More from Lessons on the Torah.

 More from Lessons on the Torah. 

 

God didn’t redeem Israel from Egypt by means of the Law; God FIRST redeemed them as a free gift of deliverance from bondage, and then a few months after their redemption He brought them to His holy mountain…. Mt. Sinai… to give them His Law. I propose that this is same pattern that is unchanged and intended for all Believers. FIRST we receive Christ, THEN we receive God's commandments. Because without first receiving the Lord, and more importantly the Lord accepting us, we have no ability to properly carry out His commands in the spirit they were intended. Let me say this another way:  Yeshua says in His Sermon on the Mount that The Law, the Torah, is our manual for living the redeemed life, as a member of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is not (and never was) a means to redemption. 

 

The Law tells us what sin is, and it reveals to us our sinful natures.

 

The Law, the Torah, gives us the knowledge and consciousness of sin. I suspect that most of you accept that rather easily because that generally is the standard doctrine in most denominations. Yet in the same breath it is equally as often said that the Law was and remains ONLY for the Jews. Here is the question: if God intended that the Law was ONLY to be studied and obeyed by the Jews, how is it that a gentile Christian can say that a Jewish-only Law is OUR source for the knowledge and consciousness of sin if it does not apply to us? 

 

Going into more of the lesson on the Law: ^RSV 2 Thessalonians 2:1-4 ¹ Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, ² not to be be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. ³ Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

 

Who is this man of lawlessness? We all understand that he is the Anti-Christ, don’t we? So what does this man's lawlessness refer to? Is he disobedient to Roman law? To Syrian law? To American law? To International law? Is the anti-Christ simply a modern super-scofflaw like Jessie James or Bonnie and Clyde who has no regards for the different laws created by the many different societies and nations? When the Bible refers to law it only ever means one thing: The Law. The Torah. The Laws of Moses. God’s laws. Our possible entry into the Kingdom of Heaven is certainly not measured by manmade laws. So this man of lawlessness is the epitome of a worker of Torah-lessness. He is a man who will thumb his nose at God’s laws and commandments, and God’s moral definitions of good and evil. 

 

Therefore The Law is important and valid and relevant for us not only for the several reasons we’ve discussed, but because if we don’t know The Law we will hardly be able to recognize the Anti-Christ who will be primarily known by him being anti-Law…..being against God’s Torah. Being against the Law of Moses. Being a worker of lawlessness. 

 

Bottom line: This warning about lawlessness is not to pagans. This warning is to those who claim to rely on Yeshua's name, and who claim to be part of the Believers' congregation the world over. Some of these people will be intentionally counterfeit in order to inflict harm; others will deceive themselves and think they can claim Christ, but at the same time deny God's commandments and do what is right in their own eyes. Yeshua calls these the "workers of lawlessness" and they will be denied entry into the Kingdom of Heaven. 

 

It had never occurred to me that both the Jews and later the Christians despised each other—one because the Jews had the Law, and the Christians because they did not understand that grace was given through the fulfilling of the law. Jesus plainly said that He did not do away with the law—not even a tiny bit. It is up to us to learn to love others the way that God gave His love. But we have a helper. May we continue to learn to love.

 

Rest well, my friends. You are loved.