Was Moses saved?
How was Moses saved?
These two questions
should prompt us to think a bit about the mechanics of the salvation process. I
think that most folks would agree that Moses was saved. We gather he was saved
because of what we see from the writer to the Bereans (Hebrews):
Bereans (Hebrews)
The
writer to the Bereans is emphasizing the faith of Moses by showing his deeds.
With the firm conviction that Moses was saved, we come to our second question:
How was he saved? This is a bit of a difficult question for most Christians
because they see salvation as something that depends on the work that Yeshua did some 1500 years after the death of Moses.
However, the Nazarean Codicil[1] is quite clear as to the
mechanics of how Moses was saved:
Ephesians 2: 8 For by grace are ye saved through
faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:9 Not of works, lest
any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Mashiach Yeshua
unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Hakham
Shaul[2] writing to the Ephesians tells
us that Moses was saved by grace through faith. This teaches us a very
important lessons: Men are saved by grace through faith. From the first Adam to the last Adam, all are saved by grace through
faith!
When I
was discussing the faith of Moses, I mentioned that his faith was manifested
through his deeds. In fact, the whole chapter of faith, found in Bereans,
emphasizes the deeds of those with faith. The Hebrew
word for faith is emunah. This word does not teach us about a thought, rather
it teaches us about actions. A more accurate translation for emunah would be
“faithful obedience”. So when we see the writer to the Bereans emphasizing the
deeds of the great men of faith, we can see that these deeds show a pattern of
faithful obedience.
Please
remember that emunah, faithful obedience, requires actions and is not merely a thought process. Or,
as Hakham Yaaqov said:
Yaaqov (James)
Please remember that
whenever you see the word faith, in the scriptures, you should always think “faithful obedience”.
Obedience
This leads us to
another question: What are the deeds of faith? If we are to have faithful
obedience, what do we obey?
There are two answers to this question. One for the Jew and one for the Gentile.
For the Jew, the acts of faith consist of the 613
commands of the Torah. For the Gentile, the acts of faith are the obedience
to the Noachide laws.
The Christians usually
sees themselves as Gentiles, so I am going to start
this answer by showing that the laws of Noach are
reiterated in the Nazarean Codicil.
A question arose in
the diaspora: Do the Gentiles need to be circumcised
to be saved? The question was so contentious and so profound that Hakham Shaul
decided to put this question to the Bet Din Gadole[3]. He addressed it to the Rosh Bet Din[4] who just happens to be the brother of Yeshua. His name is Yaaqov. He is the writer of the book
in the Nazarean Codicil which bears his name. The question is found in:
II Luqas (Acts) 15:5 But there rose up certain of the
sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise
them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
The answer to this
question is found in:
II Luqas (Acts)
Thus His Eminence,
Hakham Yaaqov ben Yosef, decrees that circumcision is a natural result of the
conversion process that takes place after a time of
learning. He further decrees that those who are turning to HaShem
should obey the Noachide laws as a beginning point
for their walk.
Maimonides, in his epic work Mishnah Torah, in the Laws of Kings 9:1, teaches us concerning the Laws of Noah:
"Six precepts were commanded to Adam:
1. The prohibition against worship of false gods.
2. The prohibition against cursing G-d.
3. The prohibition against murder.
4. The prohibition against forbidden sexual relations.
5. The prohibition against theft.
6. The command to establish laws and courts of justice.
To Noah HaShem
added:
7. The prohibition against eating the flesh from a living animal. Thus there are Seven Mitzvot" (Commandments)"
Again quoting from the Law of Kings 8:10 he states:
"Our
teacher Moshe (Moses) was commanded by G-d to compel
all the peoples of the earth to accept upon themselves the laws given to the
descendants of Noah."
Again quoting:
"This
obligation, to teach all the peoples of the earth about the Laws of Noah, is
incumbent upon every individual in every era. The Jews
must serve as "a light to the nations" (Isaiah 42:6) teaching them
(the Gentiles) the Seven Mitzvot (laws) and
instructing them in proper behavior...Similarly, the Chatam Sofer (Choshen
Mishpat, Responsum 85) writes that it is a mitzvah (commandment) to guide the
Gentiles in the service of G-d."
Now that we understand that salvation depends on our faithful obedience to the commandments; I need to deal a bit with some common Christians concepts that will be confusing if we do not address them. We need to understand that the concept of eternal life is related to the concept of salvation. To understand this idea will require that we address a few concepts. The first concept that I need to address is:
Yeshua = Mashiach.
