Netzarim, Original followers of Yeshua & His 12

Torah put in simple terms

Most would agree that the most important thing anyone can do is to find their way to God...but there is a second part to it: OBEYING Him. Most people have no clue that they are NOT obeying Him; they are under the false impression that all we have to do is "believe in Jesus," and nothing else. That is one reason why there are more than 33,000 Christian "denominations" today.

In order to properly worship the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we must re-read the Gospels to see exactly what Jesus did. And what He did was obey the Will of His Father. Jesus - whose given, Hebrew Name was Yeshua (which means "Yahweh is Salvation") - always did exactly what the Father told Him to do; He did NOTHING on His own; everything He did was in the realm of obedience to the Father.

He was completely Torah observant and - contrary to popular opinion - neither He nor the Father ever said that, after the death of Yeshua, all of God's Torah (Divine Instructions in Righteousness) would become null and void. Neither of them ever said that God's commanded Seventh Day Sabbath should ever be moved to the "first day" (which, on our Gregorian calendars, happens to be Sunday). He never said that His commanded Feasts were to be ignored so that man could concoct their own "holy days"....Yeshua has so far only fulfilled the first FOUR of the SEVEN feasts, and the next one will be what Christians are calling "the rapture".

By the way, many Christians keep insisting "Jesus fulfilled it all"...But the thing is, what He "fulfilled" was the need for man to kill innocent animals to atone for their sins. Yeshua was our Final SIN Sacrifice; He martyred Himself on the stake on our behalf so that all that would be required to enter heaven was "belief" in Him. This in no way negated the need to OBEY God's forever commands!

"Fulfilled" never meant "abolish" or "put an end to." For instance, when you were born you fulfilled your mother's dream of having a child. Did that put an end to her dream? No! It fulfilled it because she now had a real child in her arms and could continue her "dream" for her child's life (school, home, family, eventual marriage, etc.) It means you were now here in the world and there was a purpose for you beyond "being born" - which was part of your mother's dream for a child in her life....

After your birth, in order to grow and thrive you needed to learn some rules and regulations to make it through life safely. For instance,when your parents taught you to never stick your finger into an electrical outlet because you would receive a jolt that could possibly kill you, was that instruction ever negated? When you became an adult, could you then cross the highway without looking both ways, first, as your parents taught you, or place your hand inside that snake's den behind your house? Well, you could, but wouldn't that be a rather stupid thing to do?

The same thing holds true with our heavenly Father, Yahweh. He gave us certain instructions for life, and we don't have the right to simply ignore them!

Yahweh has rules that apply to all who choose to believe in Him and the awesome Savior He sent to redeem us! He gave us rules on how to live holy, righteous lives - and yet most people seem to think Jesus abolished them! It doesn't make any sense. Sin is transgression of Torah (I John 3:4). Without Torah we have NO rules for holy, moral living!

Many Christians who have been taught that "Jesus nailed it to the cross" don't seem to understand exactly WHAT was nailed to the cross. For some reason they are under the mistaken impression that "Torah" - Yahweh's Divine Instructions in Righteousness - was somehow abolished on the cross, which is a dangerously off-the-mark assertion that on Judgment Day will render "lukewarm" many who thought they were "right" with God. And Yeshua said He would spit those people out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16)....

Many insist, "all that Old Testament stuff was just for the Jews" - while not realizing there were no Jews before Jacob begat the Tribe of Judah! Adam and Eve (Gen. 2) weren't Jews; Cain and Abel (Gen. 4) who offered sin sacrifices weren't Jews; and neither was Noah (Gen. 6) who knew the difference between "clean and unclean" animals; and neither were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And yet, ALL believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were Torah observant!

Please stop and ask yourself why that was! The answer is: Because God said so. He gave rules for us to live by, and man's job was not to question but to obey because, without God's Torah, man would have no blueprint for moral, holy living! Man would not know right from wrong, good from evil.

