"The Least of These Commandments"
 

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18)

     There may have been some who read the Scripture above on the previous page and wondered, "What does this have to do with anything? I KNOW the Lord said that He came to fulfill the law." Yes, He certainly did! But He begins by saying that He did NOT come to destroy the law or the prophets, and that "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." A jot refers to the yodh, which is the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. A tittle is an apex, and refers to the horn-like points which are seen on Hebrew letters. So Yeshua has told us that not even these smallest parts of what has been written will pass, until ALL has been fulfilled. Well, we know that not ALL has been fulfilled as of yet in the word of God, because we still look for the glorious return of our Lord!
     So now, we will continue with what we have just read and taken to heart on the previous page in regard to keeping His commandments, and "see" what the Lord states next:
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:19-20)
     Did you catch the underlined portion above? "...Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments,..." Yeshua speaks here of how we are viewed in heaven, in regard to breaking the least of His commandments. He also clearly tells us that we must be righteous in His sight, or we shall NOT enter the kingdom of heaven! How does this relate to what we have been studying? Let's look further...
 
     We know beyond a shadow of a doubt WHO Yeshua is, and we know that He has told us to follow ALL of His commandments -- we also know now that He has told us that we are to follow even the least of His commands. But before we can understand "one of these least commandments", we need to understand why the scribes and Pharisees are spoken of and what it means in reference to us. Let's "listen" carefully to what the Lord told others about these men:
"Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not."
(Matthew 23:1-3)
     Some of the dear readers here may not understand who the scribes and Pharisees were. Very simply, they were exactly what "theologians" and "pastors" are today, respectively. Let's look at the above Scripture closely and come to understand what our Lord told the crowd -- (paraphrasing...)
The scribes and Pharisees know the laws and commands as I (Yeshua) have given to Moses ("sit in Moses' seat"): so they can tell you what the laws and commands are, and you should observe (obey) them; but as for their "works", do NOT follow their example: for they tell you the laws and commandments, but they DON'T keep them -- they only seek the praises of men and not of God!
     Now, we can confirm that we have read this correctly and that this is our understanding, by what the Lord speaks next:
"For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi." (Matthew 23:4-7)
     The verse above explains that the scribes and Pharisees were only interested in what THEY wanted in life: recognition, power, and things of this earth. Keep in mind, that God dearly loves ALL His creation (mankind), but one of things that He will clearly point out to us when we study His word, is that He will NOT put up with liars and deceivers who would keep ANY of His children from finding Him in Truth, or otherwise be a hindrance to those who seek His presence. Many Scriptures can be found in this regard, and perhaps you may wish to do your own study on the subject. Here are just two examples -- Scriptures that I believe most of us are familiar with: "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8) "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." (Romans 16:18)
 
     To continue with the Lord speaking about the scribes and Pharisees, He now turns to them and speaks to them directly. To "see" and understand the full extent of what the Lord was saying and how He was saying it, I have included the entirety of the Lord's words to these men, from this particular portion of the Scriptures. Please -- take the time to read, and "listen", Very Closely to EVERY word, as Yeshua does NOT speak "kindly" nor "lovingly" to these professed "men of God". Take note of the exclamation marks (!) at the end of the sentences with the word "hypocrites!" -- This reminds us that God will not suffer through liars and deceivers:
Matthew 23:13-39
     "But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
 
     Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
 
     Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
 
     Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
 
     Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
 
     Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
 
     For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."
     We can clearly see that the Lord was not being "loving" toward these men at all, as some people have been taught in today's society ("all you need is love" ??)...these men were deceiving people, and the Lord let them know that He recognized this fact! The "theologians" and "pastors" of His day, were telling the people: "This is the word of God, and this is what you are to do, and this is what you are to obey". Yet they themselves, were doing whatever was convenient and pleasing to them -- NOT what was pleasing to God!
 
     So we have seen, that the Lord knew that the scribes and Pharisees were NOT righteous -- these men did not have the righteousness of God, nor the true love of God in their hearts. Here is a Scripture that describes these men, as well as some people today: "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:" (2 Timothy 3:5a). In the letter of Paul to Timothy, he was speaking of people in the last days. When we study the word of God, we can clearly see that this also defines for us the way in which the scribes and Pharisees had turned -- they presented "a form of godliness", but in their hearts they denied the true meaning of God's words and His power.
 
     Now we come to tying together all of what we have come to understand, to the following Scripture:
"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
(Matthew 5:19-20)
     Our Lord and Saviour, Yeshua, is God. He has given us everything that we need to live a life that is to His glory and the ultimate glory of God the Father (the First in the Triune)...and to live a life which is pleasing to Him, as well as what is best for us, through His commandments which we are to follow. Yeshua has told us that, IF we love Him, we will keep ALL of His commandments. He has shown us in His word that the scribes and Pharisees were far from what they professed to be, and they were leading God's people away from His truth as it is written. These men were "playing synagogue" ("playing church"), and deceiving people -- and the Lord clearly shows us that this is totally unacceptable. So we, as His children today, should now have it written in our hearts NOT to break even the least of His commands.
 
 

Let's learn what is the least of His commands . . .
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