WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT MOUNT SINAI

TORAH MEANS “INSTRUCTION.” 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD, AND IS PROFITABLE FOR DOCTRINE, FOR REPROOF, FOR CORRECTION, FOR INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS: THAT THE MAN OF GOD MAY BE PERFECT, THROUGHLY FURNISHED UNTO ALL GOOD WORKS. THEREFORE ALL SCRIPTURE IS FOR INSTRUCTION; AND ALL SCRIPTURE IS TORAH. HOWEVER, LET US REMEMBER THAT DURING PAUL’S TIME, THE ONLY SCRIPTURE PAUL HAD WAS THE OLD TESTAMENT- THE LAW OF MOSES, THE WRITINGS, THE PROPHETS AND PSALMS. THERE WAS NO NEW TESTAMENT. THIS MEANS THAT PAUL CONSIDERED ALL THE OLD TESTAMENT PROFITABLE AND INSPIRED BY GOD… INSTRUCTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS AND FOR CORRECTION IN ORDER TO BRING MAN FROM SIN TO PERFECTION. THE BEREAN’S SEARCHED THE TORAH DAILY TO SEE IF PAUL TAUGHT THE TRUTH. THE ONLY SCRIPTURE THEY COULD OF TESTED PAUL WITH- WOULD HAVE BEEN THE OLD TESTAMENT ! IF PAUL CONTRADICTED WHAT ANY OF THE OT SAID- THEN THE BEREAN’S WOULD HAVE CALLED HIM A FALSE PROPHET. IN FACT, IF PAUL TAUGHT AGAINST THE LAW OF MOSES, HE WOULD HAVE BEEN A FALSE PROPHET. THIS IS WHY THE PHARISEES TESTED YESHUA CONSTANTLY WITH THE LAW OF MOSES- BECAUSE IF THEY COULD GET HIM TO CONTRADICT MOSES- THEN ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE, YESHUA WOULD HAVE BEEN A FALSE PROPHET. THEREFORE- IT GOES TO REASON THAT ANYONE WHO TEACHES AGAINST MOSES- IS A FALSE PROPHET (AND ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE) DESERVES DEATH. HEBREWS 10:28 ANYONE WHO REJECTED THE LAW OF MOSES DIED WITHOUT MERCY ON THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES.

DEUTERONOMY 17:6 ON THE TESTIMONY OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES A MAN SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH, BUT HE SHALL NOT BE EXECUTED ON THE TESTIMONY OF A LONE WITNESS. DEUTERONOMY 13:4-5 YOU MUST FOLLOW THE LORD YOUR GOD AND FEAR HIM. YOU MUST KEEP HIS COMMANDS AND LISTEN TO HIS VOICE; YOU MUST WORSHIP HIM AND REMAIN FAITHFUL TO HIM.

THAT PROPHET OR DREAMER MUST BE PUT TO DEATH, BECAUSE HE HAS URGED REBELLION AGAINST THE LORD YOUR GOD WHO BROUGHT YOU OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT AND REDEEMED YOU FROM THE PLACE OF SLAVERY, TO TURN YOU FROM THE WAY THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS COMMANDED YOU TO WALK. YOU MUST PURGE THE EVIL FROM YOU. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN ISRAEL BROKE THE LAW OF MOSES- IT WAS REBELLION- THEY TURNED FROM THE WAY GOD COMMANDED THEM TO WALK, AND DID EVIL. EZEKIEL 20:8 BUT THEY REBELLED AGAINST ME AND WERE NOT WILLING TO LISTEN TO ME; THEY DID NOT CAST AWAY THE DETESTABLE THINGS OF THEIR EYES, NOR DID THEY FORSAKE THE IDOLS OF EGYPT THEN I RESOLVED TO POUR OUT MY WRATH ON THEM, TO ACCOMPLISH MY ANGER AGAINST THEM IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND OF EGYPT. THE ISRAELITES HAD A HEART OF STONE AND BROKE THE BLOOD COVENANT MADE WITH GOD AT MOUNT SINAI. THE NEW COVENANT IS THE OLD COVENANT RENEWED WITH ONE ACCEPTION: GOD WILL GIVE US A NEW HEART AND PUT A NEW SPIRIT IN YOU; I WILL REMOVE FROM YOU YOUR HEART OF STONE AND GIVE US A HEART OF FLESH. JEREMIAH 31:31 BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, DECLARES THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH. NEW IS THE WORD “CHADASH.”

CHÂDASH MEANS TO BE NEW; TO REBUILD:—TO RENEW OR REPAIR. WHEN ISRAEL BROKE THE BLOOD COVENANT MADE WITH GOD, THEY DESERVED DEATH. BUT GOD DID NOT KILL THEM- INSTEAD, HE SENT YESHUA TO REBUILD, RENEW AND REPAIR THE BROKEN COVENANT. EXODUS 24:8 SO MOSES TOOK THE BLOOD, SPRINKLED IT ON THE PEOPLE, AND SAID, “THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE COVENANT THAT THE LORD HAS MADE WITH YOU IN ACCORDANCE WITH ALL THESE WORDS.” DEUTERONOMY 30:15-20 SEE, I SET BEFORE YOU TODAY LIFE AND PROSPERITY, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION. FOR I COMMAND YOU TODAY TO LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD, TO WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO HIM, AND TO KEEP HIS COMMANDS, DECREES AND LAWS; THEN YOU WILL LIVE AND INCREASE, AND THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL BLESS YOU IN THE LAND YOU ARE ENTERING TO POSSESS. BUT IF YOUR HEART TURNS AWAY AND YOU ARE NOT OBEDIENT, AND IF YOU ARE DRAWN AWAY TO BOW DOWN TO OTHER GODS AND WORSHIP THEM,

I DECLARE TO YOU THIS DAY THAT YOU WILL CERTAINLY BE DESTROYED. YOU WILL NOT LIVE LONG IN THE LAND YOU ARE CROSSING THE JORDAN TO ENTER AND POSSESS. THE BLOOD COVENANT GODF MADE WITH ISRAEL WAS A MARRIAGE. GOD WA STHE HUSBAND AND ISRAEL WAS HIS BRIDE. WHEN HE RETURNS, HE IS LOOKING FOR A BRIDE WHO WILL KEEP HIS COMMANDS, DECREES AND LAWS. JEREMIAH 31:32 IT WILL NOT BE LIKE THE COVENANT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT—A COVENANT THEY BROKE, THOUGH I WAS A HUSBAND TO THEM,” DECLARES THE LORD. ONLY SOMEONE WHO IS SINLESS (AND HAS NOT BROKEN THE COVENANT) CAN REPAIR AND REBUILD IT. THEY HAVE TO DIE IN ORDER TO DO THIS… TO TAKE THE PLACE OF THE ONE’S WHO HAVE BROKEN THE COVENANT.

TORAH TELLS US, “YOU SHALL NOT DESECRATE MY HOLY NAME, AND I SHALL BE SANCTIFIED AMIDST THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL . . .” THE ULTIMATE SANCTIFICATION OF GOD’S NAME IS ACHIEVED WHEN ONE IS LOYAL TO HIS COMMANDMENTS, TO THE EXTENT OF WILLINGNESS TO DIE RATHER THAN TRANSGRESS THEM. JEREMIAH 31:33 I WILL PUT MY LAW IN THEIR MINDS AND INSCRIBE IT ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE.… THE ISRAELITES HAVE BEEN LED FROM EGYPT TO MOUNT SINAI BY GOD HIMSELF, WHO APPEARED BY DAY AS A CLOUD AND BY NIGHT AS A FIRE (EXODUS 13:21). AT GOD’S SUMMONS, MOSES ASCENDS THE MOUNTAIN, WHERE HE IS INSTRUCTED TO OFFER A COVENANT TO THE ISRAELITE PEOPLE. IN LIGHT OF ALL HE HAS DONE FOR THEM, GOD INVITES THE ISRAELITES TO BE HIS TREASURED PEOPLE FOREVERMORE, AS LONG AS THEY AGREE TO OBEY HIS COMMANDS. THE ISRAELITES IMMEDIATELY ACCEPT THE OFFER, THOUGH THEY HAVE NOT YET HEARD THE TERMS (EXODUS 19:1–8). THESE TERMS ARE THE WEDDING VOWS BETWEEN ISRAEL AND GOD, THEIR HUSBAND. FROM THE CLOUD-COVERED MOUNTAIN, AMIDST THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, THE PEOPLE OVERHEAR THE VOICE OF GOD SAYING THE “TEN WORDS,” OR DECALOGUE, TO MOSES. STRICKEN WITH TERROR, THE PEOPLE BEG MOSES TO EXCUSE THEM FROM LISTENING ANY FURTHER TO GOD’S VOICE AND PLEDGE TO OBEY WHATEVER MOSES RELAYS TO THEM IN GOD’S NAME. ISRAEL COULD ONLY STAND TO HEAR TEN COMMANS THEN MOSES REENTERS THE THICK CLOUD COVERING THE MOUNTAINTOP WHILE THE PEOPLE REMAIN AT A DISTANCE (EXODUS 20:15–18), AND THE REST OF THE LAWS ARE CONVEYED TO MOSES (EXODUS 20:19–23:19). MOSES DESCENDS AND RELAYS THE LAWS TO THE PEOPLE, AGAIN ORALLY, AND THE PEOPLE REAFFIRM THEIR WILLINGNESS TO COMPLY—THIS TIME KNOWING FULL WELL WHAT THEY ARE AGREEING TO. THE NEXT MORNING THE COVENANT IS RATIFIED THROUGH SACRIFICIAL RITUALS AND THE PUBLIC READING OF THE COVENANT DOCUMENT (EXODUS 24:1–8).

MOSES IS THEN TOLD TO ASCEND THE MOUNTAIN ONCE MORE, THIS TIME TO RECEIVE THE TWO STONE TABLETS WRITTEN BY GOD (EXODUS 24:12). BUT WHEN HE ARRIVES, HE LEARNS THAT HE WILL FIRST RECEIVE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND DEDICATION OF THE TABERNACLE AND FOR THE CONSECRATION OF THE PRIESTS AND THEIR VESTMENTS (EXODUS 25:1–31:17). HE REMAINS ON THE MOUNTAIN FOR 40 DAYS. GOD SETS UP A WAY FOR HIM TO DRAW NEAR TO ISRAEL- AND A WAY FOR ISRAEL TO DRAW NEAR TO HIM THROUGH SACRIFICES… MEANWHILE, THE PEOPLE, NOT KNOWING IF MOSES IS DEAD OR ALIVE, HAVE MADE THE GOLDEN CALF (EXODUS 32:1–6). THUS, WHEN THE MEETING ENDS AND MOSES RECEIVES THE TABLETS AND IS READY TO DESCEND, GOD MUST FIRST GIVE HIM THE BAD NEWS THAT THE ISRAELITES HAVE STRAYED FROM THE PATH OF FAITHFULNESS AND THAT HE HAS RESOLVED TO DESTROY THEM. MOSES DELAYS HIS DESCENT LONG ENOUGH TO BESEECH GOD TO FORBEAR, THEN DESCENDS, BREAKS THE TABLETS, DESTROYS THE CALF AND TAKES OTHER MEASURES TO DEAL WITH THE CRISIS (EXODUS 32:7–33:23). GOD’S IDEA TO DESTROY ISRAEL COMES BECAUSE THEY HAVE BROKEN HIS LAW AND DESERVE DEATH- AND TESTS MOSES TO SEE IF WILL BE PRIDEFUL ENOUGH FOR GOD TO START OVER WITH HIM, OR IF HE WILL STAND UP FOR ISRAEL. GOD RENEWS THE COVENANT IMMEDIATELY BUT THE BROKEN TABLETS FORESHADOW THE BREAKING OF THE COVENANT- AND THE NEW SET OF TABLETS FORESHADOW THE NEW COVENANT IN JEREMIAH 31 AND HEBREWS 8. EXODUS 34:10 AND HE SAID, “BEHOLD, I AM MAKING A COVENANT. BEFORE ALL YOUR PEOPLE I WILL DO MARVELS, SUCH AS HAVE NOT BEEN CREATED IN ALL THE EARTH OR IN ANY NATION. AND ALL THE PEOPLE AMONG WHOM YOU ARE SHALL SEE THE WORK OF THE LORD, FOR IT IS AN AWESOME THING THAT I WILL DO WITH YOU. GOD CALLS HIS LAW (TORAH) AN AWESOME THING ! AT GOD’S COMMAND, HE MAKES A NEW SET OF TABLETS AND CLIMBS THE MOUNTAIN ONCE MORE TO HAVE THEM INSCRIBED (EXODUS 34:1–4).

