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Hebrews 9

The Sanctuary

Alter & Neuer

First Angel's Message

Modern Israel in Prophecy

Answers

First Advent

The Rapture

God's love & Hell

Origin of Evil

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The Old and the New Covenant - Ex. 20; Deut. 5;

Hello, here we are back again to once again speak about some of the great subjects of the Bible. So please have paper and pencil handy to take some notes and write for the script if you cannot take some notes.

You know the word Bible means just `book'. Other times we hear this book referred to as `scriptures' (Mt. 21:42) but what does God call it? It is the word of God, His `holy word' (Luke 8:21) for God is holy (Joshua 24:19). Why `holy' (John 17:17)? Because it contains the truth, words which uplift us, make us whole, keep us in touch with our maker and redeemer. (Luke 11:28; The biblical definition of "bless" is found in Acts 3:26: "turning away ... from iniquity")

So we recognize what is sometimes referred to as the harmony of the gospels meaning there is agreement between `Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John'[30]. But this harmony is also found among all the rest of the canon of the Bible. And it is an amazing truth that these many, 66 authors, of the word of God are not hopelessly in disagreement with each other because the same spirit led them to write the words for all time to come. [Therefore it is true that all gospel teaching is based upon the deity of Christ, Col. 1:15; Hebr. 1:3; Jh. 17:5; Col. 1:17].

This harmony is emphasized in verses like these:

"For I am the Lord, I change not." Malachi 3:6

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to day, and forever." Hebrews 13:8

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves ... despisers of those that are good ... having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. ... Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. ... Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. ... But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering ... But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ... All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2.Tim. 3:1-17; Rom. 8:3-4.

This inspiration we always have to keep in mind when reading the Bible. Most often it is thought inspiration, thoughts and words of those raised and studied in the Word of God. Some passages are written as quotations what God said, family histories, and so on. We should know something about the contents and background of each Bible book. If we know the historical background we also will be better equipped to fathom what is being said.

In addition we can study how Jesus used the Thora. How he frequently cited short passages to underscore what he was trying to explain. Citing verses, therefore, is not without precedent. What may be different between the time of Jesus and our time, is, that too many people today are ignorant of the Bible, its themes, context and contents. Because they are not reading and searching in it daily. All we can do is explain and detail as much as possible. We cannot cite always the whole chapter or book or explain every single aspect or detail which may occur in someone's thought or in other sources. But we affirm the veracity and dependability of the Book which we know as the living Word of God. A harmonius book inspired by God over many centuries for our edification.

This harmony always attracted me to the word of God. His Word we can rely on, always.[50] But sometimes we come across something which is believed to have undergone a change. When that happens we have to be on guard and be very careful because now this harmony between the books of the Bible has been disrupted and we must find out why. Most the time we will recognize that the change has to take place in our thinking, not in God's plan, for Christ is given to every man. Each person gets the whole of Him like children get the whole love of their mother, not half, a third or fourth. The love of God embraces the whole world, but it also singles out each individual, Hebr. 2:9.

As we learned last time the two institutions coming to us from creation week are the Sabbath which God blessed and made holy and marriage. This tells us, that the Sabbath was not a yoke or something leading us into bondage just the same as marriage is not a yoke. God would not bless such things. Instead, both of these institutions are based on love and still have God's blessing today without ever having been transferred to something else. But Satan was waiting at the gate by the tree and succeeded in sowing doubt in our first parents mind. So in time one of these institutions which God had blessed and made holy, for it is to be such for all times to come, was said to have been done away with while the other one is under siege [52]. It is said to be not binding anymore for Christians living today. Look out friends. Here we have an unscheduled change in the harmony of God's word.

At the heart of this question of keeping God's Sabbath day holy is how much do we love God. Do we really think he would change something like the day we worship him on when he plainly states he is a God who changes not? More than likely it is our weak human understanding of His intentions and purposes which needs changing. We probably misunderstand His holy word on this subject matter.

Here is a case in point, an illustration. Jesus said these words:

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." Mat. 5:17.

Now it says, `think not', banish any idea of doing away with the law. Other well meaning Christians take this other phrase `to fulfill' and say it means the law was fulfilled on the cross and now is no longer binding. But this does not harmonize with the first sentence in this verse in which Jesus declares he has not come to destroy. So what does `but to fulfill' mean? The Holy Spirit uses the law to convict us of sin, of what is right, and what is just (Jhn. 16:8-10). The law cannot give life (Gal. 3:21), but it is holy, just, and good (Rom. 7:12. Jesus' death, far from abolishing law, upheld it (Mt. 5:17,18). What Jesus has in mind here is this:

I am come to `fill' the law full of meaning - by giving us today an example of perfect, Holy Spirit empowered obedience to the will of God as revealed in his holy word, the Bible.[70] This example Jesus gives is so, that this same law might be fulfilled in us, meaning kept by us, as we live our daily lives just like Jesus filled it full of meaning when he walked among people on earth. This same idea is also expressed by Paul in Romans 8:3 and 4:

"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak in the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [72], and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

So we want to know what we should do to please God and not follow our own agenda. His plan was for us to always remember Him as the Creator not only until Charles Darwin came along. It means, the Sabbath existed before the Sinai event for it is eternal.

The Apostle Paul [73] also wrote:

"Christ is the end of the law." Romans 10:1-4

These words are also echoed in 1.Peter 1:9, 1.Tim. 1:5 and in James 5:11. What did Paul mean by making such a statement? A comparison with other Bible passages (Luke 16:17; Matth. 5:19) shows, that the popular view that the law came to an end, was terminated, "set aside" [74], is flawed. The `end' is better translated as "aim."[75] Paul was saying, "To come to Christ, to the foot of the cross, is the aim of the law so I realize my great need of His saving blood which was shed because of my sins," for the Law of God is well described as a detector of sin. The "end of the law" may also be understood as book ends, which hold the books up on the shelf, they do not let them fall. Many times, the authors of the epistles build or count on previously preached and taught knowledge among their readers. They do not spell out every detail in minute ways. They are not writing a doctoral thesis. - So we realize, we certainly cannot accuse any of the apostles that they used their influence against Jesus and His mission. The words of Jesus, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, ... teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." (Matth. 28:19-20) were certainly not contradicted by them.

But Paul also stated,

"That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:4

Paul clearly states the law should be fulfilled - namely in us and when we read `Christ is the end of the law', we know that means the following:

From the pen of John Wesley we learn this [80], those who urged that "the preaching of the gospel answers all the ends of the law," to them Wesley replied: "This we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of the law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening of those who are still asleep on the brink of hell. He also said, "No man sins because he does not have grace, but because he does not use the grace that he has." God wants us to use the grace we have so we can have victory, Col. 1:12. The apostle Paul declares that "by the law is the knowledge of sin;" and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel his need of the atoning blood of Christ.. . . `They that be whole,' as our Lord himself observes, 'need not a physician, but they that are sick.' It is absurd, therefore, to offer a physician to them that are whole, or that at least imagine themselves so to be. You are first to convince them that they are sick; otherwise they will not thank you for your labor. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to them whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken." "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth." This we need to know and remember: Christ is the aim, goal, or purpose, of the law. The law condemns the sinner, and thus drives him to Christ for righteousness.

The other Paulinian statement much talked about is found in Romans 6:14:

"For sin shall have no dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace." [90]

In contrast the following is Satan's argument, `You are under grace, not under the law, therefore you can sin and break the law all you want.'

The question then is, "Who is under this grace, the man who breaks the commandments, or the man who keeps them?"

"Is the man who lies, steals, commits murder, and does such things without repentance, under grace?"

You will say, "Of course not. It is the man who keeps all of the Ten Commandments who is under grace."

Grace is not having permission to sin or make it seem right to live a lifeless, inactive life instead of overcoming, Rom. 6:1,2,14-15, thus grace helps us to obey the law, James 2:12. Jesus did not give consent for us to sin, but to win against sin. Like He was dependent on the Father for His power, so can we, Jh. 13:15; 17:19. The true good news of the Bible shows how by the grace of God we clean our body temple by cooperating with divine power in our human effort to control our thinking mind. As you control your mind at work for your employer, so we must do likewise for God's kingdom. The Bible says, the same power which resurrected Jesus from death, can empower us to live true to God's ideal, Jh. 11:25. Under the reign of sin, it is just as easy to do right, as it is to do wrong. If there would be not more power in grace to overcome sin, we would have no salvation from sin - but salvation we have, therefore take courage and sin no more. When we do as Jesus did, our self efforts do not exist - Jesus does it all, Rom. 6:7-13; Lk 9:23; 1.Cor. 15:31. But it is quite plain that the reign of grace is the reign of God; and the reign of sin is the reign of Satan. Is it not just as easy to serve God by the power of God as it is to serve Satan with his power? Where then is the difficulty? The difficulty comes in when people try to serve God with the power of Satan (How? See these links). But that can never be. A thorny tree cannot produce peaches. Jesus was able to do always the right thing, because he never trusted "self". He had completely died to self and depended on God for all his power. What is the result according to our theme? If God works in you with all His might according to His glorious power, then the fulness of the Godhead bodily can dwell in us, provided we trust His works and not ours. The `divine nature' made His day holy, so should we keep it holy.

Actually, this was the beginning battle cry for Dr. Martin Luther the more he thought about what it means when the Bible says,

"The just shall live by faith." Romans 1:17; Hab. 2:4; Gal. 3:11; Hebr. 10:38.

Actually, the phrase is an incomplete sentence. There can be no subject and verb construction without an object. The just shall live by faith in what? What or who is the object of their faith? Galatians 3:13ff contains the answer,

"The just shall live by faith ... "in Christ." Gal. 3:11,26; Hab. 2:4.

The object of the justified people living their lives has to do with them imitating the object - Jesus.

We should know by now that our problem is not the law but the dominion of sin still influencing our life. Law defines sin. It is not the problem itself. Real grace makes it possible for us to love God and because of this love obey (listen to) the law. Thus the real grace of God makes righteous, Rom. 5:19.[95] Yes, it makes righteous - but not self-righteous. The concept of justification by faith is broad and we cannot go into too many details about it, but try and explain the two words:

a) justification and
b) faith

Basically `justification' is a provided - not accomplished - condition and can result in sanctification. These two words may be separate in thought, but they are united in experience. For a believer, who is `justified by faith', there begins at the same time a new life of holiness [97], i.e. a life of obedience to the Word of God - right living, which is never forced but only by choice, 1.Peter 1:2. But we must know that obedience by itself means nothing unless it is based on faith and love, James 2:23. Justification means the saving of a soul from perdition, that he may obtain sanctification, and through sanctification, the life of heaven when Jesus comes again. Justification means that the conscience, purged from dead works, is placed where it can receive the blessings of sanctification. Justification is an ongoing, legal process. When we have need of legal work to be done we need someone qualified to do it. Jesus is the only one qualified to do it. Justification can only deal with our legal standing (our record) and not with us personally. When an evil doer is pardoned by a legal process of law, his standing before the law is changed but his character is unaffected. For this reason justification is credited righteousness. It is through justification that we are credited as obeying God's commandments. "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:1. "The believer is not called upon to make his peace with God; he never has nor ever can do this. He is to accept Christ as his peace, for with Christ is God and peace." 1SM, 395.

The word `faith' does not mean our compliance to a set of creeds or doctrines.[100] `Faith' rather describes a personal relationship to Jesus Christ. It also means reliance on God's Word. Obedience to God, that results in a faith based hate of sin but not the sinner - like when we touch a hot stove or a source of infection, we pull back our hand - when we recognize sin, transgression of God's law, we also pull back. We do not really want to be infected by pernicious sin. Such a response and characteristic is honed by daily study of the Bible, occupying our mind with godly things, resulting invariably into a life of purity, holiness and issues in sanctification. In this manner the life of a Christian does not need to be a life of continual conflicts, it can now become a life of continual victories for "true obedince is the outworking of a principle within. It springs from the love of righteousness, the love of the law of God."[102] It is true, that none but Christ can fashion a new character that has been ruined by sin. Justification by faith derives from the amazing grace of God and results in an experience which can truly be designated as `dead to sin' and `alive unto God.' Rom. 6:11.

Now we can take courage and test our faith and God's promises when He says:

"And when he had called unto him his 12 disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out ..." Matthew 10:1

We are to do something about those things around us which hinder a closer relationship with God. We are to remove the demons which discourage us to be faithful to God out of our own, personal life. Is it our usual, daily routine which does not include time for God? That must then be changed.

But there is another topic which has to do with our understanding of keeping the law or instructions of God which we want to discuss tonight. That topic has to do with the Old and the New Covenant. The two systems of salvation.[110].

You recall that the temporary, old covenant originated at Mt. Sinai, was spoken and written by God; and came in two parts, these were the Ten Commandments (not suggestions) as well as the laws which later became known as the laws of Moses which he had written in a book placed in the side of the ark [112]. The old covenant therefore originating at Mt. Sinai and, since it was a contract or treaty between God and Israel as a nation, was also ratified at Mt. Sinai.

In contrast the New, Everlasting Covenant was known already long before New Testament times to Jeremiah and Ezekiel (Jer. 3; 24:7; 28; 31:33,34; 33:14,15,25,26; Ez. 3:17-19; 11:19; 18:21-23,31-32; 20:19-20; 36:26; Gal. 3:17). The main difference between the Temporary and the Everlasting Covenant was, that the Temporary was between God and the nation of Israel, and the Everlasting between God and individual believers, Genesis 17:7; 26:5; Psalm 105:43-45. It also was very different from the Temporary [113] in that it was founded on a love relationship between men and women and God and promises reconciliation between men and God. That means these two covenants were based on different conditions. This reconciliation is not something we accept, it is something we must experience. It is a realization that we crucified Christ and recrucify Him each time we sin, Hebr. 6:6. This sin is not what we do, it is who we are; it is the uncrucified selfishness inside of us. This is the "offence of the cross" which many preachers today fail to present, thus leaving out vital aspects of the preaching of Christ crucified on the cross of offence (Isa. 8:13,14; Gal. 5:11), thereby they preach a cross-less Christ. The true preaching of Christ crucified leads as a natural consequence to have self crucified for the honest heart. Galatians 3:17 shows that God's covenant with Abraham was "confirmed by God in Christ." To be willing to offer his only son, Abraham showed that he was selfless. It was not by law-keeping, which was added (Gal. 3:19) because of transgression, after the gospel of Christ was given to Abraham (their willingess to offer Isaac). This is so, because the word "added" was not a mathematical addition (except as here), because some think it did not exist before Sinai (See here), but means "spoken", was "emphasized" or "entered" by God, Deut. 5:22; Hebr. 12:19; Rom. 5:20.[114]

God desired to establish the same spiritual relationship he had with Abraham [spiritual here means heart religion]. Ex. 6:7; Gen. 17:7,8; Deut. 29:13; Rom. 8:2-3 [115]. In the Old, Temporary, Sinaitic Covenant God did not offer a new means of salvation, but applied His everlasting plan to the present understanding and needs of His people. It was the transgression of the Decalogue which set in motion the entire ritual of the temple. And so God gave Israel the plans for building a sanctuary and the services to be conducted in it. The sanctuary and its services were to remind the people of their sinful condition, lead them to acknowledge and repent of their sins, and give them an opportunity to confess their faith in the promised Redeemer. As we realize that repentance is not a one time event but a continual turning back to God, we ought to become more humble. Therefore, this sanctuary was intended to teach them to look only to God for salvation and for power to obey. Without this component of the working of the covenants their understanding would be distorted. After all, the truth of salvation came only through God's covenant relations with sinners.

When the people promised to obey the covenant, they were not establishing the covenant, but they were establishing a relation to the announced covenant [120]. So do we, when we accept Jesus, we start a new relationship. In the Sinaitic covenant the people basically promised to make themselves holy which they were incapable of because they were in bondage to sin (Gal. 4:24); in the new, God says that he will do the work for them. When Israel violated their promise to obey the terms of the covenant (Exodus 19:3-8), the covenant was not destroyed, but what was needed was to renew the people's relationship to God's covenant. The human view is that because it had been violated it had been annulled. But in God's view this was not the case, the people still needed the education the covenant provided. While the old covenant had ordinances and a sanctuary (Hebr. (9:1), these were superadditions, not at all necessary to the covenant, but quite necessary as types of the sacrifice and priesthood of the new covenant for the blood of Christ had not yet been shed. We ought to refrain, when speaking of the covenant, from speaking in the next thought of prejudicial legalism. Instead, we ought to see God's loving care revealed in it to hedge us from sin -- that is death.

On this basis we can see why the Ten Commandments are referred to as "the covenant." Ex. 34:28.[122] They were not the result of an agreement between man and God, but man gave his assent to obey these divinely ordained commands, Exodus 19:3-8; Deut.4:13. The Sinai covenant was a commanded covenant which the people agreed to obey for the sake of the promised blessings. The temporary covenant was not a substitute for the everlasting, but an accessory to it; in which the blood sacrifices were illustrations for the future, real sacrifice. It was given to help man find the way to salvation. Heb.9:1.

The terms, that is the Ten Commandments, were to be written in the heart. The Temporary Covenant had been misconstrued by the Israelites to mean that by virtue of being born as a Jew they had already a place in the kingdom of God [125]. The Everlasting Covenant emphasized heart religion, love of God and our neighbors [126]. As such this Everlasting Covenant existed before the Temporary, in fact it always existed [130]. But because of the Israelites having been enslaved for so many years in Egypt they had forgotten all about the true God and that is why God showed himself in might and power during the days of Moses.

Conversly, today, some misconstrue the Everlasting Covenant to mean freedom from Sabbath keeping but being enslaved to Sunday keeping, they have no problem with. God, through Moses, taught Israel that by the observance of the Sabbath day they were to be distinguished from idolaters. Preachers are too quick to frown on those who defend Sabbath keeping by insinuating they are legalists, as if that is something bad. They still say that 2000 years after Pharisaism. Legalists are not bad people, illegalists are, since they break God's law.

Those who claim on the basis of Ex., Deut. and Hebrews 8 that the Ten Commandments, being a part of this covenant, were done away with after the cross overlook the fact that the apostle John, who wrote the book the Revelation of Jesus Christ toward the end of the 1st century AD, some 30 years after the book of Hebrews was written, stresses in three places that God's people keep the commandments, Rev 12;17; 19:10; 22:14. Even though some claim that the word `commandments', as used in Revelation, does not refer to the Ten Commandments do so obviously in order to confirm their own idea which is not echoed by God's Word, that the Law of God is not binding anymore; at the least the 7th day Sabbath is not binding according to their world view. So they are obliged to assume the word `commandments' means something else than the Hebrews would have understood it. They don't see that God does not play word games when it comes to His law. He does not repeat over and over again all teachings to explain something like that for our age. These men, apparently, do not enjoy non-selective (perfect) obedience to God's Word, even though elsewhere they claim to be that way.[135] To be sure the Ten Commandments were involved in the Temporary Covenant,

Exodus 34:28 "And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
Deut.4:13 "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone."

But were they done away with? The law which the Psalmist and Jesus calls eternal (Ps. 111:7,8) and which was the reason Jesus had to die on the Cross, could that be repealed, done away with, so unceremoniously?

The caller last time from Ceres was right about the law being the covenant. But today we shall take a closer look and I am sure all of us will be able to appreciate the conclusions.

We start with the premise that the scriptures will not contradict each other.

"Study to show yourself approved unto God...rightly dividing the word of truth." 2.Tim. 2:15.

"... comparing spiritual things with spiritual..." 1.Cor.2:13,14.

"Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth." Jh. 17:17.

"... the word of the Lord endureth forever." 1.Pet.1:24,25.

"For precept must be upon precept, ... line upon line; here a little, and there a little." Is.28:10

Of course not in such a way as to take scriptures out of context. We must frequently read the whole chapter and the whole book to know the setting in which a verse occurs - some of this comparing of line upon line we can do tonight but whole chapters you must read for yourself.

We have definite statements of Jesus Himself and other Bible writers stating that the Commandments are still valid, they will always be in force. If they could have been abrogated Jesus wouldn't have had to die.

"Don't think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I didn't come to destroy but to fulfil. For truly, I am saying to you: `Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all be fulfilled."
Mat. 5:17,18; 19:16-21.

If one jot or tittle cannot be changed, how much less an entire commandment!

The apostle Paul upheld the law: "...law is holy ..." Ro. 7:12; 8:3,4; ... and so did those of the short list below.

We need to put these texts side by side and compare them in order to discover where the weight of the evidence points to. So listen carefully as we develop this and find the answer which will satisfy both requirements that, yes, something came to an end which had to do with Ten Commandments. But we need to balance that with the statement of Jesus that they are eternal. We need to discover how something about the Ten Commandments can be done away with and yet they are to endure forever, Ps 111:7,8.

Some think that "till all be fulfilled" means that after they are fulfilled they are done away with, but that does not explain Paul's and John's references to the validity of the law clear up to the end of the 1st century. The word "fulfilled" just means that the law was being obeyed and keeps on being obeyed. Compare Philippians 2:2:

"Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

Jesus and Paul here mean an ongoing thing, not something that comes to an end. To say it now, actually what must come to an end is our sinning. When that happens the law cannot touch us. If we do not transgress the law, it is, as if it does not exist, Zech. 5:1-4. We have fulfilled the law. James, who was quoted above, was the (step) brother of Jesus (Mark 6:2,3; Gal. 1:19), he should know.

But, of course, we know that being wily and looking for loop holes in the law, is not "agape" love of God and such a one never has kept the law of God. So our motives are a subject we must talk about some more as we go on.

Let us summarize once more the difference between the Temporary and the Everlasting covenant:

The law was not spoken exclusively for the Hebrews at Mt. Sinai.

