Should Christians Follow the Instructions of Their God?

You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit!

Acts 7:51

Anytime subjects such as the Sabbaths or dietary instructions present themselves, the average Christian will sharply reply, “that is the old covenant” or “I am saved by grace and not under the law”. It is as if the Creator made these terrible “laws” for His favourite people, Israel, then required His son to come and die to release His people from these horrible “laws”. How ridiculous does that sound? It is actually a form of Marcionism and what most Christians believe, unfortunately.

Marcion was a second century heretic that taught that Jesus came from a different god than the creator God, Yahuah. The creator god was a mean god who went rogue and the good god had to come as a phantom (in the body of a man) to release the people from this demiurge. Marcion is attributed to labeling the Bible into the New Testament and Old Testament. Much of Marcion’s theology found its way into mainstream Christianity and remains today.

Why does the Christian church get so defensive when claiming to “be saved by grace and not under the law”? What are they scared of? They may have to stop eating swine’s flesh? Wouldn’t that be better for their health? Is there a correlation between following the instructions, or Torah, of the Creator, which were given to Israel to share with the whole world, and a healthy life?

Isaiah 42:5–7 (LEB)

⁵ Thus says the God, Yahweh, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it. ⁶ “I am Yahweh; I have called you in righteousness, and I have grasped your hand and watched over you; and I have given you as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations, ⁷ to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out from the dungeon, those who sit in darkness from the house of imprisonment.

Yahuah’s instructions are the lamp that lights our path.

Psalm 119:103–105 (LEB)

¹⁰³ How smooth are your words to my palate, more than honey in my mouth. ¹⁰⁴ From your precepts I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

The Creator of the universe has given us the instructions to live a blessed life through His chosen people, Israel, and Christians view it as an evil thing. This is not a Biblical mindset and it is deception from the enemy to rob people of the blessings built into the fabric of the universe by God.

Acts 7:51–53 (LEB)

⁵¹ “You stiff-necked people and uncircumcised in hearts and in your ears! You constantly resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so also do you! ⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand about the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become, ⁵³ you who received the law by directions of angels and have not observed it!”

Yahuah gave Moses His instructions to share with the people. The “old covenant” is that Israel swore to do them at Mount Horeb. The covenant was sealed with the blood of bulls. The instructions of God were not the covenant, or “old law”. They were the instructions that Israel agreed to. They broke the covenant by not doing the instructions of God. God made covenants with their children who also broke them. The instructions of God are not limited to a covenant with any group of people, they are eternal.

Psalm 119:1–16 (LEB)

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of Yahweh. ² Blessed are those who keep his testimonies; they seek him with a whole heart. ³ They also do no wrong; they walk in his ways. ⁴ You have commanded your precepts, that we should keep them diligently. ⁵ Oh that my ways were steadfast, to keep your statutes! ⁶ Then I would not be ashamed when I look to all your commands. ⁷ I will give you thanks with an upright heart, when I learn your righteous laws. ⁸ I will heed your statutes; do not utterly forsake me. ⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By taking heed according to your word. ¹⁰ With my whole heart I have sought you; do not let me stray from your commands. ¹¹ In my heart I have hidden your word, so that I may not sin against you. ¹² Blessed are you, O Yahweh. Teach me your statutes. ¹³ With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. ¹⁴ In the way of your testimonies I have rejoiced as I would over all riches. ¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts and look at your ways. ¹⁶ I will take delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Are these words of David no longer true? Putting the laws or instructions of God in a negative light has ruined the church. There is so much confusion with the false teachings of dispensationalism and lawlessness. What laws or instructions do Christians think God said he would write on our hearts? The writer of Hebrews quotes Jeremiah:

Hebrews 8:10 (LEB)

¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will decree with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I am putting my laws in their minds and I will write them on their hearts, and I will be their God and they will be my people.

The instructions, “laws”, or “torah”, were shared by God to Israel for them to have a better life. The word “torah” means instructions as well as civil law.

תּוֹרָה n.f. direction, instruction, law — 1. instruction: a. human: of a mother; of a father; of sages; of a poet; תּוֹרָת חֶסֶד kind instruction (of a wise wife). b. divine; through his servants. c. a body of prophetic (or sometimes perh. priestly) teaching; in the heart; myriads of precepts. d. instruction in Messianic age. e. a body of priestly direction or instruction relating to sacred things. 2. law (prop. direction): viz. a. of special laws, sg. of Feast of Maṣṣoth, sabbath; of direction given by priests in partic. case; of statutes of priest’s code; pl. תּוֹרוֹת laws; (of decisions in civil cases given by Moses); the laws of the new temple; those laws in which men should walk. b. of codes of law, (1) התּוֹרָה as written in the code of the covenant; (2) the law of the Deuteronomic code. (3) the law of the Priest’s code. 3. custom, manner: תּוֹרַת הָאָדָם the manner of man, not of God, i.e. deal with me as man with man.

Richard Whitaker et al., The Abridged Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew-English Lexicon of the Old Testament: From A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown, S.R. Driver and Charles Briggs, Based on the Lexicon of Wilhelm Gesenius (Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1906).

