Commandment #2

"You shall have no other gods before Me. "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. Exodus 20:3-6 NASB

This is one of those commandments that we think doesn’t apply to those who are in main-stream Christianity. How many people really have idols in their homes and bow down and worship them. The only idols I see are the fat Buddhas in the Chinese restaurants.

Christian youth groups warn against the idols of TV, movies, video games, facebook, and the mall and that we worship them through the time we spend with them. “Oh, how I worship you exalted movie theater and love your majestic images and may the sweet fragrances of butter, chocolate, sweat, and vomit be pleasing to you.”  Give me a break  :)

An idol is anything that is worshiped or served as a god, including a false image of the One True God.

From Why Yeshua???:

Creating an image of God in our mind that isn’t true is called idolatry. The nation of Israel struggled with this from their very inception. Read this account of Israel after they had been delivered by God from Egypt and brought to the mountain of God. Moses went to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Commandments from God and the people became restless.

1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods (Elohiym) who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
2 Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods (Elohiym), O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."
5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD (YHVH: The Name of God)." 6 So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Exodus 32:1-6

So what just happened here? Moses was up on the mountain and the people wanted Aaron make Elohiym. (“In the beginning God (Elohiym: Hebrew for God) created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1) What? Did the Israelites think that God looked like a cow? Remember that they had just been delivered from Egyptian slavery, which had lasted many hundred years. Egypt was a land full of idol worship. So it isn’t unreasonable to assume that many of Israelites would have had a perception of God that had been altered by the culture they lived in. Aaron made Elohiym in the image of a cow and then built an alter in front of the cow and said tomorrow we will have a festival to YHVH. They had created an image of YHVH (the one true God) in their minds that was false, thus they were committing idolatry.


I fear that main-stream Christianity as a whole is worshiping a false image of God. We are worshiping a messiah who no longer requires us to follow God’s Commandments as an expression of our faith. All we have to do is “love” him and be a good person (by the definition of the church). This is not consistent with the Bible. We are saved by faith, brought into the Kingdom of God by His grace yes, but the way to live in the Kingdom hasn’t changed. The interpretation in the church that God’s commandments are now nullified in Jesus is due to a lack of understanding of the culture, by which the Bible we hold so dear was written in. (read The Next Awakening) The church teaches that Jesus came to change the focus from the letter of the law to the Spirit of the law. I agree, the Spirit of the law was the original intent of the law; that the law be followed not as a means to achieve righteousness or earn God’s love, but because God loves us and makes us righteous by His grace, we follow His ways. Love and obedience have always been God’s plan. In the second commandment we see that God wants us to love Him and follow His commandments. The “spirit of the law” should make us want to follow and love God’s commandments even more and to follow them with the original intent of God’s heart.

The Greatest Commandment

Yeshua replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38

Yeshua (Jesus) says that loving God is the greatest commandment. What does that actually mean to “love” God? “Love” is one of those funny words in the English language that can mean so many things depending on the context. I can say I love my dog or that I love pizza. I can say I love my friends or my job. I can say that I love my wife and my children. In each of those cases, “love” has a different meaning. If I loved my friend the way I loved my wife, I’d have a problem (sorry for the visual:). If I loved my job the way one loves their children, I’d have a problem. If I loved my wife with a love that is as deep as my love for pizza, my marriage wouldn’t last (this is of course true only 99% of the time. I know a dude who realllllly loves pizza!). So how do I then love God? Like I love pizza? Like a love a sports team? Like I love my dad? Like I love my wife? Side note: I was in a church one time during the worship service when the minister said, while the music was playing softly, “Just close your eyes right now and make love to Jesus.” That image in my mind scared me for years! I should start a TV show hosted by Bill Cosby, “Pastors say the darndest things.” So, what is the definition of “love” in this verse? How does one love God with all ones heart, soul, and mind?

First let me point out that often times we think that this is a new commandment reserved for the church, but this commandment was the foundation of all other commandments in Torah:

1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.


