In laying a proper foundation, let's begin by citing 20 reasons why
Christianity must begin to focus on the animal gospel hidden in Christ
the Word:
1). One of the foundational principles of Christianity is limitless
love.
2). Animals have been mentioned in recent years as part of the
atonement, but nobody else has majored on it. The gospel to EVERY
creature(Mark 16:15) has never been preached fully until now.
3). Love is not an eschatological event. If it's God's will to pour
out mercy on them in the future, conscience dictates it be a concern of
ours now, rejoicing with them in the on-coming mercy.
4). Our words must be consistent with our actions(1John 3:18).
5). Veganism is about Universal Compassion being expressed;
Christianity is about the Universally Compassionate God.
6). If it's a Covenant that's in the Blood of Jesus, His blood's
already been shed. (Hosea 2:18)
7). The suffering of these animals has been real.
8). The Bible teaches man has no preeminence over animals
(Ecclesiastes 3:18-21).
9). The Bible says to give the devil no place. If this is an area of
suffering that came in as a result of or because of sin, then it is an
area that must be resolved in the sanctifying work of the Spirit through
the Word.
10). There is no area of the Love of God spoken of in Scripture that
is irrelevant to our lives.
11). It's one of the last remaining areas of Universal prejudice in
the human soul that has yet to be tackled.
12). Jesus pronounced the mourners blessed and didn't qualify his
statement by saying he was only talking about blessings to humans who
mourn. (Matthew 5:4)
13). If animals were ever atoned for in the Old Testament, besides
humans, then they've also been atoned for by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is called the Good Shepherd in the New Testament. If His kindness
doesn't extend to the least of these of the animal kingdom, can we trust
Him with the "least of these" human souls?
14). God created food in Genesis 1:29 to be received with
thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth, and in that
creation of food, animals and products derived from animals weren't
mentioned. In fact, the same food was blessed to their bodies that was
blessed to ours in the beginning.
15). God promised these animals a covenant with man that would
include the abolishment of hunting. (Hosea 2:18; Joel 2:22)
16). It is a part of the restitution of all things(Acts 3:19-21;
Romans 8:19-23).
17). The responsibility for the abolishment of oppression is placed
on the church, according to Isaiah 58:5-6
18). In the seed of Abraham, all of the families of the earth are to
be blessed. Animals' families are the families that have yet to truly
know the blessing of the seed of Abraham. (Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:29)
19). Hebrews 13:8 says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,
today, and for the eon (greek word "aion" meaning "age" or "eon"). If
He's the unchanging redeemer of all flesh, then how is a carnivorous
Christ compatible with Hosea 2:16-20 that says that a Covenant is
established between man and animal with the implication of it being in
His blood? That's why the fishy stories in the 4 gospels have to be
metaphorical of Christ reaching the underworld with the gospel, as well
as perhaps a vision of animals being embraced "within" the Body of
Christ.
20). If it's wrong to put off many of the blessings of the gospel
until the proverbial pie in the sky, where humans are concerned, why are
we doing this where animals are concerned?...again, Ecclesiastes chapter
3 says man has NO preeminence over animals.....pretty strong statement,
huh? in the light of the fact that the Bible says from Cover to Cover
that man has preeminence over angels in the plan of God.
Isaiah chapter 11 is a really really interesting chapter in the light
of what we're going to be studying regarding God's New Covenant between
man and animal! It begins talking about the exaltation of Christ to the
right hand of God, anointed as High Priest to the age.
He's delighting in the fear of the Lord and not deciding things by
the sight of His eyes or by the hearing of His ears, but He's making
righteous judgments in the behalf of the poor. His future judgments
concern our deeds in the flesh and in the spirit, both ours and the
world's! Therefore, these judgments are prior to His return. Nearly all
of Charismatic theology embraces that all of Christ's current judgments
are being manifested by grace through faith in the behalf of the poor.
That's central to Charismatic theology, as the goal of all Pentecostal
phenomenon!
The verses leading into this chapter are talking about the burden
being removed and the yoke being removed from us and the yoke being
destroyed by the anointing. And we must not forget that the verses
shortly before that concern themselves with the birth of Christ! Anyway,
look at what we have, here!
