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When thought of as a long list of rules, many folk just want to put Torah in
the too hard basket. Seen as instructions for having a rewarding life, as
guidelines for life and the marriage covenant of the Lamb, Torah takes on a
different context. The word ‘Torah” means ‘teaching’ it is the teaching of the
creator, for his children, to have happy, healthy, abundant lives.
It needs to be remembered that during the times of Ancient Israel, the people
did not have the Ruach Ha Qodesh. The Ancient Israelites slipped time and time
again, into paganism and away from The Torah of YHWH.
In Genesis 6 we can see how strongly YHWH felt, from the very beginning,
about the ways of His created beings.
Gen.6:5-7
"And YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.
And it repented YHWH that He had made man on the earth, and it
grieved Him at His heart.
And YHWH said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face
of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls
of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
Those were strong words from our Creator, words that we should meditate
on in these last days, especially in light of Yahushua’s statement in
Matt.24:37-39.
“But as the days of No’e were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man
be.
For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that No’e entered
into the ark,
And knew not until the flood came, and took them all them; so shall also
the coming of the Son of man be”
Let us look at what The Scriptures have to say, about some of those few in
Ancient Times, whom YHWH found pleasing.
NOAH.
Gen.6:8-9
"But Noah found grace in the eyes of YHWH.
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in
his generations, and Noah walked with YHWH."
Gen.9:1
"And YHWH blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful,
and multiply, and replenish the earth"
Gen9:9-13
"And I, behold, I, establish my covenant with you, and with your seed
after you;
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle,
and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark,
to every beast of the earth.
And I will establish my covenant with you: neither shall all flesh be cut
off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a
flood to destroy the earth.
And YHWH said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between
me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual
generations:
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be
 for a token of a covenant
between me and the earth."
ABRAHAM.
Gen.12:1-4
“Now YHWH had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from
thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew
thee:
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy
name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee:
and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
So Abram departed, as YHWH had spoken unto him; and Lot went with
him: And Abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of
Haran.”
Gen.17:1-4
“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, YHWH appeared to
Abram, and said unto him, I am El Shaddai; walk before me, and be thou
perfect.
And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee
exceedingly.
And Abram fell on His face: and Elohiym talked with him, saying,
As for Me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of
many nations.
Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be
Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.”
Isaiah 41:8
“But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of
Abraham My friend.”
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KING DAVID.
1Sam13:13-14
"And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the
commandment of YHWH thy Elohiym, which He commanded thee: for now
would YHWH have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue: YHWH hath sought Him a man
after His own heart, and YHWH hath commanded him to be captain over
His people, because thou hast not kept that which YHWH commanded
thee."
Acts.13:22
"And when He had removed him, He raised up unto them David to be their
King, to whom also He gave testimony, and said, I have found David the
son of Jesse, a man after Mine own heart, which shall fulfil all My will,"
Psalm 89:3
“I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My
servant”
Psalm 25:10
“All the paths of YHWH are mercy and truth unto such as keep His
Covenant and His testimonies”
Psalm 105:6-10
“O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.
He is YHWH our Elohiym: His judgements are in all the earth.
He hath remembered His covenant for ever, the word which He
commanded to a thousand generations.
Which covenant He made with Abraham, and His oath unto Isaac;
And confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an
everlasting covenant:
Psalm 27:14
“The secret of YHWH is with them that fear Him; and He will show them
His covenant.”
While there are a number of other patriarchs of the Old Covenant Scriptures
that we could refer to, these three serve for the point we want to make.
These men were all spoken of as having a “covenant” with YHWH. That
covenant, the TORAH, was brought to the Nation of Israel through Moses.
However the people, could not in and of themselves, keep to Torah. King David
was well aware of this when he cried out to YHWH, inPsalm51:11“Cast me
not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy spirit (Ruach Ha
Qodesh) from me”.
Yahushua came and opened up “a better Covenant” (Heb.8:6) To give us this
better Covenant Yahushua died, He paid the penalty once and for all, for all
those who would enter into this Covenant with Him and the Father.
