Was Jesus a Rebellious Son?

^"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:8-10

To set the record straight at the outset I believe the verses above from Ephesians 2:8-10. I don't believe there is anything I can do to earn my salvation. Salvation involves a new heart and there is nothing I can do to change my heart and there is nothing I can do to earn a changed heart.

Only people with changed hearts can obey God and hearts are changed by His work of grace in us, by faith in what He has said.

The grace of God is an agent of change. By His work of grace our hearts are changed from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh. This new, God regenerated heart, is then able to have His Law written upon it and have God's Law put upon the mind of the regenerated man or woman. This is the New Covenant that Jeremiah spoke of in Chapter 31 and that Ezekiel speaks of in his book of prophecy, Chapter 36.

I hope this will lay the charge of salvation by works to rest. I do not believe I am saved by any kind of works beyond simply responding to the prompting of the Lord to come to Him, confessing, repenting, and being regenerated. That may put me in opposition still to the Calvin side of Michael, but I do believe man has a choice as to whether he accepts this gift of grace or whether he rejects it.

The real difference we are here to discuss is what does a true believer, saved by grace through faith in the Jesus of the Bible look, act, and sound like. A common phrase used by those who believe there are works associated with that grace is that grace causes us to be Christ-like. I believe that is true in the life of the believer who is submitted to God the Holy Spirit, who chooses to walk as Christ walked.

You will notice that I will use the name Jesus and Yeshua interchangeably in my discussion and I will also go between Messiah and Christ. I prefer using the Hebrew name and title since Yeshua was a Hebrew. I sometimes wonder if using the title Christ and the name Jesus makes it easier to think Him somehow different than the God of the Old Testament. I believe Scripture is clear that Yeshua - Jesus is the God of the Old Testament who has never changed in any way.

Again, the argument seems, for the most part, to center on which commandments, if any, a believer is supposed to be about keeping, observing and/or obeying.

At the heart of this, I believe, is a lack of understanding of what Scripture says, especially when we do not take every portion of New Testament Scripture we read to the light of the foundational Scriptures of Torah. I believe this has caused Yeshua to be misunderstood and to be cast as a false Messiah and has cause Paul to be greatly misunderstood. In fact, in some peoples thinking, they pit Paul against Moses, as if Paul is somehow greater than Moses. Some even put Paul in opposition to Jesus, contradicting the works that the Messiah spoke when he walked here on earth as a man, and especially the Words He spoke from the beginning. What is even more mind boggling is when this "New Testament" Jesus is pitted against the One prophesied in Torah and the Prophets. Do you know the One I speak of? That would be the One that Yeshua was and is. It was how He described Himself to the two on the road to Emmaus.

What Text Did Messiah Use in Defining Who He Was/Is?

²⁵Then He said to them, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?" ²⁷And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

Notice that Messiah "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Notice that He qualifies what the Scriptures are; Moses and the Prophets. That says that Torah and the Prophets are still valid. And it tells us clearly that what they say about the Messiah, who He is and what He would be like when He came as a man is accurate and vitally important to recognizing who He is. If you think Paul was in opposition to Yeshua's position in this aspect of doctrine you need to read what the Rabbi Shaul said to his protégée Timothy in 2^nd Timothy Chapter 3. Paul talks about the Scriptures that Timothy was raised upon being able to make one "wise unto salvation," and able to make one "complete for every good work." Paul also said that self-same Scripture was good for "doctrine, reproof and correction," etc. Now I don't think anyone wants to argue that Paul was on a different page than his Savior, Redeemer, and God, but I could be wrong.

Now, given what we know about the Scriptures; they show us who Messiah is, what He will look like, sound like and act like, then that tells me that we'd better take what they say very seriously. What do the Scriptures (Torah) Say about Messiah?

These are very important portions of Scripture that will shape our view of who He is. In order for one claiming to be the Messiah such a one would have to fit the prophecies that describe Him and He would have to have fulfilled the prophecies that Torah and the Prophets say He would fulfill. Do you agree with this? If you don't we should just stop here because the basis of our discussion - the Whole Counsel of God has been taken off the table as the standard by which each of our dissertations are to be judged.

