The Way
You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11
Path of Life – The Hebrew expression, orach chayim, combines two words, orach (meaning pathway) and chayyah (meaning living thing). David says that God Himself will teach him the way of living. Interestingly, the word chayyim is not just applied to human life. It means all living things. Just as God instructs the animals and all of animate creation, so God will instruct His creation, Man. Of course, the means of instruction isn’t the same, but the goal is. The goal of all life instruction by God is the glorification of His Name. All of creation exists for the purpose of glorifying Him, and the only way to do that is to live according to His direction. Following any other path, no matter how noble, virtuous or obvious, is a departure from the divine purpose. Another path will not glorify the King. Any other teacher will be unlikely to steer you in the right direction.
We agree, don’t we? We need God’s instruction in order to fulfill His purposes and glorify Him. We have the goal clearly in mind. But what is the path? Fortunately, God did not leave us to figure it out on our own. Did He leave the birds to figure out when to fly south? Did He leave the flowers to figure out when to bloom? Yeshua tells us that if God cares about the sparrows, won’t He show the same care for us? Of course. If God directs the sparrows so that they know when to gather, when to build nests and when to find shelter, don’t you think He will do the same for us? He does, and His instructions are all revealed in the Word.
Wait, before you start with the “Here he goes again about the Torah,” let’s stop for a minute and consider the Word. Yeshua is the Word. He is the living embodiment of God’s instructions for life. He is the perfect representation of what it means to live for the glorification of the Father. I don’t have to look any further than the living Word to see the path of life. He is it! I don’t have to turn to Deuteronomy to understand how to live. All I have to do is follow step-by-step on the pathway of the one who is the truth, the way and the life. No Christian can object to this stance. Yeshua is the whole summary of Christian living, the role model, the high priest and the perfect sacrifice.
But as soon as I turn to His life, I find that He is constantly doing, saying and living according to the Word. He is saturated in Hebrew Scriptures. He acts according to Torah instructions. He lives the life of the perfect Israel, fully obedient to the Father. That is why He is our sacrifice. So, the living Word incorporates the written Word – perfectly. They are one and the same; one in audio (given to Moses) and one in video (born of Mary). Would you have expected anything else? Wouldn’t God’s Word be revealed in the Word of God?
Maybe we don’t need Torah. Maybe all we need is Yeshua. Except, of course, that He is Torah incarnate. “Lord, make known to me Your ways. Make known to me You.”
Topical Index: Path of Life, orach chayim, the Way, Torah, the Word, Psalm 16:11
Amen-brother Skip! Excellent! ..and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus,Yeshua the human face of G-d! Jesus/Messiah is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. But wait- there’s more!! concerning this same Jesus… “Christ in you- the hope of glory” “We (all) (now) have the mind of Christ” Hallelujah for His cross and Hallelujah for His words! Hallelujah for His blood, His body, His book, His bride,His Breath! What a Savior/Redeemer/Friend/Counselor and …
I agree, for me this is the best way to state the most important point 🙂
Skip, as usual this is excellant, and very enlightening. Thank You!!
Rex/Dottie George
I am thankful to be reminded today that God cares about the sparrows, won’t He show the same care for us? And the answer is YES. Thank you, Jesus!
Hello!
If someone want to explore about the theme of Yeshua as the Incarnate Torah and His relation with Brit Chadasha, one excellent book to start with (as a primer) is the one written by Zusha Kalet, “Kabbalah of Yeshua.”
I have recently read Zusha book. Interesting, but definitely a departure from the usual. That, of course, is part of the development of Kabbalah mysticism. I find some of the concepts quite strange, but I am not enough of an expert to comment on veracity. As for Yeshua as the incarnation of the Torah, I think it is possible to make a very good case of that without kabbalah.
Skip
Good night to everybody!!!
It is pretty interesting what is happening with Kaballah teachings all around the world, but specially in USA. It is very important to keep in mind that what could be classified as strange must not be consider an error. The great majority of Christianity does not know what is kaballah but this does not mean it is heresy. The main lesson in this topic (at least in my opinion) is that we must study it to learn about it so that we can understand what they teach and how they reach these conclusions. One quote that I would like to share with the group is one taken from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz: “Kaballah is the official theology of Judaism; furthermore any attempts to explain Judaism in any other term are bound to fall on their face! Halacha (law) is the body and Kaballah is the soul. Just as you cannot explain the body without taking into account the inner psyche that fills it,so you cannot explain the meaning and purpose of Halacha without the knowledge of Kaballah. Kaballah is central to Judaism as the sun is to the Solar System, as the heart is to the body.” (Zucha Kalet, “Kaballah of Yeshua”, p.21)
Personally, I have been studying Kaballah during the past five years and in my opinion, it is very interesting to perceive the huge amount of Jesus and Paul’s declarations that are intimately related with Kaballah concepts. Well, of course, this is only my opinion. Thank you very much for this opportunity to share with all of you what I’m learning along the way.
