Posted on 03/25/2005 12:29:50 PM PST by DouglasKC
The last activity Jesus Christ shared with His disciples, only hours before He was crucified, was the biblically commanded Passover celebration. He had observed this festival annually since His birth (Luke 2:41).
Accompanied by His 12 apostles for their final Passover meal together, "He said to them, 'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer'" (Luke 22:15, emphasis added throughout). His intense longing to observe this Passover service reveals His deep devotion to celebrating it.
Not only does Jesus—merely hours before His crucifixion—still regard keeping the Passover as important, but also, as He explained to His disciples that evening, He fully intends to observe it with them again when "it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God" (verse 16).
Why did Jesus set such a committed example of observing this festival if He intended soon afterward—as is commonly believed today—to abolish this festival? Does that really make any sense?
Most people claiming to follow Christ's example today know little or nothing about the Passover or the other biblically commanded festivals. Nor do they understand why He considered them important. And most of them certainly have never thought of these days as meaningful to them personally. But should they?
After instituting important symbols in that last Passover observance before His crucifixion, Jesus told those gathered with Him: "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you ... If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:15-17).
This is direct instruction to them to continue observing "these things"—that is, the elements of the Passover service—in exactly the same manner as He had done with them. Years later it becomes even clearer that Christ's instruction is applicable to all Christians. The apostle Paul plainly tells even the non-Jewish Christians in the Greek city of Corinth to follow the example Jesus Christ set on that Passover evening.
"For I received from the Lord," wrote Paul, "that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'
"In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often [meaning year after year according to God's command] as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
Yes, Christ's apostles believed and taught that we must follow the example He set and live as He lived. As the apostle John wrote, "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (1 John 2:6).
The religious days observed by Jesus and His countrymen during His physical lifetime included the weekly Sabbath day as well as a series of annual festivals, all commanded directly by God (see Leviticus 23). These days are biblically consecrated as holy convocations in the Scriptures (verse 2).
Since the festivals first appear in the Old Testament, let's briefly consider Jesus' attitude toward those ancient Scriptures. How highly did He regard them? Even more importantly, how does He want us to regard them today?
The Hebrew Scriptures made up the only "Bible" available to Jesus and the early Church. The New Testament was written years after His crucifixion. To Jesus the "Word of God" and the Old Testament Scriptures were one and the same.
Jesus' loyalty to these Scriptures is plain. He explains, "The Scripture cannot be broken" (John 10:35). He tells us that "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail" (Luke 16:17). And He points out, "It is written [in Deuteronomy 8:3], 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4).
He also forcefully exclaims that anyone who "breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least [by those] in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19).
Jesus expects those who would follow His example both to practice and teach the clear commands of God written in the Old Testament Scriptures. Of course, He expects this obedience to be fully compliant with His example and teachings recorded in the New Testament. But there is no conflict between the two. One is not pitted against the other.
Consider, for example, the principle that the sacrificial shedding of blood is necessary before sins can be forgiven. That is just as valid in the teaching of the New Testament as it was in the Old. The difference is that under the Old Testament administrative system animals were sacrificed to represent the better sacrifice that would be made in the future—the sacrifice of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 10:12).
Yet the law requiring this spilling of blood for the forgiveness of sin was not abolished (Hebrews 9:22-26). Only by being justified through Christ's shed blood can we be saved (Romans 5:9).
This brings us back to why Jesus was so committed to keeping the Passover with His apostles just before He was crucified. For centuries the keeping of the Passover had represented the fact that Jesus, as mankind's Redeemer, would be sacrificed by the shedding of His blood for the remission of sins.
Jesus was crucified on Passover day, on the 14th day of the first month in the sacred calendar followed by the Jews. Anciently it was observed by the slaying of an unblemished lamb or kid goat (Exodus 12:5-11). But its real focus was on a different sacrifice. We find this explained in the New Testament when "John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, 'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" (John 1:29).
