Application Principle
Applying God’s Truth only after the correct
interpretation has been learned. If we
do not learn the correct interpretation first, the application can never be
applied correctly, leading directly to false doctrine. When we learn the proper interpretation of a
certain text, then we can apply its truth to our lives and community. The
interpretation of a text supplies us with the meaning. When we understand the meaning of a text,
then we are free to apply the meaning to our lives. Here are some examples.
The
True Light- Exodus 10:21-24: The
Israelite's are in Egyptian bondage and God is in the process of freeing
them. The proper application of the
story is that the sinner is in slavery to Satan and is in spiritual darkness,
but was freed by God and brought into His Light of Salvation.
This is the application. In the ninth plague God judges the Egyptian
sun god called Ra. The god Ra was the most important, and powerful of all of
the Egyptian gods.
The
Egyptians were being judged because they did not worship the True Light, but
instead worshiped a false god they had invented. The leader of the Egyptians, Pharaoh, was
trying to keep God’s people in bondage.
The wicked world that we live in today also is trying to keep us, God’s
people, in spiritual bondage. God put
the Egyptians in physical darkness because they did not worship the One True
God. Today there is spiritual darkness
because the world does not worship the One True God.
The Israelite's had light in their dwellings,
but it was not a natural light, it was a supernatural light from God. This supernatural Light shined out of their
homes into a dark Egyptian land Today,
our bodies is our dwelling and temple of the Holy Spirit, it is not a natural
light, but a supernatural light from God.
This supernatural Light shines forth out of our soul through our
worship, good works and daily living in this dark world.
There was total darkness over Egypt for three
days (Exodus 10:22-23). Egypt, in
Scripture symbolizes the world; the world would again be in spiritual darkness
while Jesus was in the tomb for three days.
The
Salvation of Rahab-Joshua 2: Joshua
had led the people across the Jordan River and was going to attack the city of
Jericho. The Israelite's were in large
numbers, but Jericho was the strongest fortified city in Palestine and was
confident. But Rahab, a sinner, believed
the messengers of God’s people and was saved.
The application is as follows. Rahab was a sinner living in a condemned city
that was under the curse of God. Jericho
is a type of this world. Rahab was a
sinner living in a lost world, just like we are sinners living in this lost
world. Rahab was a prostitute and a bad
character, on her own she is a condemned person. We are spiritual prostitutes and are bad characters,
and we are all condemned unless Christ saves us. There was nothing about Rahab to commend her
to God. There is nothing in man to
commend us to God (Romans 3:10).
But Rahab had something that others in Jericho
did not have, and that was she had faith in God. She heard the message given to her by God’s
messengers and believed the word of their God.
A few in this lost world will have faith. We heard the Gospel and believed God’s
world. Rahab’s messengers said “Our life
for yours.” Here is the message Jesus
Christ also have given us. His life for
ours! Everyone in this world is a potential Rahab, but like then, only a few
will have the faith and believe.
Salvation of God comes from faith in His Word.
Achan
and Ai- sin in the Church- Joshua 7-8: In
Chapter 6 we have the stunning victory over the city of Jericho. That was because the people were obedient to
the Lord. But after the victory they
were supposed to give the wealth of the city to glorify the Lord in providing
the victory. Everyone did, except one,
that was Achan. A major theme of the
book of Joshua is that obedience brings blessing, while disobedience brings
defeat. Chapters seven and eight discuss
Achan’s sin and the implications of that sin on the entire house of God which Israel
was at this time.
This is the application for us today in the
Church. Until willful sin is purged from
the Church, God’s blessing will be withheld, even the giving over of some
saints to the devil for correction.
Jesus would later tell us that it takes only a little bit of liven to
affect the whole loaf. Christians would
have much more power from God if we will just be obedient and refrain from
sinful behaviors. Achan’s sin was
committed at the time of victory for Israel, but it led to a defeat soon
after.
Sin usually
catches Christian’s while they are on the mountain top, flush with spiritual
victory. If sin is quickly repented of
it’s not a problem, but unrepentant sin will send a Christian or an entire
Church crashing down into the valley.
David
and Mephibosheth- 2 Samuel 9: This
is a beautiful story reflecting that God has mercy on mankind for the sake of
another, which is Jesus Christ. This is
a beautiful picture of salvation by Christ.
This is the application for us today. David is now king and wishes to show the
kindness of God to the house of Saul because of his covenant with Jonathan,
Saul’s son.
