The Torah of The LORD Our Righteousness (Yahweh Tsidkenu)
by Christine Egbert
I was recently accused of falling from grace. Why? I professed what Scripture teaches: after salvation by grace through faith in Israel’s Jewish Messiah, we’re to bear fruit, good fruit, the good fruit of obedience to the LORD’s (Yahweh’s) instructions, His Torah, which Scripture declares is perfect. Sadly, many followers of Jesus (Yeshua) adhere not to Scripture itself but to man-made doctrines that were codified in canon by the historically antisemitic Roman Catholic Church, then passed on, like a generational curse, to the Church’s Protestant stepchildren.
My goal in writing articles is to declare God’s truth and expose man’s lies, to stir up those who have forsaken the LORD’s (Yahweh’s) Torah. Proverbs 28:4 “Those who forsake Torah praise the wicked, but those who keep Torah stir them up!”
God’s Torah is not a curse. It’s great. It’s glorious.
Isaiah 42:21 “The LORD (Yahweh) was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to make Torah great and glorious.”
Not only is Torah great and glorious, it’s perfect. It makes the simple wise. For it causes our soul to “teshuvah.” The Hebrew root of teshuvah is “shuv”. It’s often poorly mistranslated as convert, a word that implies changing to something different or new. The literal meaning of shuv is “turn back” or “return”. Throughout Scripture God pleads with His people, “Return to Me!” Psalms 19:7-8 declares, “The Torah of the LORD (Yahweh) is perfect converting (turning back) the soul. The Testimony of the LORD (Yahweh) is sure, making the simple wise.”
Sadly, since the 4th century, man-made doctrine has brainwashed Christians to see the Torah as loathsome, as bondage, as Jewish, as something strange. Through the prophet, God warned in Hosea 4:6 that His people would be destroyed for lack of knowledge. But His people didn’t just lack knowledge, they rejected it, the prophet said. “Since you have forgotten the Torah of your God, I will forget your sons…”
They rejected knowledge when they rejected and forgot the Torah. In Hosea 8:12, God went on to say, “Though I were to write out for him ten thousand things from My Torah, they are regarded as something strange.”
I spent twenty years in the Christian Church before returning to the ancient paths, set forth in God’s Word, and to the truth, that God’s Holy Torah is eternal and still relevant for us today. During those two decades I spent in Church, I frequently heard Proverbs 29:18 preached as: “Where there is no vision the people perish.” End of story! They always stopped there. The literal translation says: “Where there is no vision the people are unrestrained.”
Unrestrained, however, is seldomly preached. Why? Because most preachers not only miss the meaning of this passage, they never finish it. Their focus is on “vision”. Their vision, for their congregation. But that’s not what this passage is talking about. Without vision—the oracles, the revelation of God’s Torah—people perish. They fall back. People who follow God’s instructions, His Torah, are Blessed. Sadly, the conclusion of Proverbs 29:18 is seldom, if ever, preached. Here it is, in its entirety, in the Literal Translation: “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, but blessed is he, the one keeping the law (Torah).”
In Isaiah 5:24, God said, “Forever, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as chaff collapses into the flame, so their root will be like rot, and their blossom will go up like dust. For they have rejected the Torah of the LORD of hosts (Yahweh Tzva’ot) and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Oh, but the Torah-less will cry: “That is for the Jews. We’re Christians. We follow the teaching of Christ.”
If the version of Christ being followed nailed the Torah to His cross, that’s a different Messiah altogether, the savior of a sun-god worshiping Roman Emperor named Constantine, who declared: “Let us then have nothing (no Torah, no Feast Days, no Sabbaths, and certainly no dietary laws) in common with the detestable Jewish crowd, for we have received from our Savior a different way.” (Eusebius’ Life of Constantine, Vol III Ch. XVIII)
Constantine’s savior presented a different way, so his savior cannot be the Savior of Holy Scripture. Malachi 3:6 says, “For I, the LORD (Yahweh), do not change.” Hebrews 13:8 says, Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah) is the same yesterday and today and forever. Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand.” Amos 3:7 says, “For the Lord GOD (Yahweh) will do nothing unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” So, where are they? Where are all the prophecies that reveal the Messiah would one day do away with the Torah? There are none! Why? Because once God declares something His Word stands forever. And all throughout Scripture, He calls for His people to obey His Torah.
Let’s return to Isaiah 5:24. “Forever, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as chaff collapses into the flame, so their root will be like rot, and their blossom will go up like dust. For they have rejected the Torah of the LORD of hosts (Yahweh Tzva’ot) and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Who is the LORD of hosts (Yahweh Tzva’ot)? Who is the Holy One of Israel? Let me show you from Scripture. In Zechariah 6:12, the prophet speaks of a Man called the Branch. “Thus says the LORD of hosts (Yahweh Tzva’ot), Behold the man, whose name is The Branch…” Jeremiah, speaking also of the Branch, says this: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD (Yahweh), that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch, a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is the name whereby He (The Branch) shall be called, the LORD our righteousness (Yahweh Tsidkenu).
Isaiah also wrote about the coming Messiah in chapter 9:6-7. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever.”
The Messiah, Jesus (Yeshua) warned, “Do not think that I came to annul the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to annul, but to fulfill. Truly I say to you, until heaven and the earth pass away, not one iota or one point shall pass away from the Torah until all comes to pass. (Heaven and earth have not passed away, and everything has not yet come to pass.) Therefore, whoever relaxes one of these commandments, the least, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom of Heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, this one shall be called great in the kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:18-19)
The Messiah also said: “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of Heaven, but the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name do many works of power? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; “depart from Me, those working lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Through the Prophet Isaiah, in chapter 51:7, the LORD (Yahweh) said, “Listen to Me, you who know justice, a people with My Torah in their heart: Do not fear the taunt of men, nor be dismayed at their insults.”
Isaiah 5:7 is my go-to Scripture, when people who have man-made doctrines in their heart, claim I’ve fallen from grace for demonstrating my love for the biblical Messiah by keeping His commandments. For there is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One Who is able to save and to destroy. (James 4:12) His name is Jesus (Yeshua).
I will close with Ezekiel 11:19-21, “Then I will give them one heart. I will put a new Spirit within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, so that they may follow My Torah, keep My ordinances, and practice them; they will be My people and I will be their God. As for those whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and abominations, I will bring their ways upon their heads. It is a declaration of the Lord GOD (Yahweh).”
