Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisra'el and Mishpachah and welcome to the third part of this series on the 'Kingdom of Our Messiah'. Two weeks ago we looked at the chief symbols of the Rabbis and the Judean culture in which Yah'shua (Jesus) and the apostles ministered, and last week we looked at two out of four of Messiah's symbols of the Kingdom:

• 1. The Land and People of Israel; and
• 2. The Nuclear and Spiritual Family.

So let's go directly to the third symbol, the Torah, and get stuck in. First of all, tedious though I know this may be for some of you, we must define our terms because the word 'torah' has changed in meaning over the centuries in addition to having many layers of meaning ascribed to it in Scripture:

• 1. The Torah, in its narrowest sense, is used to describe the five books of Moses or Pentateuch containing much law but also much narrative: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, or more simply 1 Moses, 2 Moses, 3 Moses, 4 Moses and 5 Moses. In Hebrew they are known as Bereshit (literally, 'In the beginning'), Shemot (literally, 'Names') Wayiqra (literally, 'And He Called'), Bamidibar (literally, 'In the Wilderness'), and Devarim (literally, 'The Words')

• 2. The whole Tanakh or Old Testament, containing the more limited sense of the five books of the Torah, the Nevi'im (Prophets) and Kithuvim (Writings);

• 3. The whole body of Jewish legal tradition, both written Torah (the Tanakh/Old Testament) and the pretended 'oral Torah' which was initially codified around 200 AD, with even wider developments found in the two Talmuds - the 'Babylonian Talmud' and the 'Jerusalem Talmud' - which were codified around 400 AD. Many Jews in the time of Yah'shua (Jesus) and Paul regarded the Torah (written and oral) as being so strongly God-given as to be almost itself, in some sense, divine...and that is why in the apocryphal book of Sirach the Torah is identified with the figure of 'Wisdom', Hochmah or Sophia (ch.24). As Messianic Evangelicals, like Protestants and other Christians and most Messianics, we have always rejected the so-called 'oral Torah' or man-made 'Torah' or "traditions of the Elders" (as Yah'shua/Jesus called it - Mt.15:2, Mk.7:3,5) and therefore cannot accept this as as a valid biblical definition of Torah. But we need to be aware of its existence in both ancient and modern Judaism because this, along with the written Torah or Tanakh (Old Testament), is what Jews still mean by 'Torah'; and finally,

• 4. The whole Bible, consisting of the Tanakh (Old Testament) and the 'New Covenant Torah', Messianic Scriptures or the New Testament. For example, in Hebrews 8:6, the Greek word nenomotheyêtai is traditionally translated in Catholic and Protestant bibles as merely indicating that the New Covenant "has been enacted" (NRSV) on the basis of better promises; but it is better rendered as "...this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises" (JNT/CJB). Similarly, at Romans 10:4, where the word telos does not mean that the Messiah terminated the Torah (Law), as Luther wished to believe and all Protestants have more-or-less followed suit in accepting, but rather that He is "the goal at which the Torah aims" (JNT/CJB).

The important thing to realise is that by New Testament times the Torah had virtually become deified by the Judean leaders. In the absense of a direct relationship with Yahweh because of sin, idolatry, and false tradition, the Torah could unconsciously at times (and with greater frequency as apostacy set in) became an idolatrous substitute for Elohim (God) Himself. This is a problem that has seaped, to varying degrees, into the Christian Church - Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and particularly the Sola Scriptura or 'Scripture Alone' mindset of Protestant churches. This is not unlike the idolisation of the Ark of the Covenant and its contents at different times of Israel's history - you'll remember the Israelites took it into battle with them once as a taliman or good luck charm, in consequence of which it was captured by the Philistines and placed in the Temple of Dagon. Ironically, many Protestants, encouraged by Martin Luther's ideas, live the contradiction of being pro-Bible par excellence whilst being anti-Torah, which is plainly a contradicton in terms. How has this arisen? And what actually was Yah'shua's (Jesus') attitude to the Torah?

Again we must be particular and careful in attending to rigorous definitions. We know what the Torah came to mean, but what does the Hebrew word itself mean? And what of its Greek equivalent nomos? Both words, which translations like the King James Version (KJV) inadequately render as simply 'Law', actually have a meaning much broader than 'law' - they also mean:

• 1. Guidance;
• 2. Instruction;
• 3. Doctrine; or
• 4. Teaching.