David now had the upper hand, and no one would
have found any fault with him if he had rounded up the members of Saul’s family
and killed them all, but David’s throne became a throne of mercy rather than of
judgment because of another (Jonathan).
We may draw a comparison here and show that through the blood of Jesus
Christ the throne of God is a throne of mercy today because of Another, God’s
Son. But this throne will someday become
a throne of judgment because of those who reject Christ.
Verse
three tells us that Jonathan had a son whose name was Mephibosheth and was lame
on both feet. Mephibosheth was lame
because of a fall. His nurse had dropped
him when fleeing with him from the enemy.
He had fallen at the hands of another. Sinful
man has fallen at the hands of another, who was Adam. Every son of Adam is lame on both feet. Now where was Mephibosheth? He was in the house of Machir, in the land of
Lodebar. That was an interesting place,
and that is just where the sinner is.
Machir means “sold.” Mephibosheth was living in a house of bondage. We are all sold under sin in a house of bondage- a slave of
sin and a slave of Satan.
The land of Lodebar
means “no pasture.” Where there is no
pasture there is no satisfaction. No
pasture means “no peace.”
We read later that David sent and fetched
him. Mephibosheth did not go, he was not
seeking David, and he did not fetch himself, but David sent and fetched him. When we are sinners, God sends and fetched
us.
When Mephibosheth came to David, he fell on
his face. He feared David. This is a picture of the sinner in fear on
that great judgment day. But
Mephibosheth was to be shown kindness for the sake of another. God, for Christ’s sake, will save the
sinner. God did not save you for your
own sake, but because of another.
Mephibosheth went to live in Jerusalem, which means “Peace.” He came from Lodebar (no pasture) to
Jerusalem, the “city of peace.” Here is
an opportunity to tell the sinner to leave Lodebar and move down to Jerusalem. God is already to fetch him out of Lodebar
and over to Jerusalem.
The end of the story is- “so Mephibosheth did
eat continually at the king’s table; and was lame on both feet.” The fact of the matter is, that when
Mephibosheth came from Lodebar to Jerusalem, he brought his lame feet right
along with him. When we came to the
King’s house and ate at the King’s table, and became members of the family of
God we brought our lame feet with us.[1]
Naaman
and Elisha- 2 Kings 5: This has to
do with a Syrian captain and the Jewish captive. Here was a little girl who believed that the
prophet could heal Naaman of his leprosy.
Here is the application. Someone has said that there are millions of
lepers in the world. We are not certain
as to the exact number, but we do know that there are many times that number of
spiritual lepers. Spiritually, every man
is a leper until cleansed in the Blood.
His story gives the Gospel plan of salvation.
Leprosy is a symbol of sin. Men are lepers in the sight of God, when in
sin. In the nation of Israel, lepers
were excluded from worship in the Temple of God, by the command of
Jehovah. This was not true in any of the
other nations, for lepers were allowed to mingle with the rest of the people. Sin, like leprosy, breaks out in the most
loathsome forms. You can see it on all
sides. Sin, like leprosy, makes everyone
hideous. Sin, like leprosy, brings
separation. In the nation of Israel, the
leper could not come into the camp with the others. When anyone came near, he must shout,
“unclean, unclean!” If the moral lepers
of today had to shout, “unclean” there would be a terrific racket. Sin, like leprosy, cannot be cured by
man. A sinner is a death-doomed man and
no one can cure him but God. It seems
that no one could cure leprosy but God, in the Scriptures. We mentioned here that there are some ways in
which the sinner and a leper are not alike.
A leper never makes light of his leprosy, but a sinner does make light
of his sin. The leper knows he is a
leper, but the sinner fails to recognize that he is a sinner.
When a sinner is awakened to his sin, he will
be miserable, as was Naaman. With all of
his good things, Naaman was not happy.
The Gospel of cleansing came to Naaman through
a little girl, not a great woman; but she had a great message. She had a humble position. Though she was a servant of Naaman and his
wife, she was also a servant of Jehovah.
Here is a lesson. The thing
necessary to get Naaman into touch with God was the testimony of a
servant. When this little girl started
to testify, things started to move, and the king moved, and then Naaman moved
over into Israel.
The law of Assyria did not bar Naaman from
society, but in Israel God’s law said a leper must be separated. When Naaman came into Israel, then Elisha
treated him as a leper should be treated.
The trouble today is that the world is trying to make sin respectful,
and God will not have it so. You should
treat the sinner as a sinner and put him in his place. You can never save a man by patting him on
the back and then feeding him cream puffs.
