SUNDAY WORSHIP or the KEEPING of the SABBATH on SATURDAY?
Now some Christians may be totally unaware of the
controversy among some of the brethren over which DAY of the week
that we as true believers are to worship our Lord. Some brothers and
sisters who are not aware of the beliefs of others who would say, SUNDAY worship is of the Devil. It is the SABBATH day that
we are to keep Holy unto the Lord! Most Christians have been raised in church and have always worshiped God on Sunday being totally unaware of other Christians who insist that SATURDAY the 7th day of the week is only day of the week that a true Christian can truly honor the Lord, because the SABBATH is the LORD'S DAY.
So the which DAY is the Lord's DAY according to the WHOLE word of Almighty God? Is SUNDAY the LORD'S DAY or is SATURDAY, the seventh day, the day in which God ordained for REST, the LORD'S DAY?
Let us begin this study in God's word by reading the ONLY place in the Bible were the phrase "the Lord's day" is found. Please read Revelation 1:9,10, which says,
REVELATION 1:9,10 "I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,"
Now from just reading this ONE verse ALONE and APART from the WHOLE word of God there is simply NOT ENOUGH information to make a SOUND BIBLICAL judgment as to whether or not this "Lord's DAY" that John was caught up in the Spirit was on Saturday, the 7th day of the week, the day set aside for REST, called the SABBATH day, OR whether or not this "Lord's day" was on Sunday, the FIRST day of the week, which some Christians call the LORD'S DAY. The Apostle John SIMPLE calls this DAY that he was caught up in the Spirit the LORD'S DAY, not really specifying as to which day of the week he was caught up in the Spirit.
BUT if we ask our self the question WHY? Why did the apostle John refer to this particular DAY that he was caught up in the Spirit as the LORD'S DAY, then we can logically draw a conclusion by some other things we definitely know about the Apostle John? One thing we know is that the apostle John most CERTAINLY KNEW which day was the SABBATH day, because everywhere in scripture, other than this ONE place in Revelation 10:1, when John spoke of the SABBATH day, the seventh day of the week, he always used the word Greek word "SABBATON" which is translated every single time as SABBATH or SABBATHS. And YET on this particular DAY that he was caught up in the Spirit John chose to use the Greek words "KYRIAKOS HEMERA", which is the possessive form of the Greek word "KYRIOS" that is translated as Lord rather than Lord's with the possessive tense. The word "kyrios" can refer to either Almighty God the Father or his Son Jesus, or this word "kyrios" can be used to refer to a lord as is one having authority over another, such as a land owner to a servant.
Now this Greek word "KYRIAKOS" is the
possessive of Lord, which is translated as LORD'S showing that this
DAY belongs to the Lord. This Greek word "KYRIAKOS" is use
only two times in the entire New Testament, once here in Revelation
chapter 1 and verse 10, and one time in 1 Corinthians 11:20 when referring
to the Lord's SUPPER. Again referring to a SUPPER that BELONGS to our Lord Jesus Christ, or a DAY that BELONGS to our Lord Jesus Christ called the Lord's DAY. Now other times the possessive sense for Lord
the Greek word "KYRIOS" is used as opposed to "KRYIAKOS", but not in respect of a DAY belonging to the Lord. For example the Lord's
death, the Lord's body, the Lord's sake all use the Greek word
"KRYIOS" rather than the Greek word "KRYIAKOS". To me, this points to the fact that John wanted to DISTINGUISH the LORD'S SUPPER from the Old Testament PASSOVER meal. And likewise John want to DISTINGUISH the LORD'S DAY from the Old Testament SABBATH day.
I want to take a little side journey and have you read the entire CONTEXT of 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verses 16 through 34, because to understand the DIFFERENCE between the PASSOVER and the LORD'S SUPPER you need to understand the CONTEXT of verse 20. Again, in order to properly understand this passage of scripture we need to consider the WHOLE CONTEXT of this entire chapter. Paul first addresses and issue of of women having their heads covered when they pray in verses 1-15, which you can read on your own later. But in these verses Paul addresses an area of contention among the brethren of whether or not a woman head should be covered when she prays. After discussing the matter Paul CONCLUDES for the brethren to judge for themselves, because the church itself has NO such CUSTOM or specific set rule as which way a women must pray. It is clear that Paul gives his own OPINION, but the FINAL judgment is YOU decide for YOURSELF, because the CHURCH as a WHOLE has NO such CUSTOM either way. Now please read 1 Corinthians 11:16-19, which starts off with a CLOSING statement of this controversy of whether or not a woman's head should be covered or not when she prays, and then in verse 17 we see Paul OPENING up with a DIFFERENT issue that Paul is very displeased with in this church at Corinth.
"But if any man seem to be CONTENTIOUS (argumentative or in disagreement), we have NO such CUSTOM, neither the churches of God. (in other words, over this issue of a woman's head being covered or not when a woman prays, we apostles NOR does the church have NO SET RULING on the matter, do what you feel is right in your OWN heart, but do not condemn others for the way they choose to pray whether their heads are covered or uncovered.) 17. Now in THIS (speaking of what Paul is about to cover next, in THIS) that I declare unto you I praise you not (or BUT is THIS ISSUE that I present before you next I find NO PRAISE for you, WHY?), THAT (or because) you come together NOT for the better, but for the worse. (WHY? Why is Paul is CONDEMNING the WAY that these believers in Corinth COME TOGETHER?) 18. FOR (or because) FIRST of all, when you come together in the CHURCH, (Please note that it does NOT say when you COME TOGETHER in the SYNAGOGUE) I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19. For there must be ALSO heresies among you, that (or so that) they which are APPROVED may be made manifest among you.(in other words, the only reasons these HERESIES or FALSE teachings are among you is so that those teaching these things will be noticed and approved of you as well)"
So FIRST of all Paul has heard that they have some DIVISIONS among them when they come together and then he says and I can believe this because you squabble over whether or not a woman's head is covered when she prays. Then Paul states at the very end that he will address this issue of divisions among them, when he comes in person. Also did you notice in verse 18 that Paul is saying the BELIEVERS that when we COME TOGETHER in the CHURCH, which teaches us a DIFFERENCE between the Jews of the Old Testament who came together to meet in the SYNAGOGUE and the Christians who come together for communion and the worship God in the CHURCH and NOT in the SYNAGOGUES of the Jews. Paul then lays out in 1 Corinthians 11:20-34 how these believers at Corinth do NOT partake of the Lord's SUPPER in the proper way as our Lord Jesus Christ TAUGHT us to break the bread in REMEMBRANCE of how his BODY was broken for our HEALING and to drink of the cup of wine in REMEMBRANCE of HOW Jesus shed his BLOOD for the forgiveness of our SINS. Paul goes on to teach us that it is for this very REASON that we do NOT DISCERN the DIFFERENCE between how Jesus suffered his BODY to be BROKEN specifically for the HEALING of our PHYSICAL BODIES from how Jesus suffered the shedding of his BLOOD for the forgiveness or remission of our SINS, that for this very REASON of NOT discerning the DIFFERENCE between the BODY and the BLOOD that there are those in the church that NEEDLESSLY DIE PREMATURELY and suffer NEEDLESSLY sickness and disease.
"20. When you COME TOGETHER therefore into ONE PLACE (or assemble yourselves together as a large body of believers), this is NOT to eat the Lord's supper. (the literal translation is, "Coming together therefore you into one place not it is the Lord;s supper to eat." Now to ME, I believe this should read When you come together therefore into one place IS IT NOT to eat the Lord's supper?) 21. For in eating every one takes before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. (or in other words, the way you come together and eat being hungry and getting drunk is NOT the way you should eat the Lord' supper) 22. WHAT? (or what are you thinking by gorging yourselves and getting drunk on wine?) Have you not houses to eat and to drink in? Or despise you the CHURCH of God (again NOT the SYNAGOGUE of God), and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. (Now I believe that Paul was NOT condemning the eating of a meal when Christians come together, but RATHER Paul was teaching us the DIFFERENCE between the PASSOVER in COMPARISON to the LORD'S SUPPER in which during or rather after the PASSOVER MEAL Jesus took bread and wine and instituted a symbolic ordinance of REMEMBRANCE of his death.) 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24. And when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in REMEMBRANCE of me. 25. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the NEW testament in my blood (Some translations say, this cup is God's NEW COVENANT sealed in my blood): this do you, as often as you drink it, in REMEMBRANCE of me. 26. For as often as you EAT this bread, and DRINK this cup, you do shew the Lord's death till he come. (in other words, THIS is the LORD'S SUPPER, This is God's NEW covenant established with the shedding of my blood, THIS is HOW you should eat the LORD'S SUPPER)
27. Wherefore whosoever shall
eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily,
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. (Notice that there is no mention of preparing a LAMB and eating a PASSOVER lamb any more, but that the LORD'S supper is God's NEW COVENANT) 28. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29. For he that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks damnation to himself, NOT DISCERNING the Lord's BODY. 30. For THIS CAUSE many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (or die prematurely). 31. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33. Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34. And if any man hunger, let him eat at home (again showing the the LORD'S supper in NOT a full passover meal); that you come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come."
Again notice that Paul refers to us as believers as the CHURCH of God. In other words, their is a DIFFERENCE between the OLD covenant given to God people Israel and the NEW COVENANT put into FORCE by the shed blood of Jesus given to WHOSOEVER BELIEVES that Jesus is the Messiah. You see my dear brothers and sister in the Lord, there is a DIFFERENCE between the PASSOVER meal and the LORD'S SUPPER, which many in the church today call COMMUNION or the BREAKING of BREAD and partaking of a sip of WINE or fruit of the vine in REMEMBRANCE of our Lord's bodily suffering and death. I know verse 20 on the surface sounds like Paul is saying at first that when you come together it is NOT for the reason of eating the LORD'S SUPPER, which some Christians misunderstand and think Paul is saying the we should NOT take COMMUNION when we come together, which would CONTRADICT the WHOLE word of God. Please read 1 Corinthian 10:16, which says,
"The cup of blessing which we bless IS IT NOT the COMMUNION (or the Lord's supper) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, IS IT NOT the COMMUNION (or the Lord's supper) of the body of Christ? (you see we have this SAME phase IS IT NOT, which somehow got TRANSLATED as IT IS NOT in 1 Corinthians 11:20 that we just read. I say this because some Christians say, Well you are CHANGING the word of God, because they do not understand that the ENGLISH we read is a TRANSLATION of the Greek in which the word of God was original written in the New Testament. Besides from the CONTEXT you can clearly see that "IT IS NOT" makes NO SENSE when compared with other scripture, which plainly teach us that we are in fact instructed to take communion when we come together. So then, CLEARLY most Christians understand that the LORD'S SUPPER is NO LONGER a full passover meal using a LAMB without spot or blemish to be eaten every bit with nothing remaining as they did in the Old Testament as a SHADOW of the coming of Jesus to be our sacrificial LAMB that was SLAIN from before the foundation of the world in God's mind's eye as his PLAN to redeem mankind back to himself. Can you see the DIFFERENCE between the PASSOVER meal and the New TESTAMENT of the LORD'S SUPPER?) 17. For we being many are one BREAD, and one BODY: for WE (speaking of believers in Jesus Christ) are all PARTAKERS of that ONE BREAD (speaking of Jesus who suffered and was SACRIFICED for the whole world, especially for us who BELIEVE). 18. Behold ISRAEL after the FLESH: are not THEY which eat of the sacrifices (speaking of the MANY PASSOVER sacrifices that they offer from year to year) PARTAKERS of the altar?"
