Many Christians who have been taught that "Jesus nailed it to the cross", don't seem to understand exactly WHAT was nailed to the cross. For some reason they are under the mistaken impression that "Torah" - God's original teaching and instruction - was somehow abolished on the cross, which is a dangerously off-the-mark assertion. To illustrate, we have created the following simplistic, easy-to-read article that anyone can understand.

What exactly is the Torah?

Here's an example: Good parents teach their children to obey some fundamental rules during their formative years. We teach them that touching a hot stove will burn their fingers, that trying to play with stray dogs might result in being bitten, or that it's dangerous to cross a road without first checking to see if a car is coming. We teach them necessary manners and show them how to get along with others, and to say "please" and "thank you" - basic rules of etiquette. The purpose of our careful tutelage is to raise decent human beings and to provide our children with knowledge that they can carry with them forever; knowledge they can build on and eventually impart to their own kids. In other words, we give them a kind of "Torah" - a blueprint for moral and safe living.

Now, imagine, for instance, some flashy, charismatic person coming along and telling your children that whenever they reach the age of, say, 12, they will no longer be required to obey their parents and can do whatever they want - regardless of the consequences - because somehow the age of 12 magically negates everything their parents ever taught them. At age 12, according to this charismatic person, our children are "grown up" and no longer subject to their parents' rules and regulations. They can lie, steal, cheat, have sex whenever and with whomever they want, they can touch hot stoves, cross the road without looking, and generally do whatever they desire. As humans who have been born into sin (Genesis 3; Romans 3), our kids will naturally be drawn to this new liberty they think they've discovered, and so they begin to rebel because our rules and regulations are outdated and no longer accommodate their desires....

The question is: Does our children's "new liberty" appeal to us parents? Of course not! We know that their "new-found freedom" will result in ultimate pain and/or death!

But isn't this exactly what we have done with the Word of God? For some reason we have decided that "we are under grace" because "Jesus nailed it to the cross" and we're therefore not subject to God's Laws. Nobody stops to ask: "Why would God destroy His own original divine teachings without which we would have NO blueprint for moral human behavior?"

God's "Laws" - Torah (which is Hebrew for God's "divine teachings/instruction" and which has been confused with MAN'S traditions and rules) - is outlined in the first five books of the Bible, the Books of Moses. In these five books God "breathed" His instructions which reveal who He is, how He wants to be worshiped, and how He wants us to live and behave according to what God knows is best for us. Torah is our relationship to God.

But, let's start at the beginning:

God, as our Creator is, in essence, our Father. From the very beginning, He tried to teach us right from wrong; He had rules for man to live by: (Paraphrased from Gen. 2:15-17) "Adam, work the garden, but do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden; you will die if you do!" "Do's" and "Don'ts" - TORAH! - from the very beginning!

Divine law and priesthood have ALWAYS been around, as far back as Adam. And when Adam and Eve sinned and were banished from the Garden, God imposed even more rules on mankind because, now that man had partaken from tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he was destined to reap the consequences. And the consequences required sacrifices and offerings to God....God's prerogative as our Creator.

The sacrifice for sin was always the shedding of innocent blood. Why blood? Because it is life-giving liquid. Without it, we die. Why an innocent animal? To make man feel the anguish over the loss of an innocent life on his behalf! Something had to die so that you, Mr. and Ms. Sinner, could live! To impress upon man the importance of total obedience God, Yahweh demanded that an innocent animal be slain in order to atone for deliberate sinning. The first account of an animal sacrifice is when God killed an animal in order to make coverings for the naked Adam and Eve after they ate from the tree (Genesis 3).

The Bible doesn't tell us how, but God obviously taught Adam and Eve about sacrifices because we know that Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God in Genesis 4:3-5. At that time a high priest was not required to handle the sacrifices because of the limited circumstances of human life when Adam's family circle for centuries formed the only population of the earth. At that time, every obedient man offered his own sacrifice and, in essence, was his own priest, as appears in the case of Abel, Noah, Melchizedek, Job and Abraham. (Please read Before the Law of Moses.)