MOSES REMAINS ON THE MOUNTAIN ANOTHER 40 DAYS, AND GOD EVENTUALLY WRITES THE NEW SET OF TABLETS (EXODUS 34:27– 28). WHEN MOSES COMES BACK TO THE CAMP (EXODUS 34:29–35), THE ISRAELITES GREET HIM WITH FEAR BECAUSE HIS FACE REFLECTS THE AWESOME RADIANCE OF GOD. RETURNING TO THE CAMP, MOSES CONVENES THE PEOPLE AND CONVEYS TO THEM THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR BUILDING THE TABERNACLE AND FASHIONING THE SACRED ARTICLES AND VESTMENTS (EXODUS 35:1–20). THE REMAINDER OF THE YEAR IS SPENT ON THIS PROJECT (EXODUS 35:21–40:16), AND THE TABERNACLE IS ERECTED AS THE SECOND YEAR OF THEIR JOURNEY BEGINS (EXODUS 40:17–33). THE GIVING OF THE LAW AT SINAI ALSO FORESHADOWS PENTECOST. THIS IS THE FIRST PENTECOST (SHAVUOT) IN THE OLD COVENANT. SHAVUOT IS THE FEAST THAT MARKS THE GIVING OF THE LAW TO MOSES ON MOUNT SINAI ... GOD TELLS THEM TO “BE READY FOR THE THIRD DAY; FOR ON THE THIRD DAY THE LORD WILL COME DOWN ON MOUNT SINAI IN THE SIGHT OF ALL THE PEOPLE.” AT SINAI, THERE WAS THUNDER AND A VERY LOUD TRUMPET (HEBREW: SHOFAR) SOUND (EXODUS 19:16); ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, THERE WAS A NOISE LIKE A VIOLENT RUSHING WIND (ACTS 2:2). AT SINAI, THERE WERE LIGHTNING FLASHES (EXODUS 19:16); ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, THERE WERE WHAT APPEARED TO THEM TONGUES AS OF FIRE (ACTS 2:3). AT SINAI, THE SHEKINAH GLORY, THE VISIBLE MANIFESTATION OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD, COVERED THE MOUNTAIN IN THE FORM OF SMOKE AND FIRE: NOW MOUNT SINAI WAS ALL IN SMOKE BECAUSE THE LORD DESCENDED UPON IT IN FIRE (EXODUS 19:18); ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST, THE SHEKINAH GLORY FELL IN THE FORM OF TONGUES AS OF FIRE (ACTS 2:2-3). FLAME AND LIGHTNING IS A REFERENCE TO THE TONGUES OF FIRE IN ACTS.

EVERYBODY AT MT. SINAI (MIXED MULTITUDE) HEARD THE TORAH IN THEIR OWN TONGUE. HERE WE HAVE THE HEALING PROCESS FROM WHAT HAPPENED AT THE TOWER OF BABEL WHERE ALL THE LANGUAGES WERE CONFUSED AND THE PEOPLE WERE SCATTERED. NOW GOD IS BRINGING THE PEOPLE TOGETHER AND REMOVING THE CONFUSION… TO GLORIFY GOD- WHEREAS BABEL WAS ABOUT GLORIFYING MEN.

SO IN ACTS 2, WE HAVE THUNDER (WIND) AND LIGHTNING (FLAME)... JUST LIKE AT MT. SINAI...ALONG WITH RESTORATION OF DIVIDED LANGUAGES. ACTS 2:3 THEY SAW WHAT SEEMED TO BE TONGUES OF FIRE THAT SEPARATED AND CAME TO REST ON EACH OF THEM. SO THE DIVIDED TONGUES OF LANGUAGE CAME TOGETHER TO THEM IN THE ROOM, TONGUES OR LANGUAGES OF LIGHTNING... ACTS 2:4 ALL OF THEM WERE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT AND BEGAN TO SPEAK IN OTHER (KNOWN) TONGUES AS THE SPIRIT ENABLED THEM. THE RUACH OF ELOHIM (GOD) WAS BREATHED INTO US. THIS IS WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT FROM THE ANIMALS. WE ARE A DIFFERENT TYPE OF NEPHESH. GENESIS 2:7 THEN THE LORD GOD FORMED A MAN FROM THE DUST OF THE GROUND AND BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE, AND THE MAN BECAME A LIVING BEING. WE HAD BREATHED INTO US THIS ELEMENT OR INTELLECT. THE ANIMALS DID NOT HAVE THE RUACH BREATHED INTO THEM. THEY LIVE BY INSTINCT. ANIMALS CAN NEVER DEVELOP THE NATURE OF YHWH. MEN WERE CREATED IN HIS IMAGE AND WE CAN HAVE THE NATURE OF YHWH. GOD BREATHED INTO US THE ABILITY TO BECOME LIKE HIM BY CHOICE. THE PROBLEM IS THAT WE LET HIM ENCOURAGE OUR INTRINSIC NATURE INCLINED TO DO WHAT WE WANT RATHER THAN WHAT GOD WANTS. TORAH IS YHWH'S DOCTRINE. NOT A DOCTRINE OF A DEMON ! DEMON MEANING A FALSE BELIEF- TORAH IS NOTT A DOCTRINE OF FALSEHOOD. A MAN WHO IS TRULY OF GOD, GUARDS HIMSELF AND HE DOES NOT SIN. SIN IS TRANSGRESSION OF GOD’S TORAH (LAW). 1 JOHN 3:4

MANY PEOPLE SAY NO MAN CAN KEEP THE TORAH BECAUSE IT IS TOO HARD. IS THAT REALLY WHAT GOD SAYS? DEUTERONOMY 30:11 FOR THIS COMMANDMENT I GIVE YOU TODAY IS NOT TOO DIFFICULT FOR YOU OR BEYOND YOUR REACH. AND EXODUS 34:11 SAYS OBSERVE WHAT I COMMAND YOU THIS DAY. MAN CANNOT LIVE PERFECTLY TO THE TORAH IS HE LIVES IN THE FLESH FOR THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL AND THE SPIRIT IS OPPOSED THAT OF THE FLESH. ROMANS 7:14 FOR WE KNOW THAT THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL: BUT I AM CARNAL, SOLD UNDER SIN. WE ARE EITHER SLAVES OF SIN (THE FLESH) OR SLAVES TO GOD… GALATIANS 5:17 FOR THE FLESH CRAVES WHAT IS CONTRARY TO THE SPIRIT, AND THE SPIRIT WHAT IS CONTRARY TO THE FLESH. THEY ARE OPPOSED TO ONE ANOTHER, SO THAT YOU DO NOT DO WHAT YOU WANT. THOSE WHO BREAK THE LAW THEN FALL UNDER THE CURSE OF THE LAW- WHICH COMES FROM BREAKING IT. BUT THOSE WHO LIVE BY THE SPIRIT AND OBEY THE LAW, ARE NOT UNDER LAW- BUT GRACE. FOR GRACE COMES BY FAITH AND FAITH IS BROUGHT INTO FULLNESS BY ALSO HAVING WORKS FOR FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD. GALATIANS 5:18 BUT IF YOU ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT, YOU ARE NOT UNDER THE LAW.…

PAUL IN FACT, DESCRIBES ANOTHER LAW- THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH: ROMANS 7:23 BUT I SEE ANOTHER LAW AT WORK IN MY BODY, WARRING AGAINST THE LAW OF MY MIND AND HOLDING ME CAPTIVE TO THE LAW OF SIN THAT DWELLS WITHIN ME. ROMANS 8:5 THOSE WHO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE FLESH SET THEIR MINDS ON THE THINGS OF THE FLESH; BUT THOSE WHO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE SPIRIT SET THEIR MINDS ON THE THINGS OF THE SPIRIT. ROMANS 7:7 WHAT THEN SHALL WE SAY? IS THE LAW SIN? ABSOLUTELY NOT! INDEED, I WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN MINDFUL OF SIN IF NOT FOR THE LAW. IT IS NOT THE LAW THAT IS SIN- IT IS THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH THAT HOLDS US CAPTIVE. ROMANS 8:2 FOR IN YESHUA THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT OF LIFE (TORAH) HAS SET YOU FREE FROM THE LAW OF SIN AND DEATH. DID YOU CATCH THAT?- THE LAW OF GOD IS LIFE AND BREAKING THE LAW LEADS TO SIN AND DEATH. PROVERBS 4:22 GREAT IS TORAH, FOR IT GIVES LIFE TO ITS DOERS IN THIS WORLD AND IN THE NEXT WORLD, AS IT IS WRITTEN: ‘FOR THEY [THE TEACHINGS OF THE TORAH] GIVE LIFE TO THOSE WHO FIND THEM AND HEALING TO ALL FLESH.’ WE “DO” TORAH WHEN WE NOT ONLY STUDY, BUT PRACTICE, APPLY IT TO OURSELVES, AND BECOME A REFLECTION OF THAT WHICH WE HAVE STUDIED.

ROMANS 2:13 FOR NOT THE HEARERS OF THE LAW ARE JUST BEFORE GOD, BUT THE DOERS OF THE LAW SHALL BE JUSTIFIED. JAMES 2:24 YOU SEE THAT A PERSON IS JUSTIFIED BY WORKS AND NOT BY FAITH ALONE. JAMES 2:26 FOR AS THE BODY APART FROM THE SPIRIT IS DEAD, SO ALSO FAITH APART FROM WORKS IS DEAD. UNDER MOSES, THE ISRAELITES WERE INSTRUCTED: YOU SHALL BRING IN FROM YOUR DWELLING PLACES TWO LOAVES OF BREAD FOR A WAVE OFFERING, MADE OF TWO-TENTHS OF AN EPHAH; THEY SHALL BE OF A FINE FLOUR, BAKED WITH LEAVEN AS FIRST FRUITS TO THE LORD. (LEVITICUS 23:17) THROUGHOUT SCRIPTURE LEAVEN IS A SYMBOL OF SIN. IN THE LORD'S EYES, THE WORLD'S POPULATION IS VIEWED AS TWO MAJOR PEOPLE GROUPS: THE JEWS AND THE GENTILES, ALL OF WHOM ARE UNDER SIN (ROMANS 3:9). WE CAN NOW BEGIN TO SEE THE CONNECTION: TWO LEAVENED LOAVES, TWO PEOPLE GROUPS UNDER SIN. WHAT DID THE LORD BEGIN ON THE DAY OF PENTECOST IN ACTS 2? HE POURED OUT HIS SPIRIT ON BELIEVERS FROM AMONG THESE TWO SINFUL PEOPLE GROUPS TO UNIFY THEM INTO THE ONE BODY OF MESSIAH. GOD’S LAW (TORAH) NEVER TRIED TO SEPARATE GENTILES FROM GOD- THE MIXED MUTLITUDE THAT LEFT EGYPT WAS NOT JEWISH. THERE WERE ALSO EGYPTIANS AND PROBABLY THOSE ALL LANGUAGES WERE REPRESENTED. EPHESIANS 2:14-16 FOR HE HIMSELF IS OUR PEACE, WHO MADE BOTH GROUPS INTO ONE AND BROKE DOWN THE BARRIER OF THE DIVIDING WALL,

BY ABOLISHING IN HIS FLESH THE ENMITY, WHICH IS THE LAW OF COMMANDMENTS CONTAINED IN ORDINANCES, SO THAT IN HIMSELF HE MIGHT MAKE THE TWO INTO ONE NEW MAN, THUS ESTABLISHING PEACE, AND MIGHT RECONCILE THEM BOTH IN ONE BODY TO GOD THROUGH THE CROSS, BY IT HAVING PUT TO DEATH THE ENMITY. WAS THE TORAH THE LAW OF ORDINANCES THAT WAS EMNITY BETWEEN THE JEWS AND GENTILES? NO- IT WAS THE DOGMA OF TAUGHT BY THE PHARISEES WHICH HAD PUT UP A DIVIDING WALL. MANY PEOPLE ASSUME THAT THE PHARISEES FOLLOWED THE TORAH- LAW OF MOSES WHICH WAS A YOKE OF BURDEN ON MEN. HOWEVER, IT WAS THE TRADITIONS AND ORAL LAWS WHICH THE PHARISEES KEPT IN HIGHER REGARDS THAN TORAH WHICH CAUSED THEM TO BE BREAKERS OF TORAH AND THE LAW… MARK 7:7-8 THEY WORSHIP ME IN VAIN; THEY TEACH AS DOCTRINE THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ YOU HAVE DISREGARDED THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD TO KEEP THE TRADITIONS OF MEN.’ NOWHERE IN THE LAW OF MOSES DOES IT SAY THAT ONE MUST be CIRCUMCISED IN THE FLESH TO BE SAVED- WHICH IS WHAT THE FALSE BROTHERS IN THE BOOK OF GALATIANS IMPOSED ON THE GENTILES- EITHER TO DISCOURAGE THEM OR TO TAKE CREDIT FOR THEIR CONVERSION. IT IS THE ONE WHO IS CIRCUMSIED IN THE HEART WHO IS SAVED- THOSE WHO ARE NOT CIRCUMCISED IN THE HEART, WILL GAIN NOTHING BY BEING CIRCUMSIED IN THE FLESH… IT IS IN VAIN. 1 CORINTHIANS 7:19 CIRCUMCISION IS NOTHING AND UNCIRCUMCISION IS NOTHING. KEEPING GOD’S COMMANDMENTS IS WHAT MATTERS. ROMANS 2:25 CIRCUMCISION HAS VALUE IF YOU OBSERVE THE LAW, BUT IF YOU BREAK THE LAW, YOUR CIRCUMCISION HAS BECOME UNCIRCUMCISION.

