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Introduction

There is a study series on this website entitled, “Precepts and Principles of the Torah.” In that series we went through every commandment we could find, at least any that would apply to the common man, and we sought to have a full understanding of it and how it was to be applied to our lives. Not just the precepts or commandments, but the principle behind it.

We are now doing the same with the commandments of Yahushua the Messiah. Yahushua was indeed a lawgiver that gave quite a number of commandments.

None of them contradicted the commandments given in the first books of the bible, known as the Torah of Moshe or Law of Moses, contrary to what some may believe. Rather, they compliment what is said in the Torah, and actually become a part of the Torah itself.

Yahushua has given us some Torah. Scripture says He would, but it would not be anything that contradicted what was said before. In fact, Yahushua Himself was only a vessel through whom Yahweh the Father was giving us Torah.

This was all in fulfillment of what was spoken in the Torah itself, that Yahweh had more to say:

So, if we reject something that Yahushua spoke, on the basis that it isn’t found in the Torah, we are actually in violation of the Torah itself!

We must obey every word of Yahweh, whether it was spoken 3500 years ago or 2000 years ago, or if Yahweh gives you a personal word today through His Holy Spirit, we are called to live by EVERY WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh, just as Yahushua did:

As part of our desire to live by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh’s mouth must regard the commandments in what’s called “the New Testament” to be of equal value as the commandments found in what’s called “the Old Testament.”

I personally find the commandments of Yahushua to be very practical, often very straightforward and exact. Whereas the commandment given through Moshe are more like case law, or basic principles being taught that can be applied in a wide variety of situations.

This is not to say that Yahushua’s commandments do not also contain principles, but they are more frequently more targeted to specific life situations.

All of the commandments throughout the bible have to do with love. Love for Yahweh, and/or love for our fellow man. Thus, we have Yahushua saying to us:

If we want to be filled with the Spirit, we need to be willing to love Yahushua and keep His commandments. That’s the true evidence of a Spirit filled person…. more so than signs and wonders.

So, it’s all about love. Later Yahushua said:

And again:

Walking as Yahushua walked.

When Yahushua came to His disciples after He was resurrected, He told them:

All that Yahushua commanded. This would not just be what He commanded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It would also include what was given through Moshe.

Yahushua is the Word made flesh:

The reason why He is the Word made flesh is because through Yahushua came the word of Yahweh all the way back to the beginning.

So, when we are talking about Yahushua’s commandments, we are also talking about the words of Yahweh that came to Moshe.

Yahushua’s first command: Repent!

Now Yahushua began His ministry at about age 30:

The very first word Yahushua began to teach at the outset of His ministry was this:

This was before He even chose His disciples:

Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of Elohim is at hand. He gave a command, and then He gives us the reason. There is a sense of urgency in His voice.

It was the same message preached by John the Baptist:

And it’s the same message preached by us:

But Yahushua said the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. So, there was a sense of urgency about it. John the Baptist also spoke of this urgency:

And it so happens that, by and large, the people who were humble enough to repent at the preaching of John the Baptist were the same ones who believed in Yahushua. And those who did not receive John’s message, also did not receive Yahushua as being the Messiah:

In this we see the ax already was laid to the root of the trees. Those who rejected John also rejected Yahushua.

So, by the time that Yahushua began to preach, the Kingdom was, for them, already at hand. Their decision had been made. John didn’t require anyone to believe in the Messiah. He only asked them to repent. But some were too proud to repent. They thought they already had it together.

This is a lesson for us today. We must always maintain a repentant attitude, continuously looking for things in our lives to change. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

Those who do change will be different than the world. We will, in fact, be called out of this world and because we are called out of this world, we will often be hated by the world:

Yahushua said to those who did not believe:

Rejoice in trials

So, in this vain, Yahushua gave us this second commandment found in the book of Matthew:

Yahushua specifically told us to rejoice when we are being reviled, persecuted, and have all kinds of evil said against us falsely for His sake.

If fact, He didn’t just say “Rejoice,” He said, “be exceedingly glad.” It’s interesting.

Luke records Yahushua even adding another element to our rejoicing:

I have often marveled at this. How many of us have actually done this? I wonder. I mean, it is a command from Yahushua. He didn’t say it as a suggestion, it’s not like it’s some “Hints from Heloise” here. It’s something He told us to do.

It’s an attitude He wants us to have. An attitude that takes faith in order to obtain.