In other words, just as ISRAEL, who AFTER the FLESH still keep the PASSOVER are therefore partakers of the PASSOVER of the OLD COVENANT, but after the CROSS Jesus has now CHANGED to be the NEW covenant, by FULFILLING the prophecies of scripture pointing to Jesus being the MESSIAH put into FORCE the NEW TESTAMENT or a NEW COVENANT in HIS BLOOD, which he shed for our SINS to purge us and make us UNLEAVENED BREAD.
Likewise or in the same way, I believe that the LORD'S DAY is ALSO DIFFERENT than the SABBATH day of the OLD COVENANT, because to me the LORD'S DAY is kept in REMEMBRANCE of celebrating our Lord's RESURRECTION, which occurred on SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week as opposed to taking place on the SABBATH day.
1 Corinthians 5:7,8 teaches us that the feast of the
PASSOVER is NOW kept in a DIFFERENT manner than it was under the old
covenant in the Old Testament. Also please keep in mind that the church is still yet learning and receiving revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit. Many of the Old Testament ordinances that the church kept like we read in Acts chapter 10 where Peter is still yet keeping the Old covenant law to never eating anything that was unclean does NOT mean that the NEW Testament teaches us that we are to keep all the law written in the Old Testament to God's people Israel, because later we see this same Peter EATING with the Gentiles. Please read the study called "ACTS 10---PETER'S VISION?" for a deeper understanding that the church was still yet LEARNING by VISIONS and revelation knowledge through the teaching of the Holy Spirit. They were still LEARNING how to PURGE OUT that OLD LEAVEN that they being mostly Jews early on in the birth of the CHURCH were taught all their lives.
"Purge OUT therefore the
old leaven, that you may be a NEW LUMP, as YOU are unleavened.
For EVEN Christ OUR PASSOVER is SACRIFICED for us:(in other words, Jesus Christ is NOW become OUR Passover that we are to keep as OUR LORD and SAVIOR has TAUGHT us at his last supper when he broke the bread and drank of the cup.) 8. THEREFORE (or for this reason) let us keep the FEAST (or let us the CHURCH keep the PASSOVER or that is to say now, the LORD'S SUPPER), NOT with old leaven,(or NOT in the way we were taught under the OLD COVENANT in the law of Moses) neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and TRUTH."
Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, that this is NOT speaking of literal bread here, but rather is speaking of US, who have now been PURGED from our OLD LEAVEN or our PAST SINS to NOW being UNLEAVENED or WITHOUT SIN so that we can partake of the breaking of bread and the cup of wine with SINCERITY and TRUTH. This is what matters when we come together in the CHURCH to worship Almighty God. We must worship him in Spirit and in TRUTH. Yes, we still partake of COMMUNION, that is to say, the LORD'S SUPPER, the breaking of bread and drinking the sip of wine in REMEMBRANCE of our Lord's BODILY SUFFERING and his DEATH, but it is his LIFE that we celebrate on the LORD'S DAY, the day the Jesus arose from the grave, which is the FIRST DAY of the week, speaking of SUNDAY, which most Christians call the LORD'S DAY. Now some will argue and say that our Lord Jesus Christ did NOT rise from the grave on Sunday, but rather try and argue that Jesus rose from the dead on SATURDAY the 7th day of the week, which is the SABBATH day. Therefore the try and argue that the SABBATH DAY is the LORD'S DAY. The TRUTH of the matter is that the WHOLE word of God teaches us that Jesus was in the belly or the heart of the earth for three full days and three full nights and AFTER these three days and three nights Jesus was raised from the dead BEFORE sunrise on the FIRST day AFTER the sabbath day. Please remember that the new day started at SUNSET and went to SUNSET the next day. This means that Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and was laid in the tomb just before SUNSET which would START the first NIGHT that Jesus would be in the tomb. This was a HIGH sabbath day or a yearly sabbath and NOT the weekly sabbath day. So then, from EVENING to MORNING on Thursday was the 1st night, From morning to evening of sunset that Thursday was the 1st day. Then from sunset of evening to morning of Friday was the 2nd night, then from morning to evening on that Friday was the 2nd day. Then from sunset on SATURDAY, the WEEKLY Sabbath to morning was the 3rd night. Then from the morning of that weekly sabbath to that evening which would be the START of the FIRST DAY of the week was the 3rd day that Jesus was in the grave, which make three full nights and three full days that Jesus was in the grave just like the word of God plainly states. Then AFTER the third DAY just like the word of God ALSO clearly states Jesus rose from the grave BEFORE the sunrise of the FIRST day AFTER the sabbath had ENDED. Please read the study called "WHEN DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD?" for all the scriptures that without a doubt prove that Jesus rose from the grave on SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week, which has come to be called the LORD'S DAY by most every Christian. Please read the quotes from the early church writers at the end of this study and for many more quotes of our early church fathers please read the study called the "HISTORY OF THE SABBATH DAY". I realize that some Christians believe that to worship God on SUNDAY and to call SUNDAY the LORD'S DAY is equivalent to taking the MARK of the beast, but to ME, the EVIDENCE of scripture, as well as the history of the church from it's very beginning on the day of Pentecost, clearly shows that Christians gathered together on SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, and they called this day the LORD'S DAY. We will look at some history later, but for now let us continue this study in God's word by closely considering the fact that many of the things in the Old Testament were FULFILLED in Jesus Christ at his FIRST coming to SUFFER and DIE for the sins of the world.
Jesus is our PASSOVER LAMB that was SLAIN for the sins of the WHOLE world.
But those Jews who REJECT this word of TRUTH, this gospel or good news of this NEW COVENANT, and who make the CHOICE to REMAIN under the OLD COVENANT are therefore PARTAKERS of the OLD COVENANT and must KEEP EVERY jot and tittle of the OLD COVENANT to the LETTER of the LAW in order to receive forgiveness of their sins. This therefore means the KEEPING of the LAW of offering animal sacrifices for the covering of sins, and the KEEPING of the LAW of circumcision in the flesh in order to be able to partake of the Passover meal. And the keeping of the 613 ordinances and laws in the Torah must be kept to the letter of the law, which we know that NONE are able to keep. Please read Acts 15:1-11 where we read that some of the Jews who are now believers in Jesus Christ, but who had not YET learned to PURGE OUT that OLD LEAVEN of the OLD Testament law of Moses where COMPELLING the Gentile believers to be CIRCUMCISED in the FLESH in order to be saved. "And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, EXCEPT you be circumcised AFTER the manner of Moses, you CANNOT be SAVED. 2. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had NO SMALL dissension and disputation with them, they (these certain men) determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them (or both Paul and Barnabas and their group along WITH these CERTAIN men), should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. 3. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. 4. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the CHURCH, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. 5. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed (or certain of these men that come up to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas to settle this matter of CIRCUMCISION according the the law of Moses spoke up), saying, That it was NEEDFUL (or necessary as a matter of salvation) to circumcise them, AND to COMMAND them to keep the law of Moses.(in other words, there were JEWS who became believers in Jesus Christ, but they were still yet HOLDING on to the OLD LEAVEN of what they had been TAUGHT all their life as a JEW. They FALSELY believed that Christians MUST keep all the law of Moses which would INCLUDE the keeping of the SABBATH day according to the LAW of Mose. But what did the CHURCH have to say on this matter?) 6. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. 7. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. 8. And God, which knows the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, EVEN as he did unto us; 9. And put no difference between us and them, PURIFYING their hearts by FAITH. 10. Now therefore WHY tempt you God, to put a YOKE upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were ABLE to BEAR? 11. But WE believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they."
Now further down in this same passage of scripture we learn that Jame spoke up and said that it seemed good to the church and the Holy Spirit that they should lay no greater burden upon these Gentile believers than to abstain from meats offer to IDOLS. Please read Acts 15:24-29, which teaches us the outcome of this matter of keeping ALL the law of Moses up to this point in time of the growth of the church. "For as much as we have heard, that certain (or you have heard from a few believers) which went out from us have TROUBLED you with words, SUBVERTING your souls, saying, You MUST be circumcised, AND keep the LAW: to whom WE (the CHURCH) gave NO such commandment: 25. It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26. Men that have HAZARDED their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.(or have put their very lives in great danger to preach the TRUTH of the gospel of Jesus Christ to you) 27. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall ALSO tell you the SAME things by mouth. 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29. That you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. Fare you well." Please notice that the WHOLE CHURCH was in AGREEMENT that NONE of the law of Moses was to be placed upon believers except these four things which pertained to meats offered to IDOLS. There is NO mention of of KEEPING the law of God concerning being CIRCUMCISED in the FLESH, NOR is there any mention of Christians KEEPING the SABBATH according to the law of Moses either at this church council at Jerusalem. This would have been the perfect place to teach the church that they were to keep the SABBATH day, but yet there is NO mention of the church be commanded to keep the sabbath day in the NEW Testament nor in the early church writings of our church fathers. I personally have found only nine of the ten commandments that are REPEATED and TAUGHT in the NEW TESTAMENT for the church to keep. Please read the study "ONLY NINE of the TEN COMMANDMENTS?" for the scriptures that teach the church that we are indeed that to keep under the NEW covenant. Some Christians have been deceived by the teachings of these Sabbath Keeping groups that falsely conclude that if the New Testament teaches us that we are to keep the COMMANDMENTS of God, then WHY do we keep only NINE of the TEN commandments? Why not ALL TEN commandments? Why does the church NOT keep the FOURTH commandment of keeping the SABBATH day? Well in TRUTH the church does keep the SPIRIT of the keeping of the sabbath day, which is the REST that is given to us through the sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ made for us at the cross. Sabbath keepers fail to understand that just because SOME of the laws under the OLD covenant are kept in force under the NEW covenant while all the OTHERS are ABOLISHED. Think of it like this. When the United States separated from England we were FREED from the ALL the laws of England. But when the founders of this NEW country wrote the laws they did not ABOLISH ALL the old laws. In others words, SOME of the laws were kept, while others were indeed ABOLISHED. You see these JEWS who had not yet PURGED OUT that OLD LEAVEN of what they had been TAUGHT all their lives UNDER the OLD COVENANT to keep ALL the law of Moses and they were FALSELY compelling the brethren that they MUST be CIRCUMCISED and KEEP all the law of Moses in order to be SAVED. However, this is NOT what the gospel of Jesus Christ
teaches us. The New Testament teaches us that we are UNDER a NEW
COVENANT. One of the things that Seventh Day Adventists and other sabbath keepers who demand that keeping of the Sabbath day is that they fail to keep in mind that Almighty God turned to a people who were not his people after his own people rejected his NEW COVENANT. They forget that the OLD COVENANT was given to God's people ISRAEL, who did not keep this OLD covenant, and that this was the very reason of why Almighty God established a NEW covenant in the blood of Jesus made upon BETTER promises. You see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, Almighty God offered this NEW covenant to his people Israel FIRST, and then when they REJECT it, God turned to the GENTILES and offered then this same NEW covenant in order to provoke his people Israel to jealousy. Now keep in mind that Israel can still come to God, but it must be through this NEW covenant in the blood of Jesus, because there is NO OTHER NAME given under heaven among men whereby we MUST be SAVED. Jesus is the ONLY WAY to Almighty God the Father. Every true born again Christians believes this TRUTH in God's word. Now please read Hebrews 8:6-13, which teaches us that the OLD COVENANT has passed away.