That's a much broader definition, you'll agree, then mere 'Law' or 'Mitzvot' (Commandments). Given that most of the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic (and either immediately or later translated into Greek for circulation among Gentiles and Greek-speaking Yehudim or Judahites generally...also remember one of the most popular Old Testaments of that time was the Greek Septuagint - LXX), means that we need to be aware of the fact that there were two different words for Torah or Nomos in Aramaic, as used by Messiah and the apostles, with no distinction being made between the two in our Greek New Testament!

These are the two Aramaic forms which you need to remember:

• 1. 'Orita', the Aramaic cognate of 'Torah', which is used to refer to the Targums (which were Old Testament paraphrases and amplifications) and the Talmuds or oral traditions which I mentioned earlier; and
• 2. 'Namosa' (which you'll agree sounds pretty similar to the Greek 'Nomos') that refers to the Torah which is the Aramaic Peshitta or Old Testament. This interesting word is based on a root which means to 'civilise'...remember that! The same root is used in modern Hebrew to mean to be 'polite' - you see in this how the language has substantially evolved over two millennia.

There is a third Aramaic word which is like the second word, and again means Torah [1] but we'll not concern ourselves with that. So as you can see, it can be a little complicated because of the evolution of the word Torah from essentially meaning just the mitzvot (commandments) or 'Law' to the much broader sense of the sum total of the Divine Teaching of Yahweh that includes the Law of Commandments. You need to be aware of this difference between the earlier part of the Tanakh (Old Testament) starting at Genesis and the later part ending with Malachi, and thence transitioning into the Gospels and Epistles of the New Testament. Thus whenever you see in your English translation the word 'Law' it usually has the broader sense of 'doctrine' whilst very much including the mitzvot (commandments) or Law. With this knowledge you will acquire a maturer knowledge of what Paul is talking about and understand that in no way did Paul ever advocate discarding the teaching of Yahweh!

Now I realise that's a lot of technical information here to absorb all at once, especially if these things are unfamiliar to you. You'll find lots of articles on our website that explain these matters in greater detail. But it is important that you be aware of the linguistic problems associated with translating Hebrew or Aramaic into Greek, followed by Latin, and thence into English (as is the story of the now rather antiquated King James Bible, for example), as a lot can get lost in the multiple translation process.

These are the main points I want you to be aware of:

• 1. The Torah has not been abolished by Messiah's death on the cross but rather has been 'filled up' (i.e. 'fulfilled) or 'completed' by Him;
• 2. The Torah is more than 'Law' or 'commandments' but includes the whole spectrum of teachings or doctrines of Yahweh our Heavenly Father in its completeness.

The Torah, then, is the very lifestyle or essence of being of Christian or Messianic Israel. It is the corporate result leading to a very distinct civilisation or culture according to divinely ordained tavnith or pattern. This pattern reflects the chayim (life) and heart of our Creator and it's part of a Story or Narrative in which we are called to play an important part, every one of us. As we do so, we contribute to, and partake of, a common Phronema, mindset, outlook or spirit that should be recognisable anywhere and in any age. We should be able to go back to the first century and feel completely at home even if we don't at first understand the languages spoken. In the Millennium, all the nations will adopt this culture, civilisation and lifestyle of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) as one giant but intimate Family who have grown up together under the same domestic sukkah, tent, or roof. As a result of this, there will be a intimate and very satisfying knowing with beautiful inter-personal relationships in Christ.

Unfortunately there is a very hostile antinomian or anti-Torah spirit in Christianity and has been for a very long time that has blinded millions of believers to the truth of what I am trying to share with you. Let's clearly understand one thing from the outset: the 'filled-up' or 'completed' New Covenant Torah is not a completing of the Pharisee version of the first century AD, a mistake that many Messianics make. It completely replaces it. It replaces it both because the Pharisee version is wrong but also - as I pointed out last week - Messianic Israel begins with the person Yah'shua (Jesus) and not with Torah, something many Messianics find hard to 'get' whereas Protestants do not, and that is what I have to explain to you now.

So what is the difference between Old Covenant Torah and New Covenant Torah? How did Yah'shua (Jesus) change the original symbol? This is a subject about which regular non-Messianic Jews, Evangelical Christians, and Messianics tend to be a bit 'touchy', because it is such an important, life-defining symbol. Since it's all about the way you live, to criticise someone's lifestyle is to risk trouble, because people hate their lifestyles being challenged or criticised.

