God has unrolled His revelation like a scroll before the believer.

Obviously, there's a marked contrast between Genesis and Revelation. None of the OT Prophets, with their messages to Israel, had a clue that Christ would "build His Church" and that after the Apostolic foundation was laid (Christ as the chief cornerstone) it would be the instrument of saving mostly Gentiles.

We need to bear all of this timed revelation in mind when trying our best to learn and understand the scriptures correctly. We now have a complete revelation of God's will and His agenda. We do well to learn it!

The proper method of scriptural interpretation is frustrated by assuming we are correct in our scriptural understanding simply because we are saved and have the Spirit in us. This is the error of the Charismatic who mistakes his emotional response to God as authentication for his often erroneous views.

Many are saved, but still mistaken about a lot of things in the scripture. Nevertheless, we should not assume a person is lost simply because they are incorrect on the Rapture or the Second coming, as important as they are.

What is the proper way to understand scripture? Read carefully, listen with a view to understanding, enhanced by seeking the message of the writer.

Understand, anyone denying that Christ is God, did not die for the sins of the world, did not rise bodily from the grave and did not promise to come again, is not to be considered a Christian, much less a teacher of the Lord.

So in all serious study, we must "compare spiritual with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13) The NIV puts it this way: "This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words."

In other words, scripture interprets scripture. Context as always is important so consider not just the immediate context, but the larger context of the book of the Bible you are reading and then the context of the whole Bible. God is consistently the same God through out the Bible in His character and His plan of salvation. You can count on that and say with Jesus, "Scripture cannot be broken."

Peter warns us unbreakable scripture can be twisted, so take care how you assemble the mysteries of the Bible now revealed completely in the Bible. Do not force a piece of the puzzle into a place it doesn't fit. None of us in this church age will sacrifice a lamb tomorrow at church...that sacrifice only pointed to the final, complete sacrifice of Christ, and has now been completed. Other things are for other ages as well, as the careful student sees. It's been well said, "Everything in the Bible is written for us, but not everything is written to us."

Remember too, the Bible tells us, the Lord has appointed men who do understand the scripture to teach others, who in turn then teach others, and so on.

Last comment: if having the Spirit of God in us was the key to knowing the scriptures completely, the admonition to Timothy to "study the scriptures" would not be necessary.

2 Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Dig in and don't settle for anything less than a complete working knowledge of the bible.