Good Morning!

A song for you:

Some good studying this week:

Old Testament Foreshadowing and the New Testament Fulfillment

The New Testament truths always has an Old Testament foundation—what Scripture calls a “double witness” for truth.

Example: The Exodus

• When the Hebrews were in Egypt, they were told to put the blood of the lamb on their doorposts. By faith, they obeyed, and the spirit of death passed over them—this was their justification by faith.
• Then, they were led by God through the wilderness: a pillar of cloud by day, and fire by night—an external symbol of the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
• But when they reached Mount Sinai, they refused to hear God directly. Instead of receiving His word written on their hearts, they sent Moses up the mountain.
• That internal reception of God’s word was deferred until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came—wind and fire resting on the people—and God’s guidance became internal.

Something striking in this: the unrealized sign of the Spirit’s indwelling wasn’t the speaking in tongues—it was the hearing of those speaking the wonderful works of God. People heard the word of God in their own language.

God’s word comes through people by the Holy Spirit, and we become His witnesses.

Hearing the Word Purifies

The Word, written on our hearts, purifies us—like fire. In John 15:3, Jesus says, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

Just as Jesus declared His disciples clean through the word He spoke, Leviticus 11 reveals that true spiritual cleanliness comes from a life shaped by God’s Word—meditating on it and walking in the testimony of His truth.

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Clean and Unclean: A Spiritual Look at Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11 and showed how the food laws have deep spiritual significance.

Clean Land Animals:

• Must chew the cud and have a divided hoof.
• Spiritually, this means: meditating on the word (chewing the cud) and having a double witness (divided hoof).
  • See Deuteronomy 19:15: “At the mouth of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be established.”
  • This is why we must read both the Old and New Testaments—truth in one must be found in the other.

Clean Water Creatures:

• Must have fins and scales.
  • Fins = Divine guidance (hearing God).
  • Scales = Spiritual armor (Ephesians 6).
  • These creatures represent clean “people, tongues, and nations.”

Unclean Birds:

• Most are blood-eaters—vultures, etc.
  • Spiritually, these represent bloodthirsty people (Isaiah 53, Ezekiel 35:5).
  • In ancient blood rituals, warriors believed consuming their enemies gave them their soul.
  • But we’re warned: don’t receive spiritual food (teaching) from those full of hatred or bloodlust.

Flying Creeping Things (Lev. 11:20–22):

• Only those with legs to leap are clean (e.g., locusts).
• Those that only crawl represent spiritual babies—they want milk but no growth (Hebrews 5–6).
  • This is an abomination to the Lord—we are called to mature.
  • Hebrews 6:1–3 urges us to leave behind elementary teachings and move toward perfection (maturity).

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Clean vs. Unclean – Knowing the Difference

Leviticus 11:46–47 says these laws help us discern between clean and unclean. Leviticus 10:8–11 warns against drinking strong drink when discerning—symbolically, this speaks to the intoxicating doctrines of men.

• Jeremiah 25:15–16 speaks of God making the nations drink the wine of His wrath—doctrines that drive people mad.
• But the true wine of God refreshes the soul, not drives it insane.

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Feeding the Word with Dung? (Ezekiel 4)

In Ezekiel, who cooked food over dung as a symbol. This represents how God’s word can be corrupted—processed through the belly (flesh) and turned into tradition, not truth.

If we come to God only wanting to hear what suits us, we will be given over to those desires (Ezekiel 14:1–4). This is terrifying—it shows how easily the word can be twisted into traditions of men, like Jesus warned in Matthew 15:8–9:

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.”

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From External Law to Internal Spirit

If the Law taught us anything, it’s that we can’t obey on our own. We need the Spirit within, not just laws around us. God is after our character, not mere behavior modification.

Matthew 15:11, 17–20 reminds us:

• It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles us—it’s what comes out.
• Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, theft, lies, slander—these come from the heart, and they defile us.

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A Living Parable: Jesus and the Canaanite Woman

In Matthew 15:22–29, Jesus meets a Canaanite woman. The disciples want to send her away, thinking Jesus was only sent to the Jews.

• Jesus echoes their thoughts aloud: “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
• She persists, and He calls her a dog.
• But she replies: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs from the master’s table.”
• Jesus honors her great faith—greater than even the disciples—and heals her daughter.

This shows that Jesus is for the whole world, not just one people.

Photo of the week

It is the simple beauty of living in an industrial city.

Thanks for listening,

Starla

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