I was studying in the Book of John this morning, and this Scripture verse jumped out at me, "Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me: for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" John 5:45-46.
Really? Do we believe the writings of Moses? This is what this whole blog is about: returning to the writings of Moses, the Torah (the first five books of the Bible). Going back to the Truth. When I used to study about Yeshua (Jesus), it always seemed like something was missing. I would search and search. Little did I know, until twenty years ago, that what I was looking for was always there.
It's simple. Study Torah, and you will know Yeshua. Why? Because He knows and teaches the Torah. John 1:1 "In the beginning was the Torah. And the Torah was with Hashem (G-d) and the Torah was Hashem."
Yeshua, the Rabbi, was trying to tell the people something very important. He wanted them to go back to the Torah and see that His coming was clearly written about and defined. Hashem told Moses, and Moses told the people.
Moses prophesied Yeshua coming; "Hashem your Elohim will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst from your brethren, Him you shall hear (Shema - hear and obey)." Deuteronomy 18:15 and "I will raise up for them a Prophet like you among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all I command him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which he speaks in My Name, I will require it of him." Deuteronomy 18:18-19.
You see, Moses taught us many things. How to love and serve Hashem, and he also taught us that Hashem would never leave us or forsake us. So much so, that He would send a representative to dwell among us and to teach us and bring us back to Torah.
I don't know how we can understand the depth of Yeshua's love and covenant with us until we understand him. And to know and understand him, to love him, we must study and understand the Torah. Yeshua said it himself, "If you love me, keep my commandments." John 14:15 He said to keep the Torah. How can we do that if we don't believe it?
If we don't believe what Moses said (straight from Hashem) to be eternal, forever, binding, and true. Then how are we going to believe in the Messiah? Did he lie when he said the words of the Torah are eternal? The words, "And it shall be a Law for you, forever," are repeated many, many times in the Torah. What part about forever do we not understand?
It is so scary to know that some of us had taught others not to believe in the words of Moses. Now you are thinking, "I never did that. I always believed in the Old Testament." I am so sorry to tell you that if you believed the Law was canceled or annulled, and that you didn't have to follow it anymore, then you did not believe the words of Moses. They are, once again, clearly forever.
Maybe that's why some of us kept looking for more about Yeshua. We were told not to look in the Old Testament for, after all, that was all fulfilled. But once I decided it was okay to look back at the first five books, I discovered something different and astonishing. The true fulfillment of the Scriptures will not occur until the Messiah comes to rule and reign in Jerusalem. When he brings redemption for Hashem's people, this lasts for one thousand years. And since that hasn't happened yet, that means the Torah is still alive and well, to be studied and followed. And of course, the Torah will be active in the Messianic Age, so we must understand it now and get ready.
After all, if we begin to understand Torah, we will begin to understand the future and the Messiah.