Matthew 12 And a man was [at the synagogue] with a withered hand. And [the Pharisees] asked [Yeshua], “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” - so that they might accuse Him. He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, how to destroy Him.
Deuteronomy 22 You shall not see your brother's ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him. And you shall do the same with his donkey or with his garment, or with any lost thing of your brother's, which he loses and you find; you may not ignore it. You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall help him to lift them up again.
Exodus 23:4 takes this principle even further! If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.
We must rightly understand what was going on, in Yeshua’s conversations with the non-believing leaders of His day. Keys are everywhere to be found, within the Gospel writings.
One example is when Matthew records, “so that they might accuse Yeshua.” Messiah knew that there was no need to “override” the Torah of His Father. After all, He knew more than anyone else that is was “perfect.” (Psalm 19:7) He saw the greater matter at hand. I would suggest that it was two-fold. 1) Men were in need of being healed and restored and 2) The leaders who claimed to be in the position to do so were not rightly handling Father’s commands, but had instead exalted their own ways above His.
These men twisted the Scriptures in constant attempts to put Messiah in a corner. What they did not realize is that Messiah knew Torah and, most importantly, he chose to perfectly execute It in obedience. He literally was the walking Torah. A real-life human demonstration in action! We see this all over His recorded words. For example, “Yeshua said to the crowds and to His disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.’”
If only more Believers would see what is truly being told to us, in passages such as these. The burdens - the works - are theirs, not Yahweh’s. In fact, Yeshua takes this even further by clearly stating that whatever even these corrupt leaders speak while “upon the seat of Moses” (reading the Torah and the Prophets) do it. Did you catch that? This is revelational to *so many* people right now! Do what they say, when they read Father’s Torah (Moses’ seat)! It is perfect. It is true.
The problem however comes when they stand up and walk out, denying the very Torah that they just read. And how did they do this? By exalting their own religious demands (heavy burdens) over the Father’s wonderful Torah ways! One must have the revelation that *these* are the heavy burdens that Yeshua and all other Newer Testament writings are speaking of! It is absolutely impossible for Father’s perfect ways to be a burden! Again, Yeshua spoke of these self-righteous leaders’ rules as heavy burdens, hard to bear, laid upon people's shoulders. *Never* do we ever see Him speak in such a manner towards His Father’s wonderful ways! As we see in today’s Matthew account - Torah laws. Sabbath guidelines. They all provide space for healing, restoration and good things!
In conclusion, Yeshua fully knew (and then demonstrated) that it was entirely fulfilling Torah teaching to heal this man on Sabbath. He did not, in any way, exalt Himself and His ideas over It. It simply wasn’t necessary. He knew that it was no burden to walk in the freedom of the Torah! He merely yielded to what was already written and executed It – to perfection! And what was written was good! What was written brought healing and restoration to this man. Amen? Amen!
This is also now available in video form: THE TORAH IS GOOD
No comments:
Post a Comment