00:00 Intro music and voice over.
Welcome to jesus loves the world podcast. For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!
00:20 Speaker
All throughout God’s love story to us, the Eternal God - Father, Son and Spirit expressed their love in sound, sight, touch and taste. In last week’s jesus loves the world podcast tilted, The Touch of the Eternal God, we discovered how the Eternal God’s presence touches deep. With His finger He demonstrated His power of testimony and liberating deliverance.
Everything changes with the touch of the Eternal God. Upon acceptance of the Eternal God’s right to rule and reign, worshipping only Him, a divine romance begins. A deep covenant of love that is daily experienced and eternally sustained. The character of God is revealed in His touch. With His gentleness, He personally and intimately writes His love story on our new hearts. Together with the Father, Son and Spirit, we are His living letter of love to the world.
Today we will look at some of the many instances of the taste of the Eternal God. As He invites us all to taste and see that the Eternal God is good.
So let us go back to the time of the prophets. When the majority of the Ancient Israelites had turned there back on the Eternal God. In their hearts they broke their covenant with Him. They declared war against God and profaned His name. Yet the same God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in His great love and faithfulness, still pursued them. Sending His prophet to speak for Him, to a people who refused to listen. Ezekiel was one such prophet.
Let us go to the book of Ezekiel to discover the taste of the Eternal God.
Ezekiel 3:1-12 Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll. And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness. Then He said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Behold, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.” Moreover He said to me: “Son of man, receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears. And go, get to the captives, to the children of your people, and speak to them and tell them, Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they hear, or whether they refuse.” Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great thunderous voice: “Blessed is the glory of the LORD from His place!”
So the prophet of the Eternal God opened his mouth and ate the scroll, which represents the spoken word of God. The prophet of God is instructed to feed his belly. This word that has been translated as feed is the exact same word that the Eternal God used in the beginning to the first man. It means to devour, consume, dine on and as a result become one with.
Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
The Eternal God said eat freely, that is in a positive sense, dine on and become one with every tree in the garden, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every tree in the garden includes the tree of eternal life.
Out of God’s great love, He gave free choice to the first man and woman. To choose to be one with the Eternal One and live forever, eating of the tree of eternal life. Or to choose to be one with both good and evil and as a result surely die. For of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they shall not eat. That is in a negative sense, devour ravenously and recklessly and thus become one with both good and evil.
The first man and woman chose to be one with both good and evil. Giving power to evil, death and their selfish desires to rule over them. As a result humanity and all of God’s creation became damaged by evil. Humanity now destined to taste sweetness and bitterness, life and death.
Humanity in this damaged by evil state, reproduce both evil and good. Consumed by guilt and shame humanity strives for freedom of suffering, death and their selfish desires. However remembering they had free access to the tree of life.
If they ate of the that tree now in their damaged state they will remain forever in that damaged state. Living forever in this damaged state would deny humanity’s salvation. So God in His great love, placed a cherubim and flaming sword which turned every way, between humanity and the tree of life. Preserved for the time when evil is eliminated and all those who have chosen God and His right to rule and reign inherit their glorified bodies. Then we can eat freely of the tree of life and remain in our glorified state forever.
The taste of the Eternal God is a love as sweet as honey. A taste of goodness that fills all eternity with His life everlasting.
Back to the prophet Ezekiel. He opened his mouth and received the taste of the Eternal God’s spoken word. By the Spirit of the Eternal God, Ezekiel became one with the divine, one with His word.
For when the Eternal God speaks it is so. He declares over His prophet, …receive into your heart all My words that I speak to you, and hear with your ears…
The prophet describes the taste of the Eternal God was like sweet honey in his mouth. In hearing and receiving the Eternal God’s spoken word, Ezekiel was eating the nectar of the divine.
The hand of the Eternal God was upon Ezekiel. Yet after this encounter with the Eternal God, he went with a bitterness. As Ezekiel now had the bitter taste of his people choosing to reject the Eternal God.
The Ancient Israelites will in bitterness reject the spoken word of the divine through his prophet Ezekiel. Instead of the sweet nectar of the divine the Ancient Israelites chose the bitter taste of judgement.
Another prophet of the Eternal God that was sent to the Ancient Israelites during their time of rejecting God was Jeremiah. He too was sent to the people to speak for the Eternal God.
Jeremiah describes the taste of the Eternal God’s voice as joy and rejoicing of his heart.
Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.
Yet Jeremiah became known as the weeping prophet, who laments the bitter taste of the abominations of the Ancient Israelites.
To another prophet, the taste of the Eternal God was experienced. This time in the New Testament, when the empires of humanity who had rejected God appeared to be winning.
Revelation 10:9-11 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”
Just like the prophet Ezekiel in the days of old, the Apostle John was told to eat the scroll. Again the scroll represents the spoken word of God. Just like the prophet Ezekiel, John’s experience of the taste of the Eternal God was as sweet as honey. Yet the word of the Eternal God became bitter in Ezekiel’s stomach. Again representing the bitter taste of humanity’s decadence and darkness in rejecting the Eternal God.
When the Eternal spoken word of God came to earth, He spoke life and light into humanity’s decadence and darkness. Bringing salvation to all who received Him.
To a people who had rejected Him, rejected God, the Eternal God who became human, made a statement that was bitter to digest. Let us go to that time.
John 6:53-58 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
Jesus reveals that unless humanity receives God and His right to rule and reign, they will remain destined for eternal death and darkness. Yet those who receive Jesus, receive God partake of, that is dine on, be one with, Jesus’ victory over death, evil and humanity’s selfish desires. As a result receive salvation, destined for eternal life and light.
Jesus’ words are bitter judgement to all those who reject Him. Yet they are sweet as honey to all those who receive Him.
Using the analogy of food and drink, the two items essential for life, Jesus reveals the keys to unlocking the unsearchable mysteries of God and gaining access to the tree of life once again.
To eat Jesus’ flesh and drink His blood is to become one with Him. Receive His right to rule and reign and in doing so receive His victory over death, evil and humanity’s selfish desires.
For the only way to eternal life and gaining access to the tree of life is receiving both Jesus’ divinity and humanity. The Son of God the eternal word, who is fully divine, sacrificed Himself in becoming human.
In Jesus human death He paid the cost for us. Through Jesus’ glorified human resurrection, He was victorious over death. Having received Jesus, we have received His victory and are destined for an eternity in paradise, where we will eat of the tree of life.
Jesus, in His resurrected glorified state appeared to the prophet John and declares in Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’
To those who overcome, that is everyone throughout the ages who has received Jesus, received God and His right to rule and reign, will be given access to the tree of life. To eat freely in our resurrected glorified state. So that we will live in a continual love feast of the sweet taste of the divine. Where everything is perfect, good and pure. Without any toil the choicest of food are there for us to eat and experience. With the purest of waters to drink, bringing healing and renewal.
To all those who reject God, His words are judgement, darkness and death. Yet to all those who receive Him, His words are salvation, light and life everlasting.
So taste and see, that the Eternal God is good.
19:40 Outro music and voice over.
For more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Be blessed empowered and transformed in Jesus’ name!
