Meats -tf

Hebrews 13:9 "Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein."

(People who are preoccupied or deceived with this subject are carnal babes in the Lord, or not in the Lord at all.)

(1) IN THE BEGINNING

Genesis 1:29-30 "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. 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."

(2) AFTER THE FALL

9:1-3 ". . . 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."

(v. 4 "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.")

(3) AFTER THE LORD MAKES A COVENANT THROUGH ABRAHAM, ISAAC, & JACOB

Leviticus ch. 11 "This is the law . . . to make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten."

(17:10-11,14 "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. For the life of the flesh is in the blood. . . .")

Deuteronomy 12:21-24 "If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee . . . the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike. Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh. Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water."

(4) AFTER THE VAIL IS RENT IN TWAIN AND THE GOSPEL HAS GONE OUT TO THE GENTILES

Acts chapters 10-11 ". . . all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice. . . ."

1st Corinthians 10:25-27 "Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof."

1st Timothy 4:1-6 ". . . some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils . . . commanding to abstain from meats. . . . For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving. . . ."

Romans 14:2 "For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs."

(5) AFTER THE RESURRECTION, IN THE NEW EARTH

Revelation 21:1-4 " And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. . . . And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death . . . for the former things are passed away.

Isaiah 65:17-25 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. . . . The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord."

(In other words, when the Lord restores all things, the "new earth" will be just like it was in the garden of Eden in the beginning: we will all be eating herbs again.)