Shalom!!!!
I bought The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C Matt about 10 years ago and read through it quickly.
Nothing jumped out at me that seemed very strange, but then sometimes Truth is Stranger than Fiction 🙂
I’ll check out “Kaballah of Yeshua.” Sounds interesting.
Thanks for sharing!!!
Today, May 11, I have just now found time to read the above. I want to shout from the roof top, and affirm this marvelous summary of Skip’s. It is what I have been hoping and looking for! I say YES-YES, to Carl Roberts reply; I am in totally agreement. TRUTH from God’s Word in any language.
To Ismael replies: I am glad that you have the time to study those things; BUT FOR MOST OF US THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY TO DO ALL THAT IS REQUIRED OF US, when we work (yes, my husband at 80, substitutes at the High School here 4-5 days a week to help provide FOR our provisions, ( he has a PhD from Indiana U., but was always in Christian Colleges that did not pay much, and then the stock market took us down financially in 2000, and has again recently) and be able to give to others that are in need: one of our current ones is our “Foster military family”-who we requested prayer for–not blood relatives at all– just met them literally in the yard–took them under our wing to help two and half years ago, as he is in Iraq off and on, just returned with knee injury, but when able, he will return, leaving his wife with three small girls.. also we take on the elderly, hurting ones, helping in practical ways, as well as prayers, speaking God’s Word to them, and helping in whatever we can to help meet their needs. We help our numerous grandchildren (eight and some spouses), and still occassionaly, our children need help, too– We fight each day to spend time in God’s Holy Word and with the Living Word. Which gives us the ESSENTIALS of ALL we need ! —We must FOCUS ON THE PRIORTIES– that is why most Christians do no know about KABALLAH’S teachings. — Blessings to all of you !LB
Good afternoon to everybody!!!
Let’s think in a Jigsaw Puzzle. Let’s think in one of 1,000 parts. Let’s imagine that you or me dedicated 100 hours to put every one of its pieces in the place where its belongs. But at the end we discover that we miss one little piece. What happened? The image is “almost” finish. Just “almost”
This brief example show us what is the meaning of “essentials”in Christianity. We are all part of ONE God (cf. Deut. 6:4, John 17) In our faith and doctrine everything is important, everything is essential. As in the Jigsaw Puzzle, where every little part is important and unique, in Christianity is pretty similar, everything is important and unique. (cf. 1Cor.12-14)
Blessings to everyone of our brothers and sisters around the world. And thanks to Dr. Moen for this place where we can share our opinions and where we can learn from each other.
Skip, and others on the Torah, one of my daughters sent me this Jewish website, and with Shavout beginning at sundown on May 28, this web site, by Rabbi Kaiman Packouz is extremely interesting: among many helpful thoughts on learning the Torah is this one: (your own personal free Torah trainer by phone for one hour a week for minimum of 4 weeks.).
Make sure you have a Kosher mezuzah on at lest your front door. ( We have one that we got in Tel Aviv in 1963-with the passover written in teeny tiny print inside the glass). This article states A Jewish home should have a mezzot on all doorposts except in the bathroom.–web site http:// http://www.aish.com/torahportion/shalomweekly/Baminbar5769.asp, click on Shau ‘ot
I hope some of you will click on it, sorry that I do not know how to get the web site into “blue” on this reply.
Hi LaVaye,
I clicked on the link but think it is broken.
Michael,I checked, it is not broken, I wrote it again somewhere (?) else on a reply, but here it is again, the complete thing:http://www.aish.com/torahportion/shalomweek/Bamindbar5769.asp
I just saw it above, and also, I realized when I send it, the web site turns blue. Computer ignorance on my part.
Thanks LaVaye, I got there this time 🙂
Hi Skip, I know this is an old post,
but do you think that ‘the book of life’ is the same as ‘the path of life’ ? Thank you