Biblical Symbols and Their Meanings

The study of biblical symbols is very important for Christian believers who aspire to be a Bible scholar. It's also of use for college students reading the Bible as literature for a course. An understanding of symbols of the Bible can even enrich people who are not Christians, but who would like a better understanding of some things in the spirit realm without becoming involved with the occult.
Biblical Symbols of God
Many people think of doves as symbols of peace; however, they're not necessarily familiar with the principle scripture from which this thought comes. While it can be said that doves are symbols of peace, there's much more to it than that simple statement. The New Testament scripture of Matthew 3:16 reads, "And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him."
Other scriptural references to the Spirit of God include: the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, and simply the Spirit with a capital "S." He's one of the persons of the Godhead and is the One who descended on Jesus in the form of a dove. Therefore, it's a little more accurate to say that the dove is one of the biblical symbols for the Spirit of God. People, even some Bible teachers, associate the dove with peace on Earth as in the eradication of war and the ushering in of international brotherhood because Jesus is the King of peace. Such a conclusion, however, has already been corrected by Jesus who warned that, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance (war) against his father, and the daughter against her mother..." (KJV Mat. 10:34-35). An in depth study on just how Jesus can be the King of peace requires what's known as rightly dividing the word of truth. Communion bread, when it's broken, is one of the symbols in the Bible relating to the broken body of God the Son and grape juice taken during communion is a symbol of his shed blood for the remission of sins (1 Cor. 11:24-26).
Biblical Symbols of Sin
Among the symbols in the Bible referring to disobedience to God (sin) are leaven, weeds of a field where wheat is cultivated, husks that are separated from grain on the threshing floor, and nakedness. In the parable about the sowing of seed in a field starting at verse 24 of chapter 13 in the book of Matthew, the enemy to the man who planted seed in his field, sowed tares (weeds) among the crop to choke it off to destruction. Chaff is shown as one of the biblical symbols of sin in Luke 3:16 which says, "Whose fan is in his (God's) hand and he will thoroughly purge his floor and will gather the wheat into his garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable." It should be obvious that wheat is a symbol of the obedient servants of God.
One of the numerous symbols in the Bible of sin is leaven as evidenced in the scripture of 1 Corinthians 5:8 which says, "Therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven (of the Law), neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." Nakedness is another symbol of sin and shame before God and the true believer doesn't view nudity as "art" but rather as rebellion by calling good what God has called evil (Isaiah 5:20).
The scripture of Revelation 3:17 records
Jesus saying, "Because thou sayest, 'I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." Obviously the physical condition here is one of riches which would allow for the provision of the finest clothes. Spiritually, however, the people are naked in the eyes of God. The study of biblical symbols reveals how the things of the natural, visible, and tangible world directly relate to those of the
supernatural, invisible, and intangible world.
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