AND AS PAUL SAYS, IF YOU GET CIRCUMSIZED IN THE FLESH BUT ARE NOT CIRCUMSIZED IN THE HEART- IT HAS NO VALUE. BUT IF YOU KEEP TORAH (THE LAW), THEN IT HAS VALUE… BECAUSE THE ONE WHO KEEPS THE LAW IS THE ONE WHO LIVES BY THE SPIRIT AND NOT THE FLESH. LIVING BY THE SPIRIT MEANS THAT ONE LIVES TO FULFILL THE FULL INTENT OF THE LAW- AND NOT LIVE BY THE LETTER BECAUSE THE LETTER KILLS. ROMANS 2:27 THE ONE WHO IS PHYSICALLY UNCIRCUMCISED YET KEEPS THE LAW WILL CONDEMN YOU WHO, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE THE WRITTEN CODE AND CIRCUMCISION, ARE A LAWBREAKER. ONE MAY BE UNCIRCUMSIZED IN THE FLESH AND KEEP THE LAW- THE WILL CONDEMN THOSE WHO ARE CIRCUMSIZED YET ONLY FOLLOW THE LETTER OF THE LAW… NOT THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:4-6 AND WE HAVE SUCH TRUST THROUGH CHRIST TOWARD GOD. NOT THAT WE ARE SUFFICIENT OF OURSELVES TO THINK OF ANYTHING AS BEING FROM OURSELVES, BUT OUR SUFFICIENCY IS FROM GOD, WHO ALSO MADE US SUFFICIENT AS MINISTERS OF THE NEW COVENANT, NOT OF THE LETTER BUT OF THE SPIRIT; FOR THE LETTER KILLS, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE. REMEMBER GREAT IS TORAH, FOR IT GIVES LIFE… THE LETTER OF THE LAW DESCRIBES THE RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH IT. DO WE LIVE BY THE LETTER (TRYING TO KEEP IT FOR SALVATION) OR DO WE LIVE BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW- BECAUSE WE ARE SAVED; HAVING A FLESHY HEART? IT IS IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND THAT PAUL’S ALLEGORY TO BE HELD IN CUSTODY UNDER THE LAW IS NOT THE SAME AS CALLING THE LAW BONDAGE. THE BONDAGE PAUL REFERS TO IS THE YOKE BEING TAUGHT BY FALSE TEACHERS WHO CAME IN TEACHING THAT SALVATION CAME THROUGH KEEPING THE LAW AND ORAL LAWS. GALATIANS 4:21-31

GALATIANS 4:4-5 BUT WHEN THE TIME HAD FULLY COME, GOD SENT HIS SON, BORN OF A WOMAN, BORN UNDER THE LAW, TO REDEEM THOSE UNDER THE LAW, THAT WE MIGHT RECEIVE OUR ADOPTION AS SONS. WHEN WE WERE CHILDREN, WE WERE HELD IN BONDAGE TO THE RUDIMENTS OF THE WORLD, SUCH AS IDOLATRY, PAGANISM, AND THINGS WHICH BY NATURE ARE NOT GODS... ALL SORTS OF IMMORAL THINGS. MESSIAH WAS BORN INTO A SYSTEM WHICH PUNISHED US WITH DEATH WHEN WE VIOLATED THE LAW. GOD SENT HIS SON SO THAT HE MIGHT REDEEM ALL THE CURSED ONES FROM THE CURSE. THIS ALLOWS THE REDEEMED ONES TO BECOME ELIGIBLE FOR ADOPTION. GALATIANS 4:9 BUT NOW THAT YOU KNOW GOD, OR RATHER ARE KNOWN BY GOD, HOW IS IT THAT YOU ARE TURNING BACK TO THOSE WEAK AND WORTHLESS PRINCIPLES? DO YOU WISH TO BE ENSLAVED BY THEM ALL OVER AGAIN? WHAT WERE THE WEAK AND WORTHLESS THINGS THEY WERE TURNING BACK TO? WAS IT THE TORAH? NO. IT WAS THE THINGS OF THE WORLD.... THE IDOLATRY, PAGANISM, AND IMMORALITY. GALATIANS 4:10 YOU ARE OBSERVING SPECIAL DAYS AND MONTHS AND SEASONS AND YEARS! IS PAUL TALKING ABOUT GOD'S DAYS AND TIMES WHICH HE, HIMSELF OBSERVED? NO. HE IS TALKING ABOUT THE PAGAN HOLIDAYS AND THE TRADITIONS OF MEN. PAUL IS NOT TALKING ABOUT GOD’S DAYS (WHICH WE ARE TOLD ARE ETERNAL IN SCRIPTURE). EXODUS 31:16- KEEP THE SABBATH, A COVENANT FOREVER. EXODUS 12:14- PASSOVER, AN EVERLASTING ORDINANCE. EXODUS 12:17- UNLEAVENED BREAD, AS A STATUTE FOREVER.

PENTECOST IS CALLED THE FEAST OF WEEKS, BECAUSE GOD SPECIFICALLY TOLD THE SONS OF JACOB THAT THEY WERE TO COUNT SEVEN WEEKS FROM FIRST FRUITS AND THEN THE DAY AFTER, THIS FOURTH FEAST WAS TO BE OBSERVED: 'YOU SHALL ALSO COUNT FOR YOURSELVES FROM THE DAY AFTER THE SABBATH, FROM THE DAY WHEN YOU BROUGHT IN THE SHEAF OF THE WAVE OFFERING; THERE SHALL BE SEVEN COMPLETE SABBATHS. 'YOU SHALL COUNT FIFTY DAYS TO THE DAY AFTER THE SEVENTH SABBATH; THEN YOU SHALL PRESENT A NEW GRAIN OFFERING TO THE LORD. LEVITICUS 23:15-16 SEVEN WEEKS ARE 49 DAYS. ADD ONE DAY "THE DAY AFTER," AND IT BRINGS THE TOTAL TO FIFTY DAYS. THIS FOURTH FEAST WAS TO OCCUR PRECISELY FIFTY DAYS AFTER FIRST FRUITS. COUNTING THESE DAYS WAS KNOWN AS COUNTING THE OMER. PAUL KEPT THE FEAST DAYS AND (SABBATH- 84 TIMES ALONE IN THE BOOK OF ACTS)… EXPLAINING ROMANS 14: ROMANS 14 IS ONE OF THOSE CHAPTERS THAT CAUSES CONFUSION WHEN IT COMES TO THE DIETARY LAWS. WHAT IS ROMANS 14 REALLY ABOUT ? ROMANS 14:2-3 ONE PERSON BELIEVES HE MAY EAT ANYTHING, WHILE THE WEAK PERSON EATS ONLY VEGETABLES. LET NOT THE ONE WHO EATS DESPISE THE ONE WHO ABSTAINS, AND LET NOT THE ONE WHO ABSTAINS PASS JUDGMENT ON THE ONE WHO EATS, FOR GOD HAS WELCOMED HIM. IS PAUL ADDRESSING THE DIETARY LAWS OF TORAH? NO. HE IS ADDRESSING THE TRADITIONAL FAST DAYS. LET'S KEEP READING... ROMANS 14:5-6 ONE MAN REGARDS A CERTAIN DAY ABOVE THE OTHERS, WHILE SOMEONE ELSE CONSIDERS EVERY DAY ALIKE. EACH ONE SHOULD BE FULLY CONVINCED IN HIS OWN MIND. HE WHO OBSERVES A SPECIAL DAY DOES SO TO THE LORD; HE WHO EATS DOES SO TO THE LORD, FOR HE GIVES THANKS TO GOD; AND HE WHO ABSTAINS DOES SO TO THE LORD AND GIVES THANKS TO GOD.…

AGAIN, PAUL IS ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF FAST DAYS. SOME OF THE FAITHFUL OBSERVED THEM ALL. SOME OBSERVED NONE, AND OTHERS ONLY THE ONES THEY FELT LIKE OBSERVING. THERE ARE AT LEAST FOUR FASTS IN TRADITIONAL JUDAISM: -THE FAST OF GEDALIAH -THE TENTH DAY OF TEVET -THE SEVENTEENTH DAY OF THE 4TH MONTH -THE NINTH OF AV NOW, THESE FAST DAYS ARE NOT A COMMANDMENT. THEY ARE, IN FACT, TRADITION. HOWEVER, SINCE SOME OF THE PROPHETS STARTED THESE TRADITIONS, AND SINCE MANY JEWS OBSERVE THEM AS LAW, IT IS NO WONDER THAT ONE'S CONSCIENCE MIGHT BE BOTHERED AT THE NOTION OF SKIPPING THEM, OR ONLY OBSERVING SOME OF THEM. ROMANS 14:6 ...WHOEVER EATS MEAT DOES SO TO THE LORD, FOR THEY GIVE THANKS TO GOD; AND WHOEVER ABSTAINS DOES SO TO THE LORD AND GIVES THANKS TO GOD. ROMANS 14:10 YOU THEN, WHO EAT ONLY VEGETABLES— WHY DO YOU PASS JUDGMENT ON OTHERS? AND YOU WHO EAT ANYTHING-- WHY DO YOU DESPISE OTHER BELIEVERS? ALL OF US WILL STAND BEFORE GOD TO BE JUDGED BY HIM. DOES ROMANS 14 SAY THAT ALL THINGS ARE CLEAN TO EAT? WE ARE SUPPOSED TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE WITH SCRIPTURE. GOD HAD ALREADY SAID THAT THE SABBATH WAS HOLY AND THAT WE ARE NOT TO EAT PIG MEAT AND PAUL HAS ALREADY DECLARED THAT THE LAW GIVES US THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN (ROMANS 3:19-20).

THE CONTEXT OF ROMANS 14:6-23 IS MEATS SACRIFICED TO IDOLS AND FASTING...PAUL'S TEACHING, WHICH HE EXPLAINS IN ROMANS 14:14-23 AND 1 CORINTHIANS 8:4-13, IS THAT EATING FOOD SACRIFICED TO IDOLS IS NOT WRONG IN AND OF ITSELF, BUT IS BETTER AVOIDED FOR THE SAKE OF THOSE WHO THINK IT IS WRONG AND WOULD CONSEQUENTLY BE LED INTO SIN (ROM 14:23). WHILE EATING FOOD THAT HAS BEEN SACRIFICED TO IDOLS IS NOT WRONG, PARTICIPATING IN IDOL WORSHIP IS. SOME OF THE NEW CONVERTS WHO WERE STILL WEAK IN THEIR FAITH, HAVING JUST COME OUT OF IDOL WORSHIP, WOULD PREFER TO ONLY EAT VEGETABLES RATHER THAN RISK BUYING FOOD AT THE MARKET THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVIOUSLY SACRIFICED TO AN IDOL. SINCE SOME WORRIED THE MEAT THEY WERE BUYING AT THE MARKET CAME FROM QUESTIONABLE SOURCES OR SACRIFICED TO IDOLS. BUT SINCE EACH BELIEVER WAS ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD, WHETHER HE ATE MEAT (THAT WAS OFFERED TO IDOLS) OR NOT, WAS BETWEEN HIM AND GOD. IT WAS NOT FOR ANYONE ELSE TO JUDGE. ROMANS 14:13 THEREFORE LET US NOT PASS JUDGMENT ON ONE ANOTHER ANY LONGER, BUT RATHER DECIDE NEVER TO PUT A STUMBLING BLOCK OR HINDRANCE IN THE WAY OF A BROTHER. BELIEVERS HAD AN OBLIGATION TO JUDGE SIN BASED ON GOD'S STANDARD IN HIS WORD. THEREFORE, PAUL AGAIN WAS NOT TALKING ABOUT ACTIONS PROHIBITED BY GOD'S TORAH, BUT OTHER ACTIONS, LIKE THE EATING OF MEAT SACRIFICED TO IDOLS OR FAST DAYS. THE JERUSALEM COUNCIL, IN ACTS 15, HAD DETERMINED A LIST OF FOUR PURITY RELATED PROHIBITIONS THAT WOULD ALLOW THE NEW GENTILE BELIEVERS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE LOCAL BODY OF MESSIAH YESHUA. ONE OF THOSE PROHIBITIONS IN ACTS WAS THE ABSTAINING FROM MEATS THAT HAD BEEN OFFERED TO IDOLS. PAUL, ATTEMPTING TO SOLVE THE PRACTICAL PROBLEM OF DEALING WITH MEATS OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN, ADVISED THE BELIEVERS IN 1 CORINTHIANS 8 THAT THE EATING OF UNKNOWN MEAT WAS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE, UNLESS IT WOULD CAUSE ANOTHER BELIEVER TO STUMBLE IN HIS OR HER WALK.

ROMANS 14:14 KNOW, THAT IS, I HAVE BEEN PERSUADED BY THE MESSIAH... THAT NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF. BUT IF A PERSON CONSIDERS SOMETHING UNCLEAN, THEN FOR HIM IT IS UNCLEAN. PAUL WAS MAKING THE SAME POINT HE HAD MADE EARLIER TO THE CORINTHIANS: JUST BECAUSE MEAT THAT WAS OTHERWISE LAWFUL TO EAT MAY HAVE BEEN ASSOCIATED WITH IDOL WORSHIP DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT IS NO LONGER FIT FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION. PAUL’S POINT IS THAT ANY ASSOCIATION OF FOOD WITH IDOLATROUS ACTIVITY HAD NO BEARING ON WHETHER THAT FOOD WAS SUITABLE FOR EATING. ROMANS 14:15 IF YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER IS DISTRESSED BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU EAT, YOU ARE NO LONGER ACTING IN LOVE. DO NOT BY YOUR EATING DESTROY SOMEONE FOR WHOM CHRIST DIED. ROMANS 14:23 BUT WHOEVER HAS DOUBTS IS CONDEMNED IF THEY EAT, BECAUSE THEIR EATING IS NOT FROM FAITH; AND EVERYTHING THAT DOES NOT COME FROM FAITH IS SIN. AS WE CAN SEE FROM THE CONTEXT, THE GENTILES WHO ATE WITH A GUILTY CONSCIENCE WOULD BE EASY TO FALL BACK INTO SIN (COMING FROM PAGAN IDOL WORSHIP)...THOSE WHO ATE THE MEAT (SACRIFICED TO IDOLS) SHOULD NOT DO SO IN THE PRESENCE OF THE GENTILE WHO IS WEAK. THIS COULD CAUSE THEM TO STUMBLE AND SIN. PAUL WASN’T DISCUSSING BIBLICAL DIETARY RESTRICTIONS AT ALL. THOSE WHO ASSUME THE SUBJECT OF ROMANS 14 IS A RETRACTION OF GOD'S TORAH REGARDING CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS MUST FORCE THIS INTERPRETATION INTO THE TEXT BECAUSE IT HAS NO BIBLICAL FOUNDATION. PAUL COULD NOT HAVE BEEN TALKING ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT TO KEEP THE SABBATH DAY HOLY BECAUSE OBEDIENCE TO TORAH WAS AND IS NOT OPTIONAL. THE FOOD LAWS OF LEVITICUS 11 AND 14 NEVER COMMAND ANYONE TO EAT ONLY HERBS. THE ONLY REASON THAT A BELIEVER WOULD EAT ONLY HERBS WAS TO STAY AWAY FROM ANY POTENTIAL MEAT THAT HAD BEEN OFFERED TO IDOLS.