Just like the Bible presents two laws, one changeless and eternal, the other provisional and temporary, so there are two covenants. The covenant of grace was first made with man in Eden, when after the Fall there was given a divine promise that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. [140] To all men this covenant offered pardon and the assisting grace of God for future obedience through faith in Christ. It also promised them eternal life on condition of fidelity to God's law. This way the `covenant of grace' was just as effective for Abraham as it was for believers living after the cross. [152]

We know Moses was not a law keeper. He had murdered a man. `In slaying the Egyptian, Moses had fallen into the same error so often committed by his fathers, of taking into their own hands the work that God had promised to do. It was not God's will to deliver His people by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to Him alone. Yet even this rash act was overruled by God to accomplish His purposes. Moses was not prepared for his great work. He had yet to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught - not to rely upon human strength or wisdom, but upon the power of God for the fulfillment of His promises.[154] And there were other lessons that, amid the solitude of the mountains, Moses was to receive. In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to temper his passions. And that is why the Bible teaches that "self denial is a joy", Titus 2:11-14. Before he could govern wisely, he must be trained to obey. His own heart must be fully in harmony with God before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel. By his own experience he must be prepared to exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help.'

`Humility and reverence should characterize the deportment of all who come into the presence of God. In the name of Jesus we may come before Him with confidence, but we must not approach Him with the boldness of presumption, as though He were on a level with ourselves. There are those who address the great and all-powerful and holy God, who dwelleth in light unapproachable, as they would address an equal, or even an inferior. There are those who conduct themselves in His house as they would not presume to do in the audience chamber of an earthly ruler. These should remember that they are in His sight whom seraphim adore, before whom angels veil their faces. God is greatly to be reverenced; all who truly realize His presence will bow in humility before Him, and, like Jacob beholding the vision of God, they will cry out, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.", Gen. 28:17.' [PP, p. 247ff. God's house is `dreadful' to a sinner for sin cannot stand in the presence of God who is to sin a consuming fire - but will be a benevolent light for His people.]

What kind of an event was the proclamation of the Law of God on Mt. Sinai? Was it an event calculated to cause fear and trembling among the people?

`On the morning of the third day, as the eyes of all the people were turned toward the mount, its summit was covered with a thick cloud, which grew more black and dense, sweeping downward until the entire mountain was wrapped in darkness and awful mystery. Then a sound as of a trumpet was heard, summoning the people to meet with God; and Moses led them forth to the base of the mountain. From the thick darkness flashed vivid lightnings, while peals of thunder echoed and re-echoed among the surrounding heights. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." "The glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount" in the sight of the assembled multitude. And "the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder." So terrible were the tokens of the Lord's presence that the hosts of Israel shook with fear, and fell upon their faces before the Lord. Even Moses exclaimed, "I exceedingly fear and quake." Hebrews 12:21.'

`And now the thunders ceased; the shofar (trumpet) was no longer heard; the earth was still. There was a period of solemn silence, and then the voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the thick darkness that enshrouded Him, as He stood upon the mount, surrounded by a retinue of angels, the Lord made known His law. Moses, describing the scene, says: "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people; all His saints are in Thy hand: and they sat down at Thy feet; every one shall receive of Thy words." Deuteronomy 33:2,3.[156]

That is the attitude we should have toward God and His Law, the verbalization of the Character of the Most High.

`The Lord God revealed Himself, not alone in the awful majesty of the judge and lawgiver, but as the compassionate guardian of His people: "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." He whom they had already known as their Guide and Deliverer, who had brought them forth from Egypt, making a way for them through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and his hosts, who had thus shown Himself to be above all the gods of Egypt - He it was who now spoke His law.' [158]

The people of Israel were overwhelmed with terror. The awful power of God's utterances seemed more than their trembling hearts could bear. If they would follow the Word of God he will be to them a pillar of cloud (shade) by day and a pillar of fire (warmth) by night. The teachings of God are not to be ignored or perverted. He will guide those who desire to be led. Truth is truth which will enlighten all who seek for it with humble hearts, 2.Tim. 3:16-17. Error is error, and no amount of worldly philosophizing can make it truth. For as God's great rule of right was presented before them, they realized as never before the offensive character of sin, and their own guilt in the sight of a holy God. They shrank away from the mountain in fear and awe. The multitude cried out to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." The leader answered, "Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not." The people, however, remained at a distance, gazing in terror upon the scene, while Moses "drew near unto the thick darkness where God was."

The minds of the people, blinded and debased by slavery and heathenism, were not prepared to appreciate fully the far-reaching principles of God's ten precepts. That the obligations of the Decalogue might be more fully understood and enforced, additional precepts were given, illustrating and applying the principles of the Ten Commandments. These laws were called judgments, both because they were framed in infinite wisdom and equity and because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses, who was to communicate them to the people.

The first of these laws related to servants. In ancient times criminals were sometimes sold into slavery by the judges; in some cases, debtors were sold by their creditors; and poverty even led persons to sell themselves or their children. But a Hebrew could not be sold as a slave for life. His term of service was limited to six years; on the seventh he was to be set at liberty. Manstealing, deliberate murder, and rebellion against parental authority were to be punished with death.[170] The holding of slaves not of Israelitish birth was permitted, but their life and person were strictly guarded. The murderer of a slave was to be punished; an injury inflicted upon one by his master, though no more than the loss of a tooth, entitled him to his freedom.

The Israelites had lately been servants themselves, and now that they were to have servants under them, they were to beware of indulging the spirit of cruelty and exaction from which they had suffered under their Egyptian taskmasters. The memory of their own bitter servitude should enable them to put themselves in the servant's place, leading them to be kind and compassionate, to deal with others as they would wish to be dealt with. Growing in faith in the only true God should lead to the realization that keeping slaves is not according to divine wisdom, it was only a temporary, regulated societal tradition because of the hardness of human hearts.

The rights of widows and orphans were especially guarded, and a tender regard for their helpless condition was enjoined. "If thou afflict them in any wise," the Lord declared, "and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." Aliens who united themselves with Israel were to be protected from wrong or oppression. "Thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt."

The taking of usury from the poor was forbidden. A poor man's raiment or blanket taken as a pledge, must be restored to him at nightfall. He who was guilty of theft was required to restore double. Respect for magistrates and rulers was enjoined, and judges were warned against perverting judgment, aiding a false cause, or receiving bribes. Calumny and slander were prohibited, and acts of kindness enjoined, even toward personal enemies.

Again the people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His bounties. The object of all these regulations was stated: they proceeded from no exercise of mere arbitrary sovereignty; all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, "Ye shall be holy men unto Me" - worthy to be acknowledged by a holy God.

These laws were to be recorded by Moses, and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law. The Ten precepts were given to illustrate the condition of the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel.

During his stay in the mount, Moses received directions for the building of a sanctuary in which the divine presence would be specially manifested. "Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them" [Exodus 25:8], was the command of God. For the third time the observance of the Sabbath was enjoined. "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever," the Lord declared, "that ye may know that I am Jehovah that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you. . . . Whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Exodus 31:17,13, 14. Thus the Sabbath was given before sin. Its original purpose was honoring the Creator. The idea of `rest' is a secondary reason after sin came into the world.

Directions had just been given for the immediate erection of the tabernacle for the service of God. Since the object of the worship conducted in the tabernacle had in view to glorify God, and because of their great, pressing need for a place of worship, God knew the people might think themselves justified in working at the building on the Sabbath day. To guard them from this error, the warning we just read was given. Even the sacredness and urgency of that special work for God must not lead them to infringe upon His holy rest day.

Henceforth the people were to be honored with the abiding presence of their King. "I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God," "and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory" [Exodus 29:45, 43], was the assurance given to Moses. As the symbol of God's authority and the embodiment of His will, there was delivered to Moses a copy of the Decalogue engraved by the finger of God Himself upon two tables of stone [Deuteronomy 9:10; Exodus 32:15, 16] to be sacredly enshrined in the sanctuary, which, when made, was to be the visible center of the nation's worship.

From a people group of slaves the Israelites had been exalted above all nations to be the peculiar treasure of the King of kings. God had separated them from the world, that He might commit to them a sacred trust. He had made them the depositaries of His law, and He purposed, through them, to preserve among men the knowledge of Himself. Thus the light of heaven was to shine out to a world enshrouded in darkness, and a voice was to be heard appealing to all peoples to turn from their idolatry to serve the living God. If the Israelites would be true to their trust, they would become a power in the world. God would be their defense, and He would exalt them above all other nations. His light and truth would be revealed through them, and they would stand forth under His wise and holy rule as an example of the superiority of His worship over every form of idolatry.

The Cross, the Law, the Fault and Changes

God honored Israel to be the guardians of His law, it was to be held as a sacred trust for the whole world. - missionary work - Deut 4:6-9; 7:12-15; Deut 30:9,10; Is 27:6; Jer 33:9; Zech 8:21-23; 14:16!; Mal 3:8-12;

While the Sabbath was given especially to Israel but not exclusively, the Christian church as spiritual Israel is to carry on this "forever" obedience to God's holy day. This "forever" did not stop at resurrection day.

We have to ask "What exactly was done away with besides the ceremonial law when the Old, Provisional, Temporary Covenant came to an end?" Were the Ten Commandments done away with? Can we now steal? Can we now worship idols or take the name of God in vain?

Now to come up with the correct answer we must go back to Exodus chapter 24 which presents the scene when the Provisional, Temporary Covenant was established, ratified and written out by Moses, not God. Like any legal document or treaty between parties, these need to be approved or ratified by the `board'. In this case it was the congregation of the nation of Israel who voted unanimously to obey the laws given to them. They thought they had the moral fortitude to be able to keep these laws on their own volition. They made this agreement with God:

"And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." v.3.

In Vers 7 and 8 we then read how the agreement was sealed with the blood offering of a sacrifice and he said,

"Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words." v.8

This event was a turning point in the history of Israel. But Israel was not keeping its terms of the covenant. They were unfaithful to the Lord who tried repeatedly to draw His people back to Him. Originally the Sabbath was made for a sinless world inviting a free response to a gracious Creator. By freely choosing to make themselves available for God on that day, human beings were to experience physical, mental, and spiritual renewal and enrichment. These needs were only more important after the fall of Adam and Eve. As a result, the moral, universal, and perpetual functions of the Sabbath precept were repeated later in the form of a commandment. Thus the Law of God is an eternally valid proclamation and was not terminated at the cross. The cross is not the line of demarcation between the Old and New Covenant, law and grace, the Sabbath and Sunday. Such distinctions are imaginative but not biblical for it wars against biblical consistency in matters of God's government and morals. It was the "shadow" of the cross that was taken away by the appearance of the body of Christ on the cross itself according to Col. 2:16,17. It is evident that Christ came, not to change the moral requirements of God's Ten Laws, the Ten Principles of Love, but to atone for our transgression against those requirements as evidenced in Mark 8:29,31; Luke 24:7; John 12:31-34; Romans 4:25; 5:8-9; 8:1-3; 7:12; 1.Tim. 1:8.

Please note that in John 12:34-37,

"The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever ..."

The law is the whole of the writings of Moses, the Psalms and Prophets - it is the righteousness of God, Isa. 51:6,7. It is also a faint allusion to Creation aftermath, as God rested on the 7th day with Adam and Eve joining Him. They had not witnessed creation, they had to believe God on His Word that He made it all. This relationship between the Creator and man was meant to last forever. Sin disrupted it.

"... and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man? Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them. But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him."

Jesus gives no hint whatsoever that any of His law would be changed, replaced just by love or replaced by rest. Those who preach that "love" fulfills the law, because if you love you do not trespass laws 5 through 10, and may be laws 1 through 3, but not the 4th commandment, and yet have preached about digging deep and building on the rock, the Word of God which never speaks of Sunday as a holy day but only God's chosen, seventh day, have not yet discerned the shallowness of their own understanding. Shining the light on the tables of the law knows only one law, as published on Mt. Sinai, the wedding vow of God with His people. Sunday keepers divorce themselves from God and His Law. For the law of the beginnings is always of paramount binding importance (Matth. 19:8). Therefore, it is impossible to reject from the Ten Commandments that one law, the seventh day of rest, that was promulgated at the very beginning, while at the same time to teach that the other nine, that were not written until about 3000 years later, were eternally binding; without doubt, all of the 10 laws are coeval and coextensive with sin. For Adam and Eve at first it was a request, a law of grace to imitate Christ, who showed them how to keep it. This tranquil scene was never meant to or needed to be changed into another. God's law is the signet ring of his right hand which he impresses in the heart of those who obey Him. In ancient times a king would impress his signet ring in the middle of a tablet. God's seal is contained in the middle of His tablet.

What was done away with at the cross then were not actually the Ten Commandments themselves. It couldn't have been the Ten Commandments for elsewhere Jesus stressed the eternal nature of the Decalogue:

"...never shall one letter or dot be abolished from the Ten Commandment law."

"My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips." Matthew 5:18; Ps. 89:34.

Therefore, the answer lies somewhere else, here biblical exegesis becomes important for the scriptures to agree with themselves, we must look for the meanings and understandings of the passages involved. It was the agreement which was done away with, in fact replaced with a new agreement.

The agreement had to do with Israel trying to keep God's law on their own terms, in their own strength.

Satan uses also this argument to discourage followers of Christ who want to obey His Word. He says in effect, "Jesus fulfilled the law, thereby doing away with it, so you do not need to worry about it any more."

"And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain ... if ye will obey my voice ... And all the people answered together ... we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord." Exodus 19:3-8; 24:7.

"For if the first covenant had been FAULTLESS, then should no place have been sought for the second. For FINDING FAULT WITH THEM, he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant." Hebrews 8:7,8

They thought to please God by strict obedience, by being law keepers, not realizing or underestimating the human propensity to sin.[174] They failed to understand that covenants of God address the needs of sinners, as such they would parallel each other for the functions they were designed for. Just like each commandment points to God's grace, so too, does each sacrifice.

God's Law Not A Series of Prohibitions

When the commandment says, "Thou shalt not", what does it say? It says that God charged Himself with our salvation, reconciling the world unto Himself, so He Himself becomes responsible for the obedience of every one who seeks and acknowledges Him.

Why should we say that?

Because if God only commanded something for man, whom he does not lead around on a leash, but who has freedom of choice, then God charges Himself with seeing to it that we can live responsibly, using our freedom of choice correctly, so He does not have to destroy us for the righteous sake among us.

As long as we keep in Christ, we have in our mind to glorify God in all we do and the `Thou shalt not' becomes a, `Oh, look at all the other things I can do like love my neighbor as myself, trust and obey . . .'

But for the Jews, words were written in their heart, but not love of God and a knowledge of true salvation. The rest is history on exactly how they tried to please God (ever since the days of Nehemia they became sticklers for their own, added laws to the law of God, Neh. 13). They had it all figured out, or so they thought. A Jew could walk only a mile on the Sabbath day, he could only do this or that much, not more. The rabbinical laws were plentiful. Formalism was rampant in the Jewish nation. By virtue of being born a Jew they thought they had a place in the kingdom of God. But what was a "closed" system of salvation for the Israelites, is now open to all.[179] The deep down `agape' love meaning of the words of the law were to be written in their hearts and minds from now on. Did that change the wording of the Ten Commandments? Of course not, they were now to be internalized, become a habit, obey them without thinking, something that comes naturally - including the 4th commandment. The aspect of `fault' therefore has to do with faulty interpretation of the intent of the Law, the promises, on the part of the Jews. The Law of God, the transcript of His character, cannot be called `faulty'. Our relation to it is `faulty'. Therefore, when Paul writes [180], "if the first covenant had been faultless" he does not mean to say that the Law of God was not faultless, that is faulty, but the relationship of the people to the covenant was not faultless because of a mistaken application and interpretation of Its intend by the Jews having to do with the promise, Hebr. 8:6,7.

Therefore, we may read the above scripture in a free rendition this way,

`For if the first covenant had been faultlessly obeyed by you (the Jews), then should no place have been sought for the second. For FINDING FAULT WITH THEM (the Jews), he says, Behold, the days come, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.' In other words, we should never suppose that a perfect God sets up faulty stipulations or laws. Sinful man is full of faults, not God.[181]

But some may ask, `Wasn't the joy the Jewish converts of Phoenicia and Samaria felt upon the news of the conversion of many Gentiles to the gospel,' a result of them not having to obey the (temporary) Mosaic law any longer? (Based on Acts 15.)[185]

Yes, certainly.

They were filled with joy not to have to sacrifice sheep and lambs, the sacrifice and oblations, anymore (Dan. 9:27), for the real Lamb of God, Jesus, had died and fulfilled these ancient rites. But this relates to the temporary Mosaic law (sacrifical Temple services as echoed by Daniel 9), not the Ten Laws of God, the health laws and some laws which were still needed to govern a balanced, healthy society for things which caused sickness in the days of Moses still caused sickness in the days of the apostles and today..

The Everlasting Covenant teaches us to trust in Christ, let Him fight the good fight of faith in our behalf. It is our duty to abide in Christ, daily, every hour, every minute by being in his word. While the blood of animals does not atone for sin and we are not to bring such sacrifices after the cross, the application of the once shed blood of Christ Himself is still taking place in the heavenly sanctuary, thus the lasting nature of that covenant (from Abel to Christ's ministry in heaven) still lingers today, until sin will be no more.

For we live "by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Matthew 4:4

In our Christian walk the scriptures teach it is Christ's part to defeat Satan. That is the beauty of the New, Everlasting Covenant. There really was nothing wrong with the Temporary Covenant, what was wrong was, how the people went about it to fulfill its claims. [195] All the changes which had to be made were in the life of the people, not the law. They needed to understand, how by placing their trust in God through faith in the life of Christ, Satan has to flee. How He, our Savior, takes our place and fights the enemy for us. We are much too weak and unskilled to defeat the temptations of Satan ourselves, we need to leave that to Jesus. A promise which relies on human strength has no value. What we are required to do is to abide in Jesus, seek Him, pray to the Father, take God's promise that we shall not fall, remember His commandments to keep us from stumbling, and in that is where our effort should lie to keep this relationship with Him going, lean on Him rather than ourselves every day and every hour of every day.

"He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same produces much fruit, for without me, you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast away as a branch, and will wither, and men collect them, and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask whatever you want, and it shall be done for you. ... If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my father's commandments, and abide in his love." John 15:5-7,10.

Now, that is good news to me, how about you? What does it mean to abide in Jesus? Through reading his word, occupying our thoughts, our mind, with things pertaining to Jesus, salvation, God and prayer. Does this give us license to ask God for frivolous things? Of course not. In a loving relationship we would never ask something not advantageous to our relationship. But `love' is an abstract word, how is `love' displayed free from rationalizations? That is where the law comes in again. Without law, mankind cannot relate objectively to love. The apostle John teaches that keeping God's commandments and doing what pleases Him (1.Jh. 3:22) gives Christians: a) confidence that God hears their prayer; b) it allows for mutual abiding - we in God and God in us; c) we discover that they are not burdensome.

God's law, the expression of his character, gives us night and day, rain and sunshine, pretty flowers and all kinds of living things, laughter and music, safety and a home, awareness of things to come and evangelism to further his work. This is why the psalms declare, "Thou rulest ... justice and mercy are the habitation of my throne ... it shall be established forever ... as a faithful witness in heaven." (Ps. 89:9,14,37)- For the day of His Appearing draws very nigh.

By faith we are saved. Faith that Jesus will do the fighting for us as we do the resisting. And even faith itself is not of ourselves but a gift from God.

"But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
... we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. And they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony..." 1.Cor 15:57; Rom. 8:37; Rev 12:11.

But we have the privilege in working with God for the saving of our own soul. We are to receive Christ as our personal Savior and believe in Him. RECEIVING AND BELIEVING IS OUR PART OF THE CONTRACT. That is the same meaning of abiding in Jesus. Our effort should lie in abiding in Jesus not in fighting Satan.

"He that sent Me is with Me, the Father has not left Me alone, for I do always those things that please him." John 8:29

But some may ask how about this verse...

"... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Philippians 2:12

From this we learn that there has to be a balance in between. The life of a Christian should always be one of balance. Abiding in Christ does not mean we can be lazy and let the devil sneak up on us. Fearing separation from God is what Jesus suffered in Gethsemane and Jacob in Bethel. We must be vigilant, don't put yourself in harms way, don't go to places which led you into sin before your conversion.

"Now we see like in a mirror but then face to face" 1.Cor 13:12.

So the method has changed. When we are baptized, we agree to keep the main points of our understanding of the faith we have to allow for growth, (but we must learn to keep them all) diligently. There is nothing wrong with the Ten Commandments. But there is something wrong with us. For many, just like Israel did, are trying to live their faith on their own strength and merits. That is to be shunned, to be done away with, that kind of thinking. Christ does it for us - in the context of faith and obedience on our part. Therefore do we love the Savior so much for He will strengthen us to be strong so we can abide in Him from day to day.[198] Remove the things which tempt you every day from your surroundings and occupy your mind with the life of Christ and measure all your actions on the great standard of the Law of God for by it we shall be judged.

Let us emphasize again we are not saved by doing works, i.e. going out and doing missionary work. We are also not saved by keeping the law. We are saved by grace alone, Ephesians 2:8-9 and Luke 18:10-14; or as Paul means to say, we are saved apart from the law, but not without the law, Rom. 3:28; that is without the law guiding us how to live our daily lives. But the works we don't seek are dead works, Jesus says, "... He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my father." John 14:12. (See also Acts 9:36; 1 Timothy 2:10, 5:10, 25; 6:18; 2 Timothy 3:17; Titus 2:7, 14; 3:8, 14; Hebrews 10:24; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 2:12; Revelation 14:13.; All nations on earth make laws under the presupposition that man can keep laws. It is a reflection of how God made us able to keep His law.)

Faith based on works reveals itself in yet other ways. Some think they are saved because they are associated with some (successful) ministry. They think that because of it they have a special pass to the throne of God. After all they led so many to accept the faith. It may be a situation like the following,

"Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." Matthew 7:22,23.

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Daniel 12:1.

It is the experience of Jacob they will go through.

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7.

a) to follow the world which is under the rule of Satan, or
b) to be part of those in the world which are under the rule of Christ.

The answer is simple, `Because to break them would be to fall from grace and to live in sin, Mt. 1:21; 1 Jh. 3:4.'

