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 Repent
The Gospel of Matthew shows us it was the
practice of Yochanan the Immerser to call the
people to confess their sins and to repent, it
says: “…and they were being baptized by him
in the Jordan River, as they confessed their
sins” (Matthew 3:6). In fact, the standard
message of the Gospel is: "repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 3:2).
The practice of confessing and repenting from
sin, however, was not something that started in
the days of Yochanan the Immerser. The Torah
teaches us that if we sin, we should turn from
it and do what's right instead. It says in
Numbers: "speak to the sons of Israel, 'When
a man or woman commits any of the sins of
mankind, acting unfaithfully against the LORD,
and that person is guilty, then he shall confess
his sins which he has committed, and he shall
make restitution in full for his wrong and add
to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom
he has wronged'" (Numbers 5:6-7). When we
break one of God’s laws, we should immediately
seek to confess our transgression to Him, turn
around and begin to go in the opposite direction
towards obedience. Even if we find ourselves
committing the same sin frequently, we must
always confess our wrongdoing and seek to do
what’s right. This is evidence of our changed
heart. We will not be perfect in This World but
that doesn’t give us the excuse to not try to do
what’s right. On the basis of the Messiah’s
death on our behalf, we are confident that
through confession and repentance we can return
to God and live the holy life He has commanded
us to live.
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Learn
and Teach Torah
The Torah clearly commands us to teach the words
of God to our children, it says in Deuteronomy:
"you shall teach them diligently to your sons
and shall talk of them when you sit in your
house and when you walk by the way and when you
lie down and when you rise up" (Deuteronomy 6:7).
As the Ethiopian said to Philip in response to
whether he understood what he was reading, “how
could I, unless someone guides me?”, without a
teacher of Torah, there is no way for someone to
fully understand the commandments of God.
Without first understanding the Torah yourself,
you will not be able to teach it to others. This
verse in Deuteronomy is specifically calling
fathers to teach the Torah to their children but
it certainly has a broader application.
Regardless, our Master expected His disciples to
keep and teach the Torah, he said: "whoever
then annuls one of the least of these
commandments, and teaches others to do the same,
shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew
5:19).
Cling
to God
It says in Deuteronomy: "you shall fear the
LORD your God; you shall serve Him and cling to
Him, and you shall swear by His name"
(Deuteronomy 10:20). The traditional Jewish
understanding of how one should "cling" to God
is by attaching oneself to a Torah scholar and
his disciples. For believers, we cling to God
through our Rabbi, Yeshua of Nazareth and
through the teachings of his disciples. As we
devote ourselves to Yeshua, walking as he
walked, we are actually devoting ourselves to
God. The Master said: "if you had known me,
you would have known my Father also; from now on
you know Him, and have seen Him" (John 14:7).
We commune with God through the Master Yeshua.
From the Messianic perspective, this is actually
a commandment to be a devoted disciple of Yeshua
and to follow his teachings and the teachings of
His Apostles.
Be
Different
The Torah commands the people of Israel to be
different from the nations and to not follow the
customs of the nations. It says in Leviticus:
"you shall not do what is done in the land of
Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is
done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing
you; you shall not walk in their statutes"
(Leviticus 18:3). Generally, this
commandment refers to not following after the
social patterns of the pagan culture around us.
As disciples of the quintessential Israelite,
Yeshua the Messiah, we need to be different.
Whether it be sexual practices, clothing,
entertainment, hairstyles, and, really, whatever
else you want to think of, we're not supposed to
follow the ways of the pagan culture. Instead we
need to follow the pattern and guidelines of
God's culture, the culture He laid down in the
Torah.
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