[advance to: Figures of Speech - part 2]
     Good Morning and welcome to the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am so glad that you have joined us this morning.  This is the first Sunday of this new year and I hope that we can grow together today.  Because I want to help you to know the Bible better, and to obey God with your life, and be able to check out what I teach and what others teach, we are going to look at some lessons on how to study the Bible.  On today’s program we are not going to study the Bible, per se, we are going to consider how to study the Bible.  Before we begin, let’s go to God in prayer,

Great God in Heaven, We thank You for this day in our lives, We thank You for this time that we can study together.  And we pray that through today’s time together, we can gain a deeper knowledge of Your will.  We thank You for Jesus and for Your word.  Help us to know and obey Your will.  In Jesus’ Name !!!  AMEN !!

     Again on today’s program we are going to consider some important points to under stand on “how” to study the Bible.  One of the most important things that we need to do when we study the word of God is to come to the study with an open mind, desiring to know what God’s will is for us.  Many, many people study the word with preconceived ideas already in their mind and they are looking for “Scriptural Proof” for what they believe.  If this is the attitude we have, then we can “prove” anything we want by the word of God.  We just need to pull verses or parts of verse out of context, redefine words, and in many other ways twist and distort the will of God.  People who do this will find “support” for such doctrines as original sin, homosexuality, sprinkling or pouring for baptism, and a host of other man-made doctrines.  I hope that this is not how you study the word of God, and if it has been, I hope that because of this program you will change your attitude toward God and His will.
     The main thing that we are going to look at in today’s program is the use of figurative language.  There are some religionists that teach that everything in the Bible is literal.  That God in no way used figurative or symbolic language.  This leads them into more error when they read things like, Revelation 7:3-4, where John writes,

  3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
  4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

     Two types of false teaching have arisen from this.  First that there is going to be some kind of physical marking on the forehead of God’s people.  And second that there are only going to be 144,000 of these people.  Both of these false doctrines are based on the misunderstanding that this is figurative language, not literal.
     Another example may be found in Luke 22:19, concerning the bread used in the Lord’s Supper,

  19 And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

     Some religionists do not recognize this as the figurative or symbolic language that it is and they come up with a fancy sounding doctrine called transubstantiation.  According to this man-made doctrine the bread becomes the literal body of Jesus.  We can tell this is figurative by the fact that God would never require cannibalism, which is what this would be, and because the verse goes on to show that this is a memorial to be done in remembrance of Jesus.
     Let’s consider the various types of figurative language used in the Scriptures and some examples of each of these types.  Most of these figures of speech are found in other languages and I will try to give examples that are familiar to us in English.
     The first one that I would like mention is the metaphor.  A Metaphor is an implied comparison between two different things.  When a metaphor is used the words of comparison - like, as, such as - are not used, and the comparison is stated as a fact.  A room that is very messy we may say that, “It is a pig pen.”  Is it literally a pig pen.  No, there are no pigs that live there, but we mean that it is very messy.  This figure of speech is seen often in the Scriptures, especially in the “I am” statements.  Look with me at John 6:48

  48 I am the bread of life.

     John 9:5

  5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

     John 10:7

  7 Jesus therefore said to them again, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”

     And many others.  We understand that Jesus is not literally bread or light or a door.  But that He is drawing a comparison between these things and who and what He is to this world.
     Much like the metaphor is the figure of speech called the simile.  A Simile is also a comparison, but in a simile the comparison is expressed with words like - like, as, such as.  This type of symbolic language can be seen in the following comment about a runner, “He is as fast as lightning.”  Biblical examples of this would be found in such verses as Revelation 1:14

  14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire;

     Does Jesus really have a head and hair that are white wool and snow?  Are His eyes literal flames of fire?  No, but as it says they are “like” these things.
     Let me ask you another question, “Is Satan a literal lion?”  For those religionists that deny figurative language he would have to be, because listen to 1 Peter 5:8

  8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

     Now did you catch the comparison, the devil prowls “like” a lion, but he is not a literal lion.
     The third figure of speech that I want to point out is the hyperbole.  A hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.  A couple of English examples of this would be, “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times.”  We understand that this does not mean a literal thousand, but that it has been said many times before.  Or we try to justify doing something by saying “Everybody is doing it.”  Very few of us really think that without exception that we are the only one not doing whatever it is.  This figure of speech means simply that it is very common.  The Bible as well uses this figure and it is not a lie, it is simply said to emphasize the point being made.  One hyperbole that goes along with the last example is found in Matthew 3:5, where it says concerning John the Baptist.

  5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan;

     This does not mean that every single individual from Judea and from around the Jordan went to see John, but that many, many people were coming from those areas.
     This verse is also an example of our next figure of speech, which is the metonymy.  In a metonymy the name of one object or concept is used for that of another to which it is related.  Listen again to this verse Matthew 3:5

  5 Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district around the Jordan;

     Did you catch the metonymy?  Was it literally Jerusalem going out to see John, or was it the people from Jerusalem?  Was it Judea, or the people from Judea?  It does not take a theological scholar to see that this is figurative, Yet there are those so-called scholars who deny the figures of the Bible.
     Our next figure is called a synecdoche.  This is another figure of association in which the whole can refer to the part or the part for the whole.  Sometimes this is seen as a singular standing for a plural or a plural standing for a singular.  Jeremiah 25:29 says,

  29 “For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment?  You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the Lord of hosts.

     The Lord declares “a sword” is coming, does He mean literally one sword, no this is a synecdoche, where a singular stands for a plural.  This is like when we are setting at the table eating dinner and someone may say, “Have a bean.”  We don’t mean just one, although that is what the kids sometimes try to get by with, we mean have a serving of beans.
     The next figure is the personification.  This is where and object is given the characteristics or attributes of being human.  It was raining the day of my grandma’s funeral and someone made the comment that even nature was crying.  This was a personification of nature as having the emotion of sadness.  This type of figure is found in Isaiah 55:12

  12 For you will go out with joy, And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

     Now I have only lived in this world for a little over 45 years and except for one short trip into Mexico, I have never been outside of the United States, but I have never seen nor heard of a tree with literal hands.  Nor have I heard mountains or hills shout with joy.  But then, these are not literal things – they are personifications.
     To recap today’s lesson we have looked at several figures of speech that are used with in the Bible.  They are the metaphor, the simile, the hyperbole, the metonymy, the synecdoche, and the personification.  These are not the only ones that are used though and we will look at some other ones next week, Lord willing.  To understand God’s will, we must understand that at times God uses figure of speech to help us see things more clearly or to emphasize a particular point.  I hope that this lesson has helped you to better understand the will of God and if you have any questions please let me know.

[advance to: Figures of Speech - part 2]