GROUNDED IN SCRIPTURES TO AVOID BEING SWAYED BY ALL WINDS OF DOCTRINES

All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16)

        We have the written Word of God that does not change but is eternal, yet so many of us are so gullible as to listen to preachers who come with a so-called new 'rhema' or a new revelation. I was told, for example, one well-known preacher said that God does not answer our prayers because we do not pray facing Jerusalem. 

         Obviously, this preacher has never heard of the word קדם (meaning, East). The main gate of the Jerusalem temple was built to face Eastward and to every Jew, they know the significance of the East. Yet, we have preachers who are now teaching all winds of doctrines that run contrary to the scriptures.

         Jesus said, "For where two or three have gathered together in My name (note: not facing towards Jerusalem), I am there in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). Jesus will answer our prayers on this basis: "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13)

          I have been very concerned lately about the things that our brothers and sisters have been taught by people who claim that being 'aligned to Israel' is God's plan in the last days. This is the result of a lack of proper grounding on the Word of God that make some of us become so gullible with the teachings of even the modern rabbis who are today held so dearly as though they are teachers of the truth.

         Please be prepared for some shocks. While there are some of us so gung-ho with everything Jewish to the point it becomes an obsession, be aware of what was said by this popular orthodox Jewish rabbi, Mr Baghadi:

            This is not the only man who has said this kind of thing which is exposed by One For Israel. There are many more on their website, yet people do not know what happens behind the scene. 

           This kind of expose is good for us to know what kind of attitude Rabbinic Judaism has towards Christians. That's why even Paul and Barnabas shook off their dust from their sandals before they left for Iconium (Acts 13:51) while Jesus denounced the Pharisees and Sadducees as hypocrites and 'brood of vipers!' (Matthew 23).

          Jesus has warned us against the leaven (teachings) of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 23). Such teachings are already creeping into our churches through preachers who seek to re-interpret scriptures to be in line with Israel. Many of these people have left their churches. Because their roots in the Word of God are not deep, they are easily swayed by every wind of doctrine that comes along.

         Even when we seek to refer people to the scriptures to correct the flawed teachings by some preachers, we are branded as anti-Semitic, but it is important that we take heed of God's Word so that we are no longer be brought under the yoke of the Torah, along with all its traditions, feasts and rituals (read, the Mosaic Covenant).

           Every covenant has its part to play within God's overall plan for both the remnant of Israel and those of us who are of other nations (the goyim). More of that here for your studies.

          Thankfully, our grafting is not into Israel but into Christ, the True Vine; and together with the remnant of Israel, we become co-heirs of the promise given to Abraham (Abrahamic Covenant). The promise was given to the Seed (singular, and this is referring to only One Person, Christ Himself), not seeds (plural or referring to the house of Israel). 

           Not everyone born a Jew will be saved but those, whether Jew or Gentile, who place their faith in Jesus and continue in the grace of God. (My own study reveals this https://learnhebrewtogether.blogspot.com/2020/07/it-angered-me-when-i-think-how-sisters.html)

          God's promise given to Abraham is all-inclusive; both Jews and Gentiles who are saved by grace through faith now become one new man in Christ. We do not need to try to live like a Jew, and follow the Mosaic traditions, which were never meant for Gentiles in the first place. 

         Our only reason to learn Hebrew and Greek is because they are the ordinary human languages that God was willing to use to inspire the writing of Scriptures, and by reading the Bible in the original languages God used, we will be able to better understand some of the nuances that have been lost through translations into other languages. 

        However, a word of caution from someone who is promoting biblical languages: Please do not take this to the extreme, as some people have the tendency to do, because God has also used Hindi, Urdu, Mandarin and the English translations of the Bible to touch millions, if not billions of lives over 2000 years. Even many have believed and are saved in the name Jesus; there is no basis for some jerks these days who declare that we must only use the name Yeshua or Yehoshua, as though this is the only correct name to use. 

         It is important that we now have a correct perspective instead of being caught up with anything Jewish or trying to live like a Jew. Fads and hypes will disappear, but the Word of God remains forever.

          We are in the New Covenant, therefore, let us not remain in the Old which Christ has already accomplished when He cried out on the cross, "It is finished!". When the New has been revealed, the new wine should no longer be placed in old wineskin. We can now draw near to throne of grace with a new garment of righteousness that has been purified by the blood of Christ, not through the works or observance of the Torah (rituals, religious feasts or practices from Judaism and all 613 commandments from the Torah), that are incompatible with the gospel of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.  

 

          When we are well grounded in God's Word, the Holy Spirit will whisper to us whenever a false teaching is being preached out of the pulpit. All Scripture is inspired by God, and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16).

THE MARKETING HYPE FOR JEWISH PARAPHERNALIA

I think when it comes to Jewish paraphernalia, many of us are too gullible.