Here's the thing:

Nobody is suggesting that YHWH's love is conditional. He loves us, no matter what. But why would that negate obedience to His rules? Where are we given permission to ignore His "forever" commands, just because "Jesus died"? Where did Jesus personally ever say that His death was to negate His Father's Torah? In view of Numbers 15:13-16, it's logical to assume that ALL believers are to be Torah observant, because YHWH Himself, in that passage, said it a total of four times, in four different ways:

Numbers 15: 13 "'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"

Please re-read the above in case you missed it: Any Torah-less non-Jew/Hebrew/Israelite who does not yet believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is an "alien"/foreigner. However, if they do wish to accept Him, then they are to do exactly as those who are already belong to Him!

"Living among" means not necessarily physically, but rather, it refers to all those who have accepted the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They MUST be Torah observant, just like the Houses of Israel and Judah were with whom God made His New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:32)!

Romans 10: 12. And in this, it discriminates neither Jews nor Gentiles. For there is one, Master YHWH, over them all, who is abundantly generous towards every one that calls on him. 13. For everyone that will call on the name of Master YHWH, will have life.

In view of the above, it would seem that those who claim to "love" God would WANT to obey His "forever" commands instead of coming up with their own rules, as did "the church." Christianity has blatantly ignored God's commands and categorically denies Torah because they erroneously believe "Jesus nailed it to the cross" without realizing that what was nailed to the cross was not God's Divine Instructions, but rather the rabbinical, legalistic and man-made "stuff" that had crept into man's worship.

Many have written to The Refiner's Fire to insist that Torah was abolished just because "Jesus was nailed to the cross" and all we are required to do today is to "believe in Jesus." That's fine and dandy, because Yeshua was our Final SIN Sacrifice. But since Yeshua Himself was Torah observant, doesn't that suggest He was showing US how to do it? Did He ever say, "After my death you don't have to do anything but 'believe'?"

Let's view this from another, simpler perspective:

Your children "believe" in you, too, and you love them unconditionally. But does that mean that they don't have to mind you anymore just because they "believe" in you? Does "believing in you" give them a blanket authority to forget your teachings on right and wrong, good and bad? Does this mean they can now cross the freeway without first making sure there are no cars coming, or to kill someone at will if they're angry? That's what Christians keep implying when they insist they are not obligated to obey God's "forever" commands (such as the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts)....Sure, you love your children unconditionally, but they have rules to follow that keep them safe from harm; they don't have the right to ignore your rules just because they "believe" in you.

Another example is our pets. They are safe and sound as long as they stay within the boundaries of your fenced-in property. But, from the moment they decided to climb over that fence, there is no guarantee they won't get hit by a car or shot by a mean neighbor. Life has rules we simply cannot ignore.

The Torah is full of rules - how to worship God, how to treat each other according to Him, what we can and can't eat (have you ever noticed that all the animals that God considers "unclean" are the carnivores who eat anything including disease-laden garbage and roadkill?)....Yet the church decided all "old" stuff that was just for "the Jews"....

Our Creator loves us, but He has RULES we are to follow - and that is NOT an option.

Back to the beginning:

Yahweh as our Creator is, in essence, our Father. From the very beginning, He tried to teach us right from wrong; He had rules for man to live by: (Paraphrased from Gen. 2:15-17) "Adam, work the garden, but do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden; you will die if you do!" "Do's" and "Don'ts" - TORAH! - from the very beginning!

Divine law and priesthood have ALWAYS been around, as far back as Adam. And when Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden (banished and not killed - because of God's grace!), God imposed even more rules on mankind because, now that man had partaken from tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was destined to reap the consequences. And the consequences required sacrifices and offerings to God....God's prerogative as our Creator.

The sacrifice for sin was always the shedding of innocent blood. Why blood? Because it is life-giving liquid. Without it, we die. Why an innocent animal? To make man feel the anguish over the loss of an innocent life on his behalf! Something had to die so that you, Mr. and Ms. Sinner, could live! To impress upon man the importance of total obedience God, Yahweh demanded that an innocent animal be slain in order to atone for deliberate sinning. The first account of an animal sacrifice is when God killed an animal in order to make coverings for the naked Adam and Eve after they ate from the tree (Genesis 3).

The Bible doesn't tell us how, but God obviously taught Adam and Eve about sacrifices because we know that Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God in Genesis 4:3-5. At that time a high priest was not required to handle the sacrifices because of the limited circumstances of human life when Adam's family circle for centuries formed the only population of the earth. At that time, every obedient man offered his own sacrifice and, in essence, was his own priest, as appears in the case of Abel, Noah, Melchizedek, Job and Abraham.

