Did Jesus Declare All Foods Clean?

From three different Bible verses, God has instructed mankind not to add to His prophecy or to His commandments. Please see the previous post. Yet, in the Gospel of Mark, there is an egregious example of how translation teams and commentators have ignored these warnings.

Mark 7:1-23 relates an account of a confrontation that Yeshua had with some scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem. The problem stemmed from the fact that some of the disciples ate bread with unwashed hands. The passage is rather long and complicated, but in verse 19, the New International Version states this:

Mark 7:19 (NIV) 
¹⁹ For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

Similarly, the New American Standard Bible says:

Mark 7:19 (NASB)
¹⁹ because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?" (Thus He declared all foods clean.)

The phrase in parentheses looks and sounds an awful lot like a conclusion and even many Bible commentators have used this verse in exactly that same manner. However, the parentheses are an indication that the phrase is not in the Greek. The Greek simply ends with the phrase "purging all the food." 

So what is up with this extra phrase? Obviously, it is an interpretation of what Mark 7:19 supposedly means. So rather than allowing the verse to be translated as it was written, someone, somewhere along the line, decided that Yeshua meant more than what He stated, that the verse by itself wasn't plain enough. The problem with this is two-fold. In the first place, the Bible was violated by having an interpretation forced on it. It also became a kind of conclusion, which makes no sense when the passage is analyzed. The second problem is that the conclusion has resulted in affirming a lie. God has warned Biblical writers, translators, teachers, and pastors not to add to or subtract from His commandments. This extra phrase subtracts from the commandments of God. Therefore, the extra phrase is incorrect. This wrong conclusion has allowed sincere believers to accept that the food laws are no longer applicable, that the law can be changed, and that other passages, particularly in Paul's writings that on the surface appear to negate the law, prove that the law has been abrogated.

Some common sense demonstrates that this line of thought is impossible!

Matthew 5:17-19 (KJV)
¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For an understanding of the word "fulfill," please see:

Yeshua had to obey the Torah perfectly in order for Him to be qualified to be man's substitutionary sacrifice. According to Matthew 5, He also could not speak against the Torah. Therefore, it is impossible that Yeshua could have concluded that "all foods were now clean." He couldn't have even hinted at it or said that all foods would be clean after His death. 

Praise God, as Yeshua was obedient to God's commandments and became the Savior, how can we even think that our disobedience is now acceptable!

Next: Mark 7:19 explained.

A Glimpse of Messiah

This week's Torah portion comes from Genesis 18:1-22:24.

As I was reading about Abraham's command to sacrifice his son Isaac, I reflected on how the Bible truly is all about Messiah. Two thousand years before Yeshua even came to the earth, God was preparing his people to understand what Messiah was all about. Abraham's sacrifice shows us a vivid picture of the sacrifice God would make in order to save His people from their sins.

Genesis 22:2 (KJV)
² And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Isaac was Abraham's son of promise, born late in his parents' life, and loved deeply by his mother and father. Yet, he was to be sacrificed as an elevation offering upon one of the mountains in the land of Moriah. Can you imagine the heartache this command of God must have caused Abraham? He had waited so long to have this son, how could he carry out this command?

Yet, Abraham prepared to do so.

Genesis 22:9, 10 (KJV)
⁹ And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
¹⁰ And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

At this point the angel of the Lord stepped in and stopped Abraham from carrying out the command.

Genesis 22:12 (KJV)
¹² And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Although this was a test about Abraham's faith and obedience to God, we see little hints about its further meaning. Look at the following similarities between Isaac's ordeal and Yeshua's.

Isaac was Abraham's son; Yeshua was God's Son. Isaac was taken to Mount Moriah to be killed as a sacrifice; Yeshua was killed on Mount Moriah.

Next, notice the interesting statement made by Abraham:

Genesis 22:5 (KJV)
⁵ And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.

The comment Abraham made to his young men about his and Isaac's returning to the men was either a lie, or Abraham truly believed that Isaac would be coming back with him to the men. The only way that this could have been a true statement was if Abraham believed that Isaac would be raised from the dead. This would also seem to indicate that Abraham had such faith in the promises that God had given him about having descendants as numerous as the stars of the sky that he was willing to do whatever God commanded him even if the command seemed counterintuitive.

The similarity here between Isaac and Yeshua is unmistakable. Although Isaac was actually never killed, Abraham thought that Isaac would be dead. Hence it was as if Isaac had been raised from the dead. Yeshua, of course, was raised.

