And as I said yesterday the fourth commandment 'contains' all Yahweh's moedim or festivals. If, as evangelicals claim, the statutes are no longer binding, then what you get is idolatry, because the effects of negligence are the same upon the people. Remove the statutes and you are striking at the foundations of families and nations.

The statutes and judgments define the Ten Commandments and are inseparable from them. The whole Torah is an integral whole, leaving no loose ends. It was, and still is, a perfect Theocratic Rule for man. And if ancient Israel needed such security, then we need it more. The judgments exist so that Israel's elohim or judges can judge righteously! Without them, there are numerous interpretations and the risk of injustice.

"Therefore know that the Yahweh your Elohim, He is Elohim, the faithful Elohim who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand (eleph) generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them" (Deut.7:9-11, NKJV).

Some object that Torah the could not have applied to those who came before Moses because Yahweh hadn't yet 'given' the Torah. Not true. The Torah has always been around. How do we know? Because Abraham knew them before Moses. For Yahweh said:

"Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Gen 26:5, NKJV).

And so did the New Covenant believers. They had the lot too, quoted it, lived by it, were judged by it. They cited it as their law by which they lived. There are dozens of examples in the New Testament but here are just a handfull to illustrate:

Let us once again be clear as to what has been abolished in the Torah: the sacrificial system and offerings - the animals and the wine and grain offerings that accompanied the sacrifices, the priesthood that administered it, and circumcision. That's it.

Moreover, the sacrifices and offerings were bound to the physical temple at Jerusalem. They could not be offered anywhere else. To make sure believers understood the this system was over, Yahweh ensured that the physical temple, along with the city that housed it, was destroyed after Yah'shua's death and resurrection. Anything bound to the temple was a part of that law which was abolished because we now have a new temple and a new Jerusalem! That's it.

So where does this idea come from that Yah'shua came to abolish the Torah or Law altogether? It comes from a twisting of the Scripture:

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law (Torah) or the Prophets (Nevi'im). I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law (Torah) till all is fulfilled" (Matt.5:17-18, NKJV).

So what did He mean? Well, let's see how He uses this word "fulfil" elsewhere:

"Yah'shua answered and said to [John the Baptist], 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness'" (Matt.3:15, NKJV).

"I (Paul) now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Messiah, for the sake of His body, which is the messianic community (church), of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from Elohim which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of Elohim (God)" (Col.1:24-25, NKJV).

If the Torah could have been abolished as the lawless, disobedient believers so much want it to be so that they can live a liberal, promiscuous 'gospel' fashioned after their own fleshy lusts, then Yah'shua need not have died to establish it.

So I ask the question again: WHAT was abolished at the Cross? And this is what the Bible actually teaches was abolished:

• 1. The system of animal sacrifices and oblations/offerings required to pay for man's sins - we don't need them anymore because Yah'shua Himself paid for all of our sins at Calvary and we can go to Him for forgiveness and cleansing upon proper repentance;
  
• 2. The Levitical Priesthood - we don't need intermediaries between man and Elohim anymore - we can go directly to Yahweh viâ Yah'shua who is our Eternal High Priest after the Order of Melchizedek - now all of us are priests (Rev.1:6);
  
• 3. Circumcision as a sign of the Covenant because the sign of the New Covenant is inwardly the New Birth and outwardly water baptism (1 Cor.7:19);
• 4. The Old Covenant Temple services and Jerusalem because now believers are themselves the Temple of Elohim and our home is the New Jerusalem which is above (Rev.3:12; 21:2); and
  
• 5. The civil penalties (such as execution for murder, rape, adultery, etc.) in the absence of a Theocracy because in exile we are under human governments who assume that responsibility until Yah'shua returns, however unjust their laws may be (Jn.8:3-11; Mt.22:21; Ac.5:29).

"And great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent. Men blasphemed Elohim because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great" (Rev 16:21, NKJV).

Very clearly the Torah has not been abolished but even more firmly established! It has been changed in certain respects because of what Yah'shua has done for us on the Cross but otherwise it continues as it was in the beginning, but even more firmly established. My advice: study your Torah and then do it!