The Greek word “Christos”
(which is transliterated as Christ) is used to translate the Hebrew word Mashiach:
Matityahu (Matthew) 1:16 And
Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Yeshua,
who is called Mashiach.
Matityahu (Matthew) 16:20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was
Yeshua the Mashiach.
Now, most Christians
understand this, never the less, the implications are profound. Mashiach means
that His majesty was anointed as a King, as a Prophet, and as a Priest. Further, we can substitute the word Mashiach
every time we encounter the word “Christ” or indeed even the word “Yeshua”:
Mashiach = Christ
Mashiach = Yeshua
Please remember to
make this translation whenever you encounter the word Mashiach. In this way you
will immediately gain understanding.
The next concept that
we need to understand is that:
Yeshua = Mashiach = Torah.
Yochanan (John) 1:1
alludes to this:
Yochanan (John) 1:1-3 In
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made
by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
We understand that
when someone is talking about the “Word of HaShem”
that they are referring to the Torah. In this pasuk, Yochanan is clearly
calling Yeshua The Word of HaShem,
the Torah. Our Sages have taught us that HaShem used the Torah as the blueprint
for creation. So when Yochanan tells us that The Word
created everything, then clearly Torah and Yeshua are the same entity.
Let me spell this
out: HaShem is The Speaker, Yeshua /
Torah is The Word that HaShem spoke.
We see this same
concept in:
Mishlei (Proverbs
We know from the
siddur that Wisdom is synonymous with Torah. We read in the siddur a paraphrase
of Mishlei 3:
Torah is a tree of life to those who take
hold of her …
We also know that
“The Word” is synonymous with Torah. Therefore we can understand that anytime
we see Torah we can substitute Yeshua or Mashiach.
This helps us to
understand why Orthodox Jews build their entire lives around Torah:
Torah = Mashiach = Yeshua.
This also helps us
to understand why many Christians are focused on Mashiach ben Yosef while Orthodox Jews have the same fervor towards
Torah and Mashiach ben David.
Before the coming of Yochanan, only the salvation of Jews was understood. If the Gentile wanted to turn to HaShem they had to convert. There was no other way. In Yochanan we begin to see this mystery being revealed:
Luqas
(Luke) 3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of
Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare
ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be
filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall
be made straight, and the rough ways shall
be made smooth; 6 And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Thus we see that ALL FLESH will see the salvation of HaShem. This salvation for the Gentiles is going to be revealed through the Jews. As we see in the Prophets, the Jews are to be a light to the nations, to the Gentiles:
Yeshayahu
(Isaiah) 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou
shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
Yeshua reaffirmed this concept in:
Yochanan
(John)
Now I have a question: From what we have learned about salvation, what does this verse have to do with the Torah?
II
Luqas (Acts) 4:10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Yeshua Mashiach of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by
him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was
set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither
is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved.
Do we have to accept
Yeshua to be saved?
Now that we have
these foundational concepts under our hat, let’s begin to understand eternal life and it’s relationship to salvation. To
understand this idea, let’s begin with a question:
What must I do to inherit eternal life?
The first answer to
this question is found in:
Bereshit (Genesis) 3:20-24 Adam named his wife
Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living. HaShem God made
garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
And HaShem God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good
and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever." So HaShem
God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on
the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a
flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
So, in Bereshit (Genesis), God says that men would live forever if they eat from the tree of life. This is the first reference to eternal life, in the scriptures. Let’s look again to see if there are any other ways to have eternal life:
Devarim (Deuteronomy) 4:39-40 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that
HaShem is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep
His decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well
with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land HaShem
your God gives you for all time.
The above passage seems to be saying that you can live forever by keeping the commands and decrees of God. Lest we have any doubt lets try to confirm this from another passage:
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 20:10-13 Therefore I led them out
of Egypt and brought them into the desert. I gave them my decrees and made
known to them my laws, for the man who obeys them will
live by them. Also I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I HaShem made
them holy. "'Yet the people of Israel rebelled
against me in the desert. They did not follow my decrees but rejected my
laws--although the man who obeys them will live by them--and
they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on
them and destroy them in the desert.
Yechezkel (Ezekiel) never comes right out and calls it eternal life, but, it is obvious that the way to live is through the commands of God. This life is different than what the wicked do when they walk and breathe. The wicked do not live like the righteous. The only difference must be in how long they live. Let’s look at one more passage to make this point clear:
Matityahu (Matthew) 19:15-17 When he had placed his hands on them, he
went on from there. Now a man came up to Yeshua and
asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to
get eternal life?" "Why do you ask me about what is good?"