         We fail to realise that it is nothing but some marketing gimmicks by Jewish traders who are exploiting the ignorance of the Christian community at large. 

         People are willing to fork out hundreds of Ringgit (or even Dollars) to just buy one of the paraphernalia but they are not willing to give to the work of missions or even to feed the poor in their backyards. 

          Honestly, I believe even the orthodox Jews would not even dare to put a lot of these paraphernalia in their homes. They would say that these holy items belong only in the house of the LORD; if found outside the designated places, the menorah, for example, would be considered desecrated. 

        When I first shared my earlier blog post about the Jewish feasts, a fellow seminary friend of mine, Brian, responded:

I'm in full agreement with you, Stephen.

This prevailing theonomic teaching is a subtle (and perhaps, even slippery) distraction to divert Christians from Christ to His Jewish "origin," as a form of careless devotion or piety that they will be more like Him by observing these Jewish feasts and whatever else Jewish. In that case, perhaps Christians should also dress like them in Jewish garments, and groom themselves with beards, like we see prevalent in the other faith.

There is indeed no requirement in Jesus' and the apostles' teachings that command Christians to observe Jewish practices.

Paul clearly reiterated, "...For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring." Rom. 9:6‭-‬8

Perhaps Christians have forgotten Jesus' cry on the cross, "it is finished." The redemptive work has been accomplished and now it is for us to depend on His Spirit to lead and guide us to be living sacrifices ourselves, holy and acceptable to Him.

But then again, perhaps, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions..." 2 Tim.4:3.

The choice to make is on the table.

         He has put together what I did not even see earlier. In my earlier posts, I mentioned that Jesus came not to abolish the Torah but to fulfil it, so that we are no longer under the yoke of the Torah. What my friend has done is adding a perspective from the Cross itself, when Jesus cried out, "It is finished!" 

       Jesus came as One who lived under the Torah, and He was found to be blameless, yet He was willing to be the sacrificial lamb of God to fulfill every aspect of the Torah. This is done so that anyone who now places faith in Jesus alone will be saved. 

        We, whether Jews or Gentiles, are saved by grace through faith. Together with a remnant of Israel (reading it from Romans 11), we who are Gentiles (using the KJV translation of the word גוֹיִמ or goyim or nations) are co-heirs of the promise given to Abraham because, like Abraham, we are children of faith when we are grafted through the SEED, not seeds of Abraham. 

         This SEED -- singular -- is none other than Jesus himself; therefore, the whole hype about aligning the church to Israel is incompatible with the Word of God. We do not only read the Old Covenant but we who have the New Covenant can and should see how the Abrahamic Covenant is rolled out, not only in recent months or years, but since 2000 years ago when Jesus came as the Messiah!

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

        Trying to align ourselves with the Jewish rabbinic traditions and being hyped up with all the Jewish paraphernalia is something that, although by themselves are harmless, can become an obsession beyond what we are called to accomplish within our lifetime. How much time and money is spent on some of these new fads is anyone's guess which I would rather that they spend more time on intercession and studying the inspired Word of God! 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT THE JEWISH FEASTS

Source: https://www.biggkuntryfaith.com/home/archives/04-2018

In the last days, Jesus reminded us that we have to deal with many flawed teachings. 

         After reminding His disciples about the leaven (teachings) of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus went on to denounce them as 'brood of vipers' and 'serpents.' (Matthew 23). Instead of reading the Tanakh as the Word of YHWH, these religious leaders were depending on the scores of Midrash, Talmuds and Mishnah that interpreted -- and added more man-made rules -- to the Scriptures. 

        Unless we ourselves are grounded in the Scriptures, we will be swayed by all winds of doctrine that go contrary to the teachings. 

      I have been asked about the Jewish feasts. But before I proceed to with the answers to some of these questions, I think it is very unkind for some to label me as anti semitic just because I expose the fallacies of their teachings. 

      For these people like Chuck Missler who like to label others as anti-semitic, I want to refer them to Amos 5: 21--24 as this is what Adonai Himself said:

I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

"Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

(1) What are the Jewish feasts? 

      There are seven major Mosaic feasts altogether, with at least another two being celebrated in the civil calendar (Hannukah and Purim). 

      Although proponents of the Jewish feasts often quote from Leviticus 23, the chapter has to be interpreted in the light of the other Scriptures such as the mandate given to the Gentiles after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) and in the light of Paul's admonition to the Colossians and other Scriptures. 

“For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.” (Acts 15:28-29)

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossian 2:16-17)

       If you are reading the Torah in Moses' time, you will not understand that the feasts were a mere shadow (σκιὰ) of what is to come. 

