Ok so, before you jump into this blog, I would for you to take a few minutes and read 1 Corinthians 3. While I was at home preparing our Sabbath dinner, out of the blue, I began to think on the topic of religion, and how it is pretty much divided in the sense of fellowship, and in most cases doctrine. As I thought on, I began to consider that according to google, there are over 1,200 Christian denominations in the U.S. alone. We won’t even get into global numbers. I can’t help but wonder just how we got there within the span of two thousand years? It was about then, that I heard the voice of the Apostle Sha’ul, or Paul as he is known today, rebuking the church at Corinth for trying to divide the church. Buckle your seat belts everyone, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
For the longest time, I have asked myself, why are there so many different denominations, and with so many out there, which one is right? For that matter, can they all be right? I think we have all locked at this topic in a “non-Hebrew” context, and its this context that has gotten us all mixed up. Don’t get me wrong, I am not downing any one church. I would also like to say that I believe there will be believers from every single denomination counted as faithful to enter in at the gate. What I will say, and this is once again where I am going to get controversial. I absolutely 100% do NOT believe that it was ever in the will of God for there to be so much division within His body. Imagine if you will, the day of Pentecost, if the 120 that were in the upper room were all representatives of 120 of the 120 denominations in the U.S. What are the chances of them coming together for the purpose of this new thing that was about to happen? Could they have pulled it off? Perhaps, but I am gonna side with the “I don’t think so” crowd on that one.
To bring this thing to light, I want to take a look at the the Old Testament, to see find the first time that a situation occurred where God intermingled Hebrew and Gentile together. In the book of Exodus, we find that just before leaving Egypt, as God had given Moses the directions concerning the Passover meal, He also opened the door for the Gentiles who wanted to go with them to be able to partake as well. After laying out to Moses what they needed to do, He concluded by saying that there would be תוֹרָה אֶחָד “one Torah”. Before we go any further, let me deal with this first. In most Bible versions, this word “Torah” has been erroneously translated as “Law”. What the average believer does not know is that the word “Torah” actually means either “teaching” or “instructions”. This would more accurately describe Torah, as opposed to the word Law. To further understand this, we need to travel back and view life in during the 400 years that Israel was in Egypt. During the time of Joseph and his brothers, there was no prophet or representative for God in the land. With this in mind, it is evident that Israel could NOT have known how to walk before God without a teacher to instruct them. Furthermore, it is evident that since Israel dwelt in a pagan land, a land full of strange god’s and customs, that they themselves were most likely caught up in them as well. This being the case, they could not possibly please the True and Living God, apart from knowing Him intimately. For this reason, once God brought them out of Egypt, but before bringing them into the promised land, it became necessary for Him to do two things, first introduce Himself and second, lay out His instructions for living. They needed to unlearn their pagan ways inherited from their host nation, and learn His. In speaking to Moses, He told him this, “if they will keep my instructions and do whatever I tell them, they will be a kingdom of priest to me, and a holy nation”. Did you catch that? They had to keep His instructions. So, you see, He taught them how to act. These were “teachings”, not “laws”. I hope you are still with me.
Going back to Egypt, God instructed Moses in the way to do the Passover sacrifice. He let him know that if the stranger wanted to be a part of it, that it was to be understood that the same instructions that applied to Israel, applied to them as well. There was “one standard”. We also understand from Scripture, that God is One. We are all equal in His eyes. Now as we drift back to the New Testament, what we need to grasp is that the ministry of Yeshua (Jesus), was one of unity, not division. Prior to ascending back to heaven, Matthew records His last words to them instructing them to teach “all” nations, everything “I taught you”. Yeshua’s ministry united the disciples. In fact it is clear to anyone reading the gospels that they were on one accord. Yeshua did NOT establish a new religion. For that matter, neither did the Apostles. Yeshua perfected it. In perfecting, He did NOT add or take away from it. Torah does not permit anyone to add or take away from Torah. In implying that He added or took away anything from Torah is to imply that He was NOT Messiah, because Messiah, in order to be Messiah had to follow Torah to the T. Furthermore, the Apostles did not establish a new religion either, they simply shared what was shared with them. Are you still with me?
In the hands of the Hebrew people, the church remained united. There were no divisions or splits. The divisions came on the side of the non-Hebrews. This is evident from 1 Corinthians 3. The people that Sha’ul (Paul) was addressing were not Hebrew, but Gentile. It was these people who begin to create a division in the church by trying to hype up one minister above the other. It seems that some felt that being under one minister should be esteemed higher than the other. Upon hearing this, Sha’ul proceeded to shut this down with the quickness. He let them know, greatness was not in the teacher, but rather the one who sent the teacher. Furthermore, Yeshua is NOT divided. The same message Sha’ul taught was the same taught by Apollos. They were one. Although I cannot say whether or not the gentile church at Corinth got the message or not, what I can say is that this would not be the last time this would happen to the church. Eventually, the church begin to shift from being predominately Hebrew to predominately Gentile. It is only after all traces of Hebrew roots were from the faith that the Gentile church began to shift into a thousand different directions. The church is one in the sense that God is the head, yet not one in the sense that fellowship of the body is lacking the unity it once had. I can guarantee that if the church still retained it’s Hebrew foundation, the division seen today would not be as prevalent as it is today. When we divorced the Hebrew roots of the church the very soul of the church was removed. Some may argue that this is the way it is supposed to be, but again, I beg to differ. In the Messianic Kingdom, the reign of the Messiah Himself, He will sit at the head of the church, and you can bet one thing for sure, there will once again be one and only one head, Yeshua. The Hebrew foundation will once again be breathed back into the church, and we as the body will be one again. If indeed this is what is to be in the end, then surely this same Hebrew foundation must be within the church in order for it to move in the direction intended.
And what about the Jews you might ask. Well, they are His holy nation, and royal priesthood. God has not, nor will He ever right them off or replace them. And though they, for the most part have missed the Messiah, they still embrace the faith of the fathers, the same faith that Yeshua embraced. Rather than keeping apart from them, we as followers of Yeshua need to break the wall down that divides us, embrace them, and provoke them to jealousy by our faith in Messiah. Remember, when we as gentiles were lost and without hope, it was the Hebrew apostles that took this gospel to us, giving us hope. Now it is our turn to flip the script, and take Messiah to them. I believe with every fiber of my being that in doing this, only then will we we truly be one, in the sense that God intended. When we re-integrate the Hebrew foundation into the faith, the same way the Apostles did, the door will open for the Hebrew people to explain this thing the way they understand it. Remember, it was written to them, and they all fully understood it in its fullness.
Anyway, the here is the gist of it all, God never meant for the church to go in this direction. As long as we flow the way we flow, there will continue to be new variations of this faith, along with new so called leaders with “new” revelations on what the will of God is, according to them. It is high time to teach the Word based on its proper contextual revelation, not western cultural traditions based on non Hebrew theology. I still struggle to comprehend how so many can step behind a pulpit and teach people about a Hebrew Bible, yet not be learned in what the text really says. With the soul of our faith being absent, it is clear to me how so many people are falling away from the faith. Not only that, but how we can have so many wolves running through the flocks, devouring their finances and filling the with false truths. I hope I don’t come off sounding like I am tearing the church down, because I am not, but since I have learned to see the Scriptures through the Hebrew, and can understand the context a little better, I just see things in a totally different light now.
I hope something I said would inspire you to dig a little deeper, deeper than you normally go, and allow the texts to speak to your spirit. As I see so many starting to turn back to the Hebrew roots, I feel revival is in the air. Lets take the kingdom to the masses.
