There are
three ways to understand the message or messages contained within the entirety
of the Bible. The three ways are the atheistic way, the modern Christianity
way, and the ancient Christian way. I will briefly discuss each of these three
methods in the following few paragraphs in the hopes to bring a better
understanding to why I believe and write what I do.
The first, and
easiest way, is to simply take it as fiction and not believe anything written
within its pages. This is the atheistic method and to most atheist the Bible is
simply a set of fictional bedtime stories, or a religious book used to control
the masses. This method fails to take into account the countless prophecies the
Bible gives that have historically been accurate. Obviously, I completely
disregard this line of thinking. In my opinion, any book that has accurately
prophesied many things accurately, and has not been wrong on any of its
prophecies, I find extremely credible. Granted, not all the prophecies have yet
come true, it doesn’t mean they have no chance to come true in the future. The
biggest thing debunking the atheistic line of thought is the accuracy in which
these prophecies have come true. It is not just that they came true, but they
came true precisely how they were stated to come true.
Isaiah
44:24, 27-28
Here is what Adonai says, your Redeemer, he who formed you in the
womb: “I am Adonai, who makes all things, who stretched out the heavens all
alone, who spread out the earth all by myself.
I say to the deep sea, ‘Dry up! I will make your streams run dry.’ I
say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, he will do everything I want. He will say of Jerusalem,
“You will be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”
According to
the Greek historian Herodotus, the army of Cyrus diverted the waters of the
Euphrates River, which flowed through the city of Babylon. Cyrus’ strategy
enabled his troops to enter the city along the riverbed. After taking the city,
Cyrus freed the Jews who had been captive in Babylon and allowed them to return
and rebuild Jerusalem, which had been destroyed 70 years earlier.
Isaiah prophesied
at the very latest in 686 BC. Cyrus was not even born until 600 BC. Not only
did he get the prophecy correct about what would happen, he even got the name
of the conqueror right. That is one of the most mind blowing parts of the
prophetic Bible. This is just one example of the prophecies given in the Bible
that have come to pass which causes my rejection of the atheistic point of view
concerning the Bibles authenticity.
The next
understanding, and the one we see most often today in church, is the modern
Christianity way to view the Bible. So far, my understanding of this view is
something like the following. The whole Bible is true and should concern us,
but the Old Testament doesn’t really apply to Christians and therefore should
not really be included in how believers live their daily lives. Another way I
have heard this viewpoint described is similar to the first but states only
certain parts should be included in our modern lifestyles such as what is known
as the “moral law” of the Old Testament. Unfortunately, there is no such thing
as a moral law. There was one law given for both Israelite as well as the
foreigner and all of it was to apply to both groups.
Exodus 12:49
One law shall be for the native-born and for
the stranger who dwells among you.
The last way
of understanding this viewpoint comes in the form of a statement that I hear
all too often. That statement is “Jesus fulfilled the Law, so we don’t need to
worry about it. We need to worry about weightier things.” This really gets
under my skin for the simple reason this statement doesn’t make any logical
sense when you look at the verse in which those holding to this view use to
back this understanding.
Matthew 5:17
Do not think that I came to destroy the Law
or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.
Just a quick
glance at this statement, maybe I could “get” what the argument is, but we are
not told to simply read the Word, but rather to study it. Taking a deeper look
at this particular verse, not to mention the following verse, can easily refute
the idea Jesus kept the Law so I don’t have to argument. First, Jesus says He
did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. To destroy something is to
bring something to an end. So, immediately we can understand Jesus says He did
not come to bring an end to the Law. Then He says He did come to fulfill the
Law. There are two definitions for fulfill. The first is similar to destroy, it
is to bring to completion, and this is where everyone seems to get hung up. The
issue I have with this is the fact it brings the same end result as to destroy,
and Jesus said He did not come to destroy the Law. Now, the second definition
of fulfill makes so much more sense in context with the first part of Jesus’
statement. This definition is to carry out a task, duty, or role as required,
pledged, or expected. If we use this understanding Jesus would be saying I did
not come to bring an end to the Law or Prophets, I came to carry out the Law as
required and expected by Torah.
I disregard
this second viewpoint as well on the basis of prophecy because there seems to
be too many holes concerning the New Testament in conjunction with the Old
Testament prophecies. I absolutely believe if the prophets make a claim given
by YHWH, that prophecy will undoubtedly come true, just the way it is given. It
is because of this line of thinking that I must throw out the modern
understanding of the Bible.
The last line
of thinking is where I stand. The ancient Christian understanding of the Word
of God. What I mean when I say this is a reference to the very first
Christians, such as Paul, Peter, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Jude, and so on.
The original Christian believers or followers. All of these guys only knew the
Old Testament and they used they it for every aspect of their writings and teachings.
If something did not line up with the scriptures they had in front of them,
they would be forced to call it out as false, pagan, or against the Word of
God.
Paul, he was,
in my opinion, one of the most brilliant Old Testament scholars ever to walk
the earth. He was able to connect everything Yeshua (Jesus) said directly back
to the Old Testament and give understanding to others through reasoning about
how it was exactly right in accordance with the Old Testament. The things that stands
out to me the most, and is almost completely disregarded by the modern Church
is the fact Paul was able to understand the most important prophecy of the
entire Biblical history. As I stated earlier, prophecy is extremely important when
it comes to a complete understanding of the scriptures. He understood how
Yeshua, being YHWH in the flesh, could bring back the lost sheep of the House
of Israel. Up until Paul, no one in history ever understood how YHWH would be
able to remarry the scattered, divorced House of Israel without breaking His
own given Law. This is the biggest prophecy from the Old Testament, and is the
whole purpose for the New Testament. The prophecy says YHWH would reunite the
House of Israel with the House of Judah as both Houses would be His people and
He would be their God, and they would be remarried. His Law says if a man
divorces His wife and she defiles herself with another, the first husband can
never take her back. Therefore, if YHWH were to take back His divorced, defiled
wife, He would be breaking His own Law. If He breaks His own Law, He no longer would
be a just God and therefore would not be worthy of worship. Because Paul had
the Torah committed to memory, he was able to figure out how Yeshua fulfilled
this prophecy through His death. This view point does not throw out the Old
Testament Laws given by YHWH, but rather embraces them fully. They are extremely
important in the showing our faith in and love of the Father. This view
embraces all the Laws of Torah, including the dietary and the feast days of
YHWH. To take this even further, the Torah is not even considered Laws, but
rather instructions because His way to live are better than man’s way to live.
A lot of the things we are told to do in the Law because they are good for us
science is proving to be correct, the dietary laws are a good example of this.
All this being
said, I definitely hold to the third viewpoint which takes into account not
only what Yeshua came to do, but also the entire Bible including all the
prophecies. There is no part of scripture left out. If you are finding these
statements offensive, I challenge you to use all of scripture to prove these statements
wrong.