Posted on 03/03/2024 3:31:37 PM PST by OneVike
Throughout His ministry, Jesus never once broke the fourth commandment which required that all Jews observe the Sabbath. He was after all Jew. However, He did give us a clue that a change to the Sabbath was coming. To make my point, you must first understand that the original manuscripts of the Scriptures were not divided into verses and chapters.
The Old Testament manuscripts were written by scribes for the religious leaders to study. The New Testament manuscripts were letters originally written to be dispersed amongst the believers to read. They were like the letters you receive today. Just a document written in sentences and paragraphs with no verse or chapter numbers.
So you really had to know the transcripts well in order find any information you needed. Finally in the mid 16th century a Frenchman named, Robert Estienne (better known as Robertus Stephanus), would divide the Scriptures into chapters and verses. So today we can find passages by memorizing chapters and verses.
Now I must say, that while I do believe every Word of the Bible is the inspired Word of God, I do not believe that Stephanus's choices of where he decided to split some sentences up into different verses or chapters were inspired. I say so, because there are many instances in the Scriptures where a reader can be distracted or even misled as to what the passage is conveying.
Case in point is chapters 11 and 12 of Matthew's Gospel. I personally believe that he made a mistake by ending Matthew chapter 11 at verse 30. It's my belief that chapter 11 should have had 8 more verses for a total of 38. Thus it would end after the following statement by Jesus,
“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
(Matthew 12:8)
The following information is quite valuable in the apologetical debate on why so many are mistaken in their belief that Christians should observe Saturday as the Sabbath. Continuing on Jesus' statement in Matthew 12:8, I take you back to the end of Matthew chapter 11. Jesus had just finished telling the crowd that no one born of a woman is greater than John the Baptist, when He started telling everyone to come to Him for rest.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
By speaking about the concept of rest, the audience He is speaking to would automatically think of the Sabbath rest which God gave them. They were first told about this gift when Moses presented the Ten Commandments God handed to Him for the people to follow. As Moses read the tablets, he said,
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
(Exodus 20:8-11)
By the time Jesus started His ministry, the Israelites had been observing the Sabbath for almost 1480 years. They understood that it was a day of rest, even for the animals. A day they were to be free from the labors of life that kept them from communing with God. So, when Jesus starts talking about rest at the end of chapter 11, he continues his thought process on through to verse 8 of chapter 12. So when He calls them to come to Him for rest, and then claims He is the Lord of the Sabbath, it goes without saying that this is all one thought process and thus chapter 11 should have ended at verse 38, with chapter 12 actually beginning at verse 9 where Matthew wrote,
Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
(Matthew 12:9)
The next 20 verses do continue the matter of a rest, but not until Jesus moved to another site. Thus it then makes sense to split the chapter after Jesus made His statement about Him being the Lord of the Sabbath, and after he had arrived at a different location.
This is important, because when Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law, including the one that calls for us to obey the Sabbath, since as He stated, He is our Sabbath. Just as we are not bound by going through a High Priest by offering a sacrifice, we too do not need to follow the Jewish Law. We can reach God through Christ, on any day at anytime we so desire. Without going through the commandments of the law which Christ abolished.
After 1480 years, the Jews showed they could not follow the Law, and with Christ fulfilling it and the ceremonial ones, we are free from it. So with Jesus, being the Lord of the Sabbath, we are free to chose any day, and anytime to gather for communion and celebration of Him with no more legalistic requirements to follow the old obsolete law.
Any Christian following any portion of the Law, is doing what Paul preached against when he chastised the Judaizers who tried to put the Christians back into bondage to the Law. This is one of the things he wrote to the Colossians about when he said,
Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths
(Colossians 2:16)
Paul also wrote that, if you observe any part of the Old Law, then you must follow it all. Does anyone truly want to be bound by the full weight of a law that God's own people could never follow? The answer is a resounding NO. Praise God, because we are free to worship HIM anywhere, on any day, at anytime by going through the One who fulfilled and abolished the law. Thus setting us free from a Law we could never dream of keeping.
The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
(Galatians 5:17:18)
Thus if you are not under the law, you are not under any obligations to any of the ceremonial requirements either. Nor are you bound by the Jewish Sabbath as I pointed out above from Paul's letter to the Colossians. Anyone who feels obligated to an abolished symbolism of the Old Law is keeping themselves from truly enjoying all the freedom God offers us through His Son's death and Resurrection.