He's issuing forth righteous judgments by the fear of the Lord
without regard for what He sees or hears, but based entirely on the fear
of the Lord! Striking the earth with the rod of His mouth and His
slaying of the wicked in this context is very significant! These are
quite obviously spiritual victories that are being won. But who are the
wicked in this instance? If we turn over to the 66th chapter of Isaiah,
we're assured that those who have the fear of the Lord KNOW that if you
kill a bull(or a cow) that it's the exact same thing as killing a man!
That's in the first 5 verses of that chapter! Here in Isaiah 11, the
earth being full of the knowledge of the Lord is indicated by the fact
that the wicked have been slayed from amongst the animals! Nothing shall
hurt nor destroy in all His Holy mountain and the animals are held
foremost before us as the heirs of that benefit of salvation!
Nearly all of us know that animals are mentally on the same level as
children. How many children are all of our cultural stories and
experiences full of that have prayed for peace, against war, and that
have begged God that their mommy and daddy wouldn't fight anymore? The
scriptures are full of instances of animals crying out to God(see Psalm
104, Joel 1, and Romans 8 as a sampling of many passages along these
lines). When the full knowledge of the Lord is in the earth, there is
the removal of those who've hurt and destroyed animals if we read Isaiah
11 and Isaiah 66 really carefully with each other! Evidently, this isn't
the removal of all of the wicked from the earth, but a separate and
distinct judgment from other judgments of the Lord that there hasn't
been very much said about in the last 16 or 18 centuries by Christians.
The fact that there are very evidently judgments that have been
manifesting in recent days with regard to delivering the wealth of the
wicked into the hands of the righteous is a fact of Scripture that until
very recently wasn't common knowledge among Christians. There are truths
of the Word of God that are neither orthodox nor heretical but pertain
to the progression of the eons of time that the generation that they're
appointed for will have them revealed to. This generation unlike any
other in about 8 centuries is starting to have the truth of God's
benevolence towards animals revealed to it on a level that had always
been the deepest and most fleeting hope of many of the ancient Catholic
saints! But the time for animals to be free of their oppressors and
butchers is now!
Ephesians chapter 4 talks about the 5-fold ministry that God has set
in the Church to build up the Church so that the Church could begin to
do it's work of ministering in the earth until the earth is filled with
the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. If the resurrection of Jesus
Christ is the breaking of the chains of sin and it's subsequent curse
unto death, and if the seating of Christ at the right hand of God IS our
seating at the right hand of God, according to Ephesians chapter 2, then
any ministry, or dispensation of that within the physical realm would
have to be an addressing of those things that have been deficient and
lacking as a result of the fall. Animals were cursed in Genesis chapter
3 as a result of the fall. Therefore, by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ that curse is broken! Galatians 3:13 applies as much to the
animals as it does to us because all who died in Adam must be made alive
in Christ according to 1Corinthians 15:22! The time of the subjugation
of animals to the curse and to the incessantly exploitative whims of
mankind is at an end, just as the time of the subjugation of women to
men is at an end! Now, what we will see in our day through the High
Priestly Ministry of Jesus Christ is a time of tremendous ministry to
animals leading up to the time of His return, according to Isaiah
chapter 11, Hosea chapter 2, and Romans chapter 8. Christ returns to
judge the living and the dead, according to 2Timothy 4 and to consummate
what's yet been lacking in the ministry of God's people to animals
according to Isaiah 40:10-14, Psalm 104, Joel 2:22, John 10, Psalm 23,
Ezekiel 34:10, and Isaiah 54:9-10.
Isaiah chapter 54, verses 9-10 makes it very clear that the New
Testament is to be as God's Covenant with Noah for the preservation of
all flesh before Him. This is not to say that there's anything in
scripture indicating another approaching flood, but this is to say that
it is God's concern that both man and animal be in a Covenant of
deliverance from death with Him!
Jeremiah 31:27-28 says that as God has allowed both man and animal to
be trapped with no means of escape, in the past, and to be divided into
pieces that now God's sowing the house of Israel and the house of Judah
with the seed of
both man and beast. This sowing will be to them as a Covenant of
fertility that'll nurture them both in the kindness of God and this will
establish both man and beast in the divine order of the New Covenant as
joint-heirs of the grace of life. Upon careful examination with a
Young's Concordance and with a Strong's Concordance, and even with a
Vine's Dictionary, I found the Strong's Concordance to be the most
helpful in establishing for me the meanings of the words that are
translated as "pluck", "break", "throw", "destroy", "afflict", "build",
and "plant" in Jeremiah 31:27-28. And I noticed that a couple of these
words can be used of dividing in pieces, as if God were laying special
emphasis on that particular meaning for the text so that there would be
no room for misunderstanding that God was speaking against the animal
exploitation industries, as well as the human exploitation industries,
and the word "build" carries the idea of having children, in addition to
carrying many other promises about it into the house of Israel and Judah
for both man and beast. And the word "plant" carries a very very strong
meaning of "establishing"! These two verses can in no way be references
to the millennium or the new earth because of the very issues of the
Lord allowing their destruction in times past being the key issue that's
addressed in these two verses. Also, being in the context of the 31st
through the 34th verses which all Christians understand to be references
to the New Covenant in the Blood of Jesus Christ, according to Hebrews
chapter 8, which all Christians acknowledge to be their present day
possession by faith!