"But NOW has he (Jesus) obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he (Jesus) is the mediator of a BETTER COVENANT, which was established upon BETTER PROMISES. 7. For IF that first covenant had been faultless, THEN should no place have been sought for the SECOND (speaking of the SECOND COVENANT or the NEW COVENANT that Jesus ESTABLISHED by his DEATH and RESURRECTION). 8. For finding fault with them (Israel who Almighty God made a COVENANT with in the Old Testament), he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a NEW COVENANT with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9. NOT according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; BECAUSE they continued NOT in my covenant, and I regarded them NOT, says the Lord. 10. For this is the covenant (again the NEW COVENANT) that I will make with the house of Israel AFTER those days (speaking of BOTH after the FIRST coming of the promised MESSIAH where only some of Israel BELIEVE in Jesus as their Messiah, and ALSO after the age of the church at the SECOND coming of the MESSIAH, when a remnant of Israel RECOGNIZES Jesus as their Messiah and go into the 1000 year reign of Jesus in their mortal bodies), says the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:(now this NEW COVENANT began with the FIRST coming of Jesus to his people the Jews and when the majority of the Jews REJECTED this good news no more bondage of the law such as no more animal sacrifices because God had wipe away there sins through the shed blood of his Son Jesus, then God turned to the Gentiles to PROVOKE them to JEALOUSY so that they would REPENT and turn to him once again. THEN at the SECOND coming of Jesus the Jews will then recognize Jesus as their MESSIAH and God will establish this NEW COVENANT with the remnant of Israel during the 1000 year reign of Jesus and all Israel, at least all of Israel living at that time will be saved.) 11. And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for ALL shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13. In that he says, A NEW COVENANT, he has made the first old. Now that which decays and waxes old is ready to vanish away." (so then, when Jesus comes again at his second coming, the old covenant will be vanished away entirely, because ALL who remain of Israel and the nations will KNOW without a doubt the Lord from the least to the greatest, and they will accept the NEW COVENANT by calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved alive to go into the 1000 year reign of Jesus in their MORTAL bodies. I myself only find that the feast of the tabernacles will be kept by those in their mortal bodies, because Almighty God himself will not come down from heaven to TABERNACLE with mankind until the END of the 1000 year reign of Jesus. Clearly the NINE of the TEN COMMANDMENTS of God will still yet be taught to those in their mortal bodies during this 1000 year reign of Jesus, because this 1000 years or this 7th day is the DAY of REST that the sabbath day of rest FORESHADOWED was to come.)
Of course we know that Israel, as a whole, has REJECTED this NEW COVENANT for NOW during the church age and because the JEWS rejected his so great a salvation God has partially blinded the eyes of his people Israel, until the second coming of Jesus. So then, Almighty God has now turned to the Gentiles offering us this GOOD NEWS of having our sins purged and being brought into a COVENANT relationship with Almighty God, which we never had before this time. But this does NOT mean that God has forgotten his people Israel. ANY Jew may still yet respond to this GOSPEL of Jesus Christ and become a Christian at ANY time just as ANY Gentile is offered this so great a salvation. And then AT the second coming of Jesus Israel will recognized Jesus as their MESSIAH and then the REMNANT of Israel will ACCEPT this NEW COVENANT the same as many of the Gentiles and some of the Jews have already done throughout the history of the church.
My point is this, while the majority of JEWS still keep
the old covenant, the CHURCH is taught to KEEP the NEW COVENANT,
which means we as BELIEVERS no longer partake of the PASSOVER feast in the
same manner as the JEWS are taught in the OLD Testament. Nor do we as Christians KEEP the SABBATH in the SAME manner as taught in the law of Moses under the OLD COVENANT.
Now I am not Sabbath keeper such as a Seventh Day Adventist (or SDA as it is commonly abbreviated) so I do not know all that they teach. But I do know that the SDA or as some refer to as Sabbatarians teach that a TRUE believer in Jesus Christ you MUST KEEP the SEVENTH day of the week, which is SATURDAY, or the SABBATH as it is called in the Bible as the ONLY TRUE day to worship Almighty God. And some Seventh Day Adventist FALSELY teach that if a believer worships God on SUNDAY then they are SINNING. One of the arguments they use is that SUNDAY is the day named after a day associated with the pagan worship of the SUN god. Well in rebuttal to this, one could say that SATURDAY was ALSO named after a PAGAN day for worshiping the god of SATURN. Actually EVERY DAY of the week is named after a PAGAN god. So then, according to this kind of logic there is NO day that is worthy of worshiping Almighty God, because EVERY day is named after a PAGAN god. Sunday = Sun's day Monday = Moon's day: derived from the Anglo-Saxon monandaeg, Tuesday = Tiu's day named after the Norse god of war, Tiu, or Tiw Wednesday = Woden's day named to honour Odin, or Woden, chief god in Norse mythology. Thursday = Thor's day named after Thor, Norse god of thunder. Friday = Fria's day named after the Anglo-Saxon frìgedaeg; from Old High German Frìa, a goddess Saturday = Saturn's day: named in honor of the Roman god Saturn. Please see this link for Wikipedia for further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday
Now of course I personally do not believe that the
Seventh Day Adventists worship the PAGAN god SATURN, because they
just so happen to make the choice to assemble themselves together on
SATURDAY, any more than other BELIEVERS in the SAME body of Christ
worship a pagan SUN god, just because they assemble together to
worship Almighty God and his Son Jesus on SUNDAY. Which by the way, SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, is the DAY that the church has come together to worship and partake of the breaking of bread both in the NEW Testament and also throughout history. More on the history of the church meeting on Sunday as opposed to Saturday later on in this study in God's word to answer the question, Which DAY is the CORRECT DAY to WORSHIP Almighty God? SUNDAY or the KEEPING of the SABBATH?
Another point I would like to make is this. Do the Seventh Day Adventist or other Sabbatarians TRULY KEEP the SABBATH day HOLY to the LETTER of the LAW that is outlined in SCRIPTURE under the OLD COVENANT?
Please do not misunderstand me as you read the following examples. I am not judging any one for worshiping God on Saturday, but rather I am simple asking these simple question for you the reader to judge your own motives for keeping the sabbath day. Are you doing it to try and please God? Are you keeping the sabbath as a matter of salvation? Are you keeping the sabbath following the law of God written in the Old Testament? If you answer to any of these questions is yes, then are you truly keeping every jot and tittle of the law of God? #1. NO work done at ALL on the sabbath. (Exodus 20:10; Leviticus 23:3; Jeremiah 17:21-22). Do these modern day sabbath keepers truly observe the sabbath day according to the law of God written in the OLD Testament? Or do they CHANGE the way they keep the sabbath to fit their own needs of today? #2. In Numbers 15:32-36 a man was caught collecting sticks on the Sabbath and the punishment for DISOBEYING this fourth commandment according to the law was to be STONED to DEATH. To me, there is no doubt that this part of the law is still being kept by the sabbath keepers of today. So then, what gives Sabbath Keepers the right to CHANGE this PART of the law of God? #3. No kindling of a fire and according to #1 NONE of your servants are to work in any manner also. (Ex. 35:3) So then, this means NO going to any restaurant, because the workers there are in fact your hired servants. No food catering or fast food delivering aloud if you are a TRUE sabbath keeper. #4. No traveling. Even your car being a combustion engine could be viewed as kindling a fire to do your work for you. (Ex. 16:29) If your the place where you fellowship is more than a sabbath day's journey, then even gathering together to keep the sabbath would be breaking the sabbath. You see how the LETTER of the law KILLS? #5. No buying or selling or trading of any kind. (Amos 8:5; Nehemiah 10:31; 13:15,19) So then, it you run out of gas on your sabbath day's journey then you had better leave you car until the next day, because buying gas on the sabbath day would be breaking the law of God. Also no quick stop at the store to buy any desert or already prepared food for the sabbath dinner. #6. Do Christian farmers keep the sabbath of rest for their land? Do Christians bankers who are sabbath keepers forgive the debt on the seventh year sabbath or on the jubilee? #7. Of course NONE of the sacrificial offerings are being keep according to the law of God written in the Old Testament, because there is NO TEMPLE or no continuing priesthood after the order of the Levites. Therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to keep the sabbath according to the law of God written in the OLD Testament. This is WHY Christians in the church throughout history keep only the SPIRIT of the sabbath which is the REST we have through the shed blood of Jesus our Lord and savior. More on this REST and the SPIRIT of the law coming up as we continue this study in God's word. #8. Again the PENALTY for breaking this fourth commandment was DEATH. But TODAY under the NEW COVENANT the penalty for breaking the commandments of God have been nailed to the cross, IF SO BE that we repent of our sins. The OLD COVENANT has been ABOLISHED at the cross of Jesus. All we need do when we disobey any of God's commandments under the NEW COVENANT is to ask for forgiveness of our sins and the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sins. The TRUTH of the matter is that the sabbath was made FOR man and NOT that man was made FOR the sabbath to be brought under the bondage of FEAR of NOT keeping the sabbath to the very letter of the law. It is the SPIRIT of REST in which we keep the sabbath day in the NEW Testament and NOT in the letter of the law under the Old covenant. In Matthew 12:1-14 Jesus himself teaches us that it is
LAWFUL to do GOOD on the SABBATH day, BUT the Jews had a DISAGREEMENT
with Jesus and sought to ACCUSE Jesus of NOT TRULY KEEPING the SABBATH,
because he was always doing good WORKS of HEALING on the SABBATH day.
So then was Jesus CHANGING the way the sabbath was to be KEPT or were
the Jews not keeping the sabbath CORRECTLY? In other words, should we
KEEP the sabbath the way Jesus TAUGHT or the way the Jews KEEP the
sabbath according to the Old Testament? How do the Seventh Day
Adventists and other sabbath keepers truly KEEP the SABBATH? Do they keep the sabbath as a matter of SALVATION. And if NOT, then WHY NOT since the KEEPING of all the other COMMANDMENTS of God are CONDITIONAL. In others word, IF SO BE that a Christians falls back into SIN and DIES in that state of SIN, then does not their DISOBEDIENCE to KEEP these other NINE COMMANDMENTS of God keep them for receiving their reward of ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come? Again I implore you, the seeker of the TRUTH, to read the study called "DOES THE BIBLE TEACH THAT ONCE YOU ARE SAVED THEN YOU ARE ALWAYS SAVED?", which covers in great detail all of the arguments of those who teach eternal security and once saved always saved doctrines. But for now please read Matthew 12:1-14, which says,
"At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungry, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. 2. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, your disciples do that which is NOT LAWFUL to do upon the sabbath day (so according to the Jews who FOLLOWED the Old Testament LAW of Moses it was NOT LAWFUL to pluck corn to eat even if you were hungry on the sabbath day). 3. But he (Jesus) said unto them, Have you not read what David did, when he was an HUNGRY, and they that were with him; 4. How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the show bread, which was NOT LAWFUL for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? 5. Or have you not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? 6. But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. 7. But if you had known what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the GUILTLESS. 8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. 9. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: 10. And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it LAWFUL to HEAL on the sabbath days? That they might accuse him. 11. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out ? 12. How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is LAWFUL to DO WELL on the sabbath days. 13. Then said he to the man, Stretch forth your hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. 14. Then the Pharisees went out , and held a council against him, how they might destroy him."