Here's the thing about authentic, messianic and apostolic New Covenant Torah: on the outside, it looks a lot like what non-Messianic Jews do in many ways and yet they are two totally different worlds, or ought to be, though sadly are not for many Messianic Jews and other types of Messianic who are somewhere in the middle. So what would be the difference, for example, between a non-messianic Jew celebrating Pesach or Passover and a true Messianic Israelite celebrating the festival of the same name? Apart from some details they might look remarkably similar. You see, New Covenant Torah isn't simply about recognising that the ceremonial Torah, and the Levitical Priesthood, has all been fulfilled by the life, death and resurrection of Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus). It's not like being a Jew but (assuming they had it still, which they don't) discarding the bulk of the ceremonial stuff - the animal sacrifices, and so forth - and then 'adding Yah'shua or Jesus'.

New Covenant Torah is not a list of things you do - good moral behaviour, eating the kashrut way, observing the festivals and sabbaths, which for Jews (and a good many Messianics) are their badge of identity and worth - New Covenant Torah is a PERSON, because ISRAEL is, like the original Israel (Jacob), a Person, only this Person, unlike the transformed man Jacob, is an Eternal Being. Yah'shua (Jesus) is the Derech (Way) - the Torah Way - but that Way is immersed in messianic emet (truth) and has a characteristic divine life force of its own, even as it is written:

"I am the Derech (Way), the Emet (Truth), and the Chayim (Life). No one comes to the Father except through Me" (Jn.14:6, NKJV).

As we're told in the prologue of the Johannine Gospel:

"In the beginning (bereshit) was the Davar (Logos, Miltha, Word), and the Davar (Logos, Miltha, Word) was with Elohim (God), and the Davar (Logos, Miltha, Word) was Elohim (God). He was in the beginning with Elohim (God). All things came into being through ('were made by' - KJV) Him, and without Him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in Him was chayim (life), and the chayim (life) was the light of all people (men)" (Jn.1:1-4, NRSV).

"Beresheeth (in the beginning) was the Torah, and the Torah was with YHWH (Yahweh), and the Torah was YHWH (Yahweh)" (Jn.1:1, RSTNE 2e).

Whilst such 'translations' are taking liberties with the text - the original says 'Elohim' (God) and not YHWH (Yahweh) - Yahweh is Elohim (God) but the reverse isn't 100 per cent true because there's more than one Person in the Elohimhead (Godhead)...more than one Person who is Elohim (God) - likewise the original says Davar (Heb.) or Miltha (Aram.) or Logos (Gk.) - and whilst Torah may be said to Davar, Davar is not exclusively Torah in the original sense that it was used in the Tanakh (Old Testament), namely Scripture, what we see in such a Messianic translation is the Rabbinical tendency to deify the Torah and (in the case of the Johannine rendition) to make it in some way functionally equivalent to the Person of Messiah. You have to be very careful here because while it is true to say that Yah'shua (Jesus) is the Living Scripture on one level, there is far more implied in the Hebrew word 'Davar' or the Aramaic 'Miltha'.

Let me try and simplify all of this. The apostle John has brilliantly, under inspiration, joined together two modes of thought - Hebrew and Greek - by describing the Master's Person and office by a term familiar to both. Here we need to understand what the word Logos meant to the Greeks, namely:

• 1. Reason or intelligence, as it exists inwardly in the mind; and
• 2. Reason or intelligence, as it is expressed outwardly in speech.

Add to this the sense of the Aramaic Miltha, which is the language Yah'shua (Jesus) and the talmidim (disciples) conversed in - namely, 'word', 'manifestation, 'instance' or 'substance' - and you get a very rounded sense of what or who the Saviour was, namely, a manifestation of the Eternal Elohim (God) in human form, having the same substance as the Father, what the Council of Nicea in 235 AD described, in Greek, as homoousios and is the basis of all true Christology. In this matter the Trinitarians are absolutely correct! Do not be deceived by the occultism of the Kabbalists who would have you believe that Yah'shua (Jesus) is but some kind of occult 'emanation' only.

Both the Johannine meanings are to be understood when Yah'shua (Jesus) is called the Davar Elohim (Word of God). He is the inward Davar Elohim (Word of God), because He exists from all eternity "in the bosom of the Father" (Jn.1:18, KJV, HRV) or "at the Father's side" (ESV, NIV), in the same way He is echad or one with the Father in the same way that 'reason' is echad or one with the 'reasoning mind'. Isn't that brilliant? You see, nothing is quite as close to a man or woman as his or her own thought. So whilst Torah is a part of the reasoning mind of the Father, Yahweh, the Davar or Word is far more than a collection of Yahweh's thoughts, as interpreted by human prophetic and revelatory agents, it is the MIND OF YAHWEH HIMSELF - His total mind. Just as the mind is within a man, and is in a very real sense that man - himself - so Christ, as the Logos or Davar or Miltha, is likewise the Mind of Elohim (God), and is in a very real sense Himself - He is Elohim (God)!