While the animal sacrifices of the Old Covenant served as a lesson to all, that
sin always led to death, those sacrifices could not wipe out the death penalty. Yahushua’s perfect sacrifice was the blood sacrifice that opened the doors to
eternal life for all. However while this sacrifice was made for all, it only applies
when a person accepts Yahushua and agrees to the terms of the Covenant and
then keeps it. Yahushua’s sacrifice does not apply to those who refuse the
terms of the Covenant.(It is however prophesied that at Yahushua’s return the
earth will be filled with the Knowledge of YHWH and most will then accept it. It
is YHWH’s will that none should perish.)
Torah is the terms of the Covenant, whether the Old Covenant or the
Renewed Covenant, renewed by the Supreme sacrifice of Yahushua.
In John 1 we read about Yahushua as the Word of YHWH. The english word
of “Word” is translated from the Greek word ‘Logos’ which would be better
translated as ‘Spokesman”
John1:1-5
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with El(G-d),and the
Word was El(G-d)
The same was in the beginning with El(G-d)
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made
that was made.
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it
not.”
Speaking of ‘in the beginning’ John is referring to the passage in Genesis 1.
While the English word ‘God’ in Genesis is singular, the Hebrew from which it is
translated, is plural ‘Elohiym’, hence;
Gen.1:26 “Let us make make man in our image.....” So we see that the
“Word” of YHWH, was He through whom all was made, including the Torah of
the Old Covenant, The Torah is the very teaching of the ways of the Spirit of
YHWH, it is the very essence of YHWH.
We see from John 1:4 that, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men”
Torah is Life:
Deut30:19-20“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:
That thou mayest love YHWH thy Elohyim, and that thou mayest obey His
Voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for He is thy life, and the
length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which YHWH sware
unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
note“for He is thy life” and compare with John1-4“in Him was Life”
Now see, John1:14-17 “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.
John bare witness of him, and cried, saying , This was He of whom I
spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for He was before
me.
And of His fulness have all received, and grace for grace.
For the Law(Torah) was given by Moses, but Grace and Truth came by
Yahushua Ha Moshiach”
NB. The Torah was given to the people by Moses, but given to Moses by the
Word of YHWH and the Torah was the Word of YHWH. The Word became
flesh and dwelt among us, that is, Yahushua is the Word, Yahushua is Torah.
In the light of John1 and Deut 30:19-20, consider;
John 14:6
“Yahushua saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
What else did Yahushua have to say about Torah.
Matt.5:17-19
“Never imagine I have come to destroy the Law(Torah) or the prophets;
I have not come to destroy but to fulfil.
I tell you truly, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a comma,
will pass from the Law(Torah) until it is all in force.
Therefore whoever relaxes a single one of these commands, were it even
one of the least, and teaches men to do so, he will be ranked least in the
Realm of Heaven; but whoever obeys them and teaches them, he will be
ranked great in the Realm of Heaven.”
Matt.19:17
“and He said unto him,Why callest thou me good? there is none good but
one, that is YHWH, but if thou will enter into life, keep the
commandments”
Matt 22:37-40
“Yahshua said unto him,Thou shalt love the Soveriegn thy Elohiym with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two Commandments hang all the Law(Torah) and the Prophets.”
Does Matt22:37-40 mean that we now only have two commandments and can
ignore all else. No, not at all, the first four of the ten commandments are all
about loving the Sovereign thy Elohim. The last six are all about how to love thy
neighbour as thyself. To break any one of them would mean we are not keeping
the instruction of Yahushua.
The Ten commandments are very basically a summary of the Torah. Fully
understood the Ten commandments cannot be adhered to without walking in
the Torah.
Maybe you think that we do not understand that we are ‘under grace’. Yes we
do understand that, however Grace is not a licence to sin.
Jude4.
“For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old
ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
Elohiym into lasciviousness, and denying the only Sovereign El, and our
Sovereign Yahushua ha Moshiach”
Grace is unmerited pardon for sins we have committed not a licence to sin.
If Grace were making the Law (Torah) null and void, why would there be a call
to ‘repentance’? What do we repent (turn away from) of? We repent of breaking
the Torah (teaching) of our Elohiym, YHWH the Father and our Saviour
Yahushua Ha Moshiach. If we do not walk in the Torah of our Saviour, then we
have not repented.
