Responding to Before Christianity: The Messianic Truth About Jesus
- Charles
- Jul 28
- 10 min read
Fair Use Attribution:Image used under Fair Use for educational and commentary purposes. Original source: "Before Christianity: The Messianic Truth About Jesus – Full Movie" on YouTube by The Bible Projector.
Link to the Video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NZU4QGeIM&t=1539s
Introduction: Strengths and Missing Foundations
The video Before Christianity: The Messianic Truth About Jesus is one of the most compelling presentations of Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah I have seen in media format. It rightly emphasizes the continuity of covenant, the Jewishness of Yeshua, and the historical reality that the early ecclesia was wholly rooted in Israel. It dismantles the Romanized narrative that birthed institutional Christianity, reclaiming Yeshua as the fulfillment of the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. From the opening statement—“Before Rome. Before religion. Before Christianity, there was covenant” [00:00:00]—the video challenges replacement theology and calls viewers to return to the original story.
Where the film falters is in Chapter 5 on Torah. While it defends Torah as foundational and rejects the false dichotomy of law versus grace, it fails to make the critical covenantal distinction between the Sefer HaBrit, Book of the Covenant (Royal Torah) and the Sefer HaTorah Book of the Law (Levitical/Imposed Torah). Without this division, the narrative collapses into the standard Messianic message: “keeping the law” means keeping the entire Levitical system. The result is a beautiful return-to-roots message that nevertheless misses the heartbeat of the New Covenant—the Royal Torah written on hearts and the setting aside of the Book of the Law as a temporary administration.
Yeshua and the Royal Torah: The Covenant Lens
The video powerfully affirms that Yeshua did not cancel the Torah: “Do not think I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill” [00:20:07]. However, “Torah” is not monolithic. At Sinai, Israel received two separate covenantal administrations:
The Book of the Covenant (Exodus 19–24) – sealed with blood and confirmed in the throne room of heaven (Exodus 24:9-11), containing the Ten Words and the foundational stipulations of the Kingdom. This is the Royal Torah, later called the “weightier matters” (Matthew 23:23).
The Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 31:24–26) – placed beside the Ark “as a witness against you,” imposed after the golden calf breach. This Levitical system was a guardian until the Seed should come (Galatians 3:19).
By conflating these, the video unintentionally perpetuates the common error: equating “Torah” solely with Levitical law. Yeshua’s fulfillment of Torah must be seen through covenant structure. He did not come to reinstate the Levitical system; He came to restore access to the Royal Torah—the Ten Words—by removing the curse bound to the Book of the Law and writing the covenant on hearts (Jeremiah 31:31–33).
When the video says, “Jesus didn’t cancel the Torah. He quoted it. He clarified it. He fulfilled it” [00:01:02], it is correct, but incomplete. Yeshua rightly divided Torah. He lifted the Royal Torah from stone to Spirit while setting aside the Levitical administration by His priesthood in the order of Melchizedek. This is the very axis of the New Covenant, and without it, the message risks reverting to Levitical maintenance instead of Melchizedek restoration.
The New Covenant and the Priesthood Transition
The video stresses that Yeshua did not create a new religion but fulfilled the story of Israel: “He is not the founder of Christianity. He is the fulfillment of Israel’s hope” [00:04:12]. This is covenantally accurate, but it stops short of identifying the priesthood shift that makes the New Covenant unique.
At His baptism, Yeshua’s statement to John—“It is fitting to fulfill all righteousness”—marks the transfer of priestly authority from the Levitical order to the order of Melchizedek. His entire ministry is the enactment of that new priesthood: forgiving sins apart from the temple, declaring the Kingdom’s arrival, and offering Himself as the once-for-all sacrifice. The video speaks eloquently of covenant continuity but doesn’t explore the change in administration. Without recognizing that the Levitical Book of the Law has been “set aside” (Hebrews 7:18–19), the message defaults to maintaining the shadow rather than embracing the substance.
The apostles understood this. When Acts 15 ruled that Gentiles were not to be placed under the full yoke of Torah, it was not because Torah was “bad,” but because the administration had changed. The New Covenant does not discard Torah; it restores the Royal Torah as the rule of life under a Melchizedek priesthood. The video celebrates Torah as eternal but does not parse which part of Torah carries forward covenantally and which has been fulfilled and retired in Messiah’s priesthood.
Covenants of Promise: Abraham, Israel, and the Nations
The film highlights that Yeshua is the “bridge between the promises and their fulfillment” [00:04:12], and it rightly frames the Gospel as covenant restoration rather than religious invention. Yet, by failing to distinguish the Covenants of Promise (Genesis 12; 15; 17; Exodus 19–24) from the imposed Book of the Law, it glosses over Paul’s central argument in Galatians 3: “The law, which came 430 years later, does not annul the covenant (Abrahamic and Sinai before the transgression) previously ratified by God.”
