•4:57 AM
I love bacon. It's a wonderful, almost heavenly food. The smell of bacon in the morning? Awesome! The sound of it sizzling in the pan? Awesome! And, the taste? Awesome!
In Leviticus 11:7, the Old Testament Hebrew was forbidden to eat bacon. It was a very sad day for them as a nation.
But, then Jesus came!! Through His death, burial, and resurrection, He opened the way for us to eat bacon again! "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." Of course, He was talking about bacon.
The full revelation of our freedom to eat bacon was given to Peter. Listen to what he wrote:
"I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air."
"And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. "
Bacon!
Peter was skeptical at first; his heart both hopeful and cautious. "But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth."
And then came the words of freedom!! "What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common."
Peter's heart wrestled with the joy that was blossoming within him. Could it be true? Could he really eat bacon? But the strongholds of tradition, ingrained through many years of observance to the dietary laws of Leviticus, fought back.
As ever, the Lord was patient with Peter. He gave him this revelation "three times."
You see, the Lord really wanted Peter to enjoy bacon!
And finally, Peter got it! What joy there was in the New Covenant! How delicious was this newly purchased liberty! "O, taste and see that the LORD is good!"
Later, as he stood before the first church council, Peter testified of his love for bacon, and the liberty that the Lord Jesus had given him from the old testament laws. He was a Jew, and he was free to eat bacon, so why should they command the Gentile believers to abstain from it?
James, also a bacon lover, added, "Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God . . . "
Let them eat bacon!
The council agreed, and a letter was sent forth by the hand of messengers:
"The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls" (obviously referring to those who wouldn't let them eat bacon) "It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well."
And, thus, the early church found REST from the Old Covenant.
And we can enjoy our bacon!!
Praise God!
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2 comments:
You do realize that the vision was meant to convey to him not to refer to the newly believing Gentiles as unclean or common, right? But still ... yes ... it is wonderful that we have the freedom to enjoy bacon, and other things. All things are lawful (but not all things are expedient) -- and -- "to the pure all things are pure" ....
Anonymous ~ Thank you for the comment!! Absolutely, the whole vision was to prep Peter to receive the Gentile visitors, and to accept Gentile believers in general. I was using the story as a tongue-in-cheek lesson to teach on the freedom of the New Covenant from ALL of the OT laws, which included both separation from Gentiles and abstinence from bacon. The idea is that the OT laws do NOT apply to us any more. Not one of the them. They have been nailed to the Cross. We are FREE!! Alleluia!