Isaiah chapter 11, Jeremiah chapter 31, and Hosea chapter 2 have
direct references to when the Israelites left Egypt which is indicating
to me that not only is this, scripturally, a Covenant that God is
establishing in the Blood of Jesus Christ, but that there is an element
of the Passover festival that has not yet been fulfilled in Christ, but
which must meet with fulfillment prior to the return of Christ! Isaiah
11 and Hosea 2 draw our attentions back to when Israel left Egypt while
Jeremiah chapter 31 says that this won't be as when the Israelites left
Egypt because the animals experienced no real and lasting deliverance at
that time, but only were taken from Egyptian slaughter houses into
Israeli slaughter houses! Jeremiah 31 says that this won't be as that
was back then, which was a violation of God's word to start with!
(Again carefully consider Jeremiah 31:27-34 with Jeremiah 7:22-24
because taken by itself, there's ways that some have taken Jeremiah
7:22-24 as being something other than God having prescribed a definite
end to the Mosaic sacrifices by his usage of the Hebrew word "olam"
throughout the references to the Mosaic sacrifices, but Jeremiah
31:27-34 makes it abundantly clear that this is a rebuke to the old
sacrificial order as having gotten way out of hand, as having missed
it's mark of conveying the realities of life and death, grace and
judgment to the people, and as having contributed to the devaluing of
God's animals as worthy of life, liberty, and compassion for their own
sakes!)
As we "passover" to consider God's word through the prophet Hosea in
chapter 2, we find a very significant word used in the 18th verse:
"covenant". Covenants were always the means of abolishing enmity between
individuals and families
in the ancient world and of establishing, creating, nurturing,
protecting, and guarantying equality with the promise that the strengths
of the stronger party in that covenant would be used to bless and to
never willfully bring harm to the weaker in that covenant agreement!
(For further consideration of covenants in ancient culture and their
relation to the Bible see "The Blood Covenant" by H. Clay Trumbull, "The
Salt Covenant" by H. Clay Trumbull, "The Threshold Covenant" by H. Clay
Trumbull; 3 very important volumes in the study of Covenants that are
internationally renowned as definitive works on the subject!)
In creating this Covenant between man and animal in Hosea 2:18, God
left nothing to chance with how we are so prone to taking things the
wrong way that before God's prophet was even able to catch his breath
after that prophetic
utterance, God immediately starts promising that He's Covenanting us
--man and animal-- to Himself to the age; verse 19 says He's betrothing
man and animal to Himself to the age. As we all know, betrothals weren't
the actual
consummation of the wedding, but the engagement process (for lack of
a better way of putting it), so the King James is obviously in error in
translating "olam" as "forever" in Hosea 2:19!
Most Christian theologians view either the coming of Christ in
"rapture" of His Church or His second coming to the earth as a wedding
between Christ and His Church. In either case, the betrothal process
would evidently have to precede any such wedding! Indeed, this teaching
of the coming of Christ for His Church as a wedding is based on a couple
of parables of Jesus Christ, Himself (Matthew 22:1-14; Matthew 25:1-13),
therefore, this interpretation of mine regarding this betrothal process
being now between God and animals(along with man) is solid,
scripturally, though theologians with animal remains on the grill
outside will evidently take issue with this interpretation. But what
truth of God have theologians of all calibers not resisted?
God goes on to say that He'd betroth us --man and animal-- to Himself
in righteousness and justice:
"righteousness and justice" according to the 103rd Psalm are what is
EXECUTED in the behalf of the oppressed against their oppressors and
against their oppressive environments!
