Back to Leviticus. Bear with me.
-Whatever (animal) parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.
Leviticus 11:3
In Part One I examined why God gave this demanding set of laws to the Israelites, the rules from the Pentateuch, Exodus onward.
Some people have said they are perfectly reasonable. Well God is a Holy God and we can't usefully argue. But seen as a whole I do think they are very difficult indeed to keep and quite burdensome. These meat laws are some of the easier ones. I like Kosher animals best to eat anyway.
Jesus spoke to the Galileans
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
The Law leaves you weary and heavy laden. It is an exponentially increased version of the cares of this life! Not only must you handle the cares of the world, like everyone else, you must strive to stay in God's good books too!
So Jesus told us to come to Him. He's fulfilled the Law for us, nailing the rules and charges against us to the cross!
(God made us alive with Christ) by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
Colossians 2:14
Anyway, why the cloven hoof command?
First, we need to see that the Law is a pointer to Christ. In theological language, it contains 'types', shadows and analogies to truths whose substance lies elsewhere. The truths are the 'antitype', the reality. That reality is Christ.
Now as a Christian, Paul, the once super-orthodox religious Jew, writes about Laws and religious observances.
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Colossians 2:16-17
This dietary law, like all similar laws, is a shadow pointing to Christ. The Jews were in a holding pattern waiting for the Christ. The Law served to gather them and keep them as a people until that time. After the time of the Gentiles, I believe it will do so again, this time with the goal of getting them to acknowledge the One they have rejected.
A cloven hoof is made of one piece of Keratin. But it bifurcates into two 'toes', which contact the Earth.
The Father and the Son are of one substance. Jesus clearly stated
I and the Father are one
John 10:30
Yet the Son manifested for a time in a mortal body. He was here for about 30 years about 2000 years ago.
The Son existed in Highest Heaven before the incarnation.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
John 1:1-2
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14
SO John 1v1 tells us that Jesus Christ the Messiah was with God in the beginning, and that He was God. In other words, he was both separate and of the exact same essence.
Have a think about the cloven hoof. Two toes, one block of matter. Do I know exactly what God had in mind here? A safe diet? Maybe, in part. I only know what it is saying to me right now!
The Godhead is three, and the Holy Spirit is a servant, and also a person. The Father and the Son show us a cleaving in the Godhead. The aim is to include humanity in the family of God. The consummation of the cleaving is seen on the Cross.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Mark 15:34
The Father and the Son were willing to be torn into abandonment on the one hand and grief on the other. God did not shelter Himself from the extremity of emotion here.
Jesus was not cool, calm and collected in Gethsemane either, anticipating the Cross.
He returned to prayer three times when yielding to the Father about what awaited in a few hours. He was strengthened by an angel, Luke tells us, and yet he was strengthened so He could return to prayer yet more earnestly.
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke 22:44
At some point shortly thereafter, the matter was settled, and Jesus told the disciples, who had fallen asleep, to move on with Him. Jesus was at prayer for some time here. Then came arrest, sham trial and crucifixion.
And of course, there was resurrection !
The cleft was made so we could be included in the cleft.
Consider Moses. He asked to see the Glory of God. What is the Glory of God? It is first and foremost the character of God. It is Love. Not the sentimental, emotion-dependant, temporary sort. The real thing.
And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
Exodus 33:21-22
Moses saw God from within the cleft.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)
The word 'included' is not there, strictly, but it does spell out the implications of the passage. We are incorporated into Christ, we are at one with Him just as He is at One with the Father!
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
Ephesians 2:13-14 (ESV)
We have been made one with Him. Who? With Christ. And therefore with the Father and the Holy Spirit!
Check a few translations in case you think I'm being selective. 'Both one' is 'amphoteros heis'. It means 'both one'.
We are joined. We are of the same substance. Amazing! Hard to take in, and presently impossible to see the full implications of this!
We have not been joined only, like a joint in a piece of furniture. However good the joint, there are two pieces. We have been made one. With God, with Christ. With the Holy Spirit.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
John 14:20
At John 10v30, Jesus said He was one with the Father. In this verse He extends the relationship to the disciples!
The unity has been described as the same sort of inextricable oneness which happens when you peel a pile of potatoes and mash them together thoroughly. You can no longer tell which was which.
Now Jesus was God and Man, Spirit and mortal flesh. So we cannot say there is no separation. There is a very definite individuality about the Father, the Son, about the Spirit, and about us. But the inner essence of who we are is of the same.
Hebrews chapter one concentrates on the deity of Christ. Chapter two focuses on His humanity.
For both He that sanctifies and they who are being sanctified are all of one: for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren
Hebrews 2:11 (NKJV)
So we can see the essence of the unity in the family of God, and of the completely committed covenant relationship we have when we are Born Again of the Spirit into that family.
Once that amalgamation has occurred, no separation is possible. If a man tastes of the things of God, he can walk away. But once he has been born of the Spirit, he has entered into the eternal realm. The eternal realm is, obviously enough, eternal. It doesn't change. Its inhabitants are permanent citizens.
We are one and yet we are separate, just as the Trinity is One. We will never be the Father, and we will never be the Saviour. But we are in Him, completely and totally. We are of the same eternal essence.
So we see that God is ultimately looking, not for our moral performance, but for Himself in us. Only Himself in us will perform morally to His requirements! We have that treasure in mortal bodies, in Jars of Clay. It often takes a while for the treasure to shine through!
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