In talking about the topic of Torah, there is a HUGE split between believers as to whether it does or doesn’t apply. Although both sides have very strong views in which they base their opinions, the reality is, there can be only one correct answer. As I constantly say, I am no scholar, have not been to any theological seminary schools nor have I been a student of this topic very long, what I can say is that unlike most believers, I have studied this topic consistently for over a year now. Not only that, but having been taught the traditional Christian based doctrine that Torah does not apply to us as believers, to include the observance of YHVH’s holy days, Sabbaths and dietary laws, it was not until I decided to stop being biased towards my personal beliefs and to just look at all the credible evidence on the topic and allow truth to speak for itself. At that moment, everything changed for me. What I find is that most believers are so convinced in the doctrine that they have been taught, that no amount of factual evidence will cause them to accept anything that opposes their theological viewpoints. Although this topic is very broad, and has both Old Testament and New Testament points that one could add to this topic, I am just going to touch on a few from the old. Perhaps at a later date I will add more on this topic as I feel led. What I ask of those of you who are taking out the time to read this, look at it from a view that you are just hearing about this for the first time, and both sides along with supporting evidence is being presented to you. Now for the sake of time, I am not going to go into the points proving that Torah does not apply because you already ex amount of years of teaching already from various Pastors and Teachers that you have sat under. We will now look at a few from the opposing view, and if indeed you can be unbiased, you just may be surprised at what you learn. This is my challenge to you.
I recently had a discussion with a friend I once attended church with. An awesome brother, and has a big heart for YHVH. We have had a few conversations here lately, sparked from various Facebook posts of mine. Well, one day, I posted something that really got his attention, so he inboxed my Messenger and told me to read a couple Scriptures and then have dialogue between one another. My response was rather lengthy, but the gist of it was this, first I reminded him that I have been on his side before in terms of views, and that we even sat under the same Pastor together for a number of years. With that being said, there really isn’t any Scripture or point you can bring to me that I did not already use when I first started learning this stuff. In fact, I actually started off trying to disprove it. I then said, before we can have this talk, can you be open minded to the facts, and allow the facts to speak for themselves and not personal theologies that you are partial to? If indeed I present evidence to you that shows your theology isn’t completely accurate, can you accept this new truth? Finally, after accepting the real truth, would you make the necessary changes in accordance to this truth? If not, there really isn’t a point to having dialogue because all we are gonna do is waste one another's time, and as for me, my time is far to valuable to waste considering I am a busy person. I never got a response back so I took it as a “no”. I tell this story just giving you an example of most believers when they encounter something that opposes their current views. Most people will not accept this truth because it means that a lot has to change, to include viewpoints, observances, and things of that nature. Interestingly, most people when faced with this truth revert back to saying we should just keep the focus on Yeshua (Jesus) and His teachings about loving one another, or that we need to focus on the work He did for us on the cross and this grace that we have been given. That’s kinda like a catch all response because when there is nothing left to say, this is used to change the topic or just straight end it.
From my studies and research, what I have found is that, although we have an idea of who the Messiah is, we really don’t have a clue who the Father is. The funny thing about this is that Yeshua said He came to declare the Father to us. One of the disciples asked Him to show them the Father. His reply was simple, “Have I been with you all this time and you still don’t know Him”? John 1 says that In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Yeshua was that Word, and He was with God from the beginning. What exactly does this mea? Well, if He was with YHVH from the beginning, and YHVH made Himself known to the Patriarchs, and then gave His Torah (Teachings, NOT Law) to Moses, so He could teach the people, then it would seem that in Yeshua coming in the flesh would be to clearly show us what YHVH expected from us, and then empower us to do so afterwards. One thing that must also be kept in mind, this “Law of Moses, as it is commonly called was only given to Moses because the people were to frightened to hear from YHVH directly, so they asked him to be their “go between” and then give them the Torah that YHVH had given him. So for it to be called Moses’ Law, really doesn’t fit when you thing about it. Anyway, we will be coming out of Exodus 12 for this topic of discussion. I am sure many of you are somewhat familiar with this passage of Scripture. I must admit, since I have been doing this Torah portion this past year, I have seen things in the first 5 books of the Bible that i had never seen before. I’m rather glad I read this daily because I have learned so much and have come to understand things I had never been taught prior to now.