Now the REASON that the Pharisees sought to destroy Jesus is because they taught that to do ANY work on the sabbath day was to BREAK the KEEPING of the SABBATH day. Please read this same account in Mark 3:1-6, where the TEACHERS of the LAW are bent on ACCUSING Jesus of NOT KEEPING the SABBATH, because Jesus choose to do GOOD and HEALED people on the sabbath day.
"And he (Jesus) entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2. And they (the Jews, the scribes and Pharisees, the teachers of the LAW) watched him, whether he would HEAL him on the sabbath day; that they might ACCUSE him. 3. And he said unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4. And he saith unto them, Is it LAWFUL to DO GOOD on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the HARDNESS of their hearts, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him."
Here we see the TEACHERS of the LAW just waiting to ACCUSE Jesus, one of their FELLOW BRETHREN, for BREAKING the SABBATH day by DOING GOOD and HEALING someone who needed healing. Now some of you may not be CONVINCED that the TEACHERS of the LAW TAUGHT that it was UNLAWFUL to even HEAL on the SABBATH day. So please read Luke 13:10-16, which clearly shows us that this is HOW the Jews KEPT or at least were TAUGHT to KEEP the SABBATH day holy.
"And he (Jesus) was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity. 13. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14. And the ruler of the synagogue (the TEACHER of the LAW) answered with INDIGNATION, because that Jesus had HEALED on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are SIX days in which men ought to WORK: IN them (or IN those SIX days ONLY) therefore come and be HEALED, and NOT on the sabbath day. (so then, the TEACHERS of the LAW taught that it is UNLAWFUL to HEAL on the SABBATH day) 15. The Lord then answered him, and said, You HYPOCRITE, does not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? 16. And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed (or healed) from this bond ON the sabbath day?"
Now I want you to think about this for a moment, IF one is to TRULY KEEP the SABBATH day in the SAME MANNER as the TEACHERS of the LAW taught as to HOW it is to be KEPT according to the Old Testament law, then this would mean that Christians COULD NOT do ANY GOOD WORK whatsoever on the SABBATH day. Therefore EVEN praying the prayer of FAITH for our fellow brothers of sisters in Jesus Christ for HEALING could NOT be done ON the SABBATH day. Yes I fully realize that these teachers of the law went beyond the law ACCORDING to the SCRIPTURES. However, if you are TRULY a SABBATH KEEPER like it is TAUGHT in the Old Testament, then you must KEEP the SABBATH to the LETTER of the LAW, because he who breaks just ONE point of the LAW is therefore GUILTY of breaking the WHOLE LAW. Also do these sabbath keepers WORK six days a week every single week of the year? Or do they word just FIVE days a week? Do they take a weeks vacation and not WORK any days of the week? Just how far should we take the LETTER of the law? The TRUTH of the matter is that we are taught in the NEW TESTAMENT to keep the SPIRIT of the law. and NOT the LETTER of the law, because the letter KILLS. Please read James 2:8-10, which teaches us that we as Christians are to keep the NEW COMMANDMENT that Jesus gave to us to keep, thus fulfilling the WHOLE LAW, but for those who choose to keep the WHOLE LAW to the letter would transgress or be GUILTY of the whole law even if they transgressed in just ONE point.
"If you fulfill the ROYAL law according to the scripture, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, you DO WELL: 9. But if you have respect to persons, you commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. 10. For whosoever shall keep the WHOLE law, and yet offend in ONE point, he is GUILTY of all."
You see, in the Old Testament the SABBATH was KEPT from
sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, or from Friday evening to
Saturday evening, which is a FULL 24 hours of SABBATH KEEPING.
Therefore to TRULY be a SABBATH KEEPER, then one must observe the
sabbath from SUNDOWN on Friday all the way through to SUNDOWN on
Saturday. Is this being done by the Seventh Day Adventist and other sabbath keepers, who dogmatically mandate
that the SABBATH day be KEPT as it was in the Old Testament under the law of Moses? And again what if one of your members of the Seventh Day Adventists or one of these other sabbath keeping groups willfully BREAKS the sabbath day keeping, do the rest of the members OBEY the LAW that Almighty God gave to Moses to STONE that person to DEATH? Or if a Seventh Day Adventist BREAKS the sabbath and SINS through IGNORANCE and not intentionally does the pastor take a she goat that is under one year old and offer it to God for a SIN offering? Do Seventh Day Adventists TRULY KEEP the sabbath day ACCORDING to the SCRIPTURES of the Old Testament covenant? Obviously they CANNOT TRULY keep the sabbath according to the law of god written in the OLD TESTAMENT under the OLD COVENANT, because the law of animal sacrifices has been ABOLISHED. Therefore even sinning in ignorance cannot be obeyed according to the LETTER of the law. Please read Numbers 15:27-36, which says, " And if ANY soul SIN through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering. 28. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sins ignorantly, when he sins by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29. You shall have ONE law for him that sins through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourns among them. 30. BUT the soul that does ought PRESUMPTUOUSLY, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproaches the LORD; and that soul shall be CUT OFF from among his people. 31. Because he has despised the word of the LORD, and has BROKEN his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him. 32. And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to DEATH: ALL the congregation shall STONE him with stones without the camp. 36. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses."
My point is this. We are NOT taught in the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ to keep the LETTER of the LAW, but RATHER we are taught to keep the SPIRIT of the LAW. Please read Romans 7:1-7 which teaches us that we who are by FAITH IN Christ Jesus are now DEAD to the LAW so that we can be JOINED to Jesus Christ as one body, in order that we can serve Almighty God in NEWNESS of life IN the SPIRIT and NO LONGER in the LETTER of the LAW. "Know you not, BRETHREN, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he LIVES? 2. For the woman which has an husband is BOUND by the law to her husband so long as he LIVES; but if the husband be DEAD, she is LOOSED from the law of her husband. 3. So then if, while her husband lives, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be DEAD, she is FREE from that law; so that she is NO adulteress, though she be married to another man. 4. WHEREFORE (or LIKEWISE or for this reason), my brethren, you ALSO are become DEAD to the law BY the body of Christ; THAT (or so THAT) you should be married to ANOTHER ( so then, you dear reader and seeker of the TRUTH, as a Christian, you are now married to a NEW LAW, a NEW TESTAMENT, a NEW COVENANT), even to him who is raised from the dead, (WHY? Why did Almighty God FREE us from the OLD COVENANT so that he could establish this NEW covenant in the BLOOD of his Son Jesus with all who will BELIEVE?) THAT (or so that or in order that) we should bring forth FRUIT unto God. 5. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. 6. But NOW we are DELIVERED from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should SERVE in NEWNESS of SPIRIT, and NOT in the oldness of the letter. 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, You shall not covet." We are DELIVERED to SERVE in NEWNESS of SPIRIT. We are SAVED from the guilt of our past sins in order to DO GOOD WORKS of RIGHTEOUSNESS. We are MADE FREE from the bondage of sin to WALK in RIGHTEOUSNESS. This means that we are a NEW CREATION IN Christs Jesus and that the OLD and the old man is passed away and we are to PUT ON the NEW and the new MAN, which is to be a DOER of the NEW Testament law of covenant, which is to SERVE Almighty God in SPIRIT and in TRUTH and NOT in the OLDNESS of the LETTER of the OLD covenant LAW. So then, what is the central theme or the central PURPOSE for the SABBATH day? What is the SPIRIT in which the sabbath day was made? WHY did Almighty God give to mankind the command to keep the sabbath? Perhaps the most striking theme or PURPOSE for the SABBATH day throughout the word of God is that of REST. This is what the very word "SABBATH" means. Sabbath means REST. In other words, Almighty God desires for us to have a time of REST just as he himself RESTED from his WORK. We have SIX days in which to WORK and then we are to REST one day each week. REST is the SPIRIT of the fourth commandment of God. Also please remember that the things written in the Old testament were for our LEARNING. The law is called the school master that leads us to Jesus. The things written in the Old testament were types figures and SHADOWS to the TRUE which was being foretold to come. In
Matthew 11:25-30 Jesus tells all who are weary and burdened to come
to him, and he will give them REST.
So then, the REST
promised in the Old Testament LAW and the PROPHETS that is alluded to,
or pointed to by the keeping of the SABBATH of the OLD COVENANT, is the REST
which is found in Jesus, and in him only. There is NO rest in trying to keep the commandments of God. No one can consistently overcome the enemy if their OWN strength. Paul said that which I would do I find that I do not do, and that which I would not do, I find that I do. Some Christians stop there, but Paul goes on in the next chapter Romans chapter 8 that those who are in Christ Jesus who are obeying the leading of the Holy Spirit are free from condemnation. It is only in our obeying the SPIRIT that we enter into REST and find peace with God.
"Come unto ME, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you REST. 29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find REST unto your souls. 30. For MY yoke is easy, and MY burden is light."
"Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and WHOSOEVER among you FEARS God, to YOU is the word of this salvation sent. 27. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. 28. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. 29. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulcher. 30. But God raised him from the dead: 31. And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. 32. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the PROMISE which was made unto the fathers, 33. God has FULFILLED the same unto us their children, in that he has raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, You are my Son, this day have I begotten you. 34. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. 35. Wherefore he said also in another psalm, You shall not suffer your Holy One to see corruption. 36. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37. But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 38. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could NOT be justified by the law of Moses."
This is the REST that was foreshadowed in the SABBATH that Jesus FULFILLED. The OLD COVENANT was based upon WORKS, the KEEPING of the LAW and the NEW COVENANT is based upon FAITH, the entering into the REST of Almighty God. But this does NOT mean that good WORKS of RIGHTEOUSNESS and the KEEPING of the other COMMANDMENTS of God is done away with as taught in the OLD covenant. You see, when something is NEW and IMPROVED it does NOT mean that everything that is OLD is completely done away with and the NEW contains absolutely nothing of the OLD. So of course some of God's LAW and COMMANDMENTS are to be CONTINUED to be OBEYED in the NEW COVENANT as well. Jesus SUMMED it up this way as what commandments we the church are to keep. Please read Matthew 22:35-40, which clearly teaches us that ALL the LAW and the prophets is fulfilled in just TWO commandments. "Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, TEMPTING him, and saying, 36. Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 37. Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind. 38. This is the FIRST and great commandment. 39. And the SECOND is like unto it, You shalt love your neighbor as yourself. 40. On THESE TWO commandments hang ALL the LAW and the prophets." In others word's, if we truly LOVE our neighbor as we love ourselves, then we will KEEP the commandments of God. We will not steal, we will not lie, we will not commit adultery, we will not covet our neighbor's goods and so forth. How does keeping our rest on a specific day show our love for our neighbor? Why would it matter to our neighbor if we chose, let us say, because of our job to worship God on Wednesday seeing that this was the only day of the week we had off from our job? In truth our hearts are keeping the SPIRIT of REST no matter what day we worship God. There may be some weeks that our jobs mandate us to work seven days a week. Let us not judge or brothers and sisters if their hearts do not condemn them for worshiping God on what ever day they feel lead to do so. It is the SPIRIT of REST that we are to keep. To most Christians they have found JESUS to be their REST. As I said before I myself have only found NINE of the ten commandments of God repeated and taught in the NEW Testament that we as Christians are to keep. Yes I know that there are several verses that say that we are to keep the COMMANDMENTS of God. But does keeping this NEW commandment that Jesus gave unto us the church also INCLUDE the KEEPING of the SABBATH day the WAY that is TAUGHT by of the Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbatarians, which by the way, some even go as far as to teach that to worship on SUNDAY is to take the MARK of the BEAST? Please read Hebrews chapter 3, I will just quote verse 17-19,
"But with whom was he (Almighty God) grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18. And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his REST, but to them that believed NOT? 19. So we see that they could NOT enter in (enter into REST) BECAUSE of UNBELIEF."
