Paul's Testimony Will Change the Christian World
- Sean Esposito
- Apr 3, 2023
- 26 min read
Updated: Feb 14, 2024
Paul’s testimony, his experience of how he came to believe in Messiah, proves without a shadow of a doubt that sincere believers should keep the Law of Moses and bear the fruit of righteousness. His testimony will change the Christian world. What we will find out is the answer to the following question that should rattle the world: Did Jesus change the Law of Moses or do away with the Law of Moses? This is a major question that must be answered because it determines how believers should conduct themselves, and whether or not believers should walk as Messiah walked on earth (keeping the Law of Moses). We will find this answer clearly in the book of Acts and through the amazing testimony of Apostle Paul. You will be blown away by the answer! I hope you follow along as we listen to the amazing account of how Messiah revealed himself to one of the most influential people to ever walk the earth.
Paul, who was first called Saul, comes onto the Scriptural scene in the book of Acts. In chapter 6, we learn of a devout follower of Messiah named Stephen, who…
...full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people.
But some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, including both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and argued with Stephen. But they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Spirit by whom he was speaking. Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Council. They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And all who were sitting in the Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel.
Acts 6:8-15
In this testimony, it's easy to gloss over some beautifully powerful details that help set the tone for the book of Acts as well as Paul’s testimony. Stephen is doing amazing things in the name of Messiah and Almighty God, yet some people form against him and “secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” First, this will be the argument against Stephen which will ultimately (spoiler alert) end in his corporal punishment and death. Second, which is the key: some people were secretly inducing men to accuse Stephen of speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God… which if true (which it was not), according to Deuteronomy 13, is in fact a "stone-able" offense. In other words, if Stephen was in fact speaking against the Law of Moses, which is the Law of God, he would rightfully be put to death according to God’s Word. We can know these are false accusations right off the bat because of the context of the passage as well as the details of this historic event in the upcoming chapters. These false accusations were secretly spread among the people… if they were true accusations, would they need to be secretly spread? Not at all. This is further solidified in the following verses, which say, “they put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” It cannot get more clear than this. This passage is paramount to understanding not only Stephen’s experience but as we will see, properly understanding how Paul comes to accept Messiah as the true Son of the Most High God.
Friends, this is exciting to read! Think about it… the debate about whether or not Jesus changed the Laws of Moses is being addressed right here and on the record. This is huge! This is the tone that surrounds the amazing testimony of Apostle Paul! This is a historical account that will clear up once and for all if Jesus did away with the Law of Moses or changed it in any way. Amazing: The book of Acts will tell those who truly care to follow and be like Messiah, whether or not they should keep the Laws of Moses if they believe in Messiah! Wow. Let’s find out the truth once and for all, shall we?
So, we have the false accusation that has brought Stephen before the Council: the author of Acts brings to our attention that Stephen is being falsely accused and wrongfully brought before the Council... a Council that has the authority and power to carry out the punishment outlined in Deuteronomy 13.
Wait a minute friends, we almost missed something… something gigantic! The author of the book of Acts is telling us something very very important: in fact, he already gave us the answer we need... The author of Acts is telling us something directly and something indirectly, yet clearly, that Stephen is being falsely accused of teaching that his Master Messiah Yahusha taught him and has encouraged him to tell others that the Law of Moses has been changed... did you see it? The author is already telling us that Stephen never taught such things, and that Messiah never taught such things. How? Because he already told us that people are lying about Stephen and lying about what Messiah taught. Take a moment to think about this--it's huge! The author is telling us that Stephen is about to be put to death on a lie. This means that the author of Acts already knows that Stephen did not teach that Jesus changed the Law of Moses. This means that the author believes that Stephen never and would never teach that Jesus did away with or changed the Law of Moses. He is telling us this because he is telling the reader that Stephen never said that, but that others in secret made it all up! This means that Stephen believes and teaches the opposite of what he is being falsely accused of… right?
I have to hammer this home: if Stephen is being falsely accused of teaching that the Law of Moses is changed or done away with… it can only mean that Stephen believes and lives out the opposite of this false accusation. This very account from the author of Acts himself is telling us that Stephen believes that Messiah did not speak against the holy place or the Law, and that Jesus did not change the customs which Moses handed down. Wow. Thank God for this truth!
