Spiritually Modified Food
But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. Revelation 2:14 NASB
To eat things – Have you considered how odd this complaint really is? It’s part of Yeshua’s address to the seven churches of Asia. For the most part, each one of the churches is extolled for some things and chastised for others. In each case, a dire warning comes along with the revelation of that particular church’s faults. But the complaint against Pergamum might cause us to side with the church, not the Messiah. After all, what possible difference can it make if we eat food sacrificed to idols? Wasn’t that issue settled long before in Galatians? Are we to suppose that the Messiah is holding these Christians responsible for the dietary laws of the Tanakh? How can that be?
As Christian exegetes we have the tendency to read quickly over the list of infractions in this verse. Pergamum was at fault, all right, but what exactly they did to raise the ire of the Lord isn’t clear. It can’t be about eating food since we all assume that those old laws don’t apply. So it must be about immorality (found in the next phrase). But if we are going to be faithful to the text, we will have to admit that both consumption of food offered to idols and immorality are the subjects of concern. By the way, these are two of the same subjects we find in the debate over the status of the Gentiles (Acts 15). If we are going to be faithful to the text, we will have to admit that somehow, some way, kosher dietary regulations still seem to apply here. And that raises enormous questions about the common Christian assumption that the Torah and its kosher requirements were abolished after the crucifixion.
So who’s mistaken? Is John confused? Did the visionary Messiah really say something else? Or are we in error? Have we made assumptions about what God does not demand of us that are not supported by God’s word? It’s a problem. It’s especially a problem since this is the last of the New Testament books and a clear declaration of the risen and triumphant Lord. It’s an especially difficult problem when it is accompanied by a threat. Do we really want the risen Messiah to “make war” against us?
I find that many believers have great difficulty accepting the fact that Torah applies to them. I did not say, of course, that Torah saves them. I just said that it applies to them. For whatever reason, most of the resistance comes with food. We are perfectly agreeable to have our doctors tell us what to eat and what not to eat. We spend fortunes on books to help us eat properly. But when the word of God says, “Don’t eat this,” we bristle and fight. Why? As far as I can tell, it must have something to do with our basic need to assert our freedom to do what we want. But if we can’t bend our will to such a simple thing as eating according to God’s requests, what does this imply about the other behaviors that God might desire. When push comes to shove, does shrimp really matter?
Topical Index: food, eat, Torah, Revelation 2:14
How interesting to read this post just now, after having awakened from a very constrained dream too many hours before sunrise. In it, I had returned to a place I used to live, in Southern New Mexico, visiting Christian friends who long ago gave me up to my eccentricities of being a “Judaizer” and a “law-keeper.” One scene was at a restaurant where a man was showing me how he came to impart the most silky quality to his “mole” sauce – he used a wolf for meat, and dumped the animal whole and live into a large (cauldron?) cooking pot, into which he jumped to show me the secret. He then proceeded to slit the wolf’s throat, with the blood going directly into the very large pot of sauce he was making. I drew back in horror, pleading “No, no! No comer sangre!” But everyone laughed.
In a world where so many, even supposed “God-fearers,” do what is right in their own eyes, I am so grateful that the instructions for right living were delivered to humanity so long ago, from on high, that we might know The Way.
It has been so long since I really studied a passage in Revelation, that this caught me by surprise. It verifies that the instruction concerning what is acceptable and what is prohibited for humans to eat remains throughout the ages. It also brings up a question that has come to mind several times. Are prohibited ‘foods’ and foods sacrificed to idols the same, or completely different, as they appear to be? It is pretty clear what is prohibited, as relates to the Torah, but are there clues as to what has been sacrificed to an idol?
This is a really great post, probably because it confronts “to Torah, or not to Torah” in such a simple manner. A number of years ago I felt that God was correcting me about watching my watch as my Pastor preached because I was anciously awaiting lunch. I believe the point was that as far as my affections were concerned, I was putting Jesus in competition with a hamburger and that the hamburger was winning. I quit wearing a watch to church and began to focus on what God was speaking through the messages. It was amazing how much more I was hearing. As you brought out, it isn’t a salvation thing, but our obedience is a pretty clear sign of where our hearts are, particularly when our appetites are involved. Thanks, Skip!
