. When the children of Israel went into the promised land, they were to drive the enemies out. Do you realize that many times we say, you know, the promised land represents heaven.

No, it doesn't represent heaven because there were still enemies there. It represents the overcoming Christian life. And the way you're going to have an overcoming Christian life is if you drive the enemies out of your land. That's the way you overcome.

Okay. So, but watch what God says. Watch this symbol, this last scripture, Deuteronomy 7 22. And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beast of the field become too numerous for you.

I don't think that's talking about lions and tigers. I think he's saying we're going to drive these nations out little by little so you get stronger and you have more faith and you grow, lest the beast of the field become too numerous. And I think that's a symbol to us that we've got to keep walking with God. We've got to keep reading the Bible. We've got to keep learning. We've got to keep growing because we're driving out the beast of the field out of our land.

You all following me? Here was the whole point of this message. I wrestled with it because I thought I've got way too much to unload on them in one message.

But here's the whole point. I hope you understand this is a spiritual book. Written by a spiritual being.

Two spiritual beings. And there are things in here that you probably have never even seen yet. And I hope you get so hungry for this book that you read it every day. Sheep have an enemy. That's the bad news. But the good news is sheep have a shepherd. We have a shepherd that loves us and that protects us. But one of the ways he protects us or delivers us is through his word.

Psalm 107, verse 20 says that God said his word and healed them and delivered them. Now, I went through a lot of scripture in this message, and I know that. I want to encourage you to do something that I don't think I've ever encouraged you to do before.

And that is DVR our program. Here's the reason why you could stop it and make some notes. You could listen to it again and again and again. You could get your Bible out and follow along and read the scriptures before and the scriptures afterwards. Also, you could order this series and listen to the entire series.

I believe that God's word will change your life more than any other thing you could do. So I want to encourage you. Listen to the series.

Record it. Order the series if you want to. And tune in next time because I want to continue this series more than words. Sixty six books, one thousand one hundred eighty nine chapters written over the course of fifteen hundred years. The Bible is so much more than a big old book. Its pages include life giving revelation and power if we know how to read it in this series. Pastor Robert dives into how you can read the Bible, experience the miracles within it and refresh your hunger for the word of God. We would like to send you this seven part teaching series on CD for your gift of any amount today for your gift of thirty dollars.

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