27). Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will sow the
house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed
of beast.
28). And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to
pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I
will watch over them to build and to plant, say the Lord.
(Jeremiah 31:27-28 NKJV)
We are told in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 that there is a season for
everything and a time for every purpose under heaven. Were the doctrines
of eternal punishment through either eternal torment or eternal
annihilation true, then it couldn't be said that there was a season for
everything and a time for every purpose under heaven. Both eternal
torment and eternal annihilation require a final belief in limited
atonement because they necessitate a duality of either purpose in the
Incarnation, Atonement, and Mediation Ministries of the Christ or a
duality of consequences arising from the Incarnation, Atonement, and
Mediation Ministries of the Christ.
According to Jeremiah 31:27-28 God has accepted the blame for
everything that's ever made a prey of either man or beast in their
spirits, souls, bodies, and everything else that pertains to them. In
Ecclesiastes chapters 3 and 4 we are told that man has no preeminence
over a beast but is proven to be a beast in his relations to his Maker
and to the animal kingdoms around him. [i.e. men loved darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil...] Again from Ecclesiastes
chapters 3 and 4, there is yet a final assurance that as the spirit of
man has risen to heaven through the babel tower of animal oppression and
the spirit of animals has been ground into the dust as man has continued
to war against all that was righteous in himself in the Garden of God
--man will yet, together with the beasts, know the place of being built
and planted by the Lord where neither will any longer know Him as
Master, but as Husband according to Hosea 2:14-23. Unquestionably, to
everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven!
The Lord said that He would WATCH over man and beast and their seed
to build them and to plant them. As the man is to be liberated through
this building and planting, so is the animal. According to Isaiah
chapters 10 and 11:
And it shall come to pass in that day that his burden shall be
removed from your shoulders and his yoke from your neck and the yoke
shall be destroyed because of the anointing.....the calf and the young
lion and the fatling together shall be led by a little child, as they
play by the cobra's hole....the earth shall be FULL OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF
THE LORD.
From Jeremiah 31:27-28: man and animal being WATCHED by the Lord to
be built and planted --far from yokes, burdens, and oppression. Truly
there is a season for everything and time for every purpose under
heaven!
What goodness will the Lord withhold from mankind and from the beasts
of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the
ground? in the words of Hosea 2. We're promised that we'll fear the Lord
and His goodness in the latter days in Hosea 3!
Anything that reduces the final goodness of the Lord towards all of
Creation to abstract conditions that by their very definition can never
be fulfilled by all of Creation prior to the resurrection is to diminish
this grand truth that God is Love, that God so loved the world, and that
to His Son there is a season and a time for every purpose which He came
to fulfill for the Father of Mercies, the God of all Comfort. As High
Priest Jesus is watching today, eagerly to build and plant! Let Him
build and plant something special in your life today, and in the life of
every animal that you come into contact with today and tomorrow! His
goodness isn't limited by His power and His power isn't limited by His
goodness. Feel free to enjoy God together with nature, rather than
chasing nature in the Name of God like an antisemitic holy land Crusader
of previous ages!
Some may ask why they should work to end animal oppression when they
themselves are currently being oppressed by their jobs, their families,
or life in general. To fight against oppression in one's life, one must
have in view all of the oppression that one comes in contact with. To
say that because I'm oppressed that I'm going to continue to oppress
animals does absolutely nothing to lift oppression from your life. Every
victory against oppression in your life is a genuinely solid victory
against the oppression in your life!
The fact that any of us are hurting doesn't give us the right to hurt
others. While many of us know, acknowledge, and believe that where other
humans are concerned, this is equally true in our relations with the
animal kingdom. We must work to alleive their sufferings at any and
every cost. That doesn't mean that we give animals absolutely everything
that they could ever want. As a society, we don't allow for an absolute
abandonment of ourselves to the casual whims of other people. That
should be no different where animals are concerned. I'm not arguing for
an animal gospel where anything and everything goes and we should simply
allow the animals to soil our carpets beyond the least possible recovery
of either our own personal dignity or theirs.
