The 2 The 10 and The Rest Follow Naturally

Matthew 22 tells us that Yah's Instructions (Torah) and the (writings of the) prophets hold onto these two commandments: 

• Love Master Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, soul, might and mind 
• Love your neighbor as yourself 

Earlier, we read in Deuteronomy 6:5

• You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and all your soul and with all your might.

and in Leviticus 19:18

• Do not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself.

You see, those "two great commands" do not replace anything else - they come straight from the Old Testament, the part referred to as Torah. If you love Yah with your entire being then it should be no problem for you to understand and follow His Instructions.

I am YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them. I YHWH am your Elohim, impassioned, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not swear falsely by My Name for I will not clear one who does.

If you love your fellowman as yourself, you will treat him with the same respect as you would like to be treated. You should have no problem following the Instructions of Yahweh.

Honor your mother and father that you may long endure in the Promised Land that I am giving you. You shall not murder, or commit adultery or steal or bare false witness against one another. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or wife or anything that belongs to him.

Those who do the commandments are those who love Yahweh. 

Without love, observing His Instructions is vanity and 

without His Instructions one's love is vanity.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it set apart. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath of Mine. You, your family, your hired hands or your work animals or the stranger who is visiting your town shall do no work. I made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh I rested, therefore I blessed the sabbath day and set it apart.

All of His Instructions are recorded in the the first five books of Scriptures: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This is His Instruction Manual provided for His Creation.  Sure, it takes some study time to even begin to understand what was going on back in those days and to learn that it still applies to us today; just as any owner's manual needs to be read a few times before the instructions make sense, become clear.

Nothing was done away with when Yahshua came on the scene, in fact, he clarifies and even raises the standard a few times, but he did not put an end to what the Father started.

Exodus 20:

I am YHWH your Elohim who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have no other gods besides Me.

You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.

I YHWH am your Elohim, impassioned, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children upon the third and the fourth generations of those who reject Me, but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those w ho love Me and keep My commandments.

You shall not swear falsely by My Name for I will not clear one who does.

Remember the sabbath day and keep it set apart. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath of Mine. You, your family, your hired hands or your work animals or the stranger who is visiting your town shall do no work. I made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh I rested, therefore I blessed the sabbath day and set it apart.

Honor your mother and father that you may long endure in the Promised Land that I am giving you.

You shall not murder, or commit adultery or steal or bare false witness against one another. You shall not covet your neighbor's house or wife or anything that belongs to him.

Obedience is Discipline

Obeying the Creator

By observing Torah, which is obeying the laws God gave all mankind, we demonstrate our love for Him. Most Christians are following Torah without knowing it! They keep about 1/3 of the commands simply by living moral, upright lives. We have the testimony of Messiah AND the choice to follow God's commands. If we've got Messiah and follow him and we allow the Holy Spirit to work inside us, YHWH will reveal Truth every step of the way.

If you continue to study Scripture then Knowledge and Understanding will increase, baggage falls away, the narrow gate opens and the straight path is revealed. Halleluyah! and praise Elohim for His steadfast love that all would have the chance and choose to turn from sin and return to Him - the One who created us! 

This is the path we journey along towards our real home. We come across many stepping stones as well as stumbling blocks, but our Faith keeps us steady. Satan's goal is to knock us off that path of righteousness. Our goal is the Heavenly Kingdom YHWH told us about through His servants, the prophets of old.  Messiah confirmed all that God had commanded as it is written in the renewed covenant.  The message has been preserved and handed down through the ages. We are the lost sheep of Israel and those other sheep that have heard our Shepherd's Voice. That doesn't mean we stop learning and become content where we are, but we let the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter Y'shua gave us after he died, continue to guide us, teach us and reveal the Word of God to us. That is why he calls it A Path - we move along his path so as not to stagnate in a perceived comfort zone.

Torah reveals right from wrong. It is a set of instructions necessary for the behavior of mankind, not a tool to use to find favor with God (that's what hypocrites are guilty of). It is just as much a part of our lives today as it was in the days of Moses, and Abraham and Noah.

There is evil in the world today just as there was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and surrounding towns. The world we live in today is much as it was in the days of Noah. And it's going to get worse. Our heavenly Father's laws reveal sin and keep us from evil as we walk through that shadowy valley of Death. We recognize right from wrong because we have the definition of both good and evil described in the 1st five books of Scriptures.

Y'shua Messiah was killed and his blood of atonement 'justifies', or absolves us of the guilt of sin. This act 'sanctifies' or sets us apart unto Elohim. We trust and obey God and this will be credited to us as 'righteousness'. (Galatians 3:6)

Y'shua Messiah did not put an end to what our Creator began.

The Spirit is continually teaching us and God is testing to see what is in our hearts. That was the purpose of the 40 years in the wilderness after Moses led that mixed multitude out of Egypt - YHWH knew what was in their hearts yet tested them to see if they would obey Him like they said they would. Well, as you know, only 2 of the original generation made it to the promise land of Canaan - Joshua and Caleb.

