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HOLY, CLEAN AND UNCLEAN

1.0 INTRODUCTION

You shall be HOLY and belong only to me, because I am the Lord and I am HOLY. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone. Leviticus 20:26 The priests break my law and have no respect for what is HOLY. They make no distinction between what is holy and what is not. They do not teach the difference between clean and unclean things, and they ignore the Sabbath. As a result, the people of Israel do not respect me. Ezekiel 22:26 “The priests are to teach my people the difference between what is holy and what is not, and between what is ritually clean and what is not. Ezekiel 44:23 According the Leviticus 10:10 & 11:47 “ You must distinguish between what belongs to God and what is for general use, between what is ritually clean and what is unclean. You must be careful to distinguish between what is ritually clean and unclean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.” There are four principles to understand the HOLY, CLEAN and UNCLEAN:

Principle 1: The opposite of HOLY is COMMON

Principle 2: Something cannot simultaneously be HOLY and COMMON

Principle 3:  Everything begins as COMMON, except the things that is declared UNCLEAN by the God

Principle 4: Only God can declare something HOLY

In other words, something or someone that is “CLEAN & COMMON” can either be made HOLY via sanctification or they can become UNCLEAN via defilement. The “CLEAN & COMMON” can be pulled in either one of these two directions. Something that is “UNCLEAN” can never be made HOLY. If an UNCLEAN thing comes into contact with the HOLY, that UNCLEAN thing is destroyed!

You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. John 15:3 For there is no longer any sacrifice that will take away sins if we purposely go on sinning after the truth has been made known to us. Hebrews 10:26 So let us come near to God with a sincere heart and a sure faith, with hearts that have been purified from a guilty conscience and with bodies washed with clean water. Hebrews 10:22 Since you are God’s people, it is not right that any matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you. Ephesians 5:3 So then, my friends, because of God’s great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Romans 12:1 Try to be at peace with everyone, and try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it. Hebrews 12:14 All these promises are made to us, my dear friends. So then, let us purify ourselves from everything that makes body or soul unclean, and let us be completely holy by living in awe of God. 2 Corinthians 7:1 Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil. Isaiah 1:16

2.0 HOLY

He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day, because by that day he had completed his creation and stopped working. (Genesis 2:3) God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on HOLY ground. (Exodus 3:5) To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding. Proverbs 9:10 Moreover, 1 Peter 1:15-16 states that be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy.  The scripture says, “Be holy because I am holy.”

Ezekiel 48:9-12, 14: In the center of this section, a special area 10 miles by 8 miles is to be dedicated to the Lord. The priests are to have a portion of this holy area. From east to west their portion is to measure 10 miles, and from north to south, 4 miles. The Temple of the Lord is to be located in the middle of this area. This holy area is to be for the priests who are descendants of Zadok. They served me faithfully and did not join the rest of the Israelites in doing wrong, as the other members of the tribe of Levi did. So they are to have a special area next to the area belonging to the Levites, and it will be the holiest of all. The area dedicated to the Lord is the best part of all the land, and none of it may be sold or exchanged or transferred to anyone else. It is holy and belongs to the Lord.

IT IS GOD’S PRESENCE, IN PERSON OR THROUGH HIS HOLY SPIRIT, THAT BESTOWS ON ANYTHING THE STATUS OF BEING “HOLY”!

3.0 CLEAN OR COMMON

1 Samuel 21:5: “Of course they haven’t,” answered David. “My men always keep themselves ritually pure even when we go out on an ordinary mission; how much more this time when we are on a special mission!” In the Book of Ezekiel, we have a discussion of the millennial Temple and sanctuary in the area of Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 48:8-12 it speaks about an area reserved for the priests. Verses 13-15 then speak about an adjacent area reserved for the Levites. And the next verse speaks about an area that is still left over, which is to be an area for general housing in the city, but not reserved for any religious purposes.

“The part of the special area that is left, 10 miles by 2 miles, is not holy, but is for the general use of the people. They may live there and use the land. The city is to be in the center of it”.