I now offer two more pieces of evidence. One comes from the mouth of our LORD Jesus Himself, when the rich young ruler asked, "what must i do to have eternal life?" Jesus replied to him;
You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
(Matthew 19:18-19)
The second one comes from Paul's letter to the Jewish Christians in Rome, we learn, not from what he wrote, but rather what he did not write when he listed the commandments we should obey. Mind you, Paul was once a Pharisee of Pharisees, a man who persecuted Jewish converts to Christianity for violating the commandments. So, let us look at what Paul left out when he wrote about the commandments we are to obey in his letter to the Romans.
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," "YOU SHALL NOT MURDER," "YOU SHALL NOT STEAL," "YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS," "YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
(Romans 13:8-11)
It should be enough to read what Jesus said on this matter, but we also see Paul then teach that which our LORD HIMSELF said. So I ask you, what is NOT included in this list of commandments from Jesus and then Paul about which commandments we should obey to have eternal life? It is the Sabbath. If Paul himself is not obeying the Sabbath, than why would any born again Christian want to follow a regulation from a law that is obsolete? Obsolete, because Jesus fulfilled the letter of the law and became our Sabbath rest.
So many fail to understand that as a Jew, Jesus had to fulfill both the legal laws and ceremonial laws in order to abolish them, because all the high priests and all the blood they spilled never satisfied the law completely so it was never fulfilled. Yet the nano second he died, the curtain separating the inner and outer room was torn by GOD from top to bottom. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law. Thus the new dispensation began that set us free from the law written on stone and the ceremonial regulations. Today we are justified, "Just As If We Have Not Sinned." We are cleansed by HIS blood and freed by the atoning work on the Cross.
Thank GOD we are free, free at last. Free from observing anything the old law said we had to do. Thus our Sabbath in now in Jesus, Who allows us to come straight through HIM as our mediator to GOD. Jesus is our traveling Tabernacle who resides in us, and thus our Sabbath it eternal. Eternal in that everyday is a Sabbath for us, and at any moment we can worship HIM, because we now worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth.
Yet there is more, because when we read what the author of Hebrews wrote, which most scholars agree was an epistle specifically written to the Jewish believers who were still struggling with the confines of the Mosaic law.
In that He say, "A NEW COVENANT, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
(Hebrews 8:13)
There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
(Hebrews 4:9-11)
Finally, I share with you what was in the letter from the first council ever held by the elders of the church when the question arose about whether or not Gentile believers should be circumcised. In the letter they pointed out what they should follow, and keeping the Sabbath was NOT among the things they were instructed to follow. Anyone who claims the Sabbath must be kept by Christians, I would suggest you take it up with Peter and James who oversaw the council meeting on what rules the Gentile believers should follow.
Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"—to whom we gave no such commandment— it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
(Acts 15:27-29)
Praise God we are free from the bondage of a system that not only whitewashed our sin until a new animal was slain for it's blood to be spilled and sprinkled upon the mercy seat inside the inner room behind a curtain, but also held us hostage to worshipping together only on the sabbath. Once that curtain in the inner room was torn from top to bottom by GOD HIMSELF, we were set free to now enter into the presence of our LORD through our LORD, and commune with our LORD at any time on any day. Thank you JESUS!
I miss the old record players where you could put them in neutral and hand-spin them backwards. Or play the Chipmunks records at 16 rpm.
Twice I explained it, and you refuse to respond to what I wrote to you.
Your like a kid just spouting off in a room with your hands over your ears because you refuse to listen to the proof.
Read what I wrote, it responds to your ignorant rant.
Pharisee
Breaking any of Hammurabi’s 282 laws and regulations is no more a sin than me breaking one of the traffic laws listed in the Florida Statutes (I live in Florida).
A sin is BREAKING THE LAW OF GOD.
Try again.
I’m a Pharisee because God says that if I love Him, to keep His commandments, and I do it?
post 144
No, they actually had laws that covered moral behavior also. Not many, but it shows they knew what morality was. Now whether they enforced them is a different thing. But there is archeological proof they exited, and Abraham would have known them.
Like I said, God read Abrahams heart and knew he could work with him.
What proof do you come up with, God told him, but nowhere do we read that GOD told him. Hell, even the Romans had laws against incest, as I said, like Americans no one followed them.
You claiming Abraham was sinless?
Sound like the guy who tried to tell me Job was sinless.
