The World and the Flesh

Today I would like to say a few things about the post-flood world, which is what we live in, and the laws that God established for that/this world. I'll start it off by citing the things that God told Noah after he and his family got off the ark after the flood had abated from the earth: "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 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. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 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. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein" (Gen. 9:1-7). First of all God told Noah to be fruitful and multiply in the earth, which only made good sense, seeing there were only eight people alive in the earth when they got off the ark. I'm going to come back to this point at the end of the article to point out some relevant and up to date issues regarding that particular commandment. God also made it clear that man would be the ruler of the new world, and that he would still have dominion over every other form of life that exists, saying that the fear of man would be upon all other life forms in the earth. But since nobody has any issue with that, seeing it leaves all in a position of superiority in the earth, I'll move on to the next issue. The next thing that the Lord addressed with Noah was what they could eat. In the beginning of the creation God ordained only plants life for food, and did not allow for the killing of animals to eat (Gen. 1:29). God changed the ordinance about not eating animals for the new world, and ordained all forms of life in the earth to be taken and used for food for mankind. Now we know that when God established the old covenant that he had a law of 'clean' and 'unclean' meats (Lev. 11).

In regard to these things, Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, and the scripture plainly tells us; "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3,4). And again we are told, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Rom. 10:4). When we repent and believe on Jesus, and are baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost; then we are literally 'in Christ, and the law of God is fulfilled in us, which ends the carnal format of the old covenant for us (I Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:24, 27). With that scriptural realization in mind, let's look at the words of the apostle Paul on this matter of what we can eat as believers in Christ: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (I Tim. 4:1-5). So the new testament rule on this matter goes back to before the law was given, to the instructions that God gave to Noah. We need also consider that as Gentiles we nor our ancestors were ever under the old covenant to begin with, so it would be senseless to believe on Christ and be filled with his Spirit, which it to say him; and then backtrack to the old covenant to 'add to' our experience of faith in Jesus (II Cor. 3:17). In fact Paul clearly stated in the cited passage that establishing rules about what we can and cannot eat is devilish. Paul, who was the apostle to the Gentiles, said it like this, concerning our not being subject to the natural ordinances of the law: "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" (Gal. 3:3). And two chapters later in the same epistle, he completed the understanding: "But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law" (Gal. 5:18).

So it is plain that we as Gentile believers in Christ were never under the old covenant ordinances, and we are not under them now. That includes the law of clean and unclean meats. Paul made it clear in 1 Timothy 4 that we are free to eat anything and everything we desire to eat, even as God commanded Noah for the new world. The one stipulation that God made with Noah on this matter, was that no animal is to be eaten along with its blood. This commandment was also enforced under the law, as well as after the law, including to Gentile believers (Lev. 17:14; Acts 15:29). Next on God's agenda for the new world was that any undue killing of a man, whether it be by a beast or another man, was to be recompensed with the death penalty. This law was certainly continued under the old covenant, but it is not given to believers in Christ to put anyone to death in regard to these kinds of crimes that could be committed by another believer. However, in the secular realm of things, this law should certainly still be in effect. Here are some really vital things that the scripture tells us about the purpose of worldly government and authority: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" (Rom. 13:1-4). So while one could argue that the death penalty is not specifically mentioned here, I would point out the glaring use of the following words: "But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." 'The sword' that God has ordained for worldly government to use is used for death, not for knitting nice gloves.

To say that the worldly authorities have the God-given right to execute wrath and revenge against those who do evil, is certainly to say that they have the right to put people to death for crimes that are worthy of death; of which murder is chief. Not to mention that the laws that God implemented with Noah for the new world have never been changed or altered by God, it is clear that the death penalty is perfectly just and right for crimes against someone else's life, as well as other heinous crimes. In fact it is unjust to eliminate the death penalty because in doing so mankind overrules God's law in favor of his own 'improved' law. We can only depreciate our quality of life in the earth among one another, by changing God's laws and ordinances. In fact, God said in Isaiah that this very issue will be responsible for the unmixed wrath of God being poured out on the people of the earth at the second coming of Jesus Christ to this world: "The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left" (Isa. 24:5,6). It's interesting how God finishes this dictation of law for the new world with Noah with the same commandment that he began it with: "And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein." Now as I said before, the reason for this commandment was evident, seeing there were only eight people in the entire world when it was given. However, like the other laws that God gave to Noah, this one has not been omitted, changed, or altered in any way. Of course we have over seven billion people in the world today, and I'm not trying to say that someone cannot choose as to whether they want to have children or not, or how many they want to have. I don't believe that we are held to that strict of a standard, and I don't believe we are being disobedient to that commandment if we choose to not have children at all.

I do need to address in no uncertain terms, in regard to the commandment to replenish the earth and multiply, the two greatest sins that exist in the world, and the common denominator they both share. That would be homosexuality and abortion. Both of these atrocities totally prevent any replenishing and multiplying in the earth. Both of these grievous sins are in direct, defiant opposition to God's commandment to replenish and multiply in the earth. So it's no surprise that both of these crimes against the ordinance of God are worthy of death. Homosexuality was punishable by death under the old covenant, which means that it should still be so in the secular world today (Lev. 20:13). I might mention here that the penalties for breaking the MORAL laws under the old covenant have not changed in the mind of God, and should still be implemented in the secular realm today. I assure you there would be far less homosexuality in the world today if it were punishable by death, rather than celebrated as some kind of a good thing. Abortion is clearly the undue, unfounded termination of the life of another human being, and should be punishable by death in the secular realm as well. Any argument that an unborn child is 'not yet human' is simply the insane argument of a raving lunatic. If the unborn child is not yet human, then what the heck is it? It is the direct result of the union of the bodies of two human beings, so I would sure like to know what else it could possibly be. Trust me when I tell you that there would be relatively no abortions committed if the crime were punishable by death. I will close the article in saying that if a believer in Christ is in a secular government position that would require them to have people put to death, they would be clear with the Lord to do so. One sentence from Jesus shows us that this is surely the case: "And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (Mk. 12:17). That should be clear, so I will now say, Amen.