An introduction
We believe that the instructions which YHWH gave to his people in the Torah still apply today. Yeshua said,
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:17-19)
Yeshua Himself kept the commandments given in the Torah while He was here on earth (see John 15:10). Salvation comes through faith in Yeshua, but that same faith leads us to want to be obedient to our Heavenly Father, and thus to follow what YHWH has instructed His people to do in His Torah.
But there are instructions in the Torah which we cannot carry out today in Scotland, for various reasons. Some are dependent on there being a Tabernacle or Temple, complete with priests, and we do not have that. Others would require us to break the laws of the society we live in. Still others are about situations which do not apply to us in present-day Britain, eg the instructions on how to behave as, or treat, a domestic slave, or they apply specifically to an agricultural setting, which is far from how most of us live. And there are a small number of instructions regarding sacrifices which may be considered to have been fulfilled once and for all by Yeshua Himself on the cross (discussion on this is ongoing).
The list of YHWH’s instructions on this site has been extracted directly from the Torah, reading in the order in which they first occur in the text, and we have given each one a status in accordance with the following traffic-light scheme:
applies to us and is easy for us to do today in our modern lives.
means we think that this still applies in principle but there are reasons why it can’t be carried out or that it needs further discussion.
means this is something that we no longer need to do because Yeshua has done it once and for all of us.
Some instructions have more than one status attached to them, indicating that there is an ongoing discussion in our group as to which status applies. This often occurs, for example, when the principle of an instruction is clear and would be green, but there is also an element which makes it amber eg the involvement of a priest or a death penalty.
As with the study of scripture in general, this list will probably always be a “Work in Progress” as we continue to read, think, discuss, learn, understand and grow in our relationships with YHWH. We hope that you will find it helpful, wherever you are on your own personal journey with Him.
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17b)