Our spiritual inheritance is bound up with the Torah: it is part of our story, our history, and our heritage as follows of Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah (see Deut. 33:4; Matt. 5:17-19; Gal. 3:7; Rom. 4:16; Luke 24:27). הַיְשׁוּעָה מִן־הַיְּהוּדִים – “Salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). The stories, rituals, and laws of the Torah serve as parables and allegories that inform the deeper meaning of the ministry of Messiah: “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor. 10:11). “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom.15:4). Therefore you are no longer a stranger or outsider to the great heritage of the LORD (Eph. 2:19). Disciples of Yeshua are called talmidim (תַּלְמִידִים) — a word that comes from lamad (לָמַד) meaning “to learn.” Among other things, then, following the Messiah means becoming a student of the Scriptures He loved and fulfilled (Matt. 5:17-18; Luke 24:44-45). Only after learning from Yeshua as your Teacher will you be equipped to “go to all the nations and teach” others (Matt. 28:19).
You are no longer an “outsider” to the covenants and blessings of Israel, friend (see Eph. 2:19; Gal. 3:26). Being a Jew (i.e., יְהוּדִי, from יְהוּדָה “one who praises”) is really not an ethnic distinction but a matter of genuine faith in the Lord God of Israel. A true Jew is one whose heart has been transformed by the Spirit of the Living God (Rom. 2:28-19). “For in Yeshua the Messiah neither being circumcised nor being uncircumcised matters; what matters is being briah chadashah (בְּרִיאָה חֲדָשָׁה), a new creation (Gal. 6:15). “Therefore, if anyone is in Messiah, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). But understand that Yeshua clearly upheld the truth of Torah (Matt. 5:17-21), and therefore Torah is clearly part of your heritage as a follower of Yeshua, the “Christ,” that is, the anointed King (i.e., Messiah) of the Jews… Indeed, the first thing Yeshua did after his resurrection was to teach his followers how the Torah, the writings, and the psalms all bore prophetic witness of Him (Luke 24:27, 44). Moreover Yeshua told his followers that the true prophets of Israel all bore witness of Him (see Matt. 5:11-12). If you love God’s salvation — his Yeshua — then may you proclaim yigdal Elohim – “Let God be magnified” (Psalm 70:4).
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