If I was to sum up YOM KIPPUR in just one sentence, I would say the following:
While the Law was perfect, its purpose was NOT to perfect.
So what is the purpose of the Law?
The purpose of the law is to teach us the difference between good and evil from God’s perspective.
It teaches us how to live a life that results in peace with God.
The Law is a guide that puts us on the path to righteous living.
There are great BLESSINGS for obeying it.
And great CURSES for disobeying it.
One direction brings LIFE, the other DEATH.
“How blessed are those
who reject the advice of the wicked,
don’t stand on the way of sinners
or sit where scoffers sit!
Their delight
is in Yahweh’s Torah;
on his Torah they meditate
day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams —
they bear their fruit in season,
their leaves never wither,
everything they do succeeds.“
-Psalms 1:1-3
And to Gentile believers, especially the Christians, I say this.
The Law is what you obey AFTER you have been grafted into (become one with) Israel through your faith in the Jewish Messiah.
Again, the Gospel Message is fully encapsulated in the Torah.
God saved Israel FIRST by His Grace alone and then afterwards gave them His Law, not vice versa.
He NEVER gave them the Law first and then said “Obey this to be saved”.
The notion that the Jews in the Old Testament had to obey the Law to be saved is no where to be found in the Tanach (OT).
Let me ask you this.
Do you believe there should be a difference between the lifestyle you led before and after being born again?
Of course, there should be a huge difference in how you live your life after being born again, right?
In fact, if you want to “Do as Jesus did”, follow Torah.
He was the most Torah-observant man who ever walked the planet.
And again, I know I have to say this yet again in order to get through the brain-washing you’ve most likely been subjected to over and over again if you’re a Sunday churchgoer.
You don’t obey TORAH to be saved, you obey Torah out of gratitude to the One who has already saved you by His shed blood.
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
-John 14:15
Yeshua even said “Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect”, which I feel directly contradicts the church teaching that God gave the Torah to Israel knowing full well they wouldn’t be able to keep it.
In other words, the church teaches the idea that God gave an impossible-to-follow Law to Israel, so that when they realized they couldn’t keep it, the Law would somehow lead them to “Jesus”.
Honestly, does that make any sense whatsoever?
God gives Israel His HOLY commands, and tells them to obey, and also makes it clear that there are great blessings for obeying and great curses for disobeying, yet He knew all along that Israel wouldn’t be able to keep the Law?!
Are you serious?
That doesn’t sound like a God I’d like to worship.
Again, for the billionth time, the PURPOSE of the Law was not to PERFECT or SAVE, that was the Messiah’s job.
The purpose of the Law was to point the way we are to live AFTER WE ARE SAVED.
Salvation is 100% by God’s Grace ALONE.
It has always been so!
It was so in the Old Testament and it was so in the New Testament.
The Law lighted the path which Messiah perfected.
In the Covenant of the Law, ritual sacrifices and cleanings had to be performed day in and day out, year after year.
This showed the people that sin and uncleanness abounded to the point where it defiled the very Tabernacle of God and all of its HOLY ritual instruments, including the brazen altar.
Hence, once a year the High Priest risked his life by entering the prohibited area known as the Holy of Holies and made atonement and cleansed the area and its furnishings.
What the High Priest had to do every year, our Lord and Savior Messiah Yeshua accomplished ONCE AND FOREVER through his shed blood.
Yes indeed, the LAW is perfect, but it was not the Law’s job to perfect.
That was the Messiah’s job.
And He succeeded spectacularly.
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