As the apostle Paul also explains: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). Here Paul is instructing Christians to keep both the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread as Christian observances (compare Leviticus 23:5-6).
Therefore, we now have direct New Testament evidence that at least two of the seven annual festivals—the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread—are also Christian festivals. Logically then the other five would be also. But before we consider any other festivals, let's understand what the overall significance of all of these sacred occasions is to Christians today.
All of the sacred biblical festivals are closely linked to the harvest seasons of the Holy Land. And Jesus often compared what God was doing through Him to a harvest.
For example, He said: "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white [ripe] for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together'" (John 4:34-36).
Here Jesus links the idea of a harvest to His work of bringing humanity into a relationship with God the Father that leads to eternal life. On another occasion "He said to His disciples, 'The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest'" (Matthew 9:37).
God's annual festivals depict the work of Jesus Christ in "harvesting" human beings into the Kingdom of God. They are God-given annual reminders of Christ's role in securing redemption and salvation for all humanity.
God began revealing parts of His plan of salvation when He evicted Adam and Eve from the garden in Eden. Because they had succumbed to the serpent's influence and sinned, God spoke to the serpent, saying, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you [the serpent] shall bruise His [Christ's] heel" (Genesis 3:15).
Here God revealed that, at a future time, a very special descendant of Eve would crush the head of "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan" (Revelation 12:9)—bringing Satan's control over mankind to an end.
God began revealing more details of His plan through Moses—by instituting His annual festivals at the same time He selected the ancient Israelites to be His servants. Some of these festivals even had an immediate meaning and application within the history of ancient Israel.
But the long-term, primary reason that God established them was to depict the relationship of all human beings to the mission of the Messiah. As mentioned earlier, Paul pointed out: "For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast ..." (1 Corinthians 5:7-8). The relationship of the Passover festival to the death of Christ, and our redemption through that death, has always been its primary purpose.
In addition to Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Pentecost likewise is clearly a Christian festival. According to Jewish tradition, the Israelites received the Ten Commandments at the time of the festival of Pentecost. It was then that God made a covenant with them and they became the "congregation of God."
Yet a far more important relationship would be established on a later Day of Pentecost—through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 1:4-5 tells us: "And being assembled together with them [Jesus' disciples], He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, 'which,' He said, 'you have heard from Me; for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.'"
Then, "when the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire ... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit . . ." (Acts 2:1-4).
Since Paul tells us, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His" (Romans 8:9), there can be no doubt that this festival sets an important milestone for all Christians for all time. It is a Christian festival. And Paul observed it as such (Acts 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8).
The other four biblical festivals listed in Leviticus 23 occur around the time of the fall harvest season (in the northern hemisphere).
All depict the main events to occur at or following Christ's return. For example, the Feast of Trumpets points to His second coming. Seven trumpet blasts are to announce the seven major events leading up to and including Christ's return (Revelation 8-11). At that time, "He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect ..." (Matthew 24:31; compare 1 Corinthians 15:52).
How much more "Christian" could these festivals be? Their focus is primarily on all that Jesus Christ has done, is doing and will do to ensure our salvation.
When Christ returns, not only will He keep the Passover, along with His resurrected apostles, but He also will require all nations to join Him in keeping the Feast of Tabernacles (Zechariah 14:16).
Therefore, should not all Christians today acknowledge the example Christ has set for them? Then all can join the apostle Paul in declaring, as recorded in Acts 18:21: "I must by all means keep this coming feast" (compare Acts 20:16).
2 Peter 3:15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,
16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
Sunday is the first day of the week (not the eighth). The fact that it is also the Day of Resurrection, symbolizes a new beginning. Like turning a page on a calendar.