The need for a high priest - an intercessor between God and man - arose when Israel's population began to grow. The duties of the high priest and his special vestments are outlined in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, the chief references being Ex. 28: 6-42; Ex. 29: 6; Ex. 39: 27-29; Lev. 6: 19-23; Lev. 21: 10. Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) ultimately became our High Priest! He was not a "new god" or someone who came to replace YHWH, the Father! He was the SON who came to do His Father's Will. But unlike the other high priests, Yeshua offered HIMSELF on our behalf and thus bore the sins of ALL of us permanently - and the only thing required of us, in return, was to believe in His shed blood at the cross (Hebrews 3:1; John 3:15-18; 1 Peter 1:18-19; John 10:8-9; John 10:10; 2 Cor 5:17-18; Matthew 1:21, Isaiah 7:14) thereby becoming new creatures in Christ who DESIRE to follow God.

All of the above is a part of Torah - which has been around since the beginning. Has God changed His mind about obedience and the consequences of sin? No! The above are just a few examples to show that the entire history of the world before the actual giving of the Torah through Moses, is a history of man's relationship to God. God wanted the best for us; He wanted our obedience. (By the way, examples of God's commandments are sprinkled throughout the Torah in places such as Gen. 26:2-5; Ex. 15:25-27; Ex. 16; Ex. 20:6; Lev. 22, 26, 27; Num. 15, 36; Deut. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31. There are more, but you get the picture: God was very adamant about people following all His teachings and commandments.)

We need to remember that, just because Moses was the first one to present Yahweh's teachings as "Torah" (referred to by Christians as "law") GOD, not Moses, is the author of the Torah. God allowed Moses to see His wisdom and commanded him to share that knowledge with the Hebrews and to all those who attached themselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Torah includes the keeping of the SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath (Genesis 2:3) which God commanded in places such as Exodus 31:13-16, Isaiah 66:23 and Isaiah 58:13. Torah also includes the Biblical feasts - God's appointed times - as outlined in Leviticus 23. To illustrate the feasts' importance, you need to understand that Yeshua has so far only fulfilled the first four of the seven Biblical feasts, with three more to go - and the next one is the "Rapture"! How could Yeshua fulfill the feasts after His death? Because God is forever; He has no beginning and no end. God cannot be born or die; yet Yeshua (who was, in essence, the "Arm" of YHWH and "God come in the Flesh who was divine ONLY because of His Divine qnoma [nature]) was born AND died! We know He is alive because He rose and because no body was ever found in the SEALED tomb in which He was buried! Yeshua was already with His "Father" YHWH at the beginning (John 1:1-2) and He remains a priest FOREVER (Hebrews 7:3).

Man sees things from a linear viewpoint and timeline, whereas Yahweh does not. He's God, so why should He have to fulfill everything within OUR concept of time? His Biblical feasts were given to us for a reason: To keep our minds on God throughout the entire year, and so that man could know what all was supposed to happen and what was yet to come - i.e. Yeshua was foreshadowed in each one of them! If God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, WHY would He suddenly want us to ignore them? God said His Torah would stand FOREVER (2 Chronicles 7:14-22).

Yahweh wasn't "cursing" man when He gave man rules to live by! (God doesn't do anything without good reason - and, as a matter of fact, God Himself didn't number those "613" commandments; MAN did!) These commandments taught man right from wrong and how to obey God and worship Him properly. Most of the "613" commands were for the priests of that day; some were only for men; some only for women (i.e., to sleep outside the camp whenever they had their periods - which made sense since in those days women had no way to keep clean during their menstrual cycle).

The main ones that were meant for everyone, were the ones God eventually consolidated into the Ten Commandments - which all pointed back to the Torah. Yet, many Christians today believe they only have to bother with TWO Commandments (love God and love your neighbor as yourself) without ever connecting the fact that those two "hang" on Torah!

Matthew 22: 36. "Teacher, which Commandment in Torah is the greatest?" 37. And Y'shua said to him, that "You should love Master YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and with all your mind." 38. This is the first and the greatest Commandment. 39. And the second is like it. That "You should love your neighbor as yourself." 40. On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets.

