If the Old Covenant laid a foundation for the New Covenant, as is held to be true by the vast majority of Christian Theologians and Denominations, then if it has completely passed away; how is it that the Building which is formed by the New Covenant still stands?
It is imperative, when building our Theological House, we don't build without a foundation or we are building on sand. Eventually storms WILL come and our house will crumble or stand - dependent SOLELY upon our choice of foundation or lack thereof. The greatest of all storms is death itself, it truly and eternally divides those who have been absolutely faithful from those who have not.
In Matthew 7 when Yeshua said the following (especially vs 24) it was immediately following another conversation I'll post and comment on below...
👉 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 👈
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
What "words" was He referring to?
"everyone 👉who hears these words👈 of mine 👉and puts them into practice👈 is like a wise man who built his house on the rock"
For the answer, as is so common, we have to backtrack a little....
Matthew 7:21- 23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’"
I chose this version because it appears to completely cover the truth of what's being said and shows just how important it is to get educated in what the original says.
That very last word 'evildoers' is both revealing and concealing. It conceals the base meaning but reveals what is probably the heart of Messiah regarding the ones He is calling 'evildoers'.
In Greek, the word used is "a'nomia". It literally means "without law". So the only actual meaning of this tiny little word, based on the context of this passage, is 'even doing great exploits in My Name is an evil act if you're doing so while rejecting My Father's law/instruction/Torah'.
The point is that this is a heart condition. If you're doing great exploits but choosing to walk differently than He walked, your motives are not loving but the opposite.
But how do we walk in Torah in the New Covenant? We apply it through the Laws of Love, Mercy, and Grace. Just as Messiah did with the 'Woman caught in the act of Adultery' and as He would have the man, if he'd been brought forward as well, which is the Biblically correct method of the pre-resurrection application of Torah. You see, Messiah Yeshua was showing a proper application of Torah as it was intended, but also as was rejected by a fearful nation (at Mt. Horeb) and who also still had the hearts and minds of slaves. Else He too would be a violator of Torah.
This scenario reveals much more than most people are willing to see. The fact that He did not follow the 'prescribed punitive actions' shows that Torah was not about those punishments. The punishments were to motivate a people with 400 years of generational lawlessness to become lawful in one generation. So they could begin reaping the blessings of Torah Obedience as quickly as possible.
A little something to ponder during this Shabbat.