Torah – Page 8 – Snapshots

Moses and the Prophets

When we read about the signs and wonders in the early days of Christianity, do we miss them, and long to see them again? Is it an indictment of our faith if we don’t walk in the miraculous today? What are miracles for, and why don’t we see more of them?

A man once pleaded with God to give his family a fantastic miracle so they would repent and be saved. (Lk 16:27-28) God’s answer was they already had Moses and the Prophets; this was all they needed. (29)

The man protested saying it wasn’t enough, but that if someone they knew went back to them from the dead to witness to them, they would repent. (30) God refuted saying, if the Old Testament wasn’t enough, they wouldn’t be persuaded by anything. (31)

This is insightful, suggesting that a key purpose of miracles is to establish the reliability of those who, through the gospel, preach Torah (1Pe 1:25) to those unfamiliar with it (He 2:3-4), and to confirm that Torah points us to Christ (Lk 24:27), both for salvation (Ga 3:24) and sanctification. (2Ti 3:16-17)

The souls watching Noah build the ark heard him preaching righteousness (2Pe 2:5) as God waited patiently for them to repent. (1Pe 3:20) They weren’t atheists or agnostics, nor were they deceived and blinded by a false religious system: they knew about the God of Creation and what He wanted; they simply weren’t interested. Only 8 souls from that wicked generation chose the living God. What’s different today?

Nothing; we’re all the same: no one seeks God on their own. (Ro 3:11) People aren’t lost because they don’t have sufficient witness of God (Ro 1:19-20), but because they are at enmity with Him (Ro 8:7); for those who aren’t already seeking Him, miracles evidently do more harm than good. (Mk 6:5)

God never seeks to impress and entertain hard hearts with miracles; that’s Satan’s domain. (2Th 2:9) God provides supernatural witness when it’s needful to help those who’re looking for Him to find Him, when the Way is so unclear and the lies are so abundant that we need divine assistance to navigate through them. For souls who already have Moses and the prophets pointing them to Christ, and sufficient evidence of the validity of this witness, it appears we should not expect to see the miraculous, at least as a norm; it doesn’t help. (Jn 12:37-41)

And those who think they’ve found the living God but aren’t yet delighting in Torah (Ro 7:22), should examine themselves (2Co 13:5), and diligently make their election sure (2Pe 1:10-11): the very sign of the new covenant is that we have a new heart in which God is writing His laws. (He 10:16)

The preaching of another Jesus prevails today, and false brothers abound who’ve not chosen a love of the truth. (2Th 2:10) Those who claim to know God but aren’t keeping His commandments are lying; they’ve yet to find Him. (1Jn 2:4)

If we’re still cleaving to dust, dissatisfied in what we’ve found of the God of Heaven, thirsty for more of Him (Jn 7:38), and if we’re looking for miracles to bolster our faith and draw us closer to Him — as we’re neglecting the most powerful witness of His character and nature imaginable — perhaps we should start looking for Him in earnest, in the Tanakh, where He said we’d find Him. (Jn 5:39)

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The Word of Faith

Salvation’s a mysterious thing, for sure, how and why God intervenes in our headlong dash to destruction (Mt 7:13); His mercy is infinite, even in the best of us; we’ve no hope apart from Him.

Medicine Root Trailhead, Badlands National Park, SD • Dan Anderson

In some ways, getting saved seems so simple, but simple solutions to complex problems are usually wrong. When we look closely at this one — and we’d better — it’s like most anything else about a living being: a flat-out miracle.

When first struggling with this, I was told I just needed to confess Christ as Lord, believe in His Resurrection, and sincerely ask Him to save me. (Ro 10:9, 13) It seemed scriptural, and so doable, but it didn’t work, not for me. Thus began my long and painful journey, striving to enter the narrow way, a trip few will ever make. (Mt 7:14)

As usual, context provides the key, revealing what accepting Christ is all about: “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.” (Ro 10:8) If we don’t understand this in context, we’re all out of context, and I’ve never seen a reasonable explanation of this verse, how it all ties together. So, here we go.

The quote is from Torah: “But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.” (De 30:14) The key to salvation is our heart, and the law of God (Torah, “the word”) becoming part of us (“in thy heart”) as we memorize it and meditate on it (“in thy mouth”) with the intent to obey Him (“that thou mayest do it”).

