The Pastor’s Eye Exam
An open response to Andy Stanley who says that Christians need to ‘unhitch themselves from the Jewish Scriptures’ (the Old Testament).
I’m teaching on this at church tomorrow, I spoke about it at Synagogue today and I will be teaching about this at the Chazon Conference in Bogota Colombia next week. Let me be clear. Gentiles are not obligated to follow the laws of the Torah (the 5 books of Moses). But we CANNOT simply throw out the Tanakh (Old Testament) as if it’s somehow outdated or doesn’t comply with culture. Here is a small list of how the New Testament is VERIFIED by fulfilling the Tanakh. If we get rid of it, what is it fulfilling and how would we know? This is so dangerous and I will say heretical. In my Message entitled ‘The Pastor’s Eye Exam’ I will spell out how we as Christian pastors need to have the proper respect for the authority of the WHOLE Bible. We cannot slice and dice it to our pleasing. Here’s a short list.
Matthew 1:22
All this happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet…
Matthew 2:15
where he stayed until Herod died. This happened in order to fulfill what Adonai had said through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 4:14
This happened in order to fulfill what Yesha‘yahu the prophet had said…
Matthew 8:17
This was done to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet Yesha‘yahu, “He himself took our weaknesses and bore our diseases”
Matthew 12:17
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through Yesha‘yahu the prophet…
Matthew 13:35
This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will say what has been hidden since the creation of the universe.”
Matthew 21:4
This happened in order to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet…
Matthew 26:54
But if I did that, how could the passages in the Tanakh be fulfilled that say it has to happen this way?”
Luke 4:21
He started to speak to them: “Today, as you heard it read, this passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled!”
Luke 22:37
For I tell you this: the passage from the Tanakh that says, ‘He was counted with transgressors,’ has to be fulfilled in me; since what is happening to me has a purpose.”
Luke 24:44
Yeshua said to them, “This is what I meant when I was still with you and told you that everything written about me in the Torah of Moshe, the Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled.”
John 15:25
But this has happened in order to fulfill the words in their Torah which read, ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’
John 18:32
This was so that what Yeshua had said, about how he was going to die, might be fulfilled.
John 19:24
so they said to one another, “We shouldn’t tear it in pieces; let’s draw for it.” This happened in order to fulfill the words from the Tanakh, “They divided my clothes among themselves and gambled for my robe.” This is why the soldiers did these things.
John 19:28
After this, knowing that all things had accomplished their purpose, Yeshua, in order to fulfill the words of the Tanakh, said, “I’m thirsty.”
John 19:36
For these things happened in order to fulfill this passage of the Tanakh: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
Acts 3:18
But this is how God fulfilled what he had announced in advance, when he spoke through all the prophets, namely, that his Messiah was to die.
Acts 26:7
It is the fulfillment of this very promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain, as they resolutely carry on their acts of worship night and day; yet it is in connection with this hope, your Majesty, that I am being accused by Jews!
Galatians 6:2
Bear one another’s burdens — in this way you will be fulfilling the Torah’s true meaning, which the Messiah upholds.