PAUL WAS SAYING THAT ONE KIND OF BELIEVER WAS ABLE TO EAT THE MEAT OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN WITHOUT VIOLATING HIS OR HER CONSCIENCE, WHILE THE OTHER KIND REFRAINED FROM ALL MEATS AND ATE ONLY HERBS. VEGETARIANISM EASILY ELIMINATED THE THREAT OF IDOL CONTAMINATION OR ASSOCIATION. THERE IS NO JUSTIFICATION TO US ROMANS 14 TO IMPLY THAT SOME PAUL DID AWAY WITH THE DIETARY LAWS. IF IN FACT, PAUL PREACHED SUCH A THING, HE WOULD BE BRANDED A FALSE PROPHET AND SEEN AS ONE SPEAKING HERESY. THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF COLOSSIANS 2: "DO WE MAKE VOID THE LAW THROUGH FAITH ? HEAVEN FORBID, WE ESTABLISH THE LAW" ... UNFORTUNATELY, THESE WORDS SPOKE BY PAUL SEEM TO FALL ON THE DEAF EARS OF THOSE WHO TWIST PAUL'S WORDS TO MAKE VOID THE WORDS OF THE TORAH; THE VERY TORAH GOD GAVE US HIMSELF. COLOSSIANS 2:16 -17 SO LET NO ONE JUDGE YOU IN FOOD OR IN DRINK, OR REGARDING A FESTIVAL OR A NEW MOON OR SABBATHS, WHICH ARE A SHADOW OF THINGS TO COME, BUT THE SUBSTANCE IS OF MESSIAH. PASTORS WILL USE THIS VERSE, AND SAY "SEE THERE, THOSE WERE JUST SHADOWS, THOSE WERE SHADOWS OF MESSIAH AND THE REAL SUBSTANCE, THE REALITY HERE IS FOUND IN MESSIAH; AND YOU'RE LIVING IN SHADOWS . . . THAT'S OLD TESTAMENT, AND WE'RE EXPERIENCING THE REALITY NOW.” FIRST LET'S NOTE WHO PAUL IS ADDRESSING HERE... THE NEW CONVERTS IN COLOSSAE WHO HAD JUST COME OUT OF PAGANISM. IT IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THAT THERE WERE MANY FALSE TEACHERS WHO LIVED AMONG THESE NEW CONVERTS IN MESSIAH. HERE, PAUL WARNS THESE NEW BELIEVERS NOT TO LET THESE FALSE TEACHERS JUDGE THEM FOR KEEPING THE DIETARY LAWS, THE FESTIVALS OF YAHWEH AND THE SABBATHS... BECAUSE IT IS THESE THINGS THAT POINT US TO CHRIST.

THE CLOSER ONE DRAWS NEAR TO THE SHADOW, THE CLOSER ONE DRAWS NEAR TO THE SUBSTANCE. COLOSSIANS 2:8 BEWARE LEST ANYONE CHEAT YOU THROUGH PHILOSOPHY AND EMPTY DECEIT, ACCORDING TO THE TRADITION OF MEN, ACCORDING TO THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE WORLD, AND NOT ACCORDING TO MESSIAH. HERE WE CAN PLAINLY SEE THAT PAUL IS ADDRESSING THE TRADITIONS OF MEN AND NOT THE TORAH. AND WHAT PAUL WOULD HAVE BEEN BRINGING FORTH IN HIS ACTIONS WOULD OR BEEN KEEPING THE LAW AND ACTING LIKE THE MESSIAH. WHAT CHRISTIANITY OFTEN TEACHES IS THAT NO ONE, INCLUDING GOD CAN PASS JUDGMENT ON YOU IN CONNECTION WITH EATING AND DRINKING, WHAT DAY YOU WORSHIP AND EVEN, WHAT HOLY DAYS YOU OBSERVE. PAUL IS BEING A CONSISTENT OLD TESTAMENT INSTRUCTOR. HE IS TELLING THE COLOSSIANS NOT TO LET ANYONE TELL THEM WHAT IS RIGHT, (ESPECIALLY THE FALSE TEACHERS WHOM THEY LIVE AROUND) BUT TO READ THE TORAH AND SEE WHAT GOD SAYS FOR THEMSELVES. THERE IS NOTHING IN PAUL’S WORDS THAT INDICATE HE WAS REVERSING OR CHANGING THE LAW OF GOD. IN FACT, WHAT DID PAUL SAY IN ACTS 24 ? ACTS 24:14 I CONTINUE TO BELIEVE EVERYTHING THAT ACCORDS WITH THE TORAH AND EVERYTHING WRITTEN IN THE PROPHETS. PAUL’S DEFENSE AGAINST THE ACCUSATIONS OF THE JEWISH PRIEST WAS THAT HE WAS A CONSISTENT PRACTITIONER OF THE TORAH. PAUL WAS SIMPLY DEFENDING THE TORAH IN ALL OF HIS LETTERS, ESPECIALLY HIS LETTER TO THE COLOSSIANS. IN NO WAY DOES COLOSSIANS 2:16 DECLARE ALL THINGS TO BE CLEAN TO EAT- NOR DOES IT ABOLISH ANY PART OF THE LAW OF MOSES (TORAH)… AS WE SEE, YESHUA HIMSELF SAID THAT NOTHING IN THE LAW WAS ABOLISHED:

MATTHEW 5:17-19 THINK NOT THAT I AM COME TO DESTROY THE LAW, OR THE PROPHETS: I AM NOT COME TO DESTROY, BUT TO FULFILL. FOR VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, TILL HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS, ONE JOT OR ONE TITTLE SHALL IN NO WISE PASS FROM THE LAW, TILL ALL BE FULFILLED. WHOSOEVER THEREFORE SHALL BREAK ONE OF THESE LEAST COMMANDMENTS (OF THE LAW), AND SHALL TEACH MEN SO, HE SHALL BE CALLED THE LEAST IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN: BUT WHOSOEVER SHALL DO AND TEACH THEM, THE SAME SHALL BE CALLED GREAT IN THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THE WORD FULFILL HERE DOES NOT MEAN TO ABOLISH OR CEASE TO DO- THE WORD FOR FULFILL IS PLEROO’ AND IT MEANS TO BRING TO FULLNESS, TO FULLY PREACH OR TO MAKE IT FULL. YESHUA CAME TO MAGNIFY THE TORAH, NOT TO DECREASE IT. AND SURELY, HEAVEN AND EARTH HAVE NOT PASSED AWAY. WHY WOULD HEAVEN AND EARTH HAVE TO PASS AWAY? BECAUSE GOD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH THE WITNESSES TO THE LAW. DEUTERONOMY 30:19 I CALL HEAVEN AND EARTH TO RECORD THIS DAY AGAINST YOU, THAT I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING: THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE, THAT BOTH THOU AND THY SEED MAY LIVE. NEXT, YESHUA CONNECTS THE KEEPING OF THE LAW WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS! MATTHEW 5:20 FOR I TELL YOU THAT UNLESS YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS EXCEEDS THAT OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES, YOU WILL NEVER ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THE TORAH (LAW) HAS A DUALITY TO IT. IT IS BOTH- A CURSING AND A BLESSING. A CURSE IF ONE BREAKS IT- AND A BLESSING IF ONE KEEPS IT. LIFE AND DEATH.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CHOOSE LIFE, THAT BOTH THOU AND THY SEED MAY LIVE… WE CAN FIND THE ANSWER IN PROVERBS AND HOSEA… PROVERBS 28:9 IF ANYONE TURNS A DEAF EAR TO MY LAW, EVEN THEIR PRAYERS ARE AN ABOMINATION. HOSEA 4:6 MY PEOPLE ARE DESTROYED FROM LACK OF KNOWLEDGE. BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED KNOWLEDGE, I ALSO REJECT YOU AS MY PRIESTS; BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE LAW OF GOD, I ALSO WILL REJECT YOUR CHILDREN. RESISTING THE LAW OF MOSES IS REJECTING THE HOLY SPIRIT. IT IS THE DUTY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO REMIND US TO OBEY THE LAW. IF WE REJECT THE LAW- THEN WE REJECTY THE PURPOSE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. EZEKIEL 36:27 AND I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT WITHIN YOU AND CAUSE YOU TO WALK IN MY STATUTES AND TO CAREFULLY OBSERVE MY ORDINANCES. EZEKIEL 11:20 SO THAT THEY MAY FOLLOW MY STATUTES, KEEP MY ORDINANCES, AND PRACTICE THEM. THEN THEY WILL BE MY PEOPLE, AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD. THOSE WHO BELONG TO GOD ARE THE ONES WHO OBEY HIM AND WALK LIKE HIM. 1 JOHN 2:6 WHOEVER CLAIMS TO LIVE IN HIM MUST LIVE AS YESHUA. LIVING IN HIM MEANS THAT HIS SPIRIT IS IN YOU AND THAT YOU ARE IN THE FATHER…

JOHN 15:7 IF YOU ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, YOU WILL ASK WHAT YOU DESIRE, AND IT SHALL BE DONE FOR YOU. WHO ARE THE ONES WHO LOVE GOD? THOSE WHO KEEP HIS LAW. GOD’S WORDS MUST ALSO ABIDE IN US IF WE ABIDE IN HIM- JOHN 14:15 IF YOU LOVE ME, KEEP MY COMMANDS. YESHUA TOLD US TO OBEY EVERY WORD THAT CAME FROM GOD’S MOUTH. WHAT WORDS CAME FROM GOD’S MOUTH? THE LAW OF MOSES (TORAH). MATTHEW 4:4 IT IS WRITTEN, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD.’ YESHUA DID NOT COME TO CHANGE WHAT GOD HAD SAID. HE CAME TO MAGNIFY IT. ISAIAH 42:21 THE LORD WAS PLEASED FOR THE SAKE OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, TO MAGNIFY HIS LAW AND MAKE IT GLORIOUS. YESHUA IS THE LIVING TORAH, HE CANNOT COME TO ABOLISH HIMSELF. JOHN 1:1 IN THE BEGINNING WAS THE WORD, AND THE WORD WAS WITH GOD, AND THE WORD WAS GOD. THE LAW OF MOSES IS THE WORD OF GOD- THEREFORE IT IS GOD. IF YOU SAY THE TORAH OR LAW IS EVIL- THEN YOU ARE CALLING GOD EVIL. GALATIANS 4:16 HAVE I NOW BECOME YOUR ENEMY BY TELLING YOU THE TRUTH?

THE GALATIANS WERE TEMPTED TO REJECT PAUL IN FEAR OF GETTING SICK. PAUL WAS GRACIOUS TO HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK TO THE GALATIANS. HOWEVER, THEY COULD NOW REJECT HIM FOR BEING TRUTHFUL. WE SEE THIS IN THE WORLD TODAY. MANY PEOPLE ARE OFFENDED BY THE TRUTH. WHAT IS TRUTH? GOD’S WORD SAYS TRUTH IS THE LAW (TORAH). PSALMS 119:142 THY RIGHTEOUSNESS IS AN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THY LAW IS THE TRUTH. YESHUA SAID HE IS THE TRUTH- THE LIVING TORAH AND THE TRUTH SETS US FREE… YESHUA=TORAH. GALATIANS 4:22-24 FOR IT IS WRITTEN THAT ABRAHAM HAD TWO SONS, ONE BY THE SLAVE WOMAN AND THE OTHER BY THE FREE WOMAN. HIS SON BY THE SLAVE WOMAN WAS BORN ACCORDING TO THE FLESH, BUT HIS SON BY THE FREE WOMAN WAS BORN BECAUSE OF THE PROMISE. THESE THINGS SERVE AS ILLUSTRATIONS, FOR THE WOMEN REPRESENT TWO COVENANTS. ONE COVENANT IS FROM MOUNT SINAI AND BEARS CHILDREN INTO SLAVERY: THIS IS HAGAR. WHICH TWO COVENANTS DO THESE WOMEN REPRESENT? OFTEN IT IS ASSUMED THAT THEY REPRESENT THE MOSAIC COVENANT AND THE NEW COVENANT, BUT THIS IS NOT TRUE. VERSE 24 CONFIRMS THAT HAGAR REPRESENTS THE MOSAIC COVENANT, BUT TO IDENTIFY THE COVENANT THAT SARAH REPRESENTS REQUIRES A LOOK BACK AT WHAT PAUL HAD BEEN TEACHING. MUCH TIME IN THE BOOK OF GALATIANS WAS SPENT IN EXPLAINING THAT THE GALATIANS HAD BEEN SAVED BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH. PAUL'S EXAMPLE HAD BEEN ABRAHAM, SO IT IS UNDERSTANDABLE THAT PAUL WOULD USE SARAH AS THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. THE FALSE TEACHERS BELIEVED THAT THE GALATIANS NEEDED TO UNDERGO CONVERSION TO JUDAISM IN ORDER TO BE A PART OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD.