You try again
You never run short of strawman arguments, do you? "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That doesn't mean God didn't count some as righteous men because He sees our heart and circumstances.
The passover in Egypt removed the hopelessness of never ending bondage. The choice to leave Egypt was then available. But which way?
God told Moses to turn the Israelites away from the obvious, well-traveled, route to the promised land, the cloud confirming it, leading to the Red Sea. It seemed ridiculous to the Israelites, then worse, a trap resulting in death by the persuing Egyptian army.
It was there, that by following Moses, all went “under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;” (2Cor. 10:1,2).
With its army destroyed there, Egypt no longer had any power whatsover over the Israelites.
The Son of God broke the hopelessness of bondage to sin at the cross. But choices must be made, and commandments followed, when told of this hope. At the end of each of the four gospels, Jesus Christ give commandments for conversion. Those commandments are shown being enacted for the first time in Acts 2:38.
Repentance is seen in Israel’s acceptance and obedience to the passover in Egypt. They could then please God, but had to come to him (at Sinai), and come there HIS way. But they had to be ‘buried’ (baptized) at the Red Sea to be purged of the nagging curse of Pharaoh’s army (a type of sin). The cloud over them is symbolic of Holy Ghost baptism.
It is interesting that, in reference to the whole breaking down of Egypt to free Israel, the word ‘salvation’ is finally used at the Red Sea (Ex. 14:13). And upon crossing the Red Sea, and the Egyptians destroyed, Exodus 14:30 says:
“Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.”
——>No, they actually had laws that covered moral behavior also.
Unfortunately for you, THEY AREN’T SINS. That would only apply if the laws came from God. Do you not understand that??? Are you serious? Violating man-made laws IS NOT A SIN.
I was responding to the stupid idea that Abraham was so perfect God downloaded to him all the laws of morality at a time when his own father made idols.
Yet where did Abraham get his values, well we have archological evidence there were ancient laws both on trade and morality.
One such law was the one Judah practiced by having his sons marry his oldest sone widow to keep his name going
This was a law of all the lands, not something GOD downloaded on them. So too the laws that Abraham and his son and grandson practiced. They had good hearts and learned what was right. God saw the heart of Abraham and how he lived.
This is where he learned of morality. God has always had a part of his laws in our hearts, thus we know of the sating from Ecclesiastes, “Eternity in our hearts.”
We know the true GOD, but we need a good heart to hear His voice. Abraham did, and thus he was good and followed the laws that are on all our hearts. Yet to say he knew ahead of time the Mosaic laws is to read into the passage what is not there.
This the Sabbath was not practiced by Abraham, if it was we would have Scripture to tell us he did. We cannot make up Scripture and claim something is true just because we want it to be to justify our stance. Like we know he sacrificed to God. There is no reference anywhere in Genesis that tells us as humans to honor the Sabbath. We see this first in Exodus from Moses in the desert.
Thus the Sabbath was not recognized until God had Moses codify it.
I go by what the Scriptures tell me, not any what I want them to tell me.
God would know what is moral and not. Just because a heathen writes a law that is moral, does not mean God did not influence them to write it.
Now once written it will influence men to think twice about violating said moral law.
Is it a sin to do certain things that are wrong to GOD? Well not if we were not told its is a sin.
As Paul said, if the law did not tell me it was wrong I would not know. But now I know, so if I violate it I am wrong. If God moved men to pass a law that is good because it protects the innocent, then I take its God wanted that law to do so, and in GOD’s mind if you violate it after knowing it is wrong then, yes it can be attributed as a sin.
Now as for the Sabbath, there is no law or Scripture to tell us that the Sabbath was something GOD wanted men to follow until Moses instituted it. Try as you may, you cannot prove that the Sabbath was ordained for men before Moses instituted it.
And you most definitely cannot claim Abraham followed a regulation that was not ever been written before Moses, nor can said rule or regulation be found in any archeological Diggings from ancient societies.
You can’t. You can say you believe it is true, but that is just wishful thinking.
So by process of elimination of the places we could find the proof that your theory the Sabbath was practiced before Moses, we can truthfully say they don’t exist.
Thus it didn’t happen until Moses instituted it.
Is there anymore ways you wish for me to phrase this? Because this is like the fourth time I stated this, and you still cannot produce evidence I am wrong.
The rule about the Sabbath is about resting, not doing any ordinary work. It says NOTHING about it being a mandatory day of worship or the day one must worship God on or burn for eternity.
