Let me ask you a question.
Ever wonder why Yeshua’s famous Sermon on the Mount is called a “sermon“?
Really think hard on that for a second.
Actually, before we move on, ask yourself, what exactly is a sermon anyway?
According to the dictionary definition, a sermon is “a discourse for the purpose of religious instruction or exhortation based on a text of Scripture and delivered by a member of the clergy as part of a religious service“.
So what’s the point I’m trying to make here?
My point is…
Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount was him preaching and teaching ON the Law, NOT him going hog wild and creating some new or second set of Laws.
The Sermon on the Mount ain’t called the “Oracle on the Mount” for a reason.
It’s because his Sermon on the Mount was a re-teaching of the oracle HASHEM gave through Moses to the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.
The very same thing goes for Moses’ address to the people of Israel from the mountain he was standing on in Moab.
In fact, it would also be perfectly appropriate to title Moses’ speech in Deuteronomy as a “Sermon on the Mount“.
The Christians are totally ignorant of this point simply because they have treated the foundation of God’s Word as an antiquated book that is irrelevant to their walk of faith in this day and age.
And to be honest, I can kind of understand their struggle concerning how to approach the ancient laws found in Torah.
Take a look at these questions:
“Should we really stone people for not keeping the Sabbath or committing adultery?”
“Do we have to avoid wearing clothes of mixed clothing?”
“Should we institute the concept of cities of refuge in our society?”
“Should we avoid eating meat that has not been killed in a Rabbinically ordained Kosher manner?”
“Even if we didn’t grow up Jewish, in our daily lives should we wear Kippahs and TZITZIT?”
“Should we re-establish a patriarchal society where men always play a dominant role?”
“Do all believers in every nation have to celebrate the Biblical festivals?”
“Should women obey the ritual laws concerning impurity in Torah and remove themselves from their husbands during their period and then afterwards take a ritual bath (dunking in a MIKVAH)?
The above are just a tiny sampling of the many questions that pop up in modern believers’ minds when reading Torah.
I can understand the struggle that many modern believers have with some of the ancient dictates of the Torah.
But here’s the thing.
The people in Moses time had their own set of questions concerning how to properly apply God’s instructions to their own particular circumstances.
And that is exactly what Moses was addressing.
In light of the fact that the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, he was teaching them how they were to apply God’s laws in what was to be a new environment with different societal conditions.
Are you getting this point?
Moses was NOT questioning whether God’s laws and principles were still valid or not.
He was teaching ON the Law and how to have the wisdom to apply Torah amidst changing conditions.
This is also another reason why the study of Deuteronomy is so fascinating.
We get to read about how a society has evolved after over four decades and how a change in the details of observing the law needed to be addressed.
But having said that, understand this one non-negotiable point.
The idea that the Law would somehow come to an end or be terminated was absolutely unthinkable.
And the very same thing can be said of Yeshua and his Sermon on the Mount.
In fact in the very middle of his Sermon on the Mount, he went out of his way to tell us the following:
“Do not think that I have come
to abolish the Law or the Prophets;
I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear,
not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen,
will by any means disappear from the Law
until everything is accomplished.
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of
the least of these commands and teaches others
accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever practices and teaches these commands
will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
-Matthew 5:17-19
That’s right.
1300 years after Moses’ “Sermon on the Mount” as recorded in Deuteronomy, Yeshua gave his own sermon on a mountain speaking to a crowd of BOTH Jews and gentiles…
…and it was during this sermon when he made it crystal clear that in no way it should be interpreted that he was in any way doing away with the Law.
Until HEAVEN AND EARTH PASS AWAY, every Word of God’s Torah stands was his position.
You did not answer the same questions that you asked. You seem to continually disparage those you call “Christians” without defining what you mean by that term, which is mentioned in Acts. If by “Christians” you are refering to those who believe the doctrine of replacement theology, why not just say so?
Hi Sam, I provided those questions as examples, not to be answered in this post. When I refer to “Christians” I refer primarily to those groups that hold to the idolatrous “Yeshua-is-literally-God-Himself” doctrine, preach and teach that “the Law has been done away with” and of course replacement theology as well. Shalom.