Leap for joy when we are hated? Leap for joy when we are excluded? Leap for joy when we are reviled and our name is cast as evil? YES. REJOICE AND leap, LEAP, LEAP for joy, Yahushua said.
 
He must know something that we don’t fully know. I think it would be kind of like trying to explain to a man living in some 3rd world country who has only had mush to eat his entire life. Now try to explain to him what Ice Cream tastes like, or our favorite pie.

Could you describe it? Could you explain it to him? No, you could only say, “Well, umm… it’s just REALLY GOOD! Trust me.” Maybe he would say, “well OK” and not really place much value to it because he has no reference point of food tasting any better than what he is already eating.

I think the same is true for us. Sometimes we just need to believe Yahushua. He knows how awesome the rewards are going to be. He knows that we will be rejoicing and leaping in that day. So, what He wants us to do is believe Him, and rejoice now.

Yahushua is teaching us a principle. To not be so earthly minded, be heavenly-minded when negative situations come our way. And He is teaching us this:

Rejoicing when hated is an act of faith! “For indeed your reward is great in heaven”

What is a reward? In the Greek word it has to do with wages.

3408 μισθός misthos {mis-thos’}
Meaning: 1) dues paid for work 1a) wages, hire 2) reward: used of the fruit naturally resulting from toils and endeavours 2a) in both senses, rewards and punishments 2b) of the rewards which God bestows, or will bestow, upon good deeds and endeavours 2c) of punishments
Origin: apparently a primary word; TDNT – 4:695,599; n m
Usage: AV – reward 24, hire 3, wages 2; 29

We are laboring by putting up with all the hate. And one day, we will experience the reward for our labor, the wages.

The wicked are laboring too. And one day, unless those who hate us repent and believe in Yahushua, they will also receive the wages for their labors:

Notice that they feast with you These are false brethren. They are laboring for wages too, the wages of unrighteousness.

So, we get the chance to earn rewards, that is, wages for being persecuted, being hated, being falsely accused. We don’t need to get too upset by that. In fact, we should rejoice…. by faith… REJOICE!

The disciples did just what Yahushua told them to do:

I would suggest that if they had taken the wrong attitude, getting angry and upset about how they were being treated, they would have been far less likely to continue “teaching and preaching Yahushua as the Messiah.” They probably would have toned it down a bit, or maybe just gave up…

That’s what the enemy wants us to do, and it’s why he inspires people to treat us this way. But we need to stay the course, we need to keep on walking, and rejoice every step of the way.

I can’t say I’ve always taken pleasure in it. So maybe I just need to lean on my wife to remind me and maybe I’ll have to remind her too. As the persecution for our faith rises up in the days to come brothers and sisters, don’t fret. Don’t frown.

“It’s all good for us, we have reason to rejoice. Yahushua said so

And you don’t need to be perfect in order to rejoice. Even Paul said:

If HE was our only reward, it would be enough.

So we need to stay the course, and not give up when we are hated. Keep on keeping on. Press on toward the goal… and not lose our salt. Perhaps that’s why Yahushua said:

If we are hidden out in the woods somewhere, maybe homesteading, or doing our own things, building our own little utopia at home, and not going out and being a light to this lost and dying world, we are hiding His light under a bowl. There is nothing wrong with homesteading, but don’t do it at the expense of failing to

Some people catch a little persecution and hatred for their faith, and they separate themselves, and just focus on being with their family. They don’t have the mettle to let their lights so shine among men. It’s too unpleasant. It rocks the boat. Their wife complains, their children complain, because their family life is so pleasant, with love all around, they can’t handle people hating them.

Their confidence is not in Yahweh, it’s in man, it’s in their family members being so accepting of them. If they lost that, they would have no self-worth.

Others are too much into the fear of man and his opinions that they won’t reach out. They won’t die for the salvation of their neighbor. Being hated takes a lot of dying to self. It takes a willingness to have our reputations ruined sometimes. Yahushua told us to rejoice when that happens. If we can’t rejoice, we aren’t likely to be the salt and light He is looking for.

So, let’s not withdraw, let’s not just stay in our secure homes when there are people all around us on the road to hell. Let’s go out and be a light, giving them a glimpse of our Savior, being that light to the world. Showing our love and care for them, shining the testimony of our Father’s love to all who will hear.

And if the hate you for that, REJOICE!

