And I stand by that sugarman. More than half of the Torah cannot be done in a practical manner anymore...but in a future time will be reinstated fully and completely. The Torah points to a greater spiritual truth...the Messiah and His purpose before it does anything else. In the Torah everything has deeper meaning. Having said that it does not mean that Torah should not be applied practically. Let's look at one example.
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the YHWH your God gives you. Shemoth/Exodus 20:12
In the spiritual sense this is telling us to honor Yahuweh. (all of Yahuweh), and that if we see YHWH as our Father and our Mother (through the Ruach) then we will be His children and our days will be prolonged, because we are born of the Spirit...indeed prolonged throughout all eternity.
Does that mean that we can tell our physical parents to buzz off? By no means!!! and not according to Yahushua. Yahuweh gives us all temporal relationships to understand how He views us and how we are to view him. He gives us Fathers and Mothers because He wants us to understand the love He feels for us and the love that we should have for Him....barring all human deficiency. We are to honor our father and mothers kinda as a trial run...a dress rehearsal for what will be. Does that mean that fathers and mothers here on earth are perfect and always or even usually do the will of the Father in heaven? No, they do not. But as much as we can (when they are in accord with the authority given to them by the Father and with the designs set forth in the Word) we are to honor them.
The fact that Torah is not perfectly keepable does not make it a flawed document or obsolete. It just illustrates once again how flawed we are and how much need we have for Messiah. But since we have Messiah are we to abandon Torah as a standard wholesale and rely on Grace?
Ex: A gangbanger...let's say part of a Hispanic Gang...I use Hispanics only because they are predominantly Catholics...decides he is going to kill some guy because he thinks he's a member of a rival gang. He kills the poor guy...and then walks back to his car asking for forgiveness from g o d doing some hail marys, and does the sign of the cross. As he gets in his car he knows there is a distinct possibility that he will do this very same act again, ask for the same forgiveness and go on sinning. Yahushua is of no profit to him. I can almost assure you this gang member is not saved. Cheap Grace at it's worst
Grace that comes from Messiah Yahushua's Passover offering. That and that alone is what saves. The Torah comes into effect after that dispensation of grace and not before it. Much of the letters that Shaul/Paul wrote to the congregations have to do with this very thing. This is not a precedent that started with the renewed covenant. Yahuweh redeemed Israel out of Mitzrayim/Egypt with a Strong Hand not because they were worthy or righteous...he did it because He beyond all others knew there was a need. He redeemed them from bondage unconditionally. As Torah is thought of traditionally starting at Exodus/Shemoth...there was no such thing. They partook of Messiah in the Eating of Passover and were saved without condition. Only after was the Torah delivered to them as a righteous standard of how they should walk before YHWH. The Torah is a wonderful path to walk on, a great guideline, our surety that we are either walking in the right way or the wrong way. It is instruction in righteousness...but before all these things it is the promise and exhortation of the need of a Messiah.
Should we forsake Torah as our righteous standard? I would say, never. Should we heed the precepts and the instruction it gives? Of course. Is it given to us by a Perfect Creator who knows us infinitely more than we know ourselves? Yes.
Here is a quote from a post that was made by Ruchamah (Yahuweh Bless her and I hope she is well)
Quote:If you want to get somewhere, and u have a route lined out for yourself, but miss one of the turns, well, your trip-time is going to be lengthened, not because u were EVIL, but because u missed the correct turn. I think it is more like that: The Torah is given to us to show us how to live uprightly before Him, how to do it successfully and how to bring blessing to the world He has given us.
Sin, is kinda like taking the wrong turn: the only way to fix it is to RE-TURN back to where we made the error (repentence) and start again. Will we make wrong turns? You bet we will, but the option of re-turning is always available to us, re-turning and getting it right.
Zacharias and Elizabeth were considered righteous in all His commandments etc. Did they NEVER make a wrong turn? I am sure they made a few, just like you and I, but they lived it out BY FAITH. Only faith in Him makes ANYONE righteous, from Adam to today. But that faith is walked out and demonstrated in our obedience to the *map* He has given us.
As it pertains to Zach and Lizzy, they were considered righteous over the long haul on the scale of striving to keep the commandments and understanding the purposes (spiritual and practical) of the commandments. They didn't walk perfectly but overall their consistently faithful walk showed an inward condition of inherent righteousness not earned by keeping the Torah...but rather Torah as evidence.
A murderer is is not a man who has committed murder, a thief is not a man who has stolen, and an adulterer is not a man who has committed adultery. In all cases it is the person who is in a continual state of the sin. One who has the spirit of that sin in them, who may even perhaps revel in that sin and will not repent but lives in the darkness. Do we consider Moshe and Dawid murderers? They committed murder to be sure. But when you think of them...is that the first thing you think of?
We can't abide by all of the Torah, at least to the letter and literal practice, but even those that we can't physically observe still are "observed" in a spiritual sense and have relevance to the overall message. It is still the path that we walk to get to the narrow gate and we do stray from the path..all of us, but that path is still there to come back to.
Once again, Yahuweh redeemed Israel out of Egypt as a freewill offering given graciously from his heart. THEN he gave them as a collective body the Torah at Sinai on Pentecost.
Robski said something one time that really hit home. I'm afraid I'll have to paraphrase it. Without Messiah, the Torah means nothing, but because I have Messiah, the Torah means everything. The old mantra that one observes Torah because he/she is saved not to be saved has become quite a cliche in some circles. But there is a tangible deeper meaning to this bumper sticker, something I cannot put into words at least not as well as I would like to. I trusted the Word to get me out of the mess that was caused by sin. Why would I not trust the Word after that redeeming. No one keeps Torah in this day and age. It can't be done. Can we live guided by Torah and abide in it's deeper spiritual truth. Yes. Just because there is no daily offering at the temple does not mean we should throw out everything. There is also a precedent for that. It is Israel in exile. The book of Daniel comes to mind.
In conclusion, a paraphrase from Moshe Koniuchowsky:
The Torah of Moshe Yahuweh’s servant will keep you on the straight and narrow path. Is the Torah of any use for the unsaved? Is it any good for the unsaved? No, it’s a waste of time. But for the saved it keeps us on the path. It keeps us from doing Christmas instead of the Moedim, it keeps us from swinging chickens around our heads because it points to Messiah. Remembering, loving, and observing the Torah is good and proper as long as your priorities are straight and proper.
Yevarekhekha YHWH (May Yahuweh bless you)
Shalom
