What is the status of the Law in the Messianic Age? [closed]

Question

In Isaiah 2:3, we are told the following:

And many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways And that we may walk in His paths." For the law will go forth from Zion And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (NASB)

Do any of the words "ways", "paths", "law" or "word" in this verse have any relation to the Law that Judaism currently practices? The verse above appears to be a reference to the Messianic Age (which some Christians identify with the thousand year reign of Christ, which seems to occur between two different resurrections):

Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.—Revelation 20:4-6 (NASB)

If not, what exactly will be taught in the Messianic Age? (Surely, it cannot any longer be the case that Jewish and Christian doctrine will remain separate in the Messianic Age.)

Answer 1

I do not believe in a literal millennium of one thousand years but if I did there are some Biblical principles that would be at play that might help you form your own good opinion.

First, to be clear the Jews did expect a literal reign of Christ but it was to be a brief period whereby the Gentiles would be defeated in a war against Gog and Maggog. For details of what the Jews expected of the Messiah see this post.

In the case of how the Jews would have applied the idea of the Law in this condition is that either the Law as it was without change would have been forced upon the world, or there would have been some further enchantments upon it by the Messiah.

Alfred Edersheim the Jewish historian directly answers your question if you had asked a Rabbi at the time of Christ:

One party here insisted on the restoration of all the ancient Services, and the strict observance of the Mosiac and Rabbinic Law - nay, on its full imposition on the Gentile nation.5386 But this view must have been at least modified by the expectation, that the Messiah would give a new Law.5387 But was this new Law to apply only to the Gentiles, or also to Israel? Here again there is divergence of opinions. According to some, this Law would be binding on Israel, but not on the Gentiles, or else the latter would have a modified or condensed series of ordinances (at most thirty commandments). But the most liberal view, and, as we may suppose, that most accetptable to the enlightened, was, that in the furture only these two festive seasons would be observed: The Day of Atonment, and the Feast of Esther (or else that of Tabernacles), and that of all the sacrifices only thank-offerings would be continued. Nay, opinion went even further, and many held that in Messianic days the distictions of pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, as regarded food, would be abolished. There can be little doubt that these different views were entertained even in the days of our Lord and in Apostolic times, and they account for the exceeding bitterness with which the extreme Pharisaic party in the Church at Jerusalem contended, that the Gentile converts must be circumcised, and the full weight of the yoke of the Law laid on their necks. And with a view to this new Law, which God would give to his world through the Messiah, the Rabbis divided all time into three periods: the primitive, that under the Law, and that of the Messiah. ('The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah', by Alfred Edersheim, P993)

Now, the question you are asking is that if we do not accept our current stage in history as the reign of Christ, which fulfilled the Jewish expectation is ways never properly expected, and that there is still ‘another fulfillment’ in a thousand year future literal reign of Christ, then we would have to take a slightly different attitude then the Jews had.

The reason is that at the time the Laws of Moses were in effect, more specifically those civil laws that could in some way be literally applied to government. In the New Testament however these civil laws have become obsolete by the invisible new laws of the kingdom over the invisible church in Christ. So the question is ‘How might these non civil spiritual laws in Christ be externalized into a new literal law?’ With this in mind I think one would be forced to simply say, who can ever know except that as Jesus would literally be the president and law-giver, so to speak. Jesus himself would establish what those laws might be. Also whatever those laws would be they could not be a retrograde from the pure gospel and degenerate back into the Old Testament foreshadowing of his first coming. This would be an undoing of what was before accomplished by Christ. (Galatians 2:18).

Answer 2

When the glory of the Lord lived among the Israelites, the form of government was a theocracy. The Law of Moses was the explicit guidance for life and living within this theocracy. Thus the Lord was the head of state, and he dwelt first in the tabernacle and then in the temple. The king was not the head of state, but the chief executive of the state.

When the glory of the Lord departed the earth (Ez 10:4, Ez 10:18, and Ez 11:23), his glory vacated the temple, and so the theocracy ended, because the Jewish peoples from that time forward lived under the control and influence of foreign gentile world powers. During the Babylonian captivity Daniel described these powers as rapacious beasts, and so this period on earth was now the "Times of the Gentiles" (Lu 21:4), since there was no longer any theocracy on earth (and thus "animals" have dominated the world).