Now I want you to read Hebrews 4:1-11, which teaches us that even though we have ENTERED into REST in Jesus Christ there yet REMAINS a FUTURE REST that we must LABOR to ENTER INTO, which is speaking of our OBTAINING the PROMISE of ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come.
"Let us therefore FEAR, lest, a PROMISE being left us of entering into his REST (the PROMISE of ETERNAL LIFE), any of you should seem to come SHORT of it. 2. For unto us was the GOSPEL preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did NOT profit them (WHY? Why did the preaching of the gospel NOT profit some who heard the gospel?), NOT being mixed with FAITH in them that heard it. 3. For (or because) we which have believed DO ENTER into REST, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my REST: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Jesus was SLAIN from the FOUNDATION of the world in the mind of Almighty God. In other words, Almighty God having his PLAN of salvation finished in his mind from the foundation of the world Almighty God then RESTED from is work of creation. God KNEW his PLAN would be FULFILLED. God was at REST and in complete PEACE knowing that his PLAN of salvation would be FULFILLED) 4. For he spake in a certain place of the SEVENTH day on this wise, And God did REST the SEVENTH day from all his works (this is speaking of the 1000 year DAY in which Almighty God commits his kindom into the hands of his Son Jesus to REIGN for 1000 years or this SEVENTH DAY). 5. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my REST.
6. Seeing therefore it
remains that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was FIRST
preached entered not in because of unbelief: (the gospel of this NEW COVENANT was preached to the JEW FIRST but because of UNBELIEF that Jesus was their MESSIAH the REJECTED this NEW covenant and then God turned to the Gentiles) 7. Again, he limits a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of ANOTHER day.(speaking of the RESURRECTION and the 1000 year reign of Jesus in his Father's kingdom while his Father RESTS. It is true that of those who BELIEVE now presently REST in Jesus Christ and in what he has provided for us, but there remains another REST in the future for the JEWS. You see, the word of God says that he will turn to his people ISRAEL a SECOND TIME, which will be at the SECOND coming of Jesus)
9. There REMAINS
therefore a
REST
to the people of God.(speaking of the JEWS, but also to Christians who are looking to the coming of Jesus and their reward of ETERNAL LIFE)
10. For he that IS ENTERED
into his REST, he ALSO has CEASED from his OWN
works, as God did from his.(it is no longer I that works, but rather it is the SPIRIT of Almighty God IN me that is doing the WORK) 11. Let us LABOR therefore to enter into that REST, lest any man fall after the same example of UNBELIEF."
Our LABOR under the NEW covenant is to BELIEVE the PROMISES in God's word and obey the leading f the Holy Spirit of God who now dwells IN us. I hear people say that NO man can live WITHOUT SIN, and
yet the word of TRUTH teaches us that Almighty God will NOT ALLOW us
to be tempted ABOVE that which we are ABLE to bear and OVER COME. That is a PROMISE of God, but yet is we chose NOT to BELIEVE his word then we are not LABORING to fully enter into his REST. The victory is mine when the battle is the LORD'S.
You see it is by FAITH dear child of God that we OVER COME temptation and NOT by
our OWN work. It is the POWER of God WORKING IN us that causes us to
OVER COME temptation. But we must LABOR WITH God by
walking in the FAITH that he has given us in order to ENTER into our
final REST of obtaining ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come. Faith works by LOVE and the perfect love of God casts out all fear. REST is God's love and his FAITHFULNESS to do what he said that he would do. That is FAITH trusting that God will perform his word. This is the SABBATH the REST that God has promised. If we stumble and fall God is faithful and just to forgive us. That is REST dear child of God. Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, how it is the SPIRIT of the LAW that we are to embrace and NOT the LETTER of the LAW. Please read Colossians 2:8-14, which teaches us to BEWARE of those who try to SPOIL our FAITH through VAIN philosophy and traditions of men that deceive men.
"BEWARE lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and NOT after Christ. 9. For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10. And you are COMPLETE in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
11. IN whom also you
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands,
in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ: (the same way that we who BELIEVE are circumcised BY FAITH, we also fulfill the keeping of the sabbath of rest BY FAITH) 12. Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14. Blotting out the handwriting of ORDINANCES that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it OUT of the WAY, nailing it to his cross;"
Please read the study "HOW BAPTISM SAVES" for a deeper understanding of who you are IN Christ Jesus. But for now I want you to see that the handwriting of ORDINANCES that were once against us and that NO flesh is justified by the law have been taken OUT of the WAY and NAILED to the CROSS of Jesus. BEFORE FAITH came no man could truly be justified before God, but after faith came any one who BELIEVES that Jesus died for their sins and rose again from the grave is justified before God. But this does NOT mean that we have NOTHING whatsoever to do in order to obtain ETERNAL LIFE in the world to come.
If anything this love that God has for us giving us his only begotten Son to die for our sins spurs us on to OVER COME the enemy on
every side. In other words, instead of viewing the COMMANDMENTS of
God to be too GRIEVOUS and too BURDENSOME to bear, we ought to be
looking at Almighty God and the GRACE he has given us to be MORE than
CONQUERORS through Jesus Christ. We ought to be saying GREATER is he
that is IN ME than he that is in the world. We ought to KNOW that we
can do ALL things THROUGH Christ Jesus who STRENGTHENS us, rather
than focusing on keeping the LETTER of the LAW that kills us. In truth it does not matter what day of the week we worship God. The SPIRIT of the law is that we do indeed worship God with all our heart and all our minds and all our strength and enter into his REST knowing that he LOVES us. Those under the OLD covenant did not know this LOVE of God as we do under the NEW COVENANT. It is this LOVE of God that we are to show in our LIVES. Please read 2 Corinthians 3:3-6, which teaches us that we are the BIBLE that some people will read that will bring them to the knowledge of the TRUTH to be saved.
"For as much as you are manifestly declared to be the EPISTLE of Christ ministered by us, written NOT with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; NOT in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 4. And such TRUST have we through Christ to God-ward: 5. NOT that we are sufficient OF ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency IS OF God; 6. Who also has MADE (past tense) us ABLE ministers of the NEW TESTAMENT; NOT of the letter, but of the SPIRIT: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life."
So then, my dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, do NOT let any man JUDGE you in respect of keeping the SABBATH. Please read Colossians 2:16,17 which PLAINLY and CLEARLY states that we are NOT to JUDGE or let others JUDGE us in the keeping of the SABBATH, which were a SHADOW of things to come.
"Let NO man therefore JUDGE you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the SABBATH days: 17. Which are a SHADOW of things to come; but the body is of Christ."
Now some will argue that this is NOT referring to the WEEKLY sabbath days, but to holy high sabbath days. However, it should be clear that an HOLY DAY speaks of YEARLY feast days, and the NEW MOON speaks of MONTHLY observances, and THEREFORE the SABBATH days are in fact referring to the WEEKLY sabbath day and NOT the YEARLY high Sabbaths.
My point is this. Since the Bible clearly teaches that we are to NOT let ANY man or division of Christianity JUDGE us concerning the KEEPING of the SABBATH. And that the RESURRECTION of Jesus CLEARLY took place on SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, then for ME, I see NO problem of WORSHIPING on SUNDAY as opposed to worshiping of SATURDAY. Personally I believe we should worship and praise God EVERY DAY, but I am getting ahead of myself. Please read Matthew 28:1-7, which CLEARLY teaches us that just before sunrise on SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week there was a great EARTHQUAKE and an angel descended from heaven and rolled the stone away to release Jesus from the tomb in which he was buried for three days and three nights.
"In the END of the SABBATH, as it began to dawn toward the FIRST day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. 2. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4. And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5. And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not you: for I know that you seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6. He is NOT here: for he is RISEN, as he said. Come, SEE the PLACE where the Lord lay. (or come on into the tomb and SEE for YOURSELF that his is NOT here, because he has RISEN from the grave just as he TOLD you that he would AFTER the third day. Please see the studies "WHEN DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD?" and "THE THIRD DAY") 7. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is RISEN from the dead; and, behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see him: lo, I have told you."
Then in Mark 16:1,2 we read that AFTER the SABBATH had PAST and very early in the morning of the FIRST day of the week at the rising of the sun that the women found the tomb empty and the angel told them that Jesus has RISEN from the dead.
"And when the SABBATH was PAST, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2. And very early in the morning the FIRST day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun."
And in Luke 24:1-8 we read,
"Now upon the FIRST day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher. 3. And they entered in (or they went into the tomb were they laid the dead body of Jesus), and found NOT the body of the Lord Jesus. 4. And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: 5. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek you the LIVING among the dead? 6. He is NOT here, but is RISEN: remember how he spoke unto you when he was yet in Galilee, 7. Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. 8. And they remembered his words,"
Finally in John 20:1 we again read that Jesus had risen on the FIRST day of the week.
"The FIRST day of the week comes Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and sees the stone taken away from the sepulcher."
Then in John 20:19,20 we see that later that SAME DAY being still yet SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, that Jesus appeared to his disciple in the upper room and showed them PLAINLY that it was really him and NOT just a spirit or a ghost.
"Then the SAME day at evening, being the FIRST day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and said unto them, Peace be unto you. 20. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord."
Now to ME, IF the FIRST day of the week was to be of NO
particular importance, then WHY did Almighty God CLEARLY make sure
Jesus was in the grave three full nights and three full days so that
Jesus would RISE again AFTER being in the grave three full nights and three full days, which was on the FIRST day of the week. Also the THIRD day corresponds to the SEVENTH DAY of REST speaking of the 1000 year reign of Jesus where Almighty God his Father is RESTING that 1000 year DAY while his Son reigns? For a deeper understanding of the THIRD DAY please read the study "THE THIRD DAY". And for the resurrection being AFTER these three full days and three full nights please read the study "WHEN DID JESUS RISE FROM THE DEAD?" If God truly
wanted to make the SABBATH a day to be CONTINUED to be KEPT by the BELIEVERS of the NEW COVENANT, and for this SABBATH day to be called the LORD'S DAY, then to
ME, God would have made it so that Jesus would have RISEN from the
dead on the SABBATH day as opposed to Jesus rising from the dead on
the FIRST day of the week, which most Christians throughout church history call the LORD'S DAY.
Now going back to the first observation that I made at the beginning of this study about the Apostle John KNOWING which day was the SABBATH day, and yet SPECIFICALLY stated that the DAY that he was caught up in the Spirit was the LORD'S DAY and NOT the SABBATH day, to ME, this clearly shows that the LORD'S DAY is SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, in which the early church disciples CAME TOGETHER to break BREAD or to partake of the LORD'S SUPPER and hear the PREACHING of the word of God. Please read Acts 20:7-12, which says,
"And upon the FIRST day of the week, when the disciples CAME TOGETHER to BREAK BREAD (or partake of COMMUNION), Paul PREACHED unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. 8. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. 9. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up DEAD. 10. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. 11. When he therefore was come up again, and had BROKEN BREAD, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. 12. And they brought the young man ALIVE, and were not a little comforted."
