So, I recently had a conversation with a couple of Christian friends discussing the church and how many are slowly turning from their current theology, back to the Hebrew roots of its faith. It seems many of them are starting to see the relevance of this shift as it relates to how they operate as a church community. I wholeheartedly believe that in this season, Our God is sending revelation to the church, that the time has come for us to get back on track with His plan.
Not to say that the church was not serving His purpose, as it relates to the various communities that they served, however, due to a lot of erroneous theology, Western church traditions trumped sound biblical foundations. One might ask, just why did God allow this to go on for so long, and to that, I would say that, the church was doing great work in that it did a lot to convert non-believers to believers, and bringing the gospel to various places around the world, however, in this season, it is time for the church to get completely back on track.
Although there are quite a few churches that are beginning to shift back towards the Hebrew roots of our faith, there are so many more than are standing firm on what they believe to be the right course. For many of these people, when confronted with biblical scriptures that contradict their theology, many shrug it off and reply that our focus should be having a solid relationship with God. This is also a solid truth, but at the same time what needs to be understood is that having a strong relationship is also hinged on our observance of His word in accordance to His word.
I’ve pointed this out in numerous blogs, and podcasts, that the church laity for the most part is oblivious as to when, where and how, much of church practices came into being. The average believer has no idea that the Hebrew roots of our faith was severed around the 4th century under the Emperor Constantine, and that from that time, on into the reign of the Roman Catholic Church, we began to move further and further away from them. It was during this time, that there had been serious anti-Semitism, as is evident by writings of various church fathers who made blatantly clear that they wanted nothing to do with the Jews. Many viewed the Jews as “Christ Killers”, and as a result, had nothing but disdain for them as a people.
Throughout the various church councils held, Gentile leaders assembled to discuss various church issues. They discussed the direction the church should be going, as well as practices that needed to be done away with. These councils were held without any Jewish presence, and as such, there was no objections given as they began to remove all things “Jewish” from the faith. Things like the “Sabbath” and the “Holy Days” were viewed as being “Jewish observances”, rather than “church practices”, despite the fact that Leviticus 23 makes it blatantly clear that these were “God’s Holy Days”.
Without the Jewish element inserted in the church, the importance of Torah or the Law, as the church calls it today, became minimized, and eventually rooted out, as something outdated. This idea came by means of misunderstood texts from the Apostle Paul. It is amazing that during the time of Paul, the Apostle Peter, when speaking of Paul in one of his letters says that “his teachings are hard to understand, and the unlearned twist them to their own demise”. Who was Peter referring to as the “unlearned”? Considering that Paul was considered the Apostle to the Gentiles, clearly Peter was referring to them, and not the Jews.
And this saying of Peter rings true today, as the church still twist Paul’s writings to their own demise. So what is it they misunderstand from Paul? Many assert that the “Law” ended at the cross, but the words of Yeshua firmly disagree. In Matthew 5:18, Yeshua states that not small letter or pen stroke will not fall from the Torah until ALL things be fulfilled. He also states that heaven and earth will pass away before one pen stroke or small letter passes from the Torah. As I look out my window, the heavens and the earth are still intact, meaning that the Torah is still in effect.
There are also Messianic prophecies from various prophets that must be addressed as well. The church has two stances as it relates to the Sabbath. The first view is that it ended on the cross. The second is that it was changed to Sunday. The interesting fact about this is that nowhere in Scripture does it say that God’s Sabbath was switched to another day. For that matter, what man has the authority to change one of God’s Laws? Note that Yeshua Himself kept God’s Law to the full, and for this reason, His voice was heard from heaving, speaking of Yeshua, saying, “this is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”.
Before the ascension of Yeshua, He told His disciples to teach all Nations, (nations, referring to everyone who isn’t a Jew), everything that I taught you. Yeshua spent so much time teaching Torah that there is not place found in the 4 Gospels where we find Him teaching anything contrary to Torah. If indeed Yeshua followed Torah to the letter, and taught His disciples how to do the same, then what does that say of ANY of His disciples that choose to teach contrary to the Torah?
Yeshua also said that anyone who did not keep Torah, and taught others to do the same, would be the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. It is recorded numerous times in the New Testament that the Apsotles ALL, to include Paul remained Sabbath observant. In Acts 20, the so called “Jerusalem Council”, concluded with the Apostle James ruling as it resulted to the Gentile believers, that they would refrain from 4 specific things, which being in compliance to these things would render them acceptable enough to the Jews to be able to enter the Synagogue on “the Sabbath”, to hear the Torah. Clearly, by this, we see that the intent of the Apostles was that Jew and Gentile worshipped together on the same day, the seventh day, and not on a different day.
This is a picture of what the early Messianic church looked like, comprised of both Jew and Gentile, walking together. Yet the church today insists that the Sabbath was changed. It is also funny that, those that hold that the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week still fail to observe Sabbath in accordance with the Bible. Many churches, as soon as service ends, bolt to the nearest restaurant to have a meal, despite the fact that on the Sabbath, we are forbidden to buy or sell. No matter how they try and justify this, they are still operating outside of the realm of Scripture.
And what of the Messianic prophecies I mentioned earlier? Isaiah 66 talks about how from Sabbath to Sabbath, and New Moon to New Moon, ALL flesh will come before Him to worship. Clearly this has NOT happened yet, which means this is a futuristic prophecy, also referred to as a Messianic prophecy. Note that He says ALL flesh. This refers to both Jew and Gentile. The question to be asked is, how did the hearers of the day understand this? Did they see it as a new day, or rather the 7th day Sabbath that God has been referring to since the 7th day of Creation?
Sabbath observance on the 7th day is a testimony to the rest that God took on the 7th day from His acts of Creation. When moving the Sabbath to the 1st day, what can be commemorated from that? There is another of His holy days mentioned in a messianic prophecy. Zechariah 14 talks about ALL flesh coming to Jerusalem to present themselves before The King during Sukkot. It is interesting that God made it a Law that ALL of the Jews would come to Jerusalem 3 times a year. These days were Passover, Pentecost, and Sukkot. Although the other two days are not mentioned as it relates to the pilgrimage feast in Jerusalem, Sukkot still remains an ordinance. According to Zechariah, God declares punishments towards anyone / nation that refuses to present themselves during this time.
The take away from all of this is that, in this season, God is calling His church back to the Hebrew roots of our faith. What we need to understand is that, initially, these were solely given to the Jews because they were His covenanted people at the time. The other nations were unfit, in that they were totally given to idolatry and every other detestable thing. For this reason, God established His own nation, to make them a people for Himself. This is what made the Jews so special. Their task was to be a light to the nations.
What does it mean to be a light to the nations. First understand, the nation’s refer to everyone else who is NOT of Jewish descent. Their task is to attract us towards them, by means of our divine code of ethics, also known as the Torah. They were to basically draw us towards God. Accomplishing this task would set the world into the place God desired it to be, that He could have relationship with His creation. This was the purpose of God from the very beginning.
In my heart of hearts, I believe this is why God is giving certain people this revelation that they might begin to call the church back to the place they were called to be in. I further believe that there are abundant blessings in this return as well, based off of Deuteronomy 28. It speaks about the blessings connected to obeying Torah, as well as the curses for not. I further believe that all the church is truly blessed, that it is nowhere near as blessed as it could be if it fell in line with Deuteronomy 28.
As I close, I just wanted to share a little something with you that had been on my heart.
