Tag Archives: Torah

Living Torah

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Torah on HeartOn this feast of Shavuot (“weeks” in Hebrew), we celebrate both the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai and the re-issuing of the Torah in human hearts as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the followers of Yeshua.  I am writing this blog on Shavuot and will post it today rather than on Friday.  Hopefully this article will clear up misunderstandings about the work that YHVH has planned from the beginning of creation.

The English word for the feast of Shavuot is Pentecost which means “fifty”.   YHVH told the Israelites to count seven weeks (Shavuot) and one day to remember the time He dwelled with them while they were in the wilderness.

The word Pentecost originates from the Greek “pentēkostē” and means fiftieth day.  Either way, it comes out to the same amount of time.  However, the similarity between Christian and Jewish perspective ends there.

As I browsed various websites discussing Pentecost, I discovered that many Christians believe that Pentecost was a brand new event totally unconnected to anything YHVH had done before.  There seems to be no awareness of a much older celebration known as Shavuot.  On the other hand, as I visited Jewish websites, there was no recognition of the work that YHVH continues to do in humans through His Holy Spirit.  This lack of knowledge and understanding has led to some grave errors in both Christianity and Judaism.

Let us examine the Christian perspective first.  Many Christians mistakenly believe that the “church” was born on Pentecost.  They do not understand the background that YHVH began His kingdom building long ago and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was a continuation of this work, not a whole new idea.  The outpouring of the Holy Spirit was the next step in the process YHVH started long ago.  In other words, YHVH was not “scrapping” His work with the Israelites (Jews) and starting over with other people.  This is evident by the fact that the Holy Spirit was first given to Jewish followers of Yeshua (Acts 2).  What was the purpose of this outpouring?  To empower and perfect us in keeping the Torah (instruction or “law” of YHVH).  We must be holy as He is holy (1 Pet 1:14-16).

There is confusion among Christians concerning the writings of Paul, especially his letter to the Romans.  Much confusion arises from faulty translation and lack of background knowledge.  In Romans 1:5, Paul tells us Through Christ, God has given us the privilege and authority as apostles to tell [all people] everywhere what God has done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his name (NLT, emphasis mine).  How can we obey YHVH if there is no law to follow?  YHVH is building a kingdom, not a church (Dan 2:44, Matt 3:2, 4:17).  It is true that we are not saved by our own efforts (Eph 2:8), but it is also true that once we are admitted as citizens into YHVH’s kingdom, we are to obey His laws.  Romans 2:5 states, But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  Christians have mistakenly generalized YHVH’s mercy to mean that He not only did away with the guilt from our sin, but that He also did away with His Torah, thereby eliminating any possibility to transgress His law.   We no longer are subject to death when we sin (disobey YHVH’s Torah) if we repent.  In Hebrew, the word for repent is teshuvah which means turning back to YHVH.  We do not merely ask for forgiveness when we sin, and then keep on sinning, knowing we can ask forgiveness each time.  We are to literally turn ourselves away from sin and return to YHVH and His ways.  How can we do this?  That is where the Holy Spirit comes in to empower us to do what YHVH requires of us.  When we rely on the Holy Spirit, we have our own personal teacher, showing us how to be obedient, convicting us when we stray, and empowering us to follow YHVH’s ways (John 14:26, 16:13).

 On the other end of the spectrum, those who follow Judaism understand that the Torah was first given to the Israelites at Mount Sinai after YHVH delivered them from slavery to the Egyptians.  They celebrate this giving of Torah (instruction), because YHVH is teaching them how He intends for us to live.  Many Jews today are diligent about following Torah.  However, they are relying on themselves and their own efforts are enough to make them right with YHVH.  They do not realize that they need to first be reconciled to YHVH through Yeshua. 

