Isaiah 8:13-16 says, “ADONAI/The LORD Shaddai is the only one you are to regard as holy, He alone are you to fear, He alone are you to dread, and He will be a sanctuary; but for both houses of Israel He will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.  And for the people of Jerusalem He will be a trap and a snare.  Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured.  Bind up the testimony and seal up the law/Torah among my disciples.”

In Romans 9:33 Paul says that the stone that makes men stumble is Yeshua and in 1 Timothy 2:6 he calls Yeshua the testimony that was given in its time.  So, Yeshua is the stumbling block and the testimony.

Historically, Christians have held tight to the testimony of Jesus and the Jews have held tight to the Torah. However, as we see in the Isaiah passage it is about both.

Revelation 12:17 lets us know it is the ones who hold to the testimony of Yeshua and keep the commandments of God that the dragon goes after. Both are important!

Finally, we see this in Isaiah 8:20, “To the Law/Torah and the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they will have no dawn.”

Is it any wonder that the enemy wants us to keep these two, the testimony (Yeshua) and the Torah, apart?  It is that all too familiar strategy of divide and conquer. Let’s not give him that satisfaction!  Let us hold to the testimony, Yeshua, and the Torah!

Now, as we begin to witness to our older brother, the Jews, we need to be honest with ourselves and them.  We have presented in the past a Messiah they could not recognize.  Not only have we presented a Gentile looking Messiah devoid of His Jewishness, but we have also said that because He fulfilled the Torah/Law that we don’t have to obey it.  That is and has been a big turn off to the Jewish people and rightly so.

We have essentially said to them, “believe in Jesus to come to God, but don’t serve and obey God.”  That is essentially what they hear.  And it is and has been a huge clue to them that the one we are presenting to them, at least the way we have presented Him, sounds and looks more like a false prophet than the real Messiah written about in the Tanakh (what we call the Old Testament).  Let me explain this statement.

Deuteronomy 13 says that even if someone prophesies and it comes true or does signs and wonders (miracles), but they lead you away from your God and from serving Him they are a false prophet.  Since to serve Him means to obey Him the false prophet is encouraging you to disobey the one you claim to serve. 

Even Yeshua when speaking of those who come to Him and say, “Lord, Lord didn’t we do things in Your Name,” he said to them, “Go away from me you workers of Lawlessness, I never knew you.”(Matthew 7:22-23)  This comment of Yeshua takes place in the context of a discussion about false prophets.  This should be very sobering to us.  We need to be very careful about how we present our Messiah.

Yeshua was a Jew and practiced the Torah.  If He did not He would have been a sinner and not an acceptable sacrifice.  He not only practiced the Torah, He also taught the Torah.  If He didn’t He would have been coming against the teachings of His Father.  He Himself said that His words were the words of His Father (John 8:28, 14:24).  Remember, He is the Living Torah, which also means He would have been coming against Himself.  He would have also, at the least, been calling Himself the least in the Kingdom according to His own words (Matthew 5:17-20).

Yeshua is the Living Torah, He practiced the Torah, He taught the Torah and promised the coming of the Holy Spirit who would also teach us the Torah (John 14:26 & 16:13-15, Romans 8).

My point is this:  Let’s be honest about our mistakes of the past and seek to rectify them with truth and grace.  Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past.  

I also want to say I am not passing judgement on those who have taught this.  I believe those who have come before us have done the best that they knew to do from what was taught to them. It is not about them, but about us and how we present Yeshua now and in the future, now that the LORD has opened our eyes.

“To the Law/Torah and the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they will have no dawn.”