Consider for a moment what Yahushua said concerning the Torah:
Matt 22:36-41 (NKJV) “Teacher, which [is] the great commandment in the law?” Yahushua said to him, ” `You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is [the] first and great commandment. And [the] second [is] like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Yahushua did teach that the essence of the Law and Prophets was love. All the commandments written have to do with loving Yahweh and/or loving our neighbor.
Some would say that if you do these commandments, you need not follow the Torah. But Yahushua wasn’t teaching that at all. He was only pointing out that all of Yahweh’s commandments had to do with loving Yahweh and loving our neighbor.
In fact, if one refuses to obey a commandment in the Torah, then based on Yahushua’s words here they aren’t walking in love 🙂
If you look at what the scriptures say concerning the time that Yahushua lived in, He never had to teach anyone to keep the Sabbath. It was already being kept.
Yahushua didn’t have to teach anyone that they must keep the feast days, they were already being kept. In fact, Yahushua didn’t need to teach a whole lot on those commandments that dealt with loving or serving Yahweh with the exception of the fact that the leaders were not serving Yahweh with their heart but rather to receive glory from men.
In those days, it was honorable to serve Yahweh. Most of the Jews were not into idolatry much at that time and so that is probably why He taught very little about that.
What He DID teach were commandments having to do with loving our neighbor which were being ignored or changed to fit the situation. Here is one among many examples:
Matt 15:3-9 (NKJV) He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of Yahweh because of your tradition? “For Yahweh commanded, saying, `Honor your father and your mother’; and, `He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ “But you say, `Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me [is] a gift [to] [Elohim]”– then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of Yahweh of no effect by your tradition. Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with [their] lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching [as] doctrines the commandments of men.’ “
So this is the kind of teaching that Yahushua had to deal with. He never had to tell them to ‘keep the Sabbath, keep the feasts, eat clean foods’ for they were already doing these things. In fact they were adding to Yahweh’s law concerning these subjects. They added over 1000 laws to the Sabbath for instance so He had to teach against that.
But what has happened now is a total shift in interpretation. All that people seem to care about now is the commandments that have to do with loving our neighbor.
These are the ones that are accepted in this world for the most part. In fact, some people believe that this is the basic thing that all religions teach. It is sad that this has happened.
Now all we hear is “Love your neighbor…Love your neighbor…” What about loving Yahweh by keeping the commandments that have to do with how we worship Him?? This has all been forgotten.
People have done a complete 180 degree shift of direction compared to the people of that time. All they care about is the heart. This is important, I agree! But we shouldn’t be misguided to the point that our own heart deceives us.
Jere 17:9- “The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
People are too busy listening to their own heart and not listening to the Spirit of Yahweh!
Indeed the word of Yahweh IS Spirit (John 6:63) and His word asks certain things of us. Yahweh doesn’t want us to look at His word and then decide whether or not it matters depending on our heart.
He wrote these words so that we would learn how to love HIM. Men have transgressed the laws of Yahweh (they say what matters is the heart), changed the ordinances of Yahweh (like keeping Easter rather than Passover) and broken the everlasting covenant (they say it is done away).
In fact, Isaiah prophesied that this would take place in the end times:
Isai 24:1- Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be: As with the people, so with the priest; As with the servant, so with his master; As with the maid, so with her mistress; As with the buyer, so with the seller; As with the lender, so with the borrower; As with the creditor, so with the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For Yahweh has spoken this word. The earth mourns [and] fades away, The world languishes [and] fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men [are] left.
What caused this shift in thinking? Of course the source is none other than Satan but I believe that it may have started with the Jewish persecution of believers in Yahushua and also the Jewish uprising against Rome that sparked the eventual temple destruction in 70 CE. Soon after this began a very ANTI Jewish anything. The way of life that the Torah presents (keeping the 7th day Sabbath, the feast days, eating kosher foods, etc) became associated with the Jews.
Therefore, anyone adhering to these things were considered “Jewish” and therefore were persecuted along with the Jews by the Greeks. This is all historical fact. The Greeks legislated their culture on everyone. The effects of this culture can be felt even today.
But we should recognize that the law is not a Jewish law. It is Yahweh’s law. This is not the Jewish way of life, this is the way of life that Yahweh would have us walk in.
So I invite all those who have been influenced by the traditions and interpretations of the “Christian Fathers” to serve Yahweh, not the doctrines and commandments of men.
When you compare the way things are today with the way the leaders deceived the people in Yahushua’s day, this is one thing that has yet to change.