What Is the Ultimate Goal of the Torah?

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The Higher Torah and the Highest Torah Explained

The Torah is NOT the ultimate goal! The Torah, as wonderful as it is, points us to something even even better and higher!

What are the weightier matters of the Torah? Perfect obedience to the Torah is not the ultimate goal of the saint. The Torah is merely a vehicle to lead us to something. What is that? What is the greater Torah, the higher and the highest Torah? What really matters to YHVH when all is said and done???? The Gospel of Matthew (Matt 23:23) records that Yeshua rebuked the religious leaders of his day for their not following the higher Torah.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the Torah, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

What did he really mean by “the weightier matters of the Torah”?

The Deeper Meaning of the Word “Torah”

Almost every place where you see the word “law” in the Old Testament (or Tanakh), it is the Hebrew word “Torah.” This word is used 219 times in the Tanakh, and in almost every case it is translated in the KJV and in most other English Bibles as “the law.” Is this all this word means? Is “law” even its main definition according to the Hebrew?

Let’s begin to answer this question by asking another one. When you think of the term “the laws” what comes into our mind: good thoughts or bad thoughts? Do you think Continue reading

 

Did the Torah “enter” at Mount Sinai?

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Romans 5:20, The law [Torah] entered. The Scriptures reveal that the Torah pre-existed Moses and Mount Sinai. So what is Paul talking about in this passage when he says that “the Torah entered”? Obviously, he is referring to the Torah in its legally codified form as given to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. For the nation of Israel to function in a righteous, orderly and cohesive manner, it needed the Torah in written form (in a legal format), so that the leaders of Israel could refer to it even as lawyers and judges refer to a nation’s written legal code when practicing law or making legal judgments.

The offence might abound. Of course, with the Torah written down in black and white, so to speak, and with an established and recorded legal code in place to which legal judges could refer and to which all of Israel’s citizens were held accountable, the knowledge and awareness of what constituted sin (remember, Scripture defines sin as “the violation of the Torah” in 1 John 3:4) would increase. The result was that all became painfully aware of what human actions constituted sin, and that man would have a harder time getting away with sins now that Torah was the legal code of the land with fines and penalties for its violation, and a judicial system in place to enforce the Torah.

Sin abounded…grace did much more abound. As the sinner became painfully more aware of his sin or his violation of the Torah, he also became more aware of YHVH’s mercy and grace toward the sinner—when the sinner would repent and fulfill the requirements necessary to receive atonement for his sins.

 

Can you trust your feelings? If not then what can you trust?

Should we make major life decisions based on our feelings? La decisin correcta Should we make moral choices that determine what is right and wrong based on our feelings? To what degree can we trust our feelings? If we can’t trust our feelings, then what can we trust?

In our modern culture, it is becoming more common for people to act or speak based largely if not totally on their feelings. For many, feelings have become their “moral compass” determining what is right and wrong and thus their actions. Is this a reliable standard to follow? If everyone is following their feelings, does this promote and insure peace and stability in a society over the long haul?

What are feelings? The dictionary defines feelings as “an emotional state or reaction; the emotional side of someone’s character; emotional responses or tendencies to respond; a belief, especially a vague or irrational one.” In short, Continue reading

 

The Ten Commandments—The Torah’s Great Cornerstone

Exodus 20:1–17, An Overview of the Ten Words (Commandments)

The Ten Words or Ten Commandments by which they are more commonly known are but the mighty cornerstone of the 613 commandments of the Torah.

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The Jewish sages teach that all 613 are implied in the Ten; or that the Ten can be expanded into 613. The Tanakh (Old Testament) and Jewish writings contain a number of phrases that express the quintessential essence of the Torah. One of these best-known passages naming several of these phrases is in the Jewish Talmud: “[R.] Simlai said, ‘613 commandments were given to Moses—365 negative mitzvot (commandments), the same as the number of days in the year, and 248 positive mitzvot, the same as the number of parts in a man’s body. David came and reduced them to eleven (Ps 15), Isaiah to six (Isa 33:15), Micah to three (Mic 6:8), Isaiah again to two—“Observe and do righteousness” (Isa 56:1). Then Amos came and reduced them to one, “Seek me and you shall live” (Amos 5:4)—as did Habakkuk, “The righteous one will attain life by his trusting [or by faith] faithfulness (Hab 2:4)”’ (Makkot 23b–24a, abridged, from the Jewish New Testament Commentary, by David Stern, p. 565).