       The concept of the feasts as being σκιὰ would never have entered the minds of the Jewish rabbis, but for Paul and us, because Christ who is the substance (σῶμα) already came, what was meant to be a mere shadow is no longer relevant. The feasts in the Torah had served its purpose to point Jews to Christ. 

      Dealing entirely on the New Covenant, Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 wrote:

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

        For this reason, for us who are now under the New Covenant, with Christ having fulfilled all the requirements under the Torah, yet found to be blameless and offering His life as the Pascal Lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7) for all who place their faith in Him, the grace that we now enjoy is capable to draw us into a deeper relationship with our Father who is in Heaven. It is no longer in some forms of religious feasts or rituals that were once practised by people under the Torah.

       There is no reason, therefore, for the hype that is going around teaching people that they must go back to the Torah and observe the feasts that were meant to point to Christ. 

        For those who quote Leviticus 23 and have become very engrossed with the Jewish feasts, without a careful understanding of the whole Bible (both Old and New are one), let me quote as well what God said about the Jews who were following the Mosaic traditions (Amos 5:21-24): 

I hate, I reject your festivals,
Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies.

“Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings.

"Take away from Me the noise of your songs;
I will not even listen to the sound of your harps.

“But let justice roll down like waters
And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

        Even God spoke against the Jewish feasts, and He was not anti-semitic. Therefore, there is no reason to resort to branding anyone as anti-semitic when we speak up against some flawed teachings.

(2) Christ said He did not come to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it; therefore, should we continue with the traditions taught in the Torah, one of which is the keeping of the Jewish feasts? 

      My question is: There are 613 commandments in the Torah. If you want to keep one, you should keep all 613 commandments. If not, will you not come under the CURSE OF THE LAW!

      To the Galatians who wanted to follow the Torah (the Law) after receiving the gospel by grace, what did Paul say in Galatians 3:1-14? Paul spelt it out very clearly that people who want to pursue the "works of the Law are under a curse."

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer.

For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM.” Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”  However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us — for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE” — in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

        If you read Leviticus without reading the book of Hebrews which refers to Jesus as the Great High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (no longer under the Levitical Priesthood), you will be like the people referred to by Paul when writing to the Corinthians: 

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:14)

       Because of Christ, when we read the Tanakh today, we understand it from a different perspective from the rabbinic Jews. We see it from the New Covenant. If we are now a new wineskin, we should be filled with the Spirit, not the Torahic traditions perpetuated by the Jewish rabbis. It is Christ who lifts the veil away from those of us who are now under the New Covenant, so that we can now understand the purpose of the feasts in the Torah and how this purpose is accomplished by Him. 

       Christ is the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Have you thought this: Why in the book of Hebrews, an entire chapter (Hebrews 11) is devoted to the theme on faith alone, if not to tell the believing Jews that they have to place their faith in Jesus instead of trying to follow the Torah?  

       What does this mean? Christ has already fulfilled the requirements under the Law. We do not read the old covenant (the Law or Torah) without interpreting it in the light of what Christ has done and fulfilled. Others have also written about this.

 

         On at least two occasions, Paul wrote to the churches about the Jewish feasts. The first was to the church in Colossae which I have quoted earlier. The second is to the Galatians which is consistently expounding on the dangers of people who try to follow the Torahic traditions of keeping the Jewish feasts:

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain. (Galatians 4:8-11)

        From idolatry, Paul, speaking as a Jew himself, did not want these Gentile believers to be sucked into the Judaistic teachings that they must observe the Jewish "days and months and seasons and years" as though they were subject to the Torah. 

       In the Jewish cultures, there are new moons (רשׁה חדשׁ), ordinary as well as the seven high Sabbaths or weeks (σαββάτων) linked to the Mosaic festivals in a year, the practice of circumcision and the kosher food system, that Paul feared the Galatians and Colossians were starting to follow. 

        He himself had defended the gospel that came to us by God's grace through faith, not works of the Torah. For this reason, we go to the next question.    

(3) Is it wrong to participate in the Jewish festivals? 

       A better question to ask is: "Did Jesus, or any of the apostles including Paul later teach the disciples to observe the Jewish festivals?" 

        While Jesus Himself was circumcised according to the Torah, and He went to the Temple during the Jewish festivals, He never for once taught His disciples that they must continue the traditions of the Torah or instructed them to celebrate the festivals and teach the other nations to observe them. 

        We now know these are nothing but a foreshadow of things to come, that is, pointing to Christ. The rabbinic Jews who read the Tanakh today would still be mystified by the real purpose of the Jewish feasts that they are still keeping.

         Instead of teaching them to observe the Yom Kippur (Atonement), we see Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper which has perpetuated for over 2000 years and it is still being practised today. The simple act of partaking of the unleavened bread and wine has been continued to this day instead of putting another lamb on the altar. The church has perpetuated this Lord's Supper which Jesus had taught. 

