How Christians Turned Yeshua into a "False Messiah"

Parshá: Devarim 1:1 – 3:22; | Haftarah: Is. 1:1-27; | Brit Chadashá: Jo. 4:1- 5:47

We come to the last of the five books of the Torah: דברים “Devarim” or Deuteronomy. Devarim is also the name of the first portion of the book, which begins with the following words: “These are the words (devarim) that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan...” (Deuteronomy 1:1).

The name "Deuteronomy" comes from the Greek: deuteros = second and nomos = Law. Moses, shortly before his death, explains the Torah to the people of Israel, giving it a special interpretation. Commandments are added, others are explained more clearly. Devarim is written following the model of contracts in the ancient Middle Eastern world. It represents the "sefer ha brit," the Book of the Covenant, with the clauses, duties, and obligations of both parties: the Eternal and His people Israel.

Devarim was also the book that the kings of Israel were to read daily, as we see in the commandment in Deuteronomy 17:18-20: “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself a copy of this law in a book from the one in front of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by observing all the words of this law and these statutes, and by doing them. This will prevent his heart from being lifted up above his brothers, and he will not turn aside from the commandment to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-20)

This is a very special commandment! First, because it shows us the formula for rulers to exercise justice and govern for the good of the people: study and keep the words of God's Law! Second, because it shows us something very important about the Messiah: as King, the Messiah was to love, keep, and teach God's Law (Torah). Any would-be Messiah who opposes God's Law is a false Messiah.

Many people, over the last 2,000 years, have turned Jesus into a "false messiah." Every time we read in commentaries and sermons by prominent theologians that "Jesus abolished the Law of Moses and that we are now in the age of grace," we are seeing an attempt to delegitimize Jesus as the true Messiah before Israel. This occurs because God's command in Deuteronomy 17:18 is clear: The King of Israel must study, teach, and keep God's Law. When Christians try to present the Jews with a Messiah who "annulled the Torah," they are further distancing Yeshua from his people. Therefore, the Jews' "no" to a religious system whose Messiah is antagonistic to the Torah represented a "yes" to God and His Word.

However, we know that Yeshua, the true Messiah and King of Israel, studied, taught, and kept the Torah. From his birth, circumcised on the eighth day and presented at the Temple in Jerusalem, Yeshua always lived as a Jew zealous for the Law. If the Torah is the contract that proves the election between God and Israel, and Yeshua is zealous for the Torah, then he confirms Israel's election. Let us remember what He himself stated clearly and definitively:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or kotz will pass from the Torah until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-19)

As servants of Yeshua, we must truly be His disciples, imitating our teacher and rabbi as our standard of conduct. Anyone who claims to be a "disciple" of Yeshua but does not accept Israel's election or the Torah is not a true disciple. Have you been an authentic disciple of the Messiah?