From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 1997 11:51 PM
To: Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: The New Covenant Is As Valid As Is The Old!
From: Housedavid@aol.com
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: The New Covenant Is As Valid As Is The Old!
Dear Eddie,
Over the years, as I have watched non-Jews become aware of the so-called
"Jewish roots of our faith," I have repeatedly seen Believers first become
very "pro-Jewish and anti-Christian," which attitude is always followed by,
or couple with, their beginning to question the validity of the New Covenant,
and ultimately, the Deity of Messiah Yeshua.
From Eddie:
**************
This is what happens to those who study and examine their
Hebraic/Jewish Roots by following groups like the "B'nai Noah" and
the "Natzrim Jewish" movements. We have had discussions on this
newsgroup from people who represent these groups and these
same positions.
From Batya:
**************
Naturally, being a seeker of truth, this concerned me for many reasons. And,
after much study and prayer concerning this issue, I came to certain
conclusions about the "validity" of the Greek New Covenant, which conclusions
I pray I will be allowed to share with all your "Rooters."
The following is essentially taken from one of our monthly Newsletters, the
House of David Herald. It is entitled, Is The "Greek" New Covenant Inspired?
(can be seen at: www.mim.net).
Let us begin with the agreement that the Torah is inspired Scripture. And,
in the eternal Torah, our Father said:
"I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen [the Israelites] like
you [Moses], and I willput My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them
all that I command him. And it shall come about that whoever will not listen
to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him"
(Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
Yahveh made four prophetic declarations in these verses:
1) He will raise up a Prophet "like" Moses.
2) He will put "His Words" in the mouth of His Prophet.
3) He demands that Israel "listen" to the Words of His Prophet.
4) He will "require it" of those who do not listen to His Prophet.
Point One:
We assume all agree that the "Prophet" of whom these verses speak is Messiah
Yeshua. (If not in agreement on this point, then we need to move to a
different subject entirely.)
Point Two:
If one does agree that Yeshua is Yahveh's promised Prophet, and at the same
time somehow believes Yeshua's words were not adequately recorded (only
Yahveh Himself can determine what is adequate)-then-we must conclude that
Yeshua cannot be a very "great" prophet; He cannot be regarded as a "prophet
likened unto Moses." For, the Father has seen that the words of Moses have
come down to we who are living more than three millennia after Moses. And,
if Yahveh did not see that Yeshua's words were recorded with the same
diligence as He did the words of the other prophets of Israel, then truly,
Yeshua must be the "least of the prophets" in Israel!
But, Yeshua is not the least of the prophets. He is in truth the greatest of
the prophets. He is Yahveh's Prophet to the prophets!
Further, if one does agree that Yeshua is the promised "Prophet," then one
also must agree that Torah declares that Yeshua would speak "the words of the
Father."
And, that was Yeshua's claim exactly. The New Covenant records His
fulfillment of that promise in that He said to the Father, "The words which
Thou gavest Me I have given to them [the Apostles]; and they received them,
and truly understood that I came forth from Thee..." (John 17:8; in vss 20-21
Yeshua also included His followers in this prayer).
Yeshua declared that He was speaking the Father's words: "...The Father who
sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should
speak....even as the Father said unto me, so I speak" (John 12:49-50).
Therefore, one can only conclude that: Yeshua's "Words" are a continuation
of-and carry the authority of-Torah. His Words were, and are, Words inspired
by the Holy One of Israel!
Further, that One greater than Moses would appear and declare such truth was
well known in Israel. We know this because of the woman who said to Yeshua,
"I know that Messiah is coming, and when He comes, He will declare all things
to us" (John 4:25).
However, some in Israel did not believe Messiah's words, and of them, Yeshua
said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But
if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" (John
5:46-47; see Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
>From this we can only deduct that: If one believes the words of Moses, then
they also will believe the words of Yeshua. They will believe Yeshua's New
Covenant words with the same fervor as they do the Old (First Covenant) words
of Moses.
When Do We Believe His Words?
Concerning the point in time in which the Israelites were required to believe
Messiah's "Words," we note that Yeshua said, "When you lift up the Son of
Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative,
but I speak these things as the Father taught Me" (John 8:28). Restated, it
would be after His crucifixion that we would know that Yeshua spoke for the
Father (compare John 2:19-22 with Isaiah 8:14). Thus, we conclude that,
unless Yeshua's words were to be remembered no longer than the lifetime of
His Disciples (again, making them less important than the "recorded" words of
Moses), then-in order for Messiah's words to live on, there would have to be
a "record" of those words.