If this hasn’t clicked, keep reading… it only gets better! Again, we are here for Paul’s testimony, even though we already got the answer from the author of Acts himself and through the testimony of Stephen. Thankfully, God always gives us multiple witnesses, just as he put forth in His perfect Law as a requirement to prove testimonies.
So, we have the false testimony that has been made up against Stephen and has caused him to be put before the Council: Stephen is being falsely accused that Messiah changed the Law of Moses…
Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they came up to him and dragged him away, and brought him before the Council. They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man does not stop speaking against this holy place and the Law; for we have heard him say that this Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses handed down to us.” And all who were sitting in the Council stared at him, and they saw his face, which was like the face of an angel. Now the high priest said, “Are these things so?”
Acts 6:11 - 7:1
Remember, we already have been given the correct answer. No, these things are not so. Stephen did not teach that Messiah changed the Law of Moses… so let's pay close attention to how Stephen expresses himself and how he, moved by the Holy Spirit, is moved to prove that it is a false testimony to say that Messiah changed the Law of Moses:
And Stephen said, “Listen to me, brothers and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and He said to him, ‘Go from your country and your relatives, and come to the land which I will show you.’ Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. And from there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living. But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, He promised that He would give it to him as a possession, and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. But God spoke to this effect, that his descendants would be strangers in a land that was not theirs, and they would enslave and mistreat them for four hundred years. ‘And whatever nation to which they are enslaved I Myself will judge,’ said God, ‘and after that they will come out and serve Me in this place.’ And He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham fathered Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob, the twelve patriarchs.
The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt. Yet God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and his entire household.
Now a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction with it, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers there the first time. And on the second visit, Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family was revealed to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent word and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five people in all. And Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died there. And they were brought back from there to Shechem and laid in the tomb which Abraham had purchased for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
But as the time of the promise which God had assured to Abraham was approaching, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt, until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. It was he who shrewdly took advantage of our nation and mistreated our fathers in order that they would abandon their infants in the Nile, so that they would not survive. At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful to God. He was nurtured for three months in his father’s home. And after he had been put outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him away and nurtured him as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was proficient in speaking and action. But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his countrymen, the sons of Israel. And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended and took vengeance for the oppressed man by fatally striking the Egyptian. And he thought that his brothers understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting each other, and he tried to reconcile them to peace, by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers, why are you injuring each other?’ But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us? You do not intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’ At this remark, Moses fled and became a stranger in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
Acts 7:2-29
Moses was beautiful to God… wow. Moses meant so much to God. This is a big big deal. So far, Stephen's testimony is in full support of God, the Law of Moses, and how God has moved since Abraham. So far, Stephen has expressed that he fully supports God and how God has used Moses and established God’s people through the seed of Abraham…
After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush. When Moses saw it, he was astonished at the sight; and as he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses shook with fear and did not dare to look closely. But the Lord said to him, ‘Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I have certainly seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; and now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
This Moses whom they disowned, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’ is the one whom God sent to be both a ruler and a deliverer with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the thorn bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your countrymen.’ This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers; and he received living words to pass on to you.
Acts 7:29-38
This is gigantic: Stephen calls the Law of Moses “living words to pass on to you”—those there that day at the council (and to us!). We know Stephen calls the Law of Moses the living words because he explains that these are the Words Moses received at length (so not just the 10 commandments) on Mount Sinai. Friends, this is major…
... This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your countrymen.’ This is the one who was in the assembly in the wilderness together with the angel who spoke to him at length on Mount Sinai, and who was with our fathers, and he received living words to pass on to you. Our fathers were unwilling to be obedient to him; on the contrary they rejected him and turned back to Egypt in their hearts, saying to Aaron, ‘Make us a god who will go before us; for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what happened to him.’ At that time they made a calf and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to serve the heavenly lights; as it is written in the book of the prophets: ‘You did not offer Me victims and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, did you, house of Israel? You also took along the tabernacle of Moloch and the star of your god Rompha, the images which you made to worship. I also will deport you beyond Babylon.’