 Jews who do not recognize that Yeshua is their long-awaited Messiah, believe that Yeshua did not keep Torah and taught others to do the same.  They are confusing Torah with the extra writings and teachings of generations of rabbis who have added to and subtracted from Torah in direct violation of YHVH’s command (Deut 4:2).  Yeshua refused to obey man-made traditions, especially when they went against the true intention of Torah (Matt 9:1-14, Luke 13:15-16).  The purpose of Sabbath is to put aside working for our own gain to spend quality time with YHVH.  Yeshua did His Father’s work of kingdom building.  Healing those who are broken is so important, that it can be done even on Shabbat.

 Messianic believers hopefully recognize that the Torah is still valid and that the Holy Spirit is very much needed in order to carry out our Father’s commands.  They recognize Yeshua as the embodiment of the true Torah and refer to Him as the living Torah.  In Matthew chapters 5-7, Yeshua not only reinforces the validity of Torah, but raises the bar.  Why would he raise the bar when people already had enough trouble in obeying Torah?  Yeshua knew that He would be sending the Holy Spirit to guide and empower us.  When Yeshua returns He will still require us to follow Torah.  We will have a new Temple so that we can fulfill all the requirements.  He will rule with an iron rod (Ps 2:9, Rev 2:27. 12:5).  Until then, we welcome the Holy Spirit’s help as we follow the instructions of our loving Father and King.

Who Is in Control?

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who is in controlIn my last blog we looked at the story of Jacob, Leah, and Rachel to examine how people rely on themselves and their own devices instead of trusting YHVH. The Bible is packed with such illustrations for good reason. There is one true stronghold (YHVH) and one false stronghold (self) and for each person there is a lifelong battle between the two.

Since the fall of Adam and Eve, evil has infested our planet and now many people agree that we are in or near the end times when evil increases (2 Tim 3:1-17). Although Yeshua clearly stated that no one knows the hour of His return except the Father, predictions and rumors (often conflicting) are more rampant than ever. Many of us feel the need to be informed and prepared, and so we should. However, we should not be concerned with the predictions and the rumors, but rather with Scripture. YHVH admonishes us to be ever vigilant (1 Peter 5:8). This verse applies to us and all the generations after Peter regardless of when the end comes. Our focus should be on the spiritual realm, not the physical realm. If we are obeying YHVH’s commands, keeping ourselves focused on Him, and doing the work that Abba has assigned us in the harvest, then we need not live in fear even if the end comes in our lifetime (Luke 12:36-48)

Many of us are racing around to prepare for any type of disaster that may befall us. We are buying up silver and gold, hoarding food and water and other necessities, and watching every move and speech in the political scenario. Why? There is no biblical mandate to do these things. In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that hoarding is wrong (Prov 11:24, Eccl 5:13, Luke 12:34, 1 Tim 6:7). We may justify our actions by saying that when things get bad, we will share with others. Right now, things are really bad for some people, so why not give to them now? Our Father has promised to take care of us and has put it in writing (Matt 6:25-34). Do we really believe what Yeshua tells us? Our actions very clearly reflect what we believe.

It is true that the Israelites left Egypt well-stocked with silver and gold and clothing. This may have been compensation for all the hard work they had done for the Egyptians. It may have been a necessity for buying what they needed from other countries as they passed through. At any rate, the gold became a god for them. If you feel that the Ruach is prompting you to collect silver or gold or to store food, just be very careful that it is the Ruach’s voice you are hearing and not some other voice. And be very careful that your hoard does not become your god.

What about the political scenario? What about human leaders? What does Scripture say about that? Insofar as we are able to without violating YHVH’s laws, we are to obey whoever YIHVH has put in charge (1 Pet 2:130-14, Mark 12:17, Col 3:22-25). When human laws would force us to violate YHVH’s laws and commands, then we must follow YHVH (Acts 5:29).

Over the years, most of us have gotten used to taking charge of ourselves and our situations. In the United States, we live in a culture that values such attitudes. We vote for our leaders and we express our opinions freely. We do what we think is best to provide for ourselves and our loved ones. These are the values of our culture, but are they the actions our Father wants us to learn? The story of the Israelites in Exodus answers our questions graphically. YHVH was teaching the Israelites how to live according to His ways. They were in a wilderness where conditions were tough and sometimes life-threatening. The Israelites had two choices. Either they could go to YHVH with their requests and rely on Him or they could grumble and complain and take matters into their own hands. Read through Exodus carefully and note when YHVH blessed the Israelites for their choices and when He punished them. We, too, are living in a wilderness of some sort especially as evil increases, and we have the same choices.