Righteous standards should be in place. Just because the cattle on a
thousand hills are our Lord's doesn't mean that they're there for us to
oppress and violate. Psalm 2 says that the heathen are the inheritance
of Christ. And yet it is now universally acknowledged as sinful to take
that as a license to go rape, murder, and enslave the heathen for not
believing as we do, such as in the time of the Crusades and Inquisitions
of European history. That God will kill the fattened calf in the behalf
of His recovered prodigal is no more of a literal statement of the Sword
of God being at the throat of an animal than to say that the Angel of
God in Revelation 19 will literally give the flesh of human kings over
to the birds of the air to physically engorge themselves on. The
prodigal son story is using symbolic language in letting us know that no
area of the Father's house can be left at enmity with the returned
prodigal --least of all the "elder Brother." And in the case of
Revelation 19, God is not saying that birds will feast on the bodies of
the kings who've oppressed the earth. He's saying that the birds will
feast at the expense of the kings of the earth when all of their
wickedness shall have been put under foot. Man has oppressed animals for
thousands of years and through the Hosea 2:18 covenant God will cause
them to feast at our expense as co-heirs of our liberty in Christ!
And I know the ploy of the Enemy all too well. Some people may
perhaps be under the impression that while Romans 14 and 1Corinthians 8
clearly teach the reasons for abstaining from the flesh of animals, that
1Corinthians chapter 9 at least says that dairy products are universally
Biblically permissible. 1Corinthians chapter 9 was actually an
exhortation towards not abusing your authority in the Gospel and not
hindering it. The very fact that dairy is mentioned in the same context
as offerings and marriage issues with ministers is a strong argument
rather in favor of abstaining from dairy --lest you hinder the Gospel of
Christ! Paul said earlier in 1Corinthians that if it's at all within
your giftings from God to abstain from marriage, the Gospel could
actually be freed from an additional care of this world to go forth
mightily through you. Here in 1Corinthians 9 he's bringing dairy
products up in the same context of saying that though your
protectiveness over animals could fairly make dairy your just reward,
you could also get to where, as Jesus would warn --"you have your reward
already..." As someone could be open to the charge of only being
interested in the money when talking of their rights as an Apostle to be
well provided for, you could be open to the charge of only being into
animals for their wool, milk, and anything else you could privately
"fleece" them of! It's no different in the eyes of the Apostle who saw
Jesus as he laid down his Spirit-filled comments in 1Corinthians. As the
Apostles were silly enough to think that Jesus's comments against the
leaven of the Pharisees were an indictment against themselves, as
Apostles, for having no bread, you can easily make it look as though
your only arguments against the meat and dairy industry are because we
have no quality organic meats and dairy products! May we all be shown by
God how to rid ourselves of the leaven of the Pharisees in anything that
we say that could ever be taken to imply that we're only after "humane
slaughter" or a more gentle ripping of the milk from the nipples of the
cows and the goats.
We're after a total abolishment of all animal cruelty and a
restoration of a righteous relationship with animals, amen?
Many people talk as if the New Testament placed no special emphasis
upon our words, our acts towards what some would call outsiders, and our
behavior at the table. But that simply is not the case.
Let brotherly love continue.
Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have
unwittingly entertained angels.
Remember the prisoners as if chained with them --those who are
mistreated-- since you yourselves are in the body also.
Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such
things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor
forsake you."
Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is
good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have
not profited those who have been occupied with them.
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no
right to eat.
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to
God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His Name. (Hebrews
13:1-3, 5, 9-10, 15)
According to St. Paul's writing to Titus, the grace of God that
brings salvation has appeared to all men teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly in this present world as we await the return of our Lord Jesus
Christ. So, the heart being established by grace that's mentioned in the
book of Hebrews is a heart that's established in the hope of final
salvation and it's a heart that shuns ungodliness and worldly lusts as
it awaits the coming of it's Lord Jesus Christ. The book of Isaiah
describes Jesus in Isaiah 40 as coming as a Shepherd in His second
coming. He's slain the Goliath of our sins and now He'll rule His people
Israel for the ages of the ages until all enemies are brought to kneel
before His feet. According to 1John, those who have this hope in
themselves are soberly diligent about the process of purifying
themselves even as He is pure. He's described as coming back to care for
both man and beast, as the minister of the Hosea 2:18 covenant. Those
who have this hope in themselves, of the soon return of the Lord, are
purifying themselves from all of the abuses of their brethren, whether
they're "man," "beast," "bird," or "creatures that creep like a
reptile."