Notice this as well:

Genesis 22:8 (KJV)
⁸ And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Abraham indicated to Isaac that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. This must have been a painful statement for Abraham to make knowing that Isaac would be the "lamb." In the same way, God provided Yeshua as the lamb of sacrifice for mankind's sins. This must have been difficult for Him, as well.

The one noticeable difference between the accounts is that Abraham was finally commanded not to kill Isaac.

Genesis 22:13 (KJV)
¹³ And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

For Yeshua, there was no possible substitute. He was the only one qualified to die in the place of sinful mankind. He was the only one who fully and perfectly satisfied the righteous Law of God.

Lastly, we read in Hebrews that Isaac was to be viewed as a "type" of Messiah, a precursor to help God's people understand what was to come.

Hebrews 11:17-19 (KJV)
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,
¹⁸ Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
¹⁹ Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Despite what it must have cost God emotionally, He actually gave up His Son so that His people could be saved. For those of us who are saved, this gift is beyond comprehension. Our only response can be deep gratitude!

Righteous Noah

This week's Torah portion covers Genesis 6:9 to Genesis 11:32.

Immediately we read:

Genesis 6:9 (KJV)
⁹ These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

What does it mean to be just or righteous? We could look to the dictionary at this point, but if we read a little further in Genesis we can ascertain why Noah was considered righteous.

Genesis 6:22 (KJV)
²² Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.

Noah was obedient to all that God had commanded him. This is what made him righteous. But what had God commanded him to do? The answer is certainly that he built the ark that saved eight people from the killing flood that was to come. Despite the fact that there had never been any rain, or that there was no nearby body of water large enough to float the ark, Noah obeyed. However, this was not all that Noah apparently accomplished according to God's will.

In Genesis 7:14,15 we read about how the animals came to the ark.

Genesis 7:14-15 (KJV)
¹⁴ They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
¹⁵ And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, wherein is the breath of life.

Even small children know the account of Noah and his ark and how the animals came two by two. Not all know that some animals came by sevens.

Genesis 7:2 (KJV)
² Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.

The animals that came by sevens (most likely seven pairs) were the "clean" animals. Why were there more of some animals than others?

Genesis 8:20 (KJV)
²⁰ And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

After the flood the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat. The first thing that Noah did was to build an altar to God in thanksgiving and praise for his and his family's safety. Part of the reason for the extra clean animals was for making burnt (or elevation) offerings. The other reason was for a food supply. But what are "clean" animals?

The Bible doesn't give us this answer until Leviticus 11 where it describes which animals are clean and which aren't. This has caused many to have the idea that the Law of God was not known, nor required until Moses. But the fact that Noah offered and later only ate clean animals proves otherwise. This is not to say that revelation wasn't progressively given. It is difficult to fully comprehend how much of the Law Noah actually knew. But his knowledge of which animals were clean and unclean is clear.

This also demonstrates that the requirements of the Law were not restricted to the Mosaic Covenant. Perhaps other theological notions are just as erroneous. It behooves us to be very careful in constructing theologies.

Lastly, does Genesis 6:9 really mean that Noah was "perfect?" From Genesis 9 we read about the incident of Noah's drunkenness. He obviously was not perfect in the way that we normally view perfection. But just as Noah was righteous, he was perfect. The description conveys Noah's leanings. His striving to do all that God required made him a righteous and perfect man. This does not take away from the imputed righteousness that the believer receives at the new birth in Yeshua, but it does point to our obligation to follow God's commands to the best of our ability. This makes us righteous, too.

God's Failure. Really?!

The Mosaic Law is often viewed as God's first attempt at creating a holy people for Himself. Unfortunately, it was a failure. The people couldn't keep all those laws and the sacrifices were never able to remove sin. God needed to do something else, so He sent His Son to be the final sacrifice that would actually work. His people would never have to even try to keep all those Laws again because of Grace, and no further sacrifices would ever be needed. God would have His holy people!

This little scenario is nothing more than a fantasy, a creation of anti-Semitic theology of partial truths. For example, it is true that no one can keep all of God's Laws. This situation was true in the Old Testament days as well as in the New. Grace was man's only hope. Grace was given by God when He gave the people the Laws, so that they knew what was required, and grace was given when the people accepted His covenant. Grace was given when the people made the sacrifices that covered them and allowed them to be in God's presence in the Tabernacle or the Temple. Grace was given during Yom Kippur. Grace was given when Yeshua died and rose again. The penalty for sin was paid. But grace doesn't eliminate the Laws. Yeshua's paying for the penalty of sin doesn't give man a license to violate the Laws. He paid too high a price for man to stomp on the Mosaic Law, which He kept so faithfully and perfectly. He is man's example!