4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:1-9

The Hebrew word used here for “love” is the word ahav. Ahav means “I give.” True love is defined this way. One gives of themselves for another. I love my wife and my children by giving of myself to them. I put their needs before mine. Through this connection of giving (time, verbal comments, physical needs being met, compassion…) the bonds of our relationships grow stronger. This is true for our relationship with God. He loved (ahav) us by bringing us into His Kingdom by His grace alone through the work of Yeshua. We are to love (ahav) God back by giving him our heart, soul, and mind. All that we are, all that we have belongs to Him. Peter, James, and Jude all identified themselves as “doulos” to Messiah in their opening remarks. Our English Bibles translate “doulos” to servant, but a closer translation is a bond-slave (One who gives himself up to another’s will). This is the ahav we are to have to God, that we give up ourselves completely to His will. This is the greatest of all the commandments and the foundation of true faith in Yeshua.

There is a story in the Bible (Matthew 19:16-30) where Yeshua encounters a rich young man. This young man asks Yeshua what good thing he must do to enter eternal life. Yeshua answers, “There is only ONE who is good, if you want to enter into eternal life, obey the commandments.” (I’m sure that if some of us were there when Yeshua said this, we would have corrected Him. “Actually Jesus, one only needs to accept you into their heart to be saved.”) The rich young man then says which one? Yeshua then starts to list the 10 Commandments. The young man says I’ve done all of these things, what is missing? Yeshua say, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasures in heaven. Then come and follow me.” The Bible says that the young man went away sad because he had great wealth. Was it money that kept him from entering eternal life? Of course not. It was that he didn’t AHAV God with all of his heart, soul, and mind. He wasn’t willing to submit himself to the will of God. His life and what he had in life was of more value to him than God and His Instructions.

Following God’s Instructions (Torah) is something we do because we love God! It is an expression of our love for Him. Following Torah without loving God completely, is a waste of time. True salvation is found when one puts their faith in Yeshua. Faith is an action word; it is not a passive belief. When I put my faith in Yeshua, I believe He is the One true God and Savior of all mankind and I love (AHAV) Him with my whole being, knowing that I have a right standing with Him by His work alone, and follow His Instructions (Torah) for my life because I’m now part of His Kingdom!

True freedom, peace, and joy is found in True Faith! And this Faith is not beyond your reach!!!

Old Covenant vs. New (Renewed) Covenant

I was taught in the church that Jesus came to earth to start a new covenant with the church. That the old covenant given to Israel in the Old Testament was abolished by Jesus at the cross. I've always questioned why God didn't get it right the first time. Was God such a failure that He would give such a poor covenant to Israel? After He was like, "dang!!! that didn't work, all right son, you're up." Or did He make it that way on purpose to show us how sinful we were so we would accept Jesus as savior. What about all those other people before Christ? Did God send them to hell so that I could have a neat object lesson to help me receive Jesus in my heart? The Word of God doesn't support this teaching. Let's define a couple terms real quick that we should all agree on:

A follower of the Old Covenant: one who tries to have a right standing before God by following the Law. This person tries to achieve righteousness by works.

A follower of the New Covenant: one who has a right standing with God by placing their faith in the Messiah; "saved by grace through faith"

How do we know that we are in the new covenant? What is the proof that someone is in the "new" covenant. Hebrews 8:10 (which is quoting Jeremiah 31:33) says, "I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people." Which laws will be on their minds and heart? This was written in the Tanak (Old Testament), so the law that was being spoken of was the law given in the Tanak. So, someone in the "New" Covenant will have the Law or Commandments written on their heart and mind. Does that mean that I don't follow them, as the church teaches??? It should mean that I follow them even better. Doesn’t a musician who has a song in his heart and mind play it with more emotion and sincerity than the one reading the sheet music?  This is also what Yeshua taught on during the Sermon on the Mount.  In the New Covenant our thoughts should be governed by the Commandments and our hearts should be subjugated to them.

Let’s break down Hebrews 8:7-13 (which is quoting Jeremiah 31:31-34)

7For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.

So something was wrong with the covenant. The Hebrew word for “new” in new covenant can be translated as the word “new” or “renewed” depending on its context. “New” meaning completely fresh and “renew” meaning to restore to its original intent. Let’s continue reading to see what was wrong with this first covenant and was the second covenant a new or renewed covenant.

8But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

God says here that the problem with the first covenant was that the people did not remain faithful to it. The problem wasn’t with the covenant, but with the people.

He is also saying He is going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He didn’t say He was going to throw them away and make a new covenant with the Gentile Church. We are still saved by putting our faith in Messiah who brings us into Israel. Eph. 2:12-13, 19: “12remember that at that time you were separate from Messiah, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Yeshua the Messiah you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Messiah… 19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household.”

