There are many texts one could cite that reveal the seventh-day Sabbath keeping lives of Paul, the Disciples, and Jesus. Interestingly, none of these had the "New Testament", per se, because it had not been written. Therefore, we are compelled to conclude that what was known about the Messiah, the Sabbath, righteousness by Faith, Grace, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, etc., was learned from the "Old Testament." On the cross, when Christ cried out the words, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?, He was quoting the first verse of Psalms 25.
QUESTION: What does Isaiah say are the names of the Christ?
ANSWER: Isaiah 9:6, 7 "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgement and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
QUESTION: By whom were the heavens made? (Psalms 33:6-9
"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. He gathered the waters of the sea together in a heap; He lays up the deep in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.")
QUESTION: What does Moses write about loving God?
ANSWER: Deuteronomy 6:4-6 ("Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.")
COMMENT: Does the reader recognize this verse from the New Testament? Yes!. It is quoted in Luke 10:27 and it is also found in Leviticus 19:34.
QUESTION: Who created the heavens and the earth?
ANSWER: Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
QUESTION: Who is the Creator?
ANSWER: "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Almighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (see above).
QUESTION: Who made man?
ANSWER: Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul."
QUESTION: Who blessed and sanctified (made holy) the seventh day?
ANSWER: Genesis 2:2, 3 ("And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.")
QUESTION: What have we learned?
ANSWERS:
1. Jesus Christ created all things; heavens, earth, man, Sabbath, etc.
2. Jesus Christ created the Sabbath
3. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath
4. Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill
5. Jesus reveals deeper meanings in the ten commandments when He quotes and explains in Matthew chapter five.
6. Paul vigorously defends the law in Romans.
7. God (Jesus Christ the Creator) rested on the Seventh day
QUESTION: Is there a deeper meaning in Sabbath keeping; something deeper than simply "not working"?
ANSWER: Hebrew 4:9-11. [One should read the entire chapter to put the verse in context] "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience."
COMMENT:Keeping the Seventh day Sabbath holy is symbolic of righteousness by faith! In entering His rest on the Sabbath we cease from trying to please God by our righteous works (which we cannot do) and we enter into His rest of righteousness by faith.
QUESTION: Then why does most of the world keep another day? a day which they say is a memorial of the Resurrection?
ANSWER: These direct quotesbelow are not intended to criticize but to show the truth of the matter. "
"The Pope has the power to change times, to abrogate laws, and to dispense with all things, even the precepts of Christ." "The Pope has the authority and often exercised it, to dispense with the command of Christ." Decretal, de Tranlatic Episcop. Cap. (The Pope can modify divine law.) Ferraris' Ecclesiastical Dictionary.They "dispense with the command of Christ???" When the Catholic church is asked..."Why do you feel you have the power, authority and ability to change Scripture to match your traditions?" They answer...
"Had she not such power, she could not have done that in which all modern religionists agree with her; --she could not have substituted the observance of Sunday the first day of the week, for the observance of Saturday the seventh day, a change for which there is no Scriptural authority." -Rev. Stephan Keenan, A Doctrinal Catechism, "On the Obedience Due to the Church," chap. 2, p. 174. (Imprimatur, John Cardinal McCloskey, archbishop of New York.)"The authority of the church could therefore not be bound to the authority of the Scriptures, because the Church had changed...the Sabbath into Sunday, not by command of Christ, but by its own authority." Canon and Tradition, p. 263
"Is not every Christian obliged to sanctify Sunday and to abstain on that day from unnecessary servile work? Is not the observance of this law among the most prominent of our sacred duties? But you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." -James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (1917 ed.), pp. 72, 73.
SUMMARY: So, there it is, from Revelation to Genesis. As Martin Luther said, "Sola Scriptura" (by Scripture only).
It is not my task to convict; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. If the reader seeks more I point them to the only Sure and Certain Source: The Word of God.
God Bless. e.c.
2 comments:
Your point about what was known about the Messiah, the Sabbath, etc. was known from the Old Testament is excellent. Paul wrote "But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God,and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:14-17). It was the Old Testament scriptures that Paul was referring to, because these were the scriptures that Timothy knew from childhood.
I also agree with your point that the Sabbath is symbolic of the righteousness of faith. I think there is a close connection between the seventh-day Sabbath and faith. Faith is one of the weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), and one of the important elements of faith is believing what God says, as Abraham did (Romans 4:3, James 2:23, Genesis 15:4-6, Isaiah 51:1-2, Romans 4:19-25). It takes faith to believe God about the Sabbath. Some people are able to figure out that murder is wrong, stealing is wrong, adultery is wrong, etc. even apart from the Ten Commandments, but the only way we can know about the Sabbath, to keep it, is by believing God's Word. That is faith.
I have recently had a debate with someone in my blog about the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments. This person thinks that the Ten Commandments are done away and that the Sabbath was only an Old Covenant ritual. But Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, that is, mankind, not just the Jews, and the only record of the Sabbath being made was in Genesis 2:1-3. This means the Sabbath was made for all mankind and existed from the creation of mankind, and it is not just part of the Old Covenant.
I believe you are correct that the Catholic Church established the tradition of Sunday observance as a replacement for the Sabbath. I was raised Catholic, but I left that church when I was about 19 years old (I am in my fifties now) when I realized they were following their traditions rather than the Bible.
Many people think that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday to honor the resurrection of Christ on a Sunday, but in fact Jesus was could not have been resurrected on Sunday because that would not fulfill His prophecy that He would be in the grave for three days and three nights. He was actually resurrected towards the end of a weekly Sabbath, 72 hours after He was buried.
Hi, Hi; It was kind of you to write and share your thoughts. When I started the Blog I asked the Lord that it be used to His Glory, and not be read just by friends and relatives. Thank you Lord. My wife and I are ministering to a Bishop in the Church of God. They both have health problems so we are trying to encourage them to eat the diet God gave man at Creation. We are praying that their diabetes will be controlled. I believe (but do not know for certain) that Pastor Perry Stone may be of the Church of God. Interestingly, he preached a TV sermon in which he dealt with the three laws of God; The Ten Commandments, The Civil Law, and The Ceremonial Law of the tabernacle in the desert. The ceremonial law that foreshadowed the sacrifice of Christ was the certainly abolished at the cross.
Praise the Lord, and keep on writing and witnessing for Him. Ed
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