Now that you know how my journey started, let me tell you what we believe. (If you have not read my Blog titled How God Turned Our Lives Upside-Down, please read it first.)
First let me say that we are in no way perfect in our walk with the Father. We are still learning and growing – trying to do our best to follow after our Messiah. The Father gives us new wisdom every day as we test what we learn against the Bible and grow in knowledge and understanding of His Word.
The Scriptures
We believe that the entire Bible, Old and New Testament, is for our instruction today.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16
When the New Testament was written, the only Scriptures that the apostles had was the Old Testament. It is critical to understand the Old Testament so that you can understand the New Testament. Only trying to study and understand the New Testament is like trying to read a book by starting in the middle. You miss the whole first half of the story. The entire Bible is God’s instructions to us – from the first page to the last page. It is our guidebook and gives us examples of what TO do and what NOT to do.
Our Salvation
We believe that our salvation ONLY comes through Yeshua (Hebrew name for Jesus) and His role as our high priest alone. We do not believe that we can earn our salvation. Salvation if free and offered to everyone.
We believe in the death, burial and resurrection of our Messiah. For there is no way to eternal life, except through the Son. Through His atonement, we are forgiven and able to walk this awesome path that the Father has laid out for His people from the beginning of creation.
I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
For this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:28
Our Obedience
We believe that obedience to our Heavenly Father’s Torah (instructions/commandments given by God from Genesis to Deuteronomy) is a loving response to what He has done for us. Our obedience is a result of our love and passion for the Word and our Messiah.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His Commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3
We are honored to be chosen to know Him more intimately. We get to take part in HIS beautiful day of rest and HIS joyful feast days. Yeshua our Messiah was without sin (lawlessness – 1 John 3:4) and walked out the Torah perfectly as our example. We are supposed to imitate Him. We are trying to walk in the footsteps of our King and be a good representative of the Kingdom of God.
Whoever says “I know Him” but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him: whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked. 1 John 2:3-6
The Commandments
We believe that all of the Commandments the Father laid out for His people in the Torah are still valid today. (With the exception of the sacrificial system due to the fact that there is no physical temple.) People tend to think that the Torah is just for the Jews, but looking back through the Biblical timeline, the Torah was given not just to Judah (Jews) at Mount Sinai, but to ALL of the tribes of Israel, including the foreigners living among them (Deuteronomy 29). The foreigners were also expected to obey the Torah if they were going to live among Israel and be part of God’s people. There wasn’t a different set of rules for those who were not bloodline Israel. If you wanted to be part of God’s people, you had to follow the same rules.
The commands of God have been in place since creation. Scripture proves that God’s Commandments were present as early as creation when He blessed the very first Sabbath and set it apart as Holy (Genesis 2:1-3). God instructed Noah to take seven pairs of clean animals and a pair of every unclean animal (Genesis 7:2-3). Abraham was obeying God’s commandments before Israel was even born. Abraham was counted as worthy of God’s friendship and blessings. He “obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statues and My laws” before they were given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My Commandments, My statutes, and My laws. Genesis 26:5
In Leviticus 23, the Father consistently refers to the Feasts and Sabbaths as HIS days, not only for Israel:
These are the appointed Feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are My appointed Feasts. v. 2
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. v. 3
These are the appointed Feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. v. 4
Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed Feasts of the Lord. v. 44
The Father declares over and over that His commands/laws are to last forever. Even Yeshua says that they will be in effect until Heaven and Earth pass away.
It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. Leviticus 23:21
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. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Matthew 5:18
Sin
We believe that SIN is the breaking of God’s laws and commands.
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. I John 3:4
We believe that our Messiah came to take away the death penalty for our sin – by preaching repentance and showing us how to have eternal life. The wages of sin is death – eternal death. When we sin, realize our wrong and repent of that sin, He atones for us and offers us forgiveness for that sin. He did not take away sin itself, or we would be incapable of sinning. When Yeshua, our King and High Priest, returns and we are resurrected, He will he put His law in our hearts and minds and we will be incapable of sin.
Behold, the days are coming, declares YHWH, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares YHWH. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares YHWH: I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know YHWH,’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares YHWH.
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Hebrews 8:8-12
Righteousness
Righteousness, in simple terms, means doing what is right in God’s eyes. Doing what is right means obeying the commands, statues and laws of God. Therefore, we believe that righteousness is obtained through keeping the Commandments of God, and that His Commandments are righteous.
And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this Commandment before YHWH our God, as He has commanded us. Deuteronomy 6:25
If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in My statutes, and keeps My rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live,” declares the Lord God. Ezekiel 18:5-9
Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law… Isaiah 51:7
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16
And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Deuteronomy 4:8
Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you: break off your sins by practicing righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed, that there may perhaps be a lengthening of your prosperity. Daniel 4:27
If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him. 1 John 2:29
Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as He is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. 1 John 3:7, 10
The Merriam-Webster dictionary also defines righteousness as “acting in accord with divine or moral law.” The verse below equates sin with unrighteousness.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
Holy
We believe we are called to be Holy, or set-apart. God says over and over, “Be Holy, for I am Holy.” References can be found in Leviticus 11:45, 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8 and quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 1:16. In each reference in Leviticus, God tells them to be Holy when giving them specific laws and commands. He also says that His laws are Holy.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is Holy, you also be Holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.” 1 Peter 1:14
So you shall remember and do all My Commandments, and be Holy to your God. Numbers 15:40
The Lord will establish you as a people Holy to Himself, as He has sworn to you, if you keep the Commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Deuteronomy 28:9
So the law is Holy, and the Commandment is Holy and righteous and good. Romans 7:12
Her prophets are fickle, treacherous men; her priests profane what is Holy; they do violence to the law. Zephaniah 3:4
The Merriam-Webster definition of Holy is “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.” If Holy means being perfect in righteousness… and righteousness is keeping divine laws… and the Father and Yeshua are Holy and we are to be like them… then we should keep the laws to be Holy as well. Of course we can’t keep them perfectly like Yeshua, but that what makes His life so important to us. He offers us mercy and forgiveness when we sin and repent!
Rewards for Good Works/Deed/Obedience
We do believe that we earn earthly and eternal rewards for our good deeds/works and obedience to Him. Blessings or curses are rewarded for obeying or not obeying the Commandments of God. (Deut. 28) Scripture is clear that we will be judged according to our works. What is Yeshua judging us against? What are the parameters He’s using as a standard for judgement? His laws! They are His ways and He expects us to submit to His will and be obedient children.
He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. Romans 2:6-8
Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Jude 1:15
And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. 1 Peter 1:17
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. James 2:17, 26
They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. 1 Timothy 6:18-19
Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works. Titus 2:14
And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them! Rev 19:8
I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. Rev 2:2
The Wrap-Up
I know that we may appear weird or strange in the way that we honor God. To Jews, we may appear very Christian because we believe in the Messiah and do not follow the Talmud. To Christians, we may appear very Jewish in the way that we honor the Sabbath, eat only Biblically clean foods and celebrate the Biblical feast days. Keeping His Commandments are a blessing to us. They have brought much joy to our lives and given us a greater intimacy with our King.
Being different is hard. Really hard. He never said, however, it would be easy.
In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33
So we keep trodding along in this life, waiting for the return of our Messiah and trying to live our lives in obedience to our Father as He leads us out of the darkness and into His glorious light – out of Babylon and into His rest and peace.
Shalom