Video #6: But…Wasn’t The Torah For The Jews Only?
February 24th, 2012 |Text By: Carmen Welker www.realitycheck.tv
Translated into ASL: June Ann LeFors
Shalom and welcome to Reality Check. In this study I’m going to answer the age-old question: But…wasn’t Torah just for the Jews?
No, it wasn’t. Torah is not a “Jewish” thing; it’s a GOD thing!
If you’ll go back to beginning in Genesis 12 where we are introduced to our first Patriarch, Abraham who fathered our second Patriarch, Isaac, who fathered our Third Patriarch, Jacob - you’ll come to understand there were no “Jews” until Jacob fathered a son named Yehudah, or Judah, who became the Tribe of Judah according to Genesis 29:35 and Matthew 1:1-2!
“The Jews” has basically become a blanket description for all Israelites - but in actuality, only someone born into the Tribe of Judah can claim they are Jews - and YHWH’s Torah was never just for “the Jews.” If you’ll remember, there were 12 Tribes in the desert with Moses; not just the Tribe of Judah. And YHWH commanded Moses to present His Divine Instructions to ALL including the Gentiles who had accompanied Moses out of Egypt. Exodus 12:38 tells us Moses was accompanied by a “mixed multitude” and later, we see him sharing God’s Torah with ALL when he came down from the mountain to present the Ten Commandments. He did not send the “foreigners” away or tell them they didn’t have to obey the same rules as the Hebrews!
God never in the entire Bible suggested there would be different rules for different peoples!
As you learned in earlier segments, Torah has been around since the beginning when YHWH told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! In Genesis 4 we see that Cain and Abel were Torah observant when they offered sacrifices, and in Genesis 7 and 8 we see that Noah knew the difference between “clean and unclean” animals. Yet none of THEM were Jews! And guess what: Moses - whom God used to ultimately give us the Ten Commandments in written form, wasn’t a “Jew” either. He was from the Tribe of Levi as we see in Exodus chapters 1 and 2!
So, as you can see, there’s something inherently wrong with Christianity’s dogma that they are somehow exempt from obeying God’s Divine Instructions in Righteousness which includes the keeping of the SEVENTH Day Sabbath and the seven Holy Feast Days! Anyone who believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is to OBEY YHWH, and He even said so FOUR TIMES IN A ROW in Numbers 15:13-16, which I have mentioned several times in previous segments.
Let me ask you a question: In Jeremiah 31:32 with whom did YHWH make His “New Covenant?” The Gentiles? No. He made it with the Houses of Israel and Judah - both of whom were Torah observant!
So, why are Christians insisting the New Covenant was made with them, and that it meant they wouldn’t have to obey YHWH’s Torah anymore once Jesus came onto the scene and died on the cross?…Did Jesus EVER say that His death would negate His Father’s Divine Instructions to mankind?
No - and neither did the Apostle Paul whose writings have been taken totally out of their Hebrew context by Christian pastors who are teaching their congregations that God’s Law is a curse and that nothing else is required by Christians except to “believe in Jesus.” Take a look at what the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:17-18: “Wherefore, you COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM, AND BE SEPARATE from them says Master YHWH; and don’t come near the unclean thing, and I will receive you; And will be to you a Father, and you will be sons and daughters to me, says Master YHWH the Almighty.” Paul is not talking about “Jesus” here; he’s speaking about God the Father who commands us to “be separate”.
How can we be separate or holy if we’re insisting we don’t have to obey His “forever” commands - those commands that contain the words “forever” or “throughout your generations” within them, such as the Seventh Day Sabbath (which is a SIGN between God and His people according to Ezekiel 20:11) and the Feasts? Listen to this: In John 17:3 we Y’shua spoke these words: “Now this is life that is eternal, that they might KNOW YOU, that YOU are the Elohim of Truth, and he alone whom YOU have sent, the Mashiyach Y’shua.”
WOW! What is “life eternal?” That we might know YHWH our Elohim! And how can we “know” Him unless we are OBEYING His “forever” commands and doing His will? How can we possibly know exactly who Jesus is unless we have fully comprehended the first TWO-THIRDS of the Bible that show us who the FATHER is? After all, who was the Messiah?
Well….His given, Hebrew Name was Y’shua, which means “YHWH is Salvation”, and according to Isaiah 53:1, He was an ARM OF YHWH. … Does the ARM work on its own or change rules? No, of course not!
Are you beginning to understand what I’m trying to get across now? We cannot separate Y’shua from His Father. He doesn’t exist without the Father. He is ONE with the Father according to John 10:30. We must “believe” in Him because He was the Son (John 6:44 and John 14:6) who came to proclaim the Kingdom of heaven (Luke 4:43 and 8:1) and who became our Final SIN Sacrifice. He never said He came to replace His Father or change the rules.
Those who have accepted YHWH as their God MUST obey His Torah, or else, whom are they serving?
As “grafted in,” Christians are part of Israel - which means they must do EXACTLY the same as YHWH’s “natural children.” Both Yeshua and the Apostle Paul reiterated this:
In Matthew 5: 17-20 Y’shua says: “Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot (words/commands) and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness is far greater than that of the Torah-teachers and P’rushim (or Pharisees), you will certainly NOT enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Have heaven and earth passed away yet? Has everything happened that must happen? NO! Therefore, it stands to reason that Torah is valid today! Paul said in Romans 10:12-13: “And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one - Master YHWH - over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH, will have life.” And in Romans 3:31, he said: “Do we then nullify Torah by faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish Torah.”
How much clearer could it be?
