As a wide window or a summer lodge balcony gives one a panoramic view of the surrounding countryside or a beautiful lake, so too does the Torah of YHVH give us a panoramic view of who YHVH, even YahShua Almighty, truly is.
As baby Christians, when we have first repented and joined our wills to YahShua, we see but a small part of who our glorious Messiah is. We grasp and take ahold of His death and resurrection and His immense love for us. Our sin-stained heart explodes with a love and joy for YahShua as we finally realize with tearful gladness what our dear and beautiful Messiah has done for us in taking our place on the stake.
But, as glorious as this is, we have seen only a glimpse, only the tip of the iceberg of who our Precious YahShua is.
As we "attend synagogue every shabbat" (Acts 15:21), and hear the Torah of Moshe being read (Acts 15:21), we then are given a wider panoramic view of our Savior and Master.
People wrongly assume that Paul and the Apostles received separate and distinct, even contradictory revelation of the Messiah to that of the "old testament". This wicked dispensationalism sprang from that wretch Marcion in the 2nd century and was bolstered by the heretic Origen.
Paul actually received a wider panoramic view of who YahShua is by STUDYING AND EXPOUNDING UPON THE TORAH AND THE PROPHETS. Paul constantly quotes and alludes to the Torah and the Prophets in order to both attack the heresies of his day and to more fully bring the young believers close to Messiah.
What am I talking about? Romans 14 is a chapter drawn from a chapter in Zechariah. Paul midrashes (teaches) on this "old testament" book, applies it to his day in which the pagan Talmudists were trying to force people to keep man made rules and thus gives the reader an even clearer image of our Saviour YahShua.
As we apply the Torah to our lives and obey every jot and tittle, even as Matthew 5:19 commands of us, we too receive greater revelations of Christ.
The Hebrew Feasts, the Feasts of YHVH, from Leviticus 23, are a strong example of this. As in other articles I have written, these feast days help paint vivid pictures in our souls, hearts and minds of who are Messiah is. These are not just stale, old jewish holidays that the Christian world disdains or that even the Messianic world thinks are "cool". These are precious holy days which impress upon our hearts and minds every year who our Messiah is and what He has done, is doing and will do.
Every commandment in Torah, from eating kosher, to wearing the blue fringes, to wearing unmixed clothes, to observing the sabbaths and New Moons, etc. help only to draw us closer and closer to Messiah, removing the "glass which we presently see through darkly" and shining the Light of the Gospel into us more and more brightly every time we prove our love to Yah through our submission to His Divine Will by keeping His Torah.
And the supreme beauty of this panoramic Torah? We know that the Torah is PERFECT in converting the soul. Do you realize what that means????
Whether your heart is wicked and in rebellion to Yah or righteous and in love to Yah -- KEEPING TORAH WILL NECESSARILY SOFTEN YOUR HEART AND BRING YOU CLOSER TO YAH. This is why the Torah is more precious than fine gold and sweeter than honey. Keeping Torah does its perfect work on our souls, whether we be sinner or saint.
But then, you ask, why did the Jewish and Hebrew peoples, who kept Torah, wind up so apostate so many times???? Because they were NOT keeping Torah. They, many times, were keeping a vain mixture of Jewish man-made religious traditions and portions of Torah. Much as the Christian world over the centuries up until now keep a vain mixture of Christian/Greek/Platonic man-made traditions and philosophies along with portions of the Torah. Such half-hearted obedience is promised to bring curses. And indeed it did so on Ancient Yisrael and has done so and is doing so on the modern day Christians.
Keeping every jot and tittle of Torah is beneficial in every way for both the sinner and saint. In the case of the former, the sinner is softened and broken and brought to Messiah. In the case of the latter, the saint is drawn even closer to YahShua and kept near YahShua's beating heart of love.
There are too many temptations, too much darkness, too many devils, to stay close to Yah while rejecting Torah. As evil has increased, so too does Yah deem our need, even as early as 35000 years ago, to REMIND US of our obligation to keep Torah.
If even Moshe needed to keep Torah, and he lived in a wilderness where there were very FEW influences to do evil and was also declared to be the most humble man to have ever lived, then how much more, O Christian and Messianic, do WE NEED TO KEEP TORAH, WHO ARE SURROUNDED BY MANY INFLUENCES TO DO EVIL.
Not keeping Torah brings a blindness, a stubbornness, a pride that only obedience to Torah can break. Ken Jones, once a many mighty in power and deed, is now burdened by a sick mother whore of Christianity, blind and smitten, though he may not even know this, all because he refuses to simply obey YahShua.
How many others of you are blind and wretched and naked yet you think you are rich and mighty? This is the reason you harden your hearts against Torah -- you cannot possibly fathom that you might be wrong and that Daniel Lee, Chris Barr and others might be right. You won't even let it enter your mind. Despite scripture after scripture, defense after defense, plea after plea, you continue to harden your hearts.
It is a shame. For if you but knew the beauty and richness of Torah, you would behold, like us, a panoramic view of YahShua, such a wide and glorious view of our Messiah, that your previous Torahless ways would seem as but a dream, a pale, fuzzy and distant dream by comparison.