10This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 11No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.

In the first covenant, Israel as a whole didn’t remain faithful to the covenant. Now God is saying all will know me because I’ll write my law on their minds and on their hearts. They will be in a right standing with me because of my Grace, not because of their work.

The reality though is that God always intended for Israel to have the law written on their minds and heart. He always intended for them to be righteous by faith, not works. The Bible says that Abraham was considered righteous by faith. Moses was righteous by his faith in Messiah. Hebrews 11:26, “{Moses} regarded disgrace for the sake of Messiah as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.” Deuteronomy 6:5, 6, which is core of Torah, says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.” It was always God’s intention that Torah was to be on their hearts and that love for God was to be the reason for keeping Torah. The reason that many in Israel failed was because of their lack of faith in Yeshua or salvation.

12For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more." 13By calling this covenant "new," he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.

He says at this time, Israel won’t try to achieve righteousness based on works or because they are “born into” the Kingdom, but by faith in Yeshua and Torah will just naturally flow out of them.

Yeshua replaced the first covenant, which was deemed “old” because the people weren’t connected to it because of their lack of faith. The second covenant is a Renewed or Restored Covenant. Yeshua “fixed” the original covenant by restoring it to its original intent: that we enter into the Kingdom of God through faith in the Messiah and express our love for Him through obedience to His Torah!

Commandment #1

"I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."  Exodus 21:2


This verse may read more like a proclamation than a command, but this is a positive command to believe in the existence of YHWH (the name of God) as the only God and to put your faith in Him as your God.  It is not possible or necessary to obey God's laws until you recognize Him as your sovereign King.  So this is an entry level Commandment for the Kingdom of God.

It was only by God's lovingkindess, His grace that He delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery, as it is by God's grace alone that we are delivered from our sinful nature through Yeshua, the King of kings and Lord of lords.  It is only because it pleases Him that we are able to be freed from the bondage of sin and be brought into a right standing with God and become citizens of the Kingdom.

It feels like God is down grading His greatness in this proclamation when He identifies Himself as the One who brought Israel out of Egyptian slavery.  He could have very well said that He was the God who created the whole universe and binds together every atom within it by His will, but none of Moses' crew were there at creation and none of them knew what an atom was. Sooo, he related to them with something they had all seen and experienced.  They witnessed His might and power as they were freed from slavery.

At the foundation of the world, before God created anything, He manifested Himself as Yeshua, the Lamb of God (Rev. 13:8) who was slain so that He could be a sin offering for us.  He already knew that Adam would sin and pass his sinful nature to you and I, but God thought that you were still worth creating.  So He came up with a plan before He even started creation.  This event took place in time 2000 years ago when Yeshua was crucified on a cross.  When we put our faith in Yeshua, we are laying our identity onto Him.  Our old nature is crucified with Messiah and dies and we are given a new life in the Kingdom through His resurrection.

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who had died has been freed from sin."  Romans 6:6-7

If you have not already done so, I encourage you to pray and put your faith in Yeshua the Messiah.  Recognize Him as the Sovereign King of your life and follow His ways, for they are so much higher than our own.  The freedom and peace that you have been looking for is found only through faith in Yeshua.  That means you believe that He is your Sovereign King and because He invites you into His Kingdom by His freewill, you follow His ways.

Pray this prayer with me:

Heavenly Father, I believe that You are the one and only God; the Creator of the universe and who holds it all together by Your will alone.  I thank you for Your Son, Yeshua the Messiah, who paid the price for my redemption when He was crucified on a cross.  I choose to put my faith in You, Yeshua, as my Sovereign King and I submit my will to Yours because You have brought me into Your Kingdom by Your grace.  By Your Spirit, teach me Your Commandments for my life; that I may delight in them and they may be a boundary for me, protecting me from the evil arrows of the enemy.  Thank you for inviting me into Your Kingdom and placing me in a right standing with You.  Continue to lead me by Your Spirit and Your Word.

