It is quite a common belief among some Christian groups to think that the Old Testament is completely irrelevant today, since they believe that the doctrines of the various church denominations are made clear in the New Testament writings.

However it is important to understand that this is a serious mis-conception as the following facts will show.

We have heard it quoted that, the mysteries of the Old Testament or Old Covenant are revealed in the new, but if we have never read them, we are missing out on the very foundation of what we say we believe. A “mystery” in the New Testament is something that had at one time been hidden but is now revealed to God’s people. One example: Col.1:26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages, and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 

For many the fact that Jesus was Jewish from a Jewish family is not one they are immediately aware of. The word Jewish here, means that He was a descendant of the tribe of Judah one of the 12 tribes of Israel/formally Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.

Jesus lived approx. 2024 years ago in the middle eastern land that we now call Israel; formally called Palestine, the Holy Land, the Promised Land and Canaan. Jesus name in Hebrew is Yeshua, there are several spellings of this Hebrew name. He would have spoken a local Galilean dialect of Aramaic Hebrew. His lifestyle was as far removed from todays western world as one can get.

Yeshua/Jesus and all His disciples were Torah observant Jews. The scriptures that they studied, loved and quoted were, the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. i.e. the Jewish TaNaKh.

As well as Torah, Jews also call their Hebrew Scriptures the TANAK/TANAKH, an acronym for: –

TORAH (Law or Instruction); –

NEVI’IM (The Prophets); and. –

KETHUVIM (The Writings)

TANAK – The Three-Part Hebrew Bible

Yeshua/ Jesus quoted from the book of Deuteronomy from the Torah more than any other book in The Scriptures. The Torah comprises the first 5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

 

As a child Yeshua/Jesus would have studied the Torah and memorized it with other Jewish children. He would also have been familiar with the teaching of the earlier Jewish sages and rabbis of Israel.

When He was asked what the greatest commandment of the Lord was, Yeshua/Jesus quoted the ve’ahavta portion of the Shema. Which is found in Deut. 6:5.

Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad

Hear O Israel the Lord is God the Lord is One.

And then He added the commandment from Leviticus 19:18.

You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Both of these commandments come directly from the Torah!

These were not something He made up or changed from the original which was given by His Heavenly Father YHVH, to the children of Israel through Moses when the covenant was made at Sinai.

Indeed Yeshua/Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Torah, or the prophets, but to fulfill/complete them. Showing us how to interpret and live them correctly. This was because over the generations since Moses, the Pharisees and religious Leaders had added laws and commandments of their own for various reasons that were not part of the original directives given by the Lord.

Matthew 5:17 – 19.

in Matthew 19:17 He later told a man who wanted to be a disciple of His

If you would enter life, keep the commandments.

When He was asked which ones, Yeshua/ Jesus replied by referring to the 10 commandments and appealed to the man to follow Him. Matthew 19:18 – 21

Yeshua/Jesus said that the Jewish scriptures testified of Him.

John 5:39

In Matthew 5:18 Yeshua/Jesus says that not one jot or tittle will pass away from the law until all is accomplished.

He does not abolish the law, but fulfills it through His obedience and blood.

As His followers and disciples, we should understand what this means, and how they indeed bear witness of Him as the King of the Jews. Matthew 2:2;27:11.

In addition by studying Torah as well as the Writings and Prophets, we can more fully appreciate the Glory and Grace as revealed in the person of our redeeming Savior. One example is that we can more fully understand the role of the sacrificial system and why it was necessary until Messiah came. It is also important for us to understand that His commandments are to show us how sinful man is to approach a Holy God. Furthermore, how Yeshua/Jesus fulfilled all of Gods Holy requirements on our behalf, not only as the perfect sacrificial lamb whose blood has paid the price for our sin; but also as the High Priest/Kohen haGadol of the re-new-ed covenant.

When two disciples were on the way to the town of Emmaus discussing the events and the meaning of the crucifixion three days before, Messiah Himself appeared beside them and taught them about Himself from the Jewish scriptures. Luke 24:13 – 36.

The new testament, the gospels and all the letters, were not written yet, all they had was the Torah the Prophets and the Writings.

Again as His followers, we should likewise be able to teach and show how Yeshua/Jesus is revealed in the Hebrew scriptures.

The church/the ecclesia, had its genesis on the Jewish Holy day/Appointed Time/Moedim of Pentecost/Shavuot among the thousands of Jewish people who were in Jerusalem in obedience to the Shalosh Regalim.

In Hebrew: שלוש רגלים,

romanized : šāloš rəgālīm, or

חַגִּים, ḥaggīm

Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot;

referred to as the Shalosh Regalim.

The Torah (Exodus 34:23) tells us that on these Appointed days, all able-bodied people should appear in Jerusalem for a national celebration of service to God.

