In the past year and a half, I’ve read a lot of things
written by the leadership of First Fruits of Zion. While individual misinterpretations of the
biblical text and Early Church history abound in their published materials,
correcting these errors does not seem to move the needle with those who have
fallen under the sway of Boaz Michael, Daniel Lancaster, and the rest. What would it take? How much of a rejection of God’s Word is
necessary to demonstrate the danger of this path?
FFOZ’s
claim: The
Apostles (and the entirety of the first generation of followers of Jesus, both
Jew and Gentile) fully kept Torah.
In their view this was as Jesus intended, his life, death, and
resurrection changed NOTHING with respect to full participation in the
first-century expression of Judaism, full obedience to the Law of Moses
continued to be expected in every aspect of everyone.
This reflects the central historical claim of FFOZ, that
until later generations dropped the affiliation with Judaism, Jesus’ followers
(both Jew and Gentile alike) were full participants in synagogue life, full
participants in Temple worship, fully obedient to every aspect of
Torah.
Here is an example of this thesis from FFOZ in action:
The New Testament metaphorically refers to Yeshua’s
suffering and death as a sacrifice for sin, but that’s not the same as
cancelling the sacrifices. The boof of
Acts shows us that the believers remained engaged in the Jerusalem Temple
system long after the death and resurrection of the Master. Obviously they did not regard the Temple
worship as obsolete. Ever since the
destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, the sacrifices detailed in the Torah have
not been possible and will not be possible until God’s Temple in Jerusalem is
rebuilt. – Restoration by Daniel Lancaster, p. 169-170
We don’t make sacrifices today, but only
because the Torah forbids us from doing so.
Without a Temple and priesthood, sacrificing is a sin. – Restoration
by Daniel Lancaster, p. 173 (emphasis mine)
Caveat: After the destruction of the Temple, the ending of
the Levitical/Aaronic priesthood, and the disbanding of the Sanhedrin, many of
the requirements of the Torah no longer applied. This FFOZ freely admits, it would be absurd
to contend otherwise as these requirements were literally impossible to keep
without the priesthood and sacrificial system being in place. FFOZ does, however, expect animal sacrifices
to resume if/when the Temple is rebuilt, to them Jesus’ “metaphorical” death
hasn’t changed anything in this regard.
As Lancaster writes, “the Law of God is eternal.” (Restoration, p. 157)
{Note: He isn’t saying the Word of God, context makes it clear that he means
the Mosaic Law in its entirety is intended to be an eternally operating system.}
This leaves nearly a 40-year period after the resurrection
of Jesus Christ when Jesus’ followers could have participated fully in Torah,
as he and they had before his death and resurrection, if it had been Jesus’
goal and purpose for them.
However, to do so would have been to trivialize the
sacrifice of Christ to the point of sacrilege.
Here’s why: Leviticus 4:1-2 says this,
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘When
anyone sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s
commands…
The rest of the chapter outlines the required animal
sacrifice. In the case of an
unintentional sin by any of the covenant people, the animal was to be a goat or
lamb,
29 They are to lay their hand on the head of the sin
offering and slaughter it at the place of the burnt offering. 30 Then the
priest is to take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of
the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of
the altar. (Lev. 4:29-30)
This was God’s command to the Israelites given at Mt. Sinai;
it would have been absolutely necessary for the Apostles (and the growing
number of Christians) if they were fully Torah observant to take
part in this particular sacrifice many times during those decades, for
each of them would have had numerous unintentional sins on their ledger, so to
speak.
{Remember, however that the Gentiles Christians would have
been barred from in-person participation in the Temple system, the physical
reminder of their inferiority that kept them from the inner courts of the
Temple would have been enforced on pain of death. See Acts 21:28}
But neither the Jewish Christians nor the Gentile Christian
could have made these sacrifices, not if they understood even in rudimentary
terms what the sacrifice of Jesus had already accomplished. The book of Hebrews would not yet have
been available to them, but does FFOZ really want us to believe that Jesus’
disciples were this ignorant of what he had accomplished on the Cross up until
they read Hebrews? Or does the
testimony of Hebrews that confirms the abrogation of the sacrificial
system not count when you’ve already concluded that, “the Law of God is
eternal”?
The writer of Hebrews spells this purposeful God-authored
change out in detail:
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has
ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we
profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with
our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
The resurrected and ascended Jesus was already the Great
High Priest, there was no longer a need for the services of one descended from
Aaron. Why would a follower of the
post-resurrection Jesus go to a mere man with a sacrifice?
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things
that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of
this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves;
but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus
obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of
a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that
they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
(Hebrews 9:11-14)
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his
religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one
sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that
time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice
he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. (Hebrews
11:11-14)
Jesus’ blood had fully and forever paid for the sins of the
Apostles, how could they continue to offer that of an animal knowing that they
had been washed clean? The choice was
between obeying Torah by repeating sacrifices Jesus had already paid for,
or recognizing that his death and resurrection had fundamentally changed the
very nature of the sacrificial system by forever eliminating any need for it,
and thus changed the Law of Moses itself.
19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have
confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and
living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since
we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a
sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts
sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed
with pure water. (Hebrews 10:19-22)
Even the Temple itself, while it still stood until the
Romans destroyed it, no longer contained the true Most Holy Place, for the very
body of Jesus Christ was the true living Temple, the one that he promised would
be raised three days after it was destroyed.
18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin
is no longer necessary. (Hebrews 10:18)
It was no longer necessary, the sins of the
Apostles, even those they had yet to commit, had already been forgiven.
How then could they be fully Torah observant by offering
animal sacrifices without hypocrisy, even sacrilege? How could Jesus have expected them to remain fully
participating in first-century Judaism without continuing in the sacrificial
system?
The answer is: They weren’t, nor did Jesus expect them to
be. For Jesus is our Great High Priest,
the Holy Temple, the Blood of the Covenant, and the final sacrifice that God
ever required.
For convenience this post is also available as a Word document: Did the Apostles fully keep the Torah after Jesus' death and resurrection?
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