Christmas and Torah Are So Much Alike (WARNING! If you are comfortable with your Bible reading DON'T READ THIS BLOG!)

Ahhh Christmas time. Joy to the world the Savior has come. I waited to post this until after Christmas because I did not want to throw gas on the unnecessary fire that may surround the Christmas celebration. There are those who make it their mission to point out all the Biblical flaws in the celebration. Like it being the wrong time of year, having pagan origins, a political move rather than a religious one, druid trees instead of Christmas trees and so on. And yes it is all true. There is little Biblical truth in our traditions concerning Christmas and the birth of Messiah beyond the truth that He was born. Everything else is borrowed or made up. However I am of the opinion that there is no bad time to celebrate Messiah's arrival and to praise and worship God in honor of the gift of his Son. You can praise God for Yeshua's arrival 365 days a year and I will not be upset. 

What is upsetting is the truth that a great many Christians, those who say they are followers of Christ, view Torah in much the same way. Their understanding of the Law has about as much Biblical evidence as Santa Claus. (by the way Zechariah 2:6 "Ho ho come forth from the land of the north" KJV is not a reference to Santa). We have been told that the Law, Torah, is obsolete. That it ended with the resurrection of Christ. That it was an old covenant and does not apply to anyone, Jew or Gentile, today. If you try to follow God's Law you are a legalist and deny the work of Christ. The purpose of the Law is completed; Paul said so and so did Jesus. That is Paul's teaching in Galatians and Romans; everyone knows that. Or do we? Are we as far off with Torah as we are with Christmas, but with far greater consequences?

I give you fair warning that the reading of this blog may cause distress in your spiritual life. The concepts here could change your perspective on lots of things you thought you knew. I will challenge you to actually believe some things that you give lip service to, but don't really integrate into your reading of God's Word, especially the letters by the Apostle Paul. You see, I believe that Paul was Jewish. I mean he was born a Jew, lived as a Jew and died as a Jew. He never "converted" to some new belief system called Christianity. He was a messianic Jew. He was a rabbi and had a special mission to the Gentiles to tell them that through the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua, they could gain access to God's kingdom. However, he remained a Jew. You might say to yourself, "Well, yes I pretty much agree with that, except maybe for the conversion part."  If that is really true, you can throw away most commentaries because they disagree. Not with the statement, just with what it does to your understanding of Scripture if you apply that reality to what Paul writes. We will take a look at a few verses in Paul's letter to the Galatians to make the point.

As you read through the book of Acts you can pick up a bit of a bio on the life of Saul/Paul as you follow his ministry. Paul was a Jew. He spoke Hebrew (Acts21:40). in Acts 22:3 Paul says he is currently a Jew. He declares that he is a Pharisee, not was (Acts 23:6). In Acts 28:17 - 20, Paul speaks to the Jewish Elders in Rome, and tells them he has done nothing against their people, the Jews, or of the customs and practices of their fathers. He is Torah observant. Throughout Paul's ministry, recorded in Acts, he goes to the synagogues to speak of Yeshua as Messiah. He desires to be in Jerusalem for Passover and take a vow, in accordance with the Law. He does not take Gentiles into the Temple which would be a violation of Torah. In writing to the Philippians, in 3:5-6, Paul says he (present tense) is circumcised, of Israel, of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews, a Pharisee, zealous to protect Judaism, and Torah observant. Paul was a follower of the Jewish Messiah, who proclaimed a message of the Jewish Messiah that all who trusted in Messiah could be in His kingdom. Paul did not convert to anything. He lived and eventually died as a Hebrew, a Jewish Rabbi, who believed that Yeshua was the Jewish Messiah Who also welcomed the Gentiles to believe and be a part of His kingdom.

If that is true, the record in Acts, and if Paul's testimony in Philippians is also true, then Paul would also write from that perspective. He would write as a Torah observant Jew. If his writings indicated otherwise, then he suffered some mental problems, or simply lied. Or perhaps we have read our own understanding into what he wrote. 

Galatians is a favorite stronghold for those who teach that Paul taught that the Law, that Torah, has been made null and void. First, let us be reminded as to whom Paul is writing. 1:2 "to the Assemblies who are in Galatia." Iconium is one of the cities of Galatia, where, according to Acts 14:1, Paul taught at the synagogue. Who was there? Jews and Gentiles. So this letter would likely have been read in the synagogue to a very diverse group. Jews, Messianic Jews, proselyte Gentiles, Messianic proselyte Gentiles, Messianic Gentiles and God seeking Gentiles, would make up the audience. It would be very helpful at this point if you got a Bible and read Galatians 3:19 - 4:7. The point here is not to give a verse by verse exposition but to raise a question or two and give an alternative understanding of the passage. 