Genesis 7:2; 8:20 Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal. Noah built an altar to the Lord; he took one of each kind of ritually clean animal and bird; and burned them whole as a sacrifice on the altar.

Genesis 35:2 So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that you have; purify yourselves and put on clean clothes.

Exodus 25:17 “Make a lid of pure (tahowr = clean) gold, 45 inches long and 27 inches wide. Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil. Isaiah 1:16

John 13:11 Jesus already knew who was going to betray him; that is why he said, “All of you, except one, are clean.” You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. John 15:3 

Matthew 23:26 Blind Pharisee! Clean what is inside the cup first, and then the outside will be clean too!

Acts 10:15 The voice spoke to him again, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean.”

4.0 UNCLEAN

Genesis 7:2 Take with you seven pairs of each kind of ritually clean animal, but only one pair of each kind of unclean animal.

Genesis 34:5 Jacob learned that his daughter had been disgraced (Hebrew “tame” = made unclean), but because his sons were out in the fields with his livestock, he did nothing until they came back.

Leviticus 20:25 So then, you must make a clear distinction between animals and birds that are ritually clean and those that are not. Do not eat unclean animals or birds. I have declared them unclean; and eating them would make you unclean.

Isaiah 6:5 I said, “There is no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Isaiah 64:6 All of us have been sinful; even our best actions are filthy through and through. Because of our sins we are like leaves that wither and are blown away by the wind.

2 Corinthians 6:17 And so the Lord says, “You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.

1 Samuel 20:26 but Saul said nothing that day, because he thought, “Something has happened to him, and he is not ritually pure.”

5.0 BIBLICAL KOSHER

Biblical kosher refers to the dietary laws as outlined in the Scriptures, forbidding the eating of (1) animals that G-D calls unclean (Leviticus 11:47), (2) animal fat (Leviticus 3:17), or (3) animals that still have the blood in them (Leviticus 17:12-14) as food. Leviticus 11 talks about clean and unclean foods.

Clean animals include cows, sheep, goats, and deer. Unclean animals include pigs, horses, camels, rats, cats, dogs, snakes, raccoons, squirrels, and most insects. Clean birds include chicken, turkeys, geese, ducks, and doves. Unclean birds include eagles, sparrows, and crows. Clean seafood includes salmon, trout, and other fish with fins and scales. Unclean seafood includes catfish, sharks, shrimp, eel, octopus, squid, shellfish, and whales.

The story of Noah shows that the distinction between clean and unclean foods existed early in human history, long before GOD ratified His covenant with Israel. Almost a thousand years before there was a covenant with the nation of Israel, GOD told Noah to take two pairs of unclean animals and seven pairs of clean animals into the ark (Genesis 6:19-7:2). Jesus knew these biblical dietary laws and obeyed them. But, He often came into conflict with the Pharisees over the traditions that they had added to GOD’s law over the years which is known as Rabbinical Kosher.

6.0 BIBLE DIETARY LAWS

6.1 Land Animals Leviticus 11:3-8, 27, Deuteronomy 14:4-8

6.2 Fish: Leviticus 11:9-12, Deuteronomy 14:9-10

6.3 Birds: Leviticus 11:13-19, Deuteronomy 14:11-20

6.4 Insects: Leviticus 11:20; Creeping Things: Leviticus 11:29-30 and Surprise!

6.5 Also Unclean

• Anything which dies of itself. Deuteronomy 14:21., Leviticus 17:15-16.
• Fat from any animal. Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:23-25.
• Abominable things. Deuteronomy 14:3.
• Any manner of blood from fowl or beast either by itself or with its flesh. Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; Leviticus 7:26-27; Leviticus 17:10-14; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-25; Deuteronomy 15:23; Acts 15:20, 29; Acts 21:25.
• A boiled kid in the milk of its mother. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21.
• Animals that were strangled. Acts 15:20-9; 21:25.
• Strong drink to the point of becoming drunk. Leviticus 10:9; Romans 13:13; 1 Corinthian 6:10.
• Any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field, you shall cast it to the dogs. Exodus 22:31.
• Gluttony and overeating. Proverbs. 23:1-3, 20-21; Philippians. 3:18, 19

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