A PROPHETIC WORD FROM JESUS – Pearls Before Pigs – Part 27

 

A PROPHETIC WORD FROM JESUS – Pearls Before Pigs – Part 27

 

Creative, Causative, Prophetic, Instructional

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, because they will trample them underfoot and turn to attack you and tear you to pieces.” – The Words of Jesus, Matthew 7:6

Holy refers to that which is sacred, physically pure, morally blameless or religious, ceremonially, consecrated – most holy one or thing; A follower of Christ, The Word or deeds of God.

The “pearl” as mentioned here, comes from a proverb, meaning to thrust the most sacred and precious teachings of the gospel upon the most wicked and abandoned men, incompetent as they are, through their hostility to the gospel, to receive them, and thus to profane them.

A dog, universally despised in the East, comes from the Greek word ‘kyon‘ literally, a scavenging canine; figuratively, a spiritual predator who feeds off others.  A loose dog was disdained in ancient times – viewed as a “mooch pooch” that ran about as a scavenger.

The swine was forbidden as food by the Levitical law, ( Leviticus 11:7 ; 14:8 ) the abhorrence which the Jews as a nation had of it may be inferred from (Isaiah 65:4). Swine were considered ceremonially unclean and naturally filthy animals.

They were also associated with demons (Mark 5:11-13), and another time swine and dogs are mentioned together (2 Pet. 2:22), they are associated with “false prophets”, who, like Balaam, knew the way of God but had “forsaken the right way”, men who had “known the way of righteousness”, but chose to “turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them”, showing they were Hebrews who were never saved (1 John 2:19).

This might raise questions. Why would Jesus, on the one hand, tell His disciples to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you” and, on the other hand, “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs”?

Is this a contradiction or a controversy, or is there a distinction?  The answer to these questions must be found by considering ‘the dogs’ and ‘the swine’ as representing, not men and women as such, but the passions of this kind or that which make them brutish. So long as they identify themselves with those passions, we must deal cautiously and wisely with them, as one would with an aggressive dog or a swine.

The dogs and swine of these verses represent those people who are hardened and altogether incapable of receiving evangelic truth, and to whom that which is holy is utterly foreign and distasteful. The capacity to discern, distinguish, or to discriminate the source of a spiritual manifestation — whether it emanates from a good or evil spirit (i.e., a ‘dog’ or a ‘swine’), is the gift and ability of discerning of spirits which is bestowed by the Holy Spirit to Christian believer.

One certain way to discern a spirit is that “Anyone who confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God”. (1 John 4:15). Conversely, they do not know Him and are not from Him.

EXAMPLE:  I became friendly with a man and his wife from our neighborhood. He was suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Having known them for several months, I asked him if he believed in God. He said He did. I then asked if I could pray for him. He assented. After praying, I told Him about having a saving relationship with Jesus. This man began to frown and became enraged. I asked him what I had said that made him so angry, and he told me to get away from him and stay away. (His wife, later, apologized, saying she had no idea why he was acting that way.)

EXAMPLE:  I once counseled a man who claimed to be a Christian, who had been charged with acts of sexual deviancy. At one point in our discussions, he told me that God understood his weakness toward sexual matters, had forgiven him, and that he could now continue to behave in that manner with impunity from God.

I felt a degree of compassion toward this man, knowing that this behavior would make his life a living hell and would destroy his chances in life. So, I told this man that his attitude and behavior demonstrated a complete lack of understanding of salvation and a severe addiction that required extensive therapy, and that he most likely was not a Christian and was in rebellion toward God and His Word.

He became defiant and angry and hostile.

I ended our meeting. This rather obvious example led me to ‘discern’ that I was right to “not give dogs what is holy, and not to throw pearls before swine, because they will trample them underfoot and turn to attack me and tear me to pieces”.

Tragic? Yes. Difficult Yes. Necessary? Also, yes. The takeaway? “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, because they will trample them underfoot and turn to attack you and tear you to pieces.”

Your Brother and Friend,

Mike Young

(PS: It makes me sad to give these examples).

PREVIOUS:  A PROPHETIC WORD FROM JESUS – Judge Not – Part 26

NEXT:  A PROPHETIC WORD FROM JESUS – Ask, Seek, Knock – Part 28

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