All the proceedings during the Appointed Time of the Lord, the Moed, which was recorded in Acts 2:1–41, was entirely Jewish; quoting from the Prophets and from the Psalms of David which would have meant little to any gentiles within hearing distance, if indeed there were any.

 

It is likely that the 3000 people who were saved that day would have all been Jewish, descended from the 12 tribes of Israel. The earliest members of the new church/ecclesia, called apart ones, met regularly in the temple, where gentiles were excluded, with no exception. Acts 2:46. We read that the apostles Peter and John were recorded to have gone to the temple for prayer during the time of the minchah/ afternoon sacrifices Acts 3:1. They did not suddenly stop doing what they had always done before Messiah had come; and their ministry continued explicitly among the Jewish people,  among whom were thousands who believed and were zealous for the Torah. Acts 21:20

Even after they were imprisoned and by a miracle of the Lord escaped, an angel told him to go, stand, and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. Acts 5:20.

Later when the Jerusalem Council wrote their letter to the Gentiles regarding their relationship to the Torah, they advised them to at first abstain from those things that make them abhorrent to the Jews. This directive was with the assumption that they would later go on to study the Torah of Moses and the other Jewish scriptures. Acts 15:19 – 21

The apostle Paul was raised a Torah observant Jew who studied under the famous Rabbi Gamaliel in Jerusalem. Acts 22:3 Rabbi Shaul, as he would have been called, was well established in the Jewish leadership of his day, and even had a relationship with the Sanhedrin and the High Priest of Israel. Acts 9:1 -2. But even after his conversion on the road to Damascus, Acts 9:1–21. He still identified himself as a Jew. It Acts 23:6 he confessed I am, not was, a Pharisee. He even declared that concerning the observance of the Torah he was blameless, which indicates that he observed a Jewish lifestyle to his dying day. Philippians 3:6; Acts 25:7–8; 28:17.

Paul even took the Nazarite vow. Acts 18:18. He lived in observance of the Torah.

Acts 21:23-24. And he actually offered sacrifices in the Jewish temple. Acts 21:26. It is clear that Paul not only paid for his own sacrifices in order to be released from his Nazarite vow, but that he also paid for the sacrifices for four other Jewish believers. Notice also that this was performed at the specific request of James, the Head of the Jerusalem church and half-brother of Yeshua/Jesus

Paul regularly attended synagogue. Acts 17:1-2. When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. 2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,

And when Paul later wrote to the gentile churches, in

2 Timothy 3:16, 17

ALL SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[ a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.….

He was of course referring to the Jewish scriptures the Torah Prophets and Writings. Since as already noted, the gospels and letters had not yet been written for the new believers/ecclesia.

Indeed, in order to understand Pauls writings, we need to remember his training as a Rabbi when he quotes the scriptures in his writings. For example, when he wrote 1Corinthians 10:4, all drank from the same spiritual drink for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them and the rock was Christ.

He was quoting from story later written in the Talmud. Exodus 20:1 (i.e. that from the time that Moses struck the rock at Horeb and brought forth water until the death of Miriam, this water giving rock followed the children of Israel through the desert and provided water for them each day. )

Many Christian denominations profess to believe in the authority of both the old and new testament scriptures, while at the same time relegating the study of the Torah, Prophets and Writings to the dustheap of history. If the Hebrew Jewish scriptures are taken seriously at all, these denominational traditions try to explain away their clear reading; for example: they take the covenantal promises made to ethnic Israel and say that the intent of the text as being applicable solely to the ‘christian church’.

This is both shortsighted and inconsistent; since it is impossible to understand the new testament writings, including the very church/ecclesia itself, while ignoring the cultural and spiritual context of which it is a part. We must remember that the Greek text of the New Testament derived its authority and truth from the Jewish Hebrew scriptures, and not the other way around. Too many Christian theologians work at this backwards, reading from the new testament gospels and letters, and particularly certain ideas ascribed to the apostle Paul; as the interpretative filter and guide for the study and interpretation of the Hebrew text. Theologians of the western traditions must consciously remember the statement: a text without a context is a pretext.

Such heresies as that of replacement theology, which believes that ‘the church’ i.e., westernized Christianity, has completely replaced the children of Israel and they believe God is finished with them. These beliefs need to be seriously repented of.

Yes, it is for these and many other reasons, it is important, even vital for believers in and disciples of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus to study the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings as part of the whole counsel of God.

2Tim 2:15.

Shalom aleikhem

chaverim and mishpachah!

Peace to friends and family.

Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.

Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord, Deliverer and soon returning King; and that you have a personal relationship with Him.

It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.

You are very precious in His sight.

Not sure ..you can be…

SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,

SAY IT RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past. I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.