YHVH is teaching us, as He taught the Israelites, that He is in control. Can we influence His decisions at times? Moses did, but then Moses was close to YHVH because Moses was obedient to YHVH and willing to follow orders, no matter how tough the situation. We may not be leaders of people, but we can be obedient and trusting toward YHVH. We can take our concerns to YHVH and try to persuade Him through our prayers. However, we are not to take matters into our own hands and determine our outcome. This will lead to a disastrous outcome for us as it did for those who worshiped the golden calf.

What is our best course of action in these times? The same course of action that YHVH gave to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:4-9. When we meditate and pray through His words, we begin to understand His perspective. If we do not stay focused on His word, we can easily slip into a worldly perspective. The Israelites were sojourners and foreigners in other lands, just as we must be sojourners and foreigners on the earth until Yeshua’s return. We are citizens of the kingdom of YHVH and our King must be our first priority, not the happenings in this foreign land. We are answerable to Him and what a blessing that is, for He is ultimately in control and He is the only one we can truly trust.

Stand Fast to Your Convictions (Part 1)

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stand firm“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:11

Last week, Nancy and I were deeply convicted by a powerful teaching we heard at a local congregation. The pastor was focused on getting ourselves fit for the fire that is to come in the End Times (spoken of by Yeshua in Matthew 24).  Believers could interpret this fire that is coming in different ways, but in this context I am seeing it as persecution against the Body of Messiah. Sha’ul told us that we as the Body of Messiah are to “stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil 1:27).  We are also told to stand fast as individuals in our faith (I Cor 16:13).  This means that we are to hold to our convictions that there is one true God, Yehovah, and one clear standard of morality, which is the set of instructions YHVH has given us in His Torah.

The pastor went on to speak about the need to stand up for what we know is YHVH’s standard of morality in His Kingdom.  He said that as the moral fiber of our nation continues to crumble we will have plenty of opportunities to speak out about God’s stand on moral issues.  In our society today, we have an historic opportunity to stand fast in the face of the growing fires of immorality, and to speak out to others (both believers and non-believers) about God’s standard of morality.  The Supreme Court decision to require all states to conduct same-sex marriages has given us a golden opportunity to test the strength of our commitment to uphold YHVH’s standards in the face of cultural persecution. YHVH spoke often about the abomination of Homosexuality, and He judged it as harshly as any other sin (see Judges 19-20 and Gen 19 for examples). He saw this as a violation of the sin of idolatry, that people exchanged the glory YHVH gave them for a lie, and worshiped the creation instead of the Creator (Rom 1:25).

In our home worship time with Abba, the Ruach keeps bringing Nancy and I back to the passages in Ezekiel (3:16-21 and 33:1-9) where YHVH speaks to Ezekiel about being a watchman to warn God’s people about the upcoming judgment for their sins. I think YHVH is speaking to all of us when He says: “When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood” (Eze 33:8). As God’s people, we are not only accountable for our own sins, but we are accountable for speaking YHVH’s truth to others and warning them about God’s righteous standard. As compassionate believers seeking to be like Yeshua, though, we must speak and act out of love and humility, seasoning our words with grace. We must not condemn or judge others out of our own self-righteousness, remembering that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of YHVH (including ourselves). See Part 2 of this Blog as we dig deeper into how we should we should act and speak graciously when we encounter unGodly attitudes, words or actions.

