The Mystery of Lawlessness
The Mystery of Lawlessness
Visit their web site www.thewatchman.org
God has promised restoration. Restoration means change. Great changes, both for good and evil, will take place in the last days. Change is not always pleasant and easy. But one thing must be made clear; if we are not open and willing to change, we will not be part of what God is doing in the last days. We must be willing to leave the past behind, walk against the crowd and be pioneers like Abraham. "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." (Heb 11:18)
We will look at the rejection of the Law of Moses in the church. When the average Christian today hears the phrase "the Law of Moses", it usually triggers a very negative feeling of rejection and even fear. Yet, as we have already mentioned many times, our Lord and Savior made a very clear declaration at the very outset of his ministry,
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Mt 5:17-18)
We need to notice three very important things in these verses,
1. Yeshua did not come to end or abolish the Law.
2. The Law will be in force as long as heaven and earth exists.
3. Every detail in the Law down to the least stroke of a pen is important and will be fulfilled.
To fulfill the Law was a first century rabbinical expression, that meant to "show the correct and full meaning of the Law and obey it." Yeshua certainly did not come to remove the Law. As the Messiah, he is rather the ultimate Torah expert that Moses predicted would come and said that everyone must listen to. This agrees with traditional Jewish expectations of the Messiah as a righteous man that will establish the Law of Moses, not only among the Jewish people, but also among the Gentiles.
Preaching that Yeshua came to end or abolish the Law is to preach a false Messiah! It is actually the gospel of the antichrist, who is called "the lawless one." To preach a false gospel is a very, very serious thing. Galatians 1:8-9 says that there is a double curse on such "evangelists"!
"But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." (NASB)
There is a very powerful demonic force of deception behind the negative attitude towards the Law of Moses among Christians. The Scripture calls it "the mystery of lawlessness." Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, " For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; …And then that lawless one will be revealed" (NASB) The NIV translation uses the expression "the secret power of lawlessness."
The mystery of lawlessness is a deception, that with all the ingenuity of hell, secretly and mysteriously has been operating from inside the church for 1900 years, to slowly step by step do away with the Law of Moses and thereby prepare the way for the antichrist. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, " Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction." The rebellion mentioned here is the falling away from Moses mentioned in Acts 21:21. This is the only other place in the New Testament where this same Greek word "apostasia" is used.
The rebellion against Moses through the working of the secret power of lawlessness developed gradually over the first three centuries after Messiah. Step by step, what from the beginning was a Torah based Jewish faith centered in Jerusalem, became a Gentile religion rejecting both Moses and the Jewish people. This rebellion against Moses that Paul said would come, has been reinforced in the church generation after generation, until rejection of the Law of Moses has been deeply ingrained into the very DNA of Christendom.
Our Savior had the deepest respect for even the least stroke of a pen in the Law. Already at twelve years of age, he astounded the Torah teachers of his day with his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. In the new covenant the Holy Spirit has written the Law on our hearts and minds. Yet, today it is unusual if a Christian even can list the Ten Commandments properly. The latest statistics show that 91% of the "born again" youth in America do not even believe that there are any absolute moral truths. Friends, it is time for Elijah to come and restore righteousness!
1 John 4:2-3 says that we can recognize the spirit of antichrist as the spirit that denies that Yeshua is a man. 2 John verses 7-8 says, "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully." Most Christians today has it completely backwards. It does not say that the spirit of the antichrist denies that Jesus is God. The antichrist spirit refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is a man. The devil hates the truth that the Messiah is a Torah observant Jew, who is the son of David and whose real name is Yeshua. His attitude is, "Let him be a God up in the sky that people pray to in church, but not a real man who can challenge my dominion over the world." The spirit of antichrist has detached the Messiah from his own people.
Yeshua Is NOT the End of the Law
Since the enemy works in the darkness, it is necessary to bring the rejection of the Law of Moses into the searchlight of God's penetrating Word. We are going to look at some of the most common Scriptures that people use to claim that the Law of Moses no longer applies to believers today.
The first Scripture is Romans 10:4, " Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." This verse certainly seems to contradict what Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17 that he has not come to abolish the Law. But since we know that there are no contradictions in Scripture, there must be an explanation to this problem. Praise God there certainly is. In fact these verses from Romans and Matthew completely agree with one another.
