Even many people who have never read the Bible know Jesus, or Yeshua, instructed us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” Was that a new commandment? No, it is found in Leviticus 19:18: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the Lord.”
It had always been a tough law to follow. Jesus reiterated it, of course, in Matthew 5:43-48 – but, as usual, He didn’t lower the bar. He didn’t dumb it down. He didn’t make it easier. Instead, he raised the standard.
“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; hat ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”
Some Christians and Jews think Jesus came to make it easier to gain entry into his Kingdom, but consistently, He seemingly did just the opposite, which explains why He says few find their way. He didn’t just proclaim, “Love they neighbor.” He commanded that we love our enemies. Moreover, He commanded perfection. We can only really appreciate some of this by knowing the Hebrew Scriptures, which not only provided the foundation for the Gospel, but has as much or more to say about the promise of the coming Kingdom as do the Greek Scriptures.
The Leviticus prescription to love thy neighbor as thyself is also pretty sweeping, extending from family matters to business matters to courts of law to proper treatment of the poor and disadvantaged. It means sharing the Gospel, pursuing reconciliation, extending mercy and seeking justice – in other words, living as we will be expected to live in God’s Kingdom.
Jesus was no pushover. He merely presented His prescription for the Godly life realistically, not easier or compromised, as it was from the beginning. It’s the same essential message.
To me, one of the most special elements of this book is found in Leviticus 23 – not a favorite of Christians who prefer their own holidays, not the Lord’s. These are the feasts of the Lord – from the Sabbath, to Passover, to the feast of unleavened bread, to firstfruits, to Shavuot, the feast of Trumpets, Yom Kippur and the feast of tabernacles. These are the only holy days declared by God and confirmed by Jesus. My friend Pastor Mark Biltz calls them “God’s Day Timers” – and that’s accurate. They reveal the holy convocations. They show a timeline of the past, present and future of God’s meeting times with us. They were meetings that occurred on God’s calendar on historic days long ago and that will occur on magnificently victorious days still ahead.
And they are all about Jesus and His Kingdom to come. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8). He is the ultimate Passover Lamb (John 1:29). He rose from the dead during the feast of firstfruits (2 Timothy 2:6). He poured out the Holy Spirit as Comforter on Shavuot, or Pentecost in Greek, as explained in Acts 2, coming up on May 28. And likewise, the perceptive will see that the fall feasts will be fulfilled in like fashion when He returns to usher in His Kingdom.
Hallelujah.
There is still much to learn about our faith in the closing days of history for Christians and Hebrews.
“The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament” by Joseph Farah is available in both hardcover and e-book versions.
ALSO: Get Joseph Farah’s book “The Restitution of All Things: Israel, Christians, and the End of the Age,” and learn about the Hebrew roots of the Christian faith and your future in God’s Kingdom. Also available as an e-book.
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