The "record" of Messiah's Words is called the New Covenant. Further, as
recorded in that Covenant, when in the Garden of Gethsemane, Messiah gave His
opinion of Torah: When praying in behalf of those who would follow Him, He
pleaded with the Father to, "Sanctify them in the truth." Then He defined
truth: "Thy word is truth" (John 17:17). (Messiah spoke of the "Word," or
"Bible" that existed during His earthly sojourn, before His "further words"
were included.)
Yeshua confirmed that Torah is "Truth" and Torah confirms that Yeshua's words
are a continuation of Torah. Yeshua's words are the confirming "Words" of
the "New Covenant" promised through Jeremiah:
"`Behold, days are coming,' declares Yahveh, `when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant
which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a
husband to them,' declares Yahveh. `But this is the covenant which I will
make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares Yahveh, `I will put
My law within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their
God, and they shall be My people" (Jeremiah 31:31-33).
In Luke 22:20, we read that when Yeshua lifted His "New Covenant Passover
Cup," He said, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in
My blood" (see 2 Cor 3:6; Heb 8:8-13; 9:15; 12:24, and the House of David
Herald, Celebrating The Four Passovers.).
Yeshua was establishing the covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah.
And surely, if Yahveh would bother to preserve the words of Jeremiah, which
foretell that coming Covenant, surely Yahveh would likewise preserve the
words that establish that Holy Covenant. Surely if the foretelling is
worthy, the actual establishment would be, if anything, even more worthy of
record.
Both Covenants, Old and New, are part of a whole, and if we truly study them,
to show ourselves approved, we find that they confirm one another at every
turn (2 Timothy 2:15).
Point Three:
Yeshua's Words will be used to judge all mankind because, the Deuteronomy
18:18-19 prophecy tells us that, "It shall come about that whoever will not
listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it
of him."
We are commanded to "listen to," or "shama," the words of Yahveh's Prophet.
Shama means to be obedient to, to hear intelligently, give attention to, be
obedient to, carefully consider, declare, diligently discern, give ear to,
obey, perceive, proclaim, publish, regard, report, show forth, and in
general, to witness to them (Strong's word # H 8085).
Thus, for this prophecy to be fulfilled, for the "scattered" ones whom the
Shepherd was to gather (see Gen 48:19; Ezek 34; Hosea 1-2; Amos 9:9; John
10:16.) to listen to Yeshua's words, they would have to be recorded. And
apparently the Father feels they have been recorded adequately enough for Him
to be considered "just" when He "requires" whatever He will of whomsoever He
will.
Moreover, either Yeshua's Words have been sufficiently recorded, that they
might be "heard," or, the Father has failed- absolutely failed-in His
Deuteronomy 18:18-19 proclamation!
Point Four:
Yahveh said He will "require" something of all who will not "listen" to the
Words of His Prophet. Therefore, either Yahveh has seen that Yeshua's Words
have been sufficiently recorded, or, in all fairness, He cannot "require"
anything of those who have not "heard" Yeshua's Words; He could not, in
honesty, judge people for "rejecting" His Words, nor condemn them for "not
receiving His sayings." To be just, if Yeshua's words were not sufficiently
recorded, then beyond the Apostles, and any others who may have been
fortunate enough to have been within earshot of Him, Yeshua cannot say, "In
this last day I judge you according to the word that I spoke" (John 12:48).
But Yeshua can, and will, judge the world. Through Yeshua, the Father will
make a final requirement of all who have ever lived: "For not even the
Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son" (John 5:22).
Yeshua will judge the world according to the Words He spoke long
ago-according to the sum of the eternal Word of Truth. Our Messiah will be
able to judge according to the entirety of the Word, Old and new Covenants,
because the Father has, by His mighty right arm, preserved that Holy Word:
>From the Book of Genesis to the Book of Revelation.
The problem is: When people question the validity of the New Covenant, they
neglect one very salient point: The Father is in charge of the project! He
Who sits on High, He Who holds the cosmos together with His Almighty Word, He
said: "I will put My words..."
The Father, working through His Holy Spirit, and not man, is the One in
charge of preserving His Holy Book! This is not to imply that man cannot
attempt to tamper with that Book, but to say that, "He that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4).
In summation, the question about the validity of the New Covenant is a
question about the validity of the Old (First) Covenant: if we do not have a
valid New Covenant, then neither do we have a valid Old Covenant.
We can only trust in neither or both.
I, for one, have chosen to trust in both.
Thank you Eddie, for letting me have my say in this all-important matter.
Shalom in Yeshua,
Batya Wootten
House of David
Messianic Israel Ministries
www.mim.net
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