Note, they HANG on Torah. It doesn't say they REPLACED the Torah! Most Christians don't mind adhering to the Ten Commandments (even though they don't bother to keep even the Fourth Commandment concerning the seventh-day Sabbath) which are part of Torah, as well. Man has always liked to "pick and choose" when it comes to God's Word, but it's time to realize that seventh-day Sabbath command, along with His seven Biblical feasts were NEVER abolished - on the cross, or anywhere else! There were parts of Torah that God said would endure FOREVER - and the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Biblical Feasts are among them....

2 Timothy 3: 16. All Scripture that was written by the Spirit is profitable for instruction and for decisive refutation, and for correction, and for deep extensive learning in righteousness; 17. that the man of Elohim may become perfect and complete for every good work.

So, was YHWH's Torah a curse and did "Jesus" abolish it at the cross? NO! He abolished the need for us to kill an innocent animal to atone for our sins!

Yeshua attempted to show us that MAN-MADE traditions and teachings had twisted God's Word. The teachings of the rabbis in "Biblical times" (just as the teachings of today's pastors!) had clouded the things God had actually said! This is backed up by the much-misunderstood teachings of Paul:

Colossians 2: 14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake.

What does the above refer to? Our SINS! Did Rav Sha'ul (Paul) say "the Law" (Torah) was nailed to the cross? No! Yeshua was our SIN Sacrifice; that is all. God sent an aspect of Himself to earth in the form of a man so that we could better identify and understand; He taught us about the things of God, how to live with each other according to God's will; and then to offer Himself as the Final Sin Sacrifice. Yeshua wiped away the documented opinions of men (bill of charges) against us and took them from our midst....He even said He came NOT to abolish Torah, but to fulfill it. "Fulfill" does not mean abolish!

The Torah is holy, righteous and good. To suddenly have it "nailed to the cross" as Christians would have us believe, suggests that the things of God were originally evil, something to be done away with.

The bottom line is: Torah contains exactly what God wanted us to know about Himself, how He wants to be worshiped, and how we are to live together in harmony according to GOD'S commands.

Numbers 15:13-16 tell us that ALL are to observe His Mitzvot (Words/Commands). These next Scriptures show that we will be keeping the feasts and the seventh-day Sabbath for all eternity. As you know, God "rested" on the seventh day, not because HE needed rest, but to provide the example that WE would. He "rested" because He was done creating and could admire His work. Sometime thereafter He told us to keep the Sabbath Holy because it would be a SIGN between Him and His creation. Christians have changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday because they are under the mistaken impression that Jesus rose on a Sunday. Please see our Resurrection article which proves otherwise and then continue with the below:

Ezekiel 20: 10 "So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 "I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man (notice He said MAN, not JEW...) observes them, he will live. 12 "Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

Now, pay CLOSE ATTENTION to this one:

Isaiah 66: 22 "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. 24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

God said His Torah would stand FOREVER (2 Chronicles 7:14-22). Forever didn't end when Christianity came onto the scene. On Judgment Day He will ask you why you chose to ignore His Torah, why you changed His seventh-day Sabbath, and why you didn't keep the feasts that He commanded to be kept forever, and which will be continued in heaven:

Exodus 31: 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

Exodus 31: 16 "Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

Again, WHO are the children of Israel? Anyone who believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! As a grafted in Gentile believer YOU are to be Torah-obedient! Torah is not a "tradition"; it is God's commandments - without which the world would not have a blueprint for behavior. The feasts are not a "tradition". They were commanded!

Yahweh isn't "tolerant." He told us exactly WHO He is and HOW He demands to be worshipped - and He even sent His Son to basically "Put a face on God"; someone man could better identify with than, say, a burning bush or pillars of cloud and fire. Yeshua SHOWED us how to properly worship His Father, but somehow "the church" has decided He nailed the entire OT to the cross and we have to do nothing but "believe in Jesus."

The bottom line is, Torah was not abolished on the cross. Our past sins were abolished; the need for a SIN SACRIFICE was abolished, but Torah remains our only blueprint for moral, holy living. Yeshua was Yahweh in the Flesh who offered Himself as our Final Sin Sacrifice. He in no way came to insist He was a "new god" or to replace Yahweh; and He certainly never negated His Father's Divine Instructions....