This passage of scripture CLEARLY teaches us that the early church assembled themselves together on SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week for their time of fellowship and preaching and the taking of communion as opposed to the SABBATH day as some would DOGMATICALLY DEMAND it to be so, and some even to go as far as teaching that it is the MARK of the BEAST if you WORSHIP Almighty God on SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week.
Do NOT be DECEIVED or JUDGED by those who FALSELY teach that if you do NOT worship God on the SABBATH day, then you are NOT a TRUE believer, for this is nothing more than VAIN philosophy, and a commandment of MEN!
Also in 1 Corinthians 16:1,2 we see that Paul the Apostle had given an order or direction for the churches both in Galatia and in Corinth to take out a collection and have it ready on the SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week that he would come to them. Perhaps so that he would not have to take time out of his preaching to take the offering.
"Now CONCERNING the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do you. 2. Upon the FIRST day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings WHEN I come."
In other words, to ME, Paul was saying, I want you to have this collecting of the offerings that God has so prospered you during the week already taken up, done completed, and out of the way before I get there on SUNDAY to PREACH to you and BREAK BREAD together.
Now some may argue that Paul and the other apostles went in the synagogues EVERY SABBATH day to PREACH the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ, so therefore this PROVES that the Apostles KEPT the SABBATH day.
Now I will have to agree that you are absolutely correct
that the Apostles did in FACT enter into the synagogues on the
SABBATH day, but the question remains, did they enter the synagogues on the Sabbath to KEEP the Sabbath, OR to PREACH the GOSPEL? The books of Acts has several
accounts that clearly show that the apostles PREACHED the GOSPEL of Jesus
Christ on the SABBATH, but none of these verse even HINT that the apostles entered the synagogues on the Sabbath to specifically KEEP the Sabbath. There is NO PROOF from the scriptures that they were KEEPING the SABBATH. The TRUTH of the matter we find in the word of God is, that according to the Jews they were actually BREAKING the sabbath, because they were LABORING to REAP the HARVEST of those who had not yet BELIEVED the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. And in preaching the GOSPEL they ALSO HEALED the sick and if you remember the Jews accused Jesus of NOT KEEPING the sabbath, because he had SIX days in which to HEAL the sick. Can you not see my dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, that on the SABBATH days the Apostles were PREACHING the GOSPEL in order to persuade the JEWS to become Christians and then on SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week Christians assembled together to partake of communion and share what God was doing among them through the week.
The TRUTH of the matter is that the early church at least in the very beginning MET EVERY DAY to break bread, pray, PREACH the gospel, and to praise God for the mighty works that God was doing through them, INCLUDING these mighty works done ON the Sabbath day and on Sunday the first day of the week!
Please read Acts 2:46,47, which says,
"And they, continuing DAILY with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47. Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church DAILY such as should be saved"
In Acts 3:1,2 we see that Peter and John entered the temple DAILY to PRAY at the hour of prayer. We know this because we are told that DAILY there was laid a lame man at the gate called beautiful that asked of alms of them that entered the temple. To ME, they obviously saw this man on the other days that they came to the temple to pray and preach the gospel.
"Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. 2. And a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid DAILY at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;"
Now we know that they PREACHED and TAUGHT the word of God DAILY in the temple, because in Acts 5:42 we are PLAINLY told this FACT.
"And DAILY in the temple, AND in every house, they CEASED NOT to TEACH and PREACH Jesus Christ."
In Acts 6:1-4 we see that the church ministered to the widows on a DAILY basis, but also that this ministry began to suffer or was beginning to be neglected so the Apostle had seven elders who were filled with the Holy Spirit appointed to take care of this matter so that the Apostles could focus on praying, preaching, and studying the word of God.
"And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the DAILY ministration. 2. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3. Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4. But we will give ourselves CONTINUALLY to prayer, and to the ministry of the word."
Then in Acts 17:11,12 we see that the JEWS who were being preached TO searched the scriptures DAILY to SEE if the things they were being taught were TRUE and upon searching the BELIEVED because they saw for themselves that it was the TRUTH.
"These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures DAILY, whether those things were so. 12. Therefore (or for this reason of searching the scriptures) many of them BELIEVED; also of honorable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few."
Now further down in this same chapter of Acts Paul being moved by the Holy Spirit began the first STREET ministry and preached the gospel in the market place on a DAILY basis. Acts 17:16,17
"Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. 17. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, AND in the market DAILY with them that met with him"
In Acts 19:8-10 we see Paul disputing DAILY with both Jews and Greeks over the gospel PERSUADING them for MONTHS and even YEARS before many of them BELIEVED.
"And he went into the synagogue, and spoke boldly for the space of three months, DISPUTING and PERSUADING the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9. But when divers were hardened, and believed not (or when different ones hardened their heart and refused to believe), but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing DAILY in the school of one Tyrannus. 10. And this continued by the space of two years; so that ALL they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks."
We are to DIE DAILY to ourselves and crucify our flesh
and take up or cross DAILY. We are to care for our fellow brothers
and sisters on a DAILY basis. We are to PRAY DAILY. We are to study the word of God DAILY, so that we know we are being taught the TRUTH. We are to meet DAILY and praise God for what he is doing in our midst. And we are
instructed in Hebrews 3:13 to EXHORT one another DAILY. The TRUTH of the matter is that the NEW Testament does NOT COMMAND us a Christians to KEEP any particular day of the week to worship God. However as a whole the early church did in fact gather themselves together of SUNDAY the FIRST day of the week. This can also be seen throughout the history of the church from the very beginning.
"Take HEED, brethren, lest there be in ANY of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13. But EXHORT one another DAILY, while it is called To day; lest (or for FEAR that) ANY of you be hardened through the DECEITFULNESS of sin. 14. For we are made partakers of Christ, IF we hold the beginning of our confidence stead fast unto the END;"
So then, I would say to the Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbaterians that instead of condemning and judging your fellow brothers and sisters, in our Lord Jesus Christ, for worshiping on SUNDAY as opposed to SATURDAY, and even some as going as far to say that we are taking the MARK of the BEAST by our choice to worship on SUNDAY for us all to search our OWN hearts to see if we are DAILY serving the Lord our God in the SPIRIT of TRUTH and NOT in the LETTER of the law! I want to say again that, to ME, the scriptures clearly show
that SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week, is the LORD'S DAY and that it was on SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week that was
observed by the early church as a special day to come together in
larger groups to PRAISE God, partake of communion, pray for each
other as well as for others, and to celebrate the RESURRECTION and life of our Lord Jesus Christ in much the same way that most of the church still does
today. So then, I do NOT see any reason to DOGMATICALLY DEMAND that Christians meet on SATURDAY, the SABBATH, lest they take the MARK of the beast by worshiping God on SUNDAY. According to the Bible and the church history, which we will look at in a moment CLEARLY show that the early church and the church throughout history has always gathered together on SUNDAY, the LORD'S DAY to break bread and preach the word of God.
I ALSO find that our duty as Christians is to minister
where ever we are to all mankind on a DAILY basis. We
are to STUDY God's word on a DAILY basis. We are to
PRAY on a DAILY basis. And we are to EXHORT one another
on a DAILY basis. We are to take up our cross on a DAILY basis. In other words, if we are NOT serving Almighty God on a DAILY basis, then we are falling short of what we are called to do.
Now as concerning the keeping of the sabbath, as in keep it as a day of REST, I see that this is BENEFICIAL to mankind, but always remembering that the SABBATH was MADE FOR MAN and NOT that man was made FOR the SABBATH. In other words, we are to KEEP the SPIRIT of the LAW and NOT the LETTER of the LAW. Therefore, for ME, I have always tried to REST on SUNDAY, and work the other SIX days of the week. To ME, the SPIRIT of the keeping of this day of REST is to REST ONE day out of every week. So the, to ME, if you work SIX days a week and REST on ONE day a week, then you are keeping the SPIRIT of the law. Again the SABBATH was MADE FOR MAN and man was NOT made FOR the sabbath. Please read Mark 2:27,28 which teaches us that the Son of MAN is Lord even of the SABBATH.
"And he (Jesus) said unto them, The sabbath was MADE FOR man, and NOT man for the sabbath: 28. THEREFORE (or for this very REASON that the SABBATH was MADE FOR MAN and NOT that man was made for the sabbath) the Son of man is Lord ALSO of the sabbath."
To Me, this is saying that we are not to let the sabbath
RULE over us, but rather we are to rule over the sabbath day, it
that, YES, we should honor ONE day a week as a day of REST for our
own GOOD, but NOT to come under judgment of others, or condemnation
if circumstances arise in our life that prevent us from keeping a day
of REST on SATURDAY or on SUNDAY, or on WHATEVER DAY of the week that works in a persons life. Some people are threatened with the lose of their job if they ask off on a Saturday or a Sunday, because their employer requires them to work on weekends. If this is you, then REST on another day of the week. Do not make a particular DAY a LETTER of the law, but rather do your best to REST one day a week if at all possible. Remember that we are to follow the SPIRIT of the law and NOT the LETTER of the law. Therefore if your work demands that you work on Saturday and Sunday, then simply pick another day of REST during the week to be your sabbath, as in, the one day a week that you honor God by RESTING from heavy work. If your car breaks down or some other circumstance arises that you have no choice but to work, then go ahead and work. Let each one of you work out your OWN salvation on this matter of keeping the sabbath Holy before the Lord God Almighty. Again as for ME, I have always done my best to REST on SUNDAY, and have kept this LORD'S DAY Holy by attending church on SUNDAY, and RESTING the remainder of the day with the family or reading and studying the word of God. The word of God says that there are SIX days in which to WORK and the SEVENTH day should be a day of REST for YOU. I personally do NOT see a COMMAND that the SEVENTH day MUST without fail be on a SATURDAY. The word of God also says that HOW can a SINNER do these mighty works of healing. Therefore IF it TRULY were a SIN to worship God and REST on SUNDAY as opposed to SATURDAY, as some FALSELY teach, then it would be IMPOSSIBLE for me or any other Christian to pray an receive HEALING on a SUNDAY. And I know PERSONALLY that many, MANY, mighty works of HEALING have been done on SUNDAY. Therefore to ME, there is NO way that worshiping God and RESTING on SUNDAY CAN be a SIN, otherwise Almighty God would NOT have performed his word by healing all these people on SUNDAY.Almighty God would NOT manifest his PRESENCE to us on SUNDAY, IF SO BE that it were TRULY a SIN to worship God on SUNDAY.
