July 20th, 2026

Hello again. This will be the second installment of the Elders Comments. Last time I spoke specifically about Matt 5 and how Yeshua tells us that nothing passes from the Law as long as Heaven and Earth remain. And that the one that does and teaches the Law will be great in the Kingdom. Clearly Yeshua was telling us that following Torah is good. He could have, and I believe would have, warned us if He was about to change all the rules. But that is exactly what most churches would tell you He did. When He died for out sins He then promptly threw out the very rules that had defined those sins. Why not just abrogate the rules first so they did not count as sin? Wouldn’t a redefinition that made the Law useless have made us sinless? That would be logical, but many can not see the contradictions in their Biblical understanding. That should not impact their salvation, but I would submit that it very much hinders their relationship with our Master.

Let’s look at the most basic underlying element of the universe, why did YHVH (God) create the universe? I would suggest that it was for relationship. Now a perfect being does not need anything, for example He was not lonely. But He could desire to share His perfection with other conscience beings. This makes sense in that we continually see the emphasis that He puts on relationship all through the scriptures. The first institution that He made was marriage, the most central of all relationships for human beings. If we examine marriage as YHVH intended it, we see an intimate relationship that is to last for as long as the man and woman live. And the fact that it is a man and a woman is critical. The two partners need to be different from one another. Just as we are made in God’s image, but we are not God. So, a man and a woman are both human, but distinctly different in so many aspects of their being. He is training us to have relationship with Him, who is similar, but different in so many ways from us. He could have made all people of one gender and reproduction by another mechanism. He did not choose to. He wanted us to grow with another that is like us, but not like us. Good practice for the eternal relationship that He has planned for those that love Him.

Now how does that relate to following Torah you might ask? That is complicated, but ultimately simple. As I always say, He made us, He knows us, and He loves us (often in spite of ourselves). When He gave Torah it served many purposes, the most obvious being to help us live a life that fulfills our needs and pleases Him. But what may be the most important thing is that it enables us to come to an understanding of the Author. When we do Torah, we should also think about Torah. David tells us in Psalms 1:2 “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” Does one need to meditate on the details of the Law? Why would David need to do that? There was a whole class of priests whose job it was to know, do and teach the Law. They had the details down pat. So, what is David saying? Yeshua gives us the answer in Matt 23:23 “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” Yeshua is saying it is good that you got the details right, but there was so much more to it! They had missed the most important part, to understand what was going on behind the words, what motivated the words, what was on the mind of the Author? I believe that the Torah’s main purpose is not to guide our lives, even though it does, but rather to show us YHVH’s mind and His heart. He wants us on the same page as Him. He wants us in relationship with Him. An intimate relationship like unto our earthly marriages when done right.

Yeshua brings home the point in Matt 7:21-23 “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity (anomia in the Greek, meaning without the Law). He did not know them, and I would suggest it was because they did not know him either. They did not keep the Law. Torah was foreign to them as was the author. They had placed a barrier between themselves and their Savior, a barrier of ignorance. A barrier that says my opinions are better than His, and my ways above His ways. But is that not the exact opposite of what He tells us of Himself? Isaiah 55:8-9 ““For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Do we really think that we know more than He does? Probably not if we are saved, but how do we live? Do we just try to be “gooder”? Why not just follow His Torah as Yeshua and all the apostles did? Our loving Abba would like that very much.

Shalom to you all, may He bless you richly!

Cornel the Elder