Torah On The Water
“And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, and saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.” Luke 5:1-3
I’m very grateful that we are a part of the Hebrew Roots perspective. Every now and then I try to stop and reflect where I was before and where I am now. It’s a fun memory to travel down.
Our family has been involved in this return to Torah for over 10 years. It’s been, and still is, quite an experience. We’ve been growing in our own understanding and outworking of the Torah. It’s a lifelong journey of becoming more like Yeshua.
Frequently, I reflect upon a reality that is becoming more and more precious as I endeavor to live out the Torah. And that is this:
Yeshua IS the Torah and the Torah IS Yeshua.
While upon this earth, Yeshua was Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation in human form. And therefore, the One the people in our verse pressed upon to hear was actually — the Torah On The Water.
To hear some people talk about Matthew 5:17, you’d think that Yeshua’s primary mission was to do away with the Torah. This has from the beginning of my salvation experience seemed ludicrous to me. Why would He come to do away with Himself? On top of that, a clear contextual reading of Matthew 5 shouts to the contrary. I had questions that needed answers.
It was this questioning that started me to mistrust what I had been taught about the Law being done away with. In all the written words and teachings that we have by Yeshua, not one clear (or even veiled) mention is made by Him that He came to do away with parts of Himself — the Torah. To me that speaks volumes.
How could He, for instance, in clear conscience teach all these people from the boat and not give any clue as to what He was in the process of doing? Would you trust someone like that if, after His death, you came to find out that He left “the rest of the story” up to Paul and others to clarify? That’s too confusing and illogical for me to accept.
Rather … I think He came to reveal, more clearly, the truth and reality of the Law/Torah.
So now when I read certain sections of Scripture, I get really excited to picture Genesis to Revelation in human form walking around and interacting with others.
Consider the following verses from Luke 4:16-22.
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.”
The power of that moment in the synagogue must have been incredible — the Torah was reading the Torah.
Are we really heretics for believing this? Wouldn’t the heretics, in all reality, be the ones that believe Jesus came to do away with Himself?
May I suggest it’s not irrational to believe:
Yeshua was the Torah made flesh.
Yeshua came to reveal the Torah more clearly.
Yeshua didn’t eradicate parts of Himself because He had a new game plan.
However, it is irrational to believe He left countless people in the dark about the abolition of the Torah until some undisclosed time in the future, i.e., Paul and others.
Some things to ponder:
** Yeshua wasn’t just God housed within a body (as true as that is). He was the very Torah of God made flesh. That’s also the same Word/Yeshua/Torah that resides within the hearts of every born-again child of God. It’s also the same Word you hold in your hands.
** If Yeshua HAD come to do away with the Law/Torah, He should have been more upfront and out spoken about that. Otherwise, Yeshua was no better than a conman, huckster, sham, phony. Clearly He wasn’t.
** His life was a walking reset button which powerfully and blatantly exposed the hypocrisy and error of the religious leaders. He, the living Torah, revealed their hearts, thoughts and actions. They were exposed and they didn’t like it.
** How much of the Law/Torah can be rendered obsolete and irrelevant before God’s people are rendered obsolete and irrelevant?
I’m so happy to know that the same Torah On The Water is the same Torah that now lives within my heart.
I want all of Him; not a condensed version.