What Are We To Do With the Clean and the Unclean? PT 4
Hebrews 9:9 NKJV - It [was] symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience--
Hebrews 9:10 NKJV - [concerned] only with foods and drinks, various washings, and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.
Paul is talking about all the various offerings, the washings, and other sundry things that went along with the sacrifices and the temple system. All of those things pointed to Christ’s sacrifice, and His sacrifice is once and for all sufficient.
Notice, none of these were done away with; they just changed form. We still have the sacrifices and washings; they just look different. These things only have to do with the temple system, though, so what about clean and unclean meats?
Is there a difference in how animals are unclean and how you become unclean after sex?
Physical uncleanness from sex, childbirth, or touching a dead body was never sin in itself; it was a temporary condition requiring purification. Eating unclean animals, however, is not just a matter of ritual impurity; it is called an abomination, a direct violation of God’s command.
Leviticus 11:2 NKJV - "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These [are] the animals which you may eat among all the animals that [are] on the earth:
Leviticus 11:23 NKJV - 'But all [other] flying insects which have four feet [shall be] an abomination to you.
Leviticus 11:44 NKJV - 'For I [am] the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I [am] holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Leviticus 11:45 NKJV - 'For I [am] the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I [am] holy.
Leviticus 11:46 NKJV - 'This [is] the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,
Leviticus 11:47 NKJV - 'to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.' "
Deuteronomy 14:3 NKJV - "You shall not eat any detestable thing.
Here, we have clear commands from God, laws, actually, stating that we shall not eat unclean animals. Now, is it simply because they make us unclean?
Leviticus 11:43 NKJV - 'You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them.
No, actually, it makes us abominable, that is, detestable when we eat these things. It’s not simply about becoming physically unclean; we actually become abominable when we eat these things.
There is no time limit on these laws either. We see people being consumed in God’s judgment in the last days when He returns because of eating unclean animals.
Isaiah 66:15 NKJV - For behold, the LORD will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire.
Isaiah 66:16 NKJV - For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many.
Isaiah 66:17 NKJV - "Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, [To go] to the gardens After an [idol] in the midst, Eating swine's flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together," says the LORD.
These are strong words of judgment from our creator, that not only is it written in the law, but it will be severely judged in the end of days. What’s written here isn’t “old law;” it’s an end-time prophecy.
Why make a difference in which animals may and may not be eaten?
Leviticus 11:44 NKJV - 'For I [am] the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I [am] holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
You shall be holy for I am Holy, and it is also stated that nothing unclean shall enter the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:27).
Revelation 18:2 NKJV - And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
Even in the book of Revelation, there are still unclean birds, which would imply that there are other unclean animals as well. Jesus said not a jot or tittle would by any means pass from the Law until everything was accomplished, and we have not yet seen everything accomplished.
Hebrews 2:8 NKJV - You have put all things in subjection under his feet." For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing [that is] not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.
The difference between becoming physically unclean and becoming defiled by unclean meats is simply that the law of God is clear. While ritual uncleanness pointed us to the Messiah and is fulfilled in Him, the distinction between clean and unclean meats remains a binding command. To eat what Yahowah has called abominable is sin, and Holiness requires obedience.
1 Samuel 15:22 NKJV - So Samuel said: "Has the LORD [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, [And] to heed than the fat of rams.
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