This verse only makes sense if “law” is understood as the Book of the Law—not the Ten Words, not the Royal Torah, but the Levitical system given after the calf. The video beautifully declares that Gentiles are “grafted into the commonwealth of Israel” [00:17:22] and uses Romans 11 effectively. However, to be grafted in is to join the Covenants of Promise, not to be placed under the Levitical code. The Royal Torah (James 2:8), what James calls “the perfect law of liberty”(James 1:25), is the covenant identity marker for both Jew and Gentile in Messiah.
The early believers understood this. They lived as a remnant of Israel, walking in the Ten Words written on their hearts by the Ruach HaKodosh. The video emphasizes Torah observance but does not clarify that the New Covenant writes the Book of the Covenant on hearts, not the Book of the Law. This is why Paul can affirm Torah and yet declare believers free from the Levitical system without contradiction.
The Danger of the “One Torah for All” Message
By not distinguishing the two administrations, the video inevitably promotes the “One Torah for all” model common in Messianic circles, where Gentiles are expected to take on the full Levitical code to “prove” covenant faithfulness. This contradicts Acts 15, Galatians, and the very nature of the Melchizedek priesthood.
The Royal Torah is indeed one for all—the Ten Words are universal covenant identity. But the Levitical administration was never universal. It was a national priestly code given to Israel under a temporary covenant imposed because of transgression. To re-impose it under the New Covenant is to step backward into shadow. This is why Hebrews warns against returning to the Levitical system: it is “obsolete and ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:13).
The video’s call to honor Torah is right, but without covenant division it can unintentionally bind believers to a yoke Messiah already bore. Yeshua’s cry “It is finished” is not the abolition of Torah; it is the completion of the Levitical administration and the opening of the New Covenant where the Royal Torah is written on hearts by the Spirit.
Covenant Identity and the Kingdom Message
Where the video shines is in reclaiming the Kingdom message. “He didn’t start a new religion. He embodied the Kingdom” [00:02:08]. This aligns perfectly with the covenant framework: the Kingdom is built on the Ten Words as the constitution of YHWH’s reign. The video’s insistence that Yeshua remained wholly Jewish, rooted in covenant, and centered on Israel is the corrective the modern church desperately needs.
However, Kingdom identity is not sustained by cultural Judaism or Levitical observance but by covenant loyalty to the King and His Royal Torah. The early ecclesia was indeed 100% Jewish [00:09:50], but their identity was not in ethnicity or ritual; it was in the Ten Words written on their hearts and their allegiance to Yeshua as the covenant-keeping King. This is the true grafting-in: not into a culture, but into a covenant.
The video’s call to return to covenant is profound, but without the Royal Torah/Book of the Law division, it risks equating covenant faith with Levitical observance, missing the radical reality of the New Covenant: the Royal Torah is lifted from stone to Spirit, while the Levitical shadow bows to the Melchizedek priesthood.
Language, Context, and the Restoration of Story
One of the film’s strongest sections is its focus on Hebrew language and context. “What if I told you Jesus never spoke a word of English…?” [00:31:09]. This reclaiming of the Jewishness of the Gospel is vital. Language carries covenantal weight; the Ten Words are Hebrew words. The video rightly identifies that when Yeshua writes on hearts, He writes in the language of covenant, not the language of empire.
This is why the Royal Torah distinction matters even more. The Hebrew Scriptures themselves make this division clear: Exodus 24 seals the covenant in blood; Deuteronomy 31 places the Book of the Law beside the Ark as a witness against Israel. The Hebrew text itself preserves the covenantal split. Restoring the language and context should also restore this structural reality.
Correcting Chapter 5: How the Message Could be Strengthened
If Chapter 5 integrated the Royal Torah/Book of the Law distinction, the entire narrative of the film would deepen. Instead of the common Messianic conclusion that “keeping the Torah” equals keeping Levitical law, the message could declare:
Yeshua fulfilled the Royal Torah by embodying the Ten Words perfectly and lifting them into the New Covenant.
He set aside the Levitical administration by His Melchizedek priesthood, removing the curse bound to the Book of the Law.
The New Covenant writes the Book of the Covenant on hearts, not the Levitical code.
Gentiles are grafted into the Covenants of Promise, not into national Levitical administration.
Torah observance in Messiah is allegiance to the Ten Words written by the Spirit, not maintenance of the shadow system.
This adjustment would preserve the video’s call to honor Torah while freeing it from the common trap of legalistic Levitical maintenance.
Covenant Faith as the Core
The video closes with a call to identity rooted in covenant: “Not a break, a return” [00:50:30]. This is exactly right. The Gospel is not about changing religions; it is about returning to YHWH’s covenant through the Messiah. Covenant faith is not ethnic, cultural, or ritual. It is trust and loyalty to the covenant-keeping King, expressed through alignment with the Ten Words written on hearts.
Romans 11’s olive tree imagery [00:46:52] becomes crystal clear in this framework. The root is the Covenants of Promise. The natural branches are those under the covenant by birth. The wild branches are those grafted in by faith. Both are sustained by the same Royal Torah, not by Levitical shadow. This is the Kingdom message the world needs: One Covenant, One Messiah, One Royal Torah written on hearts, one people made one by the Blood of the Lamb.
