Question: If unclean creatures were made clean in the New Testament, why are there unclean birds in the New Testament's Book of Revelation?
"1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!" (Rev 18:1-2).
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!
First of all, God separated the clean and the unclean animals for a cause, I believe that right from the time He instructed Adam and Eve, to sacrifice animals on the altar and worship him through it (Gen 3:21), he did teach them to separate the clean from the unclean to the entire humanity which worshiped Him (Gen 4:12-4, 5-7).
This thing we see in the life of Noah when he separated under the instruction of God Himself to sacrifice and worship Him with clean birds and animals, so this did not just come later when Moses instructed all the clean and the unclean animals to be separated, but from the time of Noah and even from God's creation itself where Adam and Eve and then Cain and Abel were involved in it, so that the clear instruction to worship him in the way He wants humans to approach him in holiness has been given and rewarded for obedience (Gen 6:18-20, 21-22; 7:1-5, 13-16; 8:18-21).
Deuteronomy 14:6 in the Bible says that animals with split hooves and cud are clean, but animals without both are unclean. For example, the camel, hare, and hyrax are unclean because they chew the cud but do not have split hooves.
Leviticus 11:5 says that the camel is unclean because it chews the cud but does not have a split hoof. Leviticus 11:7 says that pigs are unclean, both ritually and as food.
Even for fishes, insects and birds kind, God separates them as clean and unclean things to be eaten or allowed near the living places of humans to keep things hygienic and from spreading diseases and sickness that brings death (Leviticus 11:9, 12; Leviticus 11:13; Leviticus 11:22-23).
God’s health principles were not limited to any race or nation but were given for the benefit of the entire human race. So when God tells, they are good in someway, that we might never understand fully. And so it is good for us to avoid certain kinds of food that can create allergies and other kinds of diseases in our body.
The death of Jesus cleanses sinners spiritually (John 3:16), through it he restores a sound mind to separate the unclean from the clean spiritually as well as physically in the lives of believers (2 Tim 1:7), and therefore the main emphasis is on the spiritual side for a believer, and also what ever medically proven to cause harms you can avoid, these lists are not exhaustive and the Holy Spirit will guide you in to all truth (John 16:13-14).
Here in context the Babylon which the Bible speaks is the city of Rome which ruled the whole world, which later became a religious harlot when it tried to merge Christianity within its political rulership, therefore God has promised to destroy it at the middle of Daniel 70th week, and therefore once it is destroyed and becomes inhabitable to humans it will "become a dwelling place of demons", "a prison for every foul spirit", and "a cage for every unclean and hated bird", which speaks about its spiritual state and not a physical one, which further indicates that it doesn't speak about physical birds, but only regarding the demons who are fallen and rebellion angels who act like unclean bird in the skies. But also it can mean to be physical birds too as only vultures, owls and other hated unclean birds usually inhabits places where humans do not, as the destruction of the Babylon the Great which is the Roman Catholic church entity is also physical, the hated birds that will dwell in the ruins of it there can also be physical for a thousand years time. Hallelujah! Praise be to God!
Will there still be unclean birds segregated in the Millennium rule of Jesus and the Church? Yes, because first of all in the DNA of these birds, God has designed the unclean to live separately outside humanly habitable places, and especially deserts and forests are let by God like that arid and uninhabitable by humans so that these birds hated by humans can really live and thrive in those areas, and so fulfill their purpose for existence which God has created it to be.
The instruction to humans that God gave, is to make sure that these unclean, birds, animals and fishes are not forced, or let in lethargy to live among human habitations to cause allergy and sickness and diseases and death among the humans by spreading certain viruses and bacteria's that are not good for humans. With modern diseases as well as pesticide and antibiotic residues in the flesh of many land and sea animals, we are running a risk by eating meat of any kind; but certainly we should not use those unclean flesh foods which God specifically warns against.
