From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Friday, October 31, 1997 1:10 AM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Understanding Matthew 5:19
From: Ronnie Anderson
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Re: matthew 5:19
1. Can you explain matthew 5:19
2. which commandments were jesus taking about ?
3. can one break "one of these lease commandments " and it is ok with
god ? the above quote is taken from the king james version bible.
>From Eddie:
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In Matthew 5:17-18, Yeshua/Jesus said:
"THINK NOT that I have come to destroy the Torah/law or the prophets,
I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot (yod ... the smallest letter
in the Hebrew alphabet) or one tittle (Taggim ... the decoration
crowns on certain Hebrew letters) shall in no wise pass from the law
(or the prophets) till all be fulfilled"
Then we have the quote from Matthew 5:19 which is the basis for
your question. It is written:
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and
teach men to do so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of
heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven"
Clearly the subject of this text is the TORAH. The
commandments always refer to keeping the Torah of God. Those who
break the commandments in the Torah and teach others to do so will be
called LEAST in the Kingdom of Heaven (but notice they are still in
the kingdom). Those that keep the commandments in the Torah and
teach others to do so will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of Heaven.
God instructed Moses to build him a tabernacle so that God
could dwell with His people (Exodus 25:8-9). In Hebrews 8:5, it
tells us that this tabernacle was an EXACT PATTERN of the one in
heaven. In Revelation 21:1-3, we see this heavenly tabernacle being
the ETERNAL "new heaven and new earth". So, the tabernacle on the
earth was a blueprint of heavenly things or given by God to show us
heavenly truths.
The largest part of the Tabernacle was the outer court. There
was only one entrance into the tabernacle and that was through the
eastern gate. In John 10:9, Jesus said that He is the "Door" to
salvation. The door of the eastern gate of the Tabernacle is a type
of Messiah who is the believer's door to the heavenly tabernacle.
The outer court represents a type of the carnal believer in
Messiah. All believers are called to be priests before God. When the
priests ministered in the Outer Court, they did so walking on the
earth in their bare feet. "Walking" is a spiritual picture of how
believers live their lives after they are saved (have entered into
the door of heaven .... the eastern gate ... through faith in
Messiah). The Hebrew word for this is "Halacha". The outer court
is a type of believer who is saved but "walks" on the earth or "walks
in the flesh". In I Corinthians 3:1, we find that those who are
"carnal" are "babes in Christ".
The outer court was given by God to prophetically reveal
that the LARGEST number of believers in heaven will be likened to the
outer court. They will be the "least" in the kingdom of heaven. They
are saved but they lived their lives as "babes in Christ" and never
overcame the struggle with the flesh to live a life of "walking in
the spirit" and being "led by the spirit of God" and separating their
lives from the ways of the world unto the ways of God.
"Babes in Christ" break the commandments of God and
teach others to do so (Matthew 5:19). This is because they have not
grown spiritually to know the heart and the ways of God and the ways
and truths of His Kingdom. We can see the contrast of those who know
the WAYS of God versus those who know the ACTS of God in Psalm 103:7
as it it written:
"He made known his WAYS to Moses, his ACTS unto the children of
Israel".
Because the children of Israel only knew the ACTS of God
(their divine deliverance from Egyptian bondage through signs,
wonders and miracles), they complained when they faced obstacles in
the wilderness. Moses however knew the ways of God. He knew that God
would part the Red Sea when the people feared the approaching
Egyptian army, he knew the grace/lovingkindness of God to plead to
God for forgiveness when the people sinned against God in the
wilderness and he knew that God is a God of His Word such that when
God told Moses that He would destroy the children of Israel and begin
a new people from Moses, Moses pleaded with God on behalf of God's
promise to Abraham and God repented (Exodus 32:10-14).
There is a contrast between Moses who knew the WAYS of God
and the children of Israel who only knew the ACTS of God. Because the
children of Israel only knew the ACTS of God and not the WAYS of God,
they behaved "like children" in the wilderness.
Most of corporate Christianity speaks against the
commandments of God and teaches others to break God's commandments.
They do so because they are ignorant of the WAYS of God and the WAYS
fo His Kingdom. In Proverbs 3:1, 17-18, the Torah is called the TREE
OF LIFE. This TREE OF LIFE was planted in the Garden of Eden. The
TREE OF LIFE represented the Torah/Commandments of God. In mostly
every Jewish synogogue is a picture on the walls of the Tree of Life
and it is seen as being the Torah/Commandments of God.
In Genesis 26:5, Abraham kept the COMMANMENTS of God
which is called the TORAH of God as it is written:
"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
COMMANDMENTS, my statutes and my TORAH"
God chose Abraham to be the "father of our faith"
(Romans 4:16) because God knew that Abraham would teach the
Torah/commandments of God to His children (Genesis 18:19). For this
reason, Abraham will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of Heaven because
he kept the commandments / Torah of God (Genesis 26:5) and instructed
others to do so (Genesis 18:19).
In Isaiah 51:1-2, 4, 7 it is written:
"Hearken to me, you that follow after rightousness, ye that seek the
Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the
pit whence you are digged. Look unto Abraham your father .. hearken
unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a TORAH
shall proceed from me and I wil make my judgment (of the Torah) to
rest for a light of the people ... Hearken unto me, you that KNOW
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my TORAH: fear ye not the
reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings"
Keeping the Biblical Festivals is NOT a salvation
issue but it IS a "knowing the WAYS of God" issue. However, for many
this requires being taught about a subject that has been neglected
within Christianity. Therefore, God's people do not know how the
Festivals teach about the ways of the Kingdom of God and our personal
relationship with Him. Because these things are unknown to most
believers in Messiah, "my people perish for a lack of
knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). This lack of knowledge is an understanding of
God's Torah (Hosea 4:6).
In Hosea 8:12, it is written:
"I have written to him the GREAT things of my TORAH, but they were
counted as a strange thing:
In Isaiah 42:21 it is written:
"The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake; he will MAGNIFY
the TORAH and make it HONORABLE"
When will God make the TORAH honorable? It will be when Messiah
returns to the earth and teaches the Torah of God to the nations
during the Messianic age. In Isaiah 2:2-4 it is written:
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the
Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and
shall be exalted above the hills and ALL NATIONS shall flow unto it.
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 his WAYS and we will WALK in his paths: for out of Zion
shall forth the TORAH and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he
(Messiah) shall judge among the nations (according to the Torah) and
rebuke many people (for not keeping the Torah) ..."
The Torah is the "rod of iron" by which Yeshua/Jesus will
rule and judge the nations during the Messianic Age (Rev 19:15). When
the nations are taught the Torah, then DISCIPLES (students) will be
made of all nations (of how to keep the Torah/Commandments) of God
and fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION (Matthew 28:18-20).
Those who keep the commandments and teach others to do so
will rule and reign with Messiah and thus be called GREAT in the
kingdom. Those who break the commandments and teach others to do
so will be called LEAST in the Kingdom. This is the understanding of
Matthew 5:19.
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