Understand that there are at least four levels of meaning here, all densely packed into just one verse, which we must unwrap in reverse order:

• 1. In the beginning was Elohim (God) who created everything;
• 2. The Messiah Yah'shua (Jesus) was with Elohim (God) the Father (Yahweh) and was Elohim (God) with Him;
• 3. They are (together with the Ruach Elohim or Spirit of God) all Truth, Wisdom, Intelligence, Reason, a cosmic pattern of Chayim (Life); and
• 4. The Father manifests through the Son the written Davar (Word) or Torah or Scripture so that fallen man may find his way home to Elohim (God).

Thus the Torah as Scripture is not the first and most important thing in the new Torah symbolism of Messiah but rather it is His very Person that is pre-eminent. Why? Because that - or He - is the closest man will ever get to the Ultimate Reality of Yahweh-Elohim Himself because Yah'shua (Jesus) is both man and Elohim (God) - He's one of us and of Him.

What's Scripture for, then? It is the springboard into our adventure seeking Elohim (God). It supplies us with the divine tavnith or patterm of the Heavenly Mind (and by extension, the Heavenly Heart too), which leads us into Divine Mind and Heart itself, which is a reflection of Messiah who is Elohim (God) in human form reflecting the core Essence and Being of the Ultimate Emet (Truth) and Reality. Although the Torah is, as it were, at the 'bottom of the divine pile' as far as Ultimate Reality is concerned, it is nevertheless one of the most important doors we have been given to that Ultimate Reality, which leads us to the person of Messiah (because that is what or Who both Testaments testify of), as Messiah testified of the Father. That is why we must spend lots of time in it. And in being led to Messiah through Torah, there is also a reverse 'downward' movement by which Messiah, through the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit), once we have identified and received the Person of Yah'shua (Jesus) as Master (Lord) and Deliverer (Saviour), and been transformed by Him through spiritual regeneration (the New Birth, being 'Born Again'), that takes us through the rest of Torah, enabling us to interpret it properly.

Therefore we can say the following:

• 1. The Torah or the Scriptures are to lead us to Christ who brings us back into the presence of the Father, restoring the severed revelationship caused by disobedience and sin; and
• 2. Christ then leads us back to the Torah or the Scriptures so that we may understand the proper lifestyle of the Kingdom and so incarnate the essence of the Kingdom in ourselves, bringing it to pass one saved person at a time on earth...as it is in Heaven (Mt.6:10; Lk.11:2).

Thus Yah'shua (Jesus) takes the Pharisee or Rabbinical view of the symbol that became their twisted Torah, which they had in addition virtually turned into Elohim (God) Himself (as many Messianics and Evangelicals do) and turns that symbol on its head, reminding us of the vertical tavnith (pattern) to be followed in our relationship with Heaven. Man has a tendency do deify and worship idolatrously created things rather than the Creator, and that includes Scripture, which was Created by the Ruach (Spirit) through the instrumentality of anointed men. Are you with me so far?

So Messiah may properly be understood to be Elohim's (God's) outward Word which includes - importantly - Torah which is another word for Scripture (in the fullest, later sense of the word), of which the Bible is the fullest, collection of Torah or Scriptural books that we have for now by the consent and agreement of 99.99 per cent of Christians and Messianics. That isn't to say there can't be, or isn't, more Bible somewhere, because the Bible nowhere prophesies or predicts - as I have said hundreds of times over the years - that a book called the 'Bible' containing 66 books would one day come into existence, let alone that it was all Yahweh would ever say to man, even though such a limited collection of revealments or revelations about Elohim (God) may be said to be totally adequate for evangelism and discipleship. We won't get into the canon today but brief mention of it must necessarily be made if we are to do justice to the question of the symbol that is New Covenant Torah.

