The Church as Temporary Vehicle
In the Beatitudes, Yeshua warns His followers not to take the broad, easy path to Salvation, because it actually leads to destruction:
13 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it.
14 And the gate is narrow and the road is afflicted that leads to life; and there are few who find it.”
[Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7:13-14]
Then, seven verses later, Yeshua warns that there will be a large group of people calling Him ‘Lord’ who will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven:
21 “Not everyone who (calls) Me ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven; but (only) the ones who do the will of My Father in Heaven.
22 (For) many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord! Lord; did we not prophesy in Your Name; and in Your Name cast out demons; and in Your Name perform many works of power?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you who work Lawlessness’.”
[Mattithyahu (Matthew) 7:21-23]
It might seem impossible that the Messiah would reject the Christians; but the Christians are the only group on earth who:
1. Are a ‘many’ that
2. Call upon His Name,
3. Cast out demons in His Name, and
4. Perform many works of power in His Name;
5. But work Lawlessness (do not keep the Law)
The Christians are the only group on Earth that meets all these criteria. Therefore, this can only be a warning not to accept the broad, easy doctrines of the Christian Church.
But why would the Jewish Messiah reject the Christian Church? Has not Christianity been the vehicle by which the Good News has been spread to the four corners of the earth?
Yes, it has: But as the next few chapters will show, the reason the Messiah will ultimately reject Christianity is that the Divine Plan of Redemption is really a multi-step process, of which Christianity is only an intermediate step. Those who stop progressing short of the ultimate goal will not graduate the overall refinement process; and they will therefore disqualify themselves from being taken to Him as a bride.
But if the concept of Divine Providence tells us that everything ultimately stems from the hand of the Creator, then why was Christianity allowed to flourish?
Christianity would not have flourished inside of Jewish Judea for the same reason the Jews reject it now: The Jews in Judea were already familiar with the idea that the Torah was for all time. For this reason, they would have rejected any new (Hellenic Christian) doctrine which taught against keeping the Covenant.
Outside of Jewish-Judea, however, it would have been a different story. Non-Jews would have been unfamiliar with the concept of Bridal Instruction, and probably even found it objectionable. Christianity, then, was a means for non-Jews to initially draw closer to the Covenant, without having to take on the more challenging of its requirements. It was a kind of a half-way house for returning Ephraimites.
The decision to keep Torah is a difficult one, because it calls for one to change one’s spiritual identity. In order to truly keep the Torah, one must begin carrying a burden for the Land of Israel, the Laws of Moses, and the Hebrew language. When that truly happens, it is no longer possible for one to continue to identify oneself as a Greek, a Roman, or an American. Rather, one becomes part of the spiritual Nation of Israel; those who have given up earthly, materialistic desires, and have placed the Father’s wishes ahead of their own.
However, those in the nations had never been unhappy with their spiritual or national identities. Therefore, to be told that Salvation ultimately required them to learn Hebrew, keep all the Laws of Moses, and carry a burden for the Land of Israel may have made it appear that the cost was just too high. Such concepts would have seemed strange to Greco-Roman ears, and the sticker-shock would probably have led most of them to balk at the investment.
In contrast, if the same potential convert had spoken with a Christian, the Christian might have told the potential convert that all that was required was to call upon Yeshua’s Name, and then to begin walking in love. The Christian may also have told the potential convert that the Nazarene Israeli doctrine did not seem to match-up very well with Yeshua’s own Words to the Woman at the Well:
21 Yeshua said to her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father.
22 You (Samaritans) worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for Salvation (Yeshua) is of the Jews.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father seeks such to worship Him.
24 Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.”
[Yochanan (John) 4:21-24]
Since Yeshua had said that Jerusalem was no longer the place, the potential convert would likely conclude that the Nazarene doctrine of continuing to focus on Jerusalem was incorrect. The convert would then be relieved to hear the Christian assure him that he would not have to change his national identity, bear a burden for the Land of Israel, tithe, keep the Torah, or even learn Hebrew, since Love was all that mattered.
The new converts must have felt that it was truly a gift from heaven to be able to gain eternal life just by learning to love their neighbors, and worship the living Elohim with their lips: That they got to keep the same pagan days of sun-worship only made it seem just that much sweeter for them.
It must have been painfully difficult for the Apostles to watch what was taking place; and to know that the truth would eventually be eclipsed by a half-truth; and that this was a necessary measure.
However, in a certain sense it really was an act of mercy towards greater mankind that YHWH allowed the Nazarenes to be exterminated by the Christians, as this brought about the ultimate Salvation of fallen Adam just that much faster.
Yeshua even alludes to the fact that the Kingdom of Heaven would be extended to all of fallen Adam’s children by a sinful, leavening vehicle in some of His seemingly-more-obscure parables:
33 Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.” [Matthew 13:33]
Yeshua often likens the people of the world to wheat; and that lawless Christianity was used as a leavening agent to make the dough rise faster is clear. At this juncture, all that remains is for the leaven to be cooked out of the dough by the fire of refinement, bringing the Christians back to the original Nazarene faith. Once this takes place, hopefully all that will be left will be a few loaves of show-bread fit for a King.
However, Yeshua is clear that the majority of the Christian world will not come back to the original faith. He tells us at Matthew 7 that ‘many’ will take the broad and easy path that leads to destruction; a path that calls for no observance of His Instructions. Even though they call Him ‘Lord’, He will reject them.
In this way, Christianity has at once been a tool of leavening and a stone of stumbling for those who are willing to accept Christianity’s easy promises, but who refuse to obey His Instructions.