From: 	 heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Sent: 	 Friday, October 31, 1997 1:10 AM
To: 	 Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup
Subject: Understanding Matthew 5:19




From:         Ronnie Anderson
To:           heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:      Re: matthew 5:19


1. Can you explain matthew 5:19
2. which commandments were jesus taking about ?
3. can one break "one of these lease commandments " and it is ok with
    god ? the above quote is taken from the king james version bible.


>From Eddie:
**************

        In Matthew 5:17-18,  Yeshua/Jesus said: 

"THINK NOT that I have come to destroy the Torah/law or the prophets,
I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto 
you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot (yod ... the smallest letter 
in the Hebrew alphabet) or one tittle (Taggim ... the decoration 
crowns on certain Hebrew letters) shall in no wise pass from the law 
(or the prophets) till all be fulfilled"

      Then we have the quote from Matthew 5:19 which is the basis for 
your question. It is written:

"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and 
teach men to do so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of 
heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be 
called great in the kingdom of heaven"

       Clearly the subject of this text is the TORAH. The 
commandments always refer to keeping the Torah of God. Those who 
break the commandments in the Torah and teach others to do so will be 
called LEAST in the Kingdom of Heaven (but notice they are still in 
the kingdom). Those that keep the commandments in the Torah and 
teach others to do so will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of Heaven. 

        God instructed Moses to build him a tabernacle so that God 
could dwell with His people (Exodus 25:8-9).  In Hebrews 8:5, it 
tells us that this tabernacle was an EXACT PATTERN of the one in 
heaven. In Revelation 21:1-3, we see this heavenly tabernacle being 
the ETERNAL "new heaven and new earth". So, the tabernacle on the 
earth was a blueprint of heavenly things or given by God to show us 
heavenly truths.

        The largest part of the Tabernacle was the outer court. There 
was only one entrance into the tabernacle and that was through the 
eastern gate. In John 10:9, Jesus said that He is the "Door" to 
salvation. The door of the eastern gate of the Tabernacle is a type 
of Messiah who is the believer's door to the heavenly tabernacle. 

         The outer court represents a type of the carnal believer in 
Messiah. All believers are called to be priests before God. When the 
priests ministered in the Outer Court, they did so walking on the 
earth in their bare feet. "Walking" is a spiritual picture of how 
believers live their lives after they are saved (have entered into 
the door of heaven .... the eastern gate ... through faith in 
Messiah). The Hebrew word for this is "Halacha". The outer court 
is a type of believer who is saved but "walks" on the earth or "walks 
in the flesh".  In I Corinthians 3:1, we find that those who are 
"carnal" are "babes in Christ".

            The outer court was given by God to prophetically reveal 
that the LARGEST number of believers in heaven will be likened to the 
outer court. They will be the "least" in the kingdom of heaven. They 
are saved but they lived their lives as "babes in Christ" and never 
overcame the struggle with the flesh to live a life of "walking in 
the spirit" and being "led by the spirit of God" and separating their 
lives from the ways of the world unto the ways of God. 

              "Babes in Christ" break the commandments of God and 
teach others to do so (Matthew 5:19). This is because they have not 
grown spiritually to know the heart and the ways of God and the ways 
and truths of His Kingdom. We can see the contrast of those who know 
the WAYS of God versus those who know the ACTS of God in Psalm 103:7 
as it it written:

"He made known his WAYS to Moses, his ACTS unto the children of 
Israel".

             Because the children of Israel only knew the ACTS of God 
(their divine deliverance from Egyptian bondage through signs, 
wonders and miracles), they complained when they faced obstacles in 
the wilderness. Moses however knew the ways of God. He knew that God 
would part the Red Sea when the people feared the approaching 
Egyptian army, he knew the grace/lovingkindness of God to plead to 
God for forgiveness when the people sinned against God in the 
wilderness and he knew that God is a God of His Word such that when 
God told Moses that He would destroy the children of Israel and begin 
a new people from Moses, Moses pleaded with God on behalf of God's 
promise to Abraham and God repented (Exodus 32:10-14). 

           There is a contrast between Moses who knew the WAYS of God 
and the children of Israel who only knew the ACTS of God. Because the 
children of Israel only knew the ACTS of God and not the WAYS of God, 
they behaved "like children" in the wilderness. 

            Most of corporate Christianity speaks against the 
commandments of God and teaches others to break God's commandments. 
They do so because they are ignorant of the WAYS of God and the WAYS 
fo His Kingdom. In Proverbs 3:1, 17-18, the Torah is called the TREE 
OF LIFE. This TREE OF LIFE was planted in the Garden of Eden. The 
TREE OF LIFE represented the Torah/Commandments of God. In mostly 
every Jewish synogogue is a picture on the walls of the Tree of Life 
and it is seen as being the Torah/Commandments of God. 

              In Genesis 26:5, Abraham kept the COMMANMENTS of God 
which is called the TORAH of God as it is written:

"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my 
COMMANDMENTS, my statutes and my TORAH"

              God chose Abraham to be the "father of our faith" 
(Romans 4:16) because God knew that Abraham would teach the 
Torah/commandments of God to His children (Genesis 18:19). For this 
reason, Abraham will be called GREAT in the Kingdom of Heaven because 
he kept the commandments / Torah of God (Genesis 26:5) and instructed 
others to do so (Genesis 18:19). 

              In Isaiah 51:1-2, 4, 7 it is written:

"Hearken to me, you that follow after rightousness, ye that seek the 
Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the 
pit whence you are digged. Look unto Abraham your father .. hearken 
unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a TORAH 
shall proceed from me and I wil make my judgment (of the Torah) to 
rest for a light of the people ... Hearken unto me, you that KNOW 
righteousness, the people in whose heart is my TORAH: fear ye not the 
reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings"

               Keeping the Biblical Festivals is NOT a salvation 
issue but it IS a "knowing the WAYS of God" issue. However, for many 
this requires being taught about a subject that has been neglected 
within Christianity. Therefore, God's people do not  know how the 
Festivals teach about the ways of the Kingdom of God and our personal 
relationship with Him. Because these things are unknown to most 
believers in Messiah,  "my people perish for a lack of 
knowledge" (Hosea 4:6). This lack of knowledge is an understanding of 
God's Torah (Hosea 4:6).

                In Hosea 8:12, it is written:

"I have written to him the GREAT things of my TORAH, but they were 
counted as a strange thing:

                In Isaiah 42:21 it is written:

"The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake; he will MAGNIFY 
the TORAH and make it HONORABLE"

       When will God make the TORAH honorable? It will be when Messiah 
returns to the earth and teaches the Torah of God to the nations 
during the Messianic age. In Isaiah 2:2-4 it is written:

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the 
Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains and 
shall be exalted above the hills and ALL NATIONS shall flow unto it. 
And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the 
mountain of the Lord to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will 
teach us his WAYS and we will WALK in his paths: for out of Zion 
shall forth the TORAH and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he 
(Messiah) shall judge among the nations (according to the Torah) and 
rebuke many people (for not keeping the Torah) ..."

        The Torah is the "rod of iron" by which Yeshua/Jesus will 
rule and judge the nations during the Messianic Age (Rev 19:15). When 
the nations are taught the Torah, then DISCIPLES (students) will be 
made of all nations (of how to keep the Torah/Commandments) of God 
and fulfill the GREAT COMMISSION (Matthew 28:18-20). 

        Those who keep the commandments and teach others to do so 
will rule and reign with Messiah and thus be called GREAT in the 
kingdom. Those who break the commandments and teach others to do 
so will be called LEAST in the Kingdom. This is the understanding of 
Matthew 5:19.

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