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.”
In Isaiah right between chapter 7, which gives us the sign of Immanuel, and chapter 9, which tells us a child is born and a son is given, sits chapter 8. I want to look at some things in this very interesting and prophetic chapter. In verse 16 it states, “Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples.”(NIV) This is a very compelling verse. When I first saw this verse it was the word “disciple” that caught my attention. I thought that was an odd word to use in the Old Testament so I looked it up and it appears that Isaiah and Jeremiah are the only two who use this word and Isaiah is the only one who uses it to refer to the disciples of God. I found this interesting because I think, like most of you probably, of a disciple as someone from the New Testament era. I was not aware that it was also in the Old Testament.
If you notice Isaiah is being told to bind up something and seal up something. He is to bind up the testimony and seal up the law. This language reminds me a lot of when Gabriel tells Daniel to seal up the vision for the time of the end. But he is being told to seal up the law. We all know what that is. It is the Books of Moses, the Torah. But what of the testimony, what is that?
It reminded me of a verse in Revelation 12, verse 17: “Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring-those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”(NIV) The commandments could very easily be another word for the law since Psalm 119 uses many different words to refer to the Law: Law, Commandment, Precept, Ordinance, and even Word. So we have the Law represented here, but is the testimony of Jesus the same testimony that Isaiah is referring to? Let’s find out.
Let’s look at 1 Timothy 2:5 & 6. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men-the testimony given in its proper time.”(NIV) Paul here is referring to Jesus as the testimony. But can we be sure it is the testimony that Isaiah is speaking of?
Back in Isaiah 8 let’s go back a few verses and read what is above verse 16. Let’s start in verse 13 and go through 15, “The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are 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.”(NIV) That sounds familiar!
Romans 9:31-33 says, “but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the “stumbling stone.” As it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”” Paul definitely believes the “stumbling stone” in Isaiah is referring to Jesus.
Peter also speaks of it. In I Peter 2:4-9 he says, “as you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message-which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”(NIV) Yes, even Peter sees Jesus as the stumbling stone.
These verse are definitely declaring Jesus to be the “testimony” that Isaiah was referring to.
The verses in 1 Peter tie back to Isaiah 8 in another way as well. Peter speaks of being brought to His wonderful light. We are brought to the light of Him. If we go back to Isaiah 8 verse 20 we read, “To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.” That’s right the Law and the testimony of Jesus is what gives us light. He is the Light!
Finally, In Revelation 22 we see Jesus-the testimony-declaring He is coming soon and in verse 14 it says, “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”(KJV)
So we have seen how Jesus, YESHUA, is the testimony of God to man and that He is linked all through Scripture to the Law, TORAH. He is the living word, the living Torah, the living Law. We cannot separate Him and faith in Him from the Law anymore than we can separate His humanness from His deity. They are forever linked and meant for His disciples.
Not surprising since we see in Isaiah 2:2 & 3, “In the last days the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, “Come let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”(NIV) That’s right, in His kingdom, Yeshua will sit on His throne in the House of God and teach the Torah. How awesome is that!
Let us be ready! Let us know His word and obey it! In doing so we are declaring our love for Him. Oh, what a love! A love that seeks to obey every word that comes from the mouth of God. It is never contrary to Grace to obey the One we claim to love. Otherwise, it is words alone, it is faith alone, and as James (Jacob) the brother of our Lord said, “faith without works is dead.” May it never be, may our obedience prove our faith day after day.
Yeshua-the testimony-and the Torah are forever linked. Hallelujah!!
Esther's Legacy 