Yahushua said we must love the Sovereign our Elohiym with all our heart and
with all our soul. What is loving our Elohiym? Is it just an emotional feeling with
no particular action? The apostle John spells out this love quite clearly:
1John5:2-3
“By this we know that we love the children of YHWH, when we love YHWH, and keep His commandments.
For this is the Love of YHWH, that we keep His commandments: and His
commandments are not grievous”
2John4-6
“I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy chldren walking in truth, as we
received a commandment from the Father.
and now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment
unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one
another.
And this is Love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the
commandment
That as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”
So we see that loving both YHWH and our neighbour involves the keeping of
Torah.
Torah tells us what sin is.(1John3:4) We cannot say we have faith in Messiah,
and yet not walk in Torah, Messiah and Torah cannot be separated.
1John3:2-11
“Beloved, now are we the sons of YHWH, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear we shall be like Him:
for we shall see Him as He is.
And every man that has this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is
pure.
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law:(Torah) for sin is
the transgression of the law.(Torah)
And ye know that He was manifested to take away ours sins; and in Him
was no sin.
Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen
Him, neither known Him.
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is
righteous, even as He is righteous.
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the
beginning. For this purpose The Son of YHWH was manifested, that He
might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of YHWH doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth
in Him: and He cannot sin, because He is born of YHWH.
In this the children of YHWH are manifest, and the children of the devil:
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of YHWH, neither he that
loveth not his brother.
For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning that we should
love one another.”
So we see from this that walking in Torah is very necessary if we are to be Sons of YHWH and followers of Messiah.
John8:31-32
“Then said Yahushua to those Yahudim that believed on Him,If ye
continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free”
Make you free, free from what? Free of the Law(Torah)? No, our freedom is
from sin, not from Torah. Free from the bondage to sin.
John8:34
“Yahushua answered them,Verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin.”
We are not saved by obedience to Torah, but by Faith in Yahushua ha Moshiach,
as our Redeemer, our obedience to Torah is evidence of our faith. It is
impossible to keep the faith without keeping Torah.
James2:17-26
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith
without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
Thou believest that there is one Elohiym; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.
But wilt thou know , O vain man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our Father justified by works, when he offered Isaac his
son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was his faith
made perfect?
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed YHWH, and
it was imputed unto him for righteousness; and he was called the friend
of YHWH.
Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.
Likewise also was not Ra’hab the harlot justified by works, when she had
received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead
also.”
Ephesians2:10
“For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah Yahushua unto good
works, which YHWH hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Some believe that the Law or Torah was done away with, nailed to the Cross,
often those preaching that kind of doctrine, quote many of the scriptures of
Paul. This is not a new thing, the apostle Peter warned that there were those
that misinterpreted the writings of Paul.
2Peter3:15-17
“And account that the long suffering of our Sovereign is Salvation; even as
our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are
some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own
destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.
But grow in grace and, and in the knowledge of our Sovereign and Saviour
Yahushua ha Moshiach. To Him be reverence both now and Forever. Amein.”
We are not in this page going to go into explanations of Paul’s writings, as this is
a whole topic in itself, for those who would like it, we have a booklet entitled,
“Paul Made Simple”. This booklet puts Paul’s writings into context, and covers
the common errors believed in many Churches.
Our Focus on this page, is Torah, what it is and how it fits with the Messiah
and the Renewed Covenant .
We have seen how the patriarchs walked in Torah and were in a covenant with
YHWH. We have seen that Yahushua gave us a better covenant. We have seen
that Yahushua was the Word of YHWH, we have seen that Torah was the Word
of YHWH, we have seen that Yahushua was the Word made flesh. He was the
living, breathing example of how to walk perfectly in the Torah of YHWH.
Yahushua was the teaching made flesh, the literal manifestation of Torah.
We have seen that you cannot separate Yahushua from Torah.
What will the Messiah say to those who try to do things in their own manner
rather than following Torah
Matthew7:21-23
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in
Heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophecied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.”
For those most part we have replaced words like ‘lord’ with more appropriate
terminology, however in this case we have left them in, as you will notice that
these people will claim to have cast out demons in Messiah’s name, when in fact
many of them will not even have known His Name, much less used it. Messiah
has also called them workers of iniquity. Why, would this be, if they thought
they were doing good works?
Matthew15:7-9
“Ye hypocrites, well did Esa’ias prophecy of you, saying,
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me
with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments
of men.”