Keeping Torah in today's World

Torah is not a religion but God's perfect governing system for all mankind. Of the 613 commandments, 221 apply only to the temple, priesthood and their duties, sacrifices and ritual purity. Since the the physical temple and all associated with it does not exist today these laws do not apply and no law is 'broken' if some thing doesn't exist.  That leaves 392 'laws', which are divided among the rest of us, according to our station in life.

For example: Over 50 laws apply to you if you are a farmer or running a business. Over 60 laws apply to  judges or those  involved in the judicial system. There are 45 laws that apply to us in regard to social behaviors, community and family affairs, and some of those are for just men, and some just for women.  
 

The laws of God YHWH are not a burden and they are able to be kept.  He would not give us anything that we could not bear.  His rules and regulations bring order to the affairs of man and teach us how to handle our own daily affairs. You and I don't lie, cheat, steal or murder but there are many who do. Yahweh protects us, gives us a legal leg to stand on, if these wrongdoings befall us.  He takes into consideration laws regarding 'Involuntary Manslaughter' as well as 'Premeditated Murder'.

Torah is not complicated and is provided for everyone. It represents the character of YHWH our Elohim and His values according to His will - it elevates human life by establishing justice and equality for everyone.

John 14:15 - Y'shua said if you love me keep my commands. 14:21- He who has and keeps my commandments is he who loves me and will be loved by my Father. 15:10 - If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept the commandments of my Father (Torah) and I abide in His love.

Revelation 22:14 - Blessed are those who do His commandments for they shall be given the right to the Tree of Life and will be allowed to enter into the city (New Jerusalem).

The Law is the Word of YHWH our Elohim, and His commandments are found in the first five books of Scripture. His Son confirms this by obeying the will of his Father. Throughout Scripture we are told to show we love Him by keeping His commandments then He will be our Elohim and we will be His people. God would not tell us to do something if we weren't able to do so.

Definitions from Webster's

Justification = the condition necessary for salvation; of being absolved of the guilt of sin.
Sanctification = set apart, consecrated, made free from (bondage to) sin, purified, dedicated.
Righteousness = acting in a just, upright manner, doing what is morally right.

Torah is the Hebrew word for Instruction; instructions for discerning what is morally right, and teaches us how to live in a just manner, advising us on how to be justified and become sanctified - it is the instructions which point us to the Promised Land.  God Himself chose His people to be Set Apart as He is Set Apart... this happens by obeying Him, everything He commands.

New Covenant, Old Covenant, is Torah a covenant?

Right off the get-go we are being gently led astray by a bad translation, the word 'New'. The original Hebrew word 'chadash' means to re-new or to make new or repair. It was never a New covenant but a Renewed covenant. Theologians have long used this term to steer the 'church' away from the rules and commands by God written in Genesis through Deuteronomy, aka Torah.

In the research of Andrew Gabriel Roth, he found that " post-apostlic church founder, Marcion (110-160 AD), who was considered a heretic by the early church, coined the terms 'Old Testament' and 'New Testament' suggesting that the old was done away with, replaced with the new.  His false anti-torah theology is still believed by most Christians today."

A covenant is a contract, a promise, a firm agreement, a pact, made in faith by which the parties involved are trusted to uphold their end of said contract. In every contract there is an exchange of value. In the Renewed contract/covenant Y'shua Messiah offers redemption for our lives but we must reciprocate (hold up our end of the contract) by being obedient.

Torah contains the Terms and Conditions of Yahweh's covenant between Himself and mankind. Torah demands the element of Faith to bring mutual benefits between the parties involved.
  
John 15:10 - IF you keep my commandments you will abide in my love just as I have kept the commandments of my Father Elohim and I abide in His love.

In reality, the new covenant (NT) is a renewal of the older covenant God had formerly made between Himself and His people. Y'shua Messiah and his apostles obeyed the Father, they were Torah observant. It is not a burden and it is not impossible to live by God's Commands.

Shabbat Shalom

Yah made the seventh day sabbath for us, as a sign between Him and His people.  Since He is Set Apart and rested on the 7th day of creation He desires that we also rest on the 7th day.  He set the pattern for us to follow.  It is the 1st of all His Instructions for us. Not a burden.

When we discipline ourselves choosing to follow His Instructions, change for the good will eventually become apparent - my husband and I can attest to this!  Choosing to remember the sabbath day and keep it Set Apart is the best place to start.  Once we start keeping the sabbath day and continue reading scripture, His Word becomes more meaningful.  He tells us to Seek Him and we do this by prayer and reading Scriptures every day and He does reveal Truth, giving us understanding and we gain wisdom if we stay on His Path.

It is the Ruach haKodesh, the Spirit Wind of Elohim, that works within us.  It's the Comforter Y'shua told his disciples about, the Spirit of Truth.  We become Set Apart, different from the rest of the world.  The Truth of His Word makes us free from bondage to sin and the lies we have inherited, passed down through the generations.

Get ready for some eye-openers as you continue on His Path  of Righteousness! The lies we separate from become more and more apparent, from the pagan origins of the most common holidays we've all celebrated to the division of the Faith - the false religions propagated by the Adversary - Satan, the father of lies.