          Just as the Lord's Supper will no longer be relevant when Christ returns, the Jewish festivals which pointed to Christ during the Old Covenant, are no longer relevant for the Church; after all, the mystery has already been revealed when Christ accomplished the works of the Torah, having been made the Sacrificial Lamb on the Cross. 

       For this reason, Paul asked the Galatians: 

So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Galatians 3:5

        We, who are saved by grace through faith, are to live by the Spirit, not by the Torah. In the last days, we are told that the Spirit will inscribe on the hearts of flesh the Torah. 

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

       This is why, in every born again believer, there is an inate desire now to live a life that is holy and pleasing to the Lord which was intended for by God when the Torah was given to Moses. However, because of the weakness of flesh, no one was able to meet the requirements under the Torah except Christ Himself, it is now in the New Covenant this 'spirit of the Law' that surpasses the 'letters of the Law.'

       Note what Paul wrote in Romans 6:14:

"For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

        If we are no longer under the Torah, why then do we attempt to even go back to the feasts and other Jewish traditions or practices which pointed to Christ? Has Christ not come? Once again, we go back to Galatians 3:1-5: 

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain — if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

         Having said that, if you live in a city where there are Jews, it is understandable that you want to observe how they celebrate the feasts, if invited. This is done for educational purposes rather than as religious festivals that we intentionally incorporate into our church life. 

       Churches have to be warned against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees as such flawed teachings have already crept ִִinto our churches. In the hype for anything Jewish or Israel, not everything Jewish is compatible with our faith. 

      In fact, our grafting -- or some try to use the term, alignment -- is into Christ, who is the True Vine, not into the House of Israel (John 15:1-5). As children of Abraham, we are now co-heirs of the promise given to Abraham together with the remnant of the Israelites who are redeemed by God's grace by faith. 

  

EUREKA! IT NOW CONNECTS! WE ARE CHILDREN OF ABRAHAM BY VIRTUE OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST

When God reveals from His Word, it simply connects now! 

         I will elaborate on why Abraham was given the name change, but before that I will reinforce a point I have elaborated in an earlier blog why the hype over gematria is extra-biblical. 

         This came out fresh from my morning devotion from Genesis 17: God reinforced in me again in Genesis 17:1 that He used the word תִּשְׁעִים instead of the gematria-style numbering system which was introduced as man's creation for the number 99. 

        In other passages of the Tanakh, the numbers were never written the way gematria would have it put. You can go to the books of the Historical and Prophetic Books of the Tanakh to see how the years of the kings were recorded. God never used the Gematria numbering system even for the years. 

        Gematria was devised much later out of convenience to give the Jews a numbering system that they could use. This was subsequently adopted by Jewish scholars to assign the chapters and verses of the Tanakh to help them to find the references quickly. 

We are Children of Abraham

         In the second part of the passage, God opened my eyes to see how the name Abraham came about. Although accurate, the nuances in the original text have somehow gone missing when it was translated into English.          

 

               Here, we see God giving a new name to Abram אַבְרָם. The name Abraham is, in fact, a superimposition of two words. 

אַב־הֲמוֹן

        אַב  in Hebrew means 'father' and הֲמוֹן גּוֹיִם means 'a multitude of nations.'

         The name, אַבְרָהָם (Abraham) is, therefore, correctly translated as 'the father of a multitude of nations.' In the Hebrew text, the meaning of the name is clearly explained. This interpretation is consistent with the Hebrew text; in fact, it is clearly explained that the name Abraham means just that! There is nothing mystical about it or that God breathed the letter ה into Abram's name!

         God's promise to Abraham was once again given in Genesis 17. In verses 4-5, we see God promising that Abraham would be the father of a multitude of nations, not just one nation. This clearly shows the all-inclusiveness of all nations in Adonai's grand plan for mankind.

“As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you,
And you will be the father of a multitude of nations.
“No longer shall your name be called Abram,
But your name shall be Abraham;
For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations.

Saved By Grace through Faith 

            How is this possible then? 

           For us who believe in Jesus, it is made possible on account of faith, not works of the Torah. 

           We have the account of Abraham being reckoned by God as righteous because of his faith in the LORD (Genesis 15:6):

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.

         From Paul's own writing, we read in Romans 4:2-3:

εἰ γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ ἐξ ἔργων ἐδικαιώθη, ἔχει καύχημα, ἀλλ̓ οὐ πρὸς θεόν. τί γὰρ ἡ γραφὴ λέγει; ἐπίστευσεν δὲ Ἀβραὰμ τῷ θεῷ καὶ ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην.

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

           As Gentiles, we are now considered the children of Abraham, sharing the same promise or co-heirs of the promise that was given to Abraham. 

