"You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'" (Luke 18:20)
Did Jesus' teachings reflect the teachings of the Prophets?
This is Jesus' reply to someone who asked Jesus, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (Luke 18:18) Jesus' response quoted the teachings of the Prophet Moses, which included the ten commandments.This part of Jesus' reply indicates something that some overlook regarding Jesus: Jesus didn't make up his own teachings. Jesus' teachings were consistent with the teachings of the Prophets, who represented God before Jesus' arrival. This is why Jesus quoted these instructions given many centuries earlier by Moses. And this is why Jesus often quoted other Prophets, such as Isaiah, David, Ezekiel, and others.
Some interpret that the Prophets all somehow predicted Jesus' life and death. As if all the teachings of Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Eli, Job, Ezekiel, Noah and so many other representatives of God were only intended to predict Jesus' life.
If this were true, what would those Prophets' purpose be to teach their students? Their students died centuries prior to Jesus' arrival on the planet. Why would the Prophets' students need to hear about predictions of someone who would arrive centuries later?
The reality is, this isn't what those Prophets were focused on teaching. While many speculate about and even invent interpretations of many verses by the Prophets, none mentioned Jesus by name. Yes, they surely indicated how materialistic society treats God's representatives - and Jesus was God's representative. But as Jesus himself pointed out, many of the Prophets were also murdered in the hands of unbelievers.
What those who teach this have missed about the Biblical Scriptures is that Jesus' teachings mirrored the teachings of the Prophets. This is the connection between them. Jesus represented God. And the Prophets represented God.
Their teachings were in sync because they were each passing on what God wanted them to teach their students according to the time and circumstance: In order to ultimately guide their students back to their innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being. This is how Jesus' teachings "fulfilled" the teachings of the Prophets.
This is illustrated by the fact that Moses repeatedly instructed his students about the importance of loving the Supreme Being:
In other words, those Prophets weren't teaching their students to be afraid of God - as we might be of someone who will hurt us. They were teaching their students to revere God. They were speaking of honoring God. They were speaking of seeing God as awesome.
After all, if they were meaning "fear" - how could this be consistent with Moses', Joshua's, and David's teaching to love the Supreme Being. How can a person love someone and be afraid of them at the same time?
So why did these institutional translators decide to translate יָרֵא (yare') to "fear" instead of "revere" or "honor" or "awe?"
Because they had no love for God. Those institutions who employed these translators - such as the Jewish sects and the Roman Catholic church - weren't teaching love for God. They wanted to scare people. They wanted people to be afraid of God. When people were afraid of God, they could maintain their positions of power and authority.
It is for this reason that these early institutions - the Jewish institution of Jesus' times and the Roman Catholic institution - would not allow the common person to read scripture themselves. They only allowed the priests and officials of these institutions to directly read scripture. The Roman Catholic Church banned the direct reading of the scripture for over 1,000 years.
This is illustrated by the fact that Moses repeatedly instructed his students about the importance of loving the Supreme Being:
"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:5)
"Love the LORD your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always." (Deut. 11:1)
"So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul— (Deut. 11:13)
"If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow—to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him and to hold fast to Him— (Deut. 11:22)
"... because you carefully follow all these laws I command you today—to love the LORD your God and to walk always in obedience to Him—" (Deut. 19:9)
"For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, and to keep His commands, decrees and laws;" (Deut. 30:16)
"...and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the LORD is your life..." (Deut. 30:20)Thus we can see that loving the Supreme Being was the centerpiece of Moses' teachings. Furthermore, Moses' student, Joshua, passed on those very teachings to his own students:
"But be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to Him, to keep His commands, to hold fast to Him and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Joshua 22:5)
"So be very careful to love the LORD your God." (Joshua 23:11)Jesus also taught this most important instruction. He further clarified that it was the most important commandment:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matt. 22:37-38 (Jesus is quoting Moses in Deut. 6:5))Moses, Joshua and Jesus weren't the only Teachers of the Bible who taught this instruction. Other Prophets - who were also in the same lineage of Moses, in the teaching lineage of Abraham - also had this same centerpiece of their teachings. For example, David wrote:
"Love the LORD, all his faithful people!" (Psalm 31:23)Other Prophets also taught this as well.
Did the Prophets really teach 'fear God'?
No. Some translators have translated the Hebrew word יָרֵא (yare') to "fear" - as in 'fear the Lord.' But that Hebrew word יָרֵא (yare') also means "to awe" and "to revere" and "to honor" and "to respect" according to the lexicon.In other words, those Prophets weren't teaching their students to be afraid of God - as we might be of someone who will hurt us. They were teaching their students to revere God. They were speaking of honoring God. They were speaking of seeing God as awesome.
After all, if they were meaning "fear" - how could this be consistent with Moses', Joshua's, and David's teaching to love the Supreme Being. How can a person love someone and be afraid of them at the same time?
Can you love someone that you fear?
No. You can't love someone you fear.So why did these institutional translators decide to translate יָרֵא (yare') to "fear" instead of "revere" or "honor" or "awe?"
