In my walk, as a believer in Messiah and His whole Word from Genesis to Revelation, it is amazing to me of how many times, and in a variety of ways, that I hear how people are so excited to be “free” from that ole’ cursed Law. “The Law was nailed to the cross,” they say.
What is not understood is the misconception that the Law (Torah) is our enemy and not sin. This is the classic work and theme of the demonic—diverting the blame from itself, onto the Creator. It’s a classic work of Satan to divide the mean ole wicked “God” of the Old Testament, from the “good fairy” Son of the New Testament.
Why should we “shoot the messenger” when all the Law (the Torah) does is point us to the ugliness of our sin—for our own eternal good? We want to love a loving “God” but we have problems with Him when He shows us our dirty sins! We want to love Him when He blesses us and we want to nail His Son to the ‘cross’ when He shows us our sin. Pharisaical hypocrites we are at times. We want full access to the benefits of the ‘tree of life’ without desiring to access the Way and the Truth TO the tree of life. We want life on our own terms—our own way—without submitting to the only One who has access to that life.
Quite frankly, I honestly ask the question: “Tell Me Exactly What Part of the Law are You So Happy to be Freed from?”
It was the Law’s condemnation of us that was nailed to the stake, not the Law (Torah) itself. What people forget when they say that the Law was nailed to the stake, is that the Law is the Torah. And the Torah is the Word. And the Word is Messiah. Messiah is the Living Word—the Living Torah!
So if Messiah was nailed to the stake, then the Torah’s condemnation against us was nailed to the stake. The Torah’s demand for my righteousness to achieve right standing with an all Consuming Fire, through the weakness of my flesh, is what was nailed to the stake. I can do nothing on my own! To achieve this is something that could never be achieved without a Helper. My inability to meet His righteous standards for eternal life was nailed to the stake.
So if Messiah is the Word, and the Word is the Torah and the Torah is the Law: Then when Messiah was resurrected then also the Torah was resurrected.
So, people with this idea that the “Law” is dead because it was nailed to the stake, forget the fact that it was also buried and was resurrected. Why? So that through Messiah’s own righteousness, we are now able to keep the wholeness of the letter of the “Law” – save the sacrifices. Messiah’s death paid our debt to the sin of disobedience. Messiah’s resurrection enabled Him to send His Father’s Spirit to help us obey what He has always commanded from the very beginning: To love Him with all that we are, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. For in this is life eternal.
The requirements of the “Law” never stopped – only our inability to do them stopped!
It was the Pharisees that said to the common people—“without us, you can do nothing”. It was Messiah who said to the Pharisees (and to all who think of themselves as self-sufficient)—“without Me, you can do nothing”. No wonder they were so angry at Him. Messiah, as does the Torah, exposes our sins and we don’t always want to look at what makes us shameful in front of others.
For the Hot—they are blameless and have no sin. For the Cold, their sin is unhidden—right out in the open. But for the Lukewarm—their sin is hidden. It is why they will be spewed out of Messiah’s mouth, because what was concealed inside, will be made to come out into the open. It’s the one thing that makes Him nauseous—hidden sins. Messiah came to expose the hidden intent of the heart of man. That is His nature!
David, in Psalm 19:12, writes: “Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.”
Without the Torah—without Messiah, who CAN understand his/her error? Cleanse us from our hidden sins!
I’m so glad NOT to be freed from what will keep me from hiding my sins—aren’t you? He wants to give us life eternal!
Our restored relationship to the Father was made possible through Messiah – The Living Word – The Living Torah. So as our relational obedience to the Torah goes, so our relationship with the Father goes. For Father Elohim – Yahuweh, is never separated from His Word—ever!
And those who are without His Word (without Torah)—He will say, ‘depart from me you workers of lawlessness (without the Torah)’!
Messiah never came to set us free from the Words His Father spoke in the “Old Testament”! Messiah Yahushua is not in the business of revoking His Father’s Words but reinforcing the truth of them.
To continue this study, listen, as Derek shares more on this topic <HERE>