Luke 1:79
“… To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." The Torah provides us with much ruling having to do with man’s inhumane behavior. Some of the things the Torah talks about would make very gory bedtime stories. How can such a heavenly document be so besmirched with the filth of human sin? King David said that the Torah is Light (Psalms 119:105). Light is only useful when it shines in darkness. In essence, the Torah finds its mission within the spiritual darkness of our human dimension. Paul built on David’s proclamation in the Psalms with, But when anything is exposed by the light (of Torah), it (the sin of ‘anything’) becomes visible (Ephesians 5:13). He also taught his disciple Timothy that, the law (the Torah) is … not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine (1Timothy 1:8), and I think that includes all of us! The Torah is a Light made to reveal to us our sinful condition. As such, it is a help to direct our paths away from sinful behavior. In studying God’s Oracles, we must be careful to distinguish between what the Torah permits and what the Torah advocates. Failure to do so can be disastrous. Whereas the Torah advocates unbroken marriages, in the knowledge of the nature of man’s heart it gave leeway for divorce (Matthew 19:8). Whereas it advocates monogamous marriages, it gave rulings concerning polygamy. It doesn’t mean that the Torah advocates divorce or polygamy, it only means that the Torah is relevant to the society in which it was given. The same goes for slavery; whereas the Torah gives ruling for slaves, it does not advocate slavery. We must be careful to study it according to its contextual values. Not understanding this could cause us to feel removed from Its text to a point of irrelevance. Many of us who would not consider polygamy as a lifestyle, practice it in a sequential manner, using one spouse, and ‘throwing it away’ for another one. Also many today who would not consider enslaving humans practice a different form of slavery through the very commonly accepted practice of usury (lending for interest) and economic policies that offer less guaranties than those offered to slaves in the Bible. The Torah is a Light, and those who consider it obsolete live in darkness. The Torah reveals the Light of Hashem's nature and character to contrast it with ours, and those who in a cafeteria-style pick and choose what they want from it, are found to ‘edit’, or adding or taking away from the Torah in their hearts, For centuries man has tried to find a better type of government than the one offered in the Torah, and the messy results are evident. In the World to Come, the Light of Torah will expose our sinful world for what it is and we will finally learn to rule and be ruled under the justice and righteousness of Hashem. May it come soon Abba Father, this world can’t wait any longer; too many are crying out for justice.
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Hebrews 10:19-23
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Yeshua, … let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, …Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering … I want to take you into one of the biggest ‘dirty secrets’ of the Apostolic Scriptures. Unbeknownst to them, the reformer writers of the English text of the Bible continued in the Catholic tradition of antinomianism (opposed to God’s Laws (not Moses’ Law)) and Replacement Theology. In the King James Bibles certain words are in italics. These were added by the editor to aid the flow of the English translation. Hebrew does not use the verb ‘to be’ in the present tense, so ‘is’ would added in italics in the English text. In doing so, our editors of the KJV have infiltrated their theology into the text. One of the main editions is found in a Midrash (a comparative analogy) in the Book of Hebrews. In ‘For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second (Hebrews 8:7 KJV)’, the word ‘covenant’ is italicized. It is an edition from the KJV writers. With edition Hebrews 8 and 9 therefore become the proof-text for an antinomian theology which declares God’s Law from Sinai obsolete. If we delete the additions of the word ‘covenant’, we realize that the text of Hebrews 8 and 9 has nothing to do with covenant relevancy, or a ‘faulty’ covenant, but is actually an eschatological analogy on God’s great redemptive plan using the two chambers of the Tabernacle. In the Greek text from where Hebrews 8 and 9 originate, not only the word ‘covenant’ does not exist, but the words ‘first’ and ‘second’ are not adjectives but nouns in their own rights, ‘protos/first’, and ‘deuteros/second’ speaking of the first, the ‘Holy’, and second, the ‘Holy of Holies’, chambers of the Tabernacle. We then discover a beautiful truth revealed by the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 9:8-9 even interprets the whole analogy for us telling us that the ‘Protos’ can be understood as symbolizing this present world, and therefore the ‘deuteros’ symbolizes the ‘World to Come’, but that those who already have Messiah already have a share in the that future reality of the complete fulfillment of the Messianic era, albeit only an ‘earnest’ (2 Corinthians 1:22). As you can see, the text speaks nothing of Torah relevancy. May we take these promises concerning the World to Come to heart as we go though the difficult times of life. The letter to the Hebrew believers was written to a persecuted Congregation of Jewish Israeli follower of Messiah. The theme of the Letter was an encouragement to look up from the imperfectness of this present time unto the bright hope of the future of a better and more perfect Tabernacle where Yeshua entered one and for all not with the blood of goats but with His own. May we also lift our eyes above the trials of this life, not in denial of the suffering of the present reality, but in the bright hope that is given to all those who put their trust in the Living God through Him. |
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