As you can well imagine sabbath keepers have documented plenty of literary references to sabbath keeping throughout history. Most of them come from church historians who were not sabbath keepers. The following excerpt is cut and pasted from "Sabbath History", a chapter titled "Sabbath History Seventh Century to the Reformation." In it, it references several works that refer to sabbath keeping in the time period you mentioned:
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Rome never succeeded in driving the Sabbath wholly from its dominions. We have reasons to believe that there have been Sabbathkeepers functioning in every century, some in the wildernesses, and some in and around the Alps. In their time they were known by such designations as Nazarenes, Cerinthians, Hypsistari, and later as Vaudois, Cathari, Toulousians, Albigenses, Petrobrusians, Passagii and Waldenses.
In speaking of the Waldenses generally, we know that they believed that the Romish Church was the Antichrist, spoken of in the Bible. Many of them were able to say a great part of both the Old and the New Scriptures by heart. Although considered dangerous heretics, Rainer Sacho, a Dominican, says of the Waldenses that they are one of the most ancient sects and that there was no country where they did not gain a footing. He admitted that they lived morally good lives and believed nothing concerning God which was not good (Dean Waddington's Church History, Chapter 22, Section 1).
Jones, in his history, in describing their confession of faith, says one of the members of the Waldenses stated that they 11 proffered the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testaments and comprehended in the Apostles' Creed, and admitted the sacraments instituted by Christ, and the ten commandments, etc.... They said they had received this doctrine from their ancestors, and that if they were in any error they were ready to receive instruction from the word of God . .." (Church History, p.355, 1837 ed.).
That the Cathari of the twelfth century observed the ancient Sabbath is certified by a Roman writer, as quoted by Doctor Allix:
"He lays down also as one of their opinions, that the law of Moses is to be kept according to the letter, and that the keeping of the Sabbath, circumcision, and other legal observations, ought to take place. They hold also that Christ the Son of God is not equal with the Father, and that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, these three persons, are not one God and one substance; and as a surplus to these their errors, they judge and condemn all the doctors of the Church, and universally the whole Roman church" (Ecclesiastical History, pp. 168, 169. The author was a French Protestant, born 1641).
Another group during the twelfth century was known in some parts of France and Italy as Passaginian. Of these Mosheim has written the following:
"Like the other sects already mentioned, they had the utmost aversion to the dominion and discipline of the church of Rome; but they were, at the same time, distinguished by two religious tenets, which were peculiar to themselves. The first was a notion that the observation of the law of Moses, in everything except the offering of sacrifices, was obligatory upon Christians, in consequence of which they circumcised their followers, abstained from those meats, the use of which was prohibited under the Mosaic economy, and celebrated the Jewish Sabbath" (Ecclesiastical History, Volume 2, p. 273, 1860 edition).
As to the charge of their circumcising, Benedict thought that this may not have been true but was said because they observed the "Jewish Sabbath."
There are at least three groups of eastern Christians that need to be considered in reference to this matter of Sabbathkeeping. Several historians indicate that for a long time the Abyssinian (Ethiopian) Christians were almost entirely shut out from the church of Europe. During the seventeenth century repeated and violent attempts were unsuccessfully made by the Jesuits, under the patronage of Portugal, to convert or subdue them. It is claimed by some, and by the Ethiopians themselves, that the gospel was brought to them by the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8), together with the teaching of the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.
A. H. Newman says of them:
"Fasting periods are very numerous and about half of the days of the year, including the Jewish Sabbath and Sunday, are religiously observed. Indications of Jewish influence, besides Sabbath observance, are the practice of circumcision, and distinction between clean and unclean animals, etc." (A Manual of Church History, Volume 1, p. 646, 1933 edition).
Claudius Buchannan, D.D., speaks of the Armenians in the following manner:
"The history of the Armenian church is very interesting. Of all the Christians in Central Asia, they have preserved themselves most free from Mohammedan and Papal corruptions...."
"The Armenians in Hindoostan are our own subjects. They acknowledge our government in India, as they do that of Sophi in Persia, and they are entitled to our regard. They have preserved the Bible in its purity, and their doctrines are, as far as the author knows, the doctrines of the Bible. Besides, they maintain the solemn observance of Christian worship throughout our empire on the seventh day; and they have as many spires pointing to heaven among the Hindoos as ourselves. Are such people then entitled to no acknowledgement on our part, as fellow Christians? Are they forever to be ranked by us with the Jews, Mohammedans, and Hindoos?" (Researches in Asia, p. 206, et. seq.).
