TEACHING THE HARD TEACHINGS

Most teachers, and even preachers, gloss over the hard verses as if they are not there. Never have I been taught about today’s key verse; it is as if it is not there! Some who teach venture only into those passages that are easy to understand, and if your teacher is one of those, you just very well not understand Jesus.

This morning, I was about to skip over the key verse again because it is indeed hard to understand. My own teachers and preachers always skipped over this passage!

 Apathetic teachers often do that, but I was subdued. The parables of Jesus, although hard to understand, are often the most significant and are used by Jesus to amplify what He was trying to teach.

If you have no amplification, you have not been enlightened and your lesson is in vain. So, for those reasons, today I shall undertake to understand the points that Jesus was making with his holy things and pearls.

Sayings in the Bible are difficult to interpret since we are not privy to colloquial expressions in ancient days. Therefore, some sayings cannot be taken literally but only in a metaphorical context.  So, what was Jesus implying when He said this: 

KEY VERSE: Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. (Mat 7:6)

 Did some give things that were holy to the dogs. Perhaps so. The meat for the burnt offering was consecrated holy, and perhaps some gave the remnants of the offering to feed their dogs. However, the act of feeding meat to the dogs is not what was wrong but disrespecting what God had made holy.

Dietrich Bonnhoeffer may have been thinking of that when he wrote about cheap grace. Jesus was made holy by God. As the “Son of God,” Jesus had the genetics of Yahweh. There was one man that had those rare genetics and that was Jesus. Jesus is the “Holy Thing” as it is written, The angel told Mary, “That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the “Son of God.” (Luke 1:35).

Now take a second look at the key verse: Do not take the Holy Thing and feed Him to the dogs. As far as it is known, nobody attempted to feed the flesh of Jesus to dogs. That should not be taken literally. Throughout scripture, tainted flesh was fed to the dogs. The most memorable is the horrid blood of Jezebel, about whom the Lord said, “The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel” (1 Kings 21:23).

Jesus was, in a sense, singing, as He was tasting death: 

¹⁵ My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to My jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. ¹⁶ Foor dogs have compassed Me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced My hands and My feet. ¹⁷ I may tell all My bones: they look and stare upon Me. (Psalm 22:15-17)

 No, Jesus did not sing the whole song, but enough for the Jews to get the point… they were the “dogs” of which the psalmist wrote.

Jesus was not tainted flesh; His flesh was holy, so holy that it is to be remembered at the Eucharist wherein the bread represented the body of Christ. His “flesh” was not to be eaten by the dogs — those who were unworthy, to wit: “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). Perhaps the “dogs” in the key verse are the unworthy.

At the crucifixion of Jesus, he commenced Psalm 22 with the words, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1; Mat 27:46; Mark 15:34). The words of the Psalm are about the crucifixion of Jesus. God predicted that the “dogs” would encompass Him.

Hence, the “dogs” are not dogs at all; they are beastly men and women. Jesus was implying, Don’t throw Me, this Holy Thing, to the beasts to do with Me as they please. Jesus was the graceful treasure — the “Pearl” of God whose value was beyond measure. Those who took the sacrifice without great significance were the “dogs,” making the valuable grace of God look like the cheap sacrifice of previous times. ]

The sacrifice of meat was a commandment. Jesus fulfilled that Law. He was the expensive sacrifice of flesh and the valuable “Pearl;” to waste it on “dogs” would be foolish.

“Dogs” in the key verse is kyon in the Greek. It does mean “dogs” but metaphorically it means “a man of impure mind” (Strong 2006).

The mob around Jesus were the “dogs” in that they had impure minds. Each one had their own reason for seeking to cast the flesh of Jesus to the ground, but for none of them was it to redeem their lousy, unworthy flesh. Indeed, they were acting “as beasts.” Jesus was telling them not to do that!

What commandment did the “dogs” at the crucifixion break? “Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” (Exod 20:7). The Name of the LORD GOD is “Jesus.” His sacrifice was for them in vain, or without significance. They as well have fed his Holy Flesh to the dogs, for all it was worth to them! Again, that expensive Flesh would be wasted on those who did not take the sacrifice as God’s gift to mankind.

In the key verse, Jesus went on to say, “Neither cast ye your pearls before swine.” Who would do such a thing? There is no incidence in scripture where anyone threw pearls to the swine. That is an irrational thing to do! However, unwittingly some cast their pearls before swine, Jesus said so:

⁴⁵ Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: ⁴⁶ Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought It. (Mat 13:45-46)

 The Kingdom of God wherein Jesus reigns are the “pearls” that prudent men seek — the merchants. Christians, therefore add the “pearls “ and they can cast them away. 

The “Kingdom” is not the realm per se but the people of that realm. They seek not to be just plain pearls, but valuable ones… the best of the best.

One merchant in the metaphor found One Pearl of a great price. He sold all that he had and bought it. What did that one wise merchant do? He forsook the world for that One Great Pearl that represents Jesus! He traded his pearl for that One Pearl. 

The sacrifice of the merchant was that he presented his body a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God (Rom 12:1). Those seeking the One Pearl were the “goodly pearls” who each would trade their lesser “pearl” for the One with the greater price!

So, speaking to many, Jesus said, “neither cast ye your pearls before swine.” Jesus was speaking of unclean animals that could neither be eaten nor sacrificed. It would be a travesty to submit themselves to mankind when Jesus was right there… Jesus the “One Pearl of great value.”

Why to not do those things? “Lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” That is what they did to the apostles; each were “trampled” under the feet of men. Each of the lesser “pearls” were murdered for the Name “Jesus,” but John, who was boiled in oil. Each time the mob steps on Christians, it is them turning on Jesus and sacrificing Him all over again.

You see, that saying had tremendous meaning! Ironically, Christians often turn on themselves. They submit their “pearls” to the world, not for the One Great Pearl: 

⁴ It is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, ⁵ And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (Heb 6:4-6)

 The lesser “pearls” are those who are “partakers of the Holy Ghos, namely Christian’s who have been improved… and those who have symbolically “eaten” of the Flesh of Jesus. 

The blood of Jesus has cleansed them up and highlighted their intrinsic value. They are no longer ordinary “pearls” but all the “images” of Jesus, the One Great Pearl. If they throw themselves to the swine — the unrighteous of the world — they become dirty again, and that reverses the cleansing process… If they “fall away” like a string of pearls, to pick them from the dirt and renew them again, would be as if crucifying Jesus, and denigrating the One Great Pearl” once again.

Once the pearls are shed from their strand, they would be eaten by the demon beasts that swine symbolizes (Mat 8:31).

A strand of pearls is fastened securely about the neck. The string holding them together is hidden, but if the string breaks, the pearls fall away from the neck. Think of the neck of Jesus that leaned to one side at the crucifixion. It was as if offering His neck for each of them to string their pearls on. The Holy Ghost may represent the “silver cord” (Ecc 12:6) from which the pearls hang. Once the silver cord is loosed, according to Solomon, death ensues. Each pearl falls to the swine in the mud of the earth wherein they are swallowed up, never to be refined again!

Hopefully, by now, you should understand that just not anyone can teach because some scripture is indeed hard to understand. It takes time and guidance from the Word to understand the hard teachings and many of you have been robbed of truth by having unqualified teachers. Since I was enlightened, I often wonder, Why did none of my teachers ever teach the hard to understand things?

(photo credit; Ngdc.la)