Even in Yahushua’s day, the people had their traditions that, were not part
of the Torah given to Moses. The same continues in Judaism today. It is also
manifest, in the pagan traditions of the Christian church, which have no basis
in scripture, and also in the teaching that we no longer need to keep Torah.
Was there ever a prophecy that both the House of Yahudah (2 Tribes) and
the House of Ephraim (10 tribes) would stumble over the Torah and Yahushua.
Lets look at Isaiah8:14-20
“And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a
rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble , and fall, and be broken, and be
snared, and be taken.
Bind up the testimony, seal the Law among My disciples.
And I will wait upon YHWH, that hideth His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look for Him
Behold, I and the children whom YHWH hath given me are for signs and
for wonders in Israel from YHWH of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar
spirits, and unto the wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a
people seek unto their Elohiym? for the living to the the dead?
To the Law and to the Testimony: if they speak not according to this Word,
it is because there is no light in them.”
So we see that manywould stumble over Yahushua and Torah, and that this
would not just be the 10 lost tribes of Israel, but the House of Yahudah also.
Many who come to a realisation that there is much wrong in the Christian
Churches think that they need to convert to Judaism. That can be like jumping
from the frying pan into the fire. We all need to be looking to Yahushua, who is
the Head of His ‘called out ones’, and the author and finisher of our faith.
Seeking always to be led by the Ruach Ha Qodesh (the Set Apart Spirit) that
leads us into all Truth. Seeking always the narrow path with complete trust,
that YHWH is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
Heb.11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to
YHWH must believe that He is , and that He is a rewarder of those who
diligently seek Him”
We have seen that faith without works is dead, we have seen that works
perfect our faith. It is impossible to separate faith from Torah. When we speak,
what comes out of our mouth, tells others much about ourselves. Whether we
are angry at heart, arrogant, happy, sincere or insincere, what we speak is the
essence of ourselves, whether it be truth or lies. The same is of YHWH, His
Torah is His Word.
Luke4:4
‘And Yahushua answered him, It is written, That man cannot live by bread
alone, but by every word of YHWH’
The god of this world(ha Satan-the adversary) has blinded the eyes of many,
so that they think to live by Torah is boring, prudish and silly. They want to do
their own thing, to have fun. Look around, is this world a fun, happy place to
live in? Full of violence, rape, escalating crime of all types, the downtreading of
the poor, family breakdown, abortions, and depravity, increasing suicide
especially among teenagers, religious terrorism. Is this world fun? We think not.
This world is full of hate, the prince of the power of the air has polluted the
minds of so many, that they cannot see the error.
The only thing that makes living by Torah in anyway difficult, is the fact that
the vast majority, do not. Will you continue in the ways of this world? Or will
you be one more to help bring peace and happiness to this planet earth.
When we repent from breaking Torah, are baptised into the name of Yahushua
and receive the Ruach ha Qodesh, we receive the ability to love the Torah
and to continue growing in grace and knowledge.
Torah is not an external set of rules, it’s the marriage contract between
Yahushua and His Bride, Torah and Yahushua cannot be separated.
When we are baptised into the Name of Yahushua we are said to be ‘in Messiah”
and we walk ‘In Torah” we are in the Renewed Covenant.
Galations2:20
“ I am crucified with Messiah and yet I live; yet not I, but Messiah liveth in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
YHWH, who loved me and gave himself for me”
Messiah never, no not once, did He ever break Torah. We cannot possibly be in
Messiah and live a lifestyle of continual habitual Torah breaking.
To be one with Yahushua we must walk in Torah as He did and does.
Heb.13:8-9
“Yahushua Ha Moshiach the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good
thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which
have not profited them that have been occupied therein.”
John14:10
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the
words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that
dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.”
John14:20-21
“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you.
He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him”
John11:25-26
“Yahushua said unto her,I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.
And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?”
To summarise then, Torah is the terms of the Renewed Marriage Covenant,
The Renewed Covenant being made possible by the sacrifice of the Messiah.
Torah is The Way of the Spirit of YHWH, Torah is the Word (the Truth)of YHWH, Torah is the Life(Deut30:19)
JOHN14:6
“Yahushua saith unto him,I am the Way, the Truth and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me”
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