“Our fathers had the tabernacle of testimony in the wilderness, just as He who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern which he had seen. Our fathers in turn received it, and they also brought it in with Joshua upon dispossessing the nations that God drove out from our fathers, until the time of David. David found favor in God’s sight, and asked that he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands; as the prophet says:
‘Heaven is My throne,
And the earth is the footstool of My feet;
What kind of house will you build for Me?’ says the Lord,
‘Or what place is there for My rest?
Was it not My hand that made all these things?’
Acts 7:35-50
This is the end of Stephen’s expression that he clearly supports the Law of Moses and everything God has done through Abraham, Moses, David, and so on. Stephen definitely has been falsely accused, just as the author of Acts has made clear… now, being led by the Holy Spirit, he will condemn his audience—those at the Council. It is not his testimony that he will be put to death for, but for the following condemnation that will stir all involved to ignore what Stephen just said and put Stephen to death based on the false testimony of those who lied and said that Stephen teaches that Messiah changed the Law of Moses. They will be stirred to anger because they are confronted with this powerful rebuke:
“You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, and you have now become betrayers and murderers of Him; you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it.”
Acts 7:51-53
Wow! He told everyone around him that they are stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears who always resist the Holy Spirit—just as he explained in his previous testimony that their fathers did. Then he goes further to say that it is his audience, those around him now at the Council, that they themselves do not keep the Law of Moses! The Law of God that was ordained by angels—that those around him at the Council do not keep the Law of Moses!
What did we just read? Stephen’s testimony fully supported God, Abraham, David, Moses, and the Law of Moses—which was ordained by angels—and proves that the author of Acts is correct about Stephen being falsely accused. Simply put, Stephen just proved that he honors the Law of Moses and strives to keep it, as it was given to Moses through God and ordained by angels. Stephen keeps the Law of Moses, but the Council and many of those around him there are the ones who do not keep the Law of Moses! (Remember, Messiah rebuked many for keeping the Law of the Pharisees, the Talmud, instead of the Law of God. Read Matthew 23:5 at the end where Jesus tells us directly to keep the Law of Moses. Yes, Jesus says many times, on the record, for us to follow the Law of Moses.)
“Now when they heard this, they were infuriated, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they shouted with loud voices, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one mind. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep.
Acts 7:54-60
Wow. Stephen, with the help of the author of Acts, just proved that Messiah Yahusha did not change the Law of Moses and never taught his followers to teach against it. It is those at the Council that do not keep the Law of Moses.
Crystal clear, and we haven’t even gotten to the really good part about Paul’s testimony!
Now we are introduced to Saul (Paul), who is present at Stephen’s testimony and stoning, and the one who is collecting the cloaks of the witnesses who first put Stephen to death. What’s important for our purpose today, is that Saul is present to hear Stephen's testimony and to witness his capital punishment. Remember, the Holy Spirit of God just told us that those at the Council are stiffed-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears who resist the Holy Spirit doing as their fathers did. The Holy Spirit said that those at the Council do not keep the Law of Moses… yet, based on their action to stone Stephen based on false testimony that it is Stephen who does not keep the Law of Moses, we can rightly believe that they are truly stiff-necked and have closed their hearts and ears to Stephen’s testimony. In other words, they think they did the Godly and right thing to stone Stephen because in their minds they believed the false witnesses that condemned Stephen to receive their judgment of death; they believed that Stephen taught a Messiah that changed the Law of Moses, thus he deserved being stoned. Yet, we all know that that is a false testimony and a lie—Stephen keeps the Law of Moses and so does his Messiah! We trust the author of Acts as well as the Holy Spirit and thus we understand Stephen to have been put to death on a lie… Yet Saul is among those and as we will see, believes the false witnesses and wrongly thinks that Messiah changed the law. Saul believes this, and will now go out into the land and persecute followers of Messiah, because God told us in Deuteronomy 13 that anyone who speaks against His Law—the Law of Moses—are speaking against God and against the perfect instructions delivered through Moses, and they must be put to death.
The following is speaking of the whole Law of Moses—everything in the Scripture of Deuteronomy:
Deuteronomy 12:32: “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.”
“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes true, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let’s follow other gods (whom you have not known) and let’s serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken falsely against the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to drive you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall eliminate the evil from among you.”
