Lamb & Pig life.
We all know the pig was seen as an unclean animal in the Old Testament, not worthy to be eaten for food.
But also we have the lamb that was seen as pure & clean, worthy of sacrifice to forgive sins!
Today we have our lives that are in either of these natures. We either live the life of the pig or the lamb nature.
This might not be a 100% theologically correct metaphor to use but it will bring truth out clearly if you can bear with me. We have the pig nature that we grew up with, from being a baby, growing & learning to the time until we get born-again. The pig nature speaks of that what became of Adams nature once He listened to the lies of the serpent & ate from the tree. It also speaks of that what the New Testament calls the “flesh“ nature that comes through the carnal mind, it is the place that enables us to sin successfully while we were clearly meant for more than what sin could offer.
But then when we get born-again we get transformed by the Holy Spirit to be a new creation, we change into a ‘lamb’. The lamb nature speaks of being pure, holy, justified, righteous (in right relationship with the Father) & in the Spirit.
Now that is a basic explanation of which our two natures consist of. Our problem as Christians is that we have born-again people that totally believe they still have a pig nature. They look like the blond Mangalica pig in their own minds, having fur that seems like that of a sheep, but they are still pigs with only an outward appearance of something similar of that of a sheep. Unfortunately when that is our mindset, most of the time we live our life according to that, having a good religious confession & a life that looks like the world.
Just to throw in some Bible into the mix to bring perspective:
Romans 8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.[a] 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you[b] free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers,[e] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God..
The flesh here is the pig nature that Jesus condemned. This nature could not do what God wanted & brings death according to these verses. The pig nature cannot please God, doesn’t matter how religiously we dress it up. The pig will never be like the lamb, we have to deal with this truth now.
Verse 5 of Romans 8 says : ‘For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh’ so you live that way before you think that way. I was taught through church that it’s first a renewing of my mind before I could be spiritual. But as it speaks here of the flesh(pig nature) we know we lived in sin quite naturally before ever thinking about it. This is because we have a core belief that we are pigs way before we reason about it. We believe we are just people, an insignificant form of life, worth only what we can produce & then receive recognition for. This is a perspective from the pig nature that stands condemned from the start. The pig cannot produce anything that is good from itself. So we have to be able to accept our origin from the Spirit as a lamb so that we can live & then think accordingly .But now we have this piece of scripture in John 3 where Jesus talks to a Pharisee :
John 3 : 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again[b] he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jesus says no one can see the kingdom unless they are born again. Born again meaning born of the Spirit (Lamb nature). Interesting part for me is that Jesus says then we can see the kingdom. Where you also taught that it was heaven one day? That is probably ok to say that, but I believe He is talking of a Spiritual kingdom that we see manifest through us, so we are the ones who proclaim that His kingdom has come & then healing the sick & doing the works because of this.
But when we are born(according to the flesh), the first things we get to know is that we are human & automatically conform to the patterns we see in the lives of those around us. Wanting to be different & standing out in a crowd is things we either learn later or decide for ourselves that our surroundings just are not worth conforming to.
Just like that we as born-again people need to accept that we are lambs & will be that way forever more. This way we can live accordingly, conforming to the ways of the lamb nature.
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service.
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.
(Verse 1 & 2)How are supposed to present our bodies as “Holy, Pleasing to God” if we are pigs? We come as lambs before our God as the sacrifice. We are not to conform to the world but are transformed by the renewing of our mind (learning the ways of the lamb nature that we have been changed into) & then able to show what is the good and pleasing will of God.
(verse 3)Very important that we see one another according to the right-mind, not comparing yourself to them or them to you. Everyone is at their own place of growth of renewing their mind according to the lamb nature, so have grace on them & encourage them in it as it being their true nature.
Check what the Spirit does even to our natural bodies in this next verse :
Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of the One who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised up Christ from the dead shall also make your mortal bodies alive by His Spirit who dwells in you.
Not everyone that is a Christian has this mind set & if not they can still act in selfishness, fear, anger & still think that it is who they are. This is the problem, we acknowledge a pig nature that Jesus killed on the cross & then we ask God to help us kill it still now. We can put-off these acts by the Spirit in us & renewing our mind to our original purpose of being God’s lambs. His Son being the perfect example of the Lamb nature subjecting the carnal mind like we see in this verse.
Luk_22:42 saying, Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done.
We have the enemy who was destroyed by Jesus at the crucifixion, but he still accuses the people in the world. The pig nature stands in agreement with the enemy’s accusations & therefore we can have no place for this! He has no place in the lamb nature, as the Holy Spirit is the enforcer of the lamb nature that cannot stand accused.
As Rom 8 says : 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God..
And
Joh 14:30 ….. for the ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in Me
The problem with the pig nature is that it gets its life from your past. It is the only place that it can draw from & once we give place to that, the enemy can also take the opportunity to accuse & lie to us.
See the end of Romans 8 :
Rom 8:38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
See that present & things to come is listed, but the “Past” is not there? Because embracing the past is you giving life to a nature that died & the past absolutely does not accept the love of God for you, even though from Gods side, He still loves you the same. The past is where the pig nature was in charge, un-forgiven, condemned, perceived as the very life that exists.
The past is the mud bath that the pig nature thrives in. This is Pauls take on dealing with the past.
Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.
Php 3:13 My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before,
Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Php 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be of this mind. And if in anything you are otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you.
Renewing our minds should also be forgetting what lies behind us. The way things were, the way they worked then. Many of us were taught that we were forgiven of sins & that is correct, but we were taught that those sins were the acts of the flesh (pig nature) that we are still part of. As Romans 8 said earlier, to set their minds on the flesh is death, so to think that way produces death. Sin & the pig nature are also synonymous.
Rom_6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.
We have been released from the pig nature & given the grace of God to live by. Lastly let’s look at the following.
2Co 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us, judging this, that if one died for all, then all died;
2Co 5:15 and He died for all, that the living ones may live no more to themselves, but to Him who died for them and having been raised.
So the pig nature is a dead nature that consist of memories and lies & by receiving Christ we now do not live for ourselves (since the life we had was dead & we left it behind) and we are lambs now made alive in Him by His Spirit.
2Co 5:16 So as we now know no one according to flesh, but even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we no longer know Him so.
2Co 5:17 So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19 whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us.
2Co 5:20 Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
2Co 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is so amazing right? That God wants to call those that have not yet accepted Him (living according to their dead pig nature) through us to be reconciled to Him so they can be made alive in Him. So you never have to acknowledge their pig nature as a threat, as you have have left that nature behind with your past & no longer has relevance. You wake up as a lamb, go to work as a lamb, come home to your family as a lamb and go to sleep as a lamb. My point is that you are a new creation, born-again, spiritual person first, the living it out comes after. Allow yourself to grow in grace & don’t allow the flesh to accuse you or the enemy to lie to you through the past or religion (pig with sheep fur).
Rom 5:17 For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more they who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by One, Jesus Christ.)
Thankx for reading. Bless You
Carlo Merrick