We don’t start out this way, aligned with God’s Law from the heart (Ro 8:7), because our heart is evil (De 29:4), so we need a new one (De 5:29): we need to be transformed. (2Co 5:17) The gospel, the good news, is that God is able and willing to provide us a new heart (Ez 36:26), and write His laws into it (He 10:16), enabling us to keep them. (1Jn 3:24)

Eternal salvation is not found in ritual, but only in the mystery miracle (Mt 19:26) of becoming one with the eternal God through His Son Jesus Christ (Jn 17:21), entering into His rest by faith. (He 4:3) Evidence of this transformation is a heart cleaving to God, delighting in Him and His laws above all else, obeying Him and following His Way (Jn 14:6), assured of our eternal destiny only in what Christ has done for us. (1Th 1:5)

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The Mystery of Faith

There are mysteries in our faith, genuine paradoxes. There’s a mystery of iniquity, that anyone would ever deliberately choose to sin against God, as most everyone does as a manner of life, and also a mystery of faith (1Ti 3:16), how salvation can be by faith while God judges us by our works.

On the one hand, we’re justified before God by faith, by believing on Christ (Jn 3:18) and not by works. (Ro 3:28) On the other hand, on Judgement Day, we know God will render to everyone according to their deeds: those who’ve patiently continued in good works as a manner of life will be saved, and those who haven’t will be damned. (Ro 2:6-9) How can both be true?

The answer lies in seeing salvation as the work of God (Jn 6:29), where He regenerates the human heart (Col 2:13) and begins working in us to will and to do according to His pleasure. (Php 2:13) As God so works in our souls, we actually do persistently try to obey Him as a manner of life; we cannot live otherwise (1Jn 3:9), and no one else can live like this. (1Jn 3:10)

So, those who say they know God but aren’t, as a rule of life, trying their best to do what He says, are simply lying. (1Jn 2:4) While there are countless ways to deceive ourselves (Ja 1:22) into thinking, “carry on my wayward son, there’ll be peace when you are done,” it’s hoping in Satan himself. There’s no safe place outside a life pattern of obedience to God.

Whether we live in a way that’s morally acceptable to society or not isn’t the point: neglecting God’s laws and living life our own way makes us God’s enemies. (Ro 8:7) Nearly everyone lives like this. (1Jn 5:19)

As saints, we know that we still sin (1Jn 1:8), and that our works will never be good enough for God (Ga 3:10); we find our only rest in the finished work of Christ. Yet even though we know we can’t lose eternal salvation, we won’t sin willfully, on purpose, thoughtfully, deliberately, as a manner of life. (1Jn 3:8) We’re new creatures (2Co 5:17), always trying our best to obey God, even though that may not be very good.

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Not Grievous

In affirming that the love of God is keeping His commandments, God reminds us His commands aren’t grievous. (1Jn 5:3) His law, all of it, is profoundly good. (Ro 7:12)

Just take a gander at how God recounts His laws for a new generation (my summary):

Love God and cleave to Him. (De 10:20)
Hide God’s words in your heart and teach them to your kids. (De 11:18-20)
Respect yourself. (De 14:1)
Don’t eat disgusting things. (De 14:3)
Enjoy God’s parties. (De 14:26)
Feast with the poor. (De 14:29)
Periodically relieve the poor of debt. (De 15:2)
Be generous with employees. (De 15:14)
Party with God in Spring, recalling His salvation. (De 16:3)
Party with God in Summer, thanking Him for the harvest. (De 16:10-11)
Party with God in the Fall, camp out with Him, thankful for more provision. (De 16:13)
Ensure justice in all the land. (De 16:18)
etc.

The pattern continues … Love God, respect yourself, party with God, care for the poor, be decent, be just … Really tough stuff here … They say God’s law is “a burden … legalism … just can’t do it.”

Can’t? Or won’t?

The carnal mind just isn’t interested in God’s Way, not even enough to find out what it is. (Ro 8:7-8) What a treasure we miss!

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Another Jesus

When Rome sacked Jerusalem in AD 70 and began imposing Fiscus Judaicus (Jewish Tax) across the empire, Gentile Christians were keeping Sabbath, the biblical feasts, and eating clean along with their Jewish brothers, so they were identified as Jewish by Rome and required to pay. Needless to say, many began looking for ways to distance themselves from anything that looked Jewish.

