Is Obedience to Yahweh’s Commandments Required?

Obedience to Yahweh’s commandments is the central theme to the entirety of the Bible; this is fulfilling His will and our duty, Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear Elohim,
and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Believers are saved by grace through Yahshua Messiah’s sacrifice; however, living a righteous life is only achieved by obedience to the commandments. We have to prove to Yahweh we are worthy of His
coming Kingdom, 2 Thessalonians 1:5, “Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of Elohim, that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of Elohim, for which you also suffer.” We are to walk as
the Messiah walked, in obedience through faith just as He taught.

Many today believe the Law has been done away with because they lack knowledge of His Word, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you,
that you shall be no priest to me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your Elohim, I will also forget thy children,” Hosea 4:6.

It is the responsibility of ALL believers to show themselves approved of their calling, this also includes to rightly discern His Word and prove all things, 1 Thessalonians 5:1, “Prove all things; hold fast that which
is good.” We are to be like the noble Bereans, Acts 17:11, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so.” The only Scripture available to the Bereans to search for Truth was the Old Testament, the New didn’t exist until 150 years later. We are to grow in grace and in knowledge
of our Messiah, 2 Peter 3:16.

The New Testament supports keeping of the Law, here are a few examples: Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (Matthew 19:19)

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? (John 7:19)

Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. (Mark 10:19)

For not the hearers of the law are just before Elohim, but the doers of the law shall be justified. (Romans 2:13)

Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not: yea, we establish the law. (Romans 3:31)

For I delight in the law of Yahweh after the inward man. (Romans 7:22)

And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures. (Romans 17:2)

And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would
not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. (Acts 20:6,16)

Yahshua Messiah drives the point home when it comes to the Law: “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. 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 5:17-20. He didn’t destroy the Law but what He did do was make it more relevant and secure,
for it is by the Law that all mankind will be judged at the resurrection, James 1:25; 2:12; Romans 2:12; Revelation 20:12.

After our conversion to the faith once delivered to the saints, we are grafted into the House of Israel, therefore, we become the Israel of Yahweh, “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on
them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of Yahweh,” Galatians 6:16. We are not only grafted into the House of Israel but also the same Hebraic covenants. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we learn of the renewed covenant,
“Behold, the days come, saith Yahweh, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith Yahweh: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel; After those days, saith Yahweh, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their Elohim, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his
neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Yahweh: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith Yahweh: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their
sin no more.”

This prophecy come to fruition at Pentecost in Acts 2:4 and continues to this day with the people who are truly seeking Yahweh with all their heart, repenting of their sins, immersing into Yahshua’s Name,
and receiving the Holy Spirit with the laying of hands from the Elders of Yahweh. It will reach its climax in the Millennial Kingdom, Hebrews 8:8-12 and 10:15-17.

Obedience to Yahweh’s commandments in the Old Testament and what Yahshua Messiah taught in the New Testament is a sign of being guided by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Here are a few verses from Revelation about the saints who keep Yahweh’s Law:

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of Yahweh, and have the testimony of Yahshua Messiah.
(Revelation 12:17)

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of Yahweh, and the faith of Yahshua. (Revelation 14:12)

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. (Revelation 22:14)

The last thing we want to hear the Messiah say to us is this, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who work lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:23)

Seek Yahweh with all your heart while He can still be found. Yahweh bless you with ears to hear!

submitted by Rebecca Wallace