Full Study on Trials, Tests and Temptations @ www.EliYah.com/trials

Do not think I came to Destroy the Law

Now I find it interesting that the very next thing Yahushua said was:

For many of us, our belief in Yahushua’s words in this verse is the very thing that has brought us a lot of hatred and ridicule. They will accuse you of being a Judaizer, or trying to act Jewish, or going back under the curse of the law, or reading too much of that Old Testament, or being estranged from the Messiah if you believe what He said here.

He said, …don’t even think He came to destroy or even take away a single jot or tittle.
What does it mean to destroy the law?

2647 καταλύω kataluo {kat-al-oo’-o}

Meaning: 1) to dissolve, disunite 1a) (what has been joined together), to destroy, demolish 1b) metaph. to overthrow i.e. render vain, deprive of success, bring to naught 1b1) to subvert, overthrow 1b1a) of institutions, forms of government, laws, etc., to deprive of force, annul, abrogate, discard 1c) of travellers, to halt on a journey, to put up, lodge (the figurative expression originating in the circumstance that, to put up for the night, the straps and packs of the beasts of burden are unbound and taken off; or, more correctly from the fact that the traveller’s garments, tied up when he is on the journey, are unloosed at it end)

Origin: from 2596 and 3089; TDNT – 4:338,543; v

Usage: AV – destroy 9, throw down 3, lodge 1, guest 1, come to nought 1, overthrow 1, dissolve 1; 1

Notice that it’s from “2596 and 3089” so it’s a compound word. Kata and Luo.

Luo means to loose:

3089 λύω luo {loo’-o}
Meaning: 1) to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened 1a) bandages of the feet, the shoes

Kata means “down from”

2596 κατά kata {kat-ah’}
Meaning: 1) down from, through out 2) according to, toward, along
Origin: a primary particle;; prep
Usage: AV – according to 107, after 61, against 58, in 36, by 27, daily + 2250 15, as 11, misc 165; 480

Yahushua didn’t come to render the law “null and void,” our faith should actually cause the law to “stand.” That’s what the Greek word translated “establish” actually means:

2476 ἵστημι histemi {his’-tay-mee}
Meaning: 1) to cause or make to stand, to place, put, set 1

Now, the only way that traditional Christianity can get out of this one is to misinterpret what Yahushua told them He came to do, which is to fulfill the law:

Now, there is a tradition in Judaism… we don’t know if it was being said at this time that Yahushua was talking or if it arose at a later time, possibly even because of Yahushua’s words here… there was this saying where the leaders used the term “destroying the law” to mean someone is misinterpreting the law, while someone is “fulfilling the law” if they are properly interpreting it.

But either way, let’s now look at the Hebrew word for “fulfill.” It’s the Greek word, “Pleroo” and the Strong’s lexicon defines it as:

pleroo play-ro’-o from 4134; to make replete, i.e. (literally) to cram (a net), level up (a hollow), or (figuratively) to furnish (or imbue, diffuse, influence), satisfy, execute (an office), finish (a period or task), verify (or coincide with a prediction), etc.:–accomplish, X after, (be) complete, end, expire, fill (up), fulfil, (be, make) full (come), fully preach, perfect, supply.

Now some see Strong’s definitions as a smorgasbord where you can pick the definition you want to fit the interpretation you are looking for. So, they pick out the place where it says, “fully preach” and say, “See He came to fully preach the law, not destroy it!”

But when you read the strong’s you need to know that the words after the : (the colon) are how this word is translated in the King James Version of the bible. The problem is, I can’t find a single instance of where this word is ever translated “fully preach” so at this point I would conclude that it was an error.

The word simply means to fully fill, or make full.

137 πληρόω pleroo {play-ro’-o}

Meaning: 1) to make full, to fill up, i.e. to fill to the full 1a) to cause to abound, to furnish or supply liberally 1a1) I abound, I am liberally supplied 2) to render full, i.e. to complete 2a) to fill to the top: so that nothing shall be wanting to full measure, fill to the brim 2b) to consummate: a number 2b1) to make complete in every particular, to render perfect 2b2) to carry through to the end, to accomplish, carry out, (some undertaking) 2c) to carry into effect, bring to realisation, realise 2c1) of matters of duty: to perform, execute 2c2) of sayings, promises, prophecies, to bring to pass, ratify, accomplish 2c3) to fulfil, i.e. to cause God’s will (as made known in the law) to be obeyed as it should be, and God’s promises (given through the prophets) to receive fulfilment

Origin: from 4134; TDNT – 6:286,867; v

Usage: AV – fulfil 51, fill 19, be full 7, complete 2, end 2, misc 9; 90

This definition makes sense. If I was to tell my daughter to bring me a glass of water, and she did it. She can say that she fulfilled my law. She fulfilled my commandments. But if I asked her to do it, and she refused to do it. Then my words to her were nothing but empty words. Not something to fully fill.