False teaching quickly emerged redefining the faith, decoupling it from its foundation in Torah, presenting another Jesus that had supposedly abolished the Law and started an entirely new religion. The constant monetary pressure ensured its eventual success in supplanting the original expression of our faith.

Rome ultimately adopted this new religion and its anti-Torah leadership, birthing Roman Catholicism, and eventually its protestant counterparts, which all continue to preach this other Jesus (2Co 11:4), one the early Church knew nothing about.

Christ Himself predicted this would happen (Mt 24:24); it makes perfect sense that the enemy would counterfeit God’s Messiah, making his impressions as life-like and attractive as possible. How can we tell the false from the true?

I think this is straightforward; simply go back to where the enemy started: restore the foundation — Torah. Identify any representation of Christ abolishing or minimizing the value and centrality of Torah as a false one, a counterfeit. God’s Son didn’t do this, and denounced anyone who did. (Mt 5:17-19)

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Make Thee Fringes

One of the simplest commands in Scripture, and one of the easiest to obey, is to make fringes or tassels in the borders of our outer garments. (De 22:12) It’s God’s way of helping us remember to keep His laws (Nu 15:39-40), sort of like an accountability partner. The only requirement is that they be visible, fringe-like attachments, and that each one contain a strand of blue. (Nu 15:38)

Wearing an external symbol of our obligation to obey all of God’s commands reminds us and those around us that we are set apart for God, to walk in His ways. Those who aren’t pursuing God see this as unusual and unique, perhaps religious, expecting something different of us, something better, everywhere we go. It is, in fact, like making the whole world our accountability partner, one soul at a time, a constant check on and reinforcement against any temptation or ungodly impulse.

One might reason that this can’t be part of the “moral law” since it’s so simple and mechanical, but reminding ourselves to be good, and enabling others to expect this of us, certainly is moral; it’s very helpful and beneficial; there’s nothing amoral or arbitrary about it.

Others might reason that this must be a distinctively Jewish law, and that non-Jews are off the hook. But why would any believer reason like this while God’s in the process of writing all His Laws into their very heart and mind? (He 8:10) Jesus Himself tells us not to think this way, and to keep all God’s commands, even the least of them. (Mt 5:17-19) God’s whole point in giving us His Law is to bless Mankind with a revelation of Himself: He gave it to the Jews so they could teach it to the rest of us, living it out as an example of His righteous ways. (De 4:6-7)

We can’t rightly divvy up God’s Law and say some of it’s for Jews and some of it isn’t, or that some of it’s important and the rest isn’t; its one law for us all. To despise and neglect this simple command, a gateway command to the vast treasures of Torah, is essentially to despise all of God’s ways and laws. (Ja 2:10-11) Yet Paul delighted in all of God’s Law (Ro 7:22), and so should we; our souls should be breaking for the longing we have for His judgments at all times (Ps 119:20), loving His laws intensely (Ps 119:97), hiding them in our hearts (Ps 119:11) and meditating on them all the time. (Ps 119:15)

God’s commandments are given to us for our benefit; He intends a blessing for us in every single one of them. (Ps 1:2-3) Who among us couldn’t use a little more blessing? Starting with the easy, mechanical, external ones can help us train our hearts in keeping the more motive-oriented internal ones.

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How Much More

In our pursuit of truth, YHWH encourages us to use induction, showing us how to draw general conclusions from specific details.

For example, He says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (Mt 7:11) In saying “how much more,” God is telling us how discover more of His faithfulness by observing parents: since He gives parental instinct to move even evil people to care for their children, we should reason that He will certainly care for His own. (Is 1:18)

We learn similarly by beholding the fowls: if God takes care of the birds, how much more will He take care of us? (Lk 12:24) These samples just scratch the surface.

Jehovah has provided His Law to equip us to discern His will in any conceivable situation. (2Ti 3:16-17) He’s done this by writing it in such a way that we can employ induction to discern innumerable related truths from the truth He’s already provided. (Ps 119:18)

Torah establishes the boundary conditions of morality, and we can use these as axioms to derive any and all truth we need to walk with God. (2Ti 3:16-17) We will certainly make mistakes, but we can check and correct ourselves by loving the truth, allowing no contradiction with any text of scripture, and humbly considering all challenges in their strongest possible form.