So NO! A thousand times NO, I say to you my dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, who
follow the teachings of the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA) or another group that teaches that you must without fail keep the Sabbath on SATURDAY, that a Christian who chooses to worship,
pray, and REST on SUNDAY is NOT SINNING against God, nor are they
taking the MARK of the BEAST! The Seventh Day Adventist pastors,
teachers and founders of the doctrines of SDA are FALSELY teaching you
on this particular matter. Check out your OWN history of when the Seventh Day Adventist were founded. And also check out the history of the church and you will see that the early church worshiped on Sunday. Constantine merely made it a law, he did not change the day of worship to Sunday, the church was already worshiping on Sunday from the very beginning on the day of PENTECOST. You see my dear brothers and sister in our Lord Jesus Christ, the VERY DAY that the church BEGAN was on a SUNDAY, the FIRST day of the week
Thanks for reading, May God bless you richly as you continue to seek the TRUTH of the WHOLE word of God. For further study on this subject I have some related studies highlighted in blue that I have done on this subject listed below along with a few websites of others that might interest you. "IS THE HEBREW ROOTS MOVEMENT BIBLICAL?" "HAS GOD'S LAW BEEN ABOLISHED?" "SUNDAY WORSHIP VERSES SABBATH KEEPING?" "ONLY NINE of the TEN COMMANDMENTS?" I said earlier that I would get into the history of the church and the Seventh Day Adventist, but I personally at this point do not see the need. However if you do, then please consider the links that are below for the history of the SDA church. And following these links are some quotes from the early church fathers. The dates are given first and then at the end of each quote are the sources where these quotes were taken:
The Ellen G. White website: http://www.bible.ca/7-plagiarism.htm
The origin of sabbath law: http://www.wrestedscriptures.com/a03sda/sabbath.html
A video teaching with the printed teaching: http://www.gty.org/resources/sermons/90-380/Why-Sunday-Is-the-Lords-Day
Things Jesus taught appear to teach to keep the sabbath day: http://www.gci.org/law/jesussab
The history of the CHURCH assembling on Sunday the Lord's day:
http://www.bible.ca/7-lords-day.htm
Your brother in our Lord Jesus Christ, Mark. RETURN TO HOMEPAGE AT
Now let us take a look at the "HISTORY OF SABBATH KEEPING". In this study I just give you the quotes of the early church father, but in the study called History of Sabbath Keeping I cover the history of when sabbath keeping began to start being pushed again among Christians. I cover the founding of the Seventh Day Adventist church and the false prophecies of Ellen G. White their revered prophetess. Below are some quotes of early church writers that clearly teach us that the early church did NOT keep the sabbath day, as in, on SATURDAY the 7th day of the week, but rather the early church throughout history from it's beginning worshiped God on SUNDAY the 1st day of the week, which is sometimes referred to as the 8th day of the week or the day AFTER the sabbath day. The emphasis is mine,
The date is given first and the source is given at the end. #1. 90AD DIDACHE:
"Christian Assembly on the Lord's Day: 1. But every Lord's day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread, and give thanksgiving after having confessed your transgressions, that your sacrifice may be pure. 2. But let no one that is at variance with his fellow come together with you, until they be reconciled, that your sacrifice may not be profaned. 3. For this is that which was spoken by the Lord: In every place and time offer to me a pure sacrifice; for I am a great King, saith the Lord, and my name is wonderful among the nations." (Didache: The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapter XIV)
#2. 100 AD BARNABAS:
"We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead" (The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD 15:6-8).
#3. 100 AD BARNABAS:
Moreover God says to the Jews, 'Your new moons and Sabbaths I cannot endure.' You see how he says, 'The present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but the Sabbath which I have made in which, when I have rested [heaven: Heb 4] from all things, I will make the beginning of the eighth day which is the beginning of another world.' Wherefore we Christians keep the eighth day for joy, on which also Jesus arose from the dead and when he appeared ascended into heaven. (15:8f, The Epistle of Barnabas, 100 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, pg. 147)
#4. 110AD Pliny:
They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath not to (do) any wicked deeds, never to commit any fraud, theft, or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of good food—but food of an ordinary and innocent kind. (About three years after the death of Ignatius in 250, an important official communication was sent from one Pliny to Trajan the Roman emperor. Pliny, the Roman governor of Bithynia, wrote of the Christians who had been congregating there probably from at least A.D. 62 onwards. In this remarkable it is explicitly stated that these early Christians observed the substance of most of the Ten Commandments, and it is implied that they observed all ten as far as they were able to do so. As far as they were able, for as most of the early Christians were of slave stock or from other lower classes'-, and those who had heathen masters or employers—the vast majority—would be forced to work on their day of rest, which was unfortunately an official working day throughout the empires' until Constantine's "Sabbath" Edict in 321 A.D. gave them some measure of public protection. Hence one reads that after meeting "on a certain fixed day before it was light", the first century Bithynian Christians had "to separate"—many of them having to labour for their masters and/or employers from dawn to dusk—"and then reassemble to partake of . . . food". The "certain fixed day" [stato die"'] on which the Christians met, is regarded by Seventh-day Adventists as Saturday'-. Certainly the expression would seem to indicate a regular day of meeting, probably each week. But Sunday is far more likely to have been the "certain fixed day" than Saturday. For if Pliny had been referring to the old Saturday Sabbath, as a Roman he would doubtless have referred to the "later" meeting first and only then to the morning meeting on the day after the "certain fixed day", seeing that the old Saturday Sabbath was demarcated from the evening of one day to the evening of the following day. But Pliny makes no such reference. Instead, he mentions that the pre-dawn meeting took place first—and only after wards the later meeting; and that both meetings took place on the same "certain fixed day". This rather points to the Roman (and—more importantly!—New Testament) midnight to midnight demarcation of modern Sunday-keepers than to the evening to evening demarcation of the Jews and the Seventh-day Adventists. (The Covenantial Sabbath, Francis Nigel Lee, Pg 242)
#5. 150AD EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES:
- I [Christ] have come into being on the eighth day which is the day of the Lord. (18)
#6. 150AD JUSTIN:
"He then speaks of those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His name, and that you profane [it]. The command of circumcision, again, bidding [them] always circumcise the children on the eighth day, was a type of the true circumcision, by which we are circumcised from deceit and iniquity through Him who rose from the dead on the first day after the Sabbath, [namely through] our Lord Jesus Christ. For the first day after the Sabbath, remaining the first of all the days, is called, however, the eighth, according to the number of all the days of the cycle, and [yet] remains the first.". (Justin, Dialogue 41:4)
#7. 150AD JUSTIN:
...those who have persecuted and do persecute Christ, if they do not repent, shall not inherit anything on the holy mountain. But the Gentiles, who have believed on Him, and have repented of the sins which they have committed, they shall receive the inheritance along with the patriarchs and the prophets, and the just men who are descended from Jacob, even although they neither keep the Sabbath, nor are circumcised, nor observe the feasts. Assuredly they shall receive the holy inheritance of God. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 207)
#8. 150AD JUSTIN:
But if we do not admit this, we shall be liable to fall into foolish opinion, as if it were not the same God who existed in the times of Enoch and all the rest, who neither were circumcised after the flesh, nor observed Sabbaths, nor any other rites, seeing that Moses enjoined such observances... For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now, after that, according to the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a virgin sprung from the stock of Abraham. (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 206)
#9. 150AD JUSTIN:
Moreover, all those righteous men already mentioned [after mentioning Adam. Abel, Enoch, Lot, Noah, Melchizedek, and Abraham], though they kept no Sabbaths, were pleasing to God; and after them Abraham with all his descendants until Moses... And you [fleshly Jews] were commanded to keep Sabbaths, that you might retain the memorial of God. For His word makes this announcement, saying, "That you may know that I am God who redeemed you." (Dialogue With Trypho the Jew, 150-165 AD, Ante-Nicene Fathers , vol. 1, page 204)
#10. 150AD JUSTIN:
There is no other thing for which you blame us, my friends, is there than this? That we do not live according to the Law, nor, are we circumcised in the flesh as your forefathers, nor do we observe the Sabbath as you do. (Dialogue with Trypho 10:1. In verse 3 the Jew Trypho acknowledges that Christians 'do not keep the Sabbath.')
#11. 155 AD Justin Martyr:
"[W]e too would observe the fleshly circumcision, and the Sabbaths, and in short all the feasts, if we did not know for what reason they were enjoined [on] you--namely, on account of your transgressions and the hardness of your heart. . . . [H]ow is it, Trypho, that we would not observe those rites which do not harm us--I speak of fleshly circumcision and Sabbaths and feasts? . . . God enjoined you [Jews] to keep the Sabbath, and impose on you other precepts for a sign, as I have already said, on account of your unrighteousness and that of your fathers" (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 18, 21).
#12. 180AD ACTS OF PETER:
- Paul had often contended with the Jewish teachers and had confuted them, saying 'it is Christ on whom your fathers laid hands. He abolished their Sabbath and fasts and festivals and circumcision.' (1: I)-2
#13. 180AD GOSPEL OF PETER:
Early in the morning when (he Sabbath dawned, a multitude from Jerusalem and the surrounding country came to see the scaled sepulchre. In the night in which the Lord's day dawned, while the soldiers in pairs for each watch were keeping guard, a great voice came from heaven. [There follows an account of the resurrection. Early in the morning of the Lord's day Mary Magdalene, a disciple of the Lord .... came to the sepulchre. (9:34f.; 12:50f.)
#14. 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA:
(in commenting on each of the Ten Commandments and their Christian meaning:) The seventh day is proclaimed a day of rest, preparing by abstention from evil for the Primal day, our true rest. (Ibid. VII. xvi. 138.1)
#15. 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA:
He does the commandment according to the Gospel and keeps the Lord's day, whenever he puts away an evil mind . . . glorifying the Lord's resurrection in himself. (Ibid. Vii.xii.76.4)
#16. 190AD CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA:
Plato prophetically speaks of the Lord's day in the tenth book of the Republic, in these words: 'And when seven days have passed to each of them in the meadow, on the eighth they must go on." (Miscellanies V.xiv.106.2)
#17. 200AD BARDESANES:
Wherever we are, we are all called after the one name of Christ Christians. On one day, the first of the week, we assemble ourselves together (On Fate)
#18. 200AD TERTULLIAN:
"We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath" (Tertullian's Apology, Ch 16)
#19. 200AD TERTULLIAN:
It follows, accordingly, that, in so far as the abolition of carnal circumcision and of the old law is demonstrated as having been consummated at its specific times, so also the observance of the Sabbath is demonstrated to have been temporary. (An Answer to the Jews 4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 155)
#20. 200AD TERTULLIAN:
Let him who contends that the Sabbath is still to be observed a balm of salvation, and circumcision on the eighth day because of threat of death, teach us that in earliest times righteous men kept Sabbath or practiced circumcision, and so were made friends of God. .. ...Therefore, since God originated Adam uncircumcised, and inobservant of the Sabbath, consequently his offspring also, Abel, offering Him sacrifices, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was by Him commended... Noah also, uncircumcised - yes, and inobservant of the Sabbath - God freed from the deluge. For Enoch, too, most righteous man, uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, He translated from this world... Melchizedek also, "the priest of most high God," uncircumcised and inobservant of the Sabbath, was chosen to the priesthood of God. (An Answer to the Jews 2:10; 4:1, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. 3, page 153)
#21. 200AD TERTULLIAN:
Others . . . suppose that the sun is the god of the Christians, because it is well-known that we regard Sunday as a day of joy. (To the Nations 1: 133)
#22. 200AD TERTULLIAN:
To us Sabbaths are foreign. (On Idolatry, 14:6)4
#23. 220AD ORIGEN:
"On Sunday none of the actions of the world should be done. If then, you abstain from all the works of this world and keep yourselves free for spiritual things, go to church, listen to the readings and divine homilies, meditate on heavenly things. (Homil. 23 in Numeros 4, PG 12:749)
#24. 220 AD Origen:
"Hence it is not possible that the [day of] rest after the Sabbath should have come into existence from the seventh [day] of our God. On the contrary, it is our Savior who, after the pattern of his own rest, caused us to be made in the likeness of his death, and hence also of his resurrection" (Commentary on John 2:28).
