I think each one of us has probably had a kind of disquieting experience in which we’ve suddenly realized that a lot of Christian publishing is bunk. While we are undoubtedly blessed with far more truthful and edifying books than ever before, we are also cursed with far more untruthful and unedifying books. If you visit a Christian bookstore or browse the options at Amazon, then choose a book at random, you’re as likely to choose one that’s diametrically opposed to sound doctrine as one that’s consistent with it. The fact is, there are vast amounts of books being churned out under the banner of “Christian” that are anything but.
One of my first experiences with this reality was during The Bible Code phenomenon. In that book, Michael Drosnin insists that hidden within the Bible is a cryptic code that, when deciphered, can reveal significant historical events. Notably, though, the code can only reveal significant historical events that have already happened. Not surprisingly, it was all eventually proven to be nonsense, and that any book as large as the Bible will reveal similar results. By that time, though, the book had rocketed to the top of the bestseller lists and convinced many people that the message of the Bible is hidden within its pages rather than made plain.
In more recent times, Jonathan Cahn is selling millions of books that are based on claims that he has decrypted information hidden within Scripture. His method is to show how obscure events in the Old Testament are repeated in modern-day America, meaning that if we properly understand the Bible, we can also understand contemporary times. For example, he says that the rise of Kamala Harris was displayed and predicted in the rise of Jezebel and that Donald Trump’s two terms, divided as they were by four years of Joseph Biden, were predicted in the reign of Jehu. The response to my reviews of two of his books (The Harbinger and The Avatar) proves that a lot of readers consider his work both convincing and compelling.
It is clear that many people already believe the Bible is a book whose message is hidden and must be drawn out by those who have the eyes to see it, the minds to understand it, and the keys to decrypt it. From what I have observed, such books tend to be predicated on a misunderstanding of a biblical truth and a misuse of a biblical word.
The truth is this: the Bible can be difficult to understand! But the misunderstanding of this truth is that because the Bible can be difficult to understand, it is locked behind a hidden interpretive key. Of course, the biblical authors themselves knew that some things in the Bible are difficult to understand (see 2 Peter 3:16), but this is a far cry from saying the meaning of Scripture has been encrypted and is made available only to those who hold the key. “Difficult” and “cryptic” are two very different things. It may be difficult to learn how to solve a Rubik’s Cube algorithmically, but it’s not cryptic or hidden. Rather, you have to learn the method and then practice it. The same is true of understanding Scripture—there are interpretive methods that can lead to deeper understanding and faithful application. God does not hide the meaning of Scripture, even if he has at times made it difficult.
God helps us as we read the Bible, not by supplying the code that unlocks it but by providing the Spirit who illumines it.
As for the misuse of a biblical word, such books tend to misuse the word “mystery.” The Bible does, indeed, use the term repeatedly. For example, it appears in Colossians 2:3, which speaks of Paul’s hope that believers will come to understand “the knowledge of God’s mystery.” Yet Paul is not using the word as we might to speak of something that is impossible to understand or purposely hidden behind a riddle. Rather, a mystery is something that had been unclear to God’s people in the Old Testament but has now been made clear in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Ultimately, the great mystery of the Old Testament is Christ and the gospel—the truth that had been prophesied and prefigured for thousands of years, but only made plain through Jesus. Such a mystery does not need to be decrypted by men; it needs to be revealed by God. And it already has!
Wonderfully, God helps us as we read the Bible, not by supplying the code that unlocks it but by providing the Spirit who illumines it. As we read the Bible, we have the power and presence of the Holy Spirit ready and available to help us understand what we read. Hence, we pray, “Open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). We cry out to God, not that he would unlock hidden meanings, but that he would help our simple minds behold plain truths so we can believe them and live them out.