YHVH is a merciful Elohim who loves us with an unconditional love. However, YHVH is also a just and righteous God who cannot tolerate sin in His presence. Some see this as an irreconcilable contradiction, but in YHVH’s never-ending mercy, He chose to save His people from their sins by sending His Son to die in place of the death we deserve. This is the amazing miracle of the Good News, but we must do our part as well. In order to benefit from God’s plan of reconciliation with us, we must repent, turn from our sinful ways, and start walking on YHVH’s righteous path. We must not think that our own sin is somehow less offensive to God than the sins of others.

Yeshua told us that He would send fire on the earth. He said that He did not come to earth to bring peace, but division, and that even family members would be divided against each other in the same household (Luke 12:49-53). We know from experience that our families are the most difficult settings to speak out God’s truth, and sometimes are the places of greatest persecution. But we also know as believers that we are to “overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony” (Rev 12:11). And what does the rest of that passage say, that we are to “love not our lives even unto death”.

In the face of persecution from our families, friends and fellow believers, we need to stand fast to God’s standard, even when we are criticized, ridiculed, shunned by others, or face possibly even more severe consequences in future times. It is good to meditate on YHVH’s truth, knowing that nothing can separate us from His love, and that He will bless us with boundless spiritual fruit when we boldly share His truth with others.

Where is Your Heart?

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where your heart is“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 7:21

In the first installment of this series on the “Sermon on the Mount”, I talked about righteousness being the main focus of Yeshua’s Kingdom message. I also showed how He focused on the heart as opposed to head aspects of righteousness. In this message I want to illustrate exactly what Yeshua means by keeping the Torah and walking in righteousness at the heart level.

In order to understand how Yeshua (and therefore Abba Father) wants us to walk in righteousness in Yehovah’s Kingdom of light, we first need to dig down to a deeper level of scripture study. On the surface of these passages, it appears that Yeshua is saying things like: don’t focus on accumulating wealth (Matt 6:24), don’t judge others (Matt 7:1), don’t worry about your life (Matt 6:25), don’t show off when you’re helping out the poor (Matt 6:1), and don’t be a hypocrite about your fasting and praying (Matt 6:5,16).

However, when we dig down to the heart level of Yeshua’s message, we can quickly see that He is really talking about building healthy relationships as we are following the Torah and walking in righteousness. Let me give you a couple of brief object lessons to illustrate what I mean. Imagine for a moment that you are a member of a large congregation, and that every week when you go to worship services, you spend a few minutes before and after service saying hello and shaking hands with people that you either don’t know, or you know only as once-a-week acquaintances. You might even ask these people how they are doing or whether everyone is healthy in their family, but are you just going through the motions or sincerely reaching out to these people?

In the same way, let’s say you work with “Meals on Wheels” and take meals to home-bound people every day, but you never speak to them or show that you care about them in any way (other than just doing your job to help the poor because you know you’re supposed to). Do you think those people are going to think of you in a kind and caring way? Or will they just see that you are doing this out of obligation and you don’t really care about them personally? What is your heart motive in this scenario – are you doing this to feel good or look good, or do you truly look for ways to bring Yeshua’s love to them?

The key point Yeshua was addressing in His message is that you can be the most righteous person on earth from a human perspective (as many of the Pharisees were), doing good works every moment of the day. However, since Yehovah looks on the heart, from His perspective you could be like a whitewashed tomb (Matt 23:27), appearing to be good and righteous on the outside, but inside you are nothing but filthy rags (Isa 64:6). In this case, Yeshua could rightly say to you: ‘…I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matt 7:23).

YHVH requires that we “…do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8). He certainly wants us to follow His instructions in the Torah, but He judges us by our heart attitudes and motives more than by our actions. We would do well to examine ourselves from His perspective, following His word in our hearts and not just our heads.

Seek First the Kingdom of God [Elohim]

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But seek first the kingdom of God“And He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of His disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases…” Luke 6:17-18

What was happening in Yeshua’s ministry on earth when He spoke the messages in the “Sermon on the Mount”? What we know from Scripture is that the Pharisees were angry with Yeshua because His teachings did not follow theirs and because He was drawing large crowds wherever He went. So what was He teaching that was so radical, and that went against the Pharisees’ teachings? Yeshua was teaching about the Kingdom of God (also called the Kingdom of Heaven) and how they could not only be a part of the Kingdom on earth, but that the Kingdom was now within them!

