Our Most-Viewed Blog Post of All Time
We’ve been writing MasterTruth blog posts for 17 years now—since 2008. It’s always fascinating to see which posts rise to the top. Hands down, the most-viewed post is one from November 13, 2023, titled The Meaning Behind the Silver Cup. Someone views it almost every day. In fact, there are days when two or three people from all over the world land on it.
That surprises us—not because the post isn’t meaningful (it absolutely is), but because the title itself doesn’t exactly scream “clickbait.” There’s nothing flashy or viral about it. The Meaning Behind the Silver Cup sounds like a quiet little Bible study tucked in a forgotten corner of Genesis 44. And yet… people gravitate to it. It tells me that folks realize there is symbolic meaning behind objects. That is astute, because indeed, God encodes hidden meaning in practically everything in the Bible. And the sooner we realize that, the sooner we are on our way to getting to the doctrinal message behind the historical accounts and a more mature, informed relationship with the Lord.
Go back and read that blog post to learn the meaning behind Joseph’s silver cup. And if you see what’s hidden in there, I hope it makes you more curious about hidden things. In fact, I’ve written a short novel Treasures in Plain Sight about messages God hides in Scripture via key words and phrases you find as you compare scripture with scripture. You can read an excerpt from that book right here.
Your relationship with the Lord will never be the same when you develop eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus urges. When He spoke in parables, He did it to reveal spiritual truths to those who were open-hearted while concealing it from the indifferent or hard-hearted. Truth that you have to search out through cross-referencing and meditation are meat to the hungry soul. You may want to ponder, “Am I a milk person or a meat person?”
Also consider that just as the parables of the New Testament encode deeper meanings, Old Testament prophets often spoke in symbolic or obscure language, making their messages clear only to those sincerely seeking God. The Bible is a spiritual book, not just a history or devotional book.
Learn to search for the deeper meaning in the actual words used—such as silver and cup. Jesus had a cup to drink, did He not? Silver symbolizes the price of redemption, and the cup He wrestled with in prayer was the very cup He would drink to accomplish that redemption. Look for key words in this way, rather than focusing only on the historical meaning and customs of the day. The latter may be interesting, but God’s specialty is revealing meaning in ways that bring Him glory, revealing Jesus in the very words themselves—just as in silver and cup. Other words that often lead you to Him throughout Scripture include stone or rock, door, bridegroom, husband, lamb, morning star, scapegoat and shepherd, among many others.
So keep digging, because the more you uncover, the more you’ll see that every word in Scripture is placed with purpose, pointing to Christ in ways both beautiful and unmistakable. When you finally “see” it, your spirit will soar and you will want more!
Jody Shee