Therefore, there is absolutely no getting around this, that if you
treasure this hope in your heart of the restitution of all things, then
it demands that your compassion isn't in word or tongue only, but that
it's also in deed and in truth. It's time to pray it from your heart,
and to no longer run from this, saying "Jesus, I bow before Your
Lordship in every area of Creation and I trust You to supply the Holy
Spirit within me that already bares your crucifixion and that's baring
it to this world to separate us and them from our sins. I trust You to
cleanse me, to repair my relationships with everyone and every animal
around me. And I trust You to speak to my heart as often as necessary
and by any means necessary to see to it that I live a life that reflects
and foretells Your endless love for all of Creation!"
When we turn to Colossians chapter 2 we find a series of comments
that are alleged by some as definitive proof against the validity of
this Hosea 2:18 Covenant. In that passage we are asked why we're
submitting ourselves to human regulations regarding the touching,
tasting, and handling of certain [taboo] things. We're also warned
about festival keeping that's either a shadow of the things that were to
come through Christ or of any type of cultural, religious, or political
maneuvers that would distract us from Christ that weren't even
temporarily commanded by God to start with. For some people this poses a
very deep problem with regards to this Covenant that I'm speaking of.
But if you'll look at the context, it'll be obvious that on the one hand
we have a comment very similar to that of Gamaliel's in Acts chapter 5
that if these things aren't the commandments of God that they're
inherently destined to pass with the times. We're also warned in
Colossians chapter 2 against angel worship, imaginary visions, and types
of neglect of the body that are of no real value against the indulgences
of the flesh. Here's a very simple answer to this concern:
Hosea 2:18 isn't a precept or doctrine of mere human origin. It's not
an imaginary/imaginative "vision" that I'm claiming as being a spiritual
vision without grounds. As we study God's sacred Word, it's very obvious
that this has substance in Christ in Isaiah 11, Isaiah 30, Isaiah 40,
Psalm 23, Revelation chapters 4 and 5, and countless other passages that
assure us of Christ being minister of the Hosea 2:18 Covenant. Rather
than taking away from the commission of the body of Christ in the earth,
it's one of it's highest and most virtuous purposes that nourishes
itself spiritually and brings very badly needed relief and wholeness to
the Creation around us. We're told in Romans 8 that if we suffer with
the Creation that we'll be glorified together with the Creation. It's
asserted in Romans 8 that the Creation entering into the liberties of
the children of God is a major sign, if not the consumate sign, of the
entrance of the body of Christ into it's fullness of the knowledge of
the Son of God. A basic principle of this world that we've died to, in
Christ, is the cultural mandates that we've grown up around that dictate
to us which people and animals it's our priveledge to exploit for our
purposes, celebrations, and whims. All of the language of Colossians
chapter 2 rather than warning against this covenant rather seems to
point us to anything and everything that has it's substance in Christ.
And all animals were created through Christ, for Christ, and are
destined/betrothed to Christ. Rather than warning against humility and
restraint of the flesh, Colossians chapter 2 is saying to keep your
priorities Christ-centered rather than culturally and politically
centered or centered on any religious heritage that Christ came to annul
in claiming everyone for Himself and to Himself. As further proof of
this interpretation, consider that in Colossians 2 that we're told not
to submit to human regulations against touching, tasting, and handling
certain things while Colossians chapter 3 begins by saying that since
you're seated with Christ at the right hand of God that you're to stop
all fornication, uncleanness, malice, and covetousness. This says that
there are moral restraints and even covenant imposed restraints on our
conduct that whether they have any place in the commandments and
doctrines of men, they still have claim on the life of those whose life
is hidden with God in Christ!
Participating in the meat, dairy, leather, silk, wool, and every
other animal exploitation industry, in the light of Hosea 2 is
practicing uncleanness of a sort that is not permissible on the grounds
of New Testament principles of love, respect, prayer, protection, and
cultivation of the Creation around us through Christ-centered
principles, doctrines, graces and virtues. Above all things we're
exhorted to put on love as the bond of perfection. Whatever we do in
Word or Deed, we're told to do it and say it in the Name of Jesus Christ
causing thanks to abound to God the Father through Him.
For those who've accepted it as their calling in life to pray and to
work towards the liberation of animals from the concentration camps that
they are suffering and dying in by the billions every single year, we
must come to the place where we love the animal abusers/exploiters while
at the same time hating the animal abuses/exploitations that they're
conducting. Some of them even imagine themselves to be carrying out such
cruelties in the Name of God!
Many animal abusers portray themselves as taking moral stands on
other matters. Some of them are very passionately against abortion and
homosexuality, or the death penalty, state/national government, alcohol,
aspartame, and tobacco! Whatever anyone's belief on those matters, it
still becomes a matter of frustration far too often to hear of someone's
alleged moral stance against this or that, all of the while they seem
utterly clueless about the rights to life and being for animals.