Yeshua spoke about righteousness as the main theme of the Kingdom in Matthew 6:33: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”. Also in Matthew 5:6,10 and 13:43, Yeshua says that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”  The Pharisees spoke about righteousness, but their form of righteousness was from following the Law (Torah) according to their interpretation of the Law, which included all of their man-made laws. Yeshua wanted to clearly distinguish between the righteousness that God expected in His gracious Kingdom and the righteousness of the Pharisees’ legalistic (man-made) kingdom.

Yeshua followed the Torah instructions in every way, and told us that He still wanted us to follow them. In Matthew 5:18 Yeshua states that not one jot or tittle will pass away from the Torah until heaven and earth pass away.  Yeshua had a very different interpretation of how an obedient follower was to keep the Torah.  For instance, the oral law of Moses said that a man could divorce his wife by simply giving her a certificate of divorce (see Matt 5:31).  However, Yeshua said that “whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery” (Matt 5:32). Obviously Yeshua did not follow the oral law or any of the codes of law that were added to the Torah by the Pharisees (since He already said above that nothing in the Torah would or could be changed).

The Pharisees believed in keeping the Law with their heads but not their hearts.  Yeshua said in Matthew 12:34 that the Jewish leaders were speaking and doing good, but at the same time thinking evil in their hearts.  Yeshua, on the other hand, was teaching Abba Father’s interpretation of the Torah: that His children are to keep His Torah in their hearts and not just in their minds.  Here are a few examples of heart obedience that Yeshua gives in Matthew and Luke:

  • Matthew 5:21-26: murder begins in the heart
  • Matthew 5:27-31: adultery begins with lust which comes out of the heart
  • Luke 6:36: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” (speaking of loving our enemies)

Yeshua’s underlying guidance on how to live our lives is the same as the Father’s – follow Torah with our minds and our hearts. Our gracious God has not only given us instructions for living life to the fullest, but He forgives us when we slip up. He wants us to have a genuine relationship with Him and with each other.  A true relationship involves the heart as well as the mind.

Spiritual Maturity: Dying to Serve

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We speak and think of living in YHVH’s kingdom with blissful images of peace, light and joy. It is true that YHVH’s kingdom will be all these things (1 Cor 6:9-10, Rev. 22:5, Rom 14:17). We imagine what the kingdom will be like, but do we imagine what we will be like? How does YHVH’s kingdom run? What are the King’s subjects like? What is their mindset and attitude? What is expected of them?

Life in YHVH’s kingdom is very different from living in a democracy or republic. We seek YHVH’s desires and approval, not our own (Mark 9:35). We live to do His work, not to work for ourselves. We must die to our own desires and seek YHVH’s pleasure. The gospel story of the centurion gives us a clear example of living obediently.

 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When [Yeshua] heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith (Matt 8:9-10).

 We are not self-reliant, but are dependent on our King (Ezek 34:26-29). We do not elect a king or express our opinions of the king’s actions. Our King is the source of all wisdom, love, justice and mercy (Ps 19:9-12). His ways are above our ways and His wisdom far surpasses ours (Is 59:8-9).

We are to keep His commands, His laws (John 15:10, 1 John 2:4). YHVH’s laws are designed to justly and mercifully meet everyone’s needs. That cannot always be said of human governments. Yeshua often warned the Pharisees and Scribes about their man-made laws or interpretations of the Torah. Sometimes the man-made laws were in direct violation of the written Torah. That was not acceptable to YHVH 2,000 years ago and it is still not acceptable to YHVH today.

 We are to become like little children in order to live in YHVH’s kingdom (Matt 18:3). Little children depend totally on their parents and are expected to follow the rules of the household. When we are born, we are focused entirely on ourselves, but as we mature we should become less self-centered and more other centered. Are we spiritual adults as well as physical adults? Are we prepared for life in the kingdom?