When Jesus the Nazarene appeared on earth, John the Baptist was proclaiming the arrival of both the messiah and the New Covenant (Ez 36:24-28), and therefore the immanent salvation of Israel. One needed only to come back to the Lord ("repent") in preparation for the kingdom whose power was coming from heaven (Matt 3:2). The key component of the New Covenant was the water (of the Jordan River), which spoke of entrance into the Promised Land (of heaven through eternal life). Jesus was anointed in this water, and when heaven opened he was designated by an audible pronouncement from heaven as "my beloved son" (Matt 3:17), and so from that point forward he was identified as "the Christ." The connection here was to Psalm 2:7, which mentions the anointed son of David, who is "begotten" by the Lord -- he is "the Christ" (Ps 2:2). Thus Jesus was anointed ("Christ") in the water of the Jordan River. The "oil" was the Holy Spirit, which descended upon him like a dove. His first sermon was that he was proclaiming to Jews their release from captivity (Lu 4:18-19), which spoke not only of their immanent political release from gentile world powers (in this case Rome), but also from the penalty and power of sin through the New Covenant. Essentially the message was one of good news, which is the meaning of the word "gospel."

So what does this have to do with the Law of Moses in the Messianic Age (or millennium)?

The New Covenant was announced to Israel chronologically on the same day that the Old Covenant (Law of Moses) was revealed to Israel at Sinai. That is, Shavuot = Pentecost (Feast of Weeks). However, the New Covenant was given without the political intervention of a theocracy into the world as was the case at Sinai. In the current time, there is no brick-and-mortar temple, where the presence of the Lord is centralized. In fact, Jesus said that the temple in Jerusalem would be torn down (Matt 24:2), but that his body would be built up (resurrection) in three days (Matt 26:61). His body subsequently became the basis of the temple of the New Covenant.

So the New Covenant is in effect today, but the temple on earth is not a brick-and-mortar edifice, but the bodies of those who are joined to the body of Jesus (through the eternal life of baptism); Jesus is therefore the chief cornerstone of this temple of heavenly power. So there is no theocracy on earth at this moment, and so the "Times of the Gentiles" continues. Notwithstanding, within the temple on earth (the bodies of those who are joined to the body of Jesus) there is written the Law (on the hearts and minds). The "requirements of the Law of Moses" are therefore implemented (Rom 2:26). These requirements are to love the Lord, and to love ones neighbor as oneself (Lev 19:18 and Deut 6:5 compared with Rom 13:10).

When the Christ returns to the world to establish his theocracy, the New Covenant will be in full force. However, the Law of Moses will be in full effect because there is now a theocracy on earth. In other words, when there is no theocracy on earth, and the New Covenant is in force, the requirements of the Law of Moses are implemented. When there is a theocracy on earth, then the Law of Moses is in full effect, and will be enforced. The difference in the millennium is that the law will also be written on the hearts and minds, as is the case at the present time. In this regard the Law of Moses will no longer identical with the priesthood of the Old Covenant ("law written on stones"), but with the priesthood of Melchizedek of the New Covenant ("law written on hearts and minds"). In addition, the curse will be lifted from the ground (Rom 8:20-23), and both Satan and demons will be confined (Rev 20:1-2). The head of state will be the Father, and the chief executive (i.e., the king of this kingdom) will be His Christ.

At the present time, there is still a curse on the ground, and Satan and demons are alive and well on planet earth. However, the Law is written on the hearts and minds (Heb 8:8-12), and therefore the requirements of the Law of Moses are implemented during this present time; that is, we live in the "Times of the Gentiles" when there is yet no theocracy of the Lord on earth.

When there is a theocracy on earth, then the Lord's will on earth will be done as it is in heaven -- thy kingdom come.

Answer 3

This verse is complex. Here are some brief thoughts.

The Hebrew word תֹורָה (torah) does not translate as "the Law" (note the definite article), but simply "law" or "a law."

At first impression, one may be inclined to think that the phrases "the mountain of YHVH" and "the house of the God of Ya'akov" refer to a rebuilt physical Temple in Yerushalaim.

However, the New Testament reveals that the Messiah and his body (the Church) is a spiritual Temple. Christians are said to grow into a holy Temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21). Paulos states that Christians are "the temple of the living God" (2 Cor. 6:16). Petros states that Christians "as living stones, are built into a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5). Therefore, what one may have assumed to be a prophecy about the physical Temple rebuilt in Yerushalaim --- the "house of YHVH" and the "house of God" --- can certainly now be understood as the Church itself, the body of Christ. For, the Church is referred to as a "temple" and a "spiritual house."

