Torah of Messiah
Part 3 of 7
Modern theologians would have us believe Yeshua abolished the Torah and absolved us from any responsibility for its keeping. Yet, we find Old Covenant prophets and New Covenant apostles teaching the opposite ideal. In keeping with the unchanging character of YHVH shown by Malachi, would one expect Him to change direction with the advent of Israel's Messiah and the New Covenant?
According to the Words of Yeshua, we find a continuum of consistency. He is quoted by Matthew in 5: 17-18. "Think not that I am come to destroy the (Torah), 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 (Torah),till all be fulfilled."
Yeshua says even the accent markings and pronunciation guides of the Torah will in no wise disappear or be abolished. It doesn't take rocket science to deduce that Torah is still in effect today. The sun is still shinning! And, the meaning of the Greek word for “Heaven” suggests Torah will still be in effect throughout eternity.
This statement of Yeshua completely debunks the idea He abolished Torah. He says, “I came not to destroy”. According to Strong, Yeshua said “I came not to 'loosen down (disintegrate), demolish, halt, dissolve, overthrow, throw down, or bring to naught'”.
Yeshua said “I come not to destroy, but to fulfill”. It would be pure silliness to equate His statement to the passing of Torah. If this were really true, we might word it this way today. “Read My lips...I came not to destroy the Torah; I came to make it redundant.” Sounds to me like the double talk of a politician rather than an unchanging God.
According to the Greek, and easily recognizable by any sane and reasonable person, He truly came to “fulfill”. Strong says He came to “level up (as a hollow)”. He came to “furnish (or imbue, influence), satisfy, verify (or coincide with a prediction), fill up, make full, or perfect”. Yeshua said just what He meant. “I came not to (abolish) the Torah. I came to give it deeper meaning”—throroughly debunking the “law of the Pharisees”, and ultimately that of modern christianity.
Throughout His ministry, Yeshua taught from the Heart of Torah rather than from the “letter of the law”. Luke records of Yeshua in 24:27 , “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself”. He taught the heart of the Father embodied within Torah.
Many times during Yeshua's ministry He made the statement “You have heard it said of old...but I say unto you”. With each of these statements, He wasn't abolishing Torah. He was merely giving it deeper meaning, as He did in 5: 21-22 of Matthew. Through the generations, the “letter of the law” has never worked, and has suffered great misuse by way of the empty doctrines of men.
As the Pharisees were in the days of Yeshua, so are the teachers of our day. He was merely filling up the hollow created by these self-serving men. For these, Yeshua said through John in 5: 46-47, “For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me: for he wrote of Me. But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe My words?”
The leaders of our day would do well to heed the words of Messiah in Matthew 5: 20. “For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees ( or modern preachers and teachers), you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
In everything Yeshua taught, He taught the principles of Torah, and kept them Himself as our example. Every parable He taught can be traced back to its roots in Torah. Even the verses just preceding His comments on the Torah in Matthew 5 are embodied in the heart of His Living Torah, and eloquently summed up in the Spirit of the “two great commandments”.
The specific keeping of His Torah IS required. His Torah is timeless, not done away with as modern theologians say. The prophets taught it, and Yeshua taught it. For those still in doubt, or otherwise chained to prevailing christian dogma, I close this section with the emphatic words of Yeshua in Matthew 5: 19. “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, 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.”
Click Here To Continue In The 19th Psalm
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