So, Exodus 12 deals with the last of the plagues, being the death of the firstborn of all of Egypt, from Pharaoh’s on son, to his staff, the people, slaves and animals. However, the children of Israel was spared from this. Now before the death angel was to pass over, Moses was instructed to tell the people to prepare a perfect lamb for slaughter, one per household. The blood of the lamb was to be sprinkled upon the top of the doorpost and the sides. They were instructed how to eat the lamb, and that there were not to break a leg of it. This was would later become the birth of what is now known as Pesach (The Passover), and would be intended to be done throughout all generations. The Passover was symbolic for what Yeshua would later come in the flesh and fulfill generations later. I find it interesting that just as YHVH instructed the people NOT to break any bones of the Passover Lamb, that when Yeshua was on the cross and it was drawing near to the Passover that they wanted to take Him and the tow other guys off the cross because it was against Torah to leave any one on the cross on the Sabbath. Not wiling to be in violation of Torah, they asked the Roman soldiers to break their legs so they would die quickly. However, just before this point, Yeshua had already given up the ghost, seeing that His ministry was now complete. As the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves the instantly died, but when they came to Yeshua, something was wrong. He wasn’t breathing. People were known to last on the cross up to a week before dying, but here Yeshua was, appearing to be dead already. Rather than breaking His legs, the chose to pierce Him with the spear to see if He was faking, but to their surprise, He really was dead. This again was inline with the Passover lamb not having any broken bones. That’s amazing!
Well, back to the story, YHVH, after giving these instructions began to tell Moses that this would be a perpetual feast throughout ALL generations. Not only that, but that ALL Israel would observe this, to the letter, and as their kids began to question the do this, they would then teach them about the great acts of the Elohim of Israel. No generation would be exempt from this act. YHVH is a great God and desires to be worshipped, and as for His glory, He expects it all because He is worthy of it. Now you have to understand that Israel bore the sign of the covenant that was given to Abraham, the sign of circumcision. This marked the people of YHVH from the nations, the nations being any one who is NOT of Israel. Partaking to the Passover lamb was exclusively for Israel alone since they bore the mark of the covenant. However, YHVH also made it possible for those who were not of Israel to be able to be partakers of Passover, providing that they accept the mark of the covenant. Them and all the males in their house, to include slaves were to be circumcised before they could partake of the lamb. YHVH told Moses that there was Torah Echad (One Torah or Law for those who prefer the bad translation) for the Hebrew, and for the stranger that dwells with them. This statement foreshadowed the engrafting in of the nations after Yeshua completed His ministry. So how does this apply to us who are non-Jewish? Good question, Im glad you asked. Well, before Yeshua, circumcision was the sign of the covenant, it was a sign in the flesh, but after Yeshua, it would now be a spiritual sign, the sealing of the Ruach HaKodesh (The Holy Spirit), given to all who willingly accept this Jewish Messiah as Lord. This is how we were grafted in. It was through the Holy Spirit, as Paul spoke about, allowing us to be partakers of the Promise. Here’s the thing though, just as the nations who joined themselves to Israel had to receive the sign of covenant (salvation) before they would be grafted in, they were then required to do the same things that Israel was. They were now, because there is only Torah Echad (One Torah), not two. YHVH is a God of unity, and not division, and as such, to have two Torah’s would imply division. YHVH’s plan from the beginning was of unity and oneness, but sin crept in and messed up the plan. Had Adam and Eve never eaten the fruit, there would have never been the disunity and division we have today. Even in the New Testament, it speaks of One Lord, One Faith and One Baptism. Oneness is the theme of YHVH, not division. Division is a tactic of the enemy. Look at the Book of Acts on Shavuot (Pentecost), Scripture says that were of ONE accord and had ALL things common. When looking at today’s church, there are approximately 4000 “Christian” denominations. Here’s the thing, each denomination has their own view of some form of biblical doctrine that drives them from the unity of YHVH. The denominations we have, the bigger the divide gets. This here is a tactic of the enemy, to keep us focused more one denominational differences than unity of the body. The biggest divide of all is on whether or not Torah applies to “Christians” or not. With all these differences within the church, no wonder LGBTQ and other such organizations has the power the have today. Fifty years ago, things could never have been the way they are now but as long as the church is divided and the enemy is united, we lose more and more ground.
