Lesson 39

When God made man, God commanded him to rule this earth on His behalf.
This is the high calling of every believer today - to build God's rule on this earth.
This is our dominion mandate.
Therefore our daily prayer and our daily mission is that "God's kingdom will be established on this earth; God's will is done on earth as it is in heaven" (Genesis 1:26-28; Matthew 6:9-10).

However, to fulfill our dominion mandate, we need to have a healthy body.
And God has given man His instructions concerning what man should eat and how he should eat (his diet) in order for him to be strong and healthy.
God has made our body and He knows what food is best for it.
And God talked about man's diet immediately after He gave man the dominion mandate.

Food talk is therefore not ungodly or carnal (Genesis 1:29-30).
Food can bring life and health or sickness and death.
It is important for man because only with the proper diet will man live in good health to serve God.

If we disobey God's diet instructions, we will damage and destroy our body.
A sick believer can never fulfill God's calling, no matter how glorious his calling is.
A believer who dies in his prime because of food-related degenerative diseases has wasted his life.
He has aborted God's purposes through his life.
The lives of others around him are also affected by his untimely sickness or death.
The blessings that others (his wife, his children, other believers, unbelievers) would have received from him are no longer available.

We must therefore know God's will concerning our diet.
Otherwise, our lack of knowledge of God's will in this area will cause us to lose our ministry prematurely.
God says that "My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).
This is frighteningly true for many in the area of our diet.

When God first made man and gave man his ministry, God also instructed him immediately concerning his diet (Genesis 1:28-30).
This is God's original diet for man, and is the best diet for him.
We shall call this the Edenic diet, since it was given to man in the Garden of Eden.

God bless them and said to them,  "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." [DOMINION MANDATE]
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." And so it was. [MAN'S DIET]                                                                                  (Genesis 1:28-30)

From the above, we note the following.

Therefore in order for man to fulfill the first portion of God's instruction (the dominion mandate), man must faithfully follow the diet prescribed by God.
If we follow God's diet for man faithfully, we will be strong to serve God fruitfully.
However, if we alter the diet God has given to us, our body will suffer from diseases.
And we will be unable to fully carry out God's calling in our life.

Seed-bearing plants will provide all the nutrients that a man needs for health.
Seed-bearing plants will provide more than sufficient carbohydrates, proteins, oils, vitamins and minerals for the complete nourishment of our body.

The parts of the plants that can be eaten as food includes:

The diet prescribed for animals was the same as that for man.
In other words, all animals, including man, were plant-eaters from the beginning.
There were no animals that ate flesh in the beginning, until after the Flood in the time of Noah.

There were no flesh-eating animals (carnivorous animals) in God's original creation.
Animals, including man, lived in peace with one another.
This was the reason why animals of all kinds could live together in harmony in Noah's ark.
Up to that point, they were all plant-eating animals.

Our ancestors who lived on the Edenic diet lived hundreds of years.
The world's physical and climatic conditions before the Flood were different from what they are today and would have contributed to man's long life-span.
However, food was also one of the contributing factors to their long life.

Because of their diet of plant products only, our pre-Flood ancestors did not suffer from diseases which could have shortened their lives.
From the Biblical record, we can see that all of them lived between 900 to 1,000 years (Genesis 5:1-31).
E.g.     Adam lived for 930 years,
            Seth 912 years, Enosh 905 years, Kenan 910 years.
            Mahalalel 895 yeras, Jared 962 years, and Methuselah 969 years.

After the world-wife Flood at the time of Noah, God allowed meat in man's diet (Genesis 9:1-4).
We shall call this the Noahic diet.
Just before the Flood, God had limited man's life-span to that of 120 years (Genesis 6:1-3).

When men begun to increase in number on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they married any of them they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with men forever, for he is mortal; his days will be A HUNDRED AND TWENTY YEARS."  
                                                                                                               (Genesis 6:1-3)

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. EVERYTHING that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you EVERYTHING.
But you must not eat meat that has the lifeblood still in it."  (Genesis 9:1-4)

A few important implications for our diet can be drawn from the Noahic diet.

Meat is therefore not detrimental to the health of man.
Meat has now been given by God to man as food under this diet.

The Lord Jesus was recorded as eating meat (fish) together with his disciples during the miracle of the five loaves and two fish for the feeding of the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-20).
Jesus also invited his disciples to eat barbecued fish with him after his resurrection (John 21:1-14).

God declared that "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you" (Genesis 9-3).
There was no classification of food or meat into clean or unclean types.
All animal meat was to be regarded as food by all men.

Although God allowed man to eat animal meat, man was to continue eating the Edenic diet of plant products.
Meat was only to be an additional food under the Noahic diet.
Meat was not to be the sole food taken.

God said that to Noah that "Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything" (Genesis 9:3).
All plant products must still be used as food here as they were used in the Edenic diet.

No man is allowed by God to take meat that still has its blood in it (Genesis 9:4).

This food law from God is a reminder to man that the life of a creature (whether man or animal) is in its blood (Leviticus 17:11).
And when the blood of an innocent man is shed, it is murder.
And the one who shed innocent blood will have is blood shed by others as a act of judgment from God (Genesis 9:6).

This food law also reminded the people of God that God has allowed man to use the blood of an animal to make atonement for the sins of man under the Old Testament.
Thus is God's eyes, the blood of animals has a very important sacred use under the Old Testament (Leviticus 17:11-12).