And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. (Galatians 3:9). 

           Nowhere are we told to be grafted to the house of Israel or be aligned with Israel. Instead, we are told in Romans 11 that it is together with a remnant from the house of Israel, we who are the goyim (גוִיִם or other nations) are now partakers of the promises given to Abraham. 

          We are culturally distinct from Israel because we are not descendants of Jacob. The descendants of Jacob adopted Jacob's new name, Israel. We are the descendants of other nations (or the goyim), not and will never be Israel. Our identities are clearly different from the Jews and God sees us not as Jews but the goyim; yet in Christ, both the remnant of Israel and us are being made one new man (Ephesians 2:14-15).

          Therefore, as the Jerusalem Council had clearly mandated (read Acts 15), we are we never told to live like the Jews or follow the Jewish rituals (its new moons, different kinds of Sabbath and the religious feasts which I have written in a number of blog posts. This is a summary of it all). In fact, I asked this very question Paul asked, "Are those who want to follow the Torah placed under a curse?"

         If we are now saved by grace through faith, and we are co-heirs of the same inheritance promised to Abraham, despite of our position as the goyim (or other nations), let us continue strive to abide in Christ.  

             Paul sums it very well in Galatians 3:16-18:

τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ ἐρρέθησαν αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ. οὐ λέγει· καὶ τοῖς σπέρμασιν, ὡς ἐπὶ πολλῶν ἀλλ̓ ὡς ἐφ̓ ἑνός· καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου, ὅς ἐστιν Χριστός. τοῦτο δὲ λέγω· διαθήκην προκεκυρωμένην ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ μετὰ τετρακόσια καὶ τριάκοντα ἔτη γεγονὼς νόμος οὐκ ἀκυροῖ εἰς τὸ καταργῆσαι τὴν ἐπαγγελίαν. εἰ γὰρ ἐκ νόμου ἡ κληρονομία, οὐκέτι ἐξ ἐπαγγελίας· τῷ δὲ Ἀβραὰμ δἰ ἐπαγγελίας κεχάρισται ὁ θεός. (Galatians 3:16-18)

           The New American Standard Bible translates it as:

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.

          In our zest to align ourselves with God, let us not be deceived by all winds of doctrines now creeping into our churches. Some have been teaching that we need to align ourselves with the house of Israel and follow the Jewish religious practices and the Torah in order to please God. 

       
         This is the leaven of the Pharisees and the Saducees that Jesus condemned strongly and Paul opposed vehemently in many of his epistles to the Gentile churches. The Torah is no longer written on stone tablets, but the Spirit in writing it on our hearts of flesh create in us a desire to live a life that is pleasing unto the Lord. Let us therefore live by the Spirit not by the services (ἔργων νόμου, which is equivalent to the word עֲבֹדָה in Hebrew) according to the Torah. 

(Note: It is worth listening to a series of lectures by Dr Lee Chul Woo on the book of Hebrews:

Hebrews: Introduction & Chapter 1 by Dr Lee Chul Woo on 30 June 2020

Hebrews: Chapter 1 (cont'd) by Dr Lee Chul Woo on 6 July 2020

Hebrews: Chapter 2:1-10 by Dr Lee Chul Woo on 14 July 2020

 

 

WHAT'S THE HYPE ABOUT GEMATRIA?

In learning Hebrew, we want to get right into the Word of God in its original language to see what it says. 

        Instead of learning the grammar, sometimes, it is easier to get into the gematria of things in Hebrew. And, the danger is when we start putting a number into everything including the Tetragrammaton -- the four letters of the Hebrew alphabet יהוה that even the Jews would not pronounce, what's more to assign a number to it and say the number 26 is the number of HaShem (His Name)! 

       A friend of mine asked his orthodox Jewish friend his views about gematria. This is what my friend sent me via whatsapp. It is slightly modified at the request of my friend:

"I managed to find out from my orthodox Jewish friend, who is from the priestly line. He knows what gammatria is. He doesn't use it. 

        "Long ago the Jews don't have the Roman numerals and they need numbers to do their accounting, to pay their debts etc. hence they stick a number to a letter so that they can do their accounting. It was mainly used as a mnemonic," my friend continued. 

       "An example given by him (my friend's orthodox Jewish friend) is that say, 'wine in' means 'secret out as a person who is drunk will tend to loosen his tongue'. So u use the numeral 70 to represent wine and secret so that a person remembers easier that `wine in means secret out.'" 

               A correction: Hebrew does have numbers. This is how we have words that describe one (אחד), two (שְׁנַיִם), three (שָׁלוֹשׁ) and the list goes on. However, like what our Jewish man explains to my friend, for convenience, the scholars later assigned a number to each alphabet. The gamatria never existed in the original text! When God reminded that the LORD their God אחד, He did not just write the letter aleph to denote it! The second day of creation was never assigned the gamatria represented by Beth. Period. 