Deuteronomy 13:1-5
See, this is what Saul (Paul) believes with his whole heart—that he is to purge the evil from among Israel so that it does not become corrupt. That evil, in Saul’s eyes, is anyone who teaches that the Law of Moses is done away with or changed in any small or big way. As Saul just experienced, he believes the false testimony against Stephen. Saul believes that our Messiah changed the Law of Moses, which is a direct violation of Deuteronomy 13 and the Word of God himself. Saul is now going to passionately pursue believers in Messiah and persecute them because he believes they break Deuteronomy 13 and will ruin the people of Israel. Saul believes he is doing the holy work of God and that it is Saul who keeps the Law of Moses which commands him to purge such evil from the midst of Israel!
Yet we know that Saul was misled and that the author of Acts informed us that Saul is moving based on false testimony. Saul would be doing the right thing if he wasn't fooled by false testimony. What we are learning is that our Messiah kept the Law of Moses and taught others (Stephen, for example) to keep it and honor God by rightly being a hearer and a doer of the Law of Moses.
Now Saul approved of putting Stephen to death.
“And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except for the apostles. Some devout men buried Stephen, and mourned loudly for him. But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house; and he would drag away men and women and put them in prison.”
Acts 8:1-3
Now we see that Saul will stop at nothing to purge Israel of who he believes to be a false Messiah and his disciples and followers! Saul is about to find out how wrong he really is! Here we go!
“Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them in shackles to Jerusalem. Now as he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told to you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer in behalf of My name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like fish scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened.”
Acts 9:1-19
This should seem a little odd… right? Messiah appears to Saul, Saul is blinded, and Messiah chooses to send one of his trusted followers to lay his hands on Saul to take away his blindness. Why? I encourage you to chew on this: what is the whole point of blinding Saul just to open his eyes later?
This is actually the beauty of how God works, and we are about to witness it ourselves! Messiah sent one of his followers to Paul for a reason. Messiah could have just told Paul everything and set him straight himself, but he chose to send one of his devout followers—Ananias. Such a devout follower that Ananias can actually hear the voice of Messiah and seems to communicate with him regularly (he wasn’t shocked to receive a vision and communicate with Messiah… this seemed like a regular practice). Again, why in the world are Messiah and God working this way?? I truly think he is revealing the truth to Saul for this very reason: for you and me today. To prove that you have a sincere heart for God: that you will obey him on your own free will and accord—just as he is giving Saul as a gift. Messiah is showing Saul the truth in a way that Saul must draw his own accurate conclusion. If he truly loves God, he will see the truth through the way Messiah is choosing to reveal the truth. If he doesn’t have a sincere heart for God, his heart and ears will remain uncircumcised and he will continue to believe the false testimony that Messiah changed the Law of God. We must pay attention to what comes next! We cannot be stiff-necked with uncircumcised hearts and ears. We must ask God to give us a heart like King David’s, to become a person after God’s own heart!
In order to see the beauty of Messiah’s revelation, we must turn to Acts 22 and hear Paul’s testimony from his own perspective. Here is Paul as he expresses how Messiah proved that He is the One True Son of Almighty God, and that Messiah passes the Deuteronomy 13 test because Messiah keeps the Law of Moses and taught believers to do the same:
“Brothers and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”
And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he *said,
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the Law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brothers, and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus at about noon, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me saw the light, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything that has been appointed for you to do.’ But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I came into Damascus being led by the hand by those who were with me.
“Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment I looked up at him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear a message from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all people of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins by calling on His name.’
Acts 22:1-16
What was the key that helped Paul understand that Messiah is in fact the Son of God? Did you catch it?
“Now a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, standing nearby he said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very moment, I looked up at him…
Ananias, a devout follower of Messiah who has spoken directly to Messiah himself regularly, is a devout man of the Law of Moses AND well spoken of by all the Jews (well spoken of because he did not transgress the Law of Moses nor speak against Moses (who is beloved by God!)). This is the key friends.
Paul received his sight and saw Messiah for who he truly is: Messiah keeps the Law of Moses and taught his followers to keep the Law of Moses too. There you have it.