The simple explanation is that the Greek word "telos" that is translated "end" in Romans 10:4 also means "goal" and "completion." Messiah is not the end of the Law, but the goal of the Law. This is how the Complete Jewish Bible translates Romans 10:4, "For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts."
What a difference! The Law points to the Messiah, it prophesies about the Messiah, it reveals the Messiah and it leads us to the Messiah. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." (NASB) The Law will continue to prophesy about Yeshua until heaven and earth has passed away. Only then everything in the Law will have been fulfilled.
The only possible explanation for the mistranslation of Romans 10:4, which is found in every Bible translation that we have seen except one, is the deep theological bias and blindness within Christendom against the Law of Moses. This is a prime example of the work of the mystery of lawlessness. It truly is very frightening and should make us wake up. Friends, it is time to unite in prayer and fasting to expose the stronghold of lawlessness in the church!
Since our Savior and Lord was and still is a Torah obedient Jew, and since we have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, it is absolutely necessary that we let go of all bias and fear of the Torah, and things that are Jewish, if we claim to be Yeshua's followers.
Yeshua Did NOT Abolish the Law
The second misunderstood passage that we will look at, is Ephesians 2:14-15,
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace."
How can we understand this verse, when it plainly says here that Messiah has abolished the Law of Moses? Or does it really say that? Maybe we need to read the text a little bit more carefully to find out. It actually does not say in the text, "by abolishing in his flesh the law." It says, "by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations." There is a big difference.
Paul is referring to rules and regulations out from the Law, not the Law itself. One example of such a rule from the Law that is found in the New Testament is the distance that you could walk on the Sabbath in order to keep it. Acts 1:12 reads, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city." This distance is not specifically mentioned in the Law itself regarding the Sabbath, but it seems like Yeshua and his disciples obeyed this rule that the Torah teachers had made out from the Law because they were part of the community of Israel. There were other rules from the Law that Yeshua on the other hand broke. Remember that he came to fulfill the Law by giving the correct and full meaning of the Law.
When we read the context in Ephesians 2 we discover that Paul is talking about the specific commandments and regulations from the Law that separated Jews from Gentiles before Yeshua's death on the tree. Because Gentiles can now receive righteousness by faith and have been brought near by the blood of Messiah, the necessary regulations of separation between Jew and Gentile before Yeshua died have been abolished. It is not the Law that has been abolished!
This is also exactly what the vision with the sheet coming down from heaven with unclean animals that Peter received in Acts 10 was all about. Peter later told the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, "You are well aware that it is against our law [commandments and regulations from the Law] for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. …I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." (Ac 10:28,34-35) The vision that Peter had received had nothing to do with eating unclean food. It had to do with the removal of the barrier separating Jew and Gentile from each other in the body of Messiah.
Through faith Gentiles have been made righteous before God and are now no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people Israel. The wall of separation between Jew and Gentile is gone. We have become one body in Messiah. Hallelujah!!!
The Law Is a Blessing
Let's go to another well-known Scripture that is often misused. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.' He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Gal 3:13-14)
It is amazing that a lot of Christians read this passage as if it says that the Law is a curse that we have been delivered from. This complete misunderstanding maybe is not so strange, since basically all Christians are brought up with an attitude emanating from most Christian teaching and preaching where the Law is a curse that we must stay away from as far as possible. We have been blinded by the mystery of lawlessness.
The Bible tells us over and over again that when we obey the Law we will be blessed and when we disobey the Law we will be cursed. Since every human being, except the Messiah, has broken the Law one time or another, the entire human race is under a curse. What Paul is saying is that when Yeshua hung on the tree, he took all the curses from breaking the Law upon himself by becoming a curse in our place, so that we instead could be blessed with the blessings of Abraham. Are you not glad for these good news?
We have been declared righteous in Yeshua, and have been given the Holy Spirit so that we can obey the Law and live a blessed life, just like Abraham. God said about the father of faith, "Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." (Gen 26:5) Abraham was blessed because he kept God's commands and laws. God wants us also to keep his requirements, commands, decrees and laws, just like Abraham did. That is why He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us. In Romans 3:31 Paul asks, "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all!Rather, we uphold the law."
It is not the Law that is a curse. It is breaking the Law that is a curse and that is what Yeshua came to set us free from!
