Shavuot Message:
The Spirit of the Torah
By: Sean and Ayelet Steckbeck
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Two Shavuot Days
(I)- The Glorious Day Moshe received the Torah there were clouds, fire, and pillows of smoke. It was a supernatural day whenever the children of Israel "saw the voices." (Ex 19-20; 20:18). This was the first Shavuot! What a glorious day! What a day where the holiness of Gods Torah was revealed with the power of the Spirit.
Now let us jump ahead to another glorious Shavuot when the law was written on our hearts (Jer 31:31), when pillars of fire rested on each of the disciples, when the Spirit came in power, and Cepha preached a repentance message to Israel. Another glorious Shavuot day filled with the holiness of Gods law and the power of the Spirit (Acts 2, Joel 2).
We see hear a clear message given to us by G-d that His Eternal Torah and His Spirit are inseperable.
Torahs Purpose
Contrary to Christian replacement theologians, Paul and Yeshua never taught against Torah and never taught that Torah was abolished. Rather they preached heavily against Pharisees misunderstanding the Torah through:
1.) Not understanding justice and love, the theme of the Torah
2.) Imposing the calling of the Jewish believers on the Gentile Believers
3.) Requiring circumcision, conversion, and strict law observance for salvation, rather than faith
4.) Missing the theme of the Torah, through the letter of the Torah. Basically scrutinizing and arguing about Torah and creating manmade laws (oral Torah) that they missed the Spirit of the Torah.
Paul said:
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
And
Romans 7:12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. Romans 7:16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
Romans 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
Without the Law.
Yeshua Said:
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
As believers, Jewish and Gentile, we need to see the law as good (Psalm 1, 19, 119, etc.). We need to understand what is the purpose of the law and what is not the purpose of the law. The Pharisees were radical for Torah, but did not understand its purpose. There are many purposes of the eternal Torah:
1.) Tutor us as to what is sin (eternal)
2.) Point towards Messiah Yeshua (eternal)
3.) Establish a Moral Standard (eternal)
4.) Establish a Governmental Justice System (eternal)
5.) Establish the Priestly Calling of the Jewish People and their Distinctions (eternal)
6.) Establish the Calling of the Nations (eternal)
7.) Explain the Nature of the G-d of Israel (eternal)
8.) To Love God and Love Your Neighbor (eternal)
The purpose was NOT to create fences and argue about each letter as if it were life and death.
Thank G-d that Messiah has redeemed us for the CURSE of the Law concerning our salvation, but the very substance of the Torah itself is eternal.
The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life
(2 Corinthians 3:6)
I love this scripture in that it puts to LIFE the realness of the Spirit of Torah! Under the curse of the law it was impossible to near G-d and meant death, but now under the covenant of grace we can approach G-d with boldness and confidence. If the people of Israel experienced the awesome presence of God under the curse of the law (of not being able to approach G-d), how much more we now that we have free access to approach Him. We do not have to veil our faces anymore!!!!
We see two Shavuot outpourings, one under the curse of not approaching G-d (remember G-d told Israel not even to touch the mountain or they would die) and one under the covenant of grace in which we see many peoples freely receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and power.
The Letter truly kills our ability to enter the awesome presence of G-d! Let us see some scriptures explaining this:
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
The word for "observe" in the Greek means to be scrupulous and very picky
( paratayreho G3906 Strongs). Basically Paul is not condemning them for celebrating the feasts, but for being legalistic and picky about how you do them to the letter (he was probably referring to oral Torah). This comes to show that the Spirit of the feasts of the Lord should be celebratory and remembering Messiah and YHVH, and NOT to just obey the Lord through building fences. This reminds me of how the L-rd was pleased with Hezekiah for celebrating the L-rd's feast at the wrong time. His Spirit was right!
We see here in 2 Chronicles 29 and 30 a couple things that King Hezekiah did that was not kosher, but the L-rd was truly pleased by His heart.
1.) He called for a sudden celebration of sacrifices not recorded in the Torah (2 Chronicles 29:36). NOT TO THE LETTER
2.) The Levites did what the priests were supposed to do because they were more upright in heart, this again was not rebuked by the Lord although it was not to the LETTER (2 Chronicles 29:34)
3.) Hezekiah called for the Passover to be celebrated at the wrong time ( 2 Chronicles 30:1-3).
4.) We see in 1 Chronicles 30:13 that the hand of the Lord was in this unkosher Passover and we see in 1 Chronicles 30:20 that the L-rd showed up and healed many. This was not to the Letter of the Law, but the Spirit gave LIFE!!!!
5.) At the end of the chapter it says there was not such a joy in Jerusalem since David.
In conclusion, Let us love the Torah and the Spirit of the Law. Let us long for the presence of God to fall whenever Torah is applied properly and not abused and tainted by the Letter. Let us trust in the Spirit of God and live out a holy life as in this new covenant we can boldly approach G-ds presence !!!!!!!
This is the awesome law of the L-rd!!!!