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The rabbis connected two scriptures together: Isa. 2:3 and Isa. 51:4.

In his commentary on Isaiah 51:4, regarding the phrase כי תורה מאתי תצא ("for a law shall forth from Me"), Rabbi David Kimchi wrote, כמו שאמר בתחילת הספר כי מציון תצא תורה, כי המלך המשיח יורה העמים ללכת בדרכי ה', וזה יהיה אחר מלחמת גוג ומגוג, that is, "Like what it says in the beginning of the book, 'For from Tzion shall go forth a law...' For, the King Messiah shall teach the nations to walk in the ways of YHVH, and this shall be after the war of Gog and Magog."

Why does Kimchi connect Isa. 2:3 and 51:4?

Both scriptures refer to תורה ("a law") and use the verb תצא (tetze). The translation "go forth" is a bit ambiguous. In the sense of a law or command, it means "to be promulgated." Of course, laws are typically promulgated by lawgivers. For example, Moshe promulgated the Torah of Moshe at Sinai. Yet, the prophet Yesha'yahu prophesies that a law would be promulgated "in the last days" from Tzion, that is, Yerushalaim, even from God Himself. Of course, one might say that the Torah of Moshe was promulgated by God Himself, by the proxy of Moshe. However, that did not occur "in the last days," nor did it occur from Tzion/ Yerushalaim. The fact that the prophet states that "in the last days" a law (torah) shall be promulgated (future tense) from Tzion/ Yerushalaim compelled the rabbis to acknowledge that Yesha'yahu was referring to a new Torah, rather than the Torah of Moshe.

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Here are final thoughts from the midrashim:

In Midrash Vayikra Rabba, Parashah 13, it is written,

אמר רבי אבין בר כהנא: אמר הקב"ה: תורה חדשה מאתי תצא, חדוש תורה מאתי תצא

Rabbi Avin bar Kahana said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said, "A new Torah shall proceed from Me." A new interpretation of the Torah shall proceed from Me.

In the Midrash Otiot deRabbi Akiva, Folio 29a, it is written,

והקב"ה דורש להם טעמי תורה חדשה שעתיד הקב"ה ליתן להם על ידי משיח

And the Holy One, blessed be He, expounds to them the meanings of a new Torah which, in the future, the Holy One, blessed be He, will give them by the hands of the Messiah.

In Midrash Kohelet Rabba, Parashah 11.8, it is written,

.ישמח, בשמחת התורה

.ויזכר את ימי החשך אלו ימי הרעה

כי הרבה יהיה. תורה שאדם למד בעולם הזה

.הבל, היא לפני תורו של משיח

"Let him rejoice" – during simchat Torah.

"but, let him remember the days of darkness" – these are the days of evil.

"for, they shall be many" - the Torah that a man learned in this world is

"vanity" - is [vanity] in the presence of the Messiah's Torah.

Answer 4

(To make it clear, I am not up for a debate, I am just going to state some facts)

Pretty simple. You are Translating תורה (Torah) wrong. It does not mean law, it is the current practice and 'law' of the Jewish Nation. (Note: It is almost impossible to translate the 'Old' testament to English without using professional Jewish books, just as the ones published by ArtScroll or Heichal Menachem, you might find those at www.HebrewBooks.org)

The house referred to over there, refers to the Third Holy Temple which will be built by G-d himself and last eternity.

What will be taught in the Messianic age are the hidden secrets of the Torah and Chassidus (check those up in Chabad.org). As written in the Talmud that the Torah can be learned in 70 ways, and each of those in 70, and each of those in 70 etc. meaning there is unlimited to be learned. We follow the practical explanations figured in the Talmud by the holy sages.

And, regarding Jesus, you will find everywhere that the Jewish people are the chosen nation, which means the main role of the world is to be played by the Jews. The roles of the rest of the world, is to be a gentile - a non jew, to observe the 7 Noahide commandments and to be a better person. This will probably be very dismaying to you but, as you will also find in the few times any Jewish book speaks of Jesus, he is known as a betrayal to his faith, and no, nobody will follow his ways in the Messianic times, for everyone will know the truth.

Read more about Massia in the writings and books of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1993). www.chabad.org/library/moshiach/default.htm

For more reference check AskMoses.com or Ask the Rabbi