Torah Dancing Benjie

Messianic Jewish Emuna: Torah & Messiah

(Rambam, Mishneh Torah) “It is clearly and unequivocally in the Torah that the body of the commandments will remain for absolute eternity. It will never be changed, neither reduced nor expanded. This is indicated by the verse, “Be careful to observe everything which I am commanding you: You must not add to it, nor delete from it” (Devarim 13:1)” The Torah is the foundation of our life and is forever; but what exactly does Torah mean, what function does it serve for us as believers and what does it do for the non believers, and finally what does our Rabbi Yeshua the Messiah say about the Torah?

Torah literally means teachings and was given to us by God on Mount Sinai to His servant Moshe/Moses. Torah comes from the Hebrew root word and verb Yarah, which means; to cast, throw, shoot. It is commonly used as an archery term meaning to take aim and shoot, like shooting an arrow at the bull’s eye of a target. The Torah should always point to Yeshua who is our perfect example of Torah and the living Word of God, Yeshua is the bull’s eye that we all need to aim for in our life in the Torah. The opposite of Torah however is the Hebrew word Chata, which means to miss the mark, or more literally a life of sin without Yeshua in our hearts and the fullness of the Torah which is love.

Rabbi Shaul shows us the importance and significance of the Torah in our lives as believers (2 Timothy 3:16-17) “All scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living; thus anyone who belongs to God may be fully equipped for every good work”. When God created us, He did not just put us here without any instructions. When we buy a new table or bookshelf, it comes with an instruction manual, without the instructions it cannot be properly assembled and will just remain in incomplete pieces all over the place, but when the instructions are followed, the end result is complete and can be used for its predetermined purpose. Without the Torah, we are like the incomplete table or bookshelf, our life will be a mess and be scattered all over the place and we won’t be able to achieve our intended potential. However with the Torah, we will reach our fullest potential because we will realize we are convicted sinners and we need atonement for our sins, and the only true atonement is Yeshua the Messiah. When we walk in union with Yeshua, the Torah builds us up as believers and Yeshua is our perfect example that we live by so we can fulfill our true purpose in life, just like the table or bookshelf upon perfect completion.

(Laws of Foundations of the Torah 9:1-2) “If so, what is meant by the Torah’s statement, “I will establish for them a prophet like you, from your brothers. [I will put my Words into hid his mouth and he will speak]” (ibid. 18:18)? [Such a prophet] does not come to introduce religious precepts, but to reinforce the words of the Torah by warning people not to transgress them”.

Our Rabbi Yeshua the Messiah is the fulfillment of this promise in the Torah as seen in the Sermon on the Mount. (Mattityahu/Matthew 5:17-18) “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or stroke will pass from the Torah -- not until everything that must happen has happened”. Yeshua has indeed reinforced the words of the Torah revealing to us the fulfillment or bull’s eye mark of the Torah in His teachings and life, and has by no means abolished any of them. The entire Sermon on the Mount is the true Word of God from the mouth of our Messiah and Rabbi Yeshua and even rabbinic literature points to it as seen in the commentary above. (Laws of Kings 11:13) “The laws and statutes of this Torah will never change; they will never be expanded or abridged. Thus, any person who adds a precept or deletes one, or who misinterprets the Torah by arguing that the commandments are not meant literally, is most definitely as liar, a wicked man and heretic.” This rabbinic commentary is very similar our Rabbi’s teaching about adding or subtracting from the Torah (Mattityahu/Matthew 5: 19) “So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven”. It is very clear about where the Messiah stands in terms of the Torah, He goes beyond any other rabbinic teaching in defence of the Torah. A Torah centered lifestyle alone won’t get us into the Kingdom of Heaven, but rather we need to be in union with our Rabbi Yeshua who is the greatest Torah teacher and defender, who will reward us in the Kingdom for obeying and teaching others the mitzvot of the Torah and the fullness which is of course love.

A Torah centered community is essential for every believer in Yeshua, (Mishlei/Proverbs 27:17) “Just as iron sharpens iron, a person sharpens the character of his friend.” We as believers all have our own unique and essential function in the body of Messiah and no one person is any greater than the other. One person’s gift can’t be at its full potential without the gift of another just like one leg needs the other in order to walk or run. We need to grow as a community and seek the Messiah and rejoice in the Torah. This is why we have the Shabbat (Sabbath) so we can all come together as a community and pray as one, study Torah as one and fellowship as one in Messiah. There is no other way to describe the blessing of the Shabbat fully except to say, join us as one and rejoice in the fullness of the Torah and our Rabbi Yeshua!

(Tehillim/Psalms 67:1-2) “God, be gracious to us, and bless us. May He make His face shine towards us, so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.

Beth Haderech