Conclusion: Covenant Clarity for a Covenant Message
Before Christianity is a vital corrective to 2,000 years of Roman distortion. Its portrayal of Yeshua as the Jewish Messiah who never left Israel, never started a new religion, and calls all people into covenant is profoundly true. With one adjustment—the Royal Torah/Book of the Law division—it could move from being an excellent Messianic film to a truly covenantal declaration.
By restoring that division, we see the New Covenant for what it is: not a call to Levitical maintenance, but a call to Royal Torah allegiance under a Melchizedek priesthood. Not a burden of ritual, but the freedom of covenant faith. Not a return to shadow, but the lifting of the Ten Words from stone to Spirit.
The video ends with a question: “Are you following the faith that began with thorns or the one that replaced them with gold?” [00:41:00]. From a covenant perspective, we can answer: the faith that began with thorns is the faith of the Royal Torah written on hearts by the Blood of the Lamb, the faith of the New Covenant that sets aside the Book of the Law and restores the promise to Abraham. This is the Messianic truth the world must hear—not just “Torah,” but rightly divided Torah, not just “covenant,” but the Covenants of Promise (Ephesians 2:12) fulfilled in Yeshua, the King-Priest of the Melchizedek order.
📖 Inductive Study: Dividing Torah – Covenant or Code?
Theme:
Yeshua fulfilled both the Royal Torah (Book of the Covenant) and the Levitical system (Book of the Law), yet only the Royal Torah was restored, while the Book of the Law was set aside. This study examines where the video Before Christianity accurately presents covenant truth and where it unintentionally falls into the “One Torah for All” view.
Section 1: Discovering the Two Books
Read:
Exodus 19:5–6
Exodus 24:3–8
Deuteronomy 31:24–26
Galatians 3:17–19
Hebrews 9:18–22
Questions:
What covenant is made in Exodus 19–24, and how is it sealed?
According to Deuteronomy 31, where is the Book of the Law placed, and what purpose does it serve?
What does Paul say about the timing of the Law in Galatians 3:17–19?
What blood covenant is being referenced in Hebrews 9, and how does it connect to Exodus 24?
What are the implications of there being two separate scrolls—one called the Book of the Covenant and one called the Book of the Law?
Section 2: Yeshua’s Fulfillment of Torah
Watch Timestamp:
[00:20:07–00:24:47] “He didn’t come to abolish the Torah…”
Read:
Matthew 5:17–20
Jeremiah 31:31–33
Romans 10:4
Hebrews 8:6–13
Questions:
What does “fulfill” mean in the context of Matthew 5:17?
What law is written on hearts in the New Covenant according to Jeremiah 31?
How does Hebrews describe the transition from the old to the new?
What law does Yeshua fulfill and elevate, and which one is set aside?
What would change in your understanding if Yeshua wrote the Royal Torah (Book of the Covenant) on your heart, rather than the entire Levitical system?
Section 3: The Royal Torah vs. the Book of the Law
Read:
James 2:8–12
Matthew 23:23
Galatians 4:21–31
Hebrews 7:11–19
Questions:
What does James mean by “the Royal Law”?
How did Yeshua distinguish “weightier matters” in Matthew 23:23?
In Galatians 4, who are the two covenants represented by Sarah and Hagar?
What does Hebrews say about the change in priesthood and the associated law?
Why is it critical to understand which law was added because of transgression (Galatians 3:19) and which law is eternal (Psalm 119)?
Section 4: Missteps in the Video’s Torah Message
Watch Timestamp:
[00:20:07–00:27:58] – The Torah segment of the film
Questions:
What does the video get right about Yeshua’s relationship with the Torah?
Where does it conflate the Book of the Covenant with the Book of the Law?
How might this misunderstanding lead believers into Levitical maintenance rather than Melchizedek priesthood?
What corrections would you offer to help bring the message fully in line with the New Covenant?
What does it look like to walk in the Ten Words under a Melchizedek priesthood, rather than revert to the Levitical code?
Section 5: Living the Covenant of Promise
Read:
Ephesians 2:11–13
2 Corinthians 3:3–11
Revelation 14:12
Romans 11:16–24
Questions:
What are Gentiles grafted into according to Ephesians 2?
What does Paul say is written on tablets of the heart in 2 Corinthians 3?
How does Revelation describe the end-time faithful?
In Romans 11, what supports the branches—Torah observance or the Covenants of Promise?
What does covenant faith look like when it’s grounded in the Ten Words and not in the sacrificial or ceremonial codes of Levitical law?
📥 Download the Inductive Study Companion
To deepen your understanding of this teaching, download the companion worksheet and answer key:
Instructions:
Use the worksheet as a printed or digital guide to reflect on each question with Bible in hand.
After completing your responses, consult the answer key for insight, clarity, and further scripture references.
Share with your study group, congregation, or discipleship partner for deeper dialogue.
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