The blood of animals that was used to atone for man's sin in the Old Testament was a shadow of the blood of Jesus Christ, God's only Son, that was shed to wash away the sins of the world (Revelation 1:5).
Thus the sacred use of blood for God's purposes must not be defiled by allowing man to eat it.

For the life of the creature is in its blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor many alien living among you eat blood." 
                                                                                                        (Leviticus 17:11-12)

In His specific food laws to His covenant people, the Israelites, God commanded them not to eat of the fat in the meat, as well as not eating the blood (Leviticus 3:17).
We know today that this habit would protect man from many degenerative diseases, if he followed these instructions.

This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.                              (Leviticus 3:17)

This abuse can occur in many ways:

When a man overeats, eating even after he is full and no longer hungry, he is committing the sin of gluttony.
He s no longer serving God by looking after his body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Instead, he is worshipping and serving his stomach and his food (Philippians 3:18-19).

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tear, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is their shame. 
                                                                                                      (Philippians 3:18-19)

When a man eats meat exclusively, not taking in vegetable and fruits, he will become malnourished.
His body will lack many of the necessary vitamins, minerals and essential oils found only in plants.
His body will start to malfunction and diseases will occur.

At the time of Noah, just before the Flood, God shortened the life-span of man to that of 120 years.
The reason God gave for this was that He does not want to contend with man forever (Genesis 6:1-3).

After the flood, the world's climatic conditions changed, and man's age began to decline (Genesis 11:10-26).
Noah lived 950 years. His descendents, however lived shorted lives (Genesis 9:29).
Shem, the son of Noah, lived 600 years.
Arphaxad, the son of Shem, lived 438 years.
Shelah, the son of Arphaxad, lived 433 years.
Eber, the son of Shelah, lived 464 years.
Peleg, the son of Eber, lived 239 years.

Reu, the son of Peleg, lived 239 years.
Serug, the son of Reu, lived 230 years.
Nahor, the son of Serug, lived 148 years.
Terah, the son of Nahor, lived 205 years.
Abraham, the son of Terah, lived 175 years (Genesis 25:7).
Isaac, the son of Abraham, lived 10 years (Genesis 35:28).
Jacob (Israel), the son of Issac, lived 147 years (Genesis 47:28).
Moses, who delivered the Israelites from Egypt, lived 120 years (Deuteronomy 34:7).

We have also seen that after the Flood, God had allowed man to eat meat.
However, to what extent this meat factor contributed to the shortened life-span of man, no one can say.
Whatever the case may be, a man after the Flood can live healthily to a maximum of 120 years, if he eats according to God's instructions.
This life-span is more than enough for any man to fulfill his destiny in Christ.

The Modern Man's diet, also called the Western dist or the 20th Century diet, is a modified form of the Noahic diet.
Although man has been instructed by God to live on plants and animals under the Noahic diet, he finds it hard to follow God's instructions in this modern era.
The Modern Man's diet is vastly different from that of the Noahic diet.

As a result, modern man suffers from degenerative diseases which were unheard of before the turn of the century (i.e. 100 years ago).
These include arthritis, diabetes, high-blood pressure, stroke, heart-attacks, ulcers, auto-immune diseases, cancers of various kinds, etc.

all these modern degenerative diseases are still not found among tribal people who have not yet been exposed to the Modern Man's diet.
However, whenever natives of third world countries have been exposed to the Western diet, the same diseases of modern man will follow inevitably.

The differences between the Modern Man's diet and the Noahic diet are as follows:

Except for grain, the Western or Modern Man's diet is low in fruits and vegetables.
Thus valuable vitamins and minerals are not available for the proper functioning and health of the body cells and tissues.
The most common mineral of plant products, potassium, will not be adequately available for the proper functioning of every cell in the body.

Salt is good for flavoring food (Matthew 5:13).
It is sodium chloride.
However, the excessive use of salt in modern processed food causes an imbalance to the mineral content of the body tissues.
Normally, sodium ions stay outside a cell, while potassium ions are found inside.
Their concentrations are fixed at a constant ratio for proper cell functioning.
With high sodium intake, this ration is upset and all cells are weakened.

Because of the processing of food, valuable minerals and vitamins are lost from the food.
Such processed foods are highly detrimental to the human body because they will deplete the body of vitamins and minerals and harm body functions.
E.g. White flour, white sugar, etc.

Fiber intake in modern man is very low, compared to man on a Noahic diet, because of a lack of fruits and vegetables in his diet, and because all grains have been processed and their fiber removed.
The lack of fiber leads to greater retention time of waste materials in the big intestine which in turns leads to autointoxication of the body.

Such fats are saturated fats and they will not only clog up the blood vessels but also cause intoxication of the body cells.
On the other hand, under the Noahic diet, God has warned His people not to take the fat in the meat they eat.
Instead, the oils obtained from plants under the Noahic diet are essential to the health of the human body.

Most of these chemicals are not plant products.
They are used as additives

All these chemicals are poisonous and will cause diseases in our body when taken in over a period of time.

Your thought

1. Why should we be concerned about the food we eat?
   Isn't it worldly to talk about food in the church?
   

2. In what ways is the food you are eating today different from what God has prescribed for man in the Noahic diet?
   

3. What can you do to ensure that the food you take is healthy for your body?
   

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