The Bible is a wonderful book. What does the Bible speak about? It is entirely correct for us to say that the Bible speaks about Christ, life, and salvation. Moreover, it is not wrong to say that the Bible speaks about wives submitting to their husbands, husbands loving their wives, children honoring their parents, and parents caring for their children. Neither is it wrong to say that the Bible speaks about humility, patience, peace, and goodness. Nor is it wrong to say that it speaks about God’s love, God’s light, and God’s holiness. Furthermore, it is not wrong to say that the Bible teaches us to worship God, to love God, and to serve God. We can list hundreds and even thousands of topics that the Bible speaks about. However, the strange thing is that we may never have heard a message in Christianity telling us that the Bible speaks about eating.
It is true that the Bible is a book of life, a book of salvation, a book of love, and a book of teachings. However, after reading the Scripture verses above, you have to admit that the Bible is a book on eating.
After God created man, God did not say that man needed life or salvation. Neither did He say that man needed to love and obey God. Nor did He say that man needed to be humble or to be peaceable. After God created man, He put man in a garden, and He placed man before the tree of life, telling him in effect, “Eat! Eat! Eat!” What does the Bible speak about? It speaks about eating. What kind of book is the Bible? It is a book on eating.
The Bible is a profound and mysterious book. It does not become boring even after repeated readings, and it cannot be exhausted even after you have read it a hundred times, a thousand times, or ten thousand times. Regardless of how many times you read the Bible, there are still new things. Thirty years ago I already had worn out three or four Bibles from repeatedly reading them, and I thought I understood the Bible almost completely. However, I gradually came to realize that there are still many truths in the Bible that I have not seen. At this time if you were to ask me, “Brother Lee, what have you now uncovered from the Bible?” I would say, “Now I have uncovered one word—eat.”
Brothers and sisters, this word is clearly in the Bible, yet we did not see it even after reading the Bible many times. Why? It is because every old concept we have is a veil. It is more than evident that the word eat is in the Bible, yet we could not see it. This is due to the fact that we have our old preconceived notions, our old concepts.
The verses in the Scripture Reading from the book of Deuteronomy contain a statement that is repeated many times: “You shall eat,...you and your households” (12:7). Yet we may not see this even after numerous times of reading. However, when we read Joshua 24, we clearly see a sentence such as, “As for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah” (v. 15). This sentence is spoken only once in the sixty-six books in the Bible, but every Christian sees it. Why? This is because our natural concept is to serve God; we simply do not have the concept of eating the Lord. Therefore, even after having read the verses on this subject a thousand times, we still may not see the word eat. Eating is in the Bible, but it is not in your concept. Instead, the word serve is in your concept. Honestly speaking, even without Joshua 24, according to your mentality, you would always say, “I and my household will serve Jehovah.” It just so happens that the Bible has such a verse that corresponds with your concept. Therefore, the idea is quickly imprinted in your mind immediately after you have read the verse. This is not to read the Bible into your mind; rather, it is to read your mind into the Bible. This is our problem with respect to reading the Bible.
God says that His thoughts are not our thoughts, yet we are not willing to drop our thoughts. Every time you come to read the Bible, you are not actually reading the Bible; you are reading your concept. For example, day after day you have the concept that wives should submit to their husbands and that husbands should love their wives. Therefore, one day when you come to Ephesians 5 concerning wives submitting to their husbands and husbands loving their wives, you are quick to see this. However, you may not see the many more important words in the Bible, even though you have read them again and again.
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