by Annagail Lynes

Created on: June 21, 2008   Last Updated: June 22, 2008

The Bible is a tapestry of God-inspired stories, parables and thoughts that can be taken literally. To those who do not have the Holy Spirit living inside them, though, this can be confusing.

If we do have the Holy Spirit, He will lead us into the deeper truths of the Bible. The Scriptures are filled with hidden meanings.

Names, such as Noah, have meanings that add to the story . Noah means rest. Zacchaeus means pure one. Peter means rock.

Numbers also have meanings. Twelve is administration. Seven is completion. Eight is new beginning.

Even within the stories themselves, we find hidden meanings. For instance, the story of the woman with the issue of blood (Luke 8:43-48). She suffered twelve years. She represents the church. Women in Bible stories represent one of two things-the church or Israel. By church, I am referring to the entire Body of Christ not individual groups gathered in brick and mortar buildings.

She use rags to soak up the blood. If we look in the original Hebrew in Isaiah 64:6 where it says "all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags," we discover that they are the same rags that the woman with the issue of blood would have used.

These rags represent self-righteousness. This woman is a picture of the church hemorrhaging because of their own self-righteousness.

She only found the healing she so desperately needed when she went to Jesus. When the Body of Christ comes to Jesus and focuses on what He provided for us at the cross through His death and resurrection, we too will be healed and experienced the same peace that the woman with the issue of blood did.

In this seemingly innocent story about the woman with an issue of blood, we find truths relevant for today.

There are many stories in the Bible, which we think are cute, but that have important morals to them.

Jonah, for instance, didn't want preach in Nineveh as God told Him to because he knew that if he did, God would spare the people of Nineveh.

Jonah tried to run away from God, but he couldn't. God saw when Jonah boarded a boat bound for Tarnish (Jonah 1:3). God saw the storm (Jonah 1:4) and how Jonah's shipmates threw him overboard (Jonah 1:15). God saw when a great fish swallowed Jonah (Jonah 1:17) God saw Jonah spend three days in the belly of that great fish (Jonah 1:17)..

The moral here is that we cannot outrun God and His assignment on our lives. God knows where we are at all times.

What about Esther? She became queen because she found favor with a king who ruled from India even unto

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