Confused here….are we saying that any food not Kosher is the same as food sacrificed to idols? I’ve missed the bridge.
Let me help. The text does not say that anything not kosher is the same as offered to idols. But it assumes that there is a standard for what food to eat, otherwise the prohibition not to eat what is offered to idols makes no sense. If anything digestible is acceptable, then who cares if it is offered to idols. This entails that the audience understands the difference between food offered to idols and food that is acceptable. But where does this standard and difference originate? It cannot be found in the New Testament. It can only be found in the Torah where the same issue is present. So it appears that the risen Lord in the final pronouncement to the churches includes commands that can only be understood on the basis of kashrut.
Brothers and sisters, I have a thought, and I’d like to know what you think, especially during this Christmas time.
I agree completely with Skip. And I note that not only is the neglect of dietary regulations at issue, but also the TEACHING of such neglect. Now here’s my thought. Can we apply the principles in this scripture to other situations? I look at Christmas celebrations, and all the trappings with them, as “food sacrificed to idols.” In and of themselves, the trees, the mistletoe, the Santas, are nothing. But the TEACHING of the customs, the encouragement to indulge and practice, this is what is condemned.
My wife and I were for years associated with a church that kept many of the commandments in the Torah. Then the leadership changed. These men began to adopt the practices of mainstream Christianity. This included celebration of Christmas, with all the attendant traditions. Furthermore, they TAUGHT the membership that such activities were completely acceptable. When I wrote a letter, explaining my views in light of Revelation 2:14 and Revelation 2:20, the leaders stood in opposition. They said their more important mission was to combat legalism. Apparently celebrating Christmas was one of their tools for doing so.
I note that the issue of eating things sacrificed to idols–and the condemnation of TEACHING such practices–is important enough to be included twice in Revelation, chapter 2.
Oh, and by the way, if anyone is guessing, that same leadership in our former church also began teaching there was no such thing as unclean food anymore.
” Can we apply the principles in this scripture to other situations? ”
Why not? It would be very Hebrew to do just that I believe. I find the idea that the teaching of such notions alone is something very worthy to be considered. If I was not taught about Christmas and all the trappings you mentioned–would I even celebrate it?
Now had I been taught the biblical principles of dietary laws–would I be observing them with much less bristling? I would sure like to think so.
That is what Y-H is doing now–teaching me what is right in His eyes. In some things I can acquiesce quickly and others not so much. I have almost 50 years of life and tradition to unlearn! I am willing though and am changing. It is not easy but what good things come easily.?Seems the truly good things must be won in one battle or another. (Running the race maybe?)
I can do all things thru God who strengths me because I love Him. Paraphrasing totally mine. 🙂
Thanks for those thoughts today. (The enemy never sleeps does he?)
I agree Dawn – doesn’t everything come down to being willing: having a “teachable” heart, and being willing to look at what we have believed from a different vantage point? So many people have invested their faith in doctrine and as such are afraid to re-examine it. If their doctrine is shaken, they fear their faith will be shaken also.
I really don’t like that word “doctrine” much. It always implies ‘man-created” to me and has a tendency to become a law of its own. When I hear doctrine I am immediately suspicious.
Why do you think people get so much faith invested in doctrine rather than digging into the word of God? Easy way out? Easier to follow rather than think for oneself?
In a way it seems silly to me but I understand that it really gets people upset when a basic doctrine is questioned. Since majority tends to rule, I find myself in a minority very quickly. More and more I feel as thought I live in a very foreign land!
Skip, since I call Abba my master and Lord for almost two years now, He continues to shake loose all the things “I” thought were His will for me and bring me to a place of silence before Him. He is showing me how to “lay down” the former things and actually experience the mind of Christ. This is a safe place.
Thank you for “stirring up learning”!
