Day 6- diet
Opening song: Fairest
Lord Jesus
Closing song: 330
Scripture reading :Gen
1:29-31
1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which
[is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit
of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
1:30
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have
given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.
1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Intro
We know as SDA that the health message is the right
arm of the 3 angels message, but some of us do not know the extent and the
seriousness of the health message. After I am done with my presentation today I
am hoping that we will have a better understanding.
Let us pray
interpretation
As is customary we must first identify
interpretation before we go on to make application. So what was God talking
about on the 6th day of creation as he mentioned diet of the animals
and that of man?
What is meat?
Gen 1:29 ,30
The bible is explicit in its definition of what is
meat. There is no misunderstanding there.
Fruits bearing seeds…….
I don’t know about you, but I interpret this to mean
that seedless fruits should not be eaten.
Know
and understand that there was absolutely no provision for the eating of flesh
in the Garden. In order to eat flesh, something would have to die, and God did
not intend for any death.
Application
Especially as we consider the prophetic application
of the days of creation; we should have had at least a working knowledge that
nothing in creation was coincidental. The things that were made and the time
that they were made, were of special significance.
As you have seen from our last studies, a day
represents a thousand years, and as such the 6th day brings us to
the end of the 6000th year after creation. It follows that “Day 6” of
creation can be interpreted as the last dispensation of the church.
You will notice that in spite of the other pivotal
truths mentioned on the other days, nothing about diet was mentioned, on any of
those days? On this basis, I hope none of you are saying that the mention of
diet on Day 6 is co-incidental.
From this mention alone we can conclude that diet
will be important for the last dispensation of the church, however we will not
only use this mention to make that conclusion; as there are many other bible
verses we could use to justify this point.
I will make mention of a few in this study, however
since I am dealing with creation and day 6, I shall be zeroing in on the
Genesis account mostly for this study.
Let us revisit our text:
1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which
[is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
1:30
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have
given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.
1:31
And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very
good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Before I comment on the text, it is needful for me
to ask this one question.
Q. Is it lawful for a man to have more than one
wife?
A. No you say
Q. How do you know this?
A. Because it is written in Genesis
Q. Oh but is it not recorded in Genesis that there
were men who had more than one wife?
Many of you will pause here and point back to the
Garden, that Adam was only given Eve; and this you do rightly.
It was not a matter or salvation, i.e. God did not
require it of men in previous dispensations. But since we are living in the
6000th year from creation, which was represented as a type of 6th
day of creation, we can make that proclamation that a man should only have one
wife, since Adam was only found with one wife on the 6th day of
creation.
However, could we not use the creation story to also
justify what a man should be eating in the last dispensation of the church; i.e
(fruits, grains, herbs bearing seed and vegetables)?
It
seems clear to me that on the sixth day wherever
possible
all should be on vegan diet. Listen to what the prophet has to say about the
diet of the last day church.
Original diet
Return
to the Original Wholesome Diet.--?
- Is it- not time, that all should aim to
dispense with flesh foods?
- How can those who are seeking to become pure,
refined, and holy, that they may have the companionship of heavenly
angels, continue to use as food anything that has so harmful an effect on
soul and body?
- How can they take the life of God's creatures
that they may consume the flesh as a luxury?
Let
them, rather, return to the wholesome and delicious food given to man in the
beginning. { Child Guidance pg 383.1}
Prior to the fall what was man’s diet?
Gen 1:29-30
1:29
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which
[is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the
fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
1:30
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein [there is] life, [I have
given] every green herb for meat: and it was so.
Note
There
is a difference between herb bearing seed and the green herb. The herb bearing
seed is man’s food and the green herb is food for the animal.
After the fall what was added to his diet?
Gen 3:17-18
3:17 And unto Adam he said, “Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I
commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for
thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;
3:18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring
forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
The type of food added to man’s diet here is herb
most have translated this to mean vegetable.
Before the fall all man’s needs were met by
something he reached up and picked. But here God adds something to man’s diet
that he had to plant and reap from the earth.
No further change was made to man’s diet for 1,656
years, until after the flood, when Noah was given permission to eat of clean
meats Gen7:2, 9:3
I have some more thought provoking questions….
Q.
Was it O.k. to eat flesh foods before the flood?
A.
God had not yet ordained it?
In
the same way that Adam and eve could not have partaken of flesh foods prior to
God’s instruction, it is the same that the antediluvians were not supposed to
be parting of meats prior to their instruction to do so.