Arthur P. Stanley stated:
"The Chaldean Christians, called by their opponents Nestorians, are the most remote of these old 'Separatists.' . .. They trace their descent from the earliest of all Christian missions, the mission of Thaddaeus to Abgarus" (History of the Eastern Church, p. 91).
As to their beliefs about Sabbathkeeping, Coleman speaks:
"These eight festivals of our Lord they observer and we have many holy days and the Sabbath-day, on which we do not labour. ... The Sabbath-day we reckon far - far above the others. . . . Incense is burned on the Sabbath and feast days" (Ancient Christianity Exemplified, p. 573).
Early tradition attributes the founding of Christian communities in the south western part of India (Malabar) to the apostle Thomas. The first notice of this ancient people is to be found in Portuguese histories, according to Claudius Buchannon, D.D. When the Portuguese arrived they found upwards of a hundred Christian churches, whom they tried to win to the Romish faith by the power of the Inquisition. Dellon, who escaped the bloody tribunal, wrote an account of the workings thereof. His arrest occurred in 1673. Witness the following from Dellon's Account of the Inquisition at Goa, 1684:
"But when the period of the Auto da Fe approaches, the Proctor waits upon him and declares, that he is charged by a great number of witnesses, of having Judaized; which means, having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic law, such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, etc., of having attended the solemnisation of the Sabbath, having eaten the Pascal Lamb, etc."
Sabbathkeeping in China is of ancient origins. Some historians maintain that Christianity was implanted in China not long after apostolic days. We have previously noted the Nestorian Christians, considered by many as heretics, were observers of the seventh-day Sabbath. Gieseler says of them:
"The Nestorians not only maintained themselves in Persia, where they enjoyed the exclusive favour of the king, but spread doctrines on all sides, carrying them into Arabia and India, and it is said, in -the year 636, even as far as China" (Church History, Second Period, Chapter 6).
Speaking of the Chinese Puritan Reformation, in modern times, under the Ti-Pings, one missionary in Shanghai wrote:
But the question naturally arises: How came they to adopt the seventh day of the week instead of the first, as their Sabbath, since all their instructions from Christians was by those who taught that the first day is the Sabbath? This was a mystery to all who learned of the fact. But when they took Nan-King, the Europeans had opportunity to visit them, they were told that it was first, because the Bible taught it, and second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship." These Chinese once observed the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath.
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That depends on your definition of what an observant Jew is. In the bible, Christ was villified for NOT being an observant Jew.
Mat 15:1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
Mat 15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
Mat 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
The Jews of Christ's time had elevated their traditions over what the bible actually said. Sounds familiar to me.:-)
If you toss out all that is traditional Christianity instead of biblical Christianity then it makes perfect sense.
God's Holy Days are all about Christ. They have to be since Christ himself created them and they were created FOR him:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Too familiar.
You are willing to name such blatant heretics in your support?
8. CERINTHIANS from Cerinthus and also Merinthians from Merinthus, saying that the world was created by angels, and that it is proper to be circumcised carnally, and to observe the other precepts of the law of this kind; that Jesus was only a man, and did not rise again, but asserting he will rise again. Also they gossip of a thousand future years after the resurrection in a terrestrial kingdom of Christ, according to carnal things of the belly and the delights of pleasure, wherefore they are also called Chiliasts.9. NAZOREANS, although they confess that the Son of God is the Christ, also however observe the old law, which Christians by apostolic tradition do not observe carnally, but know to understand spiritually. (St. Augustine, De Haeresibus)
Hypsistari - only reference I can find is your source.
Vadois were French Protestants.
The essential characteristic of the Catharist faith was Dualism, i.e. the belief in a good and an evil principle, of whom the former created the invisible and spiritual universe, while the latter was the author of the material world.