PAUL'S GOING BACK TO THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT REVEALED THAT SALVATION CAME BY FAITH. HE MADE THE POINT THAT A NEWER COVENANT CANNOT ANNUL AN OLDER COVENANT. THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT WAS STILL IN FORCE AND SO FAITH CONTINUED TO BE THE MECHANISM FOR SALVATION. THE MOSAIC COVENANT ONLY BUILT ON THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. AGAIN, PAUL WAS PROVING THAT THE FALSE TEACHERS WERE WRONG IN THEIR ASSUMPTIONS. VERSE 24 ALSO STATES THAT THE COVENANT THAT HAGAR REPRESENTED LED TO BONDAGE. HOWEVER, PAUL BELIEVED THAT COMING UNDER THE SYSTEM OF JUDAISM (HOLDING THE ORAL LAW TO THE SAME DEGREE AS THE WRITTEN LAW) DID LEAD TO BONDAGE. PAUL SAW HAGAR (AND THE FALSE TEACHERS' WAY) AS A MAN-MADE ATTEMPT AT FULFILLING GOD'S SALVATION PLAN. SARAH (AND FAITH) WAS GOD'S METHOD OF FULFILLMENT. IN THE ALLEGORY THAT PAUL WAS USING, HAGAR REPRESENTED MAN'S ATTEMPT AT ACCOMPLISHING GOD'S PROMISE OF A SON FOR ABRAHAM. SARAH REPRESENTED GOD'S OWN MIRACULOUS METHOD OF FULFILLING THE PROMISE. PAUL WAS TRYING TO CONVEY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOD'S WAY OF SALVATION (FAITH) VERSUS THE WAY THAT THE FALSE TEACHERS WERE PUSHING (RITUAL CONVERSION). PAUL WAS USING HAGAR THEN AS A REPRESENTATIVE ALSO OF JERUSALEM, AS IT WAS AT THAT TIME, AND THE CURRENT SYSTEM OF JUDAISM THAT PLACED THE JEWISH PEOPLE UNDER A FORM OF BONDAGE. THIS WAS WHAT THE FALSE TEACHERS WANTED THE NEW GALATIAN BELIEVERS TO SUBMIT TO. PAUL CONTRASTED THE PRESENT JERUSALEM WITH THE JERUSALEM WHICH WAS ABOVE, NEW JERUSALEM WAS FREE, AND WAS MOTHER OF US ALL (VERSE 26). THIS WAS SARAH IN PAUL'S ALLEGORY AND SHE REPRESENTED THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT THAT DEMONSTRATED THAT GOD'S WAY OF SALVATION WAS THROUGH FAITH. PAUL WAS NOT DIVORCING THE BELIEVERS IN YESHUA FROM JUDAISM, BUT RATHER THE MAN-MADE SYSTEM SURROUNDING IT.

PAUL THEN USED ISAIAH 54 AS THE FOUNDATION OF HIS ALLEGORY IN VERSE 27. THIS PROPHECY WAS ABOUT JERUSALEM, WHICH WAS DESCRIBED AS BEING BARREN BECAUSE HER CHILDREN HAD GONE INTO EXILE. HOWEVER, ONE DAY THERE WOULD BE AN INGATHERING OF THE PEOPLE, A NUMBER FAR EXCEEDING WHAT SHE WOULD HAVE EXPECTED. IN THIS MILLENNIAL KINGDOM THERE WOULD BE BOTH JEWS AND GENTILES. THE COMPARISON OF THE NEW JERUSALEM TO SARAH WAS IN KEEPING WITH TRADITIONAL JEWISH INTERPRETATION OF THE BARREN WOMAN WHO BECAME THE MOTHER OF A NATION. JUST AS ISAAC WAS PERSECUTED BY ISHMAEL, SO, TOO, WERE THE GALATIAN CHILDREN OF PROMISE PERSECUTED BY THE CHILDREN OF THE FLESH. PAUL WAS PRETTY HARSH STATEMENT ABOUT THE FALSE TEACHERS. INSTEAD OF CALLING THEM, BRETHREN, AS PAUL HAD BEEN CALLING THE GALATIANS, HE IMPLIED THAT THE FALSE TEACHERS WOULD NOT INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE! IN SUMMARY, PAUL CONCLUDED HIS ALLEGORY BY SAYING THAT THE GALATIANS WERE THE CHILDREN OF THE FREE WOMAN AND NOT THE SLAVE WOMAN (VERSE 31). THERE SIMPLY WAS NO NEED FOR THEM TO UNDERGO RITUAL CONVERSION AND BECOME JEWS AND BE SUBJECT TO THE JUDAIC SYSTEM. THEY WERE ALREADY SAVED AND HAD BECOME PART OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD. THUS IF WE SHOULD BE SETTING OUR MINDS ON SPIRITUAL THINGS, AND THE LAW IS SPIRITUAL, WE SHOULD ALSO BE SETTING OUR MINDS ON THE LAW. THIS IS WHY PAUL HIMSELF SAYS THAT HE TRIES TO ACTIVELY OBEY GOD’S LAW WITH HIS MIND BECAUSE IT IS HIS MIND THAT CONTROLS HIS BODY AND IT IS PAUL’S DESIRE TO DEFEAT THE SIN-MANIPULATION TAKING PLACE IN HIS FLESH SO THAT BOTH HIS MIND AND BODY CAN SERVE GOD’S LAW. THIS IS WHY IT SAYS ELSEWHERE THAT WE ARE TO LOVE THE LORD WITH ALL OUR HEART, STRENGTH, MIND, AND SOUL... EVERY PART OF US MUST OBEY GOD. WE KNOW THAT TRUE LOVE FOR GOD IS KEEPING HIS COMMANDMENTS (1 JOHN 5:3).

WHAT IS OLD AND FADING AWAY ? HEBREWS 8:13 BY SPEAKING OF A NEW COVENANT, HE HAS MADE THE FIRST ONE OBSOLETE; AND WHAT IS OBSOLETEAND AGING WILL SOON DISAPPEAR. THE WORD FOR "NEW" USED IN THE ABOVE VERSE IS STRONGS # 2537 KAINOS AND IT MEANS "FRESH" IN THE GREEK. HOWEVER, IN HEBREW, THE WORD IS "RENEWED." YESHUA HAS RENEWED HIS COVENANT WITH US MAKING THE FIRST ONE (THE FIRST OR THE PRINCIPLE). HEBREWS 8 IS DEFINITELY NOT INFORMING US THAT THE TORAH IS OBSOLETE! ISRAEL BROKE THE FIRST COVENANT BECAUSE OF THEIR HEARTS OF STONE. AS WE SEE IN PSALMS 19:7, THE TORAH IS PERFECT. SO THE PROBLEM WAS WITH ISRAEL, NOT THE TORAH. HEBREWS 8:8 BEHOLD THE DAYS COME, SAYS MASTER YHWH, WHEN I WILL COMPLETE WITH THE FAMILY OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE FAMILY OF THE HOUSE OF JUDAH, A RENEWED COVENANT... WHEN ISRAEL BROKE THE BLOOD COVENANT MADE WITH YAHWEH, THEY WERE WORTHY OF DEATH. ACCORDING TO TORAH, ONLY A PARTY THAT HAD NOT BROKEN THE BLOOD COVENANT COULD DIE IN THEIR PLACE (WHICH IS WHAT YESHUA DID). THEREFORE, BY HIS DEATH, THE COVENANT IS ABLE TO BE RENEWED. HIS BLOOD BECOMES THE BLOOD THAT RENEWS THE COVENANT. MATTHEW 26:28 THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHICH IS POURED OUT FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. HOWEVER, THIS TIME THE COVENANT WILL BE BASED ON BETTER PROMISES. HE WILL WRITE THE TORAH ON OUR HEARTS, NOT ON STONE.

WHEN MOSES BROKE THE TABLETS, IT WAS A FORESHADOWING OF THE BREAKING OF THE COVENANT. MOSES THEN HAD TO TAKE HIS OWN TABLETS (HIS HEART) TO GOD AND GOD WROTE THE COMMANDS UPON HIS HEART, PROPHETICALLY. HEBREWS 8:10 BUT THIS IS THE COVENANT WHICH I WILL GIVE TO THE FAMILY OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, I WILL PUT MY TORAH IN THEIR MINDS AND INSCRIBE IT ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE TO THEM A ELOHIM, AND THEY WILL BE TO ME A PEOPLE. IT'S THE SAME COVENANT WITH THE SAME LAW (TORAH); HOWEVER, THIS TIME, WE WILL HAVE THE HEART TO OBEY. WITHOUT THE FIRST COVENANT, THE SECOND ONE IS IMPOSSIBLE! THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL CHOSE TO WILLFULLY BREAK THIS COVENANT AND TREAT IT AS A VAIN THING. THEY HAD NO RELATIONSHIP WITH IT OR GOD. THE CONTEXT IS JEREMIAH 31:31-34, WHAT IS "NEAR TO DISAPPEARING" IS THE SINFUL NATURE OF MAN THAT BREAKS TORAH, NOT THE STANDARD OF TORAH. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:6 AND HE HAS QUALIFIED US AS MINISTERS OF A RENEWED COVENANT, NOT OF THE LETTER BUT OF THE SPIRIT; FOR THE LETTER KILLS, BUT THE SPIRIT GIVES LIFE. ONE WHO HAS NO RELATIONSHIP WITH TORAH OR GOD CAN ONLY KEEP THE LETTER OF THE LAW. THEY CANNOT KEEP THE INTENT OR THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE THE HEART TO DO SO. REMEMBER, THE SPIRIT OF THE LAW IS EVEN STRICTER THAN THE LETTER BECAUSE IT GOES RIGHT OT THE INTENT BEHIND THE COMMAND. REMEMBER THAT WE BROKE TORAH, NOT YHWH! YHWH DID NOT DROP THE STANDARD OF TORAH BECAUSE ISRAEL CHOSE DISOBEDIENCE; RATHER, HE INSTALLED A RENEWED COVENANT TO WRITE TORAH UPON THE HEART THROUGH THE WORK OF THE RUACH HAKODESH. BECAUSE MANKIND BROKE COVENANT, YHWH REQUIRES COMPLETE RENOVATION ON OUR PART, NOT YHWH'S PART OF THE COVENANT. THE LAW OF THE FORMER COVENANT WAS NOT "DONE AWAY WITH".

SO HERE IN HEBREWS 8, GOD IS RENEWING THE COVENANT WITH US AND OUR HEARTS OF STONE ARE DISAPPEARING AND FADING AWAY MAKING WAY FOR HEARTS OF FLESH ON WHICH HIS TORAH IS WRITTEN. 2 CORINTHIANS 3:13 UNLIKE MOSES, WHO PUT A VEIL OVER HIS FACE, SO THAT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WOULD NOT SEE THE FADING BRIGHTNESS COME TO AND END. PAUL DECLARES THAT ISRAEL COULD NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND WHAT THE TANAKH ("OLD TESTAMENT") SAID BECAUSE OF THE SPIRITUAL VEIL OVER THEIR HEARTS. HE SAYS THAT WHEN ONE COMES TO KNOW MESSIAH THEY THEN CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND THE TANAKH. HIS LESSON HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE LAW (TORAH) BEING TAKEN AWAY. YESHUA CANNOT DO AWAY WITH THE TORAH BECAUSE HE IS THE TORAH (WORD) MADE FLESH. HE CANNOT ABOLISH HIMSELF. JOHN 1:14 AND THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH, AND DWELT AMONG US, (AND WE BEHELD HIS GLORY, THE GLORY AS OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN OF THE FATHER,) FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH. WE READ IN GENESIS 15:6, HE (AVRAHAM) BELIEVED IN ADONAI, AND HE (GOD) CREDITED IT TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. SO PAUL IS GOING TO JUSTIFY HIS ASSERTION THAT TRUSTING FAITHFULNESS IS WHAT ACTUALLY CONFIRMS THE LAW OF MOSES (AND DOESN'T ABOLISH IT) BY CITING ABRAHAM. HE BEGINS BY ADDRESSING A STANDARD PREMISE OF JUDAISM THAT CLEARLY EXISTED THEN, AND EXISTS TO THIS DAY THAT IS CALLED IN HEBREW Z'KUT AVOT: THE MERITS OF THE FATHERS. THIS WAS A BELIEF THAT WAS PART AND PARCEL WITH THE CONCEPT THAT JEWISHNESS ITSELF GUARANTEED RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD. THE KEY WORDS IN ROMANS 4:1 ARE "BY HIS OWN EFFORTS"…

IN OTHER WORDS, THE JEWS BELIEVED THAT ABRAHAM WAS RIGHTEOUS ON ACCOUNT OF HIS DEEDS AND THAT ABRAHAM'S RIGHTEOUSNESS HAD A GREAT DEAL TO DO WITH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS. ABRAHAM IS SEEN BY THE CHURCH AS MORE CONNECTED TO JUDAISM AND TO ISLAM. AND YET HERE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT PAUL SHOWS US THAT THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION THAT WE ALL COUNT ON IS DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO ABRAHAM. BUT EVEN MORE IF PAUL CAN PROVE TO HIS READERS THAT IF ABRAHAM HAD NO CLAIM TO GLORY (BECAUSE HE DID NOT RECEIVE HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS THROUGH HIS DEEDS), THEN NEITHER CAN ANYONE ELSE CLAIM GLORY FROM THEIR OWN DEEDS. ABRAHAM WAS CREDITED WITH RIGHTEOUSNESS, PAUL PROVIDES A SIMPLE ANALOGY. HE SAYS THAT A PERSON WHO WORKS FOR A WAGE DOESN'T RECEIVE HIS PAY BECAUSE OF A FAVOR. HE DOESN'T RECEIVE HIS PAY AS A GIFT OR AS AN ACT OF GRACE BY HIS OVERSEER. HE'S EARNED IT BY HIS OWN HARD LABORS; THE REWARD IS DUE TO HIM AND SO HE RIGHTFULLY CAN GLORY IN IT. ON THE OTHER HAND, IF A PERSON DOES NOT WORK BUT RATHER MERELY TRUSTS IN GOD TO MAKE PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT GODLY INTO PEOPLE WHO ARE RIGHTEOUS, THEN THAT PERSON HAS EARNED NOTHING AND SO IS OWED NOTHING. THE TRUST THEY HAVE IN GOD IS SIMPLY IMPUTED TO THEM, BY GOD, AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. WHAT THAT PERSON RECEIVED (RIGHTEOUSNESS) WAS NOT OWED TO HIM; IT WAS GIVEN AS A FAVOR, A GIFT. PAUL DRAGS KING DAVID INTO THE PICTURE TO USE WHAT HE HAD TO SAY AS YET ANOTHER PROOF THAT WORKS AND DEEDS ARE NOT WHAT MAKES A PERSON RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD. IN FACT PAUL IS USING PSALM 32 TO HELP TO PROPERLY INTERPRET GENESIS 15.6. SO LET'S HEAR WHAT DAVID HAD TO SAY ABOUT THE SOURCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS (INCLUDING FOR THOSE, LIKE HIMSELF, WHO WERE JEWS AND HAD THE LAW) BY READING ALL OF PSALM 32…