Because they had no love for God. Those institutions who employed these translators - such as the Jewish sects and the Roman Catholic church - weren't teaching love for God. They wanted to scare people. They wanted people to be afraid of God. When people were afraid of God, they could maintain their positions of power and authority.
It is for this reason that these early institutions - the Jewish institution of Jesus' times and the Roman Catholic institution - would not allow the common person to read scripture themselves. They only allowed the priests and officials of these institutions to directly read scripture. The Roman Catholic Church banned the direct reading of the scripture for over 1,000 years.
Both institutions tried to claim their versions of the scriptures were the only valid versions. They both said there were no other valid scripture scrolls (books) outside of the ones they included in their collections. Even though there were hundreds of others, many written by the same writers as those that were included.
Yet they ignored the most important commandment written clearly in these scriptures: The very instruction that Moses emphasized to his students repeatedly, as confirmed above.
Those Jewish teachers - the Pharisees and the Sadducees - emphasized the "ten commandments" along with many other rules and regulations such as ceremonial washing before eating and so on.
But why haven't they emphasized the most important commandment taught by Moses and Jesus - to love God? Because, if someone can have a close personal relationship with the Supreme Being - loving Him and serving Him - those officials of these institutions could not maintain their positions of power and respect. They would effectively lose their authority because the people's allegiance would be directed towards the Supreme Being and whomever the Supreme Being authorized to represent Him.
Rather than teach love for God, the priests and preachers of today's institutions who claim to represent Jesus have created their own philosophy: They teach that all we have to do is accept that we are saved by Jesus' crucifixion.
Yet Jesus didn't teach this. If their philosophy was right, why didn't Jesus teach this? Why did he teach his students that sinning has consequences?
And why didn't the Prophets also teach this if it were true? Why didn't the Prophets tell their students that their sinning won't have any consequence because Jesus will die for their sins? Why didn't the Prophets teach their students that after they die they would have to wait around in purgatory for thousands of years for Jesus to come and be crucified - and then wait for another few thousand years for the end of the world to come - and they'd be saved? Why didn't they teach this? Because it isn't true. And neither does it make any sense.
Jesus didn't teach this, and neither did the Prophets. Rather, we find that Jesus is offended by those who focus on Jesus while ignoring the Supreme Being:
Jesus and the Prophets taught this because the Supreme Being is lovable. He's beautiful. He's our Perfect Friend. And He's always there for us. If we love Him and serve Him we will be happy. And we will be saved even though we will no longer care about being saved.
You see, those who regain their innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being don't care about being saved. They simply want to please the Supreme Being. This is why Jesus said:
Yet they ignored the most important commandment written clearly in these scriptures: The very instruction that Moses emphasized to his students repeatedly, as confirmed above.
Those Jewish teachers - the Pharisees and the Sadducees - emphasized the "ten commandments" along with many other rules and regulations such as ceremonial washing before eating and so on.
But why haven't they emphasized the most important commandment taught by Moses and Jesus - to love God? Because, if someone can have a close personal relationship with the Supreme Being - loving Him and serving Him - those officials of these institutions could not maintain their positions of power and respect. They would effectively lose their authority because the people's allegiance would be directed towards the Supreme Being and whomever the Supreme Being authorized to represent Him.
Do they represent God or Jesus?
This is how we can know that those in positions of power and respect among these politically-oriented institutions don't represent God. If they represented God as Jesus, Moses, David and the Prophets did, they would be teaching us to love the Supreme Being.Rather than teach love for God, the priests and preachers of today's institutions who claim to represent Jesus have created their own philosophy: They teach that all we have to do is accept that we are saved by Jesus' crucifixion.
Yet Jesus didn't teach this. If their philosophy was right, why didn't Jesus teach this? Why did he teach his students that sinning has consequences?
“See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” (John 5:14)Why didn't Jesus just tell the man that his sins would all be washed away by his coming crucifixion? This would have been simple enough to teach, yes? It would have saved Jesus a lot of time and trouble - instead of Jesus teaching all the other things he taught.
And why didn't the Prophets also teach this if it were true? Why didn't the Prophets tell their students that their sinning won't have any consequence because Jesus will die for their sins? Why didn't the Prophets teach their students that after they die they would have to wait around in purgatory for thousands of years for Jesus to come and be crucified - and then wait for another few thousand years for the end of the world to come - and they'd be saved? Why didn't they teach this? Because it isn't true. And neither does it make any sense.
Jesus didn't teach this, and neither did the Prophets. Rather, we find that Jesus is offended by those who focus on Jesus while ignoring the Supreme Being:
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'" (Matt. 7:21-23)Rather, Jesus, Moses, Joshua, and all the other Prophets all taught that if we re-develop our loving service relationship with the Supreme Being, we become perfect. We become saved if we learn to love and serve God. This is how Jesus saves us.
Jesus and the Prophets taught this because the Supreme Being is lovable. He's beautiful. He's our Perfect Friend. And He's always there for us. If we love Him and serve Him we will be happy. And we will be saved even though we will no longer care about being saved.
You see, those who regain their innate loving relationship with the Supreme Being don't care about being saved. They simply want to please the Supreme Being. This is why Jesus said:
"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." (John 5:30)
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work. (John 4:34)