The Law of Sin and Death
Not too long ago we counseled with a very precious Messianic Jewish brother, who has been saved for many years and has also served as an elder in a church. After his salvation he has however been brought up in a typical, traditional Torah-rejecting Christian environment. We were surprised to discover that this brother actually thought Paul was referring to the Law of Moses when he wrote in Romans 8:1-2 that we have been set free from the law of sin and death. " Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Ro 8:1-2)
The law of sin and death is of course not the Law of Moses but the law that is operating in our sinful nature, our flesh. In the next two verses it says, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature [the law of sin and death] but according to the Spirit."
The obvious misunderstanding of "the law of sin and death" by this brother, is just another example of how thick the veil is in the church regarding the Law of Moses and how deeply entrenched the idea is that the Law has been abolished. The depth of this deception is absolutely frightening.
Keeping God's Commandments Leads To Greatness In the Kingdom of God
This is the most important part that we must understand. After Yeshua explained that he has not come to abolish the Law, he continued, "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 5:19)
This is true of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul wrote in 1Cor. 7:19, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts." God wants all of us to become great in His kingdom by obeying His commandments! 1 John 2:6 says, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." To walk means to live and to act like Yeshua did and we know that he never rejected the Torah but obeyed all of God's commandments in fullness.
Torah means "teaching" and "instruction." God wants us to be blessed and to be great in His kingdom. Therefore He wants us to receive the teachings and the instructions that He has given us in His Law. The devil hates us and therefore wants us to be ignorant about the Torah so that we will be cursed.
To disobey God's commands is called lawlessness. The antichrist is called "the man of lawlessness." (2 Th 2:3) and "the lawless one" (v. 8) It literally could be translated "the man without the Torah." The "mystery of lawlessness" is the seducing power behind the great harlot. "This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Rev 17:5)
Paul explained that this mystery of lawlessness was at work already in his day and that ultimately it would prepare the way for the antichrist, called "the lawless one."
God bless you as watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem!
Shabbat Shalom!
Lars and Harriet Enarson
Visit their web site www.thewatchman.org
God has promised restoration. Restoration means change. Great changes, both for good and evil, will take place in the last days. Change is not always pleasant and easy. But one thing must be made clear; if we are not open and willing to change, we will not be part of what God is doing in the last days. We must be willing to leave the past behind, walk against the crowd and be pioneers like Abraham. "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." (Heb 11:18)
We will look at the rejection of the Law of Moses in the church. When the average Christian today hears the phrase "the Law of Moses", it usually triggers a very negative feeling of rejection and even fear. Yet, as we have already mentioned many times, our Lord and Savior made a very clear declaration at the very outset of his ministry,
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished." (Mt 5:17-18)
We need to notice three very important things in these verses,
1. Yeshua did not come to end or abolish the Law.
2. The Law will be in force as long as heaven and earth exists.
3. Every detail in the Law down to the least stroke of a pen is important and will be fulfilled.
To fulfill the Law was a first century rabbinical expression, that meant to "show the correct and full meaning of the Law and obey it." Yeshua certainly did not come to remove the Law. As the Messiah, he is rather the ultimate Torah expert that Moses predicted would come and said that everyone must listen to. This agrees with traditional Jewish expectations of the Messiah as a righteous man that will establish the Law of Moses, not only among the Jewish people, but also among the Gentiles.
Preaching that Yeshua came to end or abolish the Law is to preach a false Messiah! It is actually the gospel of the antichrist, who is called "the lawless one." To preach a false gospel is a very, very serious thing. Galatians 1:8-9 says that there is a double curse on such "evangelists"!
"But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed." (NASB)
There is a very powerful demonic force of deception behind the negative attitude towards the Law of Moses among Christians. The Scripture calls it "the mystery of lawlessness." Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8, " For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; …And then that lawless one will be revealed" (NASB) The NIV translation uses the expression "the secret power of lawlessness."
The mystery of lawlessness is a deception, that with all the ingenuity of hell, secretly and mysteriously has been operating from inside the church for 1900 years, to slowly step by step do away with the Law of Moses and thereby prepare the way for the antichrist. Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, " Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for [that day will not come] until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction." The rebellion mentioned here is the falling away from Moses mentioned in Acts 21:21. This is the only other place in the New Testament where this same Greek word "apostasia" is used.