If we seek after the instruction of God we are promised blessings. Why wouldn’t a Christian want to partake in this? I see Christians fighting with nature all of the time and once did it myself. It is the enemy robbing them of their blessing. Will people who continually walk in disobedience to God’s instructions still be saved? I cannot answer that, but I can say I experienced both the blessings and the curses and would prefer the blessings while walking on this Earth.

Deuteronomy 28:1–13 (LEB)

“And it will happen that if you indeed listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to diligently observe all his commandments that I am commanding you today, then Yahweh your God will set you above all the nations of the earth. ² And all of these blessings shall come upon you, and they shall have an effect on you if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God: ³ “You will be blessed in the city, and you will be blessed in the field. ⁴ “Blessed will be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your livestock, the calf of your cattle and the lambs of your flock. ⁵ “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.⁶ “Blessed will you be when you come in and blessed will you be when you go out. ⁷ “Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; on one road they shall come out against you, but on seven roads they shall flee before you. ⁸ Yahweh will command concerning you the blessing to be in your barns and in all your endeavors; and he will bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. ⁹ Yahweh will establish you for himself as a holy people as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and you walk in his ways. ¹⁰ And all of the peoples of the earth shall see that by the name of Yahweh you are called, and they shall fear you. ¹¹ And Yahweh will make you successful and prosperous, in the fruit of your womb and on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give to you. ¹² Yahweh shall open for you his rich storehouse, even the heavens, to give the rain for your land in its time and to bless all of the work of your hand, and you will lend to many nations; you will not borrow from them. ¹³ And Yahweh shall make you as head and not the tail, and you shall be only at the top of the nations, and you shall not be at the bottom, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today and diligently observe them.

Why wouldn’t Christians want to partake in these blessings? From observation, I know that most Christians do not experience these blessings. Why not try following the instructions God gave through Israel that He said He would write on our hearts? Writing them on our hearts is not a magical process. It means in the new covenant, with new people, He would give us His spirit to enable us to do these things. If we reject the Spirit of grace He gave to us and willfully ignore His instructions, can we expect anything different than the promised curses?

Deuteronomy 28:15–46 (LEB)

¹⁵ “ And then if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by diligently observing all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you: ¹⁶ “You shall be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. ¹⁷ “Your basket shall be cursed and your kneading trough. ¹⁸ “The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of your ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock. ¹⁹ “You shall be cursed when you come in, and you shall be cursed when you go out.

²⁰ “Yahweh will send upon you the curse, the panic, and the threat in everything that you undertake, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly because of the evil of your deeds in that you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you until it consumes you from the land that you are going to, to take possession of it. ²² Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you until you perish. ²³ And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will change the rain of your land to fine dust and to sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you until you are destroyed.

²⁵ “Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated _⌊before_⌋ your enemies; on one road you shall go against them, but you will flee on seven roads before them, and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be anyone to frighten them away.

²⁷ “Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with the skin rash that cannot be healed. ²⁸ Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed all the time, and there will not be anyone who will rescue you. ³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right before you, and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and there shall not be anyone who rescues you. ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and you will be looking on longingly for them all day, but you will be powerless to do anything. ³³ A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. ³⁴ You shall become mad because of what your eyes shall see. ³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which you will not be able to be healed, from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there.

³⁸ “You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it. ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives shall drop off. ⁴¹You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail.

⁴⁵ “And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, by observing his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring forever.

Many of us are unknowingly descendants of the twelve tribes due to the dispersion or scattering of Israel throughout the nations. At the very least, if we follow Yahuah, we are spiritual children of Israel. “And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring forever” . From observations, I know many Christians are living with some of these curses on a daily basis. Is it because of their stiff necked, hardened heart? Why not try keeping the sabbaths of the Creator, and following some of His other instructions just to try out the theory? Is your heart too hard? This is for the here and now, not for just a group of people that lived 3500 years ago.

Deuteronomy 4:27–31 (LEB)

²⁷ And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you. ²⁸ And you will there serve gods made by human hands, of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell. ²⁹ But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ In your distress when all these things have found you in the latter days, then you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice. ³¹ For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you, and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors that he swore to them.

James wrote to this same group of people:

James 1:1 (LEB)

1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the dispersion. Greetings!

As did Peter:

1 Peter 1:1–2 (LEB)

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen who are residing temporarily in the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ² according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and for sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

Yeshua, called Jesus by the Christian church, knew how important the instruction of His Father was and told us.

Matthew 19:16–17 (LEB)

¹⁶ And behold, someone came up to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do so that I will have eternal life?” ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Why are you asking me about what is good? There is one who is good. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments!”

John 12:49–50 (LEB)

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken from myself, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. So the things that I say, just as the Father said to me, thus I say.”

Yeshua is the living word of God in flesh. That means Yeshua is the instruction or torah of God. He is the lamp that lights our feet, the way and the truth just as the instruction of God is these things. They are the same.

Do you just regurgitate what you have been told by religious leaders and doctrine? Do you go silent when presented with something that challenges what you have been told all your life? If one really knows what they believe it should be easy discussing it with someone else. Learn your identity. Repent and follow God’s instructions to live a blessed life! Psalm 119:165 (LEB) “Great peace is for those who love your law, and they do not have a cause for stumbling”.

Featured photo by Jamie Templeton on Unsplash.

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