The thing we need to realize is that “Christianity” or should I saw this Western version of Christianity, originated in an Eastern culture. It is a Jewish faith, based on a promise made to a Hebrew man, who would later be the “father or many nations”, according to the promise of YHVH. From this promise would rise a Jewish King who would be the Messiah, and would later return back to that Jewish nation, where He would sit on a throne and rule the world with an iron rod. When Yeshua comes back, Scripture says that His feet will be planted on Mt Olives, which, I’m sorry to say is not in DC, Rome, or even England, but rather Israel. We have to realize that since everything started there, it will end there. This Torah is not just for the Jew, but for all mankind, that is, those who have the seal of the covenant. I further believe that this bride that Messiah Yeshua is coming back for will not be in a church full of Christians or in a synagogue full of Jews but rather within a body of believers of both Jew and non Jew walking in harmony in Yeshua and in accordance to Torah. I am of a firm belief that most believers have NEVER read any of the teachings (Law) of YHVH. Most probably don’t even know that there are 613 teachings (Law) altogether. Most believers have just been taught that Torah (The Law) is bad because they read where Paul makes mention of “the curse of the law”, which actually referred to the fact not keeping them brought death and condemnation. What they miss is how just as David proclaimed that the teaching of Torah was perfect, converting the soul, that Paul likewise affirmed that Torah (The Law) was good and holy. No one ever condemned Torah in the sense that it was a bad thing despite the fact that once Torah was given, sin was born. Why was Torah even given in the first place? Looking at how wild the nations were, He chose a people for Himself, not that they were any better than the rest, but simply because He needed to start somewhere. Israel was a small people, simple, not mighty, and for this reason who chose them, to show how He could something that was nothing and make it great. He gave them Torah so that when they came into the land that He promised their fathers, they would know how to act, and that they would be a light to the nations, and would eventually teach the nations they way of YHVH. This was the plan of YHVH all along, but due to bad theology that started roughly about the 4th century, everything got twisted up, and the enemy sewed some tares in the wheat, trying to thwart the plan of YHVH, but He always has a remnant, and it’s that remnant that is working now, trying to break down this false theology with the truth.
Bottom line is this, for those who think that Torah is only for the Jews, as well as the feast days and dietary laws, I would ask you to study the Messianic prophecies. Within the pages of them we see that in Yeshua’s millennial reign, certain feast will still be observed as well as Sabbaths. The question becomes this, if Torah is not for us, but we believe we will be here with Yeshua in the millennial reign, and He as the Messiah and King is observing and expecting others to observe these things, can we really believe that we would be exempt simple because we are not Jew by nature? Again, everything about Messiah is Jewish, and if are down with Him, we have to be on the same page as Him, otherwise we are none of His. For those that are hard pressed to believe that Torah Echad does not apply to us, I urge you to research this for yourself. Don’t ask your Pastor, or Elders because more than likely, hey are 100% convinced that Torah only applies to Jews, and have NOT look into this thing for truth. Like I said in the beginning, for me, I had to learn to read the Hebrew text, and then understand the culture a little bit and read books on various topics from writers with real insight to these things. I will write more on this topics at a later date, but this topic weighed heavy on me so I wanted to address it. Blessings!