        My friend then explained how things went out of context based on the input from his Jewish friend.

"Then quite a lot of Jewish sects crept out that used a bit of mysticism here and there many many years ago and his uncle had to try to get many Jewish people out of these sects. 

       "All these cropped up due to people having time on their hands and being bored and listening looking for new things to be interested in. It stopped a while due to people being busy and had to work hard for a living.

      "He suspects that due to covid-19 people have so much time on their hands due to lockdown or no jobs even if u want to work or govt helping out like in Oz that people are looking for something new to interest them."

       I have no personal contact with my friend's Jewish friend. All I did was to ask my friend to check with his orthodox Jewish friend since he said he is from the priestly line. I think his conclusion is precisely what Paul said about people who want to follow the way of the Torah, after they have been saved by grace. This is exactly what my friend wrote in his message:

"If u want to follow Judaism u follow all of it and not take bits and pieces out of it to suit u."

 In a subsequent post, my friend wrote:

"I like Maths and numbers but these don't interest me. People used numbering to even check the Jewish year and say this is a bad year of troubles etc. but I think Christians will do well to witness and serve the Lord by their deeds rather than dwelling into a good and bad year. We must live as if the Lord were to come now, nothing to be ashamed facing Him."

        My thoughts: "What is the difference then between such a teaching compared to say the fung shui masters who try to predict whether 5781 is a good year or not?" In an earlier post, I wrote: 

Now, let me mesmerize you.

Next year will be the year of tsade צ which has a gematria of 90. The word Tzaddiq צֶדֶק begins with צ; therefore, next year, 5781 will be a year where righteousness reigns. And if you plus all the digits in the year 5781 together, it is a total of 21. This number is just five short of the gematria of the Tetragrammaton, but it is getting closer to the number 26 -- what an illustration that, as the Day of the Lord approaches, the mouth of the righteous will become more visible.

Tzade has a gematria of 90. And if you take away the 0 from 90, you will get 9. When you deduct the number 9 from 90, you will get 81. Wow! And next year is the year 5781 in the Jewish calendar! Taking away the zero from 90, when is no one (or zero person) willing to speak up for righteousness, although the gematria of Tzade is supposed to be 90, the year 5781 will become a year of unrighteousness when people are not willing to speak up for righteousness.

Wow! What a warning for all of us in the year 5781.

        It is easy for one to try to read too much into gematria that they become more like the fung shui master ala Hebrew style. Even this Jewish website warns against gematria. 

        I remember many years ago, people used to pray against the demon behind everything including a toothache when they should go to the dentist and have it fixed. I just do not understand why people are so gullible as to believe in gamatria or that there is a demon behind the toothache. 

       Enough said about gematria. Long before gematria was introduced, there were already numbers used in the Tanakh. Gematria is basically assigning a number to each letter of the alphabet, for example, alef is one, beth is two, gimmel is three. Hence, we see Genesis 1 is read as Bereshit Alef. 

       I cannot find anywhere in the Tanakh that uses gematria as its numbering system. For example, in the shema Yis'rael, the word 'echad' is always used for One, not aleph. A quick cursory reading of Genesis chapter one will show us that God uses the numbers -- instead of the gematria-style numbering system -- to count the days when He created the world. This simple table shows some of the numbers used in the Bible. 

       No one will deny that there are some numbers that are repeatedly used in the Bible. These numbers are known as the Typological Numbers which are commonly used in biblical narratives (3, 7, 40, etc.). I have no problem with that. 

       But, that's what we can find in the Bible, not with what is taught as 'secrets' from the gematria that only now God reveals to His people. Let's not be too gullible to believe in such rubbish, but start reading the Word of God to see how plainly it speaks to us! Even the meaning of the parables that Jesus spoke has been made plain to us who believe in Him.

יין

     Let me give you an example with the word Yayin (wine). In gematria, the yod is assigned a number 10, and the nun is 50. Hence, the word Yayin (יין or wine) is 10+10+50 = 70. I am waiting for someone to tell me how that the number somehow represents the perfection of God. With some imagination, I am not surprised someone will say that, not until the zero is dropped, the wine cannot represent the perfection of God. For whatever reason that can be thought of, once zero is dropped, the digit 7 is left.  They will then link the wine to holiness by giving the rationale that even Jesus used it to represent His blood. This can be mesmerizing, but it's not from God's Word! When Jesus took up the cup and the bread, His main focus was to institute the Lord's Supper that we are to practise and as often as we do it, to remember what He had done on the Cross!