The rebellion against Moses through the working of the secret power of lawlessness developed gradually over the first three centuries after Messiah. Step by step, what from the beginning was a Torah based Jewish faith centered in Jerusalem, became a Gentile religion rejecting both Moses and the Jewish people. This rebellion against Moses that Paul said would come, has been reinforced in the church generation after generation, until rejection of the Law of Moses has been deeply ingrained into the very DNA of Christendom.
Our Savior had the deepest respect for even the least stroke of a pen in the Law. Already at twelve years of age, he astounded the Torah teachers of his day with his knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. In the new covenant the Holy Spirit has written the Law on our hearts and minds. Yet, today it is unusual if a Christian even can list the Ten Commandments properly. The latest statistics show that 91% of the "born again" youth in America do not even believe that there are any absolute moral truths. Friends, it is time for Elijah to come and restore righteousness!
1 John 4:2-3 says that we can recognize the spirit of antichrist as the spirit that denies that Yeshua is a man. 2 John verses 7-8 says, "Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what you have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully." Most Christians today has it completely backwards. It does not say that the spirit of the antichrist denies that Jesus is God. The antichrist spirit refuses to acknowledge that Jesus is a man. The devil hates the truth that the Messiah is a Torah observant Jew, who is the son of David and whose real name is Yeshua. His attitude is, "Let him be a God up in the sky that people pray to in church, but not a real man who can challenge my dominion over the world." The spirit of antichrist has detached the Messiah from his own people.
Yeshua Is NOT the End of the Law
Since the enemy works in the darkness, it is necessary to bring the rejection of the Law of Moses into the searchlight of God's penetrating Word. We are going to look at some of the most common Scriptures that people use to claim that the Law of Moses no longer applies to believers today.
The first Scripture is Romans 10:4, " Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes." This verse certainly seems to contradict what Yeshua said in Matthew 5:17 that he has not come to abolish the Law. But since we know that there are no contradictions in Scripture, there must be an explanation to this problem. Praise God there certainly is. In fact these verses from Romans and Matthew completely agree with one another.
The simple explanation is that the Greek word "telos" that is translated "end" in Romans 10:4 also means "goal" and "completion." Messiah is not the end of the Law, but the goal of the Law. This is how the Complete Jewish Bible translates Romans 10:4, "For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts."
What a difference! The Law points to the Messiah, it prophesies about the Messiah, it reveals the Messiah and it leads us to the Messiah. Paul wrote in Galatians 3:24, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith." (NASB) The Law will continue to prophesy about Yeshua until heaven and earth has passed away. Only then everything in the Law will have been fulfilled.
The only possible explanation for the mistranslation of Romans 10:4, which is found in every Bible translation that we have seen except one, is the deep theological bias and blindness within Christendom against the Law of Moses. This is a prime example of the work of the mystery of lawlessness. It truly is very frightening and should make us wake up. Friends, it is time to unite in prayer and fasting to expose the stronghold of lawlessness in the church!
Since our Savior and Lord was and still is a Torah obedient Jew, and since we have been grafted into the commonwealth of Israel, it is absolutely necessary that we let go of all bias and fear of the Torah, and things that are Jewish, if we claim to be Yeshua's followers.
Yeshua Did NOT Abolish the Law
The second misunderstood passage that we will look at, is Ephesians 2:14-15,
"For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace."
How can we understand this verse, when it plainly says here that Messiah has abolished the Law of Moses? Or does it really say that? Maybe we need to read the text a little bit more carefully to find out. It actually does not say in the text, "by abolishing in his flesh the law." It says, "by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations." There is a big difference.
Paul is referring to rules and regulations out from the Law, not the Law itself. One example of such a rule from the Law that is found in the New Testament is the distance that you could walk on the Sabbath in order to keep it. Acts 1:12 reads, "Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city." This distance is not specifically mentioned in the Law itself regarding the Sabbath, but it seems like Yeshua and his disciples obeyed this rule that the Torah teachers had made out from the Law because they were part of the community of Israel. There were other rules from the Law that Yeshua on the other hand broke. Remember that he came to fulfill the Law by giving the correct and full meaning of the Law.
When we read the context in Ephesians 2 we discover that Paul is talking about the specific commandments and regulations from the Law that separated Jews from Gentiles before Yeshua's death on the tree. Because Gentiles can now receive righteousness by faith and have been brought near by the blood of Messiah, the necessary regulations of separation between Jew and Gentile before Yeshua died have been abolished. It is not the Law that has been abolished!