Amen

Under Grace

When I first began down this journey of follow God’s Torah, Instructions, Commandments, as the way to live life, I was confronted by well meaning friends who felt that I was abandoning GRACE to follow the LAW.  They feared that I was adding conditions to salvation for myself and those I ministered to as the pastor of a church. Can one follow the Law and still be saved by Grace?  I believe the reality of ones salvation by Grace is reflected in ones obedience to the Law, to Torah. Say that statement in a Christians leaders meeting and see the melt down that takes place. :)  Another way to say this, is that if I put my faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as Lord of my life, my actions should continually grow more obedient to the Commandments. “We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.” 1 John 2:3.  Give me a moment to explain before you click off this page and call me a heretic or say this guy is crazy, he wants to put me back under the law.  I don’t want to see anyone “under the law”, but I want to share the freedom found in standing on the law.  Let’s review a few scriptures Romans 3:20-31:

20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

So, we can’t be saved by trying to follow the law.  When we try, we become more aware of our sin nature fighting us; standing in opposition.

21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.

The Law and the Prophets testified that we would have a right standing with God, not by trying to follow the law, but through grace ALONE (because God just wanted to save us).

22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

Let’s sum that up.  Paul is saying we have all sinned.  The reason that we sin is because our core nature is that of a sinner.  Righteousness or having a right standing with God comes only by Grace; we don’t earn it, God makes us righteous because He wants to.  This is called justification which is offered to us freely by God and made possible because of Yeshua (Jesus) offering Himself up as an atoning sin offering.  This sacrifice puts us in a right standing with God if we put our faith in Yeshua (Jesus).  Faith, according James in the book of James 2:14-26, is not only belief in the existence of Messiah, but acting as one who has sworn allegiance to the Kingdom of God.  So, one does not follow Torah, God’s instructions to be saved, but follows Torah because he has been saved by Grace.  Without faith in Yeshua, one can’t follow Torah with the proper heart and understanding.

27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

No one can say that they have achieved salvation by observing the law, but that doesn’t mean that the law is something to be thrown away either.  Let me give you a worldly example: If I am a foreigner to the United States of America, I can not become a citizen of this country by following its laws alone.  Follow the law doesn’t make me a citizen.  When I go through the process of becoming a citizen, then I am expected to follow the law of the land.  If I were then to make the claim that I don’t need to follow the law of the land because that isn’t what makes me a citizen and I lived my life in opposition to the law of the land, I’d find myself in jail.  This principle is the same with the Kingdom of God.  We enter the Kingdom by Grace alone and through faith in Yeshua, but if we truly love God we are going to follow the laws of the Kingdom (Torah). (Read 1 John 2)

29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

Gentiles are expected to live by Torah, just as Jews live by Torah who put their faith in Yeshua.  We have the same faith.  This isn’t a new concept.  The alien, the stranger was always welcome into the Kingdom (i.e. Deut. 29:10).  Again, the law isn’t nullified by faith; rather it is made possible to be keep by faith.

So everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, can have a right standing with God by Grace alone, through faith in Yeshua (Jesus).  We are under grace, not under the law; grace is what saves us.  The law does have a place in that it is God’s instructions for living in His Kingdom and for having the best life possible.  Torah is the foundation for the rest of the scriptures and we are stand firm upon them looking up to grace.  Perfect peace and freedom is found in our lives when we stand on Torah, it is a firm foundation for our lives.  Let’s read this parable by Yeshua in closing. T he rock represents doing what Gods says, following His Torah and the sand represents not doing what God says, living a life not according to Torah.

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27

Why Yeshua???

Someone asked me the question why I use the name of Yeshua for the Messiah, instead of Jesus.  First, Yeshua is His original Hebrew name.  A friend of mine who celebrated the Sabbath with me this weekend said, “Well if His mom called Him Yeshua, the disciples called Him Yeshua, the angel Gabriel called Him Yeshua, the Father called Him Yeshua, then I want to call Him Yeshua.”  I agree.  A neighbor of mine at one of the churches I was a Pastor at name was Yoseph.  He was a Russian Jew; a very nice man.  When he introduced himself he said, “My name is Yoseph, but you can call me Joseph if that is easier for you to say.”  I told him I appreciated that, but I’d call him by his true name.  I also prefer to call Yeshua by his true name, not the name that is easier for me to say since the name Jesus is more widely accepted.

The second reason and I believe the weightier one, is that when you say the name of Jesus everyone has a different image of who Jesus is in their minds.  People always tell me, “I see Jesus this way…I can’t believe Jesus would care about this…I don’t think Jesus really meant that…My Jesus doesn’t care how I live as long as I believe.”  The Messiah is who He is whether or not we believe it our not.  If someone thought I was 6’5”, 250 pounds, and with huge muscles they would be wrong (even though I can understand the mistake).  All because a person believed something about me doesn’t make it true.  I am who I am regardless of what other people’s perception of me happens to be.