We see some of these same Torah summation-type statements in the Testimony of Yeshua. For example, the phrase, “the just shall live by faith” is found in three passages of the Testimony of Yeshua (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:38); In Leviticus 19:18, we find the phrase, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” which is the summation of the last five of the famous Ten Commandments. This in itself is a summation of all of the 613 Torah commandments that relate to human relationships, which we see in Yeshua’s Continue reading

 

An Overview of YHVH’s Marriage to Israel as Fulfilled in the Lives of Redeemed Believers

Exodus 19–31 and the Marriage of YHVH to Israel—Types and Shadows

YHVH married ancient Israel at Mount Sinai.

Read Ezekiel 16:1–14

Redeemed believers are preparing to be the spiritual bride of Yeshua.

For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Messiah. (2 Cor 11:2)

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, “Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he saith unto me, “These are the true sayings of Elohim.” (Rev 19:7–9)

What are the prophetic implications of and spiritual parallels between YHVH’s first marriage to ancient Israel and YHVH-Yeshua’s upcoming marriage to his bride—the saints who keep his (Torah) commandments and have faith in him (Rev 12:17; 14:12)?

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In his Parable of the Ten Virgins, Yeshua likens his bride to the five wise virgins who had oil in their lamps. Oil is a Hebraism for the Spirit of Elohim and the Torah. In other words, the prospective bride of Yeshua will walk in the Spirit of Elohim and the truth of Torah, which Yeshua tells us is a mandatory requirement if one is to have a relationship with YHVH (John 4:23–24; 1 John 2:3–6). We learn from the fact that since five foolish virgins who weren’t allowed into the wedding supper that not all redeemed believers will be the bride of Yeshua. Some believers will be the least in YHVH’s kingdom and some will be the greatest (Matt 5:19). According to Yeshua, how obedient one is to the Torah will determine one’s level of rewards in his eternal kingdom (Matt 5:19).

Between Exodus 19 and 24, we find recorded the steps Israel took to enter into a marital Continue reading

 

One Law for All People for All Time!

Exodus 12: 49, One law. (Other “one law” passages include Lev 24:22; Num 9:14; 15:16, 29.) The context of this verse regards the observance of Passover (also Num 9:14). There was to be only one law pertaining to the observance of the Passover for both the native Israelite and for the stranger who sojourns with the Israelite. Leviticus 24:22 says that there is one law for the Israelite and the stranger in the areas of blasphemy, murder, slaying another man’s animal, and harming one’s neighbor in any way. Pertaining to the law about the various offerings for sin (i.e, despising the instructions or Torah of Elohim, verse 31), Numbers 15:15–16 and 29 states there is one law for both the Israelite and the sojourner forever throughout their generations.

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Some will say that these “one Torah-law for everyone” passages pertain only to the specific Torah laws mentioned in these passages. In numerous places, Israel was to take the Torah (the whole Torah) to the nations of the world, not just parts of the Torah (e.g., Deut 4:6–8; Isa 60:1–3; Zech 8:22–23; Matt 28:18–20; Luke 24:47). Moreover, during the Messianic Age (or Millennium), the Torah will go forth to all the nations (Isa 2:3; Mic 4:2). What’s more, there are numerous places in the Testimony of Yeshua that speak of Torah as the standard of righteousness for all believers for all time (e.g., Matt 5:17–19; John 14:15; Rom 3:31; 7:12, 14, 22; 1 John 2:3–6; 3:4; Rev 22:14). Hundreds of more citations could be added to this list from the apostolic writings alone!

So the Torah was not for Israel only, but ultimately was to be for all the peoples of the earth. This includes you and me.