Yahushua didn’t come to destroy the law, He came to fulfill it. To do it. To obey it, to keep it and do what the law told Him to do.

So, the meaning of fulfill here is to “obey”.

We should also obey the law. In fact, we are told specifically to fulfill the law:

Therefore, we are also to fulfill the law just as He did. 

in Matthew 5, we will find a little trick by the translators:

Here is their little trick. In the place where it says, “till all is fulfilled” they try to get us to think that since Yahushua fulfilled the law, the law is no longer binding today.

Of course, this ignores the fact that He just said not one jot or tittle will pass from the law until heaven and earth pass away. But it provides just enough confusion to some Christians to not believe that while the law hasn’t been destroyed, it has been fulfilled… causing to essentially pass away.

What is happening here is they are using the word “fulfill” in verse 17 and 18, when in the Greek they are not the same words.

1096 γίνομαι ginomai {ghin’-om-ahee}

Meaning: 1) to become, i.e. to come into existence, begin to be, receive being 2) to become, i.e. to come to pass, happen 2a) of events 3) to arise, appear in history, come upon the stage 3a) of men appearing in public 4) to be made, finished 4a) of miracles, to be performed, wrought 5) to become, be made

Origin: a prolongation and middle voice form of a primary verb; TDNT – 1:681,117; v

Usage: AV – be 255, come to pass 82, be made 69, be done 63, come 52, become 47, God forbid + 3361 15, arise 13, have 5, be fulfilled 3, be married to 3, be preferred 3, not tr 14, misc 4, vr done 2; 678

This Greek word for “fulfilled” in this instance is translated “be” 253 times, “come to pass” 82 times and “fulfilled” 3 times. It is never used in reference to Yahushua fulfilling anything in the law and prophets.

So what Yahushua is saying is that “…until all things be,” or “…until all things come to pass.”

Therefore, the meaning of this is that not one iota of the law will pass away until everything comes to pass.

Until Yahushua comes and sets up His Kingdom, rules and reigns for 1,000 years, defeats the last enemy, both sin and death, the law will not pass away, and neither will heaven or earth. Once sin and death are defeated, there will be no need for the law and prophets because the sinful nature will be no more.

The law of Yahweh gives us sound doctrine If anything is contrary to sound doctrine, like this ridiculous idea of the law being abolished, then the law is

Of course, if we reject the law as being sound doctrine for today, Paul’s point is moot. Useless.

Therefore, until we are walking in perfect obedience every moment of every day, we still need the law and prophets to help guide us into the path of righteousness, clarifying the standards that Yahweh wants us to live by.

And if there is any doubt as to what Yahushua really meant here, it should be completely resolved when we keep reading into verse 19:

Notice here it says “these commandments” commandments! What are “these least” commandments? The commandments found in the law and prophets!

And what Yahushua said here is exactly the same thing that was taught by Daniel:

And who are these “least in the Kingdom?”

You don’t get any more “least” than that. Ashes under the souls of our feet, where we will trample all over them. So, Yahweh said in the very last book in scripture by the very last prophet in what’s called the “Old Testament,” Remember the law of Moses, with all the statutes and judgments. Kind of like this final warning in the Old Testament, and then the very first warning in the book of Matthew, which is the book typically places right after the book of Malachi in most bibles:

So, our goal is to both do and teach the commandments. This was Ezra’s goal when he came to Jerusalem:

Yahushua is saying, we need to be like Ezra. Prepare our heart to seek the law of Yahweh, and to do it. And teach others to do the same. We just went through the Precepts and Principles of the Torah, and now we are going to look at the commandments of Yahushua in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That’s our goal, to cover every single one of them. I pray that myself and all of us will continually prepare our hearts to seek the law of Yahweh and to do it until we draw our last breath on the earth.

So rather than choosing anger, let’s be the kind of people that care about one another, willing to bear one another’s burdens, fulfill the law of Yahweh, and the law of Messiah… which are one and the same:

May Yahweh bless you and have mercy on us all!