Toulousians - there is no reliable source which refers to them, so far as I can find.
The Albigenses asserted the co-existence of two mutually opposed principles, one good, the other evil. The former is the creator of the spiritual, the latter of the material world. ... The dualism of the Albigenses was also the basis of their moral teaching. Man, they taught, is a living contradiction. Hence, the liberation of the soul from its captivity in the body is the true end of our being. To attain this, suicide is commendable; it was customary among them in the form of the endura (starvation). The extinction of bodily life on the largest scale consistent with human existence is also a perfect aim. As generation propagates the slavery of the soul to the body, perpetual chastity should be practiced. Matrimonial intercourse is unlawful; concubinage, being of a less permanent nature, is preferable to marriage.
Peter of Bruys admitted the doctrinal authority of the Gospels in their literal interpretation; the other New Testament writings he probably considered valueless, as of doubtful apostolic origin. To the New Testament epistles he assigned only a subordinate place as not coming from Jesus Christ Himself. He rejected the Old Testament as well as the authority of the Fathers and of the Church.
Occupying a distinct place of their own were the pantheistic coteries of dissenters, the Amaurians and Ortlibenses, and perhaps other groups, like the Passagians and Speronistae, of which we know scarcely more than the names. ... The Passagii, or Passageni, a sect whose name is first mentioned in the acts of the synod of Verona, seem to have been unique in that they required the literal observance of the Mosaic law, including the Jewish Sabbath and circumcision. It is possible they are identical with the Circumcisi spoken of in the code of Frederick II. As late as 1267 and 1274 papal bulls call for the punishment of heretics who had gone back to Jewish rites, and the Passagii1037 may be referred to.
In their earliest period the Waldenses were not heretics, although the charge was made against them that they claimed to be "the only imitators of Christ." Closely as they and the Cathari were associated geographically and by the acts of councils, papal decrees, and in literary refutations of heresy, the Waldenses differ radically from the Cathari. They never adopted Manichaean elements. Nor did they repudiate the sacramental system of the established Church and invent strange rites of their own. They were also far removed from mysticism and have no connection with the German mystics as some of the other sectaries had. They were likewise not Protestants, for we seek in vain among them for a statement of the doctrine of justification by faith. It is possible, they held to the universal priesthood of believers. According to de Bourbon and others, they declared all good men to be priests. They placed the stress upon following the practice of the Apostles and obeying the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, and they did not know the definition which Luther put on the word "justification." They approached more closely to an opinion now current among Protestants when they said, righteousness is found only in good men and good women.
They do not seem to have been sabbath keepers.
So basically you have a bunch of heretics; the only ones who kept the Sabbath also were implicated in other heretical practices, like circumcision.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church exists today and it observes Sunday, and always has.
The Armenian Catholics are also, of course, perfectly orthodox on the question, as are the Armenian Orthodox.
We have previously noted the Nestorian Christians, considered by many as heretics, were observers of the seventh-day Sabbath.
If that was part of Nestorianism, it would have been condemned or brought up at the Council of Ephesus.
Your anonymous "missionary" is not credible:
I'm sorry if I came across as offensive. It's also not my intention to denigrate anyone or their beliefs. I'm just presenting information here. If you don't agree with the information then you are free to skip over the thread.
They're not Jewish holidays. They're God's holy days:
Lev 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
God specifically spells out that these are HIS feasts. They belong to no man, but are God's days. As men, we have a choice: observe them or not.
Since they are God's days, it's obvious that they were created for a specific purpose. That purpose is to help his children learn about God the father and our savior Jesus Christ.
You asked for one reference to anyone who kept the 7th day sabbath from 800 to 1500. I supplied several references from several volumes of church history by several authors. How you want to characterize the different groups doesn't really concern me.
16And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
These scriptures say to me that there is coming a time when all of mankind will be keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. If they don't, they will get no rain. With no rain, I imagine they would start keeping the Feast of Tabernacles quickly, so they would get rain again.
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