"WHY WORK FOR UNSATISFYING FOOD?"

October 28, 2001 pm
MF Blume

Genesis 3:17-19  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Genesis 5:28-29  And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

Genesis 9:15-17  And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.

Isaiah 55:1-3  Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
 


The man whose name was REST, caught God's eye in the midst of a world so deep in sin that God had to destroy it. Jesus was the true Noah. The vision God chose to give about this incorporated the elements of Noah's story in it in order to drive home a certain point about Noah, and have us apply it to Jesus and our salvation. The major point of difference between a Garden of Eden and a world of sweat is that God planted the Garden and God prepared the food that would give man eternal life. But Noah's story sees a break in the continuity of such a lifestyle. The Garden had a river of living water and fruit of life.

Isaiah begins to prophesy for those who are thirsty and hungry.

We work to earn money in order to eat. However at the same time there is true food and true drink. To buy waters and bread with no money is to be GIVEN food and drink for free! The issue of immortal-life-giving food and immortal-life-giving drink is from Adam to Jesus! Attached to the thought of free food and free drink that gives life and satisfies, God said ...

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,

Your souls shall live!

When Jesus' blood was accepted in the Heavenly Ararat, people cry forth saying,
Revelation 5:9-10  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
These people would RULE! No more work to eat food. Jesus as the true Noah reversed the curse in ever aspect.

He identified Himself with all that Adam incurred, in order to remove it all through crucifying it n Himself on the cross.

(1) As Adam was pushed to labour, we read this about Jesus...

Isaiah 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
(2) As woman's subjection came through the curse, we read...
Galatians 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
(3) As Adam had to die due to disobedience...
Acts 2:24  Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
(4) As curses came with sin...
Galatians 3:13  Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
(5) As thorns came with sin...
Matthew 27:29  And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
...Probably in similar mockery, Satan made light of Adam who once had dominion of kingship.

(6) As woman would bear children in SORROW and Adam would eat bread in sorrow all the days of his life...

Isaiah 53:3  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Notice Galatians 3:13's words about Jesus being made a curse for us, in the particular sense of our cursing of the law! The Old Testament had people live by WORKS OF THE LAW TO BE RIGHTEOUS. Why does it regard righteousness as though it were food and drink?
Matthew 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Righteousness is real food and drink. It fades like a leaf. The world with all its thrills is like the pig-pen the prodigal son found himself renting. Instead of fountains of living waters, look what God says Israel settled for in abandoning God.
Jeremiah 2:13-14  For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled?
Cisterns run out of water, and broken cisterns leak out the water they do contain!

Fountains of living waters, though, never run dry!

The real food and real drink that gives eternal life is the EVERLASTING COVENANT OF GOD.

This water cannot satisfy.
John 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
This water Jesus has is EVERLASTING LIFE!

And in the same chapter He said this:

John 4:31-38   In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
Fruit unto everlasting life!

Not only that, but Jesus said they have opportunity to get in on God's original intention.

John 4 shows us the River of life in Eden and the Fruit of Life from Eden!

CURSE FREE!

Not only that, but Jesus told the woman about a PLACE to worship.

John 4:21-24  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
The true sanctuary is IN THE SPIRIT and IN TRUTH.

We read that God walked in the COOL OF THE DAY in Genesis 3:8

Genesis 3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
COOL literally means WIND or SPIRIT. The greatest joy in this world is to eat well drink well and be merry, for tomorrow we DIE.

But Jesus asks why we labour for meat that won't satisfy.

Notice what else God told Isaiah to say:
Isaiah 55:3  Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.
Sure mercies of David! Praise God!!! This eternal covenant is so far beyond Adam's work for bread in cursed ground that left him dying, that it involves RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD!

And in His idea of dying and resurrecting again, consider this:

Matthew 26:26-28  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Had he not said earlier....
John 6:48-58  I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.
And after saying all of that... look where we read he was.
John 6:59  These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.
CAPERNAUM: Adam could have eaten his first meal from the tree of life and entered into a Rest on the seventh day with God and never worked for the rest of eternity. Jesus reference to the bread and wine of His body and blood spoke about the cross. God's people are reaping where they bestowed no labour! God did the work, and we enter into that which He worked for us to enjoy.

Canaan was called a REST in Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
Look what Moses told them before they entered into Canaan's rest.
Deuteronomy 6:10-11  And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;