"While good works will not save even one soul, yet it is impossible for even one soul to be saved without good works. God saves us under a law, that we must ask if we would receive, seek if we would find, and knock if we would have the door opened unto us," [209] that is we are saved in a cooperative effort with God, we choose Christ.

Dead works, spiritually dead works, are those we do on our own volition. We add in effect law keeping to salvation by grace. But we soon discover that it cannot be done. Salvation by works and salvation by grace are two opposites, for the gospel is not "I plus Christ" but only "I in Christ." So it is that salvation is through the righteousness by faith in Christ alone. Christ took our sins and died and gave us His life to live through Him. And we look on His life and see that it was one of obedience. Obedience to the Law of God. That law, the detector of sin, drives us to the foot of the cross and we pray. Without prayer guidance, works can be such that they do not lead people to Jesus Christ as their Saviour. While we must have carpenters, plumbers, preachers and physicians, etc., we do not need workers who teach purposely unbiblical doctrines and misrepresent God's people. Most any page in the Bible tells that we must be doing something, but do not forget Ephesians 2:8-9. Therefore, Jesus has in mind the exacting and plentious, additional laws made up by the Pharisees. Their additional laws are like Sunday keeping - that day was not pronounced holy by God. Sunday is a man made law, it is man's day of rest, his means of self-salvation. The Sabbath is part of God's inward work to save man from his own works. If the Sabbath is rigid, it is firm affirmation unto salvation, combining divine creative power in human cooperation, giving God all the credit. The Bible promises that Christ in us by His Spirit through His Word will motivate us to keep His law based on love. Now our behavior, our physical deportment, is only of value if the sinful conditions in us are laid upon the Lamb of God who died on the cross so we can die to self and not remain slaves to sin. Those who preach many christs, or identify "self" with deity, preach spiritualism.

We are also not saved by not keeping the law, for the Ten Commandments are the standard by which we shall be judged on Judgment Day [220]. But God is not conducting this Judgment in such a way that He is trying to find reasons to keep people out of heaven, far from it, He is looking for reasons to get us into heaven, 2.Pet 3:9; Mt 18:14.

Here are the scriptures to show this is true:

"... I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." Jeremiah 31:3.

The Apostle Paul explains in Galatians that Hagar represents righteousness by works, Abraham's own doing when his faith wavered, while Sarah represents righteousness by faith in Jesus who kept the (Greek) `entole' commandment law perfectly for us. Galatians 5 explains that our view of the `entole' law has changed, we internalize now the law instead of obeying it (Hagar) because we heard about it but are not convinced, converted, of it. Therefore, the New Covenant is a covenant of faith, a faith that is automatically obedient to the will of God because we love Him. True faith does not view the Law of God as a burden but as an expression of His love to save and protect us - keep us in tune with heaven amongst a world permeated by Satan's devices. Sinners are to be converted from the breaking of God's law to the obedience of God 's law.

What kind of faith avails much with God?

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision (or for that matter Sabbathkeeping, if it is done as a formality), but faith which worketh by love." Galatians 5:6.

But those who only talk, and do nothing about it, they are not men of faith. The kind of faith which pleases God will take God at his word and submit to him, be obedient. But obedient to what? To His Ten Commandment law which is an expression of God's character and only He knows what is in men's heart.

"And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." 1.Sam. 15:24.

That is the dilemma of many Christians today, friends. Some sin because they actually think it is the mucho thing to do not realizing that those they try to impress may abandon them at the slightest difficulty, at the drop of a hat.

Jesus, Pharisees and Preachers

Remind yourself what charge Jesus laid against the Pharisees:

"And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition." Mark 7:9.

What is genuine faith? What effect did the preaching of Jesus and the apostles have on their converts?

"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7.

"For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not done by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed." Rom. 15:18.

"He will magnify the law, and make it honorable." Is.42:21.

Some Jews thought Jesus had come to destroy the law just like today some Christians claim the same thing. But what was Jesus' answer?

"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one iota or one letter shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Mat.5:17-20.

Satan likes to use this argument: Many of us have heard the idea that we as sinful human beings cannot keep the law of God.[228] We hear people say, `Just believe', that is all we can do.

This view is easily reached considering the wide chasm between sinful humanity and the righteous, perfect God of heaven.[230] This God sent His only son to die for the sins of all in the world. But only those, who would recognize their true condition, confess, repent, ask for forgiveness and forsake their sin will benefit in the end. Such a forgiven person has forgiven also all those whom he needed to forgive - without exception, Mark 11:25,26. We may follow these steps and not commit some sin realizing there seems to be always another one which demands our coming before God in supplication for forgiveness. How, if ever, can we please God and be found worthy of his grace? This is a great question among Christian believers. We also read that we must be found perfect before God. How can we ever reach such a condition? Are we to conclude, `We cannot' and forget about it and never want to hear about it again? But Jesus modeled and lived a life he wanted us to imitate. He wanted his disciples to become like him, Romans chapter 12. Jesus died daily to self, to ego. We need the real grace of God, not the false kind limited to an imagined forgiveness without obedience, an off and on `agape' love, the life of defeat. We cannot increase God's grace, we can only agree to receive it, and cooperate with God's grace. We must learn how to die to self, selfishness, our ego - daily - just like Jesus did. (Phil. 2:5-7; Gal. 2:20; 1.Cor. 15:21; Luke 9:23,24; John 12:24; Eph. 3:16; Rom. 6:3,4;) [240]

Jesus' intentions were not to nullify but to clarify the meaning of the fourth commandment. In the gospels He acts repeatedly as the supreme interpreter of the law by attacking external obedience and human traditions which often obscured the spirit and intent of God's commandments. (Mt. 5:21,22,27-28; 9:13;12:7; 23:1-39)

Jesus showed that the Sabbath was a day "to do good", "to save life", "to show mercy" and to lose people from physical and spiritual bonds rather then mere religiosity, Mk. 3:4; Mt. 12:7. Sabbath is a day to go out of our way not to be critical to our fellow brothers and sisters and have a forgiving attitude - treat others like we would like to be treated when we make a mistake.

Keeping the seventh day holy recognizes the spiritual salvation-rest provided by the physical Sabbath rest.[242] God invites us to cease from our physical work each seventh day, Sabbath day, so that we may participate more fully and freely in the spiritual rest. In that, the Lord's Supper and the Sabbath are not superfluous memorials, but they are designed to help us conceptualize and internalize the spiritual realities they represent.[253]

Christian preachers frequently speak on the subject of grace. On listening, many times this grace seems to be of the cheaper variety - one of easy, effortless religion.[264] How did they come to their conclusions? Didn't Jesus say,

"If you love Me, keep My commandments." John 14:15?

Considering such a clear statement, how then can grace coming from the same source as the commandments be so antagonistic to God's law? Didn't they see that God calls His law,

"... My commandments"? [Ex. 20:6]

"... My grace ..." 2. Cor. 12:9?

Well, we show that there is no conflict if Christians obey. Only disobedience produces the notion of conflict - and so we remember that He who condemns the sinner, will not deny us the means of changing our life. For that purpose the Bible shows Him to be now in His heavenly sanctuary to transmit the power of His atonement in our behalf on His terms. Removal of sin is not an outward white-wash, but an inward wash-white.

"The Bible does not teach us that God calls us righteous simply because Jesus of Nazareth was righteous 1800 years ago. It says that by His Holy Spirit empowered obedience we are made righteous. Notice that it is present, actual righteousness. The trouble with those who object to the righteousness of Christ being imputed to believers is that they do not take into consideration the fact that Jesus lives. He is alive today, as much as when He was in Judea. ... His life is as perfectly in harmony with the law now as it was then. And He lives in the hearts of those who believe in Him. Therefore it is Christ's present obedience in believers that makes them righteous. They can of themselves do nothing, and so God in His love does it in them. ... People are not simply counted righteous, but actually made righteous, by the obedience of Christ, who is as righteous as He ever was, and who lives today in those who yield to Him. His ability to live in human beings is shown in the fact that He took human flesh 1800 years ago. What God did in the person of the Carpenter of Nazareth, He is willing and anxious to do in every man and woman that believes." [275]

Yeshua (Greek: Jesus) gives us what we need, the kind of grace that makes us righteous before God. The grace which purifies our mind and body so we may reflect the life of Jesus. Jesus words, "sin no more" (Jh. 5:14;8:11), are fulfilled among those of the last generation before the Lord comes again.[LGT]

How are we to Understand those OT Restrictions?

Well, I ran into some detractors arguments and try to answer them here for a while until we had enough of it. Sunday preachers often say, `The `Tenach' (Old Testament) contains lists of Sabbath restrictions (see Exodus 16:23, 29; 20:10; 31:14-15; 34:21; 35:3; Nehemiah 13:19; Jeremiah 17:21-22), and the penalty for Sabbath violation-death-is made perfectly clear (see Exodus 31:14-15; 35:2; Numbers 15:35-36).'

God uses His divine prerogative to lay down the ground rules by which man ought to live in order to please His Maker. How would you like to go to some sport event and not know the rules by which to play?

That is what is wrong with such inuendos. As already pointed out, God's Law is not a set of restrictions, which is the legalists view of it, but rather a set of `Can does'. While you do not worship a nail in the wall, you can worship the true God with all your heart like the angels do, Luke 2:23,24. Those who grudgingly keep God's law are like Satan who nit picked on all the good things God had provided for all beings in the universe. While you do not dishonor your parents, you can love them and help them at their house like you would like your children to help you at your house. While you cannot murder someone, you can make friends, try to understand, hold your peace, pray, work for solutions, etc... While you cannot steal, you can provide. . . . So, God's law leads us to take advantage of all kinds of opportunities to make this world a better place.

But the critic complains some more. He puts himself up as the expert on God's holy day by claiming God doesn't know what He is doing when He asks Christians to keep His day holy. He says,

`The New Testament, however, contains no list of Sabbath restrictions and never is Sabbath-breaking listed among New Testament sins (see Mark 7:21-22; Romans 1:29-32; Galatians 5:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:1-4; Revelation 21:8).'

As you can see, he demands a special, custom made directive to tell him he should keep the Sabbath rather than the Sunday holy. Where could we find such a directive? (It's here)

Of course, the critic's knowledge of history and the Bible seems to be a blank sheet. He doesn't tell people that in the days of Jesus and the apostles everyone in Palestine knew that God's holy day was the Sabbath of the Lord, unless they lived out on the fringes and were steeped in paganism.

So he defends paganism the philosophy which saw the gods as not taking much interest in human affairs, how man behaved, as long as he was a good citizen. Their gods did not stress the search for truth and these attitudes we still find today. Please read again what he says above. Didn't the Pharisees claim Jesus broke the Sabbath? Didn't they have all kinds of man made restrictions?

See, that is what is wrong with these critics, they think of God's Sabbath as if it was the Sabbath of the Pharisees. Why can't he see it through the eyes of Jesus?

Jesus taught acceptable Sabbath keeping, to worship, to visit and help those in need. Is that so hard? Are those restrictions? - because then people cannot do what they themselves rather like to do on that day? [When the NT speaks of theft and covetousness. Isn't ignoring the 4th commandment stealing time which was designed to be spent with God? Isn't ignoring God's holy day and instead keeping the Sunday, the sin of covetousness since you lust after a day held in awe by the pagans? Isn't advertising Sunday in place of Sabbath worship disobedience to your parent - to God? Isn't it boasting, covenant breaking, pride, enviousness, fornication (following false teachings) with idols, works of the flesh, variance, sedition, heresy, unholiness, highmindedness and pursuing a form of godliness? Most certainly it is at least that.]

The Apostle Paul who wrote much to the Gentile converts never even once mentioned that keeping the Sabbath was of any importance.

Actually, a little careful study shows that God's Sabbath is to God of the greatest importance.

Where does God say that?

Well, we said already he says that in Matthew 12:8 and in Luke 6:5. Each time Jesus says to people, `sin no more' (Jh. 5:14; 8:11), `keep my commandments' (Mt. 19:17; Rev. 12:17; 14:12) or `sin is the transgression of the law' (1.Jh. 3:4), he tells them, `Do not trespass any of the 10 commandments anymore.' The Apostle Paul echoes these words of Jesus when he says in effect, for us in our time (New Covenant time after the cross), we still have this rest remaining for us, the rest in Jesus, to enjoy or follow which God's people always had. He says, to find our rest in Jesus we must not neglect the rest on God's holy Sabbath day. Since Jesus is still `the Lord' over all of us, there is still a Sabbath day, which He is Lord over and which all of His followers are to be observing.

So, which day does Paul say is the Sabbath day? We read it here:

"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. . . . There remaineth therefore a rest (Gr. sabbatismos, Sabbath keeping) to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Hebr. 4:4, 9-11.[315]

Since God rested "from his own works" on the first Sabbath after creation week, Paul is referring to the 7th day Sabbath as the day for God's people to rest. Not only does Paul teach 7th day Sabbath observance here, he also points out `Let us,' namely the Jews and Gentiles which made up the Christians in those days; he says, `let us labour to enter into that rest . . .,' that is like saying, not to follow God in that is an act of unbelief. - Therefore, these words are so plain, even a child can understand them. This scripture declares that the same Sabbath which has been kept from creation onward is also the Sabbath to be kept in the New Testament period. Let us, therefore, keep this day holy which is taught in all the Bible.[The other Greek word for `rest' (underlined), is `katapausis' which means `a place of resting,' namely after the Second Coming in heaven.]

He also never mentioned to the Gentiles how they were supposed to keep this Jewish weekly festival. All this is strange, indeed, if the 7th day Sabbath is still a requirement in the New Covenant as the SDAs claim.

Well, does this critic think that the gentiles were so blind or ignorant in those days? Did they not know exactly what the Sabbath was all about? Many of them living right among all those Sabbath keepers everywhere? Does he have to have everything spelled out to the `t'? Doesn't he know the gentiles kept the Sabbath gladly? See here!

Yes, friends, God's Word expects a little more common sense. He likes us to accept what He says in Exodus to still be good in Revelation. Especially when it comes to the Law of God, the foundation of the government of God. It is not in any human beings best interest to try and undo God's eternally valid 10 Commandment Law. Jesus death on the cross occurred precisely because the law cannot be canceled. He died because the New Covenant is not new in the sense that it was brand new, it was a new emphasis of the everlasting covenant that God wants to save as many sinners as possible. God does not issue covenants that are inadequate or outdate. People just don't take time to study these things out and there is a problem with accepting God's requirements instead of man's traditions.

Of Christ's total fulfillment of the second tablet of the Decalogue . . .

Is that all? Didn't Christ fulfill all ten laws totally? Of Course Christ did exactly that. Such statements are sometimes voiced by those who cannot countenance the 4th commandment. The unjustified view that Sabbath keeping is legalism is behind such statements, when Christians ought to be more concerned with illegalism. Christ kept the seventh day Sabbath during his entire three and half year ministry and at the last that day is highlighted in the Bible so no one need to doubt that Sabbath was to be kept on and on, even after the crucifixion, Luke 23:54-56.

Biblical Sabbath keeping is a powerful antidote against legalism and sectarianism!

How so? Because the Sabbath teaches us not to work for our salvation (legalism), but to cease from all our works, in order, as Calvin stated, "to allow God to work in us." [340]

A Sabbath keeping Christian gives priority to God in his/ her thinking and living. We allow the omnipotent grace of God to work more fully and freely in our lives. It epitomizes the gospel, the good news of God's invitation to meet with Him each week in a spiritual-rest as we cease from works. The Sabbath, framed and highlighted like the posts of a gate by the death of Christ on Friday and His resurrection on the first day Sunday, memorializes God's provision for rest as well as His creative and redemptive power for we read: "And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy." Nehemiah 13:22.

A balanced view of Bible truth looks at both posts, the cross and the resurrection and how it cradled the Lord in this place of death, waiting for the resurrection - thus additionally teaching that no immortal soul of Jesus spent the weekend in heaven.

Outside these gates may be the enemy waiting to kill, "But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him." Acts 9:24.

To these gates come also those who strife against the commands of God, "Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. ... when Barnabas and Paul heard ... Why ... you should turn from these vanities unto the living God." Acts 14:13-15.

But in the end the pearly gates are the focus of where God's faithful people enter into the city, "And the twelve gates were twelve pearls ... of ... transparent glass. ... And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it ... And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day ... And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." Revelation 21.

Sabbath keeping has come under constant controversy throughout Christian history because that day summons people to offer to God not just lip service, but the dedicated service of their total weekly living set aside for a 24 hour period at the end. So it is today. As people want to partake of the pleasure of this world, they feel encumbered by such a demand of God's law to alter their life on that one day to suit God's purposes. Running after money - sports, shopping, entertainment - has taken over their imaginations. But God cannot be mocked. His Law Stands for All Time! Sabbath demands our taking of sides in favor of God's published plan at Sinai.

So, friends, do not be angry with me when I present this message. I am doing this because this is what the Word of God teaches, which has been misunderstood by thousands and thousands of Christians, good, well-meaning Christians. There were also many sincere Pharisees, you see?

Ask yourself if God had intended to do away with the Ten Commandments or the 7th Day Sabbath, don't you think he would have broadcasted that all over the pages of the Bible and made sure we had no chance of misunderstanding that? So the burden is on those who claim that the Ten Commandments were done away with and I know, and you do too, all they really want to do away with by saying that is the 4th, Sabbath commandment. The others they go along with. Except may be one church which also did away with the 2nd commandment, split the 10th into two in order to have 10. Because this church wanted to worship images and statues in their churches, plus keep their own day of the sun, rather than obey God, they made this change. That way the pagan population of the Roman Empire found it easy to become members of the so called Christian church.

But we still must show that the Ten Commandments are the standard by which we shall be judged. When Jesus comes again as the "King of kings, and Lord of lords" (Rev.19:16), what will He then do for each person?

"For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward each man according to his works." Mat.16:27 - Rev.22:12.

"Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Don't you know that we shall judge the (evil) angels? how much more things that have to do with this life?" 1.Cor.6:2,3.

"...the judgment was set and the books were opened." Dan.7:9,10;

"Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. ... To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Is.8:16,20.

Isaiah is saying that God is looking for people who determined in their heart to obey the law and pay attention to God's prophets. The apostle Paul is echoing these words in Ephesians 4:30 when he writes: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed ..." The Holy Spirit, the protector of all the Bible and seeker after hearts of obedient faith to God seals only those who keep the commandments and do not limit God's prophets who test as God's prophets in any way. This is a time honored key test of true teachers on the biblical subject of the law and testimony which is the spirit of prophecy, Rev. 19:10. False teachers do not keep all the commandments and belittle the Spirit of Prophecy thus declaring that God cannot have a prophet when they do not think someone else then themselves could be such a person.

"Let us hear the conclusion of the matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13,14.
(A God fearing life because we repented and confessed our sins to Jesus and know we are forgiven.[341])

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul..." Ps. 19:7.

[Also the whole of Ps. 37.]

"I delight to do thy will, o my God; thy law is within my heart." Ps.40:8.

"The works of his hands are truthful (verity) and just (judgment); all his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness." Ps.111:7,8.

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee. v.11
.. I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me. v.19
.. You have rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from your commandments. v.21
.. I will run the way of your commandments, when you will enlarge my heart. v 32
.. Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end. v.33
.. give me understanding and I shall keep your law. v.34
.. Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law. v.35

"This is what the Lord says: `Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is close at hand and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

"And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord to serve him, to love the name of the Lord, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast in my covenant - these will I bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer." Isaiah 66:1,2,6,7; NIV

There is not a real, demanding hint in all the Bible that God's people, at any time in history, ought to forsake God's Sabbath commandment and transfer it to another day (2.Chr. 7:19f). Only sinful men and women have and still are, closing their ears and eyes to God's Word. Having begun on this slippery path of disobedience to God's law, they lost control of the situation and today, the Sabbath day is polluted with all kinds of ungodly activities all around the world. But you and I need to obey the Lord. [346]

Never since the dawn of sacred history, has Truth found Itself born in halls of learning, or in the minds of so-called great and wise, but only when and where "holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2. Peter 1:21.

We must realize that the book of Hebrews is based on the premise that the Temporary Testament is the inspired word of God. We just start at the beginning and look for verses which relate to the law of God in some way.

Heb 1:8: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of thy kingdom."

Can any kingdom exist without a law governing its affairs? Isaiah 9:6,7. Does right doing have anything to do with law? How do we know what is right or wrong unless we have something to compare it to?

So in the first chapter the law is upheld. Will that change in later chapters of Hebrews? Or is it something else that changes?

For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change also of the law ... Which law, the law pertaining to the priesthood? or the Ten Commandments? Heb.7:12. Dr.Martin Luthers Bible, in the margin, says it refers to the law regulating the priesthood, the ceremonial law in this case. In another scripture Paul differentiates between the two sets of laws as follows, "Wherefore then serves the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now a mediator is not [a mediator] of one, but Christ is one." Gal. 3:19,20. One can speak only of a mediator if there are at least two parties, problems or situations to be reconciled. If we take the position that the contrast here is between the promise of God made to Abraham and the Law of Moses, and, because the Law was never kept, the blessings were never received to the fullest, we might have a plausible explanation. On the other hand we might understand Verse 20 to mean that the Law of God was given and written on stone by God Himself on Mt. Sinai, whereas the Mosaic Law, the social, ceremonial and health laws, were given to Moses by God - two mediators, God and Moses in this case. God gave those laws and had Moses write them to be added to the Ark of the Covenant, where God's Law was already enshrined, in a side pocket. The law entrusted into the hand of a mediator, that is written by inspiration, by a mediator, which law is that characteristic off?

"Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life." Heb 7:16.

What does that mean? Jesus is not a priest by reason of being a member of the tribe of Levi [the carnal commandment], but he is a priest because he is the source of all life, he is eternal God.

So `carnal commandment' is not meant to say it is a bad commandment, it just means it is the one having been in use throughout the history of Israel.

Hebrew 8 is loaded with meaning, it mentions offering of sacrifices according to the law - that must be the ceremonial law which regulated what qualifies as a sacrifice.