The need for a high priest - an intercessor between God and man - arose when Israel's population began to grow. The duties of the high priest and his special vestments are outlined in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, the chief references being Ex. 28: 6-42; Ex. 29: 6; Ex. 39: 27-29; Lev. 6: 19-23; Lev. 21: 10. Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ) ultimately became our High Priest! But unlike the other high priests, Yeshua offered HIMSELF on our behalf and thus bore the sins of ALL of us permanently - and the only thing required of us, in return, was to believe in His shed blood at the cross (Hebrews 3:1; John 3:15-18; 1 Peter 1:18-19; John 10:8-9; John 10:10; 2 Cor 5:17-18; Matthew 1:21, Isaiah 7:14) thereby becoming new creatures in Christ who DESIRE to follow God.

All of the above is a part of Torah - which has been around since the beginning. Has God changed His mind about obedience and the consequences of sin? No! The above are just a few examples to show that the entire history of the world before the actual giving of the Torah through Moses, is a history of man's relationship to God. God wanted the best for us; He wanted our obedience. (By the way, examples of God's commandments are sprinkled throughout the Torah in places such as Gen. 26:2-5; Ex. 15:25-27; Ex. 16; Ex. 20:6; Lev. 22, 26, 27; Num. 15, 36; Deut. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31. There are more, but you get the picture: God was very adamant about people following all His teachings and commandments.) We need to remember that, just because Moses was the first one to present God's teachings as "Torah" (referred to by Christians as "law") GOD, not Moses, is the author of the Torah. God allowed Moses to see His wisdom and commanded him to share that knowledge with the Hebrews and to all those who attached themselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Torah includes the keeping of the SEVENTH-DAY Sabbath (Genesis 2:3) which God commanded in places such as Exodus 31:13-16, Isaiah 66:23 and Isaiah 58:13. Torah also includes the Biblical feasts - God's appointed times - as outlined in Leviticus 23. To illustrate the feasts' importance, you need to understand that Yeshua has so far only fulfilled the first four of the seven Biblical feasts, with three more to go - and the next one is the "Rapture"! How could Yeshua fulfill the feasts after His death? Because God is forever; He has no beginning and no end. His fleshly body died, but His Spirit didn't. We know He is alive because He rose and because no body was ever found in the SEALED tomb in which He was buried! Yeshua was already with His "Father" Yahweh at the beginning (John 1:1-2) and He remains a priest FOREVER (Hebrews 7:3).

Man sees things from a linear viewpoint and timeline, whereas God does not. He's God, so why should He have to fulfill everything within OUR concept of time? His Biblical feasts were given to us for a reason: so that man could know what all was supposed to happen and what was yet to come - i.e. Yeshua was foreshadowed in each one of them! If God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow, WHY would He suddenly want us to ignore them? God said His Torah would stand FOREVER (2 Chronicles 7:14-22).

God wasn't "cursing" man when He told Moses to present 613 commandments for His people to live by. (God doesn't do anything without good reason!) These 613 commandments taught man right from wrong and how to obey God and worship Him properly. Most of the 613 commands were for the priests of that day; some were only for men; some only for women (i.e., to sleep outside the camp whenever they had their periods - which made sense since in those days women had no way to keep clean during their menstrual cycle).

The main ones that were meant for everyone, were the ones God eventually consolidated into the Ten Commandments. For some reason, Christians don't mind adhering to the Ten Commandments (even though they don't properly keep the Fourth Commandment concerning the seventh-day Sabbath) which are part of Torah, as well. Man has always liked to "pick and choose" when it comes to God's Word, but it's time to realize that seventh-day Sabbath command, along with His seven Biblical feasts were NEVER abolished on the cross. There were parts of Torah that God said would endure FOREVER....

Torah has been mistranslated as "the law" and is viewed as being "bad" and something we no longer have to do, "thanks to the death of Jesus". How does that make sense? Why would God abolish His original teachings - without which mankind would have NO blueprint for moral behavior? Second Timothy 3:16 says, "All scripture is God-breathed and is valuable for teaching the truth, convicting of sin, correcting faults and training in right living"....