When the Scriptures teach that love will cover a multitude of
offenses, that doesn't mean to imply that love will close it's eyes to
holocaust after holocaust in the name of loving the Hitlers of our
present day in the Spirit of Christ. Love is the bond of perfection, the
purgation of all fear, and the ultimate curse [upon] and destruction of
death! Love in all of it's, or rather "His" fullness can so cover a
situation with such strength and purity that though the most atrocious
sin is committed in it's Presence, that sin becomes harder and harder and
harder to repeat in His Presence!
The Love of God has been lavished towards and within our hearts
without measure in Christ. The Love that'll never fail to bring a
prostitute back to innocence, healing, purity, wholeness, and holiness
will likewise shatter the illusion that animals are here to be consumed
at our sole discretion! Through the power of the Spirit of Christ each
and every single one of us can love animal exploiters until they no
longer wish to harass, molest, kill, and otherwise utilize animals for
their own selfish and hereditary ends that they received as their crafts
and customs from their youth and their forefathers.
We can overcome all pain and all selfishness with the Blood and the
Love of Christ that's worked in us thus far in every other area of our
life in God's dealings with us and in our dealings with others on other
matters!
Some may at this point wish to see how I would answer at this point
the idea that my case for the Hosea 2:18 covenant falls utterly apart if
it were successfully demonstrated that many of the passages that I've
cited could be used in reference to the gentiles or to Israel when it
was in a backslidden situation in regards to it's fellowship with God.
I personally do not believe that this is the case at all. Theologians
have long clung to the notion, with regards to other doctrines, of an
idea of what many of them would refer to as an inherent law of "double
reference" in the Scriptures. Perhaps at this point many would be
alarmed because, in their view perhaps, many of my interpretations would
seem to allow for a new law of "triple reference" in Scripture, as if a
thing may be said of Jews and Gentiles at different points in history
and providence, but that it may also apply to the Hosea 2:18 Covenant.
Those who are shy about the doctrine of "double reference" in
Scripture may 'triply object' that if Scripture were to be granted so
many meanings, then the concept of relativity would necessarily be the
plight of Scripture, that of necessity then that the Scriptures would
have no meaning at all of divine origin. I do not believe that this is
the case at all. On the principles of God's foreknowledge and
predestination and the relevancy of the original Scriptures for all
times as the inerrant Word of the living God, it must be conceded that
deeper meanings and interpretations may lie within it's pages, that
while seldom (if ever!) contradicting previously established doctrines
of Scripture, the Scriptures themselves as the "Logos" of God must
contain within themselves a divine germ of all that human beings are
ever capable of knowing.
There is neither an explicit nor an implied set of statements in
Scripture that because at a certain time in history, for whatever the
reason and to whatever the degree, that animals were allowed to be eaten
by humans that that in any way denied God's future purposes of grace
towards animals, nor is there anything in Scripture to explicitly and
necessarily form boundaries and inherent limits or partialities around
or towards God's compassions.
For anything, at all, to have more than one meaning or to have
different meanings to different peoples at different times is not to say
that it, therefore, inherently, has no pure original meaning. God Whose
purposes, powers, compassion, judgments, and knowledge are infinite and
Who always revealed Himself in Scripture as the "Ever - (Him)Self -
Revealing - One" has shown us His pattern throughout history of saying
one thing that while literally true of one age, dispensation, or
situation was still carefully Worded to have greater, grander, and
fuller implications towards future ages, dispensations, and situations.
Note the references to fulfilled prophecies in the New Testament that
were given in the Old Testament, particularly in the life of Christ
(i.e. "out of Egypt have I called My Son..." et.al.). Note also the
prophecies in the book of Daniel that while regarded by many theologians
as having had literal (and some would say, qualifyingly, "partial")
fulfillments were still to have future implications towards the first
and second comings of Christ Jesus, so that it may be said that even the
allegories of Scripture that while definitive for an age still revealed
purposes of divine gracious judgment for future ages and situations
where the mercy of God would be desperately coveted!
And note also that while it is inherently in the vocabulary of many
of our day to downplay what they would consider foreshadowing
fulfillments or perhaps partial fulfillments (because of lost records of
history that prevent complete details of events to be known), they do
recognize purposes of divine grace in the exact Wording of those
prophecies that may have not been recognized interpretations of
Scripture for many millennia, until events unfolded which made further
and greater fulfillments self-evident and humiliating to the human ego.