The Spirit of the Torah
By: Sean and Ayelet Steckbeck
Isa 2:3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Two Shavuot Days
(I)- The Glorious Day Moshe received the Torah there were clouds, fire, and pillows of smoke. It was a supernatural day whenever the children of Israel "saw the voices." (Ex 19-20; 20:18). This was the first Shavuot! What a glorious day! What a day where the holiness of Gods Torah was revealed with the power of the Spirit.
Now let us jump ahead to another glorious Shavuot when the law was written on our hearts (Jer 31:31), when pillars of fire rested on each of the disciples, when the Spirit came in power, and Cepha preached a repentance message to Israel. Another glorious Shavuot day filled with the holiness of Gods law and the power of the Spirit (Acts 2, Joel 2).
We see hear a clear message given to us by G-d that His Eternal Torah and His Spirit are inseperable.
Torahs Purpose
Contrary to Christian replacement theologians, Paul and Yeshua never taught against Torah and never taught that Torah was abolished. Rather they preached heavily against Pharisees misunderstanding the Torah through:
1.) Not understanding justice and love, the theme of the Torah
2.) Imposing the calling of the Jewish believers on the Gentile Believers
3.) Requiring circumcision, conversion, and strict law observance for salvation, rather than faith
4.) Missing the theme of the Torah, through the letter of the Torah. Basically scrutinizing and arguing about Torah and creating manmade laws (oral Torah) that they missed the Spirit of the Torah.
Paul said:
Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
And
Romans 7:12 So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. Romans 7:16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good.
Romans 7:22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man,
Without the Law.
Yeshua Said:
Mat 5:17 Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Mat 5:18 For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.
Mat 5:19 Therefore whoever shall relax one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven.
As believers, Jewish and Gentile, we need to see the law as good (Psalm 1, 19, 119, etc.). We need to understand what is the purpose of the law and what is not the purpose of the law. The Pharisees were radical for Torah, but did not understand its purpose. There are many purposes of the eternal Torah:
1.) Tutor us as to what is sin (eternal)
2.) Point towards Messiah Yeshua (eternal)
3.) Establish a Moral Standard (eternal)
4.) Establish a Governmental Justice System (eternal)
5.) Establish the Priestly Calling of the Jewish People and their Distinctions (eternal)
6.) Establish the Calling of the Nations (eternal)
7.) Explain the Nature of the G-d of Israel (eternal)
8.) To Love God and Love Your Neighbor (eternal)
The purpose was NOT to create fences and argue about each letter as if it were life and death.
Thank G-d that Messiah has redeemed us for the CURSE of the Law concerning our salvation, but the very substance of the Torah itself is eternal.
The Letter Kills, But the Spirit Gives Life
(2 Corinthians 3:6)
I love this scripture in that it puts to LIFE the realness of the Spirit of Torah! Under the curse of the law it was impossible to near G-d and meant death, but now under the covenant of grace we can approach G-d with boldness and confidence. If the people of Israel experienced the awesome presence of God under the curse of the law (of not being able to approach G-d), how much more we now that we have free access to approach Him. We do not have to veil our faces anymore!!!!
We see two Shavuot outpourings, one under the curse of not approaching G-d (remember G-d told Israel not even to touch the mountain or they would die) and one under the covenant of grace in which we see many peoples freely receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit and power.
The Letter truly kills our ability to enter the awesome presence of G-d! Let us see some scriptures explaining this:
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
The word for "observe" in the Greek means to be scrupulous and very picky
( paratayreho G3906 Strongs). Basically Paul is not condemning them for celebrating the feasts, but for being legalistic and picky about how you do them to the letter (he was probably referring to oral Torah). This comes to show that the Spirit of the feasts of the Lord should be celebratory and remembering Messiah and YHVH, and NOT to just obey the Lord through building fences. This reminds me of how the L-rd was pleased with Hezekiah for celebrating the L-rd's feast at the wrong time. His Spirit was right!
We see here in 2 Chronicles 29 and 30 a couple things that King Hezekiah did that was not kosher, but the L-rd was truly pleased by His heart.
1.) He called for a sudden celebration of sacrifices not recorded in the Torah (2 Chronicles 29:36). NOT TO THE LETTER
2.) The Levites did what the priests were supposed to do because they were more upright in heart, this again was not rebuked by the Lord although it was not to the LETTER (2 Chronicles 29:34)
3.) Hezekiah called for the Passover to be celebrated at the wrong time ( 2 Chronicles 30:1-3).
4.) We see in 1 Chronicles 30:13 that the hand of the Lord was in this unkosher Passover and we see in 1 Chronicles 30:20 that the L-rd showed up and healed many. This was not to the Letter of the Law, but the Spirit gave LIFE!!!!
5.) At the end of the chapter it says there was not such a joy in Jerusalem since David.
In conclusion, Let us love the Torah and the Spirit of the Law. Let us long for the presence of God to fall whenever Torah is applied properly and not abused and tainted by the Letter. Let us trust in the Spirit of God and live out a holy life as in this new covenant we can boldly approach G-ds presence !!!!!!!
This is the awesome law of the L-rd!!!!