God said He would betroth man AND animal to Himself in
"lovingkindness and mercy". "Lovingkindness and mercy" in this passage
are a weak,(though noble attempt,) translation of the word "Hesed" which
is the burning fidelity of God;
His passionate desire to treat with all of His power in the best way
possible, both man and beast(in this context).
There are very few words in the Bible that are as strong, in the
ancient, original languages of the Bible!
Even the New Testament word "agape" in the Greek text is a shallow
mockery of the intensity of love and devotion declared by God with the
word "Hesed", though "agape" is the strongest word God COULD use in the
Greek text. It's
totally self-sacrificing love that gives it all up, whether it's ever
met with total welcome and passionate embrace by the object of it's love
or not. That's the unchanging God's declaration of love and devotion to
BOTH man AND
animal-kind! He said that He would betroth us to Himself in
faithfulness and that we WOULD KNOW the Lord!
This area of righteousness and judgment being executed in the behalf
of the oppressed, from Psalm 103, and this plain statement in Hosea
chapter 2 that God would betroth both man and animal to Himself to the
age is an area of this subject that I don't want to move on from without
another comment or two in carefully establishing that. Isaiah chapter 11
says that Christ would slay the wicked and then it goes on to say that
the animals would live in peace, evidently fitting the two concepts
together whether or not our previous grasp of theology has allowed for
this event, or series of events or not. Ezekiel 34 also, taken
literally, makes a really strong series of comments on animals being
delivered from unjust Shepherds. Now, taken allegorically Ezekiel 34
would apply to Christ's judgments on the Pharisees and all of the
religious "elders" in the 1st century, or to any time of God's severe
dealings with those who are in the ministry. However, though the
allegorical method of the interpretation of scripture is a valid method
of gaining deeper insight, I don't believe that when another subject in
the Bible comes to light that would allow for a scripture to be taken
literally that we should shun the literal interpretation of a scripture
just because it would make us uncomfortable in any area of our sin!
When practical and consistent with the dispensations of the Covenant
of Christ, I believe that all Scripture should be taken literally. When
a Scripture or series of Scriptures, in any particular and consistent
light, compels us towards walking in more of the compassion of Christ
and the righteousness of His Spirit, then we should pay more diligent
attention to what the Head of the Church, Christ Jesus, is saying.
Hence:
...for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no
longer be food for them. Ezekiel 34:10) is a condemnation on the
devouring of the flesh of anyone or anything that's had a long history
of being considered a "flock". And as God is no particular respecter of
one animal over another since the resurrection of Jesus Christ, then all
animals are destined to know entrance into the liberties of the children
of God(Romans 8:21) in these days!
Psalm 104 talks about the care of God in the behalf of animals and
refers to it, in that context, as the glory of the Lord that should be
age-enduring and again specifies a category of wicked persons who will
be consumed from the earth. In the abstract sense, if just read together
with the whole Bible, this passage seems to just pronounce the soon
ceasing of the "twistedness" of the "wicked", but when has God ever
dealt with all of the wicked at one time? This chapter doesn't concern
itself with the White Throne Judgment but with the Providential care of
God over animals. When ALL of the wicked aren't specified in a passage,
I don't see why we should read into a passage a reference to all of the
wicked, particularly when you have other scriptures on the same subject
that add clarity to the matter, such as Isaiah chapter 11 which
prophesies the doom of the animal exploitation industries. Hosea chapter
2 promises the removal of the names of the Baals from our mouths and
that we, including the animals, would be known by their name no more! I
see in that that animals will again regain a dignity that they haven't
had since before the fall and that when one hears of a chicken, one
won't think of a particular company that brutalizes, mutiliates, and
cremates those little females for their consumption. In removing the
names of the Baals from amongst us in the context of the Hosea 2:18
Covenant, that would have to be the pronouncement of the "shattering" of
those corporations and the "bow, sword, and war" that they've used and
waged against these animals.
The issue now comes to the issue of the New Testament as many many
Christians believe that the Old Testament is [totally] garbage unless
it's directly quoted in the New Testament and then alone those quotes
are sanctified for
Christian use by Apostolic reference to them! That's a crued, but
[very] accurate presentation of the assessment of the value most
Christians place on the Old Testament!
The King James Bible and the New King James Bible use a system of
italicized words to try to smooth out the translation from Hebrew and
Greek into English. However, there is ample evidence that there are
times when the translators have used an overly generous amount of these
italicized words and have thereby created new traditions of
interpretation of the Bible that are the furtherest things removed from
what the original Hebrew and Greek text declare. Unfortunately, most
"translations" are doctrinally translated rather than lingustically
translated from the original languages!