It cannot get clearer than this, yet many miss it. Why? For the same reason that Saul missed it to begin with, as well as those at the Council. We can be stiff-necked, unwilling to submit to God fully, and not having an uncircumcised heart and ears. Instead, we should cry out to God and ask for a good heart that is a heart after His truth. Furthermore, we should strive to be like Paul and see Messiah for who he truly is.
You see, Messiah’s disciples could see him rightly. Stephen saw him rightly... Ananias saw him rightly... and Paul was given eyes to see who Messiah truly is! This is why in Romans 3:31, Paul says that because of our faith in the grace, mercy, and gift of Messiah, “we uphold the Law” of Moses. 1 John tells us that sin is lawlessness—sin is the breaking of the Law of Moses. Messiah kept the Law of Moses perfectly and was sinless, never sinning at all. Never breaking the Law of Moses. Messiah calls the world to repentance, to trust in God and His salvation, and to return to the image we were created: return to the image of God and Messiah which is revealed in the Law of Moses by the Word of God. This is why the book of John says that Messiah is the Word made flesh. What Word? The Word of God. The Word of God was spoken at Mount Sinai and given through Moses when they were afraid… and it was established through Messiah at the beginning of creation.
Messiah is the Law of Moses in the flesh. If you have seen Messiah, you have seen Almighty God. Why? Because the Law of Moses is the Law of God. The Law of God is the very image of God Most High. The only image we have of Messiah is how he lived on earth. He was sinless on earth, right? Nobody argues that. Again, what is the definition of sin? "Sin is lawlessness." The only image we have of Messiah is that his life strictly keeps the Law of Moses.
Let me say that again: the Law of Moses is the revealed image of God. The Law of Moses are the ways of God and the ways of our Messiah who are both sinless. We were all created in their image before sin entered this world. We must repent and return to walking in the image and ways of Almighty God and our Messiah. We can root ourselves in the salvation of God through our Messiah—we do not keep the Law of Moses to receive salvation. Just as Paul said, because of the grace and mercy of God through Messiah, we uphold the Law of Moses.
We are to keep the Law of Moses because it is the very revelation of the holy and perfect character of God. We are to be like God and walk in his ways. Keeping the Law is how we are to bear good fruit and walk in the ways of God. Joshua 22:5 makes it crystal clear:
Only be very careful to follow the commandment and the Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways, and keep His commandments and cling to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Joshua 22:5
The real question is not Did Jesus change the Law of Moses or do away with the Law of Moses?... but is this:
Will you repent and return to walking in the image of Almighty God and be just like Messiah?
Will you be like the devout followers of Paul and Ananias: seeing Messiah for who he truly is and becoming devout people who keep the Law of Moses?
This truth will change the Christian World; God willing.
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Here is that Matthew 23:1-5 passage that you'll want to read:
Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples,saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. Therefore, whatever they tell you, do and comply with it all, but do not do as they do; for they say things and do not do them. And they tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as their finger. And they do all their deeds to be noticed by other people; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the seats of honor in the synagogues,and personal greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by the people. But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest of you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.
Quickly: Messiah tells us to keep the Law of Moses by listening to the Pharisees when they sit in the chair of Moses and read the Law of Moses (which was customary in the Synagogue every Shabbat). He directly tells us to do whatever they tell you (from the chair of Moses): to do and comply with it ALL. Yet, he warns us not to do what they do, because they do not keep the Law of Moses but instead they tie up heavy burdens hard to bare. Messiah is teaching us to listen to the Pharisees when they teach the Law of Moses, and to do the Law of Moses, yet do not do as the Pharisees do because they keep their own Oral Law, the Talmud, which is hard to bare. This is one of many passages where Messiah, directly without a shadow of a doubt, teaches his followers to keep the Law of Moses. Why would he? Because Messiah is the Law of Moses in the flesh, and the Law of Moses is the very image of God. You and I were made in their image. It's awesome!
Sean is a former Atheist who was finally awoken to the reality of our Creator—which led him to the one place he thought he would never step foot: “Bible College.” During his studies, our Heavenly Father flipped his Christian worldview upside down in order to reveal the whole truth of His perfect Word. As a follower of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), Sean encourages believers to deepen their faith, seek the truth, test everything, and be willing to walk in the true image they were created: the image of the Most High and His flawless Son.
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