The Days of Teshuva, Part 4
In part 2, we learned that teshuva means to return to the paths of righteousness as written in the Torah. But what if you’ve never been taught the Torah? What if you were taught that Christians don’t need the Torah? Do we really need to do teshuva in that way?
Torah simply means instructions. The Torah is God’s instructions for how He wants us to live. What follower of God doesn’t want to live the way He designed for us? Maybe you’ve been taught that the Torah was just for the Jews and not for Gentile believers. Is it possible that God gave instructions to one group of people that He didn’t expect the rest of humanity to follow?
In the introduction of Dennis Prager’s commentary “The Rational Bible: Genesis edition,” he states that he tells his Torah students, “The Torah either has something to say to everyone, or it has nothing to say to Jews.” He explains that reasoning by saying, “The idea that the Torah is only for Jews is as absurd as the idea that Shakespeare is only for the English or Beethoven is only for Germans.” That’s a very succinct point. If the Torah has something to say to Jews, then it has something to say to us. It’s therefore important that we know what it says.
But first, let’s see what the psalmists say about the Torah.
Psalm 19:7-11
7 “The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 “the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 “the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 “More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 “Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.”
Psalm 119:1
”Blessed are those whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the Lord!”
Psalm 119:15–16
15 ”I will meditate on Your precepts
and fix my eyes on Your ways.
16 “I will delight in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your Word.”
Psalm 119:33–35
33. “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes;
and I will keep it to the end.
34 “Give me understanding, that I may keep Your Law
and observe it with my whole heart.
35 “Lead me in the path of Your commandments,
for I delight in it.”
Those are just a few, but you can see that keeping the Torah of God is a delight. And those who love Him desire to keep His Law. John even states that very thing. 1 John 5:3 “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.”
That still doesn’t answer the question of how you can return to something you never had. The answer is that we are returning to God, not just returning to the Torah. We’ll learn this a little later in the first study on the creation account, but here’s the sneak peek. We are created in God’s image, but we are born into Adam’s image. The difference is that God’s image is perfect and Adam’s image has been flawed by sin. We were created to be perfect but have been born into sin. We can never be perfect through anything we do. It is only through the shed blood of the Son that we can be made righteous in His sight. But God gave His Torah (instructions) to show us how to live down here while we wait for that perfection. Following the Torah doesn’t make us righteous or perfect, but not following the Torah is the definition of sin. See 1 John 3:4.
The Torah is how God wants us to live. To return to God means to return to His Torah in obedience. That is teshuva.
The Feast of Trumpets is coming up and the last ten Days of Teshuva will begin. Now is the time to return.