Many are superstitious against claiming too great of a fulfillment of
certain passages lest they be charged with either preterism or finding
themselves on the uncomfortable grounds of having to defend themselves
against charges by critics that there's the same vagueness to prophecy
in the Bible that is inherent in the so-called prophecies of many
psychics, mystics, and witches of our day. They don't know enough about
the Scriptures, are uncertain of God's purposes beyond a general sense,
and have enough unhealthy self-doubts to keep them from giving a proper
defense of Scripture as being a revelation of God's areas of
Self-declared control in the affairs of mankind. Therefore, many people
will not like a presentation of this Covenant not on the grounds that it
would therefore be too gracious or that it would create any vagueness to
the Scriptures, but because it would be too intrusive into their
lifestyles! Plain and simple. It declares God's ongoing purpose of
upsetting the comfortable and of comforting the upset with brighter
areas of His love and power.
And while many may try to rationalize themselves out of an acceptance
of this covenant on the grounds of Hosea chapter 2 being extensively
used by St. Paul in Romans chapters 8 and 9, there are too many other
passages, such as Jeremiah 31:27-28 which state purposes of redemption
and the divine hope for both man and animal in the same sentence. That
passage does not allow for an interpretation of "beast" as a reference
to either rebellious Israelites or rebellious gentiles because it's into
the house of Israel and the house of Judah that the seed of both - and
the word "both" is very important and pivotal - man (without regards to
being either Jew or gentile) and beast (without qualifying or implying
superlatives of a different sort which would allow for less than a
literal interpretation) into God's redemptive purposes. Christ is
declared to be watching over both under the New Covenant to build and to
plant both man and beast. And it's not very edifying to an animal (or
any one else!) to suddenly find one's self on the dinner table! Note the
contrast of building and planting in the passage with breaking down,
tearing down (i.e. in pieces), and uprooting. To uproot would be to
allow for no possibility of continuing to abide in a habitat or in any
state of being or grace. And this Scripture is saying that the divine
mercy - on equal footing - is to be shared by both man and beast.
There are too many passages yet to be explored to allow for any kind
of dismissing of this Covenant as being somehow less than literal or
less than binding upon all of us, which I will yet explore in the future
with my audiences.
The war for the freedom of animals from the fear of man can only be
won by the anointing of God at work in the earth through believers
who've consecrated themselves towards it. Only by setting ourselves
apart and by setting an example of the love of God towards all of
creation will we fully know the truth of God as it's revealed to us, as
St. Paul would say, by not knowing Jesus Christ any longer after the
flesh. Christ came to accomplish far more than the orthodox have ever
dared to grasp, as will be readily acknowledged by all Christian
Universalists.
Some animal rights activists will say that the war for animal
independence won't be won in a day, but it'll be won through incremental
changes as new legislation is passed and as economic profit is hindered
in the animal exploitation camps. Many people believe that when animal
abuse is no longer financially profitable that animal abusers will cease
to abuse animals and will move on to other things in order to make their
money. In my view that is, what Jesus called, "the deceitfulness of
riches" talking in an indirect way. That's like saying that when
prostitution is no longer financially profitable that there will be no
such thing as prostitution in the world! That is wrong because people
still have manipulative and coercive intents and motives that are
separate and distinct from financial considerations, plus people really
love sex in general! Many people get a physical and an emotional rise
and release that borders on the sexual in it's impact on their psyche as
they abuse animals and express what they consider to be their power over
animals or their so-called rights.
The changes that are necessary won't be won in legislative terms. A
fundamental spiritual shift will be necessary to cause the kinds of
changes that'll bring animals the deliverance that so many have coveted
from criminal exploitation against them. Many people are in denial of
the spiritual link to the exploitation paradigm, but many animal
exploiters will readily admit that they savour for animal abuse is a
celebration of all that they consider themselves to be as human beings
and as touched by the divine. Many animal abusers speak of animal
sacrifice, though not necessarily in those blunt terms. They'll speak of
how connected they feel with nature, with each other, and with some form
of divinity at work in the world today. Many people don't understand as
of yet that feeling the presence of God does not anymore automatically
signify His automatic blessing than feeling anyone else's presence. That
only signifies that God is present and they for once were in touch with
that, or that He went out of His way to touch them inspite of their
conduct or perhaps in rebuke of it! God overcomes evil with good and
many of His confrontations of human nature are incrementally done over
many years and perhaps over centuries in some cases since He has equal
access to the living and the dead.