When we come to Romans chapter 8, we find that this is no different.
Verse 17 has an italicized "Him" that doesn't appear in the original
Greek text at all. Upon careful examination of the context of this
passage it is very evident that that word "Him" doesn't belong there and
actually changes the meaning. Were an italicized word or set of words
thought necessary by the translators, the ones that should have been
used are "the creation", or as in the case of the King James, "the
creature", so that what would have been presented to the general public
would have been more consistent with the verses that were to follow:
and if children, then heirs --heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ, IF indeed we suffer with "THE CREATION" that we may also be
GLORIFIED TOGETHER (Romans 8:17)....BECAUSE the creation itself also
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God! (Romans 8:21)
The crucial understanding to bare in mind is the word "Covenant"
that's used in Hosea 2:18 because covenants are the ancient means of
abolishing enmity between individuals and between families. Covenants
create, grant, protect, nurture, and develop equality between both
covenant parties.
Covenants have often been considered the ancient form of contracting,
but covenants don't play the 60%/40% or the 80%/20% games that we play
today in modern capitalism.
Covenants created oneness and a bond that was perpetual.
The word "covenant" takes precidence over any history prior to it and
over any lesser agreements prior to it. Covenants take precident over
any type of "dominion" and establish that our individual interests are
no longer ours alone but are each others and that we're to conduct
ourselves in the best way possible for the betterment of those we are in
Covenant with, even in their time of greatest need when they can't
return the favor! The Hosea 2:18 Covenant is the New Covenant basis for
animals having equal status with us in Christ and the right to receive
all of the protection and provision that heaven has to offer!
Through the Hosea 2:18 Covenant animals are "grafted" into the New
Covenant! The Hosea 2:18 Covenant is PRIMARY to any Biblical
understanding of animals in our day.
The Hosea 2:18 Covenant is ours with the animals should we desire to
continue [progressing] in the fullness of wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption!
If everything I've said thus far has not been persuasive enough for
you regarding this Covenant being something we should concern ourselves
with now, then read Isaiah 30:23-26 because that passage very plainly
says that the Hosea 2:18 Covenant was inaugurated on September 11th,
2001!
For those of you familiar with types and shadows or what might be
called the allegorical method of interpreting Biblical stories in line
with the doctrines taught clearly elsewhere in the Bible, then this will
add to your understanding of this. When you get a chance, read the
Gospel of Mark chapters 4, 5, and 6. Notice, along the lines of what
we're talking about, a passage that's not been refered to before in
talking about this:
13 and immediately Jesus gave them leave, and having come forth,
the unclean spirits did enter into the swine, and the herd did rush
down the steep place to the sea--and they were about two thousand--and
they were choked in the sea.
14 And those feeding the swine did flee, and told in the city, and
in the fields, and they came forth to see what it is that hath been
done;
15 and they come unto Jesus, and see the demoniac, sitting, and
clothed, and right-minded--him having had the legion--and they were
afraid;
16 and those having seen it, declared to them how it had come to
pass to the demoniac, and about the swine;
17 and they began to call upon him to go away from their borders.
(Mark 5:13-17 YLT)
Animals were temporary "scapegoats" in much of the history of God's
dealings with sinful man. In the context of this Gospel account, Jesus
had just said that when the seed of the kingdom is reaching maturity
that the birds of the air may rest in it's branches (thereby finding
safety, comfort, and generally provision either associated with the tree
or within easier notice from a high branch!). The Hosea 2:18 covenant
brings birds, beasts, and creeping things into the covenant of Christ as
the blessed of God. And notice that birds are mentioned in Mark 4, a
form of beasts in Mark 5, and things that creep in Mark 6 with the
supposed fish. Again, reading carefully the above quote from Mark 5, we
notice that the number associated with the beasts is 2000. And we have a
reference to passing into water. Could this passage be foreshadowing
that after 2000 years from the birth of Christ that the animals would
experience a water baptism?
Water baptism doesn't produce salvation in anyone. It's a metaphor or
allegory of passing through death, burial, and resurrection in
remembrance of Christ's atoning work. It's a spiritual participation and
not about getting physically wet.