Now I am sure you'll agree we could do a whole series of teachings and sermons on John 1:1 alone as it is probably one of the most profound and deep verses of the whole Bible, expanding on the original 'first word' of Yahweh in written form which is Genesis 1:1. John 1:1 may rightly be viewed as the Genesis 1:1 of the New Covenant, expanding it, taking it to greater spiritual heights and greater spiritual depths, being, in so many ways, the perfect illustration or example of what is meant when Scripture says that Yah'shua (Jesus) came to complete or fill up ('fulfill) the Torah because He is the living embodiment of Torah. That is why He said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6, NKJV).

You get the same majestic sense in the first verse of John's First Epistle where he says:

"We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our own eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Davar (Miltha/Logos/Word) of Life - this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us - we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Yah'shua the Messiah (Jesus Christ). We are writing these things so that our simcha (joy) may be complete" (1 Jn.1:1-4, NRSV).

I would dearly like to explore the opening verses of John's Gospel more with you but as I said we would need weeks to do that! So let me instead briefly focus on a few other key aspects of Torah and then we'll wrap it up for today. If Torah was the defining symbol of first century Judaism, along with all the false so-called 'oral' Torah, then in the New Covenant, it is the Living Torah, or the Davar/Miltha/Logos (Word) that is the defining symbol of Messiah and His Besorah, Gospel or Good News. That is why any theology, teaching, or doctrine that fails to do this is almost certainly either veering off back towards, and into, the Old Covenant, or a Jewish distortion of it, or into a false Gospel altogether. The Person of Messiah comes before all else. He is at the Head of the list of Christian/Messianic symbols, and everything else - including Torah - is secondary yet still obviously very important. This is not an excuse to set the King against the Kingdom, as can be the tendency of Protestantism; or a false version of the Kingdom, with centuries of accreted human tradition, which is Eastern Orthodoxy and Catholicism, much of which has stuck to Protestantism. The Ruler's rules are very important, but the Ruler is the main thing. And that Ruler is Messiah.

I want you to notice that in addition to what I have just said, how Yah'shua (Jesus) prioretised ethics slightly differently to the Rabbis, so that Messianic Israel now has a new defining characteristic or set of characteristics. They were always present in the original Torah but man, once he gets his hands on the Davar (Word), tends to re-arrange or re-order the mitzvot (commandments) to suit himself, placing more emphasis here, and less emphasis there. No one can fail to have noticed the extraordinarily high or elevated place given by Yah'shua (Jesus) to forgiveness. He insisted that Restored Israel under His Kingship would place forgiveness up at the very top of 'Ethical Values Chart', which would then come to define the whole New Covenant Torah lifestyle and the civilisation it would produce, the very thing He Himself exemplfied on the cross for all of us. In a nutshell, no forgiveness, no Gospel, and no inheritance. Furthermore, what He asked - no, what He demanded without exception - as far as forgiveness is concerned, is that we should not view "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Mt.6:12; Lk.11:4; 1 Jn.1:9) as a particularly difficult ethical challenge. Rather, we should both view this as an abolute, habitual NECESSITY, defining all that we stand for, including what we believe about eschatology, that is, the doctrine of the 'last things', about judgment, hell, deliverance, healing and salvation. In short, it tells us who Elohim (God) is and what He is, and about the most important truth of all.

What Yahweh demands of us is what He is supremely Himself. He forgives the individual, He forgives the nation of Israel, and finally He forgives the whole world. He never asks us to do what He is unprepared to do Himself, and orders of magnitude more. He does not command us to forgive "seventy times seven" (Mt.18:21-22) while He Himself allegedly condemns billions to eternal punishment as Roman Christianity and Calvinism teach, whether they have a choice to choose good or evil (Provisionism) or no choice at all (Calvinism). Neither does He annihilate most of His rebellious creatures. It is through the scope and depth and breadth of His grace (undeserved loving-kindness) and forgiveness for the penitent soul that we finally come to understood the magnitide and greatness of what His ahavah/agapé love actually is, that which supremely is supposed to define His very own people, and which does define His own people when they live the Torah Way.

We all of us long for a complete deliverance in the same way the nation of Judah was longing for the real end of Exile in Yah'shua's (Jesus') day. Remember, though they were redeemed from Exile in Babylon, they were now under the Roman heel. That is the backdrop of the New Testament that we must remember as we read it. The Exile was not over then. The issue is always sin. The classical nevi'im (prophets) like Ezra, Nehemiah and Daniel constantly remind the people that Exile is the fault of Israel because of willful sin. When Israel longed for forgiveness of sins and a quiet conscience, it was never viewed simply as something desired on behalf of each individual Israelite but also - and importantly - as the whole nation of Israel, the corporate Body, because Yahweh has a covenant with that nation, just as He does with all those who name the Name of Yah'shua (Jesus). And when Isaiah 40-55 spoke of Yahweh's dealing FINALLY with Israel's sins, what the navi (prophet) meant was unambiguous: if the sin that caused the Exile had finally been forgiven, the Exile would come to an end. Forgiveness of sins was thus a further facet of the eschatological hope. And please note this, and note it well: this was first and foremost not so much a state of mind or of heart (though it was that too) as it was, primarily, an event for a whole people.

