The only Bible that Jesus would have schooled others from were Torah scrolls from which He stood up and read in the synagogues. There were simply no other means of understanding the Words of The Almighty at the time. There were no printing presses nor forms of printing works. The hand of the Jewish scribes meticulously penned the God-breathed words given by the Spirit of the Living God in Hebrew to holy Jewish men. Derek Prince taught us; we owe a great debt to the Jews for preserving God’s sacred words for all to read. With this great gift to mankind – it is heartbreaking to hear that some Christians still suggest that we need to “toss the “Old” Testament in the dustbin of religious literature as “outdated.” Let us give our attention to the inspiring words of Godly Christians who walked in wisdom and understanding in relation to the Bible. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Charles Spurgeon
“People read the view of their denominations … they read the view of their leader … but the Divine fountainhead from which all revelation wells up – this is too often left out … read books, by all means … but especially the parchments …”
This great Minister of God was not afraid to speak truth. Standing on his bedrock faith, Spurgeon explains that most church attendees read the opinions of their religious orders in mainstream Christendom and lived by them. He also deemed it necessary to express his view that the Jewish Scriptures were often incorrectly omitted from Sunday sermons, meetings, and Bible studies. Using his authority in the Word, he said, “read the parchments … often termed “irrelevant.” As an influential Victorian preacher of his day, Spurgeon taught that the words of the Torah (the Bible of Jesus) was and is the “fountainhead” (the spring) from which flows all revelation, prophecy and understanding of God’s plan for all humanity. The Torah and Tanach (Genesis to Deuteronomy and through to Malachi) once called “parchments” or “scrolls” were the origin from which our faith emerged and from which many were fed from the early days of Jesus. To Jerusalem scholars, it is not surprising that there were translation errors found in different interpretations of scripture – as the ordinary translator would have interpreted a word the best way they could understand from their time and culture using vernacular familiar to them but when the Master taught in the synagogues, He held up a scroll and interpreted it with full revelation. It raises a question of “why” does the original biblical expression of faith in Jesus (from the Writings of His Jewish Apostles, a/k/a to us as the New Testament) often get put on the shelf as “outdated”? It is a fitting question everyone should be able to ask. Could it be that we just do not realize that the original Words of God which are unchanging are not to be termed “Old”? D. Thomas Lancaster, Director of Education at First Fruits of Zion in Jerusalem says “… Torah is the foundation upon which all subsequent Biblical revelation is built.” It appears Spurgeon and Lancaster hold the same view.
Legendary preacher Leonard Ravenhill said – “the world out there is not waiting for a new definition of Christianity; it is waiting for a new demonstration of Christianity.”
Christendom’s teachings impacted a lot of people over the centuries but at the same time it often demonstrated a separation from the Jewish Torah which Jesus loved. As we who work at CFI in Jerusalem “repairing the breach” (Isaiah 58:12) brought about through separation from the Jewish people and their scriptures, it behooves us to work at reconnecting that split which Jesus never authorized. If He were here with us today on the earth, He might just pick up a Torah scroll and read from Isaiah 56:3. “Do not let foreigners who commit themselves to the Lord say, ‘The LORD will never let me be part of His People…”. (Isaiah 56:3)As followers of Jesus, we are forbidden to part from the words from which He and His Disciples delivered to us. In our search to change to a new demonstration of Christianity which Leonard Ravenhill was looking for–our question might go something like this: “When Jesus, the Living Word, the Torah – God’s Voice to mankind that was never changed, why would Christian pulpits take it lightly?
I remember well having meetings with a former General in the IDF General Shimon Erem who founded the Israel Christian Nexus Alliance for Jerusalem. He told me “I lectured to a Christian Catholic University and told them “I read the words of Jesus and found He tore down the wall between us – but you – you Christians put it back up!” He explained how their jaws dropped–but he told the truth and truth is what matters. The flames of the candles of our hearts need to shine the truth with our spheres of influence to encourage believers to study the “whole counsel of God.” (Psalm 33:11) Replacement Theology says the Torah has been replaced by the coming of Jesus. But God says: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) Isaiah, Peter and Timothy would all have been holding a Torah scroll at the time they wrote for future generations.
