The writers of Scripture, especially Jesus and the Apostle Paul, were great at using symbolism to plead their case. Jesus used a great deal of symbolism in His Parables, in order to help His Illustrations of proper living and the unfeigned, crucified heart. And Paul used metaphors like the potter and the clay. (See Romans 9:19-24.)

Moreover, it was Paul who used the illustration of the ‘milk’ of the Word, versus the ‘meat’ of the Word; the milk representing the more readily received messages of Scripture, and the meat representing the more difficult to swallow verses. (See 1Corinthians 3:1-3.)

Furthermore, this precept is reflected in other types of illustrations, like the ‘old man’ versus the ‘new man’ that Paul also used to help his church comprehend this precept. (See Ephesians 4:22-24.)

And still another verse proclaims the Bible as a ‘double-edged sword.’ It makes us feel both good and not so good things about ourselves, and it is not always easy to face the truth. (See Hebrews 4:12.)

Through God’s Word, we see a plethora of these examples.

Examples of the Milk of the Word:

--God forgets our transgressions when we confess them to Him (Psalm 103:12)

--He forgives us as long as we forgive others (1John 1:9)

--We are assured of our salvation as long as we believe in Christ Jesus our Lord and His Supreme Sacrifice on the Cross (John 3:16-18)

--He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5)

--He never allows more to come on us than we can handle (1Corinthians 10:13)

--He turns our bad into good (Romans 8:28)

--He is the Good Shepherd & our Refuge from danger (Psalm 23 & 46) 

Examples of the Meat of the Word:

--We are to love our enemies (Matthew 5:43-44)

--Sometimes God uses suffering to teach us and help us grow in the faith (1Peter 4:12-19 & 1Peter 5:10)

--Our children cannot be saved through a familial faith because we can teach, set an example and pray, but we cannot give them something that we do have to give (Ephesians 2:8-9). Only God can save them; they need their own relationship with God through Christ Jesus. Salvation is of God. They will be blessed and our faith will have a strong possibility of wearing off on them through our example. But our kids cannot be saved through OUR faith (Our example can work wonders however—Deuteronomy 6:6-7, We need our own relationship--Galatians 6:7-8)

--We are not always healed, as we would like to believe, but our suffering is never for nothing or no reason; God has a purpose in it and is using it to bring revelation and all the help we need! (2Corinthians 12:7-9)

--There are plenty of animals in heaven, but they are not the same as the pets we’ve known on earth, but spiritual likenesses; animals do not have souls, therefore, they cannot have a saving relationship with God through Christ, as we can (Psalm 49:20)

--God Commands that we obey Him, then we are blessed (Deuteronomy 11:26-28)

--Jesus Commands that we give our lives for Him and follow Him even when we meet with resistance; we cannot expect to be saved if we just rely on head knowledge/carnality (Matthew 16:24-26 & 25:1-13 & Romans 8:7)

--The world as we know it WILL soon come to an abrupt end. (See 1Thessalonians 5:2.) When Jesus comes back He won’t come into the world quietly and everything will not just change for the better….The righteous will be rescued at the Rapture of the Church, and the unrighteous will be left to fight against the utter and absolute HELL that will descend upon the entire world (Rescue--1Thessalonians 4:13-18 & 1Corinthians 15:51-55, Tribulation—Matthew 24:21)

“Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead in Christ will be raised incorruptible, and we shall all be changed.” (1Corinthians 15:51-52)

For those who love His Appearing, this is all good news, with or without a crown of reward! But there are those who want to live out their lives without interruption. They want to live to see the birth of their grandchildren, and the end of the world does not appeal to them. For them, this is not good news, and most certainly does fall into the category of the ‘meat’ of the Word, when approached through that unfortunate context:

“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.” (2Timothy 4:8)

Bringing all of life on earth to a climatic and dramatic end as we know it, otherwise known as the Church Age, is all due to God’s Wrath unto the wicked, for rejecting Him and sinning against Him. (Psalm 9:17) BUT God will rid this world of all sin and all evil (Daniel 9:24) when Jesus comes back to rule and reign over the whole earth in the Millennial kingdom that He will set up after the Great Tribulation period passes (Zachariah 8).

ALSO SEE: Daniel 9:27, Mark 13, all of Matthew 24, Ezekiel 38 & 39, and all of the Book of Revelation

NKJV

Linzy is a certified Bible Counsellor, with countless republications on her viewers blogs, Bible Studies, Ezines and the like. Her portfolio includes, non-fiction articles, short stories for all ages, and Christian poetry.