In the Old Testament God commanded His people to eat only that which was regarded as clean. They were not to eat anything that was unclean. However, most of God’s people did not realize that these dietary regulations were related to Christ. All the clean things in Leviticus 11 signify various aspects of Christ. Christ is unsearchably rich and has innumerable aspects. Such a rich Christ requires thousands of items to typify Him. All the items suitable for God’s people to eat, as recorded in Leviticus 11, are types of different aspects of Christ. Furthermore, the things God forbade His people to eat are types of things other than Christ. Anything of Christ is good for us to eat, but anything that is not Christ is not good for our eating. This brings us back to Genesis 2, where we see that the tree of life is good for food but that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is not. God’s concern, however, is not our physical eating; it is Christ. God only cares for Christ.
Regarding the keeping of days, in the eyes of God every day is the same. But in order to portray Christ, God uses certain days as shadows. For example, the Sabbath day is a shadow of Christ as our rest and satisfaction. Because Christ is the completion, the perfection, of everything God has done, Christ is our satisfaction and rest. Thus, Christ is our Sabbath. Likewise, Christ is our new moon, our new beginning. All the days that God’s people in the Old Testament were commanded to observe were shadows of Christ. God, however, does not actually care for those days; He cares for Christ. Therefore, we should hold on to everything that is of Christ, but we should cast aside those things that are not of Christ.
According to natural law, our physical body should have one day of rest each week. By resting in this way we can work more effectively the other six days. However, it does not matter whether this day of rest is the seventh day or the first day of the week. If we apply this to Christ, we shall see that to Him every day is the same. This was Paul’s realization in his Epistles.
Nevertheless, Paul knew that we need to take care of the weaker believers. In Romans 14:1 and 2 he said, “Now him who is weak in faith receive, not with a view to passing judgment on reasonings. One believes that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables.” Those who are strong must take care of the weaker ones. Although you may regard every day the same and believe that all things are good to eat, others who are weak in faith may observe certain days and eat only vegetables. On the one hand, we need to realize that so many physical things and special days are types and shadows of Christ. If we see this, we shall not be concerned about eating or the keeping of days. However, on the other hand, many genuine Christians are not strong in their faith concerning these matters. We must remain open to all of them. Otherwise, we shall be divisive.
Christians today are not only divisive but also divided. Instead of judging divisiveness in others, we should judge our own divisive nature. We have seen that all Christians have the same saving faith, believing in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. The faith by which we are saved is the same in all believers. But, as we have pointed out, it is difficult for Christians to agree in their understanding of many things in the Bible. Even we ourselves may change in our view concerning certain matters. Forty years ago, I interpreted a particular verse in one way, but today I interpret it in an altogether different way. How then can we expect all believers in Christ to agree in their interpretation of the Bible? This is impossible. For example, some say that the baptism spoken of by Paul in Romans 6 is spiritual baptism, not baptism in water. But others, just as strong in their conviction, believe that it refers to water baptism. Thus, over this matter there have been strong arguments because of differing opinions. Christians also have different opinions about praising the Lord, calling on the name of Jesus, and pray-reading the Word. We should not expect all Christians to agree in their understanding of all things in the Bible. Perhaps not until we are in the New Jerusalem shall we be the same in every respect.
There is the strong natural tendency in all of us to insist that all believers be the same as we are. Such insisting does far more than expose our lack of wisdom; it exposes the very element of divisiveness rooted deep within our natural being. Because of this element, we have the tendency to divide ourselves from others and to form our own kind of group.
In 1957 the leading brothers in the church in Taipei were burdened to visit the leaders of the independent Christian groups in that city. Some of these groups, claiming to be nondenominational, said that they were meeting in the name of the Lord Jesus. Therefore, we invited them to have fellowship with us. In the course of our fellowship, the leaders of these groups became fully convinced that Christians should be one and that there was no reason to be divided. However, these leaders said that they still wanted to remain by themselves. Although we were willing for them to take over the leadership and to manage all the church properties, they still wanted to hold on to their separate groups. They appreciated our invitation, but they were not willing to be one in a practical way. We were willing to be one, but they preferred to remain in a divisive position.