Secondly, it is true that the sacrifices could not remove sin. However, that was never their intended goal. They made atonement, or covered the sin of God's people so that they could enter God's presence. Even the book of Hebrews speaks about the success of the sacrifices.

Hebrews 9:13-14 (KJV)
¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
¹⁴ How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

If the sacrifices sanctified, or made holy, the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Messiah purge the conscience? Hebrews was making a "light to heavy" comparison. Messiah's sacrifice removed sins, but the sacrifices of bulls and goats also succeeded in covering the people, a lighter result!

Also from Leviticus it is evident that the sacrifices worked exactly as God intended.

Leviticus 9:22-24 (KJV)
²² And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people, and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering, and the burnt offering, and peace offerings.
²³ And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto all the people.
²⁴ And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.

The last part of this fanciful story is the claim that any who insist upon the obedience to the Mosaic Law are legalists. Somehow it is believed that they are acting as modern day Judaizers (which insisted on following all the minutiae of the Oral Law which were traditions not the Law of God). However, obedience out of love for God can never be legalistic. Rather, disobedience (lawlessness) demonstrates a lack of faith. Disobedience can never result in a holy people!

God's Desire for the Sacrifices

In our sanitized twenty-first century it is difficult to imagine a world of blood sacrifices. We prefer the clean worship of praise, prayer, song, and sermon. Yet, this has not always been the case. The ancient world's worship centered on blood sacrifice. Something deep down was ingrained in our human consciousness. Blood sacrifices would appease our gods, or so we believed. Yet, even the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob required blood sacrifice. The Tabernacle and the First and Second Temples were constructed with the sacrifices as the centerpoint of worship. However, with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. the Jewish sacrificial system came to an end. Without the Temple the Jews were forbidden to sacrifice to God. Prayer became the substitution and "clean" worship became the norm. Now, the thought of blood sacrifice has become "disgusting" and aren't we glad that "stuff" is over and done with?

But what was God's opinion of blood sacrifice?

Although God had required blood sacrifice, a well known verse from Scripture in Isaiah is often used to demonstrate that God really never "wanted" the sacrificial system.

Isaiah 1:11 (KJV)
¹¹ To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

This verse seems to corroborate the idea that God had tired of the sacrifices. But the context of Isaiah chapter 1 speaks of Israel's rebellion of heart. Although, the people mechanically continued to offer their blood sacrifices, their hearts were far from God. They were involved in all kinds of sin, thinking that God would ignore their behavior and accept their sacrifices. 

Isaiah 1:4 (KJV)
⁴ Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.
Then, another verse that is commonly used to point out that the sacrifices never worked comes from Hebrews.

Hebrews 10:4 (KJV)
⁴ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

What is usually ignored is that the purpose of the sacrifices was not to take away sin. Hebrews is only confirming this.

Hebrews 9:13-14 (KJV)
¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
¹⁴ How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

This passage in Hebrews set up a comparison between the efficacy of the sacrifices and the greater efficacy of the blood of Yeshua. While the blood of bulls and goats would sanctify (make holy or set apart for God's use) and purify the flesh, how much more would the sacrifice of Yeshua purge sin? What this passage says is that the sacrifices did what they were designed to do!

So, is there any passage that tells us how God viewed the sacrifices? Let's go back to Isaiah.

Isaiah 43:22-26 (KJV)
²² But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel.
²³ Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense.
²⁴ Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities.
²⁵ I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
²⁶ Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.

Although God's people fulfilled the sacrifices without their hearts being right as shown in Isaiah 1, they also forgot about the sacrifices as shown in Isaiah 43. In both cases, God wanted the people's hearts. He didn't want mechanical ritual, but He did want to be honored with heart-felt gratitude and love demonstrated in the giving of the blood sacrifices. By giving God their hearts, verse 26 states that the people would be justified. The evidence of justification was the obedience of the sacrifices.

The reason for this discussion is not simply a look at the past. We still may appreciate that the blood sacrifices are not obligatory at the present time. However, in the Millennial Kingdom it appears that there will be blood sacrifices again. If the purpose of the sacrifices is for purification and sanctification in order to be in the presence of God almighty, those human beings alive at the time of the Millennial Kingdom will be in need of the sacrifices again. We find this in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 43:27 (KJV)
²⁷ And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord GOD.
If we think of the blood sacrifices as "disgusting," how likely are we to participate in them during the Millennial Kingdom? But if we want to experience the actual presence of the living God in the Temple we will have to follow what He commands. Are we willing to do whatever it takes?