The definition of a false prophet is in Deuteronomy 13, beginning in Verse 1. ¹"If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ²and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, 'Let us go after other gods'-which you have not known-'and let us serve them,' ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. ⁵But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall put away the evil from your midst."

Notice Deuteronomy 18:17 - ¹⁷"And the Lord said to me: 'What they have spoken is good. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ¹⁹And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ²⁰But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'

The text cited above puts the Messiah that the professing church is following in a strange place if what God has said is in fact true. Remember that Yeshua used these texts to prove who He was to the two on the road to Emmaus. We have a couple of possible scenarios here. Well maybe three.

1. Jesus - Yeshua, is a rebellious Son who came to destroy the Words and Works of His Father.

2. The New Testament is false and cannot be trusted in light of established Scripture.

3. The understanding of the Words of Yeshua and the letters of Paul have been misinterpreted and the fault lies not with the text but with us. This is the position I hold to.

Notice Deuteronomy 4:2 "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you."

Yeshua - Jesus would be rebellious to the Word of the Father were He to add to or subtract from the Torah. Some suggest that He is. He could not be accepted as the sinless Lamb of God if this is true and we have no Redeemer. Remember what John tells us in his 1^st letter, Chapter 2 - "sin is lawlessness." Therefore I can't accept this and I wonder how anyone else who says they believe the Bible can.

Now, if we could find, and we can't, or at least I haven't found, a foundational text that says that the Messiah would change the appointed times and commandments of the Lord then you would have a case and I would back off this immediately. However just the opposite is the case. The Book of Daniel tells us that it is the 4^th beast who is the one who will change the times and the law, not Messiah!

Daniel 7, beginning in Verse 23: ²³"Thus he said:

'The fourth beast shall be

A fourth kingdom on earth,

Which shall be different from all other kingdoms,

And shall devour the whole earth,

Trample it and break it in pieces.

²⁴ The ten horns are ten kings

Who shall arise from this kingdom.

And another shall rise after them;

He shall be different from the first ones,

And shall subdue three kings.

²⁵ He shall speak pompous words against the Most High,

Shall persecute^£ the saints of the Most High,

And shall intend to change times and law.

Then the saints shall be given into his hand

For a time and times and half a time."

Obviously (HE is God) Yeshua knew that people would accuse Him of destroying the Law and changing the foundational texts. It is in the devil's scheme to take people away from that which leads us to our Redeemer and keeps us from following Him. It is in obedience, by faith, that we are blessed, not in disobedience in rebellion. Jesus believed this was important enough to say what He said in Matthew 5.

¹⁴"You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

¹⁷"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸For 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. ¹⁹Whoever 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. ²⁰For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds therighteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven."

Notice Verse 14 and 15 speaking of the people of God being the light of the world. Remember that the Psalmist says "Your Word is a lamp to my feet

and a light to my path."

In Verse 16 our shining light is connected with the "good works" of the people of God, and those who see these "good works" will "glorify your Father in heaven."

Even though men have put headings and subheadings in the pages that contain the Word of the Lord they are not a part of the Word. This is a dissertation by Yeshua, God Himself and He continues His thought into Verse 17 and beyond.

An emphatic statement by Yeshua should be taken without hesitation, but it clearly is not by most of the professing church. He said clearly "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." So why, in rebellion to what our Messiah, Lord and God has said, do we think that He destroyed the Law? He said don't think that!!!! How does that work?

In light of the prophecies in Deuteronomy and what He said in Matthew 5, and many other places about doing only His Father's will, then we cannot, being contextually consistent with Scripture, think that He violated the Lord's Day (Isaiah 58) - Sabbath. He certainly transgressed the oral tradition of the elders, who themselves had added to and subtracted from the Torah. He confronted them on that major point, and about trying to convert gentiles to them and their oral tradition, but He never, not even once, berated anyone for keeping Torah! But He had a lot to say about how keeping the commandments were associated with love for Him.

