The Messiah Our Redeemer: Part 11 of 12

XI. Moses, The Prophets, And The Law

Most people who profess faith in Yeshua as Messiah use the apostolic writings as the sole resource for arguing their faith in Yeshua. Although these writings record the fulfillment of the prophetic promises found in scripture, they must be examined and understood in the context of the entire writings of faith. The Bible must be seen as a book that is both progressive and cumulative in revelation from God. To view the apostolic writings in a framework that stands independent from the original Jewish text is comparable to erecting a roof on a structure that lacks a foundation or walls. The resulting configuration is incomplete, lacks proper function, and the benefits fall well short of the original design intent.

We know from the apostolic text, that two men met the resurrected Yeshua on the road to Emmaus about seven miles from Jerusalem (Luke 24:13). These men initially failed to recognize Yeshua until He began teaching from “Moses and all the Prophets” to explain “all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Notice that the standard Yeshua used to explain his calling and purpose was not the apostolic texts, which had not yet been written, but “Moses and all the Prophets”. For Yeshua said of Himself,

“Everything must be fullfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44)(Matt 26:56).

This description covers the entire Jewish text, referred to as the Tanakh, which is an acronym for the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Neviim), and the other writings (Ketuvim). This was to fulfill what was written by the Psalmist,

“Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come – as it is written about me in the scroll” (Psa 40:7).

When discussing the authority of Yeshua to Jews, Paul rests his case exclusively on the Law and the Prophets.

"I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles." (Acts 26:22-23) (Acts 28:23-24)

The Law and the Prophets are the source of Paul’s proclamations for good reason. The words of Moses have the greatest authority in Rabbinic thinking because Moses spoke with the LORD “face to face” (Ex 33:11). The Prophets wrote based on “visions and dreams” (Num 12:6-8), while the Psalmists are considered to be Godly men reflecting on the attributes of God.

In the course of His ministry, Yeshua told the parable of a rich man and a beggar who both died. The beggar was carried to Abraham’s side, while the rich man ended up in Hades where he was in torment. The rich man could see the beggar with Abraham and called to him for relief.

"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' "He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' "Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.' "'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'" (Luke 16:25-16:31)

Believers in Yeshua must not be ignorant of the words and the promises contained in the Jewish text for they stand as the foundation of all we believe. The words of Yeshua reinforce the necessity of knowing Moses and the Prophets to develop a saving faith in the Messiah. Therefore, the Gentile must be thoroughly knowledgeable with the text and the Jew must return to the Tanakh to find faith in the Messiah (Gal 3:24) because, “if they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead”.

Twice while Yeshua was on the earth, a voice from heaven (God the Father) proclaimed Yeshua as Messiah. At the baptism of Yeshua, “a voice from heaven said, ‘You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased’" (Mark 1:11). Hidden to the average reader is the specific nature of this proclamation. The proclamation is actually the combination of three statements from the Tanakh.

“You are my Son” (Psa 2:7)(Writings)
“whom I love” (Gen 22:2)(Moses-Law)
“with you I am well pleased” (Isa 42:1)(Prophets)

Notice how the voice from heaven draws on the entire Tanakh to testify that Moses, the Prophets, and the other writings proclaim Yeshua as the Messiah. A second proclamation from the LORD occurred on a mountain where Yeshua was transfigured, before Moses and Elijah, into a glorified body. While transfigured…

“a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!" (Matt 17:5).

Again, the proclamation is a compilation of multiple verses from the Tanakh.

“This is my Son” (Psa 2:7)(Writings)
“ whom I love” (Gen 22:2)(Moses-Law)
“with him I am well pleased” (Isa 42:1)(Prophets)
“listen to him!” (Deut 18:15)(Moses-Law)

The first part of the proclamation is identical to the words spoken from heaven at the baptism of Yeshua (Matt 3:15). The addition of the phrase “Listen to him!” is a reference to the prophecy of Moses who said, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.” The voice from heaven is proclaiming Yeshua as the prophet foretold by Moses.

It can be stated with absolute certainty and total confidence that Yeshua kept the entire law (Torah) and taught others to do the same (Luke 18:18-23). To transgress even one commandment would be to sin, as it is written by the apostle James,

“whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10)

Any sin would have disqualified Yeshua from being the sinless sacrifice, the spotless Lamb, the law required. In addition, there is evidence Yeshua kept the oral traditions of the Jewish elders that had been built as hedges around the law, except when those traditions came in direct conflict with the commandments of God (Mark 7:4-8).

The life of Yeshua is a demonstration that it is possible to live a life in complete obedience to the law when a person’s relationship is “one” with God. Yet, because men fail to achieve this level of intimacy with God, He is compelled to say, “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” (Zech 3:9). It is ultimately the mercy of the LORD and not the works of the law that justify men in the sight of God.