Also, notice that it's only when the animals are brought under the
water (or the promises of God to Abraham) that we see the man that Jesus
ministered to sitting clothed and in his right mind. You're not in your
right mind, scripturally, and eating animals. You might have been
clothed and "seated" with Christ in heavenly places, but you're neither
thinking soberly in accordance with the times nor offering your body up
as a living sacrifice (i.e. as one alive from the dead, according to
Romans 6) while you're living in the concessions that have been made to
old/first Adam's sin(i.e. the eating of animals).
After the animals are brought into the covenant, or under the waters,
is when we see Jesus leaving at the request of others without putting up
any kind of fight, teaching, or witty comment. Is this saying that after
the animals are brought under the waters of baptism and the demonic
legion that's coveted their flesh is thereby broken of it's power that
what many people crudely call the rapture will take place? I'm, again,
speaking of water baptism in the sense of being baptized into the
covenant of Christ and I'm not saying that animals have to literally be
water baptized.
It can be said that the fall that happened and was recorded for us in
Genesis chapter 3 was because of a wrong relationship with the animal
kingdom, namely, listening to the ravings of a serpent against God. In
Hosea chapter 2 we have the restoration of the covenant of peace between
mankind and the animals. The timing of this covenant given to us in the
book of Isaiah and shown in an allegory in the ministry of Jesus with
this particular exorcism that I've referenced is in our day. Mankind
discovered it's own nakedness, both physically and spiritually after a
wrong relationship with the animals, viz., listening to the serpent's
lie. And here with the passing of the beasts through the waters, we find
a man sitting "clothed and in his right mind" in this reference from the
ministry of Jesus.
I'll take this so far as to say that while the Blood of Jesus
destroys sin and restores man's righteousness before God, to undo the
death that entered by sin, THIS ISSUE of man's relationship with the
animals MUST BE repaired in the sanctifying union of the Hosea 2:18
covenant. This covenant isn't to make me or anyone who believes or
preaches it one of God's weirdoes. The specific purpose is to abolish
death!
How else can the "Garden of God", called by some "Eden" be restored?
I'm not talking in the sense of merely "Paradise Restored" because that
happens, in greater reality, inside of a person when the Holy Spirit
takes total possession of them in the behalf of Christ. I'm specifically
pointing to the state of physical "deathlessness" accompanying this
particular fruit of the peace of the gospel!
In Mark 11, Jesus sends two disciples to go and bring a young colt to
Him that no one has ever ridden on. While the situation of Jesus
entering into Jerusalem on the donkey foreshadows man and animals
entering into the fullness of the Kingdom TOGETHER, it's noteworthy that
it specifically mentions that 2 disciples were mentioned. This could
foreshadow the two millenniums that would precede this Hosea 2:18
covenant and it could also point to the fact that it takes both
covenants of redemption believed together to bring this about.
[When I speak of both covenants of redemption, in this context, I'm
not referring to the Old and New Testaments but to the covenant of
universal justification for mankind being believed together with this
covenant of the universal betrothal of animals to both redeemed Man and
God.]
In Mark chapter 6, Jesus multiplied bread and dead fish. The bread
was symbolic of His flesh which He would give for the life of the world.
And the dead fish were symbolic of death. Jesus was literally placing
before that crowd the choice of life or death, blessing or cursing, as
Moses did in Deuteronomy 30:19. It's interesting how that chapter says
that the 5 thousand men ate all they wanted of the bread, but in Mark 6
it's only assumed that they ate the fish by many who read that chapter.
That's not stated and it's not really implied either, in that context.
That chapter goes on to say that the disciples were hard hearted and
didn't understand the multiplying of the loaves, but it doesn't say they
didn't understand the multiplying of the fish.
The same choice is before you today: bread or fish; life or death.
Which do you want? Animals are grafted/sown into Israel and Judah
according to the Jeremiah 31 reference to this covenant. Every animal on
a grill is just like another Jew in an oven. Hasn't there been enough
holocausting to last us an eternity?
Before we get very much further into discussing the Hosea 2:18
Covenant, let's quickly address the "plant issue", ok?
Why all the concern for animals when plants are also precious? Aren't
we "called" to defend the weak? If it's wrong to eat an animal, why
isn't it wrong to eat a plant? People have been eating animals and
plants for thousands of years, so why this distinction of animals over
plants as if animals were more important than plants? Besides, don't
even some plants, like the Venus Fly trap, eat animals?