#25. 225 AD The Didascalia:
"The apostles further appointed: On the first day of the week let there be service, and the reading of the Holy Scriptures, and the oblation, because on the first day of the week our Lord rose from the place of the dead, and on the first day of the week he arose upon the world, and on the first day of the week he ascended up to heaven, and on the first day of the week he will appear at last with the angels of heaven" (Didascalia 2).
#26. 250AD CYPRIAN:
The eight day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's Day." (Epistle 58, Sec 4)
#27. 250 AD IGNATIUS:
"If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death-whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master-how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead. If, then, those who were conversant with the ancient Scriptures came to newness of hope, expecting the coming of Christ, as the Lord teaches us when He says, "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me; " and again, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it, and was glad; for before Abraham was, I am; " how shall we be able to live without Him? The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, "He will come and save us." Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for "he that does not work, let him not eat." For say the [holy] oracles, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread." But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days [of the week]. Looking forward to this, the prophet declared, "To the end, for the eighth day," on which our life both sprang up again, and the victory over death was obtained in Christ, whom the children of perdition, the enemies of the Saviour, deny, "whose god is their belly, who mind earthly things," who are "lovers of pleasure, and not lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." These make merchandise of Christ, corrupting His word, and giving up Jesus to sale: they are corrupters of women, and covetous of other men's possessions, swallowing up wealth insatiably; from whom may ye be delivered by the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ! (Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Chapter IX)
#28. 250AD IGNATIUS:
"On the day of the preparation, then, at the third hour, He received the sentence from Pilate, the Father permitting that to happen; at the sixth hour He was crucified; at the ninth hour He gave up the ghost; and before sunset He was buried. During the Sabbath He continued under the earth in the tomb in which Joseph of Arimathaea had laid Him. At the dawning of the Lord's day He arose from the dead, according to what was spoken by Himself, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. "The day of the preparation, then, comprises the passion; the Sabbath embraces the burial; the Lord's Day contains the resurrection." (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians, chapter 9)
#29. 250AD IGNATIUS:
If any one fasts on the Lord's Day or on the Sabbath, except on the paschal Sabbath only, he is a murderer of Christ. (The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philippians, chapter 8)
#30. 250AD IGNATIUS:
"This [custom], of not bending the knee upon Sunday, is a symbol of the resurrection, through which we have been set free, by the grace of Christ, from sins, and from death, which has been put to death under Him. Now this custom took its rise from apostolic times, as the blessed Irenaeus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his treatise On Easter, in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon which [feast] we do not bend the knee, because it is of equal significance with the Lord's day, for the reason already alleged concerning it." (Ignatius, Fragments)
#31. 300 AD Victorinus:
"The sixth day [Friday] is called parasceve, that is to say, the preparation of the kingdom. . . . On this day also, on account of the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ, we make either a station to God or a fast. On the seventh day he rested from all his works, and blessed it, and sanctified it. On the former day we are accustomed to fast rigorously, that on the Lord's day we may go forth to our bread with giving of thanks. And let the parasceve become a rigorous fast, lest we should appear to observe any Sabbath with the Jews . . . which Sabbath he [Christ] in his body abolished" (The Creation of the World).
#32. 300AD EUSEBIUS:
"They did not, therefore, regard circumcision, nor observe the Sabbath neither do we; ... because such things as these do not belong to Christians" (Ecc. Hist., Book 1, Ch. 4)
#33. 300AD EUSEBIUS:
[The Ebionites] were accustomed to observe the Sabbath and other Jewish customs but on the Lord's days to celebrate the same practices as we in remembrance of the resurrection of the Savior. (Church History Ill.xxvii.5)
#34. 300 AD Eusebius of Caesarea:
"They [the pre- Mosaic saints of the Old Testament] did not care about circumcision of the body, neither do we [Christians]. They did not care about observing Sabbaths, nor do we. They did not avoid certain kinds of food, neither did they regard the other distinctions which Moses first delivered to their posterity to be observed as symbols; nor do Christians of the present day do such things" (Church History 1:4:8).
#35. 300 AD Eusebius of Caesarea:
"The day of his [Christ's] light . . . was the day of his resurrection from the dead, which they say, as being the one and only truly holy day and the Lord's day, is better than any number of days as we ordinarily understand them, and better than the days set apart by the Mosaic Law for feasts, new moons, and Sabbaths, which the Apostle [Paul] teaches are the shadow of days and not days in reality" (Proof of the Gospel 4:16:186).
#36. 345 AD Athanasius:
"The Sabbath was the end of the first creation, the Lord's day was the beginning of the second, in which he renewed and restored the old in the same way as he prescribed that they should formerly observe the Sabbath as a memorial of the end of the first things, so we honor the Lord's day as being the memorial of the new creation" (On Sabbath and Circumcision 3).
#37. 350 AD APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS:
Be not careless of yourselves, neither deprive your Saviour of His own members, neither divide His body nor disperse His members, neither prefer the occasions of this life to the word of God; but assemble yourselves together every day, morning and evening, singing psalms and praying in the Lord's house: in the morning saying the sixty-second Psalm, and in the evening the hundred and fortieth, but principally on the Sabbath-day. And on the day of our Lord's resurrection, which is the Lord's day, meet more diligently, sending praise to God that made the universe by Jesus, and sent Him to us, and condescended to let Him suffer, and raised Him from the dead. Otherwise what apology will he make to God who does not assemble on that day to hear the saving word concerning the resurrection, on which we pray thrice standing in memory of Him who arose in three days, in which is performed the reading of the prophets, the preaching of the Gospel, the oblation of the sacrifice, the gift of the holy food? (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, book 2)
#38. 350 AD APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS:
"How We Ought to Assemble Together, and to Celebrate the Festival Day of Our Saviour's Resurrection. On the day of the resurrection of the Lord, that is, the Lord's day, assemble yourselves together, without fail, giving thanks to God, and praising Him for those mercies God has bestowed upon you through Christ, and has delivered you from ignorance, error, and bondage, that your sacrifice may be unspotted, and acceptable to God,..." (Constitutions of the Holy Apostles, book 7)
#39. 350 AD Cyril of Jerusalem:
"Fall not away either into the sect of the Samaritans or into Judaism, for Jesus Christ has henceforth ransomed you. Stand aloof from all observance of Sabbaths and from calling any indifferent meats common or unclean" (Catechetical Lectures 4:37).
#40. 360 AD Council of Laodicea:
"Christians should not Judaize and should not be idle on the Sabbath, but should work on that day; they should, however, particularly reverence the Lord's day and, if possible, not work on it, because they were Christians" (canon 29).
#41. 387 AD John Chrysostom:
"You have put on Christ, you have become a member of the Lord and been enrolled in the heavenly city, and you still grovel in the Law [of Moses]? How is it possible for you to obtain the kingdom? Listen to Paul's words, that the observance of the Law overthrows the gospel, and learn, if you will, how this comes to pass, and tremble, and shun this pitfall. Why do you keep the Sabbath and fast with the Jews?" (Homilies on Galatians 2:17).
#42. 412 AD Augustine:
"Well, now, I should like to be told what there is in these Ten Commandments, except the observance of the Sabbath, which ought not to be kept by a Christian . . . Which of these commandments would anyone say that the Christian ought not to keep? It is possible to contend that it is not the Law which was written on those two tables that the apostle [Paul] describes as 'the letter that kills' [2 Cor. 3:6], but the law of circumcision and the other sacred rites which are now abolished" (The Spirit and the Letter 24).
#43. 597 AD Gregory I:
"But after that the grace of almighty God, our Lord Jesus Christ, has appeared, the commandments of the Law which were spoken figuratively cannot be kept according to the letter. For if anyone says that this about the Sabbath is to be kept, he must needs say that carnal sacrifices are to be offered. He must say too that the commandment about the circumcision of the body is still to be retained. But let him hear the apostle Paul saying in opposition to him: 'If you be circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing' (Gal. 5:2)" (Letters 13:1).
So then, BOTH the Scriptures and the writings of the early church fathers AGREE that the law of God contained in some 613 carnal ordinances was ABOLISHED at the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What more is there to say concerning this subject of whether or not a Christian should keep ALL the law of Moses including the dietary law except to take a look at the history or the beginning of the Seventh Day Adventist church. For you see, the keeping of ALL the law of Moses began with the dogmatic teaching that a Christian MUST without fail observe the SEVENTH day SATURDAY SABBATH according to the law of Moses and the FOURTH COMMANDMENT of God lest that Christian be found a willful sinner. According to Wikipedia the ADVENTIST movement began with a man named William Miller. His followers from 1831 to 1844 where called Millerites. Here is are two quotes from Wikipedia and here is a link to the article from which came the following quotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Seventh-day_Adventist_Church
"The Seventh-day Adventist Church formed out of the movement known today as the Millerites. In 1831, a Baptist convert, William Miller (until then a Deist), was asked by a Baptist to preach in their church and began to preach that the Second Advent of Jesus would occur somewhere between March 1843 and March 1844, based on his interpretation of Daniel 8:14. A following gathered around Miller that included many from the Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian Connection churches. In the summer of 1844, some of Miller's followers promoted the date of October 22. They linked the cleansing of the sanctuary of Daniel 8:14 with the Jewish Day of Atonement, believed to be October 22 that year. By 1844, over 100,000 people were anticipating what Miller had called the "Blessed Hope". On October 22 many of the believers were up late into the night watching, waiting for Christ to return and found themselves bitterly disappointed when both sunset and midnight passed with their expectations unfulfilled. This event later became known as the Great Disappointment." "After the disappointment of October 22 many of Miller's followers were left upset and disillusioned. Most ceased to believe in the imminent return of Jesus. Some believed the date was incorrect. A few believed that the date was right but the event expected was wrong. This latter group developed into the Seventh-day Adventist Church."
"A young Seventh Day Baptist lay person named Rachel Oakes Preston living in New Hampshire was responsible for introducing Sabbath to the Millerite Adventists. Due to her influence, Frederick Wheeler, a local Methodist-Adventist preacher, began keeping the seventh day as Sabbath, probably in the early spring of 1844. Several members of the Washington, New Hampshire church he occasionally ministered to also followed his decision. These included William and Cyrus Farnsworth. T. M. Preble soon accepted it either from Wheeler or directly from Oakes. These events were shortly followed by the Great Disappointment. Preble promoted Sabbath through the February 28, 1845 issue of the Hope of Israel. In March he published his Sabbath views in tract form. Although he returned to observing Sunday in the next few years, his writing convinced Joseph Bates and J. N. Andrews. These men in turn convinced James and Ellen White, as well as Hiram Edson and hundreds of others. Bates proposed that a meeting should be organised between the believers in New Hampshire and Port Gibson. At this meeting, which occurred sometime in 1846 at Edson's farm, Edson and other Port Gibson believers readily accepted Sabbath and at the same time forged an alliance with Bates and two other folk from New Hampshire who later became very influential in the Adventist church, James and Ellen G. White. Between April 1848, and December 1850 twenty-two "Sabbath conferences" were held in New York and New England. These meetings were often seen as opportunities for leaders such as James White, Joseph Bates, Stephen Pierce and Hiram Edson to discuss and reach conclusions about doctrinal issues."
|