Hunting for Treasure

Every child loves a treasure hunt.  And my grandchildren are no exception.  So last week when they had a “sleep over” at my house, I planned one for them, complete with pirate map and clues. We had great fun, and as usual, the time flew by, and before we knew it, we had to say “goodbye”.

I see many similarities between this and how we should approach the Bible.  First, we should be “child like”, leaving our preconceived ideas behind.  Then, we should expect to find treasure hidden in God’s Word and follow the clues, from one point to another. If we do, our time in the Word will not drag or be a stiff exercise, but will fly to the point we lament that we can’t stay longer.

God’s Word is a treasure trove, full of gems to be discovered on many levels.  Take for instance Daniel 3: 1-27.  It tells the story of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, who had a huge statue of gold made, then issued orders that all in his kingdom must bow before it. When three young Hebrew men refused, he had them thrown into a furnace, a furnace which he commanded to be made seven times hotter than normal.  But instead of dying, the young men walked around the blazing fire unharmed, with another man, who had suddenly appeared, and whose form Nebuchadnezzar said was “like the Son of God.” And when they came out of the furnace neither their clothes nor hair were singed, nor did they smell of smoke.

Just taking a quick look at it we can see, on the first level, God working a miracle and preserving his faithful servants in the midst of trials.  On another level, we can apply this to ourselves and say since God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, he will be in the midst of our trials, too, and that no furnace, no matter how hot, is too much for the Son of God to overcome on our behalf.  And on another level, we can see that Nebuchadnezzar is a type of the Anti-Christ, for the Bible tells us that Anti-Christ will also make a statue and demand that everyone bow before it. And because Nebuchadnezzar commanded that the furnace be made seven times hotter, we can see how this tells us the seven years of Tribulation, which the Bible talks about, will be exceedingly difficult, much more so than any time before it. But again, the Son of God will be there walking in the midst of his people.

Of course this passage in Daniel would take pages and pages to really expound, but one can get the sense, in just the short paragraph above, how chock-full of wonderful truths the Bible holds for us. And if we are like children, open and receptive, and ask the Holy Spirit to help us follow the clues, God will reveal treasures we can’t even imagine.

Until next week,

Sylvia