Undoubtedly part of the reason for moral failure within the church comes from deceptive theology and the doctrine called "antinomianism," that is, the idea that faith in Yeshua implies that we are no longer "under the law" and therefore we are free to live apart from what the Torah (and by extension, the New Testament) plainly says and teaches...  This is clearly a mistake -- a serious confusion between the terms of the former covenant at Sinai with the timeless truth of God's eternal Torah, or moral will... After all, the New Covenant (ברית חדשׁה) of Yeshua is the one in which the Torah of the LORD would be written upon our hearts (see Jer. 31:31-34).  Genuine followers of Yeshua therefore will love the Torah of the LORD, since God does not lie or change His mind, and Yeshua our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Num. 23:19; Psalm 33:1; Heb. 13:8).  As it is also written: “Blessed is the person who delights in the law of the LORD (תורת יהוה) and meditates upon its truth day and night (Psalm 1:1-2).  Amen, for the life of the follower of Yeshua "we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the sake of the truth" (2 Cor. 13:8). 

It is frighteningly tragic that many so-called Christian ministers -- many of them perhaps well-meaning enough -- simply do not have the fear of the LORD within their hearts, as evidenced by their double-mindedness regarding sin and their ambivalence about the truth of God's law.  We tremble at these words of the Savior who died upon the cross for our deliverance: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Matt. 7:21:23).  

Simply put, those who truly know the Lord Yeshua understand that He is none other than the very Lawgiver and King of Israel, and it was He who spoke to Moses at Sinai regarding the moral will of God.  Yes, he is also our Savior who graciously died for us to be pardoned from the verdict of the law, but he did NOT die so that we should continue to sin but rather to be delivered from sin's power in our lives.... We are never perfected in this life, and each of us will struggle with sin, but we should never allow sin to become a regular practice, and we should never live a secret and double life of hypocrisy... If we struggle, fair enough -- we need to be honest, confess the truth, and get help, but we should never hide the truth about who we really are, since that leads to sickness of the heart and self-destructive despair.  May God have mercy and help us all be on guard from the deceptions of the enemy of our souls.

In this podcast I reflect on Psalm 119:97 and review some of the reasons why the Torah of the LORD is vital for followers of Yeshua the Messiah.  I hope you will find it helpful.

John Parsons
https://hebrew4christians.com

Dangers of Lawlessness...

The Dangers of Lawlessness...

In last week's Torah reading (Shoftim), Moses defined an extensive system of justice for the Israelites and pointed to the coming Messiah who would be the rightful King of Israel: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers -- it is to him you shall listen" (Deut. 18:15).  In this week's portion (i.e., parashat Ki Teitzei: כי־תצא), Moses returns to the immediate concern of life in the promised land by providing additional laws to be enforced regarding civil life in Israel. In fact, Jewish tradition (following Maimonides) identifies no less than 74 of the Torah's 613 commandments in this portion (more than any other), covering a wide assortment of rules related to ethical warfare, family life, burial of the deceased, property laws, the humane treatment of animals, fair labor practices, and honest economic transactions.

Of particular interest to us is the law regarding capital offenses and the instruction that one who was executed and “hanged on a tree” (עַל־עֵץ) is under the curse of God (Deut. 21:22-23).  According to the Talmud (Nezakim: Sanhedrin 6:4:3), the Great Sanhedrin (סַנְהֶדְרִין גְדוֹלָה) decided that “a man must be hanged with his face towards the spectators” upon a wooden stake, with his arms slung over a horizontal beam. It should be noted that while this is technically not the same thing as the gruesome practice of Roman crucifixion, the reasoning based on this verse was apparently used to justify the execution of Yeshua (Mark 15:9-15; John 19:5-7; 15). The exposed body was required to be buried before sundown to keep the land from being defiled. Besides the shame of this manner of death, the one so executed would be unable to fall to their knees as a final act of repentance before God, thereby implying that they were under the irrevocable curse of God (קִלְלַת אֱלהִים). 

For more information see:
https://hebrew4christians.com

Torah

Parashat Ki-Teitzei - Elul

The topic of divine imperatives quite naturally raises the subject of whether a follower of the Messiah should adhere to the lawcode of Moses.  After all, Yeshua Himself was "the Voice of the Living God (קוֹל אֱלהִים חַיִּים) speaking (davar) from the midst of the fire" at Sinai (Deut. 5:26), and surely He lived shomer ha-Torah (שׁוֹמֵר הַתּוֹרָה) as a Torah observant Jew. Should we follow His example by becoming shomer ha-Torah as well?  Why then the law?