       We should, instead of wasting our life away teaching such a thing; instead, we should go back to the Word of God and dig deeper into it. Understanding its cultural, historical and social context of the Scriptures, the original languages used in the Old and New Testament, would help us to effectively exegete the Bible and make it relevant to our lives today. 

       Let us be warned against the subtracting or adding anything to God's Word, by mesmerizing ourselves and others within our circle of influence with some strange numbers including the number ascribed to the Holy Name of G-D, that we try to correlate with something else or like some use the gematria to even predict every new year. 

Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.  (Deuteronomy 4:2)

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. (Revelations 22:18-19)

       God's Word is what it is intended to be:

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness." (2 Timothy 3:16)

       

                

 

THOSE UNDER THE TORAH ARE UNDER A CURSE?

It angered me when I think how a sister's conscience has been disturbing her since a few years ago because of the flawed teachings that have been floating around.

      Upon reading two (read this and this) of the earlier blog posts that I had painstakingly put together, she dropped me a message: 

Yeah, I also starting to get confuse. aa few years ago, somebody shared that we too must follow the feast of Israel as Christians. I was quite lost. Am I sinning against the Lord? Now I am so relieved.  I dont have too. Thanks Stephen

        This is exactly what Paul has stressed to the Colossian Gentile believers (Colossians 2: 8-12):

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. 9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

         Post Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), for those who want to continue to be under the Torah, they should start reading Galatians chapter 3 to see how Paul rebuked the Galatians: 

"For as many as are of the works of the Torah are under a curse; for it is written, "CURSED IN EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE LAW, TO PERFORM THEM." Now that no one is justified by the Torah before God is evident; for, "THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH."

        No one who has been saved by grace through faith should attempt to go back to the Laws again. Those who choose to do so are required to follow every single commandment in the Torah, and the moment they break any of the Laws, they stand condemned under the Law.

        Paul continued, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse of the Torah for us...." (v 13). If Christ has already been publicly portrayed as crucified, why do we still go back to the Torah, as though fulfilling its requirements would lead to anything? 

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

        To the Corinthians, Paul wrote:  

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:14)

        As imperfect we are in the flesh, let us choose to live under grace by faith and continue to seek to live a holy life before God instead of being influenced by the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 

ALIGNING WITH CHRIST: FOR GOODNESS SAKE, NOT WITH ISRAEL

Much has been said about aligning ourselves with the commonwealth of Israel and with Israel as God's people, but from my studies, there is clearly a major flaw in such a teaching that is creeping into our churches either directly through invited speakers who are proponents of such a teaching or indirectly through members who are now exposed to all sorts of teachings. 

 

           In an earlier post, I have written that we have to guard ourselves against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. These are teachings from the rabbinic traditions that are hidden and fed into our minds in small bytes, and it only becomes visible when it is full blown. 

           Allow me to elaborate on the statement that teaches that we must be in 'alignment with Israel'. 

           1 We see in John 15 that Jesus is speaking of Himself as the True Vine. It is not wrong to say that this passage is also meant for us believers from nations other than Israel (referred to as ετηνε 'ethne' in Greek/ גוֹיִם 'goyim' meaning 'nations' or 'people' or just Gentiles). For centuries, we have always believed that we need to abide in Jesus, our Lord and Saviour. 

            Jesus never taught His disciples that when the time comes, even the Gentiles would be aligned with Israel. He knows the Jews too well that He even called the Pharisees and Sadducees, "You brood of vipers!" (read entire chapter of Matthew 23).

            2  Paul in Romans 11 elaborated more about Israel and our position before God as Gentiles. He spoke strongly against the unbelieving Jews as a fellow Jew himself: "I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin" (11:1). 

            In an epistle dealing with the theology of how we are saved -- by Law or by Grace through faith -- Paul brought in the subject of Israel for one good reason: in his time, he was battling with the influence of the Judaizers who wanted Gentile believers to be circumcised and live like the Jews. 

             Paul pointed out that even Elijah pleaded with God against Israel. For those who speak up like Elijah, we would be immediately branded 'anti-Jews' these days, yet Elijah prayed for God's punishment against Israel! Through the Old Testament, many of the other prophets also spoke against the nation of Israel because their hearts were hardened. 

             "God gave them a spirit of stupor,

               Eyes to see not and ears to hear not,

               Down to this very day." (Romans 11:8)

              What did Paul say about God's response? Romans 11:4-5 tells us:

"I HAVE KEPT for Myself SEVEN THOUSAND MEN WHO HAVE NOT BOWED TO BAAL."  In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice." 

              Those Jews who are saved solely by grace through faith, rather than the observance of the Torah, are therefore the ones whom God spared for the sake of His covenant with Abraham. 

"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace." (Romans 11:6). 

                As the epistle of Romans was written to the Gentiles (11:13), Paul said that he wished he might "move to jealousy (his) fellow countrymen and save some of them." Save some of them! However, not everyone who is a descendant of Abraham by birth would be saved. 