Creating an image of God in our mind that isn’t true is called idolatry.  The nation of Israel struggled with this from their very inception.  Read this account of Israel after they had been delivered by God from Egypt and brought to the mountain of God.  Moses went to the top of Mt. Sinai to receive the Commandments from God and the people became restless.

¹ When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods (Elohiym) who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

    ² Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me." ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, "These are your gods (Elohiym), O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

    ⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD (YHVH: The Name of God)." ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.   Exodus 32:1-6

So what just happened here?  Moses was up on the mountain and the people wanted Aaron make Elohiym.  (“In the beginning God (Elohiym: Hebrew for God) created the heaven and the earth.” Gen. 1:1)    What?  Did the Israelites think that God looked like a cow?  Remember that they had just been delivered from Egyptian slavery, which had lasted many hundred years.  Egypt was a land full of idol worship.  So it isn’t unreasonable to assume that many of Israelites would have had a perception of God that had been altered by the culture they lived in.  Aaron made Elohiym in the image of a cow and then built an alter in front of the cow and said tomorrow we will have a festival to YHVH.  They had created an image of YHVH (the one true God) in their minds that was false, thus they were committing idolatry. 

The scary thing about this is that today we have created an image in our mind of Jesus that conforms to the culture around us.  The religion of “The Way”, led by the apostles of Messiah was radically different from the main stream Christianity of today.  I believe that God is leading us back to the religion of The Way.  In their mindset faith was defined this way: belief in Yeshua as the risen Messiah and obedience, because of love, to God’s instructions (The Whole Bible).  You can’t have faith without obedience.

³We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. ⁴The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. ⁵But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Yeshua did.  1 John 2:3-6

This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,  1 John 5:3

So why do I use the name Yeshua?  When I talk to God or to other people, I don’t want them to be confused with the many idols in main stream Christianity that we have created called “Jesus”.  I want it known that I’m not talking about the “Jesus” that we’ve created with our western, 21^st century mindset, but the Son of God who came to earth as the Messiah foretold in the Tanak (Hebrew Bible or Old Testament), followed the Torah (God’s instructions), and completed what was lacking from the Law (the correct heart intentions for following God’s commandments: To love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5)

I hope you will join me on this journey in discovering the true Messiah and the freedom, joy, and peace in living a life according to the Commandments.  For more on this topic, visit my article: The Next Awakening.

Delight in God's Law

¹ Blessed is the man
       who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
       or stand in the way of sinners
       or sit in the seat of mockers.

    ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
       and on his law he meditates day and night.

    ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
       which yields its fruit in season
       and whose leaf does not wither.
       Whatever he does prospers.

    ⁴ Not so the wicked!
       They are like chaff
       that the wind blows away.

    ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
       nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

    ⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous,
       but the way of the wicked will perish.  Psalm 1

Is it possible to delight in a law?  Next time you are at a traffic light and the cross street has a red light, when you have a green light, Delight!  Say GLOOOORY (Like a church woman with a big hat)!  The traffic law that tells vehicles to stop at a red light protected your property, family, and life.

Children: Delight when your parents make you do your homework or read a book.  Why, because your parent’s Instructions (better translation for Law in the Bible) will help you to be a successful adult.

Delighting in God’s Law, in His way of living life, is the secret to real freedom, joy, and peace.  We lose out if obey begrudgingly or believe we are free to live any way that seems right to us.  I use to believe that the “old” commandments didn’t apply any more, that Jesus gave us a new commandment that dealt with our heart and motives; we were to love others.  It is true that we are to love God and others, the question is how are we to love?  How do I know that my definition of love is correct?  If I say I love my wife, yet slap her in the mouth and make her cry, do I love her?  Of course not!  (Although I have counseled men who would disagree with me)  We know that we love God if we put our faith in Yeshua (Jesus).  Faith is a two step process: 1. believe in Yeshua (Jesus) as Messiah and 2. obey His commandment (including the ones He gave on Mt. Sinai; He is the same yesterday, today, and forever).   

The first step in this journey of mine, after realizing that I had been wrong, was to delight in God’s commandments.  I didn’t understand or know them all, but I had settled in my heart that God’s way of living was for my good!