Yah'shua's (Jesus') offer of forgiveness to Israel as a whole was in itself a way of saying that the Kingdom was dawning in and through His work - what He was doing there and then. John the Baptist forewarned the nation what was coming, saying:

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (nigh, near)!" (Matt 3:2, NKJV)

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (nigh, near)" (Matt 4:17, NKJV).

"...heal the sick there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of Elohim (God) has come near to you'" (Luke 10:9, NKJV)

"Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of Elohim (God) has come near you" (Luke 10:11, NKJV).

And the same is true today, even in His physical absence. The Kingdom has come near. I want you to think about that. The full presence of the Kingdom is a function of both trust (faith) and obedience....Torah-obedience....a function of both trust and Torah-obedience by each individual believer and the corporate nation of Messianic Israel (the universal 'Church') united in all truth into which we must be progressively and systematically guided until we become one or echad through yielding to the authentic Ruach (Spirit), not an antimonian or lawless look-alike fleshy 'feeling', however emotionally charged, however much attended by supernatural powers (remembering that there are two supernatural worlds that are easily confused by the ignorant and disobedient).

Thus it is written in the Aramaic:

"But when the Ruach haEmet (Spirit of Truth, Hochmah, 'Wisdom') has come, She will lead you in all emet (truth), for She will not speak from the mind of the nefesh (fleshy nature) but all that She hears (from Elohim/God), that will She speak, and She will make known to you future things. And She will glorify Me (Messiah) because from Mine She will take and will proclaim you" (John 16:13-14, HRV - based on the Aramaic).

Equally, the demand of mutual forgiveness among His followers is not only or merely to be seen as part of an abstract ethical agenda: it is part of the eschatological Torah. Yah'shua's (Jesus') followers were constituted by the fact that He - Yah'shua (Jesus), as the New Moses - was bringing about the return from Exile, the forgiveness of sins. And not to forgive one another would be a way of denying that this great, long-awaited event was taking place. In other words, it would be to cut off the branch on which those Yehudim (Judahites, Jews) were at that time, in first century Palestine, sitting - waiting as they were for divine interventions and events in all the wrong way.

So this is the main message: forgiveness has now become part of Yah'shua's (Jesus) definition of the New Family of Messianic Israel, the new People of Elohim (God). In other words, it was, and still is, part of His redefined symbolic Torah. You can be living all the other mitzvot (commandments) but if you fail to forgive, or are unwilling to forgive, you haven't even begun to be a New Covenant believer! You aren't even a member of Messianic Israel. Like the rich young ruler who idolatrised his wealth, the one who refuses to forgive is still outside the Kingdom, and the King has said, unapologetically, that He will not forgive us of our sins if we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us (Mt.6:12; Lk.1:14). Until that happens, our Torah-obedience is hollow...empty. It will not, and cannot, achieve for us that salvation which admits souls into the eternal Kingdom. That's why we need Yah'shua (Jesus), for in our own power, we cannot fully forgive.

The need for forgiveness, and to forgive, thus defines the believer's prayer life too. It becomes his most pressing task. This new, forgiveness-centred prayer is a key part of the symbolic praxis of Messiah's followers, and it defined the first believers over and against other movements within first century Judaism, as it still does today. The people of the Kingdom are those who trust in the Messiah's atoning work on the cross, obey the Torah, and are ethically defined by forgiveness by which they become the authentic, true sons and daughters of Israel's Elohim (God).

As ever, we are out of time and there is so much more that could be said, and doubtless I will say more on another occasion. Next week we shall look at the last of the modified symbols of Israel, and then we will have to pause and avert our gaze from this topic and focus instead on the important autumn (fall) feasts. So until next week, Yahweh bless you all richly and may He bring forth in all our lives a rich harvest of the fruits of forgiveness! Amen.

Endnotes

[1] Except in Matthew 11:13; 12:5; 22:40 where the first word, 'Orita', is used

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