YHWH's Instructions for us are not about religion but are a set of rules and laws for us to live by, intended for our health and well being, and govern the behavior in our communities.  It's about Faith in the unseen as Y'shua once said to Thomas, who would not believe Y'shua had been raised from the dead until he saw him, touched the holes in his hands and saw the stab wound in his side from the spear.  Y'shua said 'Now that you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who do not see me and yet believe."

Here is what Yah says in regards to keeping the 7th day rest:

He sets the example for us in Genesis 2:2- By the seventh day YHWH completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created

Exodus 16:23 ...then he said to them, "This is what Yahweh meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, set apart to Him. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." (get all your meals prepared the day before so you don't have to 'kindle a fire' on the sabbath to do any cooking) 35:2 "For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Set Apart day, a sabbath of Complete Rest to Yahweh Elohim.... "You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day."

Leviticus 23:3 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of Complete Rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to your Elohim, in all your dwellings.

Deuteronomy 5:12 'Observe the sabbath day to keep it set apart as Yahweh your Elohim commanded you...

Later on Jeremiah tries to remind the people in Jeremiah 17:21 'Thus says Yahweh, "Take heed for yourselves, and do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything in through the gates of Jerusalem (no buying or selling, conducting commerce, doing work). "You shall not bring a load out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the sabbath day set apart, as I commanded your forefathers.  =>"Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to listen or take correction.…

This isn't just a 'day of rest' for us to relax and enjoy ourselves, but it is for Him, to honor Yahweh our Elohim.

Isaiah 56:2 "How blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who takes hold of it; Who keeps from profaning the sabbath...

Isaiah 58:13 "If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot from >>doing your own pleasure<< on My set apart day, and call the sabbath a delight, the set apart day of Yah honorable, and honor it, >>desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word<< then you shall take delight in Me, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father (inherit the promised land)

Ezekiel 20:12 "Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them."

The Perfect Government System

My sister and I have been discussing the term 'legalistic' as it is used by Christians against keeping Torah.  My conclusion is that it is not about legalism but rather a free will choice: 

Obey His Commands or Don't obey His Commands, simple as that.

 

'Torah' is the Hebrew word and translates to the English word 'Instructions'.

Christians seem to think it is impossible to keep the Dos and Don'ts provide by The Father; His laws, rules and regulations, and would rather follow man made church traditions.  Without knowing it, most Christians keep about 200 of the 613 Commandments.  Of the 613, not all apply to you and me.  Some apply only to the Temple and Priests (n/a today because the Temple doesn't exist). Some apply only to Judges or agriculture, some for just men and some for just women.

Yah provided His Owner's Manual, His set of instructions in righteous living for His created.  It contains the terms and conditions of His Covenant between Himself and mankind - a contract.  His Instructions are found in Genesis through Deuteronomy and are meant for everyone.  It is YHWH's perfect system of government.  Spiritual guidelines make up His Faith conditional covenant which, through the observance of Messiah, brings blessings.  Reading Scriptures reveals the mystery of His Kingdom; provides a spiritual connection with Y'shua; provides prophetic discernment and is pleasing to YHWH our Creator and His Anointed One, Y'shua.

Yah's Instructions reveal sin as we learn right from wrong.  It specifies what is good and acceptable conduct according to our Creator and provides guidelines for righteousness and repentance.

Andrew G. Roth, in his Aramaic English New Testament, breaks down the 613 Mitzvot (Commandments) into categories: The 248 Positive (Dos) and the 365 Negative (Don'ts).  I will list those categories here for you.

There are 248 Positive Commands as they pertain to these categories:

• YHWH
• Torah
• Temple and Priests
• Sacrifices
• Vows
• Ritual Purity
• Donations to Temple
• Sabbatical Year (Jubilee)
• Animals for food
• Festivals
• Community
• Idolatry
• War
• Social
• Family
• Judicial
• Slaves (bondservants)
• Torts

There are 365 Negative Commands and they pertain to:

• Related practices to idolatry
• Prohibitions resulting in historical events
• Blasphemy
• Temple, Sacrifices and Priests
• Dietary Laws
• Nazarites
• Agriculture
• Loans, Business, Treatment of Slaves
• Justice
• Incest and Forbidden Relationships
• The Monarchy

Yah's Commandments are common sense law for our health and well being.  We will experience this system after the return of Y'shua during his thousand year reign on this earth.  By reading and studying Scriptures now we will know what is expected of us.  He has shown us the End from the Beginning!

It is not up to us to decide how we should honor our Creator - it is about what He wants, not what we think and feel is the right thing.  If we love Him we keep His Commandments.  Even Y'shua said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15)  Also, "He who has my Commandments with  him and keeps them (obeys the Word of God) is he who loves me and will be loved by my Father."  (John 14:21)  And, "If you keep my Commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept the Commandments of my Father...: (John 15:10).  Y'shua kept Torah.

 Our Father in heaven gave us free will.  He is long-suffering, waiting for us to choose to love Him and by keeping His Commandments we show that love.