Even though we see that all aspects of foods that can be digested by humans, and are good and edible for consumption can be eaten, God has reached out to all races and faces of humans in all the earth to hear the good news and be saved for eternity (Mark 16:15-16). So the New Testament does not specifically give any exhaustive list of clean and unclean animals to be eaten or not to be eaten. In fact the only thing that the apostles under the guidance of the Holy Spirit told is, "28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." (Acts 15:28-29). Blood contains life within it and therefore it is sacred to be honored, and therefore avoided by believers (Lev 20:25-26). Strangled things or meats get rotten soon, and also the blood of it gets attached to its meat by clotting that take place, and therefore the above instructions. Above all sexual immorality which concerns with things very much related to humans, relating to one another and also animals in the right way, to avoid bestiality, adultery, fornication is the most important thing to avoid even above all food, and therefore live a holy life for God to dwell with us (Lev 18:22).
Other than this, we see many Chinese eating snakes and all kinds of exotic meats which are unclean according to the Bible, many tribes and nations do eat in the same way dogs, pigs and camels, etc....when God reaches to these people with salvation spiritually, they too soon will follow to avoid certain disease spreading unclean meats and fleshes, or even if they continue to eat, God has given them the option to continue until they voluntarily want to give up being convicted and convinced by Him according to the situation they are in and in the environment where people's sensitivities are valued and not offended (Rom 14:20, 21, 22, 23). In other words, even all meats whether clean or unclean are not God's best for humans, in fact, in the Garden of Eden only fruits were there to eat and live in a healthy way for humans (Gen 2:16-17). But when sin came in to the world after the fall of humans in to it (Rom 5:12), God at the time of Noah opened the gates to allow humans to eat the flesh of animals, birds, fishes, etc...because God reduced the life expectancy of humans to 120 years, and thus allowed death to control humans and everything in balance, to keep the ecology and environment intact and livable for all humans for a limited period of their life time in which they live on earth (Gen 9:3-7; 6:3).
The bottom line about this topic of do's and dont's of food and all other external religious things of traditions was nailed to the last in its coffin by Jesus when he said, "16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” (Matt 15:16-20). It is not the religious external holiness of traditions that God is concerned about, but rather the internal holiness of our spiritual heart and minds that keep our thinking and thoughts pure before God (Matt 5:8). Thus we come to understand that, because God is eternally concerned about humans eternal life and its spiritual application more than all the physical and temporal aspect of it when they are alive, he wants all humans to repent of all sins of the heart and confess it to God to be cleansed in their heart first. And then the outside physical aspect of keeping the body fit with good exercise and good food matters to God, because as long as food is edible and body has moments (Rom 14:14), no problem immediately comes to any humans regarding their physical life (1 Tim 4:7-8, 13-16). But unless people repent of their spiritual sins to God to be forgiven and cleansed to receive eternal life of salvation from sin as soon as possible when they are alive physically (2 Cor 6:1-2; 1 Pet 2:12), they are in danger of hell fire (Luke 12:54-56; 13:1-3, 4-5).
So we as the people of God and faith practicing believer should take care of the following, " 16 So don't put up with anyone pressuring you in details of diet, worship services, or holy days. 17 All those things are mere shadows cast before what was to come; the substance is Christ." (Col 2:16-17, MSG). In other words, we should not allow others to put pressure upon us to shake our faith by telling us what to do or not to do regarding diet, worship services or holy days, rather the Holy Spirit through His salvation anointing has promised us to teach all things regarding spirituality if we keep our lives clean and holy (1 John 2:27; 1:7, 9; 3:20-21, 22; Heb 12:14; 2 Tim 2:19, 21-22; 1 Thess 4:7), so whether you eat or drink, it should be done for the Glory of God, questions like, am I doing this for the Glory of God, and will it truly bring Him glory we should ask ourselves, before each decision we make in our lives (1 Cor 10:31). All of our external physical aspect of eating and drinking is not really the Kingdom of God, but what is, is the joy, peace and righteous actions in our lives that follow our faith in the Holy Spirit are what the Kingdom of God on earth really is (Rom 14:17). Let us not cause grief to our Brothers and Sisters who have certain way of eating and drinking in their lives because of our bad mouth or religious attitude towards them. Rather let us walk in love and not put a stumbling block because of our religious pride or ego to cause other to fall in their faith life to weaken it, but rather let us encourage and build them up in faith through losing some privileges ourselves for the sake of our Brothers or Sisters in Christ when we are with them (Rom 14:13, 14-15). May God be glorified through our lives on earth! Amen and Praise the Lord!
Much Blessings....
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