PSALM 32:1-11 HOW BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE OFFENSE IS FORGIVEN, THOSE WHOSE SIN IS COVERED! HOW BLESSED THOSE TO WHOM ADONAI IMPUTES NO GUILT, IN WHOSE SPIRIT IS NO DECEIT! WHEN I KEPT SILENT, MY BONES WASTED AWAY BECAUSE OF MY GROANING ALL DAY LONG; DAY AND NIGHT YOUR HAND WAS HEAVY ON ME; THE SAP IN ME DRIED UP AS IN A SUMMER DROUGHT. (SELAH) WHEN I ACKNOWLEDGED MY SIN TO YOU, WHEN I STOPPED CONCEALING MY GUILT, AND SAID, "I WILL CONFESS MY OFFENSES TO ADONAI"; THEN YOU, YOU FORGAVE THE GUILT OF MY SIN. (SELAH) THIS IS WHAT EVERYONE FAITHFUL SHOULD PRAY AT A TIME WHEN YOU CAN BE FOUND. THEN, WHEN THE FLOODWATERS ARE RAGING, THEY WILL NOT REACH TO HIM. YOU ARE A HIDING- PLACE FOR ME, YOU WILL KEEP ME FROM DISTRESS; YOU WILL SURROUND ME WITH SONGS OF DELIVERANCE. (SELAH) "I WILL INSTRUCT AND TEACH YOU IN THIS WAY THAT YOU ARE TO GO; I WILL GIVE YOU COUNSEL; MY EYES WILL BE WATCHING YOU." DON'T BE LIKE A HORSE OR MULE THAT HAS NO UNDERSTANDING, THAT HASTO BE CURBED WITH BIT AND BRIDLE, OR ELSE IT WON'T COME NEAR YOU. MANY ARE THE TORMENTS OF THE WICKED, BUT GRACE SURROUNDS THOSE WHO TRUST IN ADONAI. BE GLAD IN ADONAI; REJOICE, YOU RIGHTEOUS! SHOUT FOR JOY, ALL YOU UPRIGHT IN HEART! SO PAUL USES THIS PSALM OF DAVID TO MAKE A KEY POINT: GOD FORGIVES AND GIVES RIGHTEOUSNESS TO THOSE WHO HAVE SINNED; AND YET PEOPLE WHO HAVE SINNED DO NOT DESERVE FORGIVENESS. GOD "IMPUTES" OR "RECKONS" (DEPENDING ON YOUR BIBLE VERSION) NO GUILT TO THE SINNER, THUS RIGHTEOUSNESS COULD IN TURN BE GIVEN TO THAT SINNER WHO GOD NOW NO LONGER SEES AS A SINNER. THE VERSE 8 INSTRUCTION ABOUT "THE WAY YOU ARE TO GO" IS REFERRING TO THE LAW OF MOSES, THE TORAH. BUT NOTICE THIS IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH HOW ONE BECOMES RIGHTEOUS. GOING THE WAY ONE IS TO GO, AND RECEIVING RIGHTEOUSNESS, ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS.

"GOING THE WAY ONE IS TO GO" DOES NOT CAUSE RIGHTEOUSNESS. BUT.....RECEIVING RIGHTEOUSNESS DOES OPEN A PERSON'S HEART TO GOD'S INSTRUCTION AND HIS WISE COUNSEL AS FOUND IN THE LAW SO THAT HE CAN "GO THE WAY ONE IS TO GO". VERSE 10 OF PSALM 32 IS SOMETHING WE SHOULD CAREFULLY NOTE. IT SAYS THAT GRACE SURROUNDS THOSE WHO TRUST IN GOD. PLEASE NOTICE THAT DAVID LIVED 1000 YEARS BEFORE CHRIST, AND YET HE APPEALS TO GRACE. GRACE IS NOT A NEW TESTAMENT INNOVATION. CHRIST DID NOT OPEN THE ERA OF GRACE. GRACE IS AN OLD TESTAMENT PRINCIPLE NATURALLY BROUGHT FORWARD INTO THE NEW TESTAMENT ERA. GRACE IS MORE THAN A PRINCIPLE; IT IS AN ATTRIBUTE OF GOD. IN FACT THE LEVITICAL SACRIFICIAL SYSTEM WAS GRACE IN ACTION BECAUSE GOD DECIDED THAT HE WOULD ACCEPT THE BLOOD OF SINLESS ANIMALS TO PAY FOR THE SINS OF GUILTY HUMAN BEINGS WHO OWED HIM THE DEBT OF THEIR OWN BLOOD. GRACE VERSUS LAW (AS IT IS OFTEN FRAMED IN CHRISTIANITY) IS AN OXYMORON. THE LAW WAS GRACE BECAUSE GOD GAVE ISRAEL A WAY TO ATONE FOR THEIR TRESPASSES, AND TO RETURN TO PEACE WITH HIM, WHICH DIDN'T INVOLVE THE HUMAN TRESPASSER LOSING THEIR OWN LIFE NOR DID IT INVOLVE THEM "EARNING" THEIR WAY BACK. THE ONE WHO DOES NOT WORK, BUT BELIEVES IN HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE WICKED, HIS FAITH IS CREDITED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.… ROMANS 4:5 PAUL CONTRASTS THE LABORER WHO RECEIVES WAGES (ROMANS 4:4), “TO THE ONE WHO DOES NOT WORK, BUT BELIEVES IN HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY, [WHOSE] FAITH IS CREDITED AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.” THE CONTEXT OF ROMANS 4:5-7, AND THE SPECIFIC APPEAL TO TON DIKAIOUNTA TON ASEBĒ, “HIM WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY,” MAKES IT CLEAR THAT THE JUSTIFICATION /RIGHTEOUSNESS IN VIEW HERE IS A DECLARATION OF INNOCENCE FROM HUMAN SINS. ROMANS 4:5-7 SHOULD BE READ IN VIEW OF ROMANS 3:26 PRECEDING, AND THE FINAL SACRIFICE OF YESHUA PRESENT.

THIS IS IMPORTANT NOT ONLY FOR UNDERSTANDING THE UNMERITED FAVOR PRESENT IN THE GOOD NEWS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE OF THE PRESENCE OF VARIOUS TANACH STATEMENTS SUCH AS EXODUS 23:7, “KEEP FAR FROM A FALSE CHARGE, AND DO NOT KILL THE INNOCENT OR THE RIGHTEOUS, FOR I WILL NOT ACQUIT THE GUILTY,” OR PROVERBS 17:15, “HE WHO JUSTIFIES THE WICKED AND HE WHO CONDEMNS THE RIGHTEOUS, BOTH OF THEM ALIKE ARE AN ABOMINATION TO THE LORD.” ROMANS 4:5 CANNOT BE TAKEN AS ANY PAULINE DECLARATION AGAINST BELIEVERS DEMONSTRATING GOOD WORKS. RATHER, WHAT PAUL HAS IN MIND…IS THE PERSON WHO DOES NOT DEPEND ON HIS OR HER WORKS FOR THEIR STANDING BEFORE GOD. WORKS APART FROM FAITH IS AS DEAD AS FAITH WITHOUT WORKS. PAUL’S STATEMENT IN ROMANS 4:5 HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH GOOD WORKS RESULTANT FROM ONE’S JUSTIFICATION (EPHESIANS 2:10), BUT INSTEAD SPEAKS AGAINST HUMAN ACTIONS TRYING TO MERIT JUSTIFICATION, FORGIVENESS, AND A DECLARATION OF INNOCENCE VERDICT. IN ABRAHAM’S CASE, PAUL VIEWS HIS FAITH IN GOD’S PROMISES AS RECKONING HIM OR CREDITING HIM RIGHTEOUS (ROMANS 4:3), WHICH IS SOMETHING HE DID NOT WORK FOR IN HIS OWN HUMAN STRENGTH. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THESE TWO KINDS OF ‘CREDITING’ SHOULD NOW BE CLEAR. IN THE CONTEXT OF BUSINESS, THOSE WHO WORK SHOULD HAVE THEIR WAGES CREDITED TO THEM AS A RIGHT, A DEBT, AN OBLIGATION, FOR THEY HAVE EARNED THEM. IN THE CONTEXT OF JUSTIFICATION, HOWEVER, TO THOSE WHO DO NOT WORK, AND THEREFORE HAVE NO RIGHT TO PAYMENT, BUT WHO INSTEAD PUT THEIR TRUST IN GOD WHO JUSTIFIES THE UNGODLY… THEIR FAITH IS CREDITED TO THEM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS, THAT IS, THEY ARE GIVEN RIGHTEOUSNESS AS A FREE AND UNEARNED GIFT OF GRACE BY FAITH. MOSES RECEIVED THE TORAH FROM SINAI, YET THERE IS ALSO AN ANCIENT TRADITION THAT THE TORAH EXISTED IN HEAVEN NOT ONLY BEFORE GOD REVEALED IT TO MOSES, BUT EVEN BEFORE THE WORLD WAS CREATED.

TORAH IS REFERRED TO BOTH AS THE "TORAH OF THE LORD" AND AS THE "TORAH OF MOSES," AND IS SAID TO BE GIVEN AS AN INHERITANCE TO THE CONGREGATION OF JACOB. ITS PURPOSE SEEMS TO BE TO MAKE ISRAEL "A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS AND A HOLY NATION." IT IS SAID THAT MOSES ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN TO CAPTURE THE TORAH FROM THE ANGELS. IN ONE OF THE OLDEST MISHNAIC STATEMENTS IT IS TAUGHT THAT TORAH IS ONE OF THE THREE THINGS BY WHICH THE WORLD IS SUSTAINED. THE TORAH WAS OFTEN COMPARED TO FIRE, WATER, WINE, OIL, MILK, HONEY, AND MANNA, THE TREE OF LIFE, AND MANY OTHER THINGS; IT WAS CONSIDERED THE SOURCE OF FREEDOM, GOODNESS, AND LIFE; IT WAS IDENTIFIED BOTH WITH WISDOM AND WITH LOVE. THE MESSAGE OF THE TORAH IS FOR ALL MANKIND. WHEN HE DID GIVE THE TORAH TO ISRAEL, HE REVEALED IT IN THE EXTRATERRITORIAL DESERT AND SIMULTANEOUSLY IN ALL THE 70 LANGUAGES, SO THAT MEN OF ALL NATIONS WOULD HAVE A RIGHT TO IT. EXODUS 20:5-6 I, THE LORD YOUR GOD, AM A JEALOUS GOD, PUNISHING THE CHILDREN FOR THE SIN OF THE PARENTS TO THE THIRD AND FOURTH GENERATION OF THOSE WHO HATE ME, BUT SHOWING LOVE TO A THOUSAND GENERATIONS OF THOSE WHO LOVE ME AND KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS. DEUTERONOMY 4:2 YE SHALL NOT ADD UNTO THE WORD WHICH I COMMAND YOU, NEITHER SHALL YE DIMINISH OUGHT FROM IT, THAT YE MAY KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD YOUR GOD WHICH I COMMAND YOU. WE WERE TOLD IN DEUTERONOMY NOT OT ADD OR TAKE AWAY FROM THE LAW THAT GOD (YAHWEH) HAD JUST GIVEN ISRAEL… THESE ARE THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD. THERE WERE NOT JUST TEN OF THEM! THE ISRAELITES ONLY HEARD TEN OF THEM WITH THEIR OWN EARS- MOSES RECEIVED THE REST ON THEIR BEHALF…

REDEEMING THE BRIDE OF CHRIST (ISRAEL) AFTER 700 YEARS OF IDOLTARY, GOD DIVORCED ISRAEL- BUT NOT JUDAH. JEREMIAH 3:8 AND I SAW, WHEN FOR ALL THE CAUSES WHEREBY BACKSLIDING ISRAEL COMMITTED ADULTERY I HAD PUT HER AWAY, AND GIVEN HER A BILL OF DIVORCE; YET HER TREACHEROUS SISTER JUDAH FEARED NOT, BUT WENT AND PLAYED THE HARLOT ALSO. THIS CREATES A DIVINE PROBLEM BECAUSE NOT EVEN GOD CAN BREAK HIS OWN LAW- AND ACCORDING TO HIS LAW, A HUSBAND CANNOT REMARRY A WIFE HE HAS DIVORCED- AND HAS BEEN WITH ANOTHER. DEUTERONOMY 24:4 THEN HER FORMER HUSBAND, WHO SENT HER AWAY, MAY NOT TAKE HER AGAIN TO BE HIS WIFE, AFTER SHE HAS BEEN DEFILED, FOR THAT IS AN ABOMINATION BEFORE THE LORD. AND YOU SHALL NOT BRING SIN UPON THE LAND THAT THE LORD YOUR GOD IS GIVING YOU FOR AN INHERITANCE. SO HOW WAS GOD GOING TO REDEEM HIS BRIDE- WHOM WAS DEFILED AND DIVORCED WITHOUT IT BEING AN ABOMINATION TO HIM ? THROUGH YESHUA! LET’S LOOK AT THE LAW OF THE HUSBAND AS EXPLAINED BY PAUL: ROMANS 7:1-3 DO YOU NOT KNOW, BROTHERS—FOR I AM SPEAKING TO THOSE WHO KNOW THE LAW—THAT THE LAW IS BINDING ON A PERSON ONLY AS LONG AS HE LIVES? FOR A MARRIED WOMAN IS BOUND BY LAW TO HER HUSBAND WHILE HE LIVES, BUT IF HER HUSBAND DIES SHE IS RELEASED FROM THE LAW OF MARRIAGE. ACCORDINGLY, SHE WILL BE CALLED AN ADULTERESS IF SHE LIVES WITH ANOTHER MAN WHILE HER HUSBAND IS ALIVE. BUT IF HER HUSBAND DIES, SHE IS FREE FROM THAT LAW, AND IF SHE MARRIES ANOTHER MAN SHE IS NOT AN ADULTERESS.