We don’t get this treasure by merely reading scripture; it comes from hiding it in our heart, meditating on it and praying through it, asking God to reveal Himself to us through a living Word. (Ps 119:99)

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What God Hath Cleansed

God’s Law identifies certain animals like swine, shrimp and catfish as unclean, unfit for our consumption (Le 11:7,12), but most Christians ignore His instruction, thinking these dietary laws aren’t for us today.

A key text is Acts 10, where Peter was admonished for refusing to eat certain animals God had cleansed, but which Peter identified as “common“. (Ac 10:14)

Peter was looking at a sheet swarming with all kinds of animals, apparently including some clean ones (Ac 10:12), and concluded that even the clean ones were unfit to eat due to being in close contact with the others.

God was teaching Peter that engaging with those who aren’t Jewish wouldn’t defile him, which was a Jewish teaching (Ac 10:28) hindering the spread of the gospel. (Ac 11:19) The Jewish disciples never understood from this that God had changed the dietary laws, and continued keeping them faithfully. (Act 21:20)

Every creature which God has set apart for human consumption is clearly identified in His Law (1Ti 4:4-5), and — for eating — He’s called the rest abominable. (De 14:3) Does God mind if those He loves are eating junk? Of course He does.

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No Greater Burden

When the Apostles are first wrestling with how to integrate believing Gentiles into God’s spiritual community, they make a radical break with historic Judaism, which requires us all to become Jewish in order to be right with God. (Ac 15:1-2) The Apostles note that both nationality and culture have nothing to do with salvation. (Ac 15:11)

In addition, the Apostles recommend four things necessary for Gentiles to be welcome in synagogues (Ac 15:28-29), where they might hear Torah read and explained every Shabbat. (Ac 15:21) They include rules which aren’t actually in Torah,* so the Apostles aren’t identifying a subset of Mosaic Law pertinent to Gentiles; they’re providing helpful, extra-biblical guidelines which are easily derived from Torah.

They’re also sensitive to the fact that even these basic rules may pose an inconvenience, a burden of sorts for new believers embedded in pagan culture, affecting their ability to engage in society as they had before. These types of changes are often necessary, but must be proposed with sensitivity and a certain lenience, especially at first. The apostles start with no greater burden than the very basics, and have the Holy Spirit’s approval.

In handling this crisis, the Apostles say nothing like: “Gentiles don’t have to obey X and Y laws of Torah”. Such sentiment dishonors Christ’s command that His disciples teach all nations to observe all things He’s commanded them (Mt 28:19-20), ignores His teaching that even the least of Torah’s commands are obligatory (Mt 5:19), and denies its universal profitability. (2Ti 3:16-17)

See first comment below

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Purge the Leaven

The feast of unleavened bread teaches us to purge sin from our lives and communities; we are unleavened, designed to live without sin, because Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. (1Co 5:7-8)

Ice Cave in Mutnovsky Volcano, Kamchatka, Russia

Those who sin deliberately, as a manner of life, don’t belong to God (1Jn 3:9), so as believers we’re already obeying God as best we can (Ps 119:22) and asking Him to help us where we’re powerless to do better. (Ps 119:35) So the sins and faults we’re to purge are often hidden from us: secret faults, where we’re deceived about the way. How do we purge those kinds of sins, those we don’t yet know about?

Our spirit is God’s candle, searching all our inward parts. (Pr 20:27) Since God knows us better than we know ourselves, we can ask Him to take us on a tour of our own hearts (Je 17:10), pointing out secret faults where we need cleansing and healing. (Ps 19:12) We can do this because we’re safe with Him: He loves us infinitely just as we are, with all our brokenness, so there’s no need to be defensive or elusive with Him, even when He’s indignant with us.

With Him inside helping us, we can search our own hearts for hints of secrets faults, looking for clues both in our failings and in the accusations of others. We may be blind to our own sin, but others can generally see them, at least partially. When someone takes the time to blame us for something, or if we can easily see on our own that we’re at fault, let’s despise the shame (Heb 12:2), looking for the underlying belief or character flaw and asking God to deliver, heal and cleanse us. Let’s not fear finding faults in ourselves; let’s fear allowing hidden sin to continue to corrupt our witness, and service for God. (Php 2:12)

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