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, says the LORD.
(Jeremiah 31:27-28)
This short series was written with some presumption that the readers are
already familiar with my writings on the Hosea 2:18 Covenant, Christ's
40th Jubilee, the Frequently Asked Questions page, and other
expressions of the core Covenantal principles that I espouse and expound
upon. Where knowledge of those previous writings is particularly
wanting, every Scripture reference that I've given, plus this intro and
any post scripts or appendices I eventually add to the series will be
totally invaluable.
The way many preachers of the Gospel will see in John 10:10 a great
dividing line in the Bible between the life the Son of God has come to
give and the stealing, killing, and destroying nature of the devil, I
personally use Jeremiah 31:27-28 to a similar purpose in distinguishing
between the stealing, killing, and destroying of animal-kind that God
winked at in previous eons, and the emerging cry of the heart of God for
His purposes in grace for the animals that He declared before the
beginning of time.
I see the Hosea 2:18 Covenant in the Bible and Psalm 89:34 comes to mind
with growing conviction from His Holy Spirit that His Covenant will He
not break nor alter the things that have come out of His mouth. In the
Creation account in Genesis, we see original peace and goodness for the
animals rather than original torment or original exploitation. Many see
in Isaiah 51 the connection between the New Testament and the Edenic
blessing, that they are one and the same.
My cry is for a much more consistent Christian faith so that we are good
stewards of the world and of the nations that God gave to us through the
glorification and resurrection of Christ Jesus. People of compassion
should neither become bitter against the Church nor feel as though pagan
Hindus are their only allies in the religious community for building a
better world.
Day after day, Christians look at animal suffering wondering what it's
going to cost them of their creature comforts, if they allow conscience
and reason to grow together with the Written revelation of all that
Jesus has conquered through His conquest of sin, death, and, ultimately,
of every heart.
Christians have argued all day long in the past for their pleasures,
their alleged rights as the redeemed of the Lord, and for why our
blessing should be less towards animals than it would be for the
homeless, the diseased, unwed mothers, and the depraved.
Yet the Bible whispers with growing volume, echo, tempo, force, and
increasing brilliance that the Creation shall enter into the liberties
of the children of God, according to Romans 8:21. People haven't wanted
to face this fact, that the Creation is entering precisely into the
liberties of the Sons of God.
If hunting and beating animals is a God-given liberty, then animals must
one day repay a hundredfold to every man, woman, and child. That is, if
exploitation of living, breathing, conscious beings who are capable of
pleasure, pain, loyalty, and enmity is a genuine God-given right.
Though some may argue that there are two sides to that argument, I don't
care for an argument at all. All that matters is what the Scriptures of
the Old and New Testament, (rightly filtered through the resurrected and
ascended Christ,) would have to say.
He called His redemptive work towards animals in Hosea 2 His Covenant.
And Psalm 89:34 says His Covenant will He not break nor alter the thing
that has gone out of His mouth. While some may attempt to fault my
interpretation of that verse in the Psalms, it is clearly evident that a
world where there is no more pain, sorrow, sighing, hurting, harming, or
destroying is the world we're all praying for, preaching towards, and
disciplining ourselves for, and reaching out to God for, even
subconsciously, with all of our might.
If Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Hebrews 8 are for today and for us and the
reason Christ took away the animal sacrifices, then Jeremiah 31:27-28
are most definitely talking about God's Covenant of Peace for mankind
and animals in our day.
Passages in the Bible that reflect upon cruel exploitations upon animals
can have no more relevance for us today than all of the ancient
commandments to Israel about slaughtering Gentiles who will not convert
to Judaism. As Christ has taken away the one, at His Cross, according to
Ephesians and Colossians, so has He removed the other.
His faithfulness to build and plant where the lives of both people and
animals is concerned in Jeremiah 31:27-28 must be viewed as our �Great
Commission� today. It is not a new Great Commission that I am arguing
for, but a thoroughly Biblical and complete one.
We must oppose suffering everywhere it's found and everywhere humankind
are responsible for that suffering, whether to people or animals, it is
our judgment day responsibility to speak up, speak out, hinder, oppose,
and stop them. This is a part of the grace of God that we are all being
shown this. And as St. Paul exhorts us to be wise and faithful stewards
of the mysteries of God, (1Corinthians 4:1-2; 2Timothy 3:14-17,) St.
Peter calls upon each of us, in his writing, to be good stewards of the
manifold grace of God (1Peter 4:10).
Yes, many problems exist in the animal kingdom that seem, at first
glance, as unresolvable as conflicts, corruption, needs, wars, and
weariness is among mankind. But our present inability to do everything
for everyone where animals is concerned isn't any more of an argument
for living unproductive, non-interventive lives than it's an argument to
not be Good Samaritans where human beings are concerned.
As Gospel evangelism and discipleship of human beings has it's point
where the effects begin to compound and to grow exponentially in
fruitfulness, we must trust that since the Hosea 2:18 Covenant is in the
Scriptures, then Lord Jesus is their Advocate with the Father as well,
and He ever-lives to intercede for animals.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them With the beasts of the
field, With the birds of the air, And with the creeping things of
the ground. Bow, sword, and battle I will shatter from the earth, To
make them lie down safely. (Hosea 2:18)
Go on to Part 1
Return to Hosea 2:18
Return to
Covenant Foundations
Animal Gospel