. Adam and Eve, Enoch, Methuseleh, etc . . . all worshiped God. And on the Sabbath. It's implied.
Where? And how does *It's IMPLIED* Become, *You must worship on the Seventh day or go to hell?
The two have been conflated to the point where *Rest on the 7th day* becomes *Worship on the 7th day or go to hell*. When and how did that happen? And exactly what does *Rest on the 7th day entail? Just how much is allowed to be done in order to still be called rest. Or what is prohibited so that one doesn't inadvertently work?
What are the requirements/guidelines and who sets them and where are they to be found?
Can one travel? Fix a flat tire if you get one while out? How far? Cook? Clean up after the meal? Get on the internet? Do hospitals, fire departments, and law enforcement all take the day off? What happens if there's a fire or medical emergency? Too bad for you?
What activities can one do?
The seventh day was His day of REST.
The other six are to be spend in labor or constructive manner.
What? You can't worship God on those days, too?
While working precludes rest, it most certainly does NOT preclude worshipping God through it or at the same time by singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs....with thankfulness in our hearts to God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Jesus and the disciples at the time had to follow all the laws,
He didn't. Deal with it.
Jesus had not yet died and freed us from them.
If you truly understood the Sabbath for the land (i.e. reading the Hebrew in Ex 23:10-11, lexicon in hand), you would know He has not yet fulfilled the Law as is perfectly clear in Matthew 25. But He will. Perhaps considering that with a bit more humility and penitence would better exemplify His teaching.
You and the other Sun day worshipers want to forget what God has commanded from the beginning of Creation. Don't give me this you can't worship on other days argument. You give thanks daily. You pray daily. But the Sabbath is a day set aside to reflect on what God has blessed us with and how can we get closer to what He wants us to do.
The Law points out sin. It does not save. The Law is a reflection of Gods character. The Law is perfect and holy. The Bible says so. But the majority of the world hates the Sabbath and Sabbatarians. You are taking the side of the world on this matter. The world didn't believe the Flood was coming either even though they were warned.
Those who believe that Faith in Christ is all required for Salvation follow St Paul as that is his major theme in all his writings.
Yet those who believe in WORKS for salvation all rush to one verse in James to claim the same. James required circumcision, Temple sacrifices and following the OT Laws. All of them.
Ephesians 2, St Paul clearly states that: KJ 21:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath beforehand ordained, that we should walk in them.” and this comes AFTER Salvation.
Why take St Paul’s word over St James?
In ACTS 15: 1And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. 2When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
Galatians: The Council at Jerusalem
…8For the One who was at work in Peter’s apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in my apostleship to the Gentiles. 9And recognizing the grace that I had been given, James, Cephas, and John— those reputed to be pillars— gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
Then: Paul’s last journey to Jerusalem: 17 When we arrived, the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem welcomed us warmly.
18 The next day Paul went with us to meet with James, and all the elders of the Jerusalem church were present. 19 After greeting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things God had accomplished among the Gentiles through his ministry.
20 After hearing this, they praised God. And then they said, “You know, dear brother, how many thousands of Jews have also believed, and they all follow the law of Moses very seriously. 21 But the Jewish believers here in Jerusalem have been told that you are teaching all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn their backs on the laws of Moses. They’ve heard that you teach them not to circumcise their children or follow other Jewish customs. 22 What should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.
23 “Here’s what we want you to do. We have four men here who have completed their vow. 24 Go with them to the Temple and join them in the purification ceremony, paying for them to have their heads ritually shaved. Then everyone will know that the rumors are all false and that you yourself observe the Jewish laws.
25 “As for the Gentile believers, they should do what we already told them in a letter: They should abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
So, whom do we Gentile Christians follow? The Apostle to the Gentiles or the Apostles to the Jews who still circumcised and offered sacrifices in the Temple?
Galatians 2: read all of it. More than what I have posted.
Paul Confronts Peter
11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
14 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?
15 “You and I are Jews by birth, not ‘sinners’ like the Gentiles. 16 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”[d]
***Without the Sabbath, we lose the counting of time as God intended.***
So, what calendar is correct? Greek, Babylonian? Sumerian? Julian or Gregorian? Maybe we should follow the old Hebrew calendar based on the moon and not the sun.
It was important to the Jerusalem Christians. James forced Paul to shave his head and offer sacrifices to prove he still followed Jewish customs.
Why were Jewish Christians still doing that?
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