Deuteronomy 18:15 Yahweh thy Elohim will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me (Moses speaking); and unto him ye shall hearken; [18] (Yahweh speaking) I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. [19] And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. [20] But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other elohim, even that prophet shall die.
Act 3:22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall Yahweh your Elohim raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. [23] And it shall come to pass that every soul, which will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people... [26] Unto you first Elohim, having raised up his Son Yahshua, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from ___________.
The blank space which we have left at the end of this verse reflects the blank space which is left by doing away with the Law through unscriptural, anti-Torah, Christian theology. Christianity thinks that Yahshua and
the Torah are two substances which repel each other, like spring water and motor
oil, and that, while Yahshua (the spring water) brings life, the Law or Torah
(motor oil), can only result in death when ingested. Just as oil rises to the
surface when combined with water in a glass, Christianity also teaches that
obeying the Torah today smothers the free gift of salvation and cancels the
Messiah out. Furthermore, just as a match can be set to that oil riding on the
surface of the water and set it aflame, doing nothing to the water underneath,
Christianity believes that the first three-fourths of Scripture can be safely
set on fire and destroyed, and the faith and eternal destiny of the believer
remain unharmed. Where did such beliefs originate? Namely from the
presupposition that Yahshua came to do away with the law and usher in a new
dispensation (or plan) of grace. This teaching, common as it may be, flies in
the face of the Word and, as we shall see, directly contradicts the ancient
Hebrew understanding of the Messiah which was already being taught by Abraham
and Moses several thousand years before. In neither Deuteronomy or Acts do we read that Yahshua would turn people away from the Torah (which according to Tanakh, is the carrying out of a curse!), but rather this: [Verse 26] Unto you Elohim, having raised up his Son Yahshua, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you away from your evil ways (wicked walking, or Torah-less lifestyle). According to both the Old and New Testaments, the prophet like Moses speaks the same words as Moses, which are the Father's words. The prophet like Moses, did not do away with the Law of Moses, and could not do away with the law of Moses even if he had tried. Follow me now as we first examine several areas where Yahshua and the Torah share common ground, and you will understand the reason why:
1. YHWH (Yahweh) sent the Messiah to earth as a manifestation of Himself in a physical form. John 14:6
Yahshua said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No
one comes to the Father except through Me. [7] If you had known Me you would
have known My Father too. From now on you know and have seen. [9b] He
who has seen Me has seen the Father. [10b] The words I speak to you I
do not speak from Myself, but the Father who stays in Me does His
works. 1 John 1:2. And the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and announce to you that everlasting life which was with the Father and was manifested to
us. 2. Yahweh gave us the ten words (or commandments), engraved with His own finger on two tables of stone, as a
standard to govern our love toward Yahweh and mankind. This set of instructions
(which Yahshua tells us in Matthew 22:37-40 is
the foundation of the Torah) comprises the wedding vows between Yahweh and Israel.
In this sense, the Torah is a manifestation of the Bridegroom (Yahshua) and His
standards in the Bridegroom's bodily absence. 3. Writing to the Romans, the apostle Shaul (or Paul) says that "Yahshua is the goal (Greek TELOS, meaning "to set out for a definite point or goal, properly the point aimed at"(1)) of the Torah to all who believe" (Rom 10:4). This is to say that so long as the Law (or Torah) remains in our heart we do not sin. Submission to the Torah therefore causes us to become like the Messiah.
In this it may be determined that Yahshua and
the Torah are, in fact, a likeness or reflection of each other, which may be
further confirmed by comparing the kindred qualities which both possess. For
example, Scripture teaches us that both Yahshua and the Torah are:
1) The
Way
Genesis 18:19. For I have known
(Abraham, says Yahweh), that he will command his
children and his household after him, to guard the Way of
Yahweh, to do
righteousness and right-ruling, so that
Yahweh brings to Abraham what He has
promised.
Exodus 18:20 And thou shalt
teach them ordinances and laws (or TOROT--plural of Torah), and shalt shew them
the Way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
(KJV)
Deuteronomy 11:28 And a curse,
if ye will not obey the commands of Yahweh your Elohim,
but turn aside out of the Way which I command you this day, to go after other
mighty ones, which you have not known.
Isaiah 30:20b. And your eyes
shall see your Teacher [21] And your ears shall hear a Word behind you, saying,
This is the way, walk in it, whenever you turn to the right, or whenever
you turn to the left.
Mark 1:2. As it has been written
in the Prophets, See, I send My Messenger before Your face, who shall prepare
your way before you, [3] A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the
way of Yahweh, make his
paths straight. (see Matthew 3:3, Luke 3:4)
John 14:6.
Yahshua said, I am the Way the Truth and
the Life: no one comes to the Father, except through
Me.
Matthew 7:13. Enter in through
the strait gate: because wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter in through it. [14] But strait is the
gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few that
find/follow it.
In addition to "the Way", we also find that
the Torah and Yahshua are both:
2) The
Truth
Nehemiah 9:13. Yahweh came down
on Mount Sinai and spoke with (Israel) from the heavens, and gave them straight
judgments and the Torah of Truth - good laws and
commands.
Psalm 119:142. Your
righteousness is righteousness forever, and your Torah is
truth.
John 14:6.
Yahshua said, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the
life. No man comes to the father except through me.
Subsequently, we find that they are
both:
3) The
LIGHT
Proverbs 29:18. Where there is no vision, the
people are let loose, but blessed is he who guards the
Torah.
Proverbs 6:23. For the command
is a lamp, and the Torah a Light, and reproofs of discipline a way of
life.
John 9:5.
(Yahshua said), While I am in the world, I am the
Light of the world.
John 12:46. I have come as a
Light into the world so that no one who believes in me should stay in
darkness.
Speaking of the child, Yahshua, in the temple,
Simon said:
Luke
2:30. Mine eyes have seen Your salvation [31] which You have prepared before the
faces of all the peoples, [32] a Light for the unveiling of the gentiles
and the esteem of Your people Israel.
Concerning this unveiling of the gentiles,
Yahshua also spoke saying:
John
12:35. Yet a little while the Light is with you. Walk while you have the Light,
lest darkness overtake you. And he who walks in darkness does not know where he
is going! [36] While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you
become sons of Light.
Accordingly the apostle, Shaul, states
in:
Galatians 3:29. If you are of Messiah, then are you
seed of Abraham, and heirs according to
promise.
This of course is in accordance with the
Abrahamic promise of worldwide blessing.
Galatians 3:8. And the Scripture, having foreseen that
Elohim would declare right the nations by belief (in
Yahshua), announced the Good News to
Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be
blessed."
The promise of world-wide blessing, in turn,
is in accordance with the Torah and involves obedience.
Genesis 12:1. Yahweh said to
Abram, "Go yourself out of your land (Babel), from your relatives and
from your father's house, to a land which I show you. [2] And I shall make you a
great nation, and bless you and make your name great, and you shall be a
blessing! [3] And I shall bless those who bless you, and curse him who curses
you. And in you all the families of the earth shall be
blessed."
Genesis 22:18. And in your seed
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My
voice.
Obedience to the Father's Word or Voice, in
turn, directs us to His Servant, the Messiah.
Isaiah
50:10. Who among you that fears Yahweh and obeys the
voice of His Servant, has walked in darkness and had no
Light?
In
Scripture, this Light is also called:
4) THE
WORD
Psalm
119:105. Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
[106] I have sworn and confirm to guard your righteous
right-rulings.
Deuteronomy 32:46. Set your
heart on all the Words which I warn you today, so that you command your children
to guard to do all the Words of this Law.
In the Hebrew of this verse, the phrase,
"words of this law" is "DIVRA HATORAH". Torah, put simply, is
"the Words" or "Word" of Yahweh, and in the writings of the apostles we find that
Yahweh manifested this Word or Torah in the body of Yahshua.
John
1:1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and
Elohim was the Word.... [12] And as many as received Him (believed on Him), gave
He the power to become the sons of
Yahweh.... [14] And the Word (Messiah /
Torah) became flesh and pitched his tabernacle among
us...
As the Jewish sages taught, this was what
happened to really righteous men; they became what was known as a
TZADDIK or an embodiment of the Torah. In today's terminology you would
say they ate, drank, and slept Torah, or in the words of the Psalmist you would
say, "O how I love your Torah. It is my meditation all the day"
(Psalm 119:97). Certainly Yahshua was the most righteous and most
remarkable Man who ever lived. He was without sin, so certainly He was a
TZADDIK or an embodiment of the Torah. But did the prophets ever
foretell that the Torah would become flesh? "Surely
Yahweh Elohim will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).
Jeremiah 23:5. See, the days are coming, declares
Yahweh, when I shall raise for David a Branch of
Righteousness (TZED-AW-KAW'), and a Sovereign shall reign and act wisely, and
shall do right-ruling and righteousness in the earth. [6] In His days Judah
shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His Name whereby He
shall be called: Yahweh
TZIDKENU (YHWH our Righteousness - the ultimate
manifestation of Torah).
Wisdom Of Solomon 18:1. But for
your set-apart ones there was very great Light;.... [3b] and an
harmless Sun (the Messiah - see Malachi 4:2) to guide them in their wandering;
[4b] Your sons (or Son)...by whom the imperishable Light of the Torah
was to enter the world. (NRSV / KJV Apocrypha)
Returning now to John chapter one, let's
examine the latter part of verse fourteen.
John
1:14. And the Word (Messiah / Torah)....was full of grace and
truth."
THE HARMONY OF LAW AND
GRACE
The Hebrew word for grace is CHESED
and means mercy, kindness, or faithfulness. Most Christians readily
concede that Yahshua was full of grace, but they forget about the Torah. In the
Psalms, however, David writes:Psalm
119:29. Remove me from the way of falsehood, and GIVE ME GRACE WITH YOUR
TORAH.
And
again:
[Verse 64] O
Yahweh, Your GRACE (CHESED) has FILLED THE EARTH;
teach me YOUR TORAH!
[Verse
77] Let your compassions come to me that I might live, for your Torah
is my delight.
So we see that Yahweh's grace or favor or
compassion towards us is actually the giving of the Torah and the Covenant! He
gave us instructions (Torah) to follow because, as Elohim, He knows what is
best, and He gave us a promise that He would be with us so long as we obeyed
them. Then, as the all-merciful Elohim that He is, He included a means of
atonement as part of that Torah, which was the Messiah.
CHESED is actually a split word, in
that, depending on how it is used, it can mean completely contrasting things.
Besides mercy and kindness, it can also mean shame or reproach,(2) and
in one instance (Leviticus 20:17) it is even
translated as "wicked thing". In Romans 6:1,2
the apostle Shaul asks: "What then, shall we continue in sin
that grace (CHESED) may abound? Elohim forbid!" His point, from a
Hebraic perspective, is that when grace or mercy is misused as license to sin,
it becomes a shameful or wicked thing. How ironic then that this is exactly what
Christianity misdefines grace to mean----a license to ignore the law or to sin!
How is it that we are doing the same exact thing that the children of Israel did
thousands of years before, and yet expect opposite results?
Nehemiah 9:14. You made known to them Your set-apart
Sabbath, and You gave them commands and laws and instructions by the hand of
Mosheh Your servant... [16] But they and our fathers acted arrogantly, and
became stiff-necked, and did not obey Your commands.... [26] They became
disobedient and rebelled against You, and cast your Torah behind their backs.
And they slew Your prophets who had warned them, to bring them back to
Yourself.... [27b] And in the time of their distress when they cried unto You,
You heard them from the heavens, and according to Your great compassion You
gave them Saviors..... [28b] and delivered them according to your
compassion many times, [29] and warned them, to bring them back to Your
Torah. But they acted proudly and did not obey Your commands, and sinned against
Your right-rulings, 'which if a man does, he shall
live by them.' And they gave the rebellious shoulder and hardened their necks
and would not hear. [30] Still you had patience with them for many years, and
did warn them by Your Spirit, by the hand of Your prophets, yet they would not
give ear. Therefore you (scattered them among the nations). [31] But in your
great compassion You did not make an end of them nor forsake them, for you are
an El of favor (grace) and compassion. [32] And now, our Elohim, the great, the
mighty, and awesome El, who keepest covenant and grace (CHESED)... [33]
In all that has come upon us You are righteous, for You have done truth, but we
have been wrong.
In the Scriptures covered thus far, we see a
consistent pattern that both the Torah and the Messiah
are:
1. The (Singular) Way of
Yahweh.
2. The Truth of
Yahweh.
"Yahweh is not a man, that he should
lie, neither a son of man that he should repent" (Numbers 23:19).
Therefore Yahweh cannot have divided truth into two
pieces.
3. The Light of
Yahweh.
"In the
beginning....Elohim said, Let Light come forth, and Light came forth.... And
Elohim saw that the Light was good." (Genesis 1:3,4) This Light
was singular and we have no indication that Yahweh ever invented another
better light in the "new covenant".
4. The Word of
Yahweh.
Yahweh has given us only one set of
Scriptures, and MAN inserted an artificial division between Malachi and Matthew
at a later date. That one page is worth a thousand words, and its addition
qualifies as adding and taking away (Deuteronomy
4:2); the result of which is one's name being taken out
of the book of life (Revelation 22:19).
5. The Favor (Grace) of
Yahweh (singular as well).
Seeing that Yahshua and the Torah are
comprised of the same elements (truth, light, and grace), that they are both the
Word and the Way of Yahweh, and that they both serve the same purpose (being to
reconcile mankind with the Creator), why would one do away with the other? How
could one do away with the other? From the points we have
covered, is it not evident that the Torah and the Messiah are different aspects
of the same thing? Without any single one of the components (be it the Creator's
instructions [Torah], His forgiveness, or our repentance), how can the system
work, and our salvation be accomplished?
YAHSHUA IS THE
GOAL OF THE TORAH OR EXAMPLE OF ULTIMATE TORAH
OBEDIENCE
From John chapter 17 we learn that Yahshua's
true followers become set-apart through Yahweh's Word, the Truth.
John
17:17. Set them apart in your truth; Your Word is
Truth.
Next we find that true Torah submission
leads us to repentance from sin or dead works (see Hebrews 6:1 and
9:14) at the stake of the Messiah.
John
3:21. But the one doing the truth (Torah / Messiah) comes to the Light
(Messiah / Torah), so that his works are clearly seen, that they have been
wrought in Elohim.
This is because the Torah and the Messiah
reflect one another, being, in fact, two aspects or dimensions of the same
thing. Accordingly, when we become truly familiar with one, the other will also
be revealed to us.
Romans
10:4. For Messiah is the GOAL OF THE TORAH unto righteousness, to
everyone who believes. [5] For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of
the Torah, 'The man who does these shall live by
them.' [6] The Righteousness of belief (also) speaks in this way.... [8] THE
WORD is... [9] in your mouth and IN YOUR HEART - that is, the Word of Belief (or
faith) which we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth the Master
Yahshua and believe in your heart that Elohim has raised
Him from the dead, you shall be saved.
The apostle Shaul makes it clear that the
Torah is the root of this belief, seeing its teachings bring us to belief in the
Creator.
Romans
10:17. So then belief (in
Yahshua) comes by
hearing, and hearing by the Word (Torah) of Elohim.
Likewise Yahshua says:
John
14:15. If you love me, you shall guard my Commands. [16] And I shall ask the
Father, and He shall give you another helper to stay with you forever -- [17]
the spirit of the Truth, whom the world is unable to receive, because it does
not see Him or know Him. But you know Him for He stays with you and shall be in
you.
Considering that Yahshua is speaking of
something which will be sent to the disciples after His ascension, it is obvious
that the "spirit of the truth" which He sends is actually the "Spirit of the
Torah" or the "spirit of obedience". And so as we prepare to conclude this
chapter, let us just briefly consider the seriousness of rejecting the Torah
through disobedience.
Leviticus 26:3. If you walk in My Torah and guard My commands and
do them.... [6] I shall give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and no
one make you afraid.... [9] I shall turn to you and make you bear fruit, and
shall increase you, and shall establish my covenant with you.... [12] And I
shall walk in your midst, and shall be your Elohim, and you shall be My
people.
[Verse 14] But if you do not
obey Me, and do not do all these commands, [15] And if you reject My laws, or if
your being loathes My judgments, so that you do not do My commands, but break My
covenant, [16] ....I shall appoint sudden alarm over you, wasting disease and
inflammation, destroying the eyes, and consuming the life.... [17] And I shall
set My face against you, and you shall be smitten before your enemies. And those
who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues. [18]
And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I shall punish you seven times
more for your sins.
[Verse 27] And if in spite of
this, you do not obey Me, but walk contrary to Me, [28] Then I shall walk
contrary to you in wrath.... [33] And I shall scatter you among the gentiles and
draw out a sword after you... [38] And you shall perish among the gentiles, and
the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
Elohim, in His great love and compassion,
gave us the Torah, and sin is the transgression of the Torah. Rejecting Elohim
means rejecting His Torah, which is the means through which life is obtained
(see Leviticus 18:5 and
Deuteronomy 4:1). Do you remember how the Jewish sages teach that
the Hebrew alephbet is the building blocks of life? Well the
alephbet is found everywhere in the Word or Torah. Of course this is
what makes spiritual life possible, and according to Jewish tradition, physical
life as well. I for one think they have a point, and by all appearances, the
apostle Shaul, the world's infamously mistaken "anti-law-advocate", thought they
did too!
Hebrews 1:1. Elohim, having of old spoken in many
portions and many ways to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days
spoken to us by the Son,... [2] through whom also He made the
ages.... [3] sustaining all by the WORD (Messiah,
Torah, or Alephbet) of His
power.
Even the well-known scholar of the Old and
New Testament, Professor Julius Wellhausen, who in all of his works expressed
his hatred towards Pharisaical Judaism, nevertheless conceded that
Yahshua "was a Jew. He proclaimed no new
faith, but He taught that the will of [Elohim] must be done. The will of
(Elohim) stands for Him, as for the Jews, in the Law, and in the other holy
Scriptures that are classed with it"(3)
Rejecting the Torah is therefore to reject
life and the means of life which Yahweh has provided through submission to the
Torah and faith in the goal of the Torah, as revealed in His Son and our
Messiah.
Footnotes:
1. Strongs; Grk. #5056
2. Thayers Lexicon; Heb. #2617
3. Wellhausen, Julius; Einleitung in die Drei Ersten Evangelien, p.
113
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