Sat.’s Devo - The Clean and the Unclean

Read: Leviticus 11:1-12:8; Mark 5:21-43; Psalm 38:1-22; Proverbs 10:8-9 God gave Moses and Aaron a list of clean and unclean animals. They were allowed to eat animals that parted the hoof, had cloven feet, and chewed the cud. They had to have all three of these characteristics to be clean and edible. *** In Romans 7:14 we learn that the law is spiritual which means that everything it says has spiritual meaning for us today. We are told to taste and see that the Lord is good. To “taste” something means that you personally experience it. Jesus told his disciples that they had to eat of his flesh and drink his blood or they would have no part of him, but he gave them bread to symbolize his flesh and wine to symbolize his blood. All of these characteristics of what animals they could eat represent how we should partake of spiritual food like reading God’s Word which is our daily bread. *** The animals had to have parted hoofs which would mean they had a firm and rightly divided foundation. As believers our foundation is the Bible which teaches that Jesus died for our sins on the cross was buried in the grave and rose from the dead on the third day. We can receive eternal life from his sacrifice when we believe it in our hearts, repent of our sins and live for him, nourished with his Word. That is our foundation. *** The cloven feet means three toed. These toes represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Our foundation has to have all three. *** It must also chew the cud which means it doesn’t swallow everything it is fed. Chewing the cud is a metaphor for meditating on something. When you hear something new you need to let it in and meditate on it till it feels right and you know that it is confirmed in scripture and in your spirit. *** The water animals they could eat had to have fins and scales. Water has to do with Spirit so when we dive into the spiritual realms of the Lord we need to have balance and be covered. Fins balance the fish and scales cover the fish. We are to have a balanced view of God’s Word and the godhead. We are to be covered with the shadow of God’s wing, the blood of Jesus and the discernment of the Holy Spirit. Being unbalanced in spiritual things will lead to New Age and the occult. *** The birds they were not to eat were all birds that hunted at night and ate dead animals. We are children of the day and life. *** The winged insects they could eat must be able to bow their knees and didn’t have four feet. I don’t understand the four feet but it does sound odd to have wings and four feet. If you are meant to fly then fly. *** To touch something unclean made you unclean. Sin is contagious that is why we need to stay away from it. If Eve had stayed away from the tree and not been curious about it, she would never have been tempted to eat of it. *** Things that swarmed were unclean as well as things that crawled on its belly. These are the characteristics of demons, not things of God. Followers of the Lord walk upright and don’t follow the crowd. *** When a woman has a male child he is to be circumcised on the eighth day and she is to be purified for 33 days. If she has a daughter, she will be purified for 66 days. Then she is to bring a burnt offering and a sin offering to the priest who will atone for her and she will be clean from her flow of blood. *** In Mark, Jesus had just been on the side of the sea where the demoniac had been delivered and now he was returning back to the other side. A crowd had gathered and one of the rulers of the synagogue came and begged him to heal his 12 year old daughter who was about to die. Jesus went with him to lay hands on the girl. *** The crowd followed him to the ruler’s house. Meanwhile a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years and was unclean had heard of Jesus and thought if she could just touch the hem of his garment, she would be healed. She did just that and was instantly healed. Jesus felt healing power leave his body and stopped to see who had received it. Jesus asked who had touched him which was a strange thing to say since people all around him were touching him. But the lady understood what he meant and confessed and told her story. Jesus told her that her faith had made her whole. He sent her away healed and with peace. *** While this was going on, the ruler received news that his daughter had died, so he didn’t need to trouble the Teacher. Jesus overheard this conversation and told him to have faith and not fear. Jesus took Peter, James and John with him to see the girl. People were already weeping and wailing. He told them to stop because she was not dead, only sleeping. They laughed at him. *** Jesus woke the girl up from death and brought her out to the amazement of the crowd. Jesus told them not to tell anyone and to give her something to eat. *** Both of these women are associated with the number 12 which means government. They both represent Israel. Israel had never become clean from her bleeding and she had been asleep in death. Jesus came to make them clean and give them life. *** Lord, thank you that you are our healer and our salvation. You cleanse us from the uncleanness of the world and give us new garments of righteousness. May we walk worthy of your sacrifice.