Plants are also precious life forms and yes, they are included in the
"weak" that we are to defend. Actually, all plants eat animals,
eventually, because when an animal dies, it's body begins to break down
into it's basic minerals and enzymes which plants eventually use. When
an animal dies and it's spirit leaves it's body (Ecclesiastes 3), then
the life force of that animal's body is gone and it's body returns to
the earth from which it came from til God raises it from the dead
(Romans 8:19-23) in a future age.
People and animals are more important than plants, not based on
inherent inner-worth but, based on ranks endowed by God because of the
part each was to play in the restoration of the whole. This seems to ask
the question as to whether or not human, animal, and plant can do
anything about their current rank in the purposes of God. There are
Sovereign reasons why this isn't likely to happen, but this is very far
from impossible because Biblical record, history, and folklore are
filled with accounts of each of these whether human, animal, or plant
that have gained distinction in the plan of God.
The very reality of a "tree of life" that existed ages ago who's very
seeds are to spring forth again on the New Earth spoken of in the book
of Revelation speaks volumns to this. If the tree of life is taken
logically for what it is and the promise associated with it, then that
would certainly seem to make man and animal subservient to plants in
some future age. So, seeing that angle with regard to the elevation of
the status of some trees as a "tree of life", our friends, like the
breathairians, and others who idealize that are in danger of
unintentionally robbing these "trees of life" of the glory and splendor
promised to them, both now and in the ages to come. So the premise has
been faulty which would assign to trees the yoke of slavery that has
existed on man and animals for ages. A tree is only enslaved when we
steal from it it's destiny and sense of purpose in the fuller picture of
God.
Bible prophecy is not barren with regard to recognizing the nobility
of plants nor their place as worshippers of God. The Psalms and Prophets
are loaded with statements about trees clapping their hands in joyful
exuberance over the manifestations of the plans of God.
Plants should be defended against drought, fire, and against totally
drowning and the symbiotic relationship that they share with humans and
animals should not be taken lightly. Trees have forever been elevated in
glory to a position of dignity that can never be ultimately withheld
from them because they've saved mankind from drowning in the flood
waters of Noah's time and have enjoyed the dignity of being the first to
taste of the redemptive Blood of the Savior of all of creation when He
was offered up to both God and creation on a tree as an atoning
sacrifice.
Humans were first in the equation of redemption because humans were
entrusted with the nurturing of all of creation. It would have been
pointless to have started with the world around us and then to have
redeemed mankind after that; in that order, because mankind would have
multiplied suffering in the earth infinitely more had the human
heart(which is the center of creation) not been addressed first. But
with redemption having penetrated the human heart, as the very center of
creation, then the flow of redemptive Blood into every external tissue
of creation was guaranteed through out the ages til their consummation
at the abolishment of death.
As most people are inherently aware, death was given to magnify life
and to shorten suffering until life has reached it's zenith under the
protective scepter of the Lord of All. Life could never reach it's
fullest potential short of encountering the womb of death. Death has
been the greatest slave of all until life overtakes all of creation
through the intercessions of Jesus Christ and the firstborn of His
Covenant with God.
In the unfolding of Universal Restoration, the threefold cord
(Ecclesiastes 4:12) of man, animal, and plant won't be broken! Each must
understand and cultivate the seeds of the preciousness of the others.
Trees being the greatest of all and the servants of all have lived
for this day when man and animal would walk as One(Hosea 2:18; Jeremiah
31:27-28; Isaiah 55:8-13) and would together, as the male and female of
creation, give birth to a whole new world for trees. The unfolding of
the DNA processes of the Blood of Jesus for all of creation will result
in the eventual harmony of all life everywhere. While trees aren't to be
ignored as the true embryos to a whole new world, the yin and yang of
man and animal must be brought into perfect harmony for all of creation
to be reborn.
Trees hope for this and await their turn in being magnified in the
purposes of God. They have patience to see all of life through to the
end as the physical counterparts of the unseen angels of God. They're
not in any hury. In fact, most of them are liking their soul sleep until
the appointed hour and couldn't care less about what happens to their
bodies in the mean time. As man and animal await new bodies from heaven,
so do the plants. Once the Blood of Jesus was shed, as if from the very
womb of God being opened to a new hope, trees were among the first to
receive the glad tidings which St. Paul said in Colossians chapter 1 has
been preached to all of creation.
Oh for the day when we'll have their deep roots and indestructible
patience in hope. The day that happens, all of these questions will
finally be quenched by the morning dew of love!
Go on to Part 2
Return to Hosea 2:18
Return to
Covenant Foundations
Animal Gospel