But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit acts of immorality. Revelation 2:14 NASB
I don’t think, or even “believe,”- I know.. what we eat affects the quality of our physical life. For the past eight years now, I have celebrated (only with every beat of my heart) the gift of life., for I have installed within my chest, an artificial, man-made metal aortic heart valve. My heart is “fixed!..” (Psalm 57.7)
But with this new heart-valve, now supplying a vast quantity of blood to my body, comes also my responsibility (and necessity!) to “watch what I eat .” I truly have been “forced’ into a good physical diet. The scriptures, (yes, the Tanakh, or O.T.) say: ~ “the life of the flesh is in the blood,” and our diet (what we stuff into our faces) absitively, posolutely affects the “quality” of our blood. “Eat that which is good, – and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” Food, (physical food) matters. ~ The life of the flesh is in the blood. ~
Now, for the “mini-rant.” Yes, physical fitness (and the life I now live in the flesh) is to a very large degree, “diet.” Selah. – and amen!
Considering what many “consume’ today, – it no small wonder we are a nation that has become and is becoming “obese.” Are we suffering from “too much?” (too much of the wrong things?)- or are we suffering from “unwise choices?”- maybe not enough of the right things? – For not all calories are created equal.
Fresh vs. artificial. No contest here, – is there? Fresh will win- every time. However, (it seems)- it is more and more difficult (we city-dwellers are now far removed from the garden) to find “good food.” – That which is “good.” Oh, I could go into my “convenience has killed cuisine” mini-rant, but for the sake of short attention spans, I’ll save it for another day.
“O taste and see that the LORD is good!”
The Good Stuff
~ Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to Me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare ~ (Isaiah 55:2)
Milk or Meat ?
“My food,” (my meat, my nourishment) said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent Me and to finish, to fully accomplish His work.
Hungry?
~ Your words were found, and I devoured them. Your words are my joy and my heart’s delight, because I am called by Your Name, O LORD God of Armies ~ (Jeremiah 15.16)
~ How sweet are Your words unto my taste! yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ~ (Psalm 119.103)
Quality Foods?
~ But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you ~ (Psalm 81.16)
The LORD is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
He leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul:
~ your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.. ~ (including, but far from limited to- our daily bread!)
Dear Skip Moen,
I would like to introduce myself and also to thank you properly for not only your book: Guardian Angels, but even more for your daily commentaries. A good friend of mine, Barbara Wade, encouraged me to engage both, and I am very pleased to find you. It is so rare to find someone dedicated to starting FIRST with the Word and then going from there. Thank you for your commitment: it makes it so much easier for me to follow where you are going, because the emphasis is on the right stuff first, as far as I am concerned. I found Guardian Angels to be largely on the money as far as my experience with marriage is concerned: I felt so strongly from day ONE the spiritual direction for us, and will have to say, to the extent my husband respected and followed it, we were so successful and had so much fun that it overcame absolutely tremendously awful semantics in most other aspects of the relationship. Even at our very worst, we still could communicate about that. It was clearly from above. Thank you for being the very first person EVER who described why that must be so. Barbara has been so dedicated and excited about sharing your material and teaching with me, and I am so grateful to her and to you. Thank you also for offering to be first person available: that, to me, is a requisite for any representative of the Gospel, and it seems as soon as someone takes off good in a direction that they are given, to be one of the first things that tends to get dropped. May you never be that ‘successful’!
I am looking forward to going through more of what you have written, and pray that you are kept long in the service of our King.
Laurita Hayes
“When push comes to shove, does shrimp really matter?”
HA!! Try saying that to our friends here in New Orleans… Where entire livelihoods and generational income has come from said shrimp. I laugh on a regular basis that God brought us from Phoenix to New Orleans to be convicted to follow Torah and all the dietary laws. It is not such an easy task. This lifestyle limits 70% of the restaurants we visit because there is absolutely nothing on the menu we can eat. It is only as of recent that an orthodox synagogue has opened. And even they can’t find any kosher meat here, they have to order it on line, (which isn’t cheap as we have found out). But through this journey of learning, and at times being ridiculed by others, we have seen, experienced and witnessed the power of God in our midst. May God’s Torah break into this country, and may we as a nation submit to the King of Kings and live accordingly.