When the sinner takes a sinner’s place, then he will be saved. There is too much fellowship with sin, and
compromise with sin. Naaman had to take
the leper’s place before he was cleansed.
The sinner must take the place of the sinner.
Naaman was willing to go far and do much, but
he wanted to do things his own way. The
sinner is much like Naaman, for he is not satisfied with the remedy prescribed. He will say it is too easy. A sinner never does like God’s plan, and the
reason is- God’s plan strips the sinner of all his righteousness. It brings all sinners on the same plane.
Naaman dipped seven times. Seven is the number of God. Six is the number of evil and of man. There is no cleansing for man until six is
submerged in God’s seven. In Adam we are
marked with six, but in Christ we are marked with seven.[2]
The
Lost Sheep- Luke 15:1-7: Jesus has
an audience of sinners and Pharisees and Scribes together. Because we have two different groups of
people, we therefore have two different applications. A man has a hundred sheep, but one has
strayed off from the ninety-nine. Jesus
asked what man would not leave the ninety-nine to go and get the one that has
strayed. The answer is that they all
would. Jesus is saying to them that God
will also.
The application to the sinners in the audience is that God
loves them and will diligently seek them out and lead them home. Every sinner is precious in the sight of God
and He will call all of them home. Sheep are silly little animals. Sheep are a
prey animal so they will seek the safety in the pack. But they are absent minded and will get
distracted and accidentally wander off from the rest and get themselves into
trouble. People are like silly sheep
sometimes, we will get distracted with the cares of this world and wander off
from the Kingdom. But when we come to
our senses, we will also have a good shepherd by the name of Jesus Christ who
will be there when we call out for help.
The application for the Scribes and Pharisees
(and preachers of today) is that instead of concerning themselves with making
money and keeping power to themselves they should be a shepherd to the people
and be looking for the strays and bring them back home.
The
Prodigal Son- Luke 15:11-32: Jesus
was eating at the house of one of the chief Pharisees with other Pharisees and
Scribes, on the Sabbath day (Luke 14:1).
Chapter fourteen is the context setting up chapter fifteen which deals
with the Prodigal Son. While Jesus is
there the Pharisees bring in a sick man to see if Jesus would heal him on the
Sabbath day. They are setting up Jesus
so that they can accuse Him of working (healing) on the Sabbath day and kill
Him. These men are considering an evil
act to stop the preaching of Jesus. They
know that Jesus can heal at will, they do not dispute this. Because of this they know that Jesus is from
God Instead, these preachers are only
concerned about their Temple money that they pocket and their positions that
allow them to profit off the people.
Jesus heals the sick man in their sight (Luke 14:4) and then teaches on
humility, the parable of the great feast, worthless salt, the lost sheep and
the lost coin. Now, Jesus sets Himself
up to speak on the Prodigal Son.
This is the application. Jesus was trying to teach the Pharisees that
God’s will is to be humble, and love the people. They were only concerned with rules and
regulations of their religious system that they had built up, not to serve God,
but to serve themselves. Their concern
should have been to love one another and preach in the spirit of Godly love and
not out of judgment and control.
If any application is to be made to this
present dispensation it must be made to people who are in a covenant
relationship with God. In other words,
the prodigal son is not a lost sinner but a saved sinner. He is a son.
The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy all apply to the
backslider. The one-hundred sheep were
saved; the coins were saved; the two boys were saved. It was a sheep that was lost, not a
goat. It was a real coin that was lost,
not a counterfeit. It was just as good
as the rest of the coins on the string.
The boy was lost was just as much a son as the one who stayed at home. This boy was a son, and nothing could unmake
him a son. He was a son in the home and
a son when he left home, and a son when in the field feeding swine. If he had died in the far country, he would
have still been a son. This boy was a
son even when he brought shame to the family.
The parable teaches the everlasting love of God for His own. The son could waste and spend all that he
had, save his father’s love, but he could not spend that; and when he returned
home his father met him with outstretched arms.[3]
[1] Hartill, J.
Edwin. Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics. Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids, MI,
pgs. 44-45. 1947.
[2] Hartill, J. Edwin. Principles
of Biblical Hermeneutics. Zondervan Publishing House; Grand Rapids,
MI. Pgs 45-46. 194
[3]Hartill,
J. Edwin. Principles of Biblical Hermeneutics. Zondervan
Publishing House; Grand Rapids, MI, p. 46. (only last paragraph).
William J. Roop, M.A.B.S.