This is also exactly what the vision with the sheet coming down from heaven with unclean animals that Peter received in Acts 10 was all about. Peter later told the Gentiles at the house of Cornelius, "You are well aware that it is against our law [commandments and regulations from the Law] for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. …I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." (Ac 10:28,34-35) The vision that Peter had received had nothing to do with eating unclean food. It had to do with the removal of the barrier separating Jew and Gentile from each other in the body of Messiah.
Through faith Gentiles have been made righteous before God and are now no longer foreigners and aliens but fellow citizens with God's people Israel. The wall of separation between Jew and Gentile is gone. We have become one body in Messiah. Hallelujah!!!
The Law Is a Blessing
Let's go to another well-known Scripture that is often misused. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.' He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit." (Gal 3:13-14)
It is amazing that a lot of Christians read this passage as if it says that the Law is a curse that we have been delivered from. This complete misunderstanding maybe is not so strange, since basically all Christians are brought up with an attitude emanating from most Christian teaching and preaching where the Law is a curse that we must stay away from as far as possible. We have been blinded by the mystery of lawlessness.
The Bible tells us over and over again that when we obey the Law we will be blessed and when we disobey the Law we will be cursed. Since every human being, except the Messiah, has broken the Law one time or another, the entire human race is under a curse. What Paul is saying is that when Yeshua hung on the tree, he took all the curses from breaking the Law upon himself by becoming a curse in our place, so that we instead could be blessed with the blessings of Abraham. Are you not glad for these good news?
We have been declared righteous in Yeshua, and have been given the Holy Spirit so that we can obey the Law and live a blessed life, just like Abraham. God said about the father of faith, "Abraham obeyed me and kept my requirements, my commands, my decrees and my laws." (Gen 26:5) Abraham was blessed because he kept God's commands and laws. God wants us also to keep his requirements, commands, decrees and laws, just like Abraham did. That is why He has given us the Holy Spirit to help us. In Romans 3:31 Paul asks, "Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all!Rather, we uphold the law."
It is not the Law that is a curse. It is breaking the Law that is a curse and that is what Yeshua came to set us free from!
The Law of Sin and Death
Not too long ago we counseled with a very precious Messianic Jewish brother, who has been saved for many years and has also served as an elder in a church. After his salvation he has however been brought up in a typical, traditional Torah-rejecting Christian environment. We were surprised to discover that this brother actually thought Paul was referring to the Law of Moses when he wrote in Romans 8:1-2 that we have been set free from the law of sin and death. " Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." (Ro 8:1-2)
The law of sin and death is of course not the Law of Moses but the law that is operating in our sinful nature, our flesh. In the next two verses it says, "For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature [the law of sin and death] but according to the Spirit."
The obvious misunderstanding of "the law of sin and death" by this brother, is just another example of how thick the veil is in the church regarding the Law of Moses and how deeply entrenched the idea is that the Law has been abolished. The depth of this deception is absolutely frightening.
Keeping God's Commandments Leads To Greatness In the Kingdom of God
This is the most important part that we must understand. After Yeshua explained that he has not come to abolish the Law, he continued, "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 5:19)
This is true of both Jews and Gentiles. Paul wrote in 1Cor. 7:19, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts." God wants all of us to become great in His kingdom by obeying His commandments! 1 John 2:6 says, "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did." To walk means to live and to act like Yeshua did and we know that he never rejected the Torah but obeyed all of God's commandments in fullness.
Torah means "teaching" and "instruction." God wants us to be blessed and to be great in His kingdom. Therefore He wants us to receive the teachings and the instructions that He has given us in His Law. The devil hates us and therefore wants us to be ignorant about the Torah so that we will be cursed.
To disobey God's commands is called lawlessness. The antichrist is called "the man of lawlessness." (2 Th 2:3) and "the lawless one" (v. 8) It literally could be translated "the man without the Torah." The "mystery of lawlessness" is the seducing power behind the great harlot. "This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Rev 17:5)
Paul explained that this mystery of lawlessness was at work already in his day and that ultimately it would prepare the way for the antichrist, called "the lawless one."
God bless you as watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem!
Shabbat Shalom!
Lars and Harriet Enarson
posted by Vickie Gambrell at 12:56 AM
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