PAUL IS NOT TALKING ABOUT US BEING RELEASED FROM TORAH-HE IS TALKING ABOUT THE BRIDE BEING RELEASED FROM THE LAW OF THE HUSBAND. IN OTHER WORDS, IF THE HUSBAND (GOD) DIES, THEN ISRAEL IS RELEASED FROM THE LAW OF THE HUSBAND AND SHE IS FREE TO MARRY ANYONE. BUT HOW CAN GOD DIE? THROUGH YESHUA! THIS ALSO RELEASES ISRAEL FOR BREAKING THE BLOOD COVENANT GIVEN AT MOUNT SINAI- AND REINSTATES IT THROUGH YESHUA’S BLOOD, THE BLOOD OF THE NEW (RENEWED) COVENANT. MATTHEW 26:28 THIS IS MY BLOOD OF THE COVENANT, WHICH IS POURED OUT FOR MANY FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. GOD WAS MARRIED TO ISRAEL. WE KNOW BECAUSE OF THEIR SUBSEQUENT DIVORCE WHERE YAHWEH STATED THAT NORTHERN ISRAEL “IS NOT MY WIFE, NOR AM I HER HUSBAND!” HOSEA 2:2. YAHWEH COULD ONLY DIVORCE ISRAEL IF HE HAD ONCE BEEN WED TO HER. IN JEREMIAH, YAHWEH SPECIFICALLY STATED THAT HE GAVE THE NORTHERN KINGDOM OF ISRAEL A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND PUT HER AWAY. AT THEIR WEDDING ON MT SINAI, THE GROOM AND BRIDE EXCHANGED VOWS. YAHWEH, THE HUSBAND, EXPRESSED HIS LOVE FOR HIS BRIDE, ISRAEL, WHEN HE VOWED: EXODUS 19:5 IF YOU WILL INDEED OBEY MY VOICE AND KEEP MY COVENANT, THEN YOU SHALL BE A SPECIAL TREASURE TO ME ABOVE ALL PEOPLE; FOR ALL THE EARTH IS MINE. THIS VOW OF DEEP LOVE WAS REITERATED TO ISRAEL WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND: DEUTERONOMY 7:6-8 YAHWEH YOUR GOD HAS CHOSEN YOU TO BE A PEOPLE FOR HIMSELF, A SPECIAL TREASURE ABOVE ALL THE PEOPLES ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH.

YAHWEH DID NOT SET HIS LOVE ON YOU NOR CHOOSE YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE MORE IN NUMBER THAN ANY OTHER PEOPLE, FOR YOU WERE THE LEAST OF ALL PEOPLES; BUT BECAUSE YAHWEH LOVES YOU, AND BECAUSE HE WOULD KEEP THE OATH WHICH HE SWORE TO YOUR FATHERS, YAHWEH HAS BROUGHT YOU OUT WITH A MIGHTY HAND, AND REDEEMED YOU FROM THE HOUSE OF BONDAGE, FROM THE HAND OF PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT. THIS MARRIAGE WAS RECORDED IN THE “BOOK OF THE COVENANT”, SIMILAR TO A KETUBAH (A JEWISH “MARRIAGE CONTRACT”). IT WAS A MARRIAGE CONTRACT, COMPLETE WITH PRENUPTIAL AGREEMENTS, THAT IS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF WHAT WAS EXPECTED, AND WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IN CASE OF INFIDELITY. THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS WAS YAHWEH’S TORAH. UNFORTUNATELY, ISRAEL WAS UNFAITHFUL TO HER HUSBAND FROM THE BEGINNING, AND THEN AFTER SOME TIME, HIS WIFE (UNITED ISRAEL) WAS DIVIDED INTO TWO KINGDOMS: THE KINGDOM OF JUDAH IN THE SOUTH WHICH INCLUDED THE TRIBE OF BENJAMIN (AND PART OF LEVI SINCE THEY WERE LANDLESS); AND… THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL IN THE NORTH WHICH INCLUDED THE REMAINING TEN TRIBES. YAHWEH, IN HIS PATIENT LOVE AND SOVEREIGNTY, WAITED WHILE ISRAEL (THE NORTHERN KINGDOM) COMMITTED HER ADULTERIES TIME AND AGAIN. YAHWEH EXPLAINED THIS IN THE BOOK OF EZEKIEL, SPEAKING OF THE TWO DAUGHTERS OF ONE MOTHER WHO BOTH PRACTICED HARLOTRY AND DEFILED THEMSELVES. EZEKIEL 23:2- 4, 7, 9. YESHUA’S RESURRECTION, THEREFORE, IS THE CRUX OF THE MATTER! WITHOUT THE RESURRECTION, ISRAEL WOULD HAVE BEEN FREE TO MARRY ANOTHER, BUT NOT TO THE VERY ONE WHO PROMISED HIMSELF TO HER FOREVER. NOW HAVING RISEN FROM THE DEAD, THE OLD HUSBAND WAS ACTUALLY A NEW HUSBAND. ALL OF THE LAWLESSNESS (HER ADULTERY) OF THE FIRST MARRIAGE WAS LITERALLY BURIED WITH YESHUA (THE HUSBAND, YAHWEH IN THE FLESH). NOW HE WAS FREE TO REMARRY HIS FORMER WIFE WITHOUT BREAKING HIS OWN INSTRUCTIONS. HIS NEW MARRIAGE WOULD BE A NEW COVENANT/TESTAMENT WITH ISRAEL!

WITH THIS IN MIND, WE CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND PAUL’S EXCITEMENT AS HE PROCLAIMS IN EPHESIANS 2:11-13 HOW THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (THE GENTILES/NATIONS) HAS BEEN BROUGHT BACK INTO THE COVENANT RELATIONSHIP. EPHESIANS 2:11-13 THEREFORE REMEMBER THAT YOU, ONCE GENTILES [SCATTERED ISRAEL, OUT OF COVENANT] IN THE FLESH…THAT AT THAT TIME YOU WERE WITHOUT CHRIST, BEING ALIENS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL AND STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD. BUT NOW IN YESHUA YOU WHO ONCE WERE FAR OFF HAVE BEEN BROUGHT NEAR BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST. THE NEW COVENANT IS NOT A NEW DISPENSATION WHERE YAHWEH SUDDENLY STARTS OPERATING ON THE BASIS OF GRACE WITH ALL OF HUMANITY. YAHWEH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GRACIOUS AND THAT QUALITY OF GRACE AND MERCY IS THE VERY THING THAT YAHWEH DECLARED ABOUT HIMSELF ON MT. SINAI. THE NEW COVENANT, RATHER, IS NOT A NEW BASIS OF GRACE, BUT IS RATHER A GRACIOUS, RENEWED MARRIAGE COVENANT BETWEEN YAHWEH AND HIS DIVORCED WIFE (ISRAEL). YAHWEH ALSO PROMISED THAT HE WOULD JOIN THE TWO HOUSES BACK TOGETHER AS DEPICTED IN THE IMAGERY OF A STICK, BROKEN IN TWO, WHICH BECOMES ONE AGAIN: EZEKIEL 37:19 THUS SAYS THE LORD YAHWEH: “SURELY I WILL TAKE THE STICK OF JOSEPH, WHICH IS IN THE HAND OF EPHRAIM, AND THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL, HIS COMPANIONS; AND I WILL JOIN THEM WITH IT, WITH THE STICK OF JUDAH, AND MAKE THEM ONE STICK, AND THEY WILL BE ONE IN MY HAND. YESHUA’S DEATH ON THE CROSS ANNULLED JUDAH’S MARRIAGE CONTRACT WITH YAHWEH AND THEREBY ALLOWED FOR THE HOUSE OF JUDAH TO HAVE A NEW COVENANT WITH YAHWEH.

AS A RESULT THEIR JOINT STATUS AS ADULTERERS WAS WIPED AWAY. ISRAEL’S UTTER HOPELESS SITUATION AS A DIVORCÉE WAS ALSO ANNULLED AND JUDAH’S STATUS AS ADULTEROUS WIFE WAS CANCELLED. FURTHERMORE, THE HOUSE OF JUDAH AND THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL HAVE BECOME ONE AGAIN AND THE WALL OF SEPARATION BETWEEN THEM HAS BEEN REMOVED. THE SITUATION HAS NOW BEEN RECTIFIED, THOUGH NOT IN FULL. THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (EPHRAIM / GENTILES) CAN NOW RETURN TO HER HUSBAND. THEY ARE NO LONGER “ALIENS FROM THE COMMONWEALTH OF ISRAEL AND STRANGERS FROM THE COVENANTS OF PROMISE, HAVING NO HOPE AND WITHOUT GOD IN THE WORLD.” (EPHESIANS 2:12) YESHUA IS NOW ISRAEL’S AND JUDAH’S PEACE, WHO HAS MADE BOTH ONE, AND HAS BROKEN DOWN THE MIDDLE WALL OF SEPARATION (EPHESIANS 2:14). BECAUSE THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH WILL BE RESTORED INTO ONE NATION AND ONE WIFE! THE NEW TESTAMENT IS YAHWEH RESTORING THE HOUSE OF JUDAH AND ISRAEL INTO ONE NATION WHICH WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY THE DEATH OF YESHUA. WHEN ISRAEL CAME OUT OF EGYPT IT COMMITTED A GREAT SIN BY ASKING FOR SOMETHING VISIBLE TO WORSHIP, INSTEAD OF TRUSTING IN AN INVISIBLE ELOHIM (GOD). IN 1 KINGS 11, EPHRAIM BROKE AWAY FROM SOLOMON’S SON KING REHOBOAM. THE NEW KING, JEROBOAM, PROMPTLY RE-DOUBLED THE SIN BY SETTING UP NOT ONE GOLDEN CALF, BUT TWO. IN ADDITION TO SUBSTITUTE SITES HE SET UP A SUBSTITUTE PRIESTHOOD TO REPLACE THE LEVITICAL ORDER. BY SETTING UP MORE THAN ONE IDOL IN MORE THAN ONE LOCATION, IT SERVES AS A PROPHETIC FORESHADOW OF HOW THE ESAU-ROMAN CHURCH WOULD MULTIPLY IDOLS IN MANY LOCATIONS.

JEROBOAM’S PURPOSE WAS TO REPLACE THE ORDER GOD DICTATED, SO AS TO RETAIN POWER AND CONTROL. HE FIGURED IF HE MADE MORE CONVENIENT LOCATIONS OF WORSHIP (OTHER THAN JERUSALEM), THE PEOPLE WOULD CONTINUE TO SUPPORT HIM. THUS IN ESSENCE HE DERIVED STRENGTH BY PLEASING THE PEOPLE, RATHER THAN BY PLEASING ELOHIM. THIS IS WHY THE NORTHERN KINGDOM WOULD LATER FALL, LEADING TO THE GREAT DIASPORA. GOD SENT NUMEROUS PROPHETS TO THE NORTHERN KINGDOM, TRYING TO GET THEM TO TURN BACK TO HIS TORAH. FOR DISOBEDIENCE TO THE TORAH OF MOSES, THE NORTHERN KINGDOM WOULD BE SOWN INTO THE EARTH LIKE SEED, MIXED IN WITH ALL 70 NATIONS. ONCE EPHRAIM WAS SEWN INTO THE EARTH, HE WOULD GROW UNTIL AN END TIME HARVEST. AT THE END OF THIS TIME, THE TWO HOUSES OF ISRAEL WOULD REUNITE AS ONE. THE TIMING IS EXPLAINED IN EZEKIEL 4:4-6. EZEKIEL WAS TO LIE ON HIS LEFT SIDE 390 DAYS, A DAY FOR A YEAR, INDICATING THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (EPHRAIM) WOULD BE CAST AWAY 390 YEARS. (390 PROPHETIC DAYS = 390 YEARS IN CAPTIVITY). THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT THE 390 YEARS OF CAPTIVITY RAN OUT IN 342 BCE, BUT THE HOUSE OF EPHRAIM DID NOT TURN BACK THEN. THEREFORE, THEIR PUNISHMENT WAS MULTIPLIED SEVEN FOLD, IN KEEPING WITH THE PROMISES IN LEVITICUS 26:18. IF WE MULTIPLY THE 390 YEARS TIMES 7 WE GET 2,730 YEARS IN CAPTIVITY. WHEN WE ADD THIS TO THE START DATE WE GET AN INITIAL RETURN DATE OF 1998 CE. THIS THE EARLIEST THAT EPHRAIM COULD BE RECOGNIZED AND THIS IS WHEN THE RETURN TO TORAH MOVEMENT BEGAN TO BE SEEN. IN SHORT, EPHRAIM IS THE "PRODIGAL SON." WHO HAS GOTTEN SICK OF PLAYING IN THE PIG-SLOP AND HAS REALIZED HE IS BANKRUPT FROM DOING THINGS HIS WAY... THEREFORE, HE IS NOW RETURNING TO HIS FATHER (MALACHI 4).