Yeshua replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life,
obey the commandments."
and
Marqos (Mark) 10:17-23 As Yeshua started on his way, a man ran up
to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked,
"what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me
good?" Yeshua answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know
the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not
give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" "Teacher,"
he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Yeshua looked
at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell
everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's
face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Yeshua looked around
and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the
and
Luqas (Luke) 10:25-28 On one occasion an expert in the law stood
up to test Yeshua. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to
inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied.
"How do you read it?" He answered: "'Love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all
your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " "You have
answered correctly," Yeshua replied. "Do this and you will
live."
The second way to live forever is to obey the commands of God. By obeying Torah we inherit eternal life. Lets look, now, at a third way to live forever:
Yochanan (John) 6:43-51 "Stop grumbling among
yourselves," Yeshua answered. "No one can come to me unless the
Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. It is
written in the Prophets: 'They will all be taught by God.' Everyone who listens
to the Father and learns from him comes to me. No one has seen the Father
except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the
truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am
the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in
the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat
and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats
of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give
for the life of the world."
The next way to live forever is to eat of the Bread from
Heaven. Yeshua is obviously The Bread from Heaven. The second way to live
forever is to eat of this Living bread.
The third way to live forever involves believing in the Son of God. This third way is described, repeatedly, throughout the scriptures, in various ways. They all boil down to faithful obedience to Torah:
Yochanan
(John)
Yochanan
(John)
Yochanan
(John) 5:24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Yochanan
(John)
Yochanan
(John)
II
Luqas (Acts)
Let's summarize the methods, used by HaShem and described in His scriptures, for obtaining eternal life:
1. Eat from the Tree of Life.
2. Obey the commands of God.
3. Believe in the Son of God.
Yeshua = Torah = Tree of Life
These three ways to live forever are all clearly spelled out in the Bible, yet there is a problem. Let’s look at the problem:
Yochanan (John) 14:6 Yeshua answered,
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.
Messiah seems to be saying that there is ONLY ONE way to life and that is through Yeshua. Yet, we have already seen that there are clearly three ways to live forever. How do we resolve this? Mishlei (Proverbs) puts all three of these together:
Mishlei (Proverbs) 3:13-20 Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the
man who gains understanding, For she is more profitable than silver and yields
better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire
can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are
riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. She
is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those
who lay hold of her will be blessed. By wisdom HaShem laid the earth's
foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in
place; By his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the
dew.
The above passage is read, in the synagogue, when the Torah scroll is returned to the ark. When we say this, we agree that the ultimate wisdom is Torah. This passage shows that whoever created the world is Torah and is the Tree of life. So, the Tree of Life, the Torah, and Yeshua are all the same entity. Yeshua must be the Tree of Life. Yeshua must be the Torah. Yeshua is THE way and THE truth and THE life!
The scriptures often compare two different things, to a third thing. For example: Torah is light and Yeshua is light:
Mishlei (Proverbs)
Yochanan (John)
This has profound implications for the believer today. It means that we must obey all of HaShem's commands in the Torah or we will, in effect, be discarding a part of Yeshua. It means that if we make a distinction between the laws of HaShem that we must obey and those that we don't have to obey, that we must somehow believe in part of Yeshua and not in all of Him. This does not work! Just as Yeshua is a single entity, so also is the Torah a single entity. We can not divide the commands of HaShem anymore than we can divide the body of Messiah. We either obey all of the Torah or we have rejected Messiah.
Further evidence for this idea is demonstrated by the fact that the Sages divide the 613 commandments into 248 positive (corresponding to the 248 bodily organs) and 365 negative (corresponding to the 365 bodily sinews). After all, a wise individual understands that he must take care of his entire organism if he desires physical well-being. So too it borders on spiritual blindness to dramatize one mitzva while ignoring another. If Yeshua is the Living Torah, then these 613 mitzvot represent His body!
Thus we conclude our examination of the concept of salvation by clearly stating that we are to be saved from this mortal life by our faithful obedience to the Torah and it’s commands. By being faithfully obedient we will obtain eternal life and thereby will we be saved.
This study was
written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be
submitted to:
Greg Killian
7104 Inlay St SE
Lacey, WA 98513
Internet
address: gkilli@aol.com
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org/
(360) 584-9352
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