A NEW DIET
Genesis 9:1 ¶ And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
The Lord has shown us a glorious pattern of our faith concerning our own salvation in these dealings with Noah. For the Apostle Paul instructs us that these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 1 Corinthians 10:11. For Noah came out of the condemned world of Adam, just as we were once lost sinners without God and without hope in the world. The Lord directed Noah to the ark of safety just as he provided the safety of being in Christ for us to transverse the judgmental waters of God’s wrath. Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Then Noah was given a liberty previously unknown prior to entering the ark, as his righteous soul was vexed in being the only righteous man in that former society. And we too have the soul’s glorious liberty in Christ that our former world of sin and condemnation never afforded us. We can now, in Christ, go in and out, and find pasture. (John 10:9). Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
And now Noah enters into the same spirit of worship that got dear Abel murdered! He, as Abel, has no recorded command to sacrifice, but their inner revelation to do so precedes the laws of sacrifice to be given much later to Moses. So it is with every new born believer! They immediately enter into the spiritual realm of the living sacrifice. Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And this worship along with the sacrifice pleased God and opened his heart to Noah. So did the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ bring satisfaction to the Father (Isaiah 53:11), and provide us entrance into the holy of holies to worship him in truth and in spirit! And from this spirit of worship, (for the Father seeketh such to worship him. – John 4:23), comes our instruction as listed in the above verses for this lesson.
After the believer comes to see his fruitfulness in the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23), and then comes to deal with the beastly nature of his carnal self (see verses 1 and 2 above), he is now directed to that which he must hereafter consume for his daily bread. For now the regenerated soul must be nourished on the spiritual food! Whereas Noah was once only provided vegetables, and that which grew upon the face of the earth, and of the trees to eat (Genesis 1:29), so now in Genesis 9:3 we read that he is to eat of every moving thing that liveth. He is no more a part of Adam’s world. That world has perished. (2 Peter 3:6). He has come through the waters of baptism (1 Peter 3:21), and now stands on the new earth, and therefore requires a new diet.
That word soul, as seen in Genesis 2:7, is the exact same Hebrew word in Proverbs 23:3, and in Ecclesiastes 6:7 translated, appetite. So the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and man became a living appetite! And the one thing that does not have to be taught the newborn infant is to nurse! He is cast back upon the body from which he was born to find his nourishment. So it is with the believer! For all those who have spiritual life by the new birth have a blessed hunger! Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. And they all, without exception, have need of a supernatural diet!
So there is instruction to the newborn believer concerning his different relation to eating. Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
But what is the new diet? By what is the believer to sustain his spiritual life? John 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
But how is this to be done? Certainly not just by taking the wafer in participating in the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper! For that is just a token of the real Bread. Let us first realize that Noah was being instructed to now eat that which had previously only clothed him. Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. So it is with the new born believer. Romans 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.
And so the regenerate soul, who now, being made a spiritual priest, is to appropriate the sacrifice of God’s Lamb for his food! Revelation 1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. For the priest is authorized to partake of the sacrifice which was used to atone for sin!
Leviticus 6:14 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar. 15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even the memorial of it, unto the LORD. 16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. 17 It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.
In review: The soul is an appetite. He has a spiritual hunger that is blessed. His food is no longer within the realm of the natural. He is to now come to Christ, who clothed him with righteousness (Revelation 19:8), to eat of that which was sacrificed and made an atonement for him. To do so one must be a spiritual priest.
And the spiritual eating cannot be seen, as the Lord Jesus told the disciples he had food to eat which they knew not of. His food was the Spirit’s feeding him the ability to accomplish his Father’s will! John 4:32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. John 4:33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
And there is a vast difference between the religionists who merely taste, and the true believers who constantly eat! Consider the difference in these two passages. Those who simple just taste fall away, never to have opportunity again for repentance. Hebrews 6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
But those who have the blessed hunger, which causes them to constantly rely upon Christ, feast as it were from his very flesh and drinking his blood, in which is the life (Lev. 17:11,14), can never fall away. And they shall one glorious day be delivered from the natural hunger of man, into the eternal feasting from the very Presence of the Life Himself! Isaiah 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
How are your believing loved ones being sustained in heaven at this present moment? They left her teeth, mouth and stomach in that casket. How are Abraham, Isaac, David and Samuel being sustained in heaven? The same way every true redeemed soul still on earth is being sustained. – by the Bread of God, Jesus Christ! Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
The one in whom we have redemption is the one who shall sustain us eternally! Colossians 1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (or, “stand together”).
The true church is not to be identified by religious organizations. In her encompassment of spiritual believers, she is a city without walls! (Zechariah 2:4). She is to be identified by her diet! Matthew 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
One of the four pictures of the life of God within the soul of man is listed as a flying eagle. (Revelation 4:7). The believer is also said to be one who mounts up with wings as eagles; (Isaiah 40:31). And we know that the eagle will not eat of decayed, rotting flesh like the buzzard! He eats of the warm blood of the fresh kill. So our amazing Lord depicts himself as a carcase, and identifies the true, spiritual church as those who are gathered together to feed from him! John 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
In column three on the first page of this article we listed the words; Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat… Then we go to the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and find this instruction: Revelation 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. 17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Our hunger and thirst is dealt with along with our renewed ‘environment’ of the Spirit within our souls! John 4:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water (the water of Jacob’s well), shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
In Christ there is no harsh sun of God’s wrath. Revelation 16:9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Nor is there heat to alter the bride’s beauty. Song 1:5 I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. 6 Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.
And our temperament is conquered and controlled by the Lord dwelling within as well, for tears are wiped away! For even those tears which did flow as the church dwelt in the harshness of this environment of a sin filled world have not gone unnoticed by the Lord! Psalm 56:8 Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? Our God is good! gb
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