Torah: a Permanently Sworn Oath
Let us remember that the power and authority behind the Words of God are God Himself. In the Torah God swore by Himself that what He had declared in His Word He would fulfill. He also emphasizes that not one word will pass away until all is fulfilled. (Matthew 5:18) Further God also said that whoever takes it (Torah) lightly, i.e., we dismiss or play it down we end up being the least esteemed (regarded as small) in His Kingdom. (Matthew 5:19) In my childhood, I attended church camps. Early at dawn a bugle would sound for all of us to “wake up.” It seems to me that we need someone to arouse and activate within us the desire to fill ourselves full of the beauty of the Jewish Scriptures and to gather our friends together who love the LORD and say, “let’s study the Torah in my home!” Someone once told me of a Pastor who informed his congregant that the Old Testament is no longer applicable, and that he only need to read the New Testament. With hardly a thought, the Torah was dismissed as ancient and outdated. (www.foi.org, Friends of Israel). This is the tip of the iceberg. Speaking of icebergs, it appears that many in the church have hit an iceberg when it comes to Israel. It is shocking to our Israeli friends. In meetings between Jews and Christians in Israel truth surfaced. Christians were not able to hold a candle to Israel’s avid scholars. Torah is the fountainhead and foundation of the faith of Jesus. The Torah must remain our fountainhead.
One day the Torah will go forth from Jerusalem to the entire world. (Isaiah 2:3; Micah 4:2) Jewish sages tell us “… Messiah will elucidate the words of the Torah … and He will correct (human) errors in its interpretation.” (First Fruits of Zion) I believe many people’s erroneous perceptions about the “Old” Testament will be shattered at that time. When Jesus returns in His Second Coming, we are told that “out of His Mouth will come a razor-sharp sword and that He will “strike down” the nations with it. (Psalm 2:9) TheWord of God (the Torah) is “alive” and it is sharper than a two edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12) Like a fierce weapon of the Spirit, it will penetrate and dive deep into the human spirit discerning the hidden secret places of the heart. We also learn that in righteousness the Lord will pass judgment and go to battle. The rider on the white horse in Revelation was THE WORD OF GOD which eventually became flesh (John 1:14) and as a human God came as a Jew. The written and declared WORD became embodied in Jesus linking hearts to the One True God. “The conclusion of the matter is that the controversy that Jesus had with His religious friends was to “show how best to observe the Torah, but none, it is argued, about whether to observe it….” (Jewish Gospels, Rabbi Daniel Boyarin)
Jesus Did Not Start a New Religion
What a joy it is to learn about where our faith originated. The early believers would have never considered staring a “new religion.” In actual fact, a Jewish rabbi asked me one day “Why didn’t the Christians follow the Judaism of Jesus?” At the time, I had no answer. Today I know. Replacement Theology played a monumental part in removing Torah from our vocabulary. Torah scholars and Rabbis from Israel and abroad were reported to have said “… he (Jesus) strengthened the Torah of Moses majestically… and not one of our sages spoke out more emphatically concerning the immutability of the Torah.” (Israel Today, January 2020) In 1960, Norman Cousins, former editor of the Saturday Review, wrote, “There is every reason for Judaism to lose its reluctance toward Jesus. His own towering spiritual presence is a projection of Judaism, not a repudiation of it.” To sum up what the great Christian men of God said above, a dear friend who we knew well said “God says when I achieve my purposes (which came from the Torah) in the earth; it will involve the people of Israel, the Jewish descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” (Dwight Pryor). The Church cannot afford not to promote the Torah. I totally agree with the rabbis. “… no one has ever established the only Bible Jesus ever read from, more than the Master Himself. God bless you our beautiful Christian friends of Israel!
–Sharon Sanders–