The Bible is a dangerous book.

It's a "sword." A "sharp, two-edged sword." A "fire." A "hammer that breaks the rock." Like a scalpel between the fingers of a skilled surgeon, it can heal. But in untrained and careless hands it can kill. My premise for this series of essays is that most of us treat divine revelation much too casually. We should approach the Bible as we would approach a loaded gun: with respect, and caution.

One of the most fundamental errors we can make when reading Scripture is to fail to recognize who is being spoken to. In the first book of the Bible, God said one thing to Adam, something different to Eve, and something very different to the Snake. In the last book, Jesus has a distinct message for each of seven churches, and yet other messages for those in the corrupt churches who haven't assented to the corruption. Knowing the intended audience is an essential part of all communication. If we just assume that every Scripture passage is addressed to everyone, we'll never understand what we're "reading."

When I saw an ad for some instruction by Jordan Peterson explicating the Sermon on the Mount, I thought, "Uh-oh." And indeed, right there in the promotional video he makes the same mistake that almost everyone makes about this speech. He uses the word "society."

That's wrong.

Jesus was not addressing "society," or humanity, or government, or the Jewish people with the Sermon on the Mount. He had a much smaller audience in mind. We know this at least three ways. First, there's Matthew's description of the event:

And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven...." (Matt. 5:1-3)

Who is "them" in that sentence? Who was Christ teaching – His disciples, the multitudes, or both? Well, the Greek word used here for "them" is autos, the same word translated "He," "Him" and "His" throughout that sentence. The word for "multitudes" is ochlos.

I find it interesting that He sat down to teach. That's the posture of a rabbi instructing his disciples.

Luke conclusively answers the question of intended audience when he writes about a similar sermon on what appears to be another occasion:

And He came down with them and stood on a level place with a crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, as well as those who were tormented with unclean spirits. And they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all.

“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ...." (Luke 6:17-20)

This time Jesus "stood," but Luke removes any ambiguity about who the Lord was addressing when he writes, "He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said...."

So we know that Jesus addressed these sermons not to everyone (though everyone was welcome to hear), but to His own – His followers – His students.

Secondly, notice the blessing promised. The Lord starts the sermon by talking about the most important thing: "the Kingdom of God."

From that we should understand that the Sermon on the Mount is a message about how things are, or will be, in the Kingdom of God. It is not a set of new commandments for the world – the old, doomed kingdom. It's a message intended for those who choose to bow to the new King, and join the rising Kingdom.

Remember what Christ told Nicodemus in John 3: "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." It's nonsense to try to apply Kingdom directives to those who can't even see the Kingdom!

Every sentence in the Sermon on the Mount is about the Kingdom of God, expressed to those coming into the Kingdom of God. And the Kingdom of God is about the King. If we lose that realization, we've lost the plot.

A third way we can know that the Sermon on the Mount is not addressed to all of humanity is that it's impossible for mere humans to carry it out.

Time would fail us to go through Matthew 5 through 7 verse-by-verse piling up absurdities, trying to read it as a message for the whole world. Throughout the sermon He's talking about the "righteous" in contrast to "the hypocrites" and "the Gentiles (nations);" those holding treasure versus "dogs" and "swine." Even "Our Father" implies that others have a different father.

This speech is not about "society;" it's about a kingdom – a kingdom that's "upside-down" from the present kingdom. We'll never be able to apply lessons from Christ's Kingdom to this one. We'll never build the Kingdom of God with human hands.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount isn't an "instruction manual" for self-actualization; it's an orientation guide for those entering a new homeland.

I forced myself to watch the inaugural "Sermon on the Mount" lesson by Dr. Peterson. I noticed only one mention of the Kingdom of God in that entire hour: He dismisses it by saying something like, "Whatever that might mean."

Well, whatever that might mean is the point.

It's very easy to bring our own agenda, our own lens to God's Word, and come away with less than nothing. The Bible is a dangerous book. Do you really want to grab a sharp sword by the wrong end?