A recent best seller entitled 'The da Vinci Code' uses a clever amalgamation of fact, fiction, and myth to weave an intricate mystery story involving murder, secret societies, hidden manuscripts, and coded messages hidden in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Evidently, da Vinci, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, Isaac Newton, and others belonged to the Priory of Sion secret society possessing ancient Jewish manuscripts. These manuscripts were supposed to reveal the location of the Holy Grail. According to the tale, this information was encoded by da Vinci in his paintings which hang in the Louvre in Paris, France. The story revolves around the cracking of the code and finding the Holy Grail.
In contrast to this fanciful tale, the Bible contains coded messages which couch spiritual truths in symbolic language so that, as Jesus said, fools may read but not understand. The Bible is full of types and anti types, double entendres, and ambiguities, and unless we understand the code, we become confused. This is why there are so many different interpretations of the Scriptures, and this is sad because a misinterpretation can lead us down a dead end road. Jesus had to explain some of His parables to the disciples because they didn't understand the spiritual application of the stories. The temple in Jerusalem and its predecessor, the tabernacle in the wilderness were types of a heavenly pattern, and the various articles therein had spiritual connotations. The table of showbread, the seven candles, the altar of incense, and the mercy seat all had coded meanings. The sanctuary service itself was a type of the sacrifice of Christ and the plan of salvation. Unless those Israelites understood the code, they missed the significance of what they were doing.
Similarly, unless we understand the biblical codes, we too are in danger of missing the meaning of our existence. The book of Revelation was given to the Apostle John while in vision on the Isle of Patmos. It contains vital information for those living in the last days, but this information is couched in symbolic language, and only those who search for the secret meanings of the code will understand. Perhaps the most convoluted code of all is found in what I like to call the 'riddle of the seven churches.' John is given a message to seven churches in Asia Minor, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. The messages and warnings are clear, but they have coded, secret meanings. They not only applied to local churches in John's day, but the messages also apply to the experiences of God's people down through the epochs of church history to the present time. They also describe conditions within the modern churches of our day and our salvation may depend on our ability to heed the warnings. It is important that we are able to crack "The Patmos Code."