MALACHI 4:4 REMEMBER YE THE LAW OF MOSES MY SERVANT, WHICH I COMMANDED UNTO HIM IN HOREB FOR ALL ISRAEL, WITH THE STATUTES AND JUDGMENTS. THE LAW WAS ADDED TO TURN INVISIBLE SIN INTO VISIBLE TRANSGRESSIONS OF LAW… GALATIANS 3:19 WHY THEN WAS THE LAW GIVEN ? IT WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS, UNTIL THE ARRIVAL OF THE SEED TO WHOM THE PROMISE REFERRED. IT WAS ADMINISTERED THROUGH ANGELS BY A MEDIATOR. IF THE LAW WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSION THEN IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO SIN! YOU CAN'T EVER TRANSGRESS / SIN IF THE LAW DIDN'T EXIST PRIOR TO MOUNT SINAI BECAUSE SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW (I JOHN 3:4). THEREFORE THE LAW COULD NOT HAVE BEEN ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSION BECAUSE THE LAW NEEDS TO EXIST IN ORDER TO SIN BECAUSE SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW. WHEN PAUL SAYS IN GALATIANS 3:19 THAT THE LAW WAS ADDED BECAUSE OF TRANSGRESSIONS AND IN ROMANS 5:20 THAT IT CAME IN TO INCREASE THE TRESPASS, HE MEANS, FIRST OF ALL, THAT IT FUNCTIONS TO SHOW WHO TRUSTS YAHWEH AND WHO DOESN'T. THE LAW TURNS THE HIDDEN SIN OF DISTRUST AND REBELLION INTO THE OPEN TRANSGRESSION OF DISOBEDIENCE. THE LAW DOESN'T JUST GIVE VISIBILITY TO PRESENT SIN; IT GIVES RISE TO MORE SIN. ROMANS 5:20 SAYS, "LAW CAME IN TO INCREASE THE TRESPASS," BUT IT GOES ON TO SAY, "WHERE SIN INCREASED, GRACE ABOUNDED ALL THE MORE." SIN DOESN'T JUST BECOME VISIBLE IN OPEN TRESPASSES; IT INCREASES. THE REBELLION AND INSUBORDINATION AND DISTRUST OF THE HUMAN HEART INTENSIFIES AND EXPANDS WHEN IT MEETS THE LAW. THIS IS CLEAR FROM SEVERAL VERSES IN ROMANS 7.

FOR EXAMPLE, ROMANS 7:5 WHILE WE WERE LIVING IN THE FLESH, OUR SINFUL PASSIONS, AROUSED BY THE LAW, WERE AT WORK IN OUR MEMBERS TO BEAR FRUIT FOR DEATH. THE SINFUL INCLINATIONS OF THE HEART ARE NOT JUST EXPOSED BY THE LAW; THEY ARE AROUSED BY THE LAW. MESSIAH DIED ON THE TREE TO PAY THE PENALTY FOR NOT OBEYING THE TORAH. BECAUSE MESSIAH DIED ON THE TREE TO PAY FOR THE PENALTY OF OUR SIN, SHOULD WE CONTINUE SINNING (DISOBEYING THE TORAH) ? APART FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT, OUR HEARTS ARE UTTERLY SELF-CENTERED, AND WHEN SUCH A HEART SEES THAT IT IS BEING CALLED INTO QUESTION AND CRITICIZED BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE LAW, IT "SEEKS ALL THE MORE FURIOUSLY TO DEFEND ITSELF." AND SO THE LAW INCREASES SIN BY STIRRING UP MORE SELF-ASSERTION AND BY HARDENING PEOPLE IN THEIR SELF-SATISFACTION. COVETOUSNESS IS THE KIND OF DESIRE YOU HAVE FOR SOMETHING WHEN YOU ARE NOT TRUSTING IN THE MERCY OF GOD TO SATISFY YOU WITH ALL YOU NEED. HOW, THEN, DID THE LAW PRODUCE COVETOUSNESS IN PAUL? THE LAW HELD OUT BLESSINGS TO PAUL WHICH HE WANTED; BUT INSTEAD OF HUMBLING HIMSELF TO TRUST IN GOD'S MERCY, PAUL UNDERTOOK A RIGOROUS PROGRAM OF LAW-KEEPING IN RELIANCE ON HIS OWN MORAL EFFORT AND SOUGHT THE BLESSINGS OF THE LAW WITHOUT TRUSTING THE MERCY OF GOD AND THAT IS THE ESSENCE OF COVETOUSNESS: THE KIND OF DESIRE YOU HAVE FOR THINGS WHEN YOU ARE NOT TRUSTING IN THE MERCY OF GOD. SO THE LAW INCREASES SIN EVEN IN THOSE WHO SET OUT TO OBEY IT, IF THEY DO IT IN THEIR OWN STRENGTH AND NOT BY FAITH IN THE POWER WHICH GOD SUPPLIES. THE REASON THE LAW COULD NOT GIVE LIFE (GALATIANS 3:21) WAS NOT DUE TO ITS OWN DEFECT BUT TO A DEFECT IN THE PEOPLE. ROMANS 8:3 SAYS THE LAW WAS WEAK THROUGH THE FLESH. THE REASON THE LAW ADDED SIN INSTEAD OF GIVING LIFE WAS THAT THE RECIPIENTS OF THE LAW WERE RULED BY THE FLESH AND DEVOID OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. IN OTHER WORDS, THE LAW KEPT PEOPLE IN SIN AND DID NOT GIVE THEM LIFE BECAUSE IT WAS NOT ACCOMPANIED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT TO ENABLE PEOPLE TO OBEY.

USING THE EXAMPLE OF A PRISONER, PAUL EXPLAINS HOW THE LAW WAS PUT IN CHARGE OVER US TO GUIDE US TO MESSIAH. GALATIANS 3:22-25 BUT SCRIPTURE HAS LOCKED UP EVERYTHING UNDER THE CONTROL OF SIN, SO THAT WHAT WAS PROMISED, BEING GIVEN THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST, MIGHT BE GIVEN TO THOSE WHO BELIEVE. BEFORE THE COMING OF THIS FAITH, WE WERE HELD IN CUSTODY UNDER THE LAW, LOCKED UP UNTIL THE FAITH THAT WAS TO COME WOULD BE REVEALED. WHEREFORE THE LAW WAS OUR SCHOOLMASTER TO BRING US UNTO CHRIST, THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED BY FAITH. NOW THAT FAITH HAS COME, WE ARE NO LONGER UNDER A GUARDIAN. THE LAW'S JOB WAS TO PUT US "IN JAIL" SO TO SPEAK AND REMIND US THAT WE NEED A SAVIOR. BUT NOW THAT FAITH OR YESHUA HAS COME... THE LAW NO LONGER HAS THE ABILITY TO CONDEMN US. PAUL DESCRIBES HOW “BEFORE FAITH CAME” INTO THEIR LIVES, THE GALATIANS’ LIVES AND HIS OWN LIFE “WE WERE KEPT IN CUSTODY UNDER THE LAW, BEING SHUT UP TO THE FAITH WHICH WAS LATER TO BE REVEALED." A CONDITION OF BEING “HELD IN CUSTODY UNDER THE LAW, LOCKED UP”, IS RIGHTLY DISCERNED TO BE A PRE-SALVATION CONDITION FOR ALL PERSONS. PAUL IS EXPLAINING HOW THE TORAH DEFINES SIN. IT GIVES US A WAY OF BEING BLESSED AND HOW TO AVOID BEING CURSED. IT HAS NEVER, NOR WILL EVER PROVIDE A WAY FOR SALVATION. IT JUST POINTS THE WAY TO MESSIAH FOR SALVATION. THE WORD TRANSLATED AS SCHOOLMASTER IN THE KJV AND OTHER ENGLISH BIBLES IS THE GREEK WORD PAIDAGOGOS- WHICH LITERALLY MEANS BOY-LEADER. IN ANCIENT GREECE A PAIDAGOGOS WAS A SLAVE WHO CONDUCTED A BOY TO AND FROM SCHOOL AND WAS NOT ACTUALLY THE SCHOOL TEACHER.

JUST BECAUSE THE TORAH-PEDAGOGUE BROUGHT US TO THE MESSIAH, DOESN’T MEAN WE DON’T NEED IT ANYMORE. PAUL SAYS WE "ARE NOT UNDER THE SCHOOLMASTER" WHICH MEANS THAT ONCE OUR NATURE IS OBEDIENCE TO TORAH, THEN WE WILL BECOME A LAW UNTO OURSELVES. IT WILL BE OUR NATURE TO GUARD THE COMMANDMENTS. SIN IS SIN WHETHER OR NOT IT IS DONE IN IGNORANCE. BUT LET’S LOOK AT WHAT THE STRONG'S CONCORDANCE SAYS ABOUT THE UNINTENTIONAL SINS AND DELIBERATE SINS IN NUMBERS 22: UNINTENTIONAL SIN: STRONGS 7686 SHAGAH TO GO ASTRAY, TO WANDER INTENTIONAL SIN: STRONGS 3027 YAD TO ABANDON, TO GO AGAINST (REBEL) UNINTENTIONAL SIN MEANS TO DEVIATE FROM THE CORRECT PATH, ROAMING INTO ERROR, WANDERING; OR TO BE MISLED. IN 1 PETER 1:14, ἐΝ Τῇ ἀΓΝΟΊᾳ ὑΜῶΝ ἐΠΙΘΥΜΊΑΙΣ IS TRANSLATED AS IN THE IGNORANCE OF YOUR DESIRES. SINS OF IGNORANCE WERE SINS WRONGFULLY COMMITTED BY AN ISRAELITE OUT OF WEAKNESS OR WAYWARDNESS WITHOUT ANY INTENT TO RENOUNCE THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. NOW INTENTIONAL SINS ARE CALLED HIGH HANDED SINS. SINS COMMITTED WITH THE INTENTION OF REJECTING GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY WERE TO BE PUNISHED BY CUTTING OFF THEIR PERPETRATORS FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE (NUMBERS 15:30-31). THE "HIGH HANDED" SINS WERE AN ACT OF REBELLION TOWARDS YHWH. THESE PEOPLE WERE AGAINST GOD AND HIS TORAH. THERE WAS NO SACRIFICE FOR THESE KINDS OF SINS BECAUSE THEY WERE ACTS OF REBELLION. A PERSON WHO IS ACTIVELY REBELLING CANNOT BE FORGIVEN UNTIL THEY STOP REBELLING, BECOME HUMBLE AND SEEK GOD AND HIS MERCY.

UNINTENTIONAL SINS ARE SINS THAT ARE NOT DONE OUT OF REBELLION. THE PERSON, INSTEAD, HAS WANDERED- LIKE A SHEEP- FROM HIS MASTER. HEBREWS 10:26 IF WE DELIBERATELY GO ON SINNING AFTER WE HAVE RECEIVED THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH, NO FURTHER SACRIFICE FOR SINS REMAINS… HERE THE WORD USED FOR DELIBERATELY IS WILLINGLY, OF ONE'S OWN ACCORD: THE WRITER INCLUDES HIMSELF ("WE") AS NEEDING THIS WARNING FOR IT ENCOMPASSES THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED A FULL KNOWLEDGE (EPIGNOSIS) OF THE TRUTH. IT IS DIRECTED TO THOSE WHO DELIBERATELY KEEP ON SINNING AFTER THEY FULLY UNDERSTAND THE WAY OF ESCAPE IN YESHUA. THESE PEOPLE GO BACK TO THEIR OLD WAY OF LIVING AND ABANDON GOD'S WAY. THIS IS CALLED BACK-SLIDING AND IS A VERY SERIOUS STATE TO BE IN. IT MEANS THEY DON'T WANT TO GIVE UP THEIR SINS IN ANY REAL WAY. REPENTANCE, WHICH MEANS A DELIBERATE CHANGE IN LIFE STYLE, IS USUALLY VERY HARD WORK. "LONG HARD OBEDIENCE IN THE SAME DIRECTION," DOES NOT COME EASILY FOR CREATURES OF HABIT. WE ARE TOLD BY YHWH, HOWEVER, NOT ONLY TO TURN AWAY AND FLEE FROM LIFE-THREATENING SINS BUT TO TAKE WHATEVER RADICAL STEPS MAY BE NECESSARY TO GUARD OURSELVES FROM FURTHER FAILURE. ROMANS 10:4 FOR CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS TO EVERY ONE THAT BELIEVETH. THE GREEK WORD TRANSLATED “END” IS TELOS (STRONG’S #5056), MEANING “THE POINT AIMED AT; RESULT.” THE END STRONGS # 5056. TELOS: TO REACH THE AIM.

IN OTHER WORDS, PAUL IS SAYING THAT YESHUA IS THE GOAL TO WHICH THE LAW BRINGS US. THE PURPOSE OF THE LAW IS TO MAKE US MORE LIKE HIM IN BEHAVIOR AND THINKING. THE TRUTH BEHIND JOHN 3:16 JOHN 3:16 FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. THE KEY WORDS HERE ARE “BELIEVES IN” BECAUSE THAT IS HOW ONE HAS ETERNAL LIFE. BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BELIEVE IN YESHUA? THE GREEK WORD FOR “BELIEVES IN” IS STRONGS: 4100. PISTEUÓ- USUALLY MEANING TO HAVE FAITH. BUT FOR AN ACCURATE DEFINITION, LET’S GO TO JOHN 3:36 JOHN 3:36 WHOEVER BELIEVES IN THE SON HAS ETERNAL LIFE. WHOEVER REJECTS THE SON WILL NOT SEE LIFE. INSTEAD, THE WRATH OF GOD REMAINS ON HIM. THE WORD “REJECTS” USED IN JOHN 3:36 IS STRONGS: 544. APEITHEÓ-MEANING TO DISOBEY. SO THE ONE WHO WILL NOT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE IS THE ONE WHO DISOBEYS YESHUA; AND THEREFORE, THE ONE WHO HAS ETERNAL LIFE IS THE ONE WHO OBEYS HIM. WE CAN PROVE THIS BY USING ANOTHER VERSE:

HEBREWS 5:9 AND HAVING BEEN MADE PERFECT, HE BECAME THE SOURCE OF ETERNAL SALVATION TO ALL WHO OBEY HIM. SO TO BELIEVE IN YESHUA IS TO OBEY HIM. AND THOSE WHO SHALL NOT PERSIH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE ARE THEN, THOSE WHO OBEY HIM ! SHALOM AND AMEN.