Moulting

The Parable:

The long-haired, jet-black dog started moulting!  Yes, you heard me right.  I was stunned too.  Dogs moult?  Well, this one does.  What is moulting, you ask.  It’s when an animal loses its outer skin.  And?  Well, that’s it.  End of story.  The dog moulted—and I think we can assume it attained another fur; what color?  Well, let’s leave that to the imagination.  I like to assume white.

“She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table’” (Matthew 15:27).

“Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood” (Revelation 22:15).

“Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil…” (Philippians 3:2).

The dogs are certainly descriptive in Scripture of those who are evil—that is, those who have hearts of sin, who do not fear God, who are not led by the Spirit of God, who have not been born again of water and the Spirit, who have not taken upon them the blood covering of Jesus Christ, their Messiah.  These dogs are covered in darkness—hence the jet-black hair of the dog in our parable.  They are incapable of doing that which pleases God.

As it is written:

“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

-Romans 3:10-18

Why did the dog moult in our parable?  The dog, representative of sinful man in his sinful nature apart from the grace of Jesus Christ, is not in his natural self capable of moulting.  Dogs don’t moult in nature.  They do shed—just as the sinful man will always shed the evil that is in his heart—for from the depths of the heart, the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34).  Yet, though dogs don’t moult, they can be acted upon.  He who created them can change them.  Yes, God, the creator of man, who has justly acted upon mankind in their sin to give them the inheritance of their wickedness and has prevented them from shedding that sin—or rather—removing it from themselves of their own free will, has acted upon mankind by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus, to redeem man and enable him to be born again a new creature.  This new creature is not the dog in its innate nature.  It is an entirely new being.  Not only is the corrupt flesh moulted from off him, but the very inward parts have been changed so that he does not desire the wretchedness of a dog.  A dog returns to its vomit (2 Peter 2:12), but the redeemed man desires nothing of sin.  No measure of desire on man’s part will change his nature, yet the power of God is capable of all things!

“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy” (Romans 9:16).

“[Jesus said], ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God’” (Mark 10:25-27).

What then shall we do?  If we find ourselves more similar to the dog with the black hair than the moulted animal, what shall we do?  The Apostle Peter said, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:38-39).

The Lord never turns away an act of true repentance and faith, and though He will immediately act upon such penitent dogs with the power to moult and with a heart that now despises the darkness of sin and loves the light of God’s holiness, that moulting process will take time.  Yes, the inward spirit has been changed, but the outward skin of sinful flesh remains and will slowly moult off the redeemed saints until they have been fully purified and given the new skin of Jesus’ radiant righteousness.

“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us” (Philippians 3:13-14).