For more see https://hebrew4christians.com

Torah and the follower of Messiah...

In our Torah portion for Chanukah week, parashat Miketz (i.e., Gen. 41:1-44:17), we will read how imprisoned Joseph successfully interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and suddenly rose to power in Egypt. Because of a famine in the land of Canaan, however, his brothers (who had earlier betrayed him) came to Egypt in search of food. A disguised Joseph then tested his brothers to see whether they were the same people who had callously sold him into slavery, or whether they had undergone teshuvah (repentance).

The eventual revelation of Joseph and his reconciliation with his brothers is a prophetic picture of acharit ha-yamim (the "End of Days") when Israel, in Great Tribulation, will come to accept Yeshua as Israel's true deliverer.  Presently, the veil is still over the eyes of the Jewish people and they collectively regard Yeshua as an "Egyptian" of sorts.  In this connection, I list some of the ways that Joseph is a "type" or foreshadowing of the coming Yeshua as the Suffering Servant (see “Mashiach ben Yosef” on the H4C site). 

For more see: https://hebrew4christians.com
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Chanukah / parashat Miketz podcast

Recall that Jacob had disguised who he really was in the hope of obtaining the blessing (Gen. 27), though his duplicity forced him into an exile that lasted until he was finally willing to be honest with himself.  And like Jacob, each of us must answer God's question: "What is your name?" (Gen. 32:27). When we “wrestle through” this question to face who we really are, we encounter God and find our blessing, that is, our true identity.  

For more visit:
https://hebrew4christians.com

Telling God your name

Telling God Your Name - Further thoughts on Vayishlach

The fifth section of the book of Exodus (Exod. 18:1 - 20:23) begins with the account of how Moses’ father-in-law Jethro (Yitro in Hebrew) met up with Moses near Mount Sinai, giving him advice and direction about how to establish a judicial system for the Israelites, and then goes on to provide the account of the revelation of the Ten Commandments by God at Mount Sinai. This event, called mattan Torah, or the giving of the Torah, is central to the entire account of our redemption as the children of God, since it provides revelation not only about our basic spiritual and moral obligations, but also provides the vision of the altar of the lamb of God that was to be offered every day both in remembrance of the Passover redemption and also to foretell the coming our Yeshua our Messiah, the sacrificial "Lamb of God" who takes away the sins of the world.

In in this audio podcast, I discuss the basic narrative of parashat Yitro and explore some of the more prominent themes regarding the giving of the law at Sinai, the meaning of the imperative language and the idea of a commandment, the importance of a heart connection with God, and more.

For more visit www.hebrew4christians.com

Parashat Yitro

Shavuah Tov Yitro

Shavuah Tov for parashat Yitro

An overview of the Ten Commandments of the Torah (Aseret Hadibrot) and how they are to be understood in light of the New Covenant of the Messiah Yeshua as "ten matters of heart."  In addition, the basic chronology of the Sinai experience is examined and how key events were enshrined in the holidays of Shavuot (Pentecost) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

Ten Matters of Heart - further thoughts on the Ten Commandments

Powerful teaching on the subject of Healing by Br. Kenneth E Hagin

Recognizing Roadblocks to Healing

01 Recognizing Roadblocks to Healing

The Curse of Sickness

Healing Power is Tangible

We are living in perilous times.  It is lawlessness to reject the Torah of the LORD that commands us to follow Messiah and know him in all our ways - including the ways of our struggles, our calls for justice, and so on...   Yeshua plainly warned us that those who practice lawlessness and anarchy do not know him and therefore they will be judged as outsiders of the truth of God. In this audio podcast, I discuss the meaning and importance of the "law" in the life of those who purport to be followers of the Messiah.

End of Days Lawlessness...

The Spirit of God cries out, “choose life that you may live!” (Deut. 30:19), which implies that is our responsibility to believe in the Reality of God, to trust in his providential care, to affirm that “all is well and all manner of thing shall be well,” and to understand that our present struggle is designed by heaven to help us grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth (1 Pet. 3:16).   

In this Daily Dvar, I discuss the challenge of faith and how we can draw closer to the Lord despite the ambiguity and challenges we regularly face.

Daily Dvar

Daily Dvar: Choosing to Believe

This site lists some of the Hebrew for Christians podcasts from over the years.  It is updated according to the Jewish calendar and holiday cycle.

End of Days Lawlessness...

Hebrew for Christians

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