We
must understand that God is the one that orders the diet of his children and he
can change it as He sees fit.
Flesh
foods apart of the curse.
Flesh
Diet--An Aftermath of Sin
(1864) Sp. Gifts
IV, 120, 121
639. God gave our first parents the food
He designed that the race should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the
life of any creature taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the
trees in the garden, was the food man's wants required. God gave man no
permission to eat animal food until after the flood. Everything had been
destroyed upon which man could subsist, and therefore the Lord in their
necessity gave Noah permission to eat of the clean animals which he had taken
with him into the ark. But animal food was not the most healthful article of
food for man. {Counsels on Diet and
Foods page 373.1}
The people who lived before the flood ate
animal food and gratified their lusts until their cup of iniquity was full, and
God cleansed the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. Then the third
dreadful curse rested upon the earth. The first curse was pronounced upon the
posterity of Adam and upon the earth, because of disobedience. The second curse
came upon the ground after Cain slew his brother Abel. The third most dreadful
curse from God came upon the earth at the flood. {CD 373.2}
After the flood the people ate largely of
animal food. God saw that the ways of man were corrupt, and that he was
disposed to exalt himself proudly against his Creator and to follow the
inclinations of his own heart. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat
animal food to shorten their sinful lives. Soon after the flood the race began
to rapidly decrease in size, and in length of years. {Counsels on Diet and Foods 373.3}
For the most part, any time the
message of health reform is presented it is centered around the abstinence of
flesh, but….
Is there really a
NEED to stop eating flesh, Especially for the last day church?
Long before the medical-world took on the matter of
healthful living, and the detriments associated with flesh-centered meals, the
Adventists had had that doctrine. Must we begin to suffer from cancer or like
diseases before we take our own doctrine serious?
Please get it straight, I do not want any of you
leave with the wrong impression today. I
am not saying that eating flesh is a sin. As is commonly preached, however God
in His wisdom foresaw the challenges that would exist in the wilderness, and
advised his children, that to make it through this wilderness experience, flesh
should not be a part of their diet.
One of the drawbacks of flesh eating, it takes time
to prepare. If you’re on the run, time
will be in short supply. In the time of persecution there will be no time to properly
prepare meat dishes and thus some will sin in the wilderness because they would
have partaken of meat with the blood.
You will remember that God has told us that we should not eat meat with
the blood.
When the first instruction or clearance was given to
eat meat, God mentioned it to Noah.
Gen 9:3-4
9:3 Every moving thing that
liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all
things.
9:4 But flesh with the life thereof, [which is]
the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
If it was important then, it certainly is important
now; for they were only the type and we are the anti-type.
Blood not to be eaten
Lev 7:22-27
7:22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
7:23 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat.
7:24 And the fat of the beast that dieth of
itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other
use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.
7:25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast,
of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, even the soul that
eateth [it] shall be cut off from his people.
7:26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood,
[whether it be] of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
7:27 Whatsoever soul [it be] that eateth any
manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.
Lev 17:10-14
17:10 And whatsoever man [there
be] of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that
eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that
eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
17:11 For the life of the flesh [is] in the blood:
and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls:
for it [is] the blood [that] maketh an atonement for the soul.
17:12 Therefore I said unto the children of
Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that
sojourneth among you eat blood.
17:13 And whatsoever man [there be] of the
children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth
and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the
blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
17:14 For [it is] the life of all flesh; the blood
of it [is] for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel,
Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh [is]
the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
Kosher meat only
Before I proceed any further, I need to make this
distinction.
Am I saying that eating meat is a sin? No
Do I want you to understand that no meat eater will
enter heaven? No.
OK then what am I saying?
Forget about clean and unclean beasts/flesh that is
the basics. There is only one way meat should be eaten, and that is without the
blood.
So it boils down to these questions.
When it is that I am eating meat, is it prepared
properly?
Is it drained of the blood as the bible said it
should be?
Am I risking being cut off from my people because I
refuse to eat properly prepared meat?
Brethren I cannot answer any of these questions for
you. However, he scripture plainly says that to eat meat with blood, that is a
sin.
With such clear instructions as to how to prepare meat, surely Israel
would/should make no mistake in the preparation of flesh, right? Wrong
In time of famine Israel practiced sin in the wilderness.
Let’s read it together.
