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Vegetarianism At the Time Of the End

One Sabbath afternoon at a friend’s wedding, I was pondering if I had done the right thing in going to my friend’s wedding instead of church. As the waiter was bringing the only vegetarian meal of the reception to me, my friend Ruth asked me why the Adventist church teaches their members not to eat meat. I gave her the standard answers I knew at the time: “Our body is the temple of God and as such we need to take good care of body by eating healthy.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 speaks of our body being the temple in which the Holy Spirit dwells. So it is fitting that we take good care of it. 1 Corinthians 10:31 speaks of doing all, including eating, to the glory of God. Romans 12:1-2 speaks of Christian’s duty to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” While I do think these are good and valid reasons for eating healthfully, the question arises why is it now that this message is presented to God’s people. Or to put it another way, “Why does this message only pertain to us at this time, in history.”

Some sincere Christians ask questions like, “Jesus ate fish, why can’t we?” Luke 24:43 talks of Jesus eating fish with His disciples. Do you really have to be a vegetarian to go to heaven? I don’t believe so. Where, then, is the Bible proof that we are told to eat healthy? While the texts of 1 Corinthians and Romans reveal some sound principles for a healthful diet, these are not really talking about diet per se. In context, these texts are about sexual immorality, foods offered to idols. So where is the clear Bible text telling about the health message???

I think it is in the first chapter of Daniel. However, before we look at the first chapter, we need to look at the last chapter of Daniel. Daniel 12:4 says “But you, Daniel, keep the words secret and the book sealed until the time of the end. Many shall be running back and forth, and evil shall increase.” While most think this passage really applies to the prophetic sections (chapter 2, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12) of Daniel, I think it applies to the whole book of Daniel (chapter 1 thru 12). If this premise is correct, then the “stories” in the book of Daniel also has a special meaning for the people of the time of the end. In fact, if you were trying to make a message relevant to a group of people at a specific time and only then, you must couch the health message in prophecy like it is done in Daniel, “seal it up until the time of the end.” This message applies when we come to the time of the end.

Let’s look at the story of the courage of Daniel and his three friends. After the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar of the land of Judea, he takes some the brightest young men captive to Babylon, his home. Among them are Daniel and his three friends. The first test they are confronted with is their diet. Nebuchadnezzar tells his servants to feed them the best of the foods in his land, but this includes food that are forbidden in the Jewish dietary laws. What is interesting is that instead of asking for kosher food, they ask for a diet that is vegetarian. In fact the word used in the Hebrew for pulse or vegetables that Daniel asks for, is the same root word found in Genesis 1 when God tells Adam what his food shall be. They don’t ask for meat that is permitted, but a vegetarian diet that mimics the diet of Creation.

Why? I think they are acting out a lesson for the people at the end of time. We all know how the story ends: after ten days these four are found ten times better and smarter than the others. We have all been told these stories as children in church. However, I think this story is more for mature Christians who are living in the End Times. The point of the story is, at the “end of time” we are to take the lessons and the experiences of Daniel and his three friends and follow its teachings. Just like we are to resist bowing down to the golden image like Daniel’s three friends did in Daniel 3, we are warned against worshipping the image in Revelation 13. Who hasn’t heard from a God-fearing parent, to be faithful like Daniel as he was in the lion’s den, in Daniel 6. Isn’t that the reason why so many children of Christian parents are named Daniel?

We all know that eating healthfully is good for us. We know that it makes you feel better. We know we will live longer, healthier and happier if we take better care of ourselves by eating healthy and exercising. Studies on the Adventist lifestyles have proved this out. We are told that when the lessons and prophecies of the book of Daniel and Revelations are better understood, then there will be a revival within our church. (See Testimonies to Ministers p 112-119) The messages of the book of Daniel are Present truth. Then why should the lesson of the first chapter of Daniel not apply to us today in particular, just like the other lessons in the book of Daniel? I think it does. I think God was trying to tell His people that in the “end of time,” being as healthy as possible will be one of the important factors in being fit to pass the final test. The test that will bring the entire Great Controversy to an end.

Dr. Jae Park is a physician practicing in Warsaw, IN and attends the Living Word Fellowship in Berrien Springs, MI. He is also a sponsor for the English Compass.