So, exactly WHAT was it that the death of Jesus abolished?

An article at Yashanet called Not Subject to the Law of God? explains: Attempting to gain salvation by following the Torah on your own without faith, and inevitably failing at some point, is the "curse of the Law" -- not the Torah itself.

Yeshua attempted to show us that MAN-MADE traditions and teachings had twisted God's Word. The teachings of the rabbis in "Biblical times" (just as the teachings of today's pastors!) had clouded the things God had actually said! This is backed up by the much-misunderstood teachings of Paul:

Colossians 2: 14 He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake.

What does the above refer to? Our SINS! Did Rav Sha'ul (Paul) say "the Law" (Torah) was nailed to the cross? No! Yeshua was our SIN Sacrifice; that is all. God sent an aspect of Himself to earth in the form of a man so that we could better identify and understand; He taught us about the things of God, how to live with each other according to God's will; and then to offer Himself as the Final Sin Sacrifice. Yeshua wiped away the documented opinions of men (bill of charges) against us and took them from our midst....He even said He came NOT to abolish Torah, but to fulfill it. "Fulfill" does not mean abolish!

The Torah is holy, righteous and good. To suddenly have it "nailed to the cross" as Christians would have us believe, suggests that the things of God were originally evil, something to be done away with.

The bottom line is: Torah contains exactly what God wanted us to know about Himself, how He wants to be worshiped, and how we are to live together in harmony according to GOD'S commands.

God said that everyone - INCLUDING the "grafted in" - are to obey His Torah:

Numbers 15: 13 "'Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when he brings an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. 14 For the generations to come, whenever an alien or anyone else living among you presents an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, he must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the alien living among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the alien shall be the same before the LORD: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the alien living among you.'"

That Scripture, all by itself, shows that God wasn't just talking about the Jews! Doing "exactly as you do" includes Christians (who, by believing in Jesus, worship the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!) keeping God's all-important Biblical feasts and keeping His seventh-day Sabbath. These next Scriptures show that we will be keeping the feasts and the seventh-day Sabbath for ALL ETERNITY. As you know, God "rested" on the seventh day, not because HE needed rest, but to provide the example that WE would. He "rested" because He was done creating and could admire His work. Sometime thereafter He told us to keep the Sabbath Holy because it would be a SIGN between Him and His creation. Christians have changed the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday because they are under the mistaken impression that Jesus rose on a Sunday. Please see our Resurrection article which proves otherwise and then continue with the below:

Ezekiel 20: 10 "So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 "I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man (notice He said MAN, not JEW...) observes them, he will live. 12 "Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

Now, pay CLOSE ATTENTION to this one:

Isaiah 66: 22 "As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me," declares the LORD, "so will your name and descendants endure. 23 From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD. 24 "And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

(You can find the above and more in-depth info in a short article wherein we challenge The Berean Call.)

God said His Torah would stand FOREVER (2 Chronicles 7:14-22). Forever didn't end last Tuesday. On Judgment Day He will ask you why you chose to ignore His Torah, why you changed His seventh-day Sabbath, and why you didn't keep the feasts that He commanded to be kept forever, and which will be continued in heaven:

Exodus 31: 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you."

Exodus 31: 16 "Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

Again, WHO are the children of Israel? Anyone who believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! As a grafted in Gentile believer YOU are to be Torah-obedient! Torah is not a "tradition"; it is God's commandments - without which the world would not have a blueprint for behavior. The feasts are not a "tradition". They were commanded!

The bottom line is, Torah was NOT abolished on the cross. Our past SINS were abolished; the need for a SIN SACRIFICE was abolished - NOT Torah! Yeshua was God Incarnate who offered Himself as our Final Sin Sacrifice. Nothing more. God used to demand animal sacrifices for sins; THAT is what was abolished on the cross; not God's original commands and teachings - which He clearly stated would last FOREVER! Yeshua came to abolish the man-made, rabbinical teachings that were totally off the mark; NOT Torah, our guide-book for life!