1 Sam 14:29-34
14:29 Then said Jonathan, My father hath troubled
the land: see, I pray you, how mine eyes have been enlightened, because I
tasted a little of this honey.
14:30
How much more, if haply the people had eaten freely to day of the spoil
of their enemies which they found? for had there not been now a much greater
slaughter among the Philistines?
14:31
And they smote the Philistines that day from Michmash to Aijalon: and
the people were very faint.
14:32 And the people flew upon
the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew [them] on the ground:
(clean animals) and the people did eat [them]
with the blood.
14:33
Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the LORD, in that they eat with the
blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me
this day.
14:34
And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them,
Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay [them]
here, and eat; and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood. And all
the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew [them]
there.
Notice it is not because they had eaten meat, why it
was a sin unto them, but because they had eaten meat with the blood.
There is a wrong way and a right way to eat meat.
However as I had said before, the time that we are now in, we should be
preparing to go into the wilderness; and in the wilderness there will be no
time to prepare flesh foods properly.
What follows is a prophecy, listen carefully.
------------------------------The
Course of Those Awaiting Christ's Coming.------------------Among those who are waiting for the
coming of the Lord, meat eating will eventually be done away; flesh will cease
to form a part of their diet.--------- We should ever keep this end in view and
endeavor to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of
flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to
give us. {Child Guidance pg
383.2}
Abstinence of meat eating does not have to be a
radical switch, it can be a gradual shift. However, it is a necessary shift
because, to continue to eat meat even when the time of persecution starts, is
to make yourself vulnerable to the possibility of sinning by eating meat that
is not prepared properly; similar to the scripture we just read in 1 Samuel 14.
Why would you want to leave yourself more vulnerable
during such an already vulnerable time?
It would not be a good feeling if you find yourself
sinning in this very thing, after persecution of the church in America has
started. If this were to happen to you, you have sinned after the close of
probation and you would be risking being cut off from the people of God….and
for what a morsel of meat.
Don’t be like Esau.
I know these habits are not easy to change, I wish I
could advise you to just make the switch immediately, but I can’t. However, I
think the very-least a-believer-in-this-last-message can do is to make the best
possible selection of food and drink; to partake of nothing merely to appease
the appetite as an Indulgence when something better is available. The Lord
knows each person and how conscientious each one is and will judge him
accordingly.
Luke 14:27-29
27 And
whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28 For which
of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the
cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29 Lest
haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all
that behold it begin to mock him,
No one said it was going to be easy, but Christ’s admonition
is to plan carefully, count the cost, as you undertake this feat.
While you are making your transition know that milk,
eggs and butter are not meat.
Let’s read what the prophetess has to say about
these things.
Not to Be Classed
With Flesh Meat
(1902) 7T 135
587.
Milk, eggs, and butter should not be classed with flesh meat. In some cases the
use of eggs is beneficial. The time has not come to say that the use of milk
and eggs should be wholly discarded. There are poor families whose diet consists largely of bread and milk.
They have little fruit, and cannot afford to purchase the nut foods. In
teaching health reform, as in all other gospel work, we are to meet the people
where they are. Until we can teach them how to prepare health reform foods that
are palatable, nourishing, and yet inexpensive, we are not at liberty to
present the most advanced propositions regarding health reform diet.
I hope I have made the matter or meat consumption clear and have not
muddied it any further.
Intro
At this point I move into a parallel study, since we
are speaking of diet and the last day church.
We are living in the not the typical day of
atonement, but the anti-typical one
Anti-typical
day of atonement and Diet
Did you know that the Sanctuary Services,
particularly the Day of Atonement has somewhat to reflect upon diet of the last
day church?
The record of the things
they did on the day of atonement is preserved, so that the people, in the
church, of this generation, may know how to relate themselves to God from1844
to the close of probation; that they might be acquitted in the judgment and when
the Sun is finally set on the world, there be a church ready for translation
A careful reading of the
record of the Day of Atonement reveals one definite thing or experience which
was required. It was the “afflicting of the soul.” This experience secured the
blotting out of sin, and the retention
of names in the records or book containing the name of God’s people. As can be imagined this was
symbolic of the retention of names in
the Lamb's Book of Life in the final judgment. However this earthly service was
of minor importance compared with the heavenly, even as a type is less important
than the thing represented. Therefore this experience mentioned above is as
much more importance to us (the last day church) than to the Jews which revered
and practiced them.
