Is the Torah for Today - Part 11

I have always been struck by hearing non-Jewish followers of Yeshua say things like, "We (referring to themselves) don't need to make sacrifices any more." The fact is Gentiles were never obliged to do the sacrifices in the first place. This was something specifically given to the people of Israel through Moses at Mt. Sinai.

From what I can tell this kind of thinking arises out of a wrong theological notion that believers comprise "The people of God" in the following technical sense. It is assumed that just as the people of Israel were the people of God in under the Old Covenant, so believers in Yeshua comprise the people of God under the New. While there is truth in this and there are many areas of commonality in the people of God concepts found under both covenants, the Church (which the term to describe the gathering of believers of all nations in Yeshua) is not the New Covenant version of Israel.

The choosing of Israel has everything to do with the Church in that God chose Abraham's physical descendants in order to draw people from all nations (including Israel) to himself through the Messiah. Israel as God's people were chosen for a particular purpose – a purpose which has been fulfilled to some extent through Yeshua, but has not yet come to its fullness. The Church is a trans-national spiritual community of believers. Both Israel and the Church co-exist. They are intertwined in some way be are not equivalent. Not is the Church the replacement of Israel.

I didn't want to get into the whole issue of Israel and the Church here. I just wanted to point out that Jews and Gentiles come into the New Covenant from very different backgrounds. The issue of the continuance of Old Covenant practices is one for Jewish Believers only. As I have explained previously, while there are many directives that were given to Moses that are for all people, the Sinai Covenant as a Covenant was given only to the people of Israel. The reason why Jewish people don't need to sacrifice anymore is because of what Yeshua has done. Non-Jews don't have to sacrifice because they never had to in the first place.