The Long and the short of it, or... But we're under grace...

Inevitably every person I share the roots of our faith with will bring up grace. I hear arguments about why I shouldn't be following Torah (the law as it is also referred to.) Things like Jesus(Yeshua) nailed the laws to the cross. For this one, they cite Col 2:11-14  In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,¹² having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

What he nailed to the cross was our sin. We cannot pay for our transgressions. He had to die to pay for all our sins because we are unable to be holy and in his presence otherwise. Some say he did away with the Law.  If he did, then he cannot be our Messiah. I believe Yeshua is the Word in the Flesh. He is God walking among us. If he added too or took away from the scriptures he would nullify himself as the Messiah. Here is my proof:

Deuteronomy 4:2  "Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”(also Deuteronomy 12:32 "See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it."). The reason God is so adamant on this is because Psalms 119: 160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.Also see Proverbs 30:6.  Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.  If Yeshua added or took away scripture, he would be a liar. God cannot lie and he does not change Malachi 3:6. 

The fact of the matter is that Yeshua is constantly quoting Old Testament. Luke 10:27 says:  He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The first is quoting Deuteronomy 6:5 which is part of the Sh'ma and Leviticus 19:18 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD. If you look at Matthew 22:35-36  One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Yeshua responds with “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. Many will leave it at that but he goes on to advise the Torah is still in force because he says 40 "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”  Everything in the Law and the Prophets depends on these two commandments. There is nothing new!  It's all there.  

Some will say he fulfilled the Law.  Lets look at that word. Fulfill.  In Greek it is Pleroo which properly translated (accounting for 1st century context) means fully preach. This is what our Jewish brothers were looking for. The Jews are looking for a Messiah to teach them how to live Torah. Not "do away" with it.Why would thousands upon thousands of 1st century Israel accept him as Messiah only to have it slow to a trickle?  The "Church" began to teach the directions of the Torah were no longer relevant. Gee I wonder who could  have started that?  Who would have the most to gain from a false teaching like that? Who in this universe seeks to separate us from our Creator?  Who is jealous of our relationship with him? 

Wake up and smell the daisies people ! Throughout the Bible Satan is called the deceiver for a reason. In the Garden of Eden he twisted the words of our Father in heaven and convinced Adam and Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Others will say It's all Legalism, if you follow Torah, then you live and die under the law. If this was the case, then why is it said over and over in the gospels to obey the Law. One of my favorite sites has a great list of Scripture backing Torah obedience : New2Torah.com   When says to follow his commandments, we should remember that he is GOD. God does not change. King David repeats over and over how he loves the Law. Why? Some will say that it was different then. They had the Temple and could make sacrifices for their sins. SPOILER ALERT: God never intended for the blood of innocent animals to cover the sins of man.  Yeshua is found throughout the Old Testament. The Gospel is not new. Christians talk about how we are Saved by the blood of the Lamb. How we are commanded to be baptized. This nothing new. The Israelites were saved by the blood of the Lamb (Passover). They were baptized by water (Red Sea Crossing) and they were given the Law (at Mount Sinai).   We as Christians are saved by the blood of the Lamb (Yeshua), we are to be baptized and we are now being given the Law.

The eyes of believer around the world are being opened by the Father. The scales are being removed and his people are realizing that he is coming for his bride and we are to be ready.

This means we are to be mikvah'd. This means ritually cleansed, purified. His bride has to be pure and we have not been following his commandments which were given to prepare us.  We are to follow his appointed times and feasts so that we may be ready and prepared for his return. These appointed feasts teach us the signs of his return and also teach us the marriage preparations.

Yahweh gave his people a certificate of divorce in Jeremiah 3:8 "I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery." According to the Torah a man cannot remarry a wife he has divorced. Deuteronomy 24:1-4
“When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and she departs out of his house, ² and if she goes and becomes another man's wife, ³ and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies, who took her to be his wife, ⁴ then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. 

Go back and read that over again. Twice. Understand? Now according to this, Yahweh cannot re-marry Israel. That should be the end of the story. However, here is the other reason Yeshua came to earth.  Romans 7:3 states: So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man. Yeshua is God(Yahweh) and because he died, Israel is free from the divorce and able to marry again.

Yeshua talks about the Marriage supper of the Lamb in the parable of the 10 virgins. Matthew 25:1-13
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. ¹¹ Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹² But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

I`d like to submit to you that the 10 Virgins are all believers in Yeshua as the Messiah. Some people say its believers and non-believers. That doesn`t make sense. Why would non-believers want to attend the marriage supper?  I believe the 5 Virgins that gain access to the Marriage supper are those believers following Torah while those that don`t believe the Law is still valid will be left out of the celebration. I`m not saying they won`t gain eternal life, that is not for me to say, but consider this Matthew 7:21-23 states:

²¹ `Not every one who is saying to me Lord, lord, shall come into the reign of the heavens; but he who is doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, lord, have we not in thy name prophesied? and in thy name cast out demons? and in thy name done many mighty things? ²³ and then I will acknowledge to them, that -- I never knew you, depart from me ye who are working lawlessness.

Shalom