                Because these branches are broken off, we who are Gentiles are now grafted into the olive tree. We, therefore, become "partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree." (11:17). With who? With only the remnants of Israel because they, like us, believe in Christ and are saved 'by grace through faith'! 

               Most proponents of 'alignment with Israel' will quote Paul, "...you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them" to support their teaching. However, they fail to emphasise that in this illustration, we are also "partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree" (Romans 11:17). The rich root of the olive tree here is ultimately the alignment for both the remnants of Israel who are saved by grace and us Gentile believers with Christ! 

               I am speaking up against those who try to thwart the teaching of the gospel by saying that 'alignment with Israel' means we have to be Jewish in our thinking, live like a Jew and do what the Jews do. 

              If this kind of 'alignment with Israel' rather than with Christ was what God had intended for the rest of the nations, then the mandate made by the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 would have been nullified. And, Paul would not have written these strong words to the Corinthians:

But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:14)

            Likewise, in Galatians 3:10:

For as many as are of the works of the Law (the Torah) are under a curse; for it is writen, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them." 

           Again in Galatians 3:10: "You observe (in this context, the Jewish) days and months and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have laboured over you in vain." 

            Why then are we still so gung ho about eating kosher food when God even tried to detoxify Peter of his own Jewishness by telling him to eat the non-kosher food (Acts 10), didn't he? 

             If I eat with a group of Jewish (or even Muslim) friends, I would not take non-kosher food out of respect for them, but I would not make kosher diet as a basic religious observance. In fact, to these kosher food proponents who try to impose on Gentiles, I would say being a vegetarian is even better because Daniel ate only the greens and he was reckoned to be one of the wisest advisors to the pagan king! 

           3 Paul is very consistent regarding the position of the Gentiles. In Ephesians 1:9-23 stated clearly:

(a) This is the 'mystery' of God's will which has been made plain to us at the right that both the remnants of Israel and us who are Gentiles will be aligned together in Christ (Ephesians 1: 9-10).

(b) In Christ and through Christ, we now share the same inheritance that the remnants of Israel has always enjoyed. The criteria to this inheritance is our 'hope in Christ.' (Ephesians 1:11, 14).

It never said we have to be aligned with Israel or take on the Hebraic roots in order to enjoy the same inheritance. Paul's theology has always centred on Jesus, and not on Israel.

In fact, the 'inheritance' which he later explains is for the saints (Ephesians 1:18), is "in accordance with (or aligned to) the working of the strength of His might, which He brought about in Christ" (Ephesians 1:19). The supremacy of Christ is emphasised throughout the rest of the chapter as Paul had to deal with the teaching of the Judaizers who wanted the Gentiles to follow the teaching of the Torah and the rabbinic traditions during his time. 

         4  In Ephesians 2: 1-22, Paul further elaborates that: 

(a) Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are saved by grace, not the works or observance of the Laws of Moses (Ephesians 2: 5). We all now share the same inheritance once confined to Israel, not because of our alignment with Israel but our faith in Christ! 

(b) Gentiles can continue with their identity as Gentiles instead of trying to be Jews. In this same passage, Paul merely warned us against the old lifestyles that we have lived (Ephesians 2: 2-3). Nowhere did Paul suggest that we must be aligned to Israel, or worse, to try to become more Jewish in our thinking or in our lifestyles. 

(c) Paul wrote: "for through Him we both (meaning Jews and Gentiles) have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you (the Gentiles) are no longer strangers and aliens, but you (the Gentiles) are fellow citizens with the saints, and (we, the Gentiles) are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus being the cornerstone, being fitted together into a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:10-11). 

Paul never for once told the Gentiles to be 'aligned with Israel'. In fact, for those who want to quote 'foundation of the apostles and prophets' to justify our so-called Hebraic roots, let me state it categorically that to Israel, many of the prophets were sent, and killed by them!  

(d) God's ultimate plan is not to oblige us Gentiles to live or take on the identity as Jews, but that (note Paul uses the words 'the two' or in Greek τοὺς δύο to show that Gentiles still retain their identity as Gentiles): 

"by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments (read, Torah) contained in ordinances, so that in Himself (not Israel) He might make the two (Jews and Gentiles) into one new man," (Ephesians 2:15)

Together with the remnant of Israel who believe in Christ and are saved by grace through faith, we who are Gentiles are now one new man in Christ! 

         I will end with this reference to Colossians 2 where Paul said exactly the same thing not to allow the Judaizers to influence or impose their practices on the Gentile believers. 

         It has never been an alignment with Israel, but with Christ, for such is the gospel of our salvation by grace through faith that Paul has preserved for us after the Council of Jerusalem.