Kosher / Dietary Laws
Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee talks about some of his familyâs difficulties with adopting a kosher style diet. He also talks about the ongoing controversies and debates present in the Messianic movement regarding the topic of clean and unclean.
According to Revelation 12:17 and 14:12, the end-time saints or holy ones will keep Godâs commandments and hold to faith in Yeshua. Many in the Torah movement think that because they keep the seventh-day Sabbath/Shabbat, remember the appointed times of Leviticus 23, and eat a kosher-style of dietâthat the Lord will give them special protection in the Last Days.
Messianic Apologetics editor John McKee responds to a recent meme, which pointed out that unclean birds are still unclean in Revelation 18:2.
âBut Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the kingâs choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himselfâ (NASU).
âDo not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations! For you have played the harlot, forsaking your God. You have loved harlotsâ earnings on every threshing floor. Threshing floor and wine press will not feed them, and the new wine will fail them. They will not remain in the LORDâs land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food. They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the LORD, their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will be like mournersâ bread; all who eat of it will be defiled, for their bread will be for themselves alone; it will not enter the house of the LORDâ (NASU).
âMoreover, they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. In a dispute they shall take their stand to judge; they shall judge it according to My ordinances. They shall also keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed feasts and sanctify My sabbathsâ (NASU).
âAnd the word of the LORD came to me, saying, âSon of man, say to her, âYou are a land that is not cleansed or rained on in the day of indignation.â There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in the midst of her. Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, âThus says the Lord GOD,â when the LORD has not spoken. The people of the land have practiced oppression and committed robbery, and they have wronged the poor and needy and have oppressed the sojourner without justice. I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one. Thus I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; their way I have brought upon their heads,â declares the Lord GODâ (NASU).
âThen He said to me, âSon of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.â So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol of jealousy at the entrance. And He said to me, âSon of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.â Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. He said to me, âSon of man, now dig through the wall.â So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. And He said to me, âGo in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.â So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. Then He said to me, âSon of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, âThe LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.ââ And He said to me, âYet you will see still greater abominations which they are committingââ (NASU).
ââBut as for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet and spelt, put them in one vessel and make them into bread for yourself; you shall eat it according to the number of the days that you lie on your side, three hundred and ninety days. Your food which you eat shall be twenty shekels a day by weight; you shall eat it from time to time. The water you drink shall be the sixth part of a hin by measure; you shall drink it from time to time. You shall eat it as a barley cake, having baked it in their sight over human dung.â Then the LORD said, âThus will the sons of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations where I will banish them.â But I said, âAh, Lord GOD! Behold, I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth.â Then He said to me, âSee, I will give you cowâs dung in place of human dung over which you will prepare your bread.â Moreover, He said to me, âSon of man, behold, I am going to break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, and they will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and in horror, because bread and water will be scarce; and they will be appalled with one another and waste away in their iniquityââ (NASU).