The New Testament says that as we mature as the sons of God through
Christ Jesus that one of our priorities will be in being co-laborers
with God in overcoming evil in every created being. And as it's
incrementally done by the divine, so will it be done by the human in
union with the divine. However, the keys of the Kingdom have been
granted to humankind, in Christ Jesus, and we will be held accountable
for our part in the reconciliation of all of Creation to God and to each
other and the mutual sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit that we're to
submit to and cultivate amidst ourselves. Another epoch of time in the
prophecies has arrived when what our forefathers got away with, with God
passing over their ignorance, is something that could easily send us
straight to a burning hell! These animals are destined to know the
divine power of the living God in liberating them from all of their
afflictions. To everything there is a season and a time for every
purpose under heaven. The purposes of God of universal love, universal
respect and holiness will not be held back for all time. If we will not
crucify our flesh then God will crucify it for us in His intent to
reveal the abundance of grace, healing, and provision towards the least
of these, His brethren. God has made promises from eternity and these
animals won't be without their portion of Christian inheritance that God
has granted towards them and will make known and manifest in our day of
His love and His delivering and nurturing power.
I've honestly never heard anyone make this argument against my
interpretation of Ecclesiastes chapter 3, but this just occured to me
and I thought that I would answer it. Someone may try to say that the
"man has no preeminence over the animals" simply means that in an Old
Testament context of Old Testament covenants with God that man would
have no preeminence without the blood of animals.
Some translations and study Bibles indicate, from the knowledge of
the Hebrew text that the translators had in the preparation of their
Bibles, that there's no other way to take this passage than that Solomon
was saying that mankind has total equality with animals. They do this by
trying to theologically reason themselves out of such a blunt
interpretation. See the footnote in the Amplified Bible on this text
that's more inspired by Aristotle and the heretic Thomas Aquinas than by
the written manifestation of God. That's a perfect case in point where
speciesism is embarassed by a clear statement in the Bible and shows
it's weak ground by trying to argue a weird case that the Bible's
presenting this "wisdom under the sun" in contrast with what they
consider the "wisdom that is from above" with their animal exploitation
paradigms.
However, were one to successfully make the point that Ecclesiastes 3
is the Old Testament counterpart to the New Testament claim that man has
no preeminence above (or without) Jesus Christ by saying that, in that
time period, that man had no preeminence without the blood of animals,
this would still not weaken a face value interpretation of this passage,
as I've thus far defended it, on several grounds.
First of all, animals are promised entrance into the liberties of the
children of God in Romans chapter 8. They are covenanted to God through
Christ according to Isaiah chapter 11, Hosea chapters 1 - 3, and they
are mutually addressed with human kind in the great promises of
redemption in Jeremiah 31 and in various other passages. Man and animal
fell together, and man and animal are entering into the kingdom of God
together according to Mark chapter 11 with the example of Christ riding
a donkey into Jerusalem as a foreshadowing of apocalyptic events. That
God looked to animals as a temporary atonement in Old Testament times
indicates that the soul of the flesh which was in the blood of animals
was on the same level in the eyes of God, though not on the same level
of accountability, responsibility, or calling. Man and animal were
consistently judged together throughout the Old Testament. If they are
together in the judgment, together as heirs of the coming kingdom
through many prophetic types, shadows, and outright statements of the
Scriptures, then their equality is established before God, though not
necessarily an equality of calling, accountability, or process and
predestination. We are together from the standpoint of being eternally
together in all of God's dealings. We were created together and creation
rises and falls and rises again together in Christ. These things have
been clearly demonstrated throughout what I have said along these lines.
Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in no way implies any contradiction to the Hosea
2:18 covenant, whether their equality be a matter of creation,
sacrifice, or redemptive promise. We share in judgment together and
through Christ we're all to know everlasting cleansing, sanctification,
and wholeness. The promises of God are no less powerful towards animals
than they are towards us. And the acts of Christ in the behalf of
mankind are not in contradiction of the Hosea 2:18 covenant, and neither
are they inherently "qualifiers" or "limiters" of the glad tidings of
God towards all of Creation. God has His own divine methods of bringing
hope to the hearts of animals as He builds a bridge for them back
towards wholeness and towards their intended place in the heart of
mankind.
Go on to Summarization and
Conclusion
Return to Hosea 2:18
Return to
Covenant Foundations