L26-10: What did Yeshua mean when he said ‘Depart from me you who practice LAWLESSNESS!’

In my last post we studied how certain verses in Leviticus 26 show that YHWH will NOT accept the sacrifices of His people if they are not done with a faithful heart and performed properly in His Name at the temple.

Now, what’s interesting is that there is a precise parallel between these verses and the following words that Yeshua uttered.

“Not everyone who says to me,
‘Lord, Lord!’
will enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
only those who do what
my Father in heaven wants.
On that Day,
many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord!
Didn’t we prophesy in your name?
Didn’t we expel demons in your name?
Didn’t we perform many miracles
in your name?’
Then I will tell them to their faces,
‘I never knew you! 
Get away from me,
you workers of lawlessness!”
-Matthew 7:21-23

Notice the similarity?

Yeshua said many will come offering up their own form of sacrifices in his name, and what will Yeshua’s response be?

“I never knew you!” will be his chilling response.

The Book of Revelations speaks of a similar phenomenon.

In the end times, houses of worship all around the world will be filled with people who recite the liturgy, sing all the praise songs, serve as deacons and elders, tithe regularly, and attend the midweek evening Bible study gatherings and so on.

Yet, in spite of all of this frantic observing of tradition and going-through-the-motions activity, they will be rejected by Yeshua.

Why?

Yeshua uses only one word to answer: LAWLESSNESS.

If you’ve got a Bible that says “you who practice iniquities“, do me a favor and go get a big black marker.

Got one?

Now take your big black marker and cross out that word “iniquity” or “iniquities”.

“iniquity” is such an incorrect translation that it will just lead you down useless rabbit trails.

The original Greek word here is ANOMIA.

And it indeed means “without law“.

But forget my opinion on the matter.

Let’s take a look at what a concordance says the meaning of this word is.

According to a standard concordance, here is what ANOMIA means:

1)-the condition of being without law 

1a) because of ignorance of law

1b) because of violating law

1c) contempt and violation of law

Understand that when Yeshua is talking about “lawlessness” here, he wasn’t referring to common criminals.

Nor was he talking about violating the laws of the Roman government in his day and he wasn’t talking about the breaking of the U.S. constitution or any other gentile nation’s legal code.

Remember, for the Jew, there was (and is) only ONE Law.

Understand that when Yeshua said “the Law“, he was only speaking of one thing and one thing ONLY:

THE LAW OF MOSES YHWH GAVE TO THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL ON MOUNT SINAI.

A lot of gentile pastors and ministers will claim that the Levitical sacrificial system was NOT for the whole world but only for the Israelites.

And you know what?

They’re correct.

The Levitical sacrificial system was only for Israel.

But here’s the kicker and brace yourself for this one.

Yeshua’s sacrifice WAS ONLY FOR ISRAEL TOO!

Yeah, that’s right.

I’m so tired of listening to the false teaching that “Christ died for the whole world”.

No, he ABSOLUTELY DID NOT.

He died for those who preferred the things of God TO the world.

He died for those who wished to be grafted into God’s Kingdom Israel and be SEPARATED from the world.

Before closing here, I want to leave you with one final question that I hope will give you pause for serious reflection.

Is there a religion comprised of people who say they are followers of the Jewish Messiah, but claim they no longer have a relationship to Torah that fits the description of Matthew 7:23?