Some highlights. The Law, Torah, amplifies sin. It reveals where we fall short of God's standards. The Law, Torah is not against the promises of God. The Scripture, Torah, 3:22, has sygkiaio "confined" NKJV. Other translations translate the word: under restraint, kept under guard, shut up, imprisoned, or locked up. The word, at its root, simply means to enclose, like sheep in a pen. 3:23 the Law kept us "under guard" until faith came. The Law, Torah, was our paidagogos, our tutor or teacher. This is an important word to understand Paul's point. The history of the paidagogos tells us he was a servant responsible for the direction and training of the father's son. He made sure the child got to school and to whatever training opportunity the child had. He was to protect the child and keep him safe and out of trouble. He was responsible for the character building of the child. When the child came of age he was released to walk with the father doing the father’s bidding and the father’s will. He no longer needed the paidagogos, for what he had learned had been incorporated into his life. This would now guide and protect him as he took on the responsibilities the father had for him.The Law, Torah, gives instruction and direction on how to best live. It was there as a fence of protection until it was integrated into the child's life. (By the way, Jeremiah 31:33 promises that under the New Covenant, brought by Messiah, God will put the Law, or Torah, on our hearts and in our minds. We won't need the written Law paidagogos for it will be integrated into our hearts, minds, and lives.) I believe this is Paul's perspective. 

But let us look at a typical commentary. This is from the Expositors Bible Commentary Chapter 15 commenting on Galatians 3:25 - 29. "FAITH has come! At this announcement Law the tutor yields up his charge; Law the jailer sets his prisoner at liberty. The age of servitude has passed. In truth it endured long enough. The iron of its bondage had entered into the soul. But at last Faith is come; and with it comes a new world. The clock of time cannot be put back. The soul of man will never return to the old tutelage, nor submit again to a religion of rabbinism and sacerdotalism. "We are no longer under a pedagogue"; we have ceased to be children in the nursery, schoolboys at our tasks-"ye are all sons of God." In such terms the new-born, free spirit of Christianity speaks in Paul. He had tasted the bitterness of the Judaic yoke; no man more deeply. He had felt the weight of its impossible exactions, its fatal condemnation. This sentence is a shout of deliverance. "Wretch that I am," he had cried," who shall deliver me?-I give thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord; for the law of the Spirit of life in Him hath freed me from the law of sin and death". Almost any commentary will express this point of view. 

Now be honest here, does this sound like the meaning intended by a devout, Torah observant Rabbi? One who calls Torah holy and good and right. One who just a few verses before said that Torah, the Law was never against the promises of God. Would Paul ever call Torah a bitter Judaic yoke? The man who said he never violated his Jewish fathers' customs would suggest he would never submit to rabbinic teaching or to the sacred practices of his fathers' faith? Would he enthusiastically have rejected the inspired Words of Yahweh giving him instruction and direction as how to best live? Would Paul really tell his fellow Jews and the Gentiles believers in the synagogue to fully reject the very Law God promised to write on their hearts? In the Apostle Paul's words "God forbid!".

I do not propose to be a great scholar or by any means infallible, but either the commentary has missed the point or Paul is not who the Scriptures say that he is.

Here is another possible way to look at the Galatians passage. "But the Scripture has enclosed all (Jew and Gentile) under sin, that the promise, by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, might be supplied (or granted) to those who believe. Torah was not given to provide a way of salvation but to protect us and show us God’s design as to how we should live. The promise of God (deliverance and new life) came to us through the faithfulness of Messiah. Before this act of faithfulness came we were fenced in or protected by Torah, kept for the promise realized through the faithfulness yet to be revealed. Therefore Torah was our paidagogos, our protector and guide, to Messiah, that we might be justified through His Faithfulness. By faith, Torah is now written on our hearts, so we no longer need a paidagogos and we are all, Jew and Gentile, sons of God through the faithfulness of Messiah Jesus."

We are justified through the Faithfulness of Messiah. The focus should be upon Him and His work to redeem us and deliver us from death. The translators paint the Law in the darkest terms and focus on our faith rather than Christ's faithfulness. It is all about me and how I can live without the Law, without Torah. Those who teach and comment would agree that this freedom from the "tutor" is not license, for we are to walk in obedience. But, obedience to what? And what of Jeremiah 31:33? If the "imprisoning iron bondage" has been forever removed, just what is written on our hearts? 

As the New Year begins many of us will make the decision to be more 
consistent with our Bible reading. Maybe get one of those "Read Through the Bible in a Year" schedules to help us keep on track. My question is, will we be content to just read as we have in the past years. Just accepting what we see from our American, Western perspective. Only asking the question, "What does it mean to me?" Or will we take the time to ask, "What did the writer mean?" or "What did the first people who heard this think?" Will we take into account what we know about Daniel, David, Paul, Peter, Moses or John? They were all Jewish. They were all committed to the God of Israel. They were all committed to obey Torah. None of them saw themselves as "Christian". So what does the text mean in light of those facts?

If we approach our reading from this perspective we can more accurately apply what we learn to our lives. Far more effort is required, but isn't God worth it? We could make that commitment or we can just say, "Well, no worries, we are under grace and free from the law. I can depend on my faith to make it all okay. God knows my heart, He can't actually want me to put any effort into knowing Him and His Word."  "Isn't that what the Apostle Paul just said?" No, I don't think so. But the real question is "What do you think?"

   

.

Eternity in Heaven? Not if You are a Christian.

"Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace." "When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be." So say the choruses and songs we sing. Most believers look forward to going to heaven. You know, Saint Peter and those pearly gates that give us access to heaven. Well maybe not. But you may have been trained in evangelism to ask, "If you were to die today and you stood before God how would you respond to His question, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" But what if that is the wrong question? What if God isn't interested in letting you into heaven? The reality is we know little of the afterlife other than there is one. Scripture is just pretty unclear as to how it all works. But as Biblical, evangelical, followers of Jesus we are often told we are going to heaven and will will see Jesus (or Yeshua if we want to use His real name). But do the Scriptures honestly tell us that? Eternity in heaven? That doesn't seem to be God's plan.

Before we get to that point let's see what we can know about death and the life to come. First the Old and New Testaments most often refer to death as sleep. There are over twenty-five references to "slept with his fathers" in 1 and 2 Samuel alone. I Cor. 11:30 and 15:51 are New Testament examples (unless you have a modern translation which simply says you are dead). The Hebraic idea seems to be that the end of life is a time of rest. Rest from the struggles and toil of this world. Just as an aside, if you look at the days of creation the first six all say, "there was evening and morning" but that is not so of day seven, the Sabbath Day. Rabbinic teachers said that was because Sabbath was a picture of the everlasting Sabbath we come to at the end of our days on earth. So death is rest and sleep if you accept the Biblical references. However there is more. There is a place called "Abraham's Bosom" according to Luke 16. It has a place of rest for those who believe and torment for those who do not. Yeshua met with Moses and Elijah (Mt 17) and they had physical bodies and awareness, so death seems to be more than just unconscious sleep. Whatever the state of things, we will be aware, and it appears we will participate in things that happen in some heavenly realm. 

The Scriptures do say that there is some sort of heavenly connection when we die. Elijah was taken up into heaven (2 kings 2:11) as was Yeshua (Acts 1:11), the Apostle John (Rev 4:1), and the Apostle Paul (2 Cor 12:2). Though Paul is a little ambivalent as to his experience in the third heaven. In Revelation John sees the martyred believers in heaven singing praises (Rev 16). Another side note here. In the often quoted verse in 2 Cor 5:8, the one where Paul says we "would prefer to be absent from the body and at home with the Lord", he doesn't say we will be; Paul just says that is what is "preferred". I would prefer to be in the Outer Banks. That doesn't mean I will be there. It is unlikely that Paul's thought is a Greek out of body experience rather than an Hebraic hope for the resurrection. Just read chapters 15 and 16 if you find that hard to believe. Paul's point in 2 Cor. 5:8-10 is to be "well pleasing to the Lord" for we will all stand before Him to give an account. It is not a theological statement about death but a challenge as to how we should live.

Thankfully we are told that we will be with the Lord forever. In John 14, Yeshua told His disciples that there are many dwelling places in His Father's house. He is going to prepare a place for us and He will come and take us to this place of many dwelling places. 1 Thess. 4 claims that the dead and those alive will forever be with the Lord. The question is where will this forever place be. As we come to answer this question I must first ask this question, "What is your greatest hope?" For many it is the hope of Heaven. That was not so for the Apostle Paul and that is not why Yeshua went to the cross. The greatest hope we have is the resurrection from the dead. Check out much of the latter half of 1 Corinthians. You know, "This perishable must put on the imperishable."  1 Cor. 15:19 "If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied." The resurrection from the dead is most essential, most important to Paul. It is foolishness to the Greeks who saw the temporal body something to be shed and released from. But not Paul, not the Jews. A resurrected body was the great hope. Death is conquered by Messiah and His resurrection is the "first fruits" and we will follow. Yet we don't talk much about the importance of a resurrection. We talk about going to heaven where the body thing is sort of nebulous. We have been infected by Greek thought and philosophy.

So why is a resurrected body so important? Because we will be with the Lord forever and He will be on a tangible, physical earth. We know little of heaven but God gives us a great deal of info about a new earth, or at least a new Jerusalem that will be on a new earth. In Revelation 21 John sees a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem coming down to the earth. The new Jerusalem is about 6,000 miles on each side. It is a cube about the size of our moon. It has streets of gold and pearly gates. It has perpetual light because the Father and the Son are there. There is no need of a temple for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. There is a throne for the Lord God and the Lamb and a river of life flows from it. There are trees along that river forever bringing forth fruit. There is no more pain, or death, or sorrow, or crying, for God will wipe away every tear. The former things have passed and the new has come. A tangible city on a tangible earth, where God and the Lamb are, will have tangible people with new resurrected incorruptible bodies. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. This new earth must be pretty huge to support this new Jerusalem. A 6,000 mile cube of a city must have many dwelling places that Yeshua has gone to prepare for us. And He will come again and receive us to Himself.

So it looks like the Scriptures don't promise eternity in heaven with Jesus. They promise eternity on a new earth in a new Jerusalem with a new body. That is our hope. Resurrection from the dead, and an incorruptible body to serve and worship the Lamb and God our Father in a new city on a new planet prepared just for us. How cool is that? Hope to see you there.