Scripture reading: Leviticus 11:1-8
Jesus said, “eat of me.” Here we find a principle laid down; the principle of taking into one’s spiritual system that which is life and that which is wholesome. Eve fell when she believed the lie of the devil. She had fellowship with Satan and she tasted of death. SHE FELL FROM GOD CONSCIOUSNESS TO SELF CONSCIOUSNESS; from life to death. In the present confusion of things, one finds it hard at times to identify that which is of God and Christ, or that which only bears the coloring of God designed to deceive and ensnare us. The Christ will appear to us in many forms and in strange vessels at times, thus it is absolutely necessary for us to be so equipped to know Him.
Matthew 7:16, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?”
If a man is doing great miracles, yet cannot live a clean Christian life, do not judge him by the miracles, but by the life he lives. Victory in the Spirit begins with victory over one’s own soulish carnal nature.
In the Old Testament, when we see the word “eating,” we must realize it is the type and shadow of the act of absorbing within one’s own being some spiritual work or influence from without. In this sense, we can now understand Leviticus 11:3, “Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.”
The whole lesson of the Tabernacle of Moses is one of God working through human agents to bring forth life in the earth. This instruction here is showing us how to assess all AGENTS when they bring the word to us before we absorb it and when we absorb it. The key words here are “cheweth the cud” and “parteth the hoof.” Those who chew the cud are those who speak the word and those who part the hoof are those who walk in the word they preach. If a minister preaches a wrong word, he will find out his error when he walks in it and his error will be made open and known to all. Thus the word of God here requires that we only become part of that person, that spirit, that word, which is proved by the working or daily life of those who preach it.
II Timothy 2:6, “The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits.” One is not equipped to preach patience if he has none. “No love,” cannot preach love; “no joy,” cannot preach joy, lest preaching becomes only a repetition of words and not the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). In this passage, the apostle Paul uses the Greek word “dunamis,” which is the explosive power of the Holy Ghost.
(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 86-87)
Thought for the day: Let us examine what we are feeding on and choose the “clean” food that has the ability to keep us from falling in the days to come.
