[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text uncode_shortcode_id=”126873″]
Remembering to learn better
The Larousse dictionary states that “Torah refers to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.”
Those who read our article about the second biblical month that began on May 3, 2022 in Jerusalem (sunset) certainly have a better idea of what the Law of Moses or Torah is. It consists mainly of the civil laws, the ceremonial laws and the moral law. Of these laws, only the moral law, which is called the 10 commandments, was engraved and written by the hand of God on tables of stone. Moses therefore rewrote them in the Torah. All of these laws written for educational purposes focus essentially on the notion of sin, justice, love of God and love of neighbor.
Nevertheless, the Torah did not solve the problem of sin which is in human nature. It is in this sense that God proposed to bring a solution to complete the Torah that we find in this passage:
“Whoever sins transgresses the Torah, and sin is the transgression of the Torah. Now you know that Jesus appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
1 John 3:4-5“For the wages of sin is death, BUT the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:23
The Bible reveals to us that no matter what our beliefs, our ethnic background, our social class, we are sinful by nature. That is why God has offered us a solution through his Son Yeshua:
“Are we any better? Not at all. For we have already proved that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written, ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.
Romans 3 verses 9 and 10.
The Apostle Paul or Rabbi Saul (Student of Gamaliel).
“My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1 John 2:1-2
FAITH is the only means of access to salvation which proved itself with the ancients under the TORAH and which still proves itself today for us who are under the GRACE.
“Now FAITH is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
Hebrews 11 verse 1.
“For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2 verse 8.
Therefore it is written concerning faith:
“Without faith it is impossible to please him; for he who comes to God must believe that God exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.”
Hebrews 11:6
So the Torah was given as a teacher to show us our sinful state and not as a solution to sin, for it does not save. The solution which is Yeshua will come later, according to the promise made to Abraham. Note that the name Yeshua or Yehoshuah means He saves. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the means that gives access to the source of salvation since the origin of humanity and that will be the same until the end is FAITH.
The Torah promulgated by the angels
The word of God reveals to us that there are parts of the law of Moses or the Torah that were given by the angels:
“This is that Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you from among your brothers a prophet like me. This is he who, at the time of the assembly in the wilderness, being with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers, received living oracles, to give them to us.”
Acts 7 verse 37-38“Why then the law of Moses or the Torah? It was given afterwards because of transgressions, until the seed came to whom the promise was made; it was promulgated by angels, through a mediator.”
Galatians 3:19
The book of Exodus 24 tells us in verse 3 that Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord AND all the laws received on Mount Sinai. It is interesting to note these two elements.
So what solution does God bring to the problem of Israel and humanity?
The disciple John gives us a great revelation when he states that the Torah was given by Moses and that GRACE and TRUTH came through Yeshua. John 1:17
Indeed, Jesus came to bring us grace and truth, which means that we are no longer under the condemnation of the Torah, because he came to erase the act whose ordinances condemned us. Note that this does not mean that the Torah has been abolished, but that in Jesus we are no longer under its condemnation but under grace.
What does Jesus say about the abolition of the Law of Moses or the Torah?
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law (Torah) or the prophets (Tanakh); I have not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, as long as heaven and earth do not pass away, not one iota or one stroke of a letter will disappear from the Law (Torah/Tanakh) until all has been accomplished. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven: but he that keepeth them, and teacheth to keep them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-19.
Read the Chouraqui Bible version for example.
What does Jesus mean by I have come to fulfill the law of Moses or the Torah and the prophets?
Jesus wants to tell us that there are many elements and symbols in the Torah and Tanakh or Old Testament that reveal key stages of his life to help us understand his plan of love for us:
“The prophets, who prophesied concerning the grace that was in store for you, made this salvation the object of their search and investigation, wanting to fathom the times and circumstances marked by the Spirit of Christ who was in them, who testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory with which they would be followed.”
1 Peter 1:10-11
In the book of Hebrews, chapter 9, the apostle Paul reminds us that during the first covenant of God with his people, offerings and sacrifices were presented for worship and atonement of sins, with food, drink and various ablutions according to the Levitical priesthood. However, this priesthood became obsolete, because the sacrifice of Yeshua fulfills the atonement of sins with the blood of the new covenant by substituting the blood of bulls and goats with a priesthood that is perfect, of heavenly and eternal origin. Thus, Jesus will show his disciples how future generations should remember the Passover that HE embodies through a celebration that is described in Luke 22:7-23.
What then is the true purpose of God’s grace?
“For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through FAITH and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10
If the law of Moses was not abolished, is it possible that it was forgotten under the pretext of grace?