The Israelites were to
afflict their souls for one day. This too must point to some experience we are
to have during the judgment hour.
The popular and critical
Bible encyclopedia defines the fast mentioned in Leviticus 16 and 23 as the abstinence from food, and probably nothing more. However the encyclopedia
also describes a fast as a useful exercise in preparing the mind for special religious
impressions.
Patriots and Prophets page
355 says “Everyman was to afflict his
soul while the work of atonement was going forward. All business was laid aside
and the whole congregation of Israel spent the day in solemn humiliation before
God with prayer fasting and deep searching of heart.”
An impressive picture of
this would be if the members of the last church (i.e. from 1844 to the end of
time) devote themselves to solemn humiliation deep searching of heart prayer
and fasting.
From the authorities quoted
above it is seen that fasting was at least a prominent part of the experience
termed affliction of soul. The
Israelites were to fast for a day as useful exercise in preparing the mind for special
religious impressions, that they might have keener minds quickened consciences,
that no sin might remain on discovered and un-surrendered because they were in
the Day of Atonement, in which either sins or names were blotted out at the setting
of the Sun.
This experience of theirs must
point to something in our experience which will have the same meaning or accomplish
the same purpose.
Application
Since we are not living in
the typical Day of Atonement, and the anti-typical (the real) Day of Atonement
started before all of us were born, “What then is the application?” Surely we
cannot go without eating for a lifetime. What is the lesson to take away here?
It cannot be without meaning
to us because it was full of meaning to them, and this specification means as
much, or even more to us than it did to them.
We turn to Webster for a little help here…
Webster under fast' says to
eat sparingly and only of specified food.
It is possible to apply to
this definition for a lifetime and to a movement under the entire judgment
period from 1844 to the end of time?
Like us they were to fast
for a day as a useful exercise to prepare the mind for useful impressions. We
are to eat sparingly and only of a
specified food or diet during the judgment hour for the very same purpose.
Like as that fast for one
day, stood out as a special requirement in contrast to the preceding days of
the year so in this judgment period the light on healthful living (diet reform)
has been made a part of this last message and stands out in contrast to the
experiences of all past ages; and therefore we cannot say that we can do as
past generations of people have done and be guiltless and have our names
retained in the Book of Life.
This fast on the Day of
Atonement must have significance as it was required by law, and was the only
Fast required by law. It therefore seems clear that it was a type of the health
reform feature of the Advent movement. It was embodied in the very heart of the
Sanctuary service and must now be found in the very heart of the Sanctuary subject
and in the heart of him who believe we are in the judgment hour.
Representation of food in the Most Holy Place of the Sanctuary
Water, Aarons rod that budded and manna
- Water of Life. River of life flows out of the throne of God.
(Water used on the Feast of Tabernacles)
- Tree of life. It has twelve fruits. (Aaron's rod that budded is the
resurrection of the tribes.
- Bread of life. Bowl of manna. Christ is the bread.
- Book of life. The ten commandments containing the words of life.
- Breath of life. The glory of God.
There is no representation of flesh there. We know that
the service of the day of atonement was conducted for the most part in the Most
Holy compartment,
If we are following Christ, we are there with Him in
the most Holy place. If we come representing any type of flesh it follows that
we are in the outer court and not in the Most Holy place as we believe.
Types
In
the same way that diet has been a test for differing dispensations of the
church, diet will again be a test for the last day church.
Remember
Israel fresh out of Egypt..just before entering the
promise land….(manna)
Daniel and the 3 Hebrews…living in Babylon…the fire furnace
(n0 meat from the kings table)
conclusion
There is abundant evidence in scripture as to how
and what God wants his people to eat.
For this dispensation of the church diet is a matter of salvation. Although healthful living
involves much more than the abstinence of the eating of flesh foods, for this
particular dispensation it means nothing less.
In other words, the other aspects of healthful
living, are assumed completed and adhered
to…this aspect of putting away flesh foods is that part that is critical for us
to act upon in our dispensation of the church.
There is no representation of flesh foods in the
Garden of Eden, on day 6; especially when we consider this day to be a
prophetic representation of the Day of Atonement. Please understand that proper
diet will be a requirement of the last day church
Appeal
Let us ask God to grant us the will power to
overcome the lust of the flesh, while we have not yet gone into the wilderness
and the time of persecution is delayed.
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