Verse 18 - Has heaven and earth passed away yet? It would not appear so. We are still here and heaven is still ahead of us, so not one jot or tittle has passed from the law. Pretty straight ahead, wouldn't you say so?

Verse 19 - This doesn't look like blessing upon the one who breaks a commandment and teaches others to break the same commandment. I was one of those people at one time, before the Lord opened my eyes and heart to His Truth. Conversely the blessing of being called "great in the kingdom of heaven" is reserved for the one who does the commandments and teaches them. For starters that would be Yeshua, and then those who walk as He walked (1 John 2). You might say, at least the ones who break the commandments and teach others to do so will be in the kingdom of heaven. Well that depends on the qualifier in Verse 20.

Verse 20 - "For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds therighteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." This statement by the Messiah, Lord God takes it to another level. The scribes and Pharisees had a problem in that they established their own righteousness apart from the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3-4). Apart from the Torah the Pharisees set up their own standard of righteousness. This standard, not be the Torah of God, did not lead them to Messiah but led them to themselves.

Romans 10:4 says, "Messiah is the "end" of the Torah for righteousness to everyone who believes." The Greek word for "end" is "telos" which means "(to setout for a definite point or goal); properly the point aimed at as a limit, that is, (by implication) the conclusion of an act or state (termination [literally, figuratively or indefinitely], result [immediate, ultimate or prophetic], purpose); specifically an impost or levy (as paid):-+ continual, custom, end (-ing), finally, uttermost." This is according to the Strong's Dictionary of Greek and Hebrew words. The goal, or purpose of the Torah is to bring us to Messiah.

Galatians 24 says the "Torah was our tutor to bring us to Messiah, that we might be justified by faith."

The problem the Pharisees had was that their own established righteousness, based upon the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:5) and not on the Torah of God. The problem is the same for us. If we base our righteousness on our own standard, apart from Torah, we will miss Messiah as well. The difference between those who are the least in the kingdom, versus those who are of the Scribes and Pharisees type is the problem of rejecting the Torah of God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

The issue is not that we are able to perform observance or keeping of God's commandments perfectly, but whether we care about keeping them at all. Rejecting His commandments, appointed times, and His Way and replacing it with pagan and humanistic ways is at the core of the problem of the Scribes and Pharisees (the recognized religious authorities of the day) and is at the core of the problem with the professing church today!

The conclusion of the matter: Jesus is Messiah and He proved it by being sinless (one who violated no portion of the Law because sin is lawlessness). It is the only way His sacrifice as the unblemished Passover Lamb of God was accepted. Since He walked in the commandments of His Father, and John says we are to walk as He walked what is our response to be? Since He said that we should not think that He came to destroy the Law or the Prophets (the prophets preached a return to Torah and a coming out of pagan idolatry) then what should our response be to this statement by Messiah? Especially since His message was the same as the prophets (Hebrews 1).

This, far from exhaustive, background in Scripture should set the foundation and basis for any discussion into the writings of Paul. Paul was not lawless, nor was he a legalist. Neither is Yeshua, and neither am I.

Paul was saved by grace through faith and so am I. The difference, as was so aptly put by one who commented recently is what does godly look like. What does being Christ-like look like? It would look like Him. Not making us Him, but our being His workmanship, created in Him for good works that He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). It is God who works in us both to will and to do for HIS good pleasure. He would not create lawless new creations. His good pleasure is that His people would walk in His statutes and His commandments and be in the place of blessing. It has always been His desire to do this in and through all people, but the people would not. He wants to give us a new heart of flesh, replacing our heart of stone, writing His Law - Torah upon our hearts, putting it in our minds and causing us to keep the commandments. But He can only do that if we submit to His work. In order to do that we have to lay down our self established righteousness. That is self-righteousness. It is all about Yeshua. He does it all. In the flesh this impossible (Romans 8), but if we are walking in the Spirit we can be subject to, subordinate to, submitted to the Torah of God. The big question is do we want to.