Remember the law of Moses (Torah) my servant, to whom I gave commandments and ordinances in Horeb for all Israel. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the day of the LORD comes, a great and dreadful day. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a ban. Malachi 4:4-6
Jesus, the Savior of the world, comments on Malachi 4 in verses 4 to 6 by showing us that Elijah has yet to come, although he has manifested himself through John the Baptist who had prepared his coming:
“It is TRUE that Elijah must come, and restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, and they treated him as they wished. So will the Son of Man suffer on their behalf. Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.”
Matthew 17:11-13
The prophet Zephaniah warns the Israel of God with an example concerning the great and dreadful day for his people. He gives us solutions to be spared::
Go within yourselves, examine yourselves, Nation without shame, before the decree is executed and this day passes like chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD is upon you, before the day of the LORD’s wrath is upon you! Seek the LORD, all you humble people of the land, who do his ordinances. Seek justice, seek humility! Perhaps you will be spared in the day of the LORD’s anger.
Zephaniah 2:1-3
The spirit of Elijah, which we find in John the Baptist and which we will find before the great and dreadful day for the people of God according to Malachi, consists also in restoring the forgotten truths, which human traditions and trust in man have choked with time:
“Take heed that no one make you his prey by philosophy and vain deceit, relying on the tradition of men, on the rudiments of the world, and not on Christ.”
Colossians 2 verse 8. Read also Jeremiah 17 verse 5.
The purpose of the message of the spirit of Elijah is to bring about repentance for the forgiveness of sins and confession of sins among God’s people in relation to the transgression of the Torah and the judgment to come. This message is intended to show how Christ is the only one who can justify us by faith and not by our works.
Read Matthew 3, Luke 3, Mark 1:1-13.
Thus, Jesus only asks us to believe in Him, seeking His righteousness so that He can help us progressively under grace to accomplish the good works of the Torah by His Spirit in us to be free from sin:
“What then! Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, the Torah, but under grace? Far from it!”
Romans 6 verse 15.Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2 Corinthians 3 verse 17.
“Behold, the days are coming, saith the Lord, I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took their hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, although they cancelled my covenant, I myself married them, says the Lord. Yes, this is the covenant that I will cut with the house of Israel after those days, the word of Yahweh: I will give my TORAH in their minds; And I will be their God, And they shall be my people.”
Jeremiah 31 verse 31-33
The restoration of God’s times
The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament or Tanakh had already warned us in Daniel 7 verse 25 that basic truths would be forgotten especially because of a power:
He will speak words against the Most High, he will oppress the saints of the Most High, and he will hope to change the times and the moral law…
The original word is not the verb “to hope” but the verb “to premeditate”. This means that a more accurate translation would read: This power will decide, prepare with calculation to change the TIMES AND the MORAL LAW (the ten commandments).
How to restore the times of God?
By bringing together the work of Adventist researcher Grace Edith Amadon created from the earliest rules of the Israelites (non-rabbinic) and other inspired students of the Bible, the biblical calendar of God’s times is reconstructed without the Levitical priesthood, as Yeshua showed his disciples for Passover excluding the sacrificial requirements for example. Through these feasts, Yeshua’s ministry is highlighted according to the dates of God’s times. These times of God translated as God’s appointments with his people are dated in Leviticus 23:
Yahweh speaks to Moses to say:
Speak to the children Israel. Say to them, ‘The appointments of Yahweh to which you will call them are sacred callings. These are my appointments…
According to the weekly cycle that determines the days of the week the first feast is the Sabbath:
1. The weekly Sabbath which corresponds to the 7th biblical day, that is to say from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset.
This feast is the only one that has been instituted by God as a date since the creation of humanity. It is also clearly indicated in the moral law written by the hand of God.
According to the luni-solar cycle that determines the biblical months according to the biblical new moons there are seven other feasts, called annual:
1. The Passover
2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
3. The Feast of Firstfruits
4. The Feast of Harvest
5. The Feast of Trumpets
6. The day of atonement
7. The Feast of Tabernacles
The annual feasts prescribed to the Israelites can today serve as signs, posts or reminders to remember the plan of salvation in Yeshua in the same way that the new Passover ceremony that Yeshua left us as an example:
The prophet Jeremiah in chapter 31 speaks of a restoration of Judah and Ephraim, those two kingdoms of Israel that rebelled against God. Whether we take the symbolic or literal angle or both, God announces with authority a good news that will serve as a testimony:
Is Ephraim then a dear son to me, a child of my delight? For the more I speak of him, the more is the memory of him in me; therefore my heart is moved for him: I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. – Set up SIGNS and put up GUIDEPOSTS, and TAKE NOTE to the way, and to the path which thou hast gone… RETURN, O virgin of Israel, return to these cities of yours. How long will you wander, you lost daughter? For the LORD has created a NEW THING in the earth: the woman shall seek the man.
Jeremiah in chapter 31 verses 20 to 22.
If you like this article you can support us by getting the BIBLICAL CALENDAR in digital format available on this website.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]