In the first of a new series of articles on how Torah is fulfilled in and through Yeshua, Dr. Clifford Denton shows how abstaining from meat in blood is a pointer to a higher spiritual principle.

Of course, we need to understand what Yeshua meant when He said that He fulfilled Torah. He did not abrogate it but showed the higher meaning both in His personal life and ministry, His very being, and also in the intent of Torah. Torah, it can be argued, therefore, is still an important source of reference. Once this perspective is opened up there is a multitude of topics to consider. Most important are the types and shadows of Messiah, not that we should worship them instead of Him, but that we should set a framework of understanding for His fulfilment.

All biblical doctrine begins in Torah. Here we find the model of the life of faith as well as the commandments which were received at Sinai. All of Torah was eventually to be written on the hearts of believers, within the framework of the two main commandments to love the Lord with all our heart and to love our neighbour as ourself.

Torah reaches a higher plane when written on our hearts. The physical manifestations outlined in the early books of the Bible are able to bear both spiritual and physical fruit. Meditation upon Torah is a profitable exercise wherein the Holy Spirit can enrich and deepen our understanding of what was originally written. This meditation may be over several years, which illustrates how constant we must be in our search for truth. The example I have chosen for this paper illustrates the point, because it took a full seven years for me to discover a higher meaning for the injunction that blood should be drained from meat prior to eating it (Leviticus 19:26). I began with attempted obedience to the physical command. The physical practice became a reminder to meditate on the Scriptures that were linked to it. I began to understand the deeper meanings straight away, but it was only after seven years that the Holy Spirit gave me the final step of revelation up to this point.

The injunction of Leviticus 19:26 was important enough to be taken up by the prophet Ezekiel when he brought warnings to Israel (Ezekiel 33:25). This teaching has been so strong among Jews, to this day, that it has led to many of the Kosher regulations. It is also highlighted at the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:20) as an important issue for all believers. From the context of Leviticus and Ezekiel it appears that the eating of blood is linked to idolatry. There were pagan customs which attracted people to try to take on the character of animals through the eating of their blood. This is associated with the phrase, "The life is in the blood" (Leviticus 17: 11). Moreover, the blood sacrifices to pagan gods led to idolatry. God required that none of His people should take any part in such practices and required sacrifice only to Himself on altars built for the purpose. The injunctions of Acts 15 continue to emphasise the need to keep clear of blood in any way which would lead to idolatry. Koshering of meat may well have physical benefits, but it was also, and perhaps primarily, part of the safeguard against spiritual adultery.

It is interesting that when Yeshua taught that His followers should eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6:53-58) they barely understood what He was saying. Focussing on the practice of koshering meat in the physical sense alone left them short of full understanding, so much so that many departed from Him. Yet at this time He was bringing a higher teaching. He was referring to the spiritual meaning of eating flesh and drinking blood, the principle that we should have in mind whenever we share the bread and wine at the communion table. The negative teaching of abstaining from all blood was a reminder not to be engaged in idolatry of any kind, leaving no doorway for spiritual adultery, which would give false spirits rights to plant their life into us. The positive teaching of Yeshua was that we must take His life and His alone, the only safe blood to drink, meaning the only safe source of life to be found. Useful as the physical practices of koshering meat are, their higher intent was to point to Yeshua and our life in Him. Meat and blood, of themselves, are limited in their meaning if we do not live according to the principles which they embody.

For me the final point of revelation came only after those seven years of meditating on these principles. In summary, I learned that the koshering of meat is a reminder of the principle that we should live in this world but not be of this world (John 17:1 1-15). Just as meat is a source of nourishment that is necessary for this life, so we should live in this world taking what is necessary and safe for life, but keeping away from the seductive life that the world offers and the ways in which the spirits abroad in this world would take us. The world has many spiritual seductions, not all of which are so obvious as the pagan practices of old. All our affairs must be clear of the ways of the world. Even the church can fall into worldly ways, particularly in these days of rising humanism. The ways of the world that Yeshua warned us against are linked to spiritual powers. Draining the blood from our meat is simply a religious practice if we do not see it as symbolic of the injunction not to follow after any wordly ways, but only after the life of faith in Yeshua, feeding on Him in all ways, following only His life and inspiration.