"And he said unto me, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God; These are the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it, to offer burnt offerings thereon, and to sprinkle blood thereon." Ez. 43:17

Looking at the cross, what do you see? First we ought to see that we, like Christ, must die to self. Then we may consider the end of the sacrificial system by the Sacrifice of all sacrifices. Jesus completed the `ordinances of the altar' of sacrifice. These ordinances (in the OT) never condemned anyone but looked forward to the gospel as shadowed in their system of sacrifices and offerings while the NT looks back. Ezekiel shows that the services having to do with the altar of burned offerings were done away with after being fulfilled at the cross, Colossians 2:14.

What else do we see?

Some claim that Christ gave fullness of life, freedom from condemnation, and happiness when He died. Do we see around us in this world such abundant life, peace, and happiness? Do we see freedom from the guilt which brings a sense of condemnation? No, we do not see that. It is not ours until we accept Christ in sincerity of heart, and afterward by His grace obey Him and put away sin. So it stands that our condemnation was not automatically removed at Calvary. According to John 3:18, we are already condemned, until we accept Jesus and begin a life of believing, abiding, trusting and obeying, John 3:16.

The Bible teaches that salvation, justification, and no-condemnation were not all completed at the cross. They were actually postponed until some later time after A.D. 31,—the delay was obviously made to grant those gifts to only certain people who would before calvary and after it meet certain conditions [364]. The redeemed are a special people in the eyes of God who accepted the sacrifice of His Son and decided to follow in His footsteps to victory. God's Word does not promise wholesale, `faceless' justification. Justification indiscriminately given to everyone, regardless of his present or future conduct, would be wholesale acquittal. That is not within the provisions of God for the world. It only makes a pleasing gospel, one with no effort or persistence to crucify self and remain right before God.[377]

That is why we have individual choice in salvation and why those who lived during the 4000 years before calvary also could be drawn by the Holy Spirit, converted, and saved. It is important that we realize that the gift of salvation could be given before Calvary, not only after the event. For all of us, individual choice is required. Salvation is not the result of an arbitrary act of God alone. We still need to knock to have the door of salvation opened to us (Mt. 7:7; Lk. 11:9). We must personally choose to be on guard, and immediately resist sin and choose the right at every step. This is vital. We do not float into heaven. It takes work, effort on our part to get there. We must dwell in His Word, daily. We must use both oars of the ship of grace. While God's part in this effort is great and ours small, He will not save us unless we do our small part which involves "agape" love, the power to do is faith in the "name" of Jesus. Lazy Christians will not have provided their lamps with enough oil and therefore are not ready when the Master comes again.

It was the prophet Daniel who defines what was to cease at the time of the sacrifice of Christ.

"And he [Jesus] shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease ..." Daniel 9:27.

These sacrifices and oblations were the animal sacrifices and grain, oil, and wine offerings. Daniel spoke of nothing else ceasing at the cross. After the public rehearsal of the 10 commandment law (Deut. 5), Moses completed the work of writing all the laws, the statutes, and the judgments which God had given him, and all the regulations or ordinances concerning the sacrificial system.[390]

"But now we have obtained a more excellent ministry ... a better covenant, which was established upon better promises." Hebr. 8.

What is the difference of the promises between the Temporary and the Everlasting covenant?

Old - obey and live, disobey and die. Ez. 20:11; Lev. 18:5.
New - the law is in our hearts - heart religion. Jer. 31:33,34.
Heb.8:10.

Now, when we read this we should remember that in the New Covenant, the unrepentend sinner still is not granted eternal life. In that the difference is not all that great between the Old and the New Covenant, the emphasis, how we put it, is what makes it appear different. The more we tend toward sin, the more we tend to block out Jesus in our life and the law condemns us - no matter what time we live in.

Next we must ask, were the Ten Commandments only a fixed feature of the Old Covenant but not of the New?

Heb 8:13 "A new covenant, he has made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."

Having shown the goodness of the law of God in both, the Old and the New Testament, how can we balance that with Heb 8:13?

May I remind you again that the New Covenant pre-dated and out existed the Old Covenant!! Jer. 31:31-33; Ex. 2:24; Gen 15:18; 22:18; 26:3; 28:13,14. Actually this means that the two covenants are not matters of dispensations or time; they span the ages side by side together for they are based on conviction in the heart, they are matters of the everlasting gospel. By these covenant promises God creates a new desire in us to live in harmony with His law. The other group, the Jews, had no one desire to find themselves under condemnation, they rather wanted to obey or die. Christians rather know that God is to live in them for others to see and want it too, 1.Cor. 14:21-24. There is no incompatibility here between the goodness or grace of God and the law. During the centuries of the time of Israel there was no incompatibility between grace and the "ceremonial" law, for until Jesus died the rites and sacrifices were God's appointed way of directing the eye of faith to the coming Saviour. Not until the offering of the Lamb of God, once for all, was the ceremonial law abolished (Eph. 2:15). After that, insistence upon the ceremonial observances became a denial of faith in the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ, Acts 15:1,10; Gal. 5:1-2. The everlasting covenant, later ratified by the blood of Jesus (Hebr. 8:6-13; Mt.26:28), and mediated by His heavenly ministry (Hebr. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24) - the covenant promising the divine writing of the law in the heart, with the indwelling of the Spirit, which produces the righteousness of the law in the life (Rom. 8:4) - is never at variance with the moral law of God, then and now. In fact, we are indebted to the apostle Paul for our understanding about the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law. If you compare Romans 7 and Hebrews 7 and also Colossians 2 and Ephesians 2, you will find very clearly how he laid out the two laws in comparison one with another. [Click here for the comparison.]

What is the answer to the question, `What decayed and waxed old' and `How do we know what is right or wrong?'

The laws written by the hand of Moses in a book, detailing how sacrifices were to be made, how the ceremonial sabbaths were to be celebrated, they had lost their application after calvary. Now we look in the mirror, the 10 commandments, to know how God wants us to live. They will show us what is right or wrong.

Highlighting the participants in the figures of speech in Genesis 3:15.

"And I will put enmity between you [Satan] and the woman [God's church], and between your seed [Satan's followers] and her seed [other Christians], it [Jesus] shall bruise your [Satan's] head, and you [Satan] shall bruise his [Jesus's] heel [when Jesus died on the cross]." Gen 3:15. [395]

To all men this covenant offered pardon and the assisting grace of God for future obedience through faith in Jesus. It also promised them eternal life on condition of fidelity to God's law. This way the patriarchs received the hope of salvation.

"In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed" Gen 22:18 was an enlargement of the original covenant from Gen 3:15. This promise pointed forward to Jesus.

"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, And to seeds, as if there were many; but as of one, And to your seed, which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before God in Christ, the law, which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect." Gal 3:16,17.

Did the law exist before Sinai? Here is Bible evidence that the principles of the Ten Commandments were known before they were given on Mt. Sinai:

Some view the Old Testament as a bit inferior compared to the New Testament and therefore believe that our doctrines must only come from the New Testament. How does the Bible see itself on this subject?

To answer the question we let the Bible speak for itself:

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." 2. Tim. 3:16-17.

Which `scripture' does Paul have in mind? Of course the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. The New Testament did not exist at this time. Study of these scriptures may help us realize that much of it represents case histories, rather than fixed codes. It teaches us that we must not only know the Bible, we must know God. How? Your prayer life will guide you and let you know. Prayer which provides interaction with God. You voice your concerns and in your study you find answers. If you keep on praying, God opens your understanding of heavenly things. If you neglect prayer, the open channel begins to close. We cooperate with the divine will. Prayer is between us, God, and the Holy Spirit:

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake [as they were] moved by the Holy Ghost." 2. Peter 1:21

"But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2. Peter 1:9-11

It was `everlasting' also from before the coming of the Messiah in human flesh and creation week.

"And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 24:27,44.

Jesus filled the Tenach (OT) sayings full of meaning during his earthly ministry. But it is true, `Two cannot walk together unless they are agreed', Amos 3:3.

Even though we have already provided answers to this question, we try once more with the following Bible verses:

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:1-3

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the Lord thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: For [in] six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-11

God's Word says we are to keep the Sabbath day. It does not say a Sabbath day. We are not free to keep any day of one in seven, but God pronounced only the seventh day holy.[410]

"Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] the Lord that sanctify them. But the house of Israel (so today also some Christians) rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given [them], flowing with milk and honey, which [is] the glory of all lands; Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:12-20

This `sign' God never replaced with another sign, neither was it merely a sign for the ancients before the time of the Messiah, as we show abundantly. The Bible Sabbath is a sign that He is our Creator and Redeemer. The day which God hallowed and blessed is increasingly becoming a stumbling block, an intersection requiring a decision, a declaration of allegiance or refusal. When God's sign is replaced by unfaithful servants, the sign becomes a `mark' which causes them to "receive the mark of his [the beast's] name."

"And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16

Every day young Jesus could be found in the wood shop of Joseph, the husband of Mary, his adopted father. He would stand there with his saw and cut a piece of round tree trunk into flat boards. Then he would take a planer and smooth the surface to a soft shine as his hand would feel the texture if it was good. Some wood was soft and some was hard. Some good for spoons and some for shelves. His home must have shown the products of loving labor in wood working. Joseph's cabinet shop supplied his neighbors needs but each week when the sixth day came to its end, Jesus laid down his tools and prepared for Sabbath. This great respect and regard that Jesus put upon the Sabbath day during his life in the wood working shop he also showed during his public ministry. It was the custom of Jesus to be in the house of worship each Sabbath at the appointed time for he was the owner of the Sabbath day, he had made it.

"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city (of Antioch in Pisidia) together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42-44; John 17:5.

"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:" Matthew 24:20 [423]

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, ..." Revelation 1:10

But notice, the apostle John who wrote the Book of Revelation called the day Jesus was resurrected on the `first day' and not `Lord's Day' in his gospel. He should have known if there was to be any change and would have written of it.

"Early in the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance." John 20:1

In contrast, `the Lord's Day' is regularly found to be the 7th day Sabbath.[427] Before John wrote the phrase, "the Lord's day" (Verse 10) he references creation week by writing Christ "has made us" and "to him be glory ..." (Verse 6), the kind of language which refers back to creation week from whence the Sabbath day originates. In addition do we read,

"For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." Matthew 12:8

"And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath." Luke 6:5

"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, [that] from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord." Isaiah 66:22-23; See also Revelation 22:14. See also Ex. 31:15;35:2.

The prophet Ezekiel says the name of the city of God is, "The Lord is there." Ez. 48:35.

Words echoed by the apostle John, when he writes, "... God is with men." Rev. 21:3. Because at this time those redeemed among mankind are in the heavenly city of God.

Therefore, dear reader, follow the Bible on which day to keep holy and not the Bible twisting confusion of Babylon and its false teachers. The Sabbath day belongs to Jesus who considered it His choicest possession, for we read

"The Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." Matth. 12:8.

The word even means this. Suppose you were invited by a rich man and he showed you his impressive Office buildings and he says, `I own all these buildings and the beautiful mansion on top of the hill, and, yes, even the beautiful jet plane over there is mine.' The little word `even' in this case would imply that it was a wonderful thing in the thinking of this rich man's mind that he could say that he owned that big jet plane. And so Jesus uses this word `even' this way, "I have all power in heaven and earth; I possess all things; and I am Lord even of the Sabbath day."

Sabbath according to the wise fellow

But in the crowd is this wise man who complains and says,

`You are making a great deal of Christ's being Lord of the Sabbath; but read Mark 2:27, and you will see that the Sabbath was made for man; therefore, we can do as we please with that day!'

Is that true? As we shall see, the `wise fellow' is mistaken. He is not a careful reader. For if he was right, we should read, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: therefore man is Lord ... of the Sabbath ..." but instead we read, "The Son of man is Lord ... of the Sabbath."Mark 2:28.[438] The Son of man, Jesus, is the one who lets us know how to keep it. The subject comes before the object. We worship Jesus, not the day, on His chosen day. When we read, "Bear ye on another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.", Galatians 6:2, we must also be understood that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath and that it is His day which He wants us to keep holy for our great salvation forever. [440]

When God created the world, the Sabbath was God's seventh day and man's first full day after man was created on the 6th day. While God rested from His work, man had nothing to rest from, he just enjoyed all the free gifts bestowed upon him by the `Sabbath day covenant relationship' with his creator. When man sinned, he basically stopped being God-dependent and instead became self-dependent - man turned his back upon God. So, God said, if you want to be rather self-dependent you must also work for your own living and then return to dust. That is what sin did to the human race.

Just a moment, the wise man, who didn't know any of this, yells once more. Paul does say that the law was done away with. Here it is,

"For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." 2.Cor. 3:11-17.

Paul does not `label the moral part of the Law, a ministry of death and condemnation.' Rather, what he is saying is that only the Spirit of God, received through faith, gives life to the written text of the Torah, which if attempted to be followed apart from the Spirit (in faith), indeed brings death (the curse of the Law). Paul also taught this in Romans chapter 8, saying that those coming to faith, being of the Spirit, are no longer condemned by the Torah -- now saved, they are to follow it. It is not the Law that is taken away, but the vail (blindness of trying to obey the Torah without faith) that is removed (circumcised) through trusting in Jesus.

It is like the father who made a wonderful toy for his son. When it is finished he shows it to the little fellow. But he scowls and says, `I don't like it. I don't want it', and throws it on the floor. The father is aghast. Now what do you think will follow? Should there be some sort of punishment [455] for this little boy to be so ungrateful? The toy was intended for his pleasure, but if he misuses it and rebels against the father's intentions, most likely, in the end, there will be some trouble for him.

We see, therefore, that it is not the law that is different, but rather the place where it is written in - it is now written in the heart. The real problem is not our behavior, but what is in our heart. It is not with "sins" we commit, but with "sin" we have in our heart. Since our selfish heart can but produce selfish acts, we must change our selfish hearts, where selfishness comes from. We change the fountain, and then the stream will be clean. The problem with Israel was, when they take away that sin or another, only for this one or another comes back because the point of origin has not experienced a change. This problem is illustrated in Genesis 6:5, by the pre-Flood human race. Their problem was that "their wickedness was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." So, we see that the problem was in their heart. That caused their character to be described as, ". . . the earth (its people) was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." (v. 11,12). The event of the Fall into sin caused us to be, "... shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Ps. 51:5; Jer. 17:9; Rom. 7:18,19.

Since sin begins from the moment of conception, we receive this kind of "heart disease" before we are even born. Selfishness is part of every life on earth since this time. While our first parents needed a day to praise their Maker, we need that day to praise and regard our Creator. Looking away from it, keeps us locked in selfishness. So God says, he give us "a new heart ... and a new spirit (a new way of thinking)", Eze. 36:26.

God says to man, `I made the Sabbath for you.' We ought to no longer stomp on it, ignore and desecrate it. That we can do because God takes away our "stony heart" and gives us a new, warm, tender and loving heart. Now we regard the voice of God, through His Son, as our guide and inspiration. When that happens, God says, "I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them." Eze. 36:27. That is when we have `heart obedience to God because of our love for Him.' We do not "have to" keep God's law, but we "want to" keep it now. That is the character of the end time generation.

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, he made it for man and we are to worship the Lord on His chosen day which never changed, Col. 1:13-16; Hebr. 1:1-2; Gen. 2:1-3. This is God reiterating for man the fourth commandment in the New Testament Book of Mark, (Mk. 2:27,28).

But it is the following scripture after which a change from Sabbath to Sunday, if that would be in the plans of God, would seem most appropriate. We read,

"I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore . . ." Rev. 1:18.

That is why we read,

"Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?" (Mt. 15:3).

Today the most obvious of "these traditions" on this subject is keeping a day God did not ordain.

"Thus have ye made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition."
"But in vain do they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mt. 15:9).

(You can click here to see the commandments of man, Mt. 15:9.)

"Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And He said unto him .. If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
"Whosoever, therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Mt. 15:3,6,9,16-17,19.

Answer:

The nation of Israel spent some 70-125 years under conditions of slavery in Egypt. During this time they had no choice but to obey their taskmasters when to get up for work and when to go home and rest. Did they keep the Sabbath during this time? Hardly. They were bone tired after getting home from work and probably little schooling and teaching went on in the faith of their fathers, Ps. 119:134; Ex. 3:13.

These were the kinds of people God intended to make into His people, His representatives on earth. He had to get their attention somehow. Awaken them from their stupor. That is why we have these decisive, miraculous events happen like the 10 plagues, the parting of the sea, the flames and smoke at the giving of the law on Mt. Sinai etc. They had completely forgotten how God had worked among his people from Adam on to their days - some 2500 years.

Answer:

Well, here it is again. After all the above such a question underscores `the foolishness of preaching.' There is this deep down, entrenched tradition of going to church on Sunday, the first day of the week. The same preachers, preaching sermons selectively (avoiding or misrepresenting Sabbath when possible), who lament that Sabbath keeping church goers have got it wrong and have a legalistic faith [459] see nothing wrong in reminding their congregation to keep coming to church every Sunday. Mind you, they claim they can read, and they do preach great sounding, eloquent sermons. But God is saddened for them for they disregard his holy law as nothing and respect their own substitution as everything. The traditions such revere are the various authors during the later decades and centuries after the Apostles had passed from the scene and and the false teachers which they had warned about arose and did their nefarious work.[465] In that, many Christians may not realize that the gospel they espouse is not only based on `The Bible says' or studying the Bible for all it is worth. Many take comfort on what the church fathers wrote and those we discuss here. Salvation is a co-operation of God and man. No one will be saved in sin, on the basis of profession of faith alone. While God's part is infinitely great, and our part is infinitely small, without us doing our part in this co-operation, He will not do His part. (Hebr. 1:14; Phil. 2:16; Luke 14:23; 2.Cor. 10:5.) `When truth becomes an abiding principle in the life, the soul is "born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." 1.Pet. 1:23. This new birth is the result of receiving Christ as the Word of God. When by the Holy Spirit divine truths are impressed upon the heart, new conceptions are awakened, and the energies hitherto dormant are aroused to co-operate with God.'

True Grace has to do with how we live and how we change our life from the old to the new way of life. Grace is the foundation of Christian living. It is making a covenant with our senses not to let them be occupied with sin. Living a life where we remain in Christ and shun sin, we are not seeking salvation by our own merits [470], we are just following the Bible blue print. It is our small co-operation compared to God's plentious grace bestowed on us.

How can a professed servant of God not see the Sabbath in the Bible? The answer is, `Tradition'.[485] The colored glasses of tradition. Why, I just heard one well known Protestant minister speak on how to tell if something is from God [488] and lamenting the `Works for salvation' in the biggest, so called Christian church on earth. Seeing how people literally crucify themselves made him speak out on the subject. And yet, he does not see that he is paying homage to this same church in keeping the day holy this church substituted for God's Holy day. They did so on their own volition, without the blessing of God. You go and figure. But there is this widespread enmity against the Law of God in Christianity and some state boldly, a congregation never rises above the level of its preaching. That ought not to be so. Christians must study for themselves. On judgment day its you and Jesus before God, not your minister at your side, and Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, not the pagan Sunday [490] which was never ratified or properly introduced as a law or holy day. But ye, who are trying to be faithful to God in everything, will also follow him in this truth about his Holy Sabbath Day.

Answer:

I wouldn't doubt that. I hear them preaching too and learn from them. There is hardly ever everything wrong with a Christian message. But its just that one or small little tittle which poisons the whole meal. After expounding scripture skillfully and presenting a powerful sermon some still call Sunday the Lord's Day. They are blind to their true situation (Mt. 15:13,14). Their pride in their success and the lineage of famous preachers who have gone before them preaching the same lies about the Sabbath not being binding anymore, shuts off their power of reason on this point (Mt. 16:11,12). And that is not from God.

a) the children of Israel, not the church, were to keep the Sabbath, Ex. 31:16-17, therefore the Sabbath was something unique to Israel.

But we know that Sabbath observance did not originate at Mt. Sinai, it hails from creation week. The reference for Israel to keep the Sabbath just means that at this time of the Exodus God chose Israel to be his special representatives, his `missionary people'. That does not absolve all other people from obeying God's commandments. Israel was to model Sabbath keeping for all people [500]. God requires us to keep the 7th day holy, whenever and wherever the sun brings It to us, and that is why He emphatically commands us to keep It holy from "even unto even." (Lev. 23:32). The Sabbath is a sign post of creation, the enemy of God managed to turn the sign post around. That is why we read, "Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, And of the ten horns that were in his head ... and of the other which came up ... even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things ... and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them ... (Now briefly the scene switches to things occuring in heaven) Until the Ancient of days came ... he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth ... the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings ... and another shall rise ... and he shall be diverse from the first ... And he shall speak great words against the most High ... and ... wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws [520] ... But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion ... And the kingdom and dominion ... shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom ... As for me Daniel ... I kept the matter in my heart." Daniel 7:19-28. To know which day God blessed, hallowed, and set aside for mankind to keep holy is vitally important, but by itself insufficient for we need to know how to keep It holy, and to truly keep It - that is what is all-important.

b) The Sabbath Day was given to man right after creation, and it was observed universally. When we come to the Mosaic system, we find that God made it [550] one of the Ten Commandments for the children of Israel. At this time God makes it quite clear that the Sabbath is only for the children of Israel.

It is true the Sabbath was observed universally at first and that later generations (i.e. descendants of Cain), because of disobedience, did not keep the Sabbath day any longer (that is why the antideluvians perished in the Flood) until God re-emphasized it at Mt. Sinai. We have to make this choice, do we want to follow those who were disobedient or those who are called apart from this sinful world to obey God and be counted among his people - spiritual Israel? Moses expressed it this way, "... their rock is not as our Rock." Deut. 32:31. Even in Jewish times, non-Israelites, the mixed multitude, could avail themselves of being counted among God's people if they so chose. That is why the Lord unanimously declares that "... the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27), that is not merely for the Jews but for all mankind. No man, therefore, ought to scorn what God has ordained. - Are we to assume that the other nine commandments are also only for Israel? What a non logical proposition. The Bible emphasizes, "Thus says the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice (do the right thing): For my salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man (mankind) that does this, and the son of man (all succeeding generations) that lays hold on it; that keeps the Sabbath from polluting It, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. ... For thus says the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me ... for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people (all minkind). The Lord which gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet will I gather others (gentiles) to Him, beside those (Jews) that are gathered unto Him." Isaiah 56:1-8. Similarly in the 4th commandment itself God reminds His people to also let "the manservant, and the maidservant ... nor the stranger that is within thy gates" refrain from work to experience the Sabbath rest. This group of people could be from anywhere in their world, Jews and non-Jews alike. Obviously we must know this, the Sabbath was made for all mankind before sin began. There is no thought attached to it that it belongs to Jews or Gentiles. In the beginning there were no racial distinctions. Adam, the `man', is the representative for all of humanity. From creation the Sabbath was not part of the new or old covenant, for covenants were not needed in the perfect relationship between creator God and man before sin entered. Sin made it important for man to be mindful continually of his Creator. To ignore its claims is to allow doubts, false philosophies and false science to triumph. This has happened.

When one is baptized and joins His church of salvation (John 4:22), he then becomes a Jew in Jesus, who was a Jew Himself, and he is now subject to share in the promises to the Jews and is to keep the Jewish Sabbath - if we must call it such.

So whether we are a Jew or Gentile in the flesh, we must become full-fledged Jews in the Spirit by accepting not only Christ but also His Sabbath, if we want to be in Christ's Kingdom, "for without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie." Revelation 22:15 - For all the unrepentant lawbreakers since Cain, it will be heart-breaking, yes, and soul-breaking and soul-terrifying, to find ourselves in a lawless, Sabbath-breaking crowd doomed to suffer the second, eternal death, for that is why we read, "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 24:51 [600]. Dear reader, do not take that route.

c) The Israelites are an earthly people belonging to the first creation. The church is a new creation and it was given a new day to observe which is the first day of the week.

This `first' creation' is here being contrasted by J. Vernon McGee to the `new' and therefore must mean `old'. What constitutes then this `old' and `new' as propounded here? Is it `new' in the sense that the `old' was impractical, outmoded, didn't work so well, nobody did it, a mistake, a burden ...? Is it improved over the old or just new? Are we to assume God is so fidgety that he would ask people to do something and then, half way through, change it all around? Not at all, friends, God never changes, Mal. 3:6. The `new' (covenant) is new in the sense that it is a new emphasis of the old or temporary, a renewing of `the articles of faith' so to speak, which Israel had also before them, to keep them and obey all the words - forever, Ex. 31:16-17; 1.Sam. 2:30; Ps. 105:8ff. What such teaching essentially implies is, that God did wrong in commanding His law to mankind. God's law which keeps us save on earth each day as long as it is obeyed. Such theories suggest that God is unfair in His dealings with man. That He is unjust to impose such laws since He, they suggest, changes laws from time to time. - One can hardly find a more Satanic form of thinking than this.

God did not destroy the law, for that it would have been if he changed just one commandment. Jesus never acknowledged the first day as anything special, it was never given the title `Sabbath.' Had Christ destroyed the law, then from that moment onward there could never have been any more sin and any more sinners, and, therefore, never anything more to be forgiven of, and as a consequence never more any need of Him, as Saviour, never any more!

Let everyone know that the only law which God did away with is the law of the sacrificial ordinances and oblations, Daniel 9:27; Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14; Hebrew 7:18-25. He removed this law of sacrifices and offerings only because it, the shadow, the type, met its substance and its antitype in Christ's sacrifice of Himself for sinners, and in His heavenly ministration for them, all in vicarious atonement for their sins - in payment of the death penalty which the moral law imposes on unrepentant sinners [630]. This way the antitypical sanctuary with its ceremonial service was, in effect, transferred to the typical sanctuary in Heaven, where Christ our High Priest is now officiating, offering His Own blood in our behalf. The logical conclusion then is, the antitypical sacrificial law is the only law that was ever removed from earth.

If the Ten Laws were damaged in any way, then we have nothing to complain about if someone does injustice to us. Do not be a God's Law hater, or the type of trouble maker whom the Apostle Paul had to deal with (Gal. 3:1-3; Rom. 3:20-24,31), or some of those who declare God's holy Sabbath day was done away with and laugh and sneer about those who faithfully obey God and keep His assigned day and call them legalists while they busily keep a fake day holy. The real sacrificial system is accomplished now by Jesus in Heaven. Paul is, by the covenant of grace (Eph. 2:8), against the law of circumcision (v.11f) - the ceremonial law [650], not the moral law. We may learn from the circumcision controversy that a circumcised sinner is no better than an uncircumcised one; a sinner inside the church is no better than one outside of it.

Let no one deceive you with vain words and crooked interpretations. "By grace ... through faith", keep the Truth sanctified in your heart, and it will wash you in the blood of Christ, cleanse you and keep you clean, and put upon you the robe of His righteousness - His glorious character as it is reflected in the Ten Commandments - "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." Eph. 5:27. "... IF you do these things, you shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 2.Peter 1:10-11. "... thy law is the truth." Ps. 199;142. The false Sabbath, then, was not given by God in heaven but by the god of this world. The `new creation', actually `new creature', of 2.Cor. 5:17 is not a proof text for the change from Sabbath to Sunday but talks about the change taking place in a person who accepts Christ, remaking, recreating that person from his old own self to a new person, Eph. 4:22,24, now obeying God in everything He requires. We observe that the word creation occurs only six times in the entire Bible.

"...These things ..." (v.3) refers back to Peter's statements saying, "... that has called us to glory and virtue. ..." As we showed, God's glory, His Character, is defined in the Ten Laws, so is virtue. Peter also mentions the "... exceeding great and precious promises ..." (v. 4) which remind us of what God through the ages has promised for those who would keep His statutes and commandments.

d) We do not observe Saturday—Jesus was dead that day and we are not serving a dead Christ.

Is that true? To say it a bit bluntly, the historical reality is that Sunday was instituted by a church from which the Protestants severed themselves but still indulge in some of its apostate practices. The two days, Sabbath and Sunday, differ in origin, authority, meaning and experience. The Bible does not emphasize that Christ was dead in his grave, it emphasizes that Christ "rested" in his grave [700]. A word search under `grave' in Young's Concordance yields for New Testament, apostles texts (excluding Matthew through John) only relevant occurrence, 1. Cor. 15:55 "o grave where is thy victory?". The word `rest' of course has many occurrences and the famous idea of `rest' in the Book of Hebrews we all are aware of. Suffice it to say, the point in d) is a bad reason not to keep the Sabbath day holy. Mr. McGee neglects to point out that `baptism' is the biblically ordained memorial for the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see under e)(Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), not a day in the week. It is an affront to Jesus who states to keep the Sabbath holy.

e) On the first day of the week Jesus Christ rose from the dead and we celebrate resurrection day for without His resurrection we would have no hope.

He certainly did. But the memorial of the great facts of the gospel and in particular the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is baptism, not Friday, Sabbath or Sunday. People can say what ever they want while keeping the day of resurrection and after church amusing themselves, but by working on the day before, God's Sabbath day, they have broken the Ten Commandments. [751] While John the Baptist baptized with water, Jesus would `baptize' his converts with the Holy Ghost (John 3:22; 1:33) - meaning their lives would change from one in sin to one in being a forgiven sinner who can subsequently be an heir to the kingdom of God, Acts 22:16. We ought not to mix up these by Jesus himself ordained assignments of memorials for we read:

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Matthew 28:19

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." Mark 16:16.

"Buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead."
"If you then be risen in Christ, seek those things which are above ..."
"Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection." Colossians 2:12; 3:1; Romans 6:4-5.

While we hear this truth often that without the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death we have no hope, there is also the other side to such a conclusion, namely, that without being baptized (as a declaration of believing faith), in normal situations, we also have no hope for a life in the kingdom of God, Mark 16:16.[780] The fact is that the emphasize or impact of the resurrection, according to the Bible - the echo of God's voice - is not to keep a day holy every week, but it is rather a one time event in the life of a Christian, his baptism. Jesus died once and for all, we are to `die' to sin also once and for all. We are not to be re-baptized after every sin. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ taught, the same Lord who created the world in which we live and made us and meets with us once a week on the Lord's holy Sabbath Creation Week Memorial Day. (Talking about Intelligent Design!)

"For the son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." Matthew 12:8

"I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." Revelation 1:10

"Behold, the day of the lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it."

The message of these Bible verses is plain enough, the `Lord's Day' or `the day of the Lord' is either the Sabbath Day or the Second Coming, it is never the first day of the week - resurrection day as important as it is - is celebrated by baptism.

When Protestantism celebrates vigorously Easter Sunday by emphasizing the resurrection of Jesus Christ, they tend to lessen the cross, the suffering and self denial of Jesus, the price He paid for us so we might live. Yes, our sins where paid for but for salvation to take place a final step must take place prior to our salvation. We must ask God for it and in doing so accept God as our master and savior. If any day should have a memorial it is His death on the cross. But we find both events, calvary and resurrection have divinely assigned memorial days - the Lord's Supper and Baptism. On the day of baptism, the three highest powers of the universe give their stamp of approval to the candidate to be baptized, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Lord's Supper is celebrated more frequently than baptism but neither has fixed intervals assigned in the Bible. Sabbath keeping churches celebrate the `Lord's Supper' or `Communion Service' about every three months. This memorial includes the by Jesus instituted and therefore vital foot washing (John 13:3-10), and partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine. Therefore, the day of Easter Sunday has no biblically ordained precedent but ties to Pagan traditions via eggs and sunrise ceremonies.[800] So Christians, decide to serve the Almighty, Lord God, Creator of the universe and Saviour of those who follow and obey.

f) The church from the very beginning met on the first day of the week.

Such church meetings are not any different then meetings we have today for various purposes in churches throughout the world. It does not make a day holy if you meet on Wednesday for some church function for example. Satan has blinded the eyes of these preachers and confused their understanding, as he blinded and confused Adam and Eve, and led them into transgression. The law of God is great, even as its Author is great. The mischief done by the professed believers in God who are not doers of the Word, can not be estimated. Their lawless, unholy principles corrupt many, leading them away from the path of obedience. In the Judgment it will be recognized as holy, just, and good in all its requirements. Those who transgress this law will find that they have a serious account to settle with God; for His claims are decisive. Those who decided to obey God's requirements, His Law is the Law of Liberty (James 2:12,13), to them mercy rejoices against judgment - for some were/are merciful and faithful.

g) That is when the church was born; the day of Pentecost was on the day after the Sabbath.

Right. Because the purpose of `Pentecost (Acts 2)' is not to keep the Sabbath holy but to memorialize a historical occurrence for God's people, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This occurred on the first day of the week, a working day, for those who received the Holy Spirit that day were going right after that into `all the world' to preach the everlasting gospel. The day before, on the Sabbath day, they could rest to be invigorated for the hard work ahead, to go and preach the gospel.

But which event do you want to be the reason for Sunday keeping? Do you keep Sunday because of the resurrection or because of Pentecost? This double talking, dear reader, shows how Sabbath breakers try to make things fit to uphold Sunday keeping at all costs.

h) The Sabbath was first given to the entire human race but man turned away from God, and God gave the Sabbath exclusively to Israel.

That is misleading and a blatant subterfuge of God's Word and intentions. We all know that while we are not born to the nation of Israel, we are baptized to be the spiritual Israel and that God's kingdom is a spiritual one and that is why Jesus did not fight with swords but with the Word of God. As the spiritual Israel we are bound to keep the laws pronounced, announced and made binding for we do not worship idols, we do want to honor our parents, do not kill, steal, commit adultery and be honest. Just the same as we keep those laws, we are to keep the Sabbath law. It is not a question of convenience. All the apostles preached for new converts to obey the Ten Commandment Law of God [900] which are a transcript of the character of God, his mercy and justice. God's law is the rule of His government. God's followers on earth are not to discard God by not keeping the fourth commandment, but embrace Him and all of His law; most of those who turned away from God before Sinai perished in the Flood! But there are wolves among us dressed in sheep clothing. It may be true that these `wolves' are not 100% bad, but may be just a little, and perhaps even innocently so since they, in turn, were educated by well meaning teachers or shall we say (tongue in cheek) `wolves (traditions)'? --- but that, scripture states, is all bad in the eyes of God since they lead his flock astray?' [950]

i) The covenant, the law, Israel broke. They failed miserably to keep it.

Mr. McGee frequently lump sums the Ten Commandment Law written by the finger of God on stone together with the handwritten ordinances written by Moses in a book [1000]. This he does ostensibly in order to get rid of the law. By being so ambiguous, not presenting all the data, he confuses his listeners into thinking that keeping God's law was a miserable failure for Israel when in fact, people who interpret the Bible in such a way are failing miserably. As we pointed out repeatedly, what some Christians really attempt to do when they interpret this subject the way Mr. McGee did over the years on public radio, is, they strife to get rid of the commandment to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. In one broadcast he states categorically the law was done away with and in another he complains about sin. Everyone knows that the law points out sin. So was it done away with or not? It was not. We have to make a choice, to obey God or man. We ought to obey God rather then man for the alternative to keeping the law is not grace but lawlessness.

For we read:

"The lawlessness that is in the world today is the result of preachers that have been preaching that there is no law."[1050]

j) Many Sunday keeping Christians may point to the blessings and godly leading in building congregations as proof that God blesses them and therefore, implicitly, their day of worship has the divine blessing. What should our reaction be on this account?

There are many true Christians in the churches all over the world. Only God knows who among them are his children. People who live up to the light, the understanding they have, will certainly be able to be blessed by God provided they feed on His Word and remain willing to be taught when they continually read of the Sabbath day and never of Sunday holiness. Christianity is a growth religion but Jesus was not a founder of a new religion, He is the Saviour who died for the sins of the world. A religion without the real Christ is not a Christian religion, Jh. 15:5. We are not to be stagnant like a lake with no in- and outlet. God's Holy Spirit moving in us points all Christians to more edifying truths to prepare us now to be equipped and knowledgable about things pertaining to God, His Kingdom, and our place in it. Like King David wrote, we are strangers in this world. We are travelers to a land above. Do not settle for a faith which is unwilling to learn the depths of the Word of God. Your ministers may not appreciate close inspection or questions on your doctrines. But we should question the foundations of our faith as a result of Bible study to prevent being deceived. In the Adventist church we are always aware of the need to expose discrepancies sneaking into the church. We are in a spiritual battle not only with the wits of other people but sometimes even with those who stood up out of our own ranks. The religion of your forefathers may have been something to imitate, but what are the words we read in our time of reflection?

Responsible for the particular difficulties for the Apostle Paul in Galatia, were those, who came out of Judaism to teach false doctrines. They had no desire for a gospel that called for obedience to the word, Jh. 3:3. They felt that a religion based on such a doctrine required too great a sacrifice, and they clung to their errors deceiving themselves and others.

How is it today? Today we have similar situations. In apostolic times Jews misled the new converts of the Apostle to exalt ceremonial law and reject Christ; today many professing Christians, under the pretense of honoring Christ, cast contempt on the moral law and teach that its precepts may be transgressed with impunity. Paul then encouraged every believer who seeks to be part of the kingdom of God to have a genuine, personal experience in the things of God. He admonishes his converts to display the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. He wanted them to return to their first love of the true gospel which upholds the Almighty God, Creator and Sustainer of the universe. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God who led Israel out of abject slavery, gave them His Law to guide them on the true and narrow path to the heavenly Canaan - and if they should fail, partake of His unfailing grace displayed in the life and death of Christ (Isa. 29:22-24) and return to the eternal truths proclaimed over the ages and documented in the Bible.

The Sabbath has been a perpetual question in the minds of many honest Bible reading people. That is why they may ask,

Why, if the Sabbath was so important, did God not give Adam and Eve a clear, direct command to keep it holy? . . . and,

Why does God in Genesis 1 mention "evening and morning" for every day except the Sabbath?

The interesting thing is that in these early Bible passages, we are told only, that God rested. Nowhere does it say that Adam and Eve rested.

Why is that?

The Real Intent of Creation Sabbath

Reading Genesis 1 makes it clear that the subject is God, not man. God did everything, man did nothing, clear up to Genesis 2:3. The kind of rest (, `shabath', Gen. 2:2,3) God speaks of, is ceasing from work, it does not refer to how God "rested". When a court of law rests its case, that kind of rest means it finished the presentation of its case, not how it rested, i.e. what it did during the rest. God's rest was more one like an artist would rest after finishing his piece of art. Please study the following scriptures to understand God's rest following creation week, Job 38:4-7; Isa. 40:28.

Now, in Exodus 31:17 we read that ". . . the Lord made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."

Here, for example, the word for rested is `shabath' but for refreshed it is , `nephesh' which also can mean `to take a breath.'

The interesting detail about these Hebrew words is, that we find in the 4th commandment still another word for rested. We read, ". . . for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth . . . and rested (, `nuach') the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed . . ." (Ex. 20:11; `nuach' means the experience of rest after work).

So, we ask, what does this all indicate or mean?

Famous scriptures where the word `nuach' is used are 1.Chr. 22:9; Prov. 29:17; Zeph. 3:17 and Esther 9:17,18. Each time it conveys the idea of rest in connection with celebrating on that day with feasting and gladness.

In other words, God and the first pair he created, stepped back and beheld what He had made on that first day before it was pronounced to be a holy day. Each minute of that day God had to be present before that 24 hour time span could be hallowed.

The lesson we learn from this is that God did not tell Adam and Eve to keep this first Sabbath holy until the day had ended. He did not bless the day until it was over.

So, why did God wait to hollow it until after the day was over?

We infer that He did not sanctify and bless the day when it first started because only the presence of God for its full duration can make a day holy. That is the meaning of Genesis 2:3 and Ex. 20:11. It says very clearly that God blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it because He had rested upon that day to enjoy His creation together with angels and man.

All the days from day one onward to that last day were God's week, not man's. That is the reason why God did not say anything about that Sabbath having an evening and morning because God has been resting from His work of creation since creation week - even till now, ". . . the works were finished from the foundation of the world", or as the NIV puts it, ". . . His work has been finished since the creation of the world.", Hebr. 4:3.

Although God ceased creating anything further after that week, He sustains and upholds what He has made. The "rest" in Hebrews 4 then means, for God, so to speak, the 7th day did not come to an end, because He is still resting from His works of creation. This "rest" will not come to an end until He once again re-creates the world in six days and rests the seventh after the Millennium, with all the redeemed watching Him do it at that time, Isa. 66:22,23; Rev. 21.

Creation week established the pattern of six days of work and one day of rest. This yardstick has been in effect since that time some 6000 years ago or close to it.

That is also the reason why God did not tell Adam and Eve to keep that first Sabbath holy after they were created the 6th day before, because He had not yet given them by example how to rest after six days of work. That is why our first parents were commanded by God to keep the second, rather than the first Sabbath holy, because the first was not yet holy until after the 24 hours were history. Only after God showed them by example could He ask them to keep His day holy, Ex. 20:8-11, - - - for after all man had to go to work with sweat on his brow since the time Adam sinned.

This holy day became such an important necessity for man to be able to lay aside the cares of the world, meditate upon His power and goodness, and contemplate His wonderful working together of all He made. Things we only rediscover in our era. We were never to forget His work of creation and sustaining. His power and awesome holiness. Thus, the Sabbath of the Lord God is not the Sabbath of the Pharisees. To try and transfer holiness to another day is impossible. Man did not create anything, God made it all. The only thing God made on the seventh day is, He made the Sabbath holy. Certainly, Christianity should not take the only thing away God made on His holy day. Man was made on the day before, so He could learn the first important lesson from His Creator God - how to keep the Sabbath holy. Sabbath keeping Christians do not have a patent on the Sabbath. It was made holy for all mankind, Isaiah 56:6,7. Sunday keeping is a result of man attempting to dethrone God by teaching that live evolved, for they sure do away with His memorial day of Creation, and claim Sunday is now the day to keep.

There is just one item which bears a closer look. This is the word "finished" which we found in Genesis 2:1. We saw that God's creation was finished. However, we also hear that some draw a parallel with the "finished" in Genesis 2, to the "finished" which Christ uttered on the cross. Does a parallel exist between "finished" in these two scriptures, where the first "finished" speaks of a finished creation and the second "finished" of a finished salvation? Consider this, when God spoke the first "finished" sin had not yet been committed by man. It was still future. So let us look if there is another "finished" to be found in the Bible which relates more closely to what Christ "finished" on the cross. We find it here:

"... when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death." James 1:15.

Sins of evilspeaking, unholy desires, envy and pride contaminate us and compromise our integrity. If we purpose not to commit sin, we must discontinue its very beginnings. Every emotion and desire must be held in subjection to reason and conscience. Every unholy thought must be instantly repelled. It means we go to our closet in order to pray in faith and with all our heart. Satan is watching to ensnare our feet. We must have help from above if we would escape his devices. Now we surely can see the parallel James draws with the type of work which Christ "finished" when he died on the cross. James' usage of the word "finished" reminds us of Daniel 9:27 where Daniel writes that "in the midst of the week", that last week of the 70 weeks, 490 years, that is, after ½ of that week was gone, those 3½ years of Christ's ministry, when He died - "in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblations to cease" and that is the only thing that the Bible says, was finished at the cross. When something ceases, it stops, it is finished. He made it possible for faithful believers, those who overcome, to not fall under this death sentence for Christ died for their sins, so they might live.

All the foreshadowing of the sacrificial services was now not needed anymore for the real sacrifice had taken place. The "finished" from creation week will not be finished again until God's people are with God in heaven and the earth is once more re-created as it was meant to be - which is the ultimate in salvation.

Making the resurrection of Jesus Christ the main event for Christians is frequently reiterated by the Bible Answer Men [1100]. While the resurrection of Jesus is important and reason to rejoice, to overstate its centrality at the expense of His death on the cross may have the effect of drawing away attention from that Friday afternoon. The Bible Answer Men ostensibly teach the resurrection with such vigor because it is their main reason for Sunday keeping completely ignoring the centrality of the Sabbath framed by the death of Christ on Friday and His resurrection on early Sunday morning, the first day of the new week. Therefore, the sacrificial death of Christ is the key event for all people on earth and emphasizes the Sabbath day - the memorial day of the creative power of God which would culminate again on Sunday morning. It was the key event for the faithful Israelites each time they brought their offering to the temple, it was the key event on that Friday just by the display of events and the crowd gathered at the foot of the cross. We realize that the highest place to which one can attain, in and of himself, is to kneel "in faith at the cross" and begin dying to `self' like Jesus did. "There at the foot of the cross, he may look up to the One who died to save him." Because the raising of a dead person is such a miracle, people are easily fascinated by it. But we may want to attempt to look at these events through God's eyes who gave His only Son. The resurrection is memorialized once in the life of a Christian - on the day of his/her baptism, but to be preached about often to lead sinners to Christ.

On public radio, a caller, member of one of the evangelical churches, asks the sincere question why the Sabbath is not being kept when it originated in Eden, was kept during pre and post Flood times by the patriarchs, throughout Jewish history, by Jesus, the disciples, apostles and the early church. The Bible Answers Men immediately began a reply bent on confusing the issues by mentioning the fact that during the time of Moses believers who broke the Sabbath, could be put to death for their tresspassing [1200], insinuating that Sabbath keeping would require such rigid code of ethics.[1250] But Bible students know, before the Law was given on Mt. Sinai, God taught Israel the important lesson which day of the week the Sabbath day was by which day of the week a double portion of manna could be collected [1300], namely on the sixth day (our Friday). This way God made it abundantly clear which day of the week was His Holy Sabbath Day. Israel collected manna for 40 years, six times every week but on the preparation day they collected a double portion, that is: 40 x 52 = 2080 times. There was no room for error. The "golden pot of manna" which had been placed inside the ark of the covenant (Hebr. 9:4; Ex. 16:33) was a testimony and reminder to the sacredness of the Sabbath.

In a recent broadcast, The Bible Answer Men state, `the law was done away with' but leave out the important distinction which law, leaving the caller unequipped to realize that he was talking about the sacrificial law and leaving the caller open to the suggestion that the Ten Laws might be included. This is a typical, Bible Answer Men explanation leaving the issue half explained. On other occasions on public radio they state unequivocally that the moral law, the 10 commandments, are still valid and to be kept but then become vague by referring to Christians are not to worship in isolation, ostensibly insinuating they should attend majority Sunday keeping churches, he may then continue we are not under Old Testament law, just moments after he just stated the opposite; he then talks about freedom from slavery, insinuating Sabbath keeping is slavery to the Old Testament law, a shadow, thereby again confusing moral from ceremonial law and on and on go the excuses to not have to face up to God's 4th commandment - a fair example how sin dulls once perception of sin and seeks excuses not to have to obey God in everything he requires. Instead of educating their listeners in obedience to God's law, are they not educating them in transgression? They look at God's Sabbath as if it is the Sabbath of the Pharisees. Why? Up until the Babylonian captivity, Israel of old is time and again spoken of as trampling upon God's holy Sabbath. After the captivity and up until the days of Jesus, Israel broke the Sabbath differently, now they made the Sabbath a heavy burden, a yoke of bondage. That is the reason why the Christian world today does not want to have anything to do with the Sabbath, because they think the Sabbath of the Pharisees is the Sabbath of the Lord. Israel of old and the Israel of the time of Jesus were breaking God's holy day in different ways, they did not keep Sabbath to honor the Creator. Those who disrespect the Sabbath show no respect for the Creator, for the Sabbath is the Sign of the Creator God of the heaven and the earth; in disrespecting they trample upon the only true God. - Because like Nadab and Abihu, they use strange fire upon the altar of the Lord, Lev. 9:23,24; 10:1-5. God wanted them to use genuine, dedicated fire, like he wants us to keep the genuine day holy. Why did they use strange fire? Yes, because they were drunk with wine, Lev. 10:9,10; Jer. 22:13-17. The wine of false doctrine, Rev. 17:2. If keeping the Bible Sabbath today requires belief in capital punishment Old Testament style for breaking it, as is implied by the Bible Answer men, then this would require the same sentence for Sabbath breaking also for blasphemy, Lev. 24:15-16. (Serious Sunday keepers continually ask themselves, how they should keep their day. The Pope advertises man made laws like those of the pharisees to restrict what can or can not be done on his day.) - Actually, contempt and breaking any of God's laws results in death, for the wages of sin is death. But we are not living in a God centered theocracy today, 2.Cor. 10:4-5. Biblical laws are not the laws of the land but in the spiritual realm they are. We are trying to point out these things to honest truth seekers.

In a more recent broadcast the BAM acknowledged our stand on the civil and ceremonial law as ending at the time when Jesus died on the cross. They also support the moral law, but then almost insurreptitiously insert a line saying, but as to the Sabbath Jesus is our Sabbath rest completely ignoring that we ought to be followers and fellow workers of Christ (being of the spiritual seed of Abraham, Gal. 3:29), not keep a day apart from him, one he never worshipped on, a view we explain also in this topic and elsewhere.

Please: We believe the Bible Answer Men are not always completely wrong, just mainly on a couple or three issues, the law when it is explained to make null and void the 4th commandment, the state of the dead and perhaps on the priestly ministry of Jesus in the Heavenly Sanctuary and the prophecies associated with that. But we also remember that the Bible says, he who does not gather, scatters, Gal. 6:7. Suffice it to say at this point, Jesus Sabbath rest does not absolve God's followers to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. (For a quick review click here, here and here.) There is this deep hatred to God's Sabbath day which we are trying to direct to loving God's plan.

The opponents of Sabbath keeping claim they do not want to go back to keeping the letters of the law - but that should mean to those laws pertaining to ceremonies and things having to do with the offering of sacrifices - not the Decalogue. During the 3 ½ year ministry of Jesus among his people, he recalled the past by saying, "But from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:8; So did John1.John 2:7) Peoples hard heartedness, their stubborn refusal to obey God, was always the problem among professed people of God. They thought God is way up there, we are way down here, we do what we want to do. But sin brought death into the world. Refusing to keep God's holy Sabbath is a sin. That means, no willful Sabbath breakers will be in heaven. God taught the lesson on which day was his holy day over 2000 times, for 40 years, once each week. With such frequent, vivid demonstrations on the importance of the Sabbath day, how can we ignore it? God has not come down from heaven once again to Mt. Sinai to publish a new set of Ten Laws! This `Relic from Eden' stakes out God's time keeping. It influences us against our own inclinations and forces us to consider God's way of life. Sabbath keeping is like paying tithe. It shows our accountability to a power outside of ourselves. It trains us to lay aside self for its duration and only regard the thoughts of God. Satan relentlessly fought and fights to defeat the Reformation and nearly has succeeded entirely as we try to show to help us rectify the doctrines of the God of heaven and abandon those of Rome. Protestant churches lack a sense of legitimacy. That is why they turn increasingly to Rome. By keeping the seventh day Sabbath holy we are saying that the false Sabbath is a lie. We are demonstrating that those who indulge in first day precepts are sinning against God.[1400]

The Bible Answers Men are on dangerous grounds with God for Sunday keeping has nothing to do with Christianity but much with paganism's worship of the sun god. All one needs to do to check this out, is, to read up on it in a reputable Encyclopedia (may be one of those of older dates when the sources were still more straightforward). Sunday keeping began long after the Bible had been written and all the apostles had died. The memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is baptism, not Sunday. Isaiah in his chapter 66:22-23 tells us the redeemed from all ages who worship the God of Heaven will keep the seventh day Sabbath in the City of God. Therefore, we ought to strive to understand the Bible on this subject. In the Book of Revelation we find the word `overcometh (KJV)' 8 times. It means obey. God looks for us to obey the day he gave the world for it was made to honor Him as the Creator God. For some it is hard to change the centuries old habit of Sunday keeping for the millennia old habit of Sabbath observance. We do it gladly. The Bible Answer Men like to answer questions from people who do not know all the ins and outs on this subject and that of the error of the immortality of the soul in particular.

See also Champions of conditional immortality to realize the errors of the Bible Answer Men!

Some Christian teachers argue that the ten commandments were done away with at the cross and now we are under grace. But when you question them about specific commandments, you find that they actually believe that God commands them to have no other gods before Him and to refrain from idol worship. They believe blasphemy is unlawful, disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, stealing, deception and covetousness - which are all laws known before Sinai. The only one of the Ten Laws which they truly wish to reject is the fourth commandment, which asks men to set aside the seventh day of the week as holy to God.

When this is pointed out, these teachers state that Christ gave instruction in the New Testament for the keeping of the other nine commandments. They would have people believe that Christ did away with the ten commandments ("nailed to the cross", later Armenianism) and then reissued nine of them for the sole purpose of doing away with the Sabbath. -- This is another one of Satan's arguments to get people to disobey God's clear command. What they do in effect is this, they remove the sin detector (God's law) and as a consequence have no knowledge of their sinful condition and therefore cannot cooperate with the High Priest in heaven and know that they need a saviour from certain sins, Gal. 2:16. The Bible teaches that commandment keeping is not the basis of salvation but it is the condition of salvation.

The reasoning behind all of the other commandments can be rationally understood: man derives benefits from respect for God, from others not trying to murder him, steal his spouse and possessions, etc. This one law, the 4th commandment, is different they claim. Man cannot see any benefit to himself from exalting this specific day of the week above the rest. Accordingly, the only reason one would choose to keep the 7th day holy instead of another day of the week is because God said to keep it. This day, like nothing else among the institutions of faith in the Almighty God, distinguished Israel from surrounding nations. Its observance designated them as His worshipers. Keeping the Sabbath is a token (or seal) of separation from idolatry, to instead connect with the true God. By divine fiat a particular portion of time was sanctified and hallowed, but in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy. Through faith they must become partakers of the righteousness of Christ. When the command was given to Israel, "Remember the the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," the Lord also said to them, "You, Israel, shall be holy men unto Me." (Ex. 20:8; 22:31). Only this way could the Sabbath distinguish Israel as the worshipers of God. And that is why Jesus stated that keeping this day holy is of imperishable obligation for all mankind, "Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law", much less an entire commandment.

Those, who hold that Christ abolished the law, teach, that He broke the Sabbath and justified His disciples in doing the same, are really taking the stance of the Pharisees. In this they contradict the testimony of Jesus Christ Himself, who declared, "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10 Neither the Saviour nor His followers broke the law of the Sabbath.

Just as in the beginning God arbitrarily chose one tree and forbade Adam and Eve to eat of it to test their obedience [1440], so God has arbitrarily chosen one day to test the obedience of their descendants. How God's people feel toward the Sabbath is an indicator how they feel toward God. The 4th commandment is the only commandment a person can break and still be fully accepted as a good person in any conservative society. Thus those who willfully choose to disobey this one law show that they are not being obedient to any of God's commands; they are guilty of disobeying all commandments, James 2:10. For you see, it is not the greatness of the act of disobedience that constitutes sin, but the fact of variance from God's expressed will in the least particular, for this shows that there is yet communion between the soul and sin. We cannot disregard one word, however trifling it may seem to us, and be safe.

The 430 years from Galatians 3:17 reach from the year when the promise was given to Abraham at age 75. Abraham died at the age of 175, Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 yrs old. Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 years old. Joseph was born when Jacob was 91 yrs old. Moses was born 64 years after the death of Joseph at 110 years of age. [These 64 yrs are calculated from 1445 BC for the Mt. Sinai event which was 480 years before the temple was built in Jerusalem in 965 BC. 1445+430=1875 BC (Promise to Abraham)] And Moses was 80 years old when he received the Ten Commandments.

So we have 25+60+91+110+64+80=430 years

Joseph was 17 when sold to Egypt. Jacob came to Egypt in the 2nd year of the famine. Jacob died 147 yrs old.

147-17=130 Jacob lived 17 years in Egypt, last 5 yrs of famine
130- 9=121 Jacob came to Egypt in 2nd year of famine, 7 yrs plenty + 2 yrs famine
121-30= 91 Joseph elevated by pharaoh at age 30,
Jacob was 91 yrs old when Joseph was born.

Sometime after the death of Joseph in 1589 BC slavery began and lasted for about 125 years or less depending if it is true that the three pharaoh's named Sesostris (I-III) were really one and the same king.

Appendix C

Doesn't Deut. 5:15 downplay the importance of the seal of God in the 4th commandment?

"And remember that wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day."

What we have here is a new reason for keeping the Sabbath day. This was taking Israel close to their most recent experiences. They knew already that God was the creator of everything in the cosmos. The Sabbath is not only a provisional day to commemorate the orderliness in nature, the Sabbath also has significance in our history of salvation. The people of Israel and the mixed multitude among them, by keeping the Sabbath, were always reminded that they were a people rescued from slavery. This is an added (Gal. 3:19; Dt. 5:22) reason to keep this day on top of the joy to have a day of physical rest they so much desired while being in bondage. In like manner they were reminded to also give their own servants and livestock a rest day each week and let them feel this blessed time span.

As such we should not construe this passage to cancel what God wrote on the tablets, it is just a slight shift of emphasize by a concerned Moses. We ought to realize that Deuteronomy chapter 5 contains basically a sermon Moses preached on the Law of God, that is all it is, it is not a representation of the Lord proclaiming His Law. While Moses was a man of God, he was not God and cannot issue a binding law like the 10 commandments.

But doesn't the Bible talk about the Sabbath merely as a day of rest which will come later? We read:

"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. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: ... For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." Hebrews 4:4-6, 8-11.

The question is: "Is the `remaining' rest a divinely ordained Sabbath rest after the Sunday was being kept for many years? Did God institute such a shift from Sabbath worship to Sunday and back again to Sabbath? - just so mainstream Christianity does not have to feel that they follow a wrong gospel? It sounds like Sunday keepers want God to be wrong, so they can be right.

The holy Sabbath institution is at the same time a memorial to creation and a sign of sanctification, a sign of the believer's rest from his own works of sin, and his entrance into the rest of soul which Jesus promises to those who come to Him. Such a rest one can experience in a small way while keeping Sabbath on earth now, but will be fully experienced when all the works of sin will have been cast away and God's kingdom is re-established throughout His creation. The Sabbath is a central event on what happened when Jesus died on the cross for he died on Friday, rested in the grave during the Sabbath hours [1500], and rose again on the first day of the week - thus centralizing or framing God's holy day for all time to come.

What we find here is, what happened on calvary was prefigured during creation week.

How so?

After Jesus died, He rested in the grave, Lk. 23:54. The question we must ask then is this, `When did Jesus finish the work of His redemption?

He finished that work on that Friday, when He died on the cross and He called out, `It is finished.' Friday, preparation day, is the sixth day of the week.

How does it read in Genesis?

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Gen. 2:1-3.

Thus, according to God's eternal purposes, creation is reflected in redemption. a) His creation Sabbath is the same Sabbath which followed the day He died because Jesus is the Creator. b) It makes God's Sabbath day the sign, the signature, of Jesus the Creator-Redeemer. c) the Sabbath is important because Jesus comes soon the Second Time. -- But before the Second Coming, the seven plagues are being poured out, Rev.16. God's mercy has been rejected by that time, and is then withdrawn. Soon after that the first six plagues fall in some parts of the world. They are the reverse of creation. The blood the wicked spilled they must drink, as the sea and fresh water sources turn into blood killing most, or even all animal life. Sometime then, the sun shines with excessive heat and darkness.

vegetation, birds, fish, land animals, people - all perish, Rev. 16:3-9.

heavenly bodies and islands are moved out of their places and darkness prevails, Rev. 6:14; 16:10.

The context of Jeremiah describes the earth as it appears at the end of time. - A time in which the earth appears to be exactly like it was before creation. For God will recreate a new earth after the fires melted the old, with all it contained - the mighty buildings, the steel, concrete, missiles and bombs, satellites and planets, 2.Peter 3:7,10.

Following His death, Jesus in the grave and the women at home, rested during the Sabbath hours according to the commandment. He did not die to change the day He sanctified to another day. The cross and resurrection are not days He sanctified - to be kept every week, they are days to be preached about - about the hope, to bring souls to Christ, to be in tune with heaven's Sabbath keeping before the Almighty Creator God.

"... the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for thou hast testified of me ... when Paul perceived ... he cried out in the council ... of the hope and resurrection of the dead ... And have hope toward God ... that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." Acts 23:11, 6; 24:15.

In these chapters referenced, Paul has nothing to say in his preaching about Christ risen from the dead that Sabbath worship was now transferred to keep the day of the resurrection holy. In fact, even though he had opportunity to say so, in all his writings there can be found no such explicit statement. Even if he would have said such a thing, Paul or any apostle is not God and cannot make binding changes of any laws except proclaim what scripture teaches (as for example the laws relating to sacrifices).

The following abbreviated scripture describes a scene of worship in the heavenly courts. Please read it in full to get a feel for the atmosphere prevailing in the realm the redeemed will some day be a part of. We are to imitate such worship attitude already now while still on earth on God's holy day.

After this I looked, and ... a door was opened in heaven ... a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. ... Before the throne ... are the seven Spirits of God. ... and ... a sea of glass like unto crystal. ... And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. ... And ... four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev. 4: 1-11.

"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:11.

God created it all. Everything. No exceptions. We are to practice seventh day Sabbath keeping while on earth - that truly will make you feel at home in heaven.

Appendix D

Contrasting the Two Laws

Was spoken by God. Deuteronomy 4:12,13
Was written by God on tables of stone." Exodus 24:12
Was written "with the finger of God" on stone. Exodus 31:18

Was placed in the ark. Exodus 40:20; 1.Kings 8:9; Hebrew 9:4
Is "perfect". Psalms 19:7
Is to "stand fast for ever and ever." Psalm 111:7,8
Was not destroyed by Christ. Matthew 5:17
Was to be magnified by Christ. Isaiah 42:21

Gives knowledge of sin. Romans 3:20 7:7;

Was spoken by Moses. Leviticus 1:1-3
Was "the handwriting of ordinances". Colossians 2:14
Was written by Moses in a book. Deut. 31:24; 2.Chron. 35:12
Was placed in the side of the ark. Deuteronomy 31:24-26
"Made nothing perfect". Hebrew 7:19
Was nailed to the cross. Colossians 2:14 [1580]
Was abolished by Christ. Ephesians 2:15
Was taken out of the way by Christ. Colossians 2:14

Was instituted in consequence of sin. Leviticus 3:7

The Dispensationless Covenant of Salvation explained by the "Seed"

The question, `Was there forgivenss of sin under the Old Covenant?' is answered by reference to God's covenant with Abraham which also goes back to Adam. The Sinaitic covenant had no provision for forgiveness of sin, that was already available for every believer through the Adamic (Gen. 3:15)/ Abrahamic (Gen. 15:1-15-18) covenant. The Sinaitic Law Covenant did not exist alone (or by itself) and would a) convict of sin by reading the law, b) drive the sinner to seek salvation by faith in the `Seed' (Gen. 3:15; 15:5) which is Christ, and c) provide promised guidance in godly living only by faith in that "seed", Jesus Christ (John 7:42; Romans 1:3; Galatians 3:19). This means being without Christ the old Sinaitic or provisional, temporary covenant had no value. The second covenant had value only through Christ.

Therefore, these two covenants run parallel with each other, showing that there was always only one plan of salvation and there is no need for dispensations of any kind.

In the time of Christ, we must recognize, the Jews rejected the Saviour because their idea of the Sinaitic covenant was that they, as Abraham's seed (Jh. 8:33), meant they, the Hebrew people, were God's unqualified elected people (Isa. 45:4). Therefore, they rejected Christ when He claimed to be the Mediator of God's covenant (Mk. 12:1,10,12; Heb. 12:24). In this Jewish view, the matter of the heart condition and faith toward Christ was secondary to God's election giving the Jewish view a predestinarian flavor.

The Sabbath as a Creation Ordinance

A number of Sunday keeping clergy who present their viewpoints on television are occasionally asked about the Sabbath. Their usual answer is that the Sabbath was given man as a rest day and thus set aside for the special purpose of allowing man to recover from the weekly toil. This is truly a blessed and needed function of the Sabbath day. But the Sabbath is more than a day of rest, it is also a memorial day, the crowning day of creation week.

The detractors argument is, if the Sabbath was to be kept since creation why doesn't it say that in Genesis 2:2-3? What could be the answer to that?

1. Before the giving of the law none of the 10 commandments were published on a divinely written tablet as they were after Sinai. As we know, the Book of Genesis is the `Toledoth' Book of Origins, a collection of recorded family histories comprising the Book of Genesis. The law was written in their heart, for Abraham certainly knew the commandments of the Lord, Genesis 26:5, that it is even mentioned means he kept all ten of them, including the Sabbath day. That certainly is the intent of Genesis 26:5. Genesis makes it clear that Abraham implicitly obeyed God's commands, including circumcision, Gen. 21:4; Acts 7:8. The `law' of circumcision, however, was not part of the Ten Commandments, it was more of a disease prevention (hygienic) law and showed one being part of God's chosen people of Israel. As that circumcision was a sign of the forgiveness of sins through the righteousness of Christ in the covenant. It was given to Abraham after he thought he could work out God's promise through Ishmael who was born after the flesh, Phil. 3:3. As the Apostle Paul says, Abraham's "faith was counted unto him for righteousness" (Gen 15:6) before and not after he was circumcised, Gen. 17:10,11, an insight which is how Paul proved that justification is by faith alone, Rom. 4.

Thus we learn that Ishmael and Isaac represent two systems of salvation which still exist today. It lets us know that unbelief is naturally in us; faith is not. That Abraham and Sara had to wait 25 years for `the son according to the promise' was designed by God so they would exhaust all their natural resources along with every idea and attempt to help God to keep His promise. In effect Abraham said that God says, `I will do my part, if you will do your part.' - But that is not what God says or did. God made a one sided agreement with man. The account of Hagar and Ishmael as opposed to Sara and Isaac, is a representation of the enmity inside each one of us has between the flesh and the spirit, Gal. 5:17. These relationships illustrate that salvation does not come by how we perform. We are not saved through our performance. God will exhaust our own resources, the resources of our household, of our church headquarter. He wants us to realize that believing in the strength of our own flesh leads to bondage and slavery. He wants us to know our true condition, our own nothingness - for there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. It is all of God.

Isaac and Jerusalem symbolize the New, Eternal Covenant. Jesus mediates His blessings from heaven, Hebr. 9:15,16. The Bible shows that Satan does not want us to enjoy God's promise of eternal life, the joy he had to leave. Abraham's life shows us that flesh will never be able to yield to the spirit, 1.Peter 4:2-4; 2.Tim. 3:12. So what should we do? We find the answer in Gal. 4:30; Gen 16. We must "cast out the bond woman." The life according to our human flesh, and decide to live by the Spirit. Why? For these two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, are still the center pieces of the conflicts inside each one of us, even today - for as long as we follow our flesh instead of the Spirit, Gal. 4:22-31; Rom. 8:12,13; 1Thess. 5:19-24; Gal. 5:1. Only one of these sons, the one born by faith alone, receives God's promises.

The life of King Hezekiah illustrates the same conflict. The Lord had blessed him and one day, when the Babylonians came to learn how God had saved the king from sickness and how the God of Israel had made the sun stand still, Hezekiah's heart was filled with fleshly pride. Instead of glorifying God and speaking of His tender love for His people, Hezekiah showed these foreigners all the treasures in the king's house and in the temple. He opened up the warehouses like Solomon did when Queen Sheba visited him in Jerusalem (1.Kings 10:1-6; 942 BC). About one hundred years after Hezekiah showed the representatives of these foreign nations the gold and silver (2.Kings 20:12-21, 686 BC), they came in the days of Zedekiah and took it all, 2.Kings 25:1-11; Jer. 52:17-23 (586 BC).

When Christians have visitors and all they do is show their nice house, their new cars and things, they act the same way as Solomon and Hezekiah did. Why not glorify God and how He has blessed, and how He gives power and peace and thrills us every day by His wonderful goodness? Why not be spiritually minded (Rom. 8:6) and point to His wonderful preservation of health and hope instead? Unless we learn to do that, we are no better than these ancient kings. Dwelling on our achievements which are of no lasting worth, we give Satan `squatter's rights' in our hearts, 1.Thess. 5:22-24; Gal. 5:1.

After the cross, the Jews having forfeited their `son-ship', circumcision was not anymore required, 1.Cor. 7:18,19. The Jews had made salvation as if it was a human thing, resulting solely from human power. The Jews at Antioch exalted the sign of circumcision without faith above faith in Christ without any outward sign. That type of preaching was an assault upon the true gospel and a denial of Christ. - The question if God's covenant with Abraham was unilateral and unconditional, may be answered in Genesis 15 where God says, "This (Ishmael) shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir." (Gen. 15:4). That means Abraham had to act on faith since he was a hundred and Sarah 90 years of age. The condition for Abraham was to exercise faith that in his case he would have an heir by Sarah. In addition he had to do something what a man must do to have a child. It seems the Abrahamic covenant was not entirely unilateral, nor was it entirely unconditional.
2. The Creator God resting on the Sabbath is a universal fact, an example instituted by God Himself, for all people of all time to "remember", just as the other commandments were known in their cultures.
3. Keeping the Sabbath holy was traced to the creation of the earth by God Himself in the fourth commandment, "... in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ..." Ex. 20:11. Clearly Moses cannot be referenced for instituting something new, not known before his time. By direct example God showed Adam how to keep the Sabbath holy so that man could experience personally how he, as the embodiment of mankind, was to keep the Sabbath in the future. It appears that God showed Adam the wonderful working together of the natural world, the heavens with its bodies, the sea with its life and soon Adam was inspired to name the animals, "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would name them." Gen. 2:19.
4. Jesus in a settling statement on this question states, "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath." Mark 2:27. In the original Greek [1700] the word "ginomai (made)" is an allusion to the original "making" of the Sabbath, and the word "anthropos (man)" suggests its human function. Therefore, in order to establish the human and universal value of the Sabbath, Jesus reverts to its very origin right after the creation of this holy day. This is so, because for Jesus, the law of the beginning stands supreme, "Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives (or for that matter the Sabbath): but from the beginning it was not so." Matth. 19:8.
5. Or as `Answers in Genesis' said it in Summer of 2007, "Christians who believe in an old earth (billions of years) need to come to grips with the real nature of the god of an old earth" it is not the loving God of the Bible.[AiG] Just within a day or two of this statement they wrote that Sunday is the Lord's day. We at CIAS wrote, `Neither is the God of the Lord's Day (Mt. 12:8) the god of the Sun-day.' Well, we pray and hope that in God's own time, these sincere Christians will also realize that the Creator's Sabbath is still His holy day and they will accept it. Man's traditions are deeply laid, and it takes the Holy Spirit to prepare hearts for accepting all of God's truths. We cannot afford to belong to a church or a religion that uses the name Jesus and neglects His power to save from sin, but we appreciate their work in showing how creation explains our world very much. In fact we have translated some of their articles and use their information on the science portion of the topic.

Summary: The consistent witness of the Bible is that the Sabbath is an ordinance since Creation Week for the benefit of humanity. If the Sabbath had been kept as God intended, it would have served as a great safeguard against infidelity and evolution, Jeremiah 10:11-12; 2.Peter 3:18. Christians should follow nothing which represents `hardness of heart'. Faithful believers in the God of the Bible have their roots in the Sabbath, from Creation to Eternity.

This aspect, some clergy all too often neglect to bring out. Instead, after talking about Sabbath as a day of rest, they like to go to Colossians 2:14-17 presenting this verse as if it refers to the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments. But that is not the case. Colossians 2 speaks about the sabbath laws of the ceremonial law which over the years could fall on any day of the week for it also speaks of `circumcision', `the handwriting of ordinances', `holy days' and `new moons'. These are all anchors pertaining to the by Moses handwritten book of laws (as opposed to the Ten Laws written by God on tables of stone) pertaining to civil laws (inheritance, slavery, servitude, theft, etc., Ps. 37:21; Prov. 28:24), health laws and laws pertaining to sacrifices. The contents of the passage in Colossians talks about things pertaining especially to the sanctuary services for they were a shadow of the real sacrifice, Jesus Christ. The verses in Colossians 2 do not speak of the seventh day Sabbath of the Ten Commandment law of God for they quote from Moses handwritten law. The moral law of God is different then the ceremonial law as we show above from the Bible.[1810] God's judgments came upon Israel because they turned away from keeping God's moral law. Not keeping all ten of God's moral law is still sin today, it is rebellion against the government of God. It represents the placing of traditions over the Word of God. Such clergy are according to Revelation 4 and 5 still in the theology of the `holy' department of the sanctuary (which is as good as far as it goes) whereas they ought to be in the theology of the Most Holy, Rev. 11:19.

"We see by experience that in our own human strength resolutions and purposes are of no avail. Must we then give up our determined efforts? No.

Although our experience testifies that we cannot possibly do this work ourselves, help has been laid up on one who is mighty to do it for us. But the only way we can secure the help of God is to put ourselves wholly in his hand and trust him to work for us."

Do you catch on where the effort lies? There is one who is mighty to do it for us, but we must cooperate.

"As we lay hold of Him by faith, he does the work. The believer can only trust."

This means, since we have abiding faith already, our trust is not merely ascent or lazy trust, we cooperate with God.

Appendix E

Similarities between the two covenants

1. Both are called covenants
2. Both were ratified with blood
3. Both were made concerning the law of God
4. Both were made with the people of God
5. Both were established upon promises

Dissimilarities between the covenants

"For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." Isaiah 14:13-15.

"Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them. The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple. I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments. Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name. Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me. Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes. Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law." Psalm 119:129-136.

"... why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things I say?" Luke 6:46.

It is good for us to remember, when God asks a question, he is not looking for information. He is trying to get us to stop and think.

What happens to someone who had a call from God to do something but then heeds the call from a false prophet is described in 1.Kings chapter 13. Forsaking his call from God in favor of the call of the lying, false prophet led to his death by the lions along the way of his erroneous journey. This is the experience which Ananias and Sapphira had who were told by God's faithful servant Peter:

"Then said Peter unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightaway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost (the breath of life)." Acts 5:9,10.

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Ex. 20:16.

None of us should take that route. Instead we should seek the special blessing pronounced on God's holy Sabbath day. He calls it "... my holy day." - Isaiah 58:13-14. [2000] The obvious truth is, if you are new to religion, when you sit down and read the Bible like you would read any other book, you start with Genesis 1 and by the time you get to Exodus 20, you will know what the Law of God says. You are intelligent and know what laws are and if your conscience is still sensitive you will keep God's seventh day Sabbath holy. -- This experience has happened to many people. Do not fight your God given conscience when the Bible is plain enough on this question. When you read the Bible with attention it is like Jesus is walking near you like he did as the Messiah. You can cry out, `God, have mercy on me,' when you discover in Exodus 20 that some things need to be made right and you are on the way to salvation if you trust in Jesus from then on out.

The Bible words for "covenant"

Hebrew - `berith' covenant, league, being in league
Greek - `diatheke' covenant, arrangement

For a graphic comparison of the structure of covenants in the Near East see Kenneth A, Kitchen, `The Patriarchal Age - Myth or History' in BAR, Mar/Apr 1995, p. 48-(54,55)-88. The basic structure of covenants in the Patriarchal Age for example: 1) Mari & Leilan - Curses, Stipulations, Oath, Witnesses; 2) for the Patriarchs - Curses, Stipulations, Oath, Witnesses; 3) Later (conventional) Hittite - Blessing, Curses, Witnesses, Deposit, Stipulations, Prologue, Title; 4) Exodus, Deuteronomy, Joshua - Curses, Blessing, Witnesses, Deposit, Stipulations (Ex. 20:3-17; chapts. 21-23, 25-31, 35; Lev. 1-7, 11-25; Deut. 4, 5-11, 12-26;), Preamble/Prologue (Ex. 20:1,2; Deut. 1:1-5; 1:6-3:29;), Title.

God's abhorrence of sun worship is illustrated vividly in the Bible. God showed his prophet in his `abominations chapter' how four abominations, one greater than the one before, are viewed by God:

"Then said he unto me, Son of man, lift up thine eyes now the way toward the north. So I lifted up mine eyes the way toward the north, and behold northward at the gate of the altar this image of jealousy in the entry.
1. He said furthermore unto me, Son of man, seest thou what they do? [even] the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary? but turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations.
2. And he brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, behold a hole in the wall. Then said he unto me, Son of man, dig now in the wall: and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door. And he said unto me, Go in, and behold the wicked abominations that they do here. So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about. And there stood before them seventy men of the ancients of the house of Israel, and in the midst of them stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, with every man his censer in his hand; and a thick cloud of incense went up. Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The Lord seeth us not; the Lord hath forsaken the earth.
3. He said also unto me, Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations that they do. Then he brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house which was toward the north; and, behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. Then said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man?
4. Turn thee yet again, and thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east." Ezekiel 8:5-16.

Then we read, "Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here?" Ex. 8:17.

Here God shows His prophet, as an illustration for future generations, that the worst abomination one can hang on to has to do with sun worship. While Sunday keepers today may not worship the physical sun, they nevertheless honor the day which was set aside for that purpose for most of recorded history and therefore mistakenly condone this non-biblical day as supreme. God is saying, the sun is an object I created. I created the sun not as an object of worship to replace worshipping the Creator God. He says, it is idolatry to worship anything besides the only true Creator God Himself. Converting the `sun's day' into a day of worship is idolatry no matter what excuse is used. Ancient pagans like the modern ones knew/ know this when they appear each first day Easter Sunday or vernal equinox to watch the rising of the sun. We are to glorify God only and not shift days, teachings, differences between true and false worship around as we see fit. - - Some people say, Who cares what people believe!' So the question is, `Is what we believe important, and if so, why?' - - What is the answer to that? What we believe is important because we live what we believe! Therefore, if you believe that Sabbath is not the day to keep holy, will that affect the way you live? If you believe that the dead are not dead, will that affect you if a deceased person wants to talk to you? If you believe that Jesus is coming in a rapture before the time of the tribulation, will that affect how you live? - Will you be preparing for the tribulation? If you believe you can eat everything because prayer will sanctify it, would you then become a vegetarian? - - Therefore, believing the truth is important because it affects our life style and behavior. The Bible teaches that false doctrines are like poison. Poison can kill, so can false doctrines. Read Rev. 21:27. That is why we read, " For the mystery of iniquity doth already work . . . And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2. Thess. 2:7-12.

One last comment: If a majority or large group of Protestant- Evangelical churches would accept and be faithful to God's Law, including His Sabbath day, this writer believes, time could be cut short and Jesus could come.

With regard to the exposition of this Commandment, the faithful are carefully to be taught how it agrees with, and how it differs from the others, in order that they may understand why we observe and keep holy not Saturday but Sunday.

Note: When the pope refers to the 3rd commandment, he means the 4th as published in the Scriptures. The only institution which calls the 4th commandment the 3rd, is the Catholic Church. That is so, because they combined the 1st and 2nd, and split the 10th into two separate laws in order to facilitate the adoration of images and representations of their own making.

"The point of difference is evident. The other Commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of the natural law, obligatory at all times and unalterable. Hence, after the abrogation of the Law of Moses, all the Commandments contained in the two tables are observed by Christians, not indeed because their observance is commanded by Moses, but because they are in conformity with nature which dictates obedience to them."

"This Commandment about the observance of the Sabbath, on the other hand, considered as to the time appointed for its fulfillment, is not fixed and unalterable, but susceptible of change, and belongs not to the moral, but the ceremonial law. Neither is it a principle of the natural law; we are not instructed by nature to give external worship to God on that day, rather than on any other. And in fact the Sabbath was kept holy only from the time of the liberation of the people of Israel from the bondage of Pharaoh. The type of bondage which bents our thoughts and behavior away from God's kingdom. The observance of the Sabbath was to be abrogated at the same time as the other Hebrew rites and ceremonies, that is, at the death of Christ. Having been, as it were, images which foreshadowed the light and the truth, these ceremonies were to disappear at the coming of that light and truth, which is Jesus Christ. Hence St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Galatians, when reproving the observers of the Mosaic rites, says: You observe days and months and times and years; I am afraid of you lest perhaps I have laboured in vain amongst you, Gal. 4:10. And he writes to the same effect to the Colossians, Col. 2:16." [End of quote of this Papal discourse]

The biblical fourth, papal third, commandment is different than the other, not derivable as of common benefit to man on a natural basis. Even gentile societies can in a natural way evolve laws which would outlaw theft, murder, adultery and covetousness. The sovereign God planted in the center of His law, which is the eternal rule for all of His creation written in their heart, to live in happiness and security, His holy Sabbath day. It is the only one having to do with a portion of time set aside as holy time. God several times selected this one law as a test of loyalty to His government, Jer. 17; Eze. 20. Israel of old rebelled against this one law right at the beginning. God had made one provision in His Ten Laws which contains no apparent, natural reason to observe it, but nevertheless set it up as His sign of supreme Creator sovereignty. If they obey it, they obey Me. If they reject it, they reject Me. God made it to be a sign whose authority man will honor, if he will obey His law or the substitute.(Job 36:11-12; Ps. 18:44.) Rejecting even one means such a man breaks all Ten.

In the course of time after sin occurred, God knew, there will arise men who will claim to be religious, but who in reality are leaning to their own understanding. Many of them will reject the story of the God of creation, substituting their own theories on how things came into existence. `Even though they were not present when I created the world, some of them will reject Me.' God says in effect, `Rejecting the story of creation they will naturally reject My Memorial of Creation. When it comes to a conflict of My findings against theirs, they will reject Mine and establish their presupposed ideas, Gen. 6:5; 8:21,22; Matth. 15:19; Acts 13:44. They will not accept that which they cannot reason out on faith alone. Their own mind is the final source of authority.' (Dan. 7:25) So God said, `I will give them a test which will show who these are, and whether they will obey My law, Ex. 13:9; 31;13,17. This test is the keeping of My Sabbath day.'

While the Bible does not implicitly demonstrate such thoughts in the Creator's mind as here suggested, He did set a tree of the knowledge of good and evil even in His Ten Commandments, Mt. 19:16,17; Rev. 12:17.

Even though God taught them not to collect manna on the 7th day, some went out on Sabbath morning trying to find some.

The Sabbath has a vital bearing on the atonement. It was with reference to the transgression of the law that the blood was ministered in the sanctuary service. It was when one had done "somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done ...." that he needed atonement, Leviticus 4:27.

The queston is, `Does the transgression of the Sabbath commandment constitute "somewhat" against any of the commandments?

We read in the Bible, any sin which Israel or the stranger among them might do ignorantly could be forgiven. "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 sojournes among them." Numbers 15:22-26,29. But if a man sinned willfully, he was treated differently. "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. Because He has despised the word of the Lord, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." Num. 15:30-31. Then follows the example of the man carrying sticks, gathering sticks for firewood on a Sabbath day and how he was dealt with under this law. There was one law for him. He had sinned presumptuously.

It is one thing for men on earth lightly to think to change the day of the Sabbath. It is another thing for them to touch the eternal law of God, which is the foundation of His throne in heaven above. The commandments constitute the reason and ground of the atonement.[2080] A copy of this law was kept in the sacred ark in the most holy place in the sanctuary on earth, a place which none else but the high priest could ever enter. 1.Chronicles 13:9-10 relates how a man was immediately smitten when he touched the ark. What would have happened had he put his hand into the ark and attempted to change God's handwriting on the tables? Yet men impiously consider such a possibility! They forget God's holiness and the sacredness of the law, not to mention the impossibility of changing what is engraved in stone by God's own finger.

The next scriptures illustrate the popes unauthorized claims which God's prophets spoke of in Daniel 7:8,11,20,25 and in Revelation 13:1-18. Notice no applicable Bible quotes are given which allow this leader to do away with God's seventh day Sabbath law and relegate it to the ceremonial laws, only misinterpreted texts from Galatians and Colossians are referenced. His reference to Gal. 4:10 shows that he does not see how this verse talks about "days, and months, and times, and years" showing Paul is making references to ceremonial holidays which are not bound to weekly cycles. He is in this verse not talking about the seventh day of the week which had no ceremonial connotations but only a memorial creation week function. In effect he has put his hand into the sacred ark intending to change God's law and so those who honor God's holy Sabbath are a thorn in his side.

A reader states, "Why all this law talk? Don't you know the Bibles says, `Avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain."? (Titus 3:9)

Yes. We always have to be on guard not to fall for superfluous words and doctrinal nit picking. However, here again there must be a balance. We must defend the Word of God too and correct and show what God's Word says. As long as we do that in the right spirit, we are not using the Word of God in vain. We realize, a time of trouble is before us, and every honest soul who has had the light of truth will as a consequence daily take a stand for Christ. Those who believe the truth are to be newly converted every day. That is why we read, "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones" Isaiah 57:15.

On the text from Titus 3, we may say this: The kinds of doctrinal problems the Apostle Paul encountered repeatedly was that of these "... there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision. .. Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth." (Tit. 1:10). These were often those of Samaria, the followers of Simon Magus.

On the other hand, Paul also exhorts in this letter to Titus to ". . . adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God that brings salvation, has appeared to all men" (in Jesus Christ of course), Tit. 2:10,11. He then continues saying, "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world." Paul is saying, that followers of the true God are teachable. They deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Where are those defined? We could make a lengthy disposition that the 10 commandments teach that. We are to worship the Creator God and ought not to covet. - In Titus 3:1 Paul says to be obedient and experience "the washing of regeneration" (3:5) and to believe "a faithful saying . . . and to maintain good works" (V.8).

It ought to be clear from this that the kind of explanations we engage in this article, are not those Paul warns against in Tit. 3:9.

At last, let us say that the Bible says the terms or conditions of the New Covenant are:

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith 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."

"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Hebrews 8:10; 10:16.

Are you willing to let God accomplish in your life what we just read in Hebrews 8 and 10? If not, do you realize God will not be your God and you won't be among God's people? Will you let the seal of God into your heart and mind? If not, aren't you really saying you reject the New Covenant? What do you think the results of that would be?

"He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination." Proverbs 28:9.

When is the last time you heard your preacher quote this scripture when talking about prayer? Therefore, we must resist and conquer inclination, and obey the voice of conscience without parleying or compromising, so that God's promptings to reach us will not cease. But parents know that obedience is easier if a child would but listen. Let us learn to control our will and impulse when it comes to faith in God. It requires earnest attention from us to distinguish the voice which speaks from God as compared to all the other things we hear every day. While we focused a lot on keeping God's law let us hasten to state we keep it as a way of life, not as a posted rule on a wall. We ought to keep God's law because we have become one with Christ in life and purpose. We glorify Christ, not ourselves. All we can do is to permit Christ to love and to save us to the uttermost. In our possession of Him and His possession of us, faith and hope work continually toward the Christlike ideal. Do you accept the terms of the New Covenant?

Notes & References
(Please notice that some references are lenghty.)

[0030] The Canon of the Holy Bible was decided upon under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and on the human side, on the consideration if the books contained therein testify to the truth, not if they were written by some eloquent preacher.

[0050] Is the Tenach (OT) of equal authority as the `Bit ha dashah' (NT)? Please consider 2.Tim. 3:16-17 "All scripture is given by inspiration ..."; 2.Peter 1:21, it comes all from the same source; "... prophecy came not in old times by the will of men ..."; 1. Peter 1:9-11 "... prophets have inquired and searched diligently ... the ... manner of the time of the Spirit of Christ ..."; Luke 24:27,44 "... beginning at Moses and the prophets, he expounded ... all things must be fulfilled ...". Why most churches today do not have the gift of prophecy.

[0052] The dual threat on these two divinely ordained institutions carries clearly some serious theological implications (Genesis 2:2-3, 23;3:12). Is the desecration of God's Sabbath Memorial day and the Institution of Marriage something man can simply discard on a whim or change in any way as he likes? As the truth found in the Word of God is interconnected with all doctrines taught, disobeying one truth, affects in some way other truths. This way, disobeying the institution of God's Holy Sabbath Day, affects His other institution, that of marriage. If Christians insist on disobeying God in one law, that very well makes them responsible, over time, if others feel free to disobey it all. But do Christians disobey God's law? Well, read the law and see yourself. No lawyer is needed to know, most of Christianity disobeys God's law as published in His Word. [Yes, we know that some think we evolved from slime and therefore do not have to obey God. Well, friend, don't be so sure about that. Life comes only from life - guaranteed - life comes from God, cats beget cats and dogs have dogs according to their kind. Evolution is a clever, yet misleading theory, if you really look into it.]
It is not by coincident that together with the 4th commandment, the 5th charging God's people to `Honour thy father and mother . . ." is of equal importance especially in our days. It is God's law which holds the whole world responsible to fulfill these laws exactly. Our sins have damaged this law of God to the utmost and we must repent of our transgressions before the Lord comes.

[0070] Some may say, "We don't know what to believe. There are the Catholics, and they claim to be the only true church; there are the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists and they all claim to be in the right; the Christians Scientists are also certain and sure that all others are wrong, and that they, and they only, have the true light; and then there are the Adventists, and they are sure they are right, and we cannot tell which or what is right." So it seems that many are in confusion and uncertainty in regard to Christian doctrine. How can such a condition be resolved? The Lord tells us in His Word to come out of Babylon, or confusion. Rev. 18: 4. Many find themselves in the place that the Lord tells them to come out of. He doesn't want us to be in such a sad condition. Those must come out of Babylon now. But they may ask, "Yes, but how are we to get out? That's the thing." It depends upon how badly you want to get out whether you succeed or not. We read, "If any man will do His will, he will know of the doctrine." John 7: 17. Therefore, we can see, the way is pointed out quite clearly; only do the will of God, and your uncertainty will be gone, and you will know of the doctrine. But some may continue and say, "O, yes, but what is the will of God?"
"Here is at least a part of God's will: "I will, therefore, that men pray everywhere." 1.Tim. 2: 8. Do you pray to God? If not, then you have not even begun to do God's will. Is it any wonder that you are in darkness? As fast as God's will is made known to you, walk in obedience to it; and your "... path will be as the path of the just, that shineth more and more even unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18. That means as fast as you can accept the plain Word and come out of Babylon.

[0072] There is no element of weakness in the law; the weakness is in the flesh. A preacher once gave two studies titled - "The Sinlessness of Christ's Nature." First he spoke on "God's Way of Saving Lost Men." What was said, can best be summarized as diabolical heresy. Afterwards there was an extended Question and Answer session. As I listened I heard men and women of the laity bring forth strong arguments from the Bible and Spirit of Prophecy which left the preacher confounded, and even at one point completely confused in how he replied. The point a sister made from the Bible, which completely confused and routed the minister is worth noting. On presenting his heresy on the Incarnation, he had used Romans 8:3-4, seeking to emphasize that "likeness" meant only "appearance" in relationship to "sinful flesh (Gr. sarx)". But he ignored Philippians 2:6-8 in his presentation. So this unnamed sister asked if he would consider the meaning of "likeness" in the phrase - "likeness of men" - as found in the book of Philippians. [The word is the same in the Greek in both texts, omoima = likeness, image.] She ably pointed out that if likeness means only "appearance", then Christ was not a real man, but only appeared to be so. But this is Docetism - a well known heresy of the early church - and the preacher wanted to avoid this. But he trapped himself with a docetic incarnation, and did not know how to escape! So, how should he have presented the subject? Paul is not giving a formal exposition of the doctrine of Incarnation or the person of Christ. He is exhorting the Philippians to possess unselfishness which will cause each one to "esteem others better than themselves." (Phil. 2:4-8) Illustrating the virtues he wants the Philippians to develop, the apostle presents the Saviour's life story in outline form. Christ left his glory as God and took upon Himself humanity. He filled the lowly offices, and died on the cross so men might be saved. But under these circumstances, as Paul confirms in Col. 1:19 and 2:9, Jesus was still God. Yet, He, who took Abraham's nature (Hebr. 2:16-18), is a stumbling stone. In His time on earth some saw Him as too human, too loving, too far out of common people's way of life - so they rejected Him as many reject Him today. While many today emphasize Christ's divine nature, they slight His humanity. But Jesus, born of Mary, became as human as we are, so that we may become as obedient as He is.

[0073] `Saul', son of Kish, was of the tribe of Benjamin, so was Saul of Tarsus, later called `Paul ("small").' Since Saul of Tarsus was of Jewish parents who were Roman citizens, he also was Roman citizen. Since his father was a Pharisee, Saul also was educated among them by Gamaliel, Acts 22:3. His father being a Pharisee, he and Saul may have been members of the Sanhedrin also.

[0074] As worded in the `Pentecostal Bible Study Course,' Vol. 1, Copyright E. Rohn, 1966, Lesson 5, p. 254. We have to remember that the 7th day Sabbath was made before sin entered our world. The 7th day Sabbath is not, therefore, one of those things that foreshadow redemption from sin. When the ceremonial sabbaths were made they were carefully distinguished from the creation Sabbath of the Lord, Lev. 23:27-37,38. - "These were the feasts of the Lord ... holy convocations ... to offer an offering ... Besides the sabbaths of the Lord - namely the weekly Sabbath. - The Sabbath of the Lord does not owe its existence to the handwriting of ordinances, but is found in the very bosom of that law which Jesus came not to destroy. The abrogation of the ceremonial law could not, therefore, abolish the Sabbath of the 4th commandment. - The perpetuity of the Sabbath in the new earth is not easily reconciled with the idea that it was blotted out and nailed to our Lord's cross as one of those things that were contrary to man. The authority of the 4th commandment is definitely recognized after the Saviour's crucifixion, Luk. 23:54-56. This scripture is the most remarkable case for Sabbath observance in the whole Bible. It comes for us today at a crucial juncture implanted by the omniscient God - the first Sabbath of the New Testament (New Covenant) week. We must also remember that the "royal law", which is unabolished, embodies the ten commandments, and consequently embraces and enforces the Sabbath of the Lord, James 2:8-12; Mt. 5:17-19; Rom. 3:19,31.

[0075] Murdock, using the Syriac New Testament, translated it as "aim." The `aim' of the law is to point out sin and bring sinners to Jesus to ask for forgiveness.

[0080] John Wesley, Works, Vol. 3, sermon 35.

[0090] What does the Apostle Paul mean by the phrase, "under the law"? Some (Bible Answer Men) have said, `Being under the law leads to sin.' Actually, according to the New Testament, it seems more natural to say that sinning leads to being under the law, rather than that being under the law leads to sinning. Bible Answer Men also said, `Being under grace leads to holiness.' Such a statement contradicts itself, for if we don't have to obey the law, why would the grace of God lead to holiness? Obedience to God's instructions presents no conflict with grace. It is the person who obeys who is under grace, not the criminal. That is why Paul calls his fellow Christians `saints'. Holiness and grace love to go together. Both are necessary, but this God's grace is available for all. If some believe in `just grace' is for us, it is like believing in mere fractions of Bible texts compared to the whole picture (the fraction: Rom. 3:24. The whole: Rom. 3:19-31).

[0095] But doesn't it say in Romans 3:10 that, "There is none righteous, no, not one"? Certainly it does. So we ask, `What brought on that situation?' Lets read on, "there is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good; no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips. Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." The eye of Him who sees the present condition of things has portrayed the state of things existing in the world and the church today. Psalms 14:1-4. And what has brought about this terrible condition? It is the making void of the law of God. Made void not by God but by the continual sinning of disbelieving man because faith and disobedience in the same person are incompatible. Therefore, no matter how much the law-breaker professes faith, the fact that he is a law-breaker shows that he has no faith.

[0097] Charles R. Erdman, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, p. 77.

[0100] When it comes to doctrines the Bible declares that both, God has doctrines (1.Timothy 6:1), and the devil has his doctrines (1.Timothy 4:1). We are to be alert not to fall for the doctrines of devils. Therefore, let not the saying be true amongst us which says, `a person converted against his will is of the same opinion still.'

[0102] EGW, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 97.

[0110] These two systems are: (a) the ceremonial system which was made up of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and His priesthood, and (b) the ritual law, with its sacrifices and ordinances, which was to be performed by the Hebrews until type met antitype in the death of Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. - Another view of these two covenants may be shown by realizing that under (1) the old covenant, the one to which Israel said, `We will do it,' it can be used by Satan to convince us that we have to reach a certain standard, while (2) the new covenant is designed for God to elevate us to His standard as we walk with Him, Romans 8:2-4.
If we walk with our mind concentrated on our flesh, we miss what heaven has to offer. This can happen in Christian life style type messages, the negative emotional standards in the church. We must guard us from religion which eliminates the law, the sin detector, because it prevents them being able to correct the course they take before they wreck themselves, 1.Cor. 15:50.

[0112] Here are the Bible verses which talk about how the Ten Commandment law was written by the finger of God on tablets of stone [Exodus 31:18; Deut 5:22; 9:9-11,15; 10:4]. Next we read how the other civil, ceremonial, health laws were written by Moses in a book [Deut. 17:18; 31:24] which was then placed in a side pocket of the ark of the covenant. [Deut. 31:26]. Unfortunately for themselves, some comment on the covenant in a critical way, calling it old in a sense of superfluous. Not at all, it is old because it is lasting, immutable and the divinely ordained way of a relationship with God. While the covenant is such, Israel misunderstood its function just like Christians do today. Baptism and the Lord's supper are not signs of covenant keeping as much as they are memorials to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Covenant keeping has to do with being faithful to God, not profaning Jesus' death on the cross by breaking His law, but be done with besetting sins because we saw what our own sins did to Christ.

[0113] While we may look at the difference in time, there are different conditions between the two covenants. These are illustrated in the life of Ishmael and Isaac.

[0114] We find in Gal. 3:19 for the word "added" in the Greek the word `prosetede' from `prostithemi' (4369), translated according to Strong's opinion as, "add, again, give more, increase, lay unto, proceed further, speak to any more'. The preposition of direction `pros' (4314) means, `forward, toward.' The ending `tithemi' (5087) means `to place, advise, appoint, bow, commit, conceive, give. - It appears that the meaning of `spoken' or `emphasized' is entirely within these terms. See also here and here, `Signs', August 24, 1891 par. 10. - - In Galatians chapter 3, the law is llargely seen as the mirror (schoolmaster) which shows us our need for Christ, thus addressing the relationship between law and promise. The law drives us to Christ who fulfills the promise God made for those seeking Him. The issue is not, Which law? But, What jurisdiction? Law or Spirit? Galatians 3 does deny Levitical jurisdiction (circumcision) as a necessary or required entry rite into Christ. Paul does not, however, say the law in question was done away! Faith in the promise simply transfers the believer from custodial bondage under a condemning law (schoolmaster) to freedom in the Spirit's custody based upon promise and sealed by Christ's blood. - In Roman times slaves were often the `schoolmaster' of the children of the wealthy. They were responsible unto death for the education and upbringing of the children.
In Romans 5:20, "Moreover the law entered . . .", we find for the word "entered" the Greek word `pareiseldon' from `pareiserchomai' (3922) meaning `to come alongside, come in prively, enter.'

[0115] The Pharisees took offense at the words, "The truth shall make you free." "We be Abraham's seed," they said, "and were never in bondage to any man; how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?" (Jh. 8:33) Jesus answered: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever; but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (Jh. 8:34-36)
Paul referencing John's discourse basically says: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." (Romans 8:1-4). He continues, "I know that ye are Abraham's seed, but ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you. . . . If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a Man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God; this did not Abraham." Christ says that lineal connection is superseded by spiritual connection. The Jews were indeed Abraham's seed according to the flesh, but they manifested a spirit very different from the spirit of righteous Abraham. By their unbelief and persistent rejection of truth they disinherited themselves. Abraham obeyed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. By their works the Jews showed that they bore no real relationship to Abraham. We see then that there is no talk here of abolishing covenants but change one's relationship to it if possible.

[0120] The Hebrew for `to make a covenant' is `likhrot brit' to "cut a covenant" or "to make a pact or contract", a phrase which also occurs in a document from Qatna see W.F. Albright, The Hebrew Expression for `Making A Covenant' in Pre-Israelite Documents in BASOR, Feb. 1951, p. 21-22.; Revue d'Assyriologie, XLIII (1949), pp. 1-40, 137-215; XLIV (1950), pp. 105-122.
God's covenant with His people is presented from the time of Adam (Gen. 3:15), Noah (Gen. 8;9), to Abraham (Gen. 15;17; 22), to Moses/Israel (Ex. 19ff), to King David (2.Samuel 7:8-17; Psalm 89:3-4, 28-36). These are the Adamic, God's covenant with Noah, Abraham, Israel and the Davidic covenant (2.Sam. 7:8-10), the latter of which, it appears, was held in awe by the kings of Israel thinking it was an eternally binding covenant for kings, no matter how evil they became. Like today, people have always sought ways to be saved without having to leave sin behind. The whole Bible teaches a common sense faith. The kings wanted to see the Davidic covenant in isolation from all what was taught before. That is never a safe way to look upon things having to do with God, faith and salvation.

[0122] While the covenant law was generally understood, a) as all the laws of Israel, b) as the Decalogue, or in Hebrew, the `Devarim' commandments, c) this law had a special place in the sanctuary, as emphasized by the golden cherubim angels, who symbolically gazed at the law. Why? Because the 10 laws represent the character of God. When Moses went up to commune with God on Mt. Sinai:
What showed that the Ten Laws are a transcript of the very character of God?
This is reflected in the words: "I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." Exodus 33:18-23. The word `glory' signifies character, the latter word of which is not found in scripture. In Exodus chapter 34 we read in effect that God wrote out His Character, His Glory, on stone, when He wrote His Name. That is why we read in Revelation 14, "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." (Revelation 14:1) The law is written in their forehead, in their mind - that is, the New Covenant promise we read about in Deuteronomy 6, Jeremiah 33 and Hebrews 8. In Deuteronomy 6:1-9 we read the phrases, "Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:
That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God (be in awe, reverence,admiration), to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." Deuteronomy 6:1-9.
If it was thus written in the mind of old Israel, how can we think for a moment that, God cancelled all this emphasis on how His Character is to be displayed in the lives of the believers? Not to obey the law which bears the seal of God, the fourth commandment, which gives His name: the Lord, his title, `Maker', and his realm, `the earth - everything,' when He states "the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea ..." (Ex. 20:11) has the practical consequence, if professed followers of Jesus Christ disobey the law he gave his people, that in disobeying they misrepresent His character. God distinguishes here between His Commandments and the statutes and judgments. The statutes, the ceremonial laws and laws pertaining to ancient Israel's sacrificial and perhaps some civil laws were done away with (Eph. 2:15), not the Ten Commandments in the middle of which is imbedded the `Seal of God'. Eph. 2:16-17. We may say that the cross, representing the substitutionary death Jesus died, put Jesus in the grave over the Sabbath hours. No more evil of Satan's devising could inflict His body here now in a state of rest. Jesus had been preaching peace (v. 16) to His audiences whenever he attended a synagogue's Sabbath services.
Breaking these Ten Commandments made blood sacrifices necessary as a forward looking token that the Saviour would become the man lamb and conquer sin. A list of differences between the moral and the ceremonial law is found here.

[0125] Such a view of having already a place in the kingdom of God by virtue of being born a Jew is also found in the Christian church today. In Christian circles we hear a message which assures its adherents that by virtue of simply having accepted Jesus Christ (in baptism), a new convert's place in heaven is sure. There is really no difference between the Jewish and such Christians view. What is wrong with such a gospel? Those who chose to accept Jesus and follow Him, thereafter must maintain that relationship, not look back to their old life and cooperate with God and obey the Master's calling. With respect to Gal. 3:24, while the law served as a "schoolmaster" or `correctional officer' of the prison system, it locked up the offender. At the same time, the law drives the sinner to Jesus Christ for he discovered that he was loved with an unchangable, everlasting love by Him. But still, the law kept him locked up. The sinner clings in faith to Christ, the embodiment of the perfect law of God. Now he can walk from then on out in righteousness and perfect liberty of conscience knowing he is forgiven of God. The former sinner is now under the grace of God. He learned his lesson and when freed from jail, will walk in the faith of Jesus Christ. For him God's law is not anymore a "schoolmaster" or `correctional officer', it represents now guard rails to keep him safe from falling. Inasmuch as the law is the "schoolmaster", so is the ceremonial law a "schoolmaster". Both bring us to Christ. So we may read this scripture as, "Before believing in Christ, we were imprisoned under the guardianship of the law until we excercised faith in Him. Wherefore the law was our monitor to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But having believed in Him, we are released from that imprisonment." {T.H. Starbuck, The `added (spoken)' law and the schoolmaster are the same.} One by seeing our need for Christ by looking in the mirror, the other by seeing in the lamb on the altar the cross, Christ who put our sins upon His shoulder, not some offended god, man has to appease. Looking up on Mt. Sinai, with our spiritual eye we may see the Cross of Christ towering in flame and smoky, billowing clouds, reaching with one arm back to the paradise of the first Eden, and with the other to the Eden of the future as He invites us to come to Him for forgiveness of the sins that put Him on the Cross. [Ellen White, see R&H, Sept. 27, 1881, par. 9,19, `The Exalted Position of the Law of God.'; Frank Washburn, The Law and Gospel of 2.Cor.3, ST 26, 6 (Feb. 14, 1900), p. 99.] Everyone has to go through such an experience in his Christian life. It is important to see the gospel, rather than only the law, in Galatians.
Part of the gospel is this, that salvation by obedience to the law is impossible, but salvation without obedience is also just as impossible. EGW declared that we are justified only by faith in the "merits" of Christ, but such faith will never excuse transgression. (ST, July 18, 1878)
While the Spirit of God works continually for His people, without our cooperation and small efforts to obey God He will not do His part. We must reciprocate, take steps toward Him and cling in trust to Him and His Holy Spirit will empower us so God in us can keep the law for us if we only let Him in. When reading the Bible, and you read about issues unclear to you, research them. There is no need to run right away and get someone else's interpretation. Pray about it and compare scripture with scripture. Get a Concordance or Bible CD-Rom which allows word searches and you will be able to find parallel verses helping you to understand a subject from different angles.

[0126] The theme of the first tablet, "... love the Lord thy God ..." we find in Deuteronomy 6:4,5 and the second, and "... the love of our neighbor ..." in Leviticus 19:18. For more click here.

[0130] The Biblical phrase `love is the fulfillment' of the law is important to remember and understand correctly. Christians are reminded to love God and our fellow man. Christians love Jesus Christ for who he is, creator and savior, but also for what he has done. That Jesus was also involved in the creation account is made clear in "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." John 17:5. Jesus is the Word, He is very God. He was there before His creation, John 1:1-3. Lazarus was raised from the dead. He was a Sabbath keeper and, we may say, Lazarus did not speak against obedience to the transcript of God's character. Those who speak against it, the Bible says, will never see life eternal, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2.Peter 2:9. Explanation: Unjust men are also compared to deceitful men, law breakers, Ps. 43:1; Prov. 11:7; 28:8; 29:27; Zeph. 3:5; Lk. 16:10; 18:6.

[0135] Vernon McGee in a radio program from March 2007.

[0140] We can think of the `fall' two different ways, the `splash' and the `cascading' fall. The `splash' version of the fall says that one sweeping moment of disaster the fall came when Adam, our first father, sinned, Isaiah 43:27. But there have been a succession of falls, the cascading effect. With every sin the human race falls lower. Each generation is born more damaged than the one preceding. Our liabilities received due to the disobedience of Adam are stronger in every new born child. Forces latent within our own disordered nature await, ready to rise from within and provoke to self-indulgence. We begin life inclined to evil. When light flashes into the soul, some who appear to be most fully given to sin will become successful workers for just such sinners as they themselves once were. Through faith in Christ some will rise to high places of service and be entrusted with responsibilities in the work of saving souls. They see where their own weakness lies, they realize the depravity of their nature. They know the strength of sin (1.Cor. 15:56), the power of evil habit. They realize their inability to overcome without the help of Christ. We are like Peter who lost his walking on water (floating) ability. Maybe because he took his eyes off of Jesus, maybe he was paying too much attention to the waves, maybe because he looked at his ship-bound buddies and thought too much of himself. - Even though these reasons may be reasonable – they are not true. He sank because he had the tendency to sink in water. Peter does not float (walk on water) – wood does (without the walking). Peter's body mass doesn't allow for it. "The only thing that kept him walking on top of the sea was the power of Christ momentarily exercised counteracting the gravitational power to pull him down."
We may liken it to sin, we cannot float above sin. We sink in it … we even live in it. There is only one way to oppose the gravitational pull. That one way is: Christ, our sole perfection, our sole righteousness. The righteousness of Christ that saves is not the beginning of a new self-righteousness, but the perpetual end of it.
Another picture of our situation is that of God's ladder as the only one which could reach down into our dark pit to provide an escape. If that ladder failed by a single step we would be lost forever. Jesus took our nature and overcame, so that we, through taking His nature, might overcome. [Portions after L.Kirkpatrick, Cleanse and Close, p. 7-8.]

[0145] Like in the business world we are to work with prudence and consideration, so also in the spiritual life. We ought not to rush into acceptance of the Gospel without any fixed stability of purpose. If we receive Jesus Christ, we must receive all the conditions, all the requirements. What are they? 1. We accept by faith Christ's substitutionary sacrifice on Calvary's cross for us (Jh. 3:15). 2. We surrender completely, repent, and confess our sins to God (Acts 2:38; 1.Jh.1:9; 2.Chr.7:14). 3. We believe that God forgives our individual sins. But man must be emptied of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus, (Ps.51:17). 4. We personