How much ‘Torah’ must we observe to gain entrance into The Kingdom? . . . How much Torah does ‘the church’ observe? In this HR/Messianic?Restoration camp, do we observe ‘enough’ Torah? How much is ‘enough’ ?
OK . . . we posed these questions to evoke thought and provoke us all to examine our perspectives. There are those that promote ‘observance of Torah’ as all that is necessary to be righteous before our Heavenly Father and be in proper relationship with Him. There are those teaching grace and no Law. There are those condemning ‘the church’ (The mainstream denominational system) since they ‘obviously’ do not observe Torah, as well as those purporting if we ‘deny Torah we deny Messiah Himself’. The Bible should be easily understood on this issue but ‘the waters’ have been effectively ‘muddied’. Torah is for God’s people – ALL God’s people. His principles have been in effect since The Beginning, right along side disobedience and rebellion. But obedience to those principles did not establish the relationship to Father God. The obedience is that which evidenced the existing relationship, a relationship which was birthed by a faith and trust in God’s Word, conceived by the Grace of God through the Holy Spirit. It’s a ‘circumcised heart issue’ and simply the observance of Torah does not constitute ‘the circumcision of the heart’. That, in simplistic totality, is The Gospel – Salvation by grace through faith. That simple and fundamental truth has existed since before the foundation of the earth was laid, and has not changed. So, when we read The Bible, we must read with that truth and understanding in the forefront of our minds – the written Torah does not bring relationship, but rather, Torah is for those that are IN relationship with Father God, and that relationship is brought about by grace through faith. ‘The church’ observes Torah. Not to the degree that some observe, but even as some of them proclaim ‘the law no longer applies’, they teach and keep aspects of God’s Torah. Is it possible to keep enough Torah to put us in sanctified relationship with our Father? No, for if we could, there would be no need for Messiah. But there has been the pending necessity for Messiah since before the beginning. Does ‘the church’ have everything wrong? No. Does this end-time move of God, turning the children back to the fathers and the fathers to the children, have everything correct? No. Not everything we did in ‘the church’ was false and not everything we have taken hold of in the HR/Messianic/Restoration Camp is truth. ‘Adding to’ is just as wrong as ‘taking from’. We should not be asking ‘what would Jesus do’, but rather, ‘What DID Yeshua, and Paul and Peter and all the early believers do? They kept Torah, they kept the Sabbath and Feasts, they fed the hungry and cared for the widows and the orphans and the poor. They laid hands on the sick and dying, healed the blind and the deaf and raised the dead. They walked in the power and charismata of The Holy Spirit and signs and wonders followed them. They worshiped and served God Almighty in Spirit AND in Truth, and not just one or the other. Are we praying for Spiritual discernment, for Truth and for understanding that we might teach what they taught? Are we praying for an outpouring of His Spirit in our midst that we might bring Glory to His Name and encouragement and strengthening to His people? “For the time will come when you will worship God in Spirit AND in Truth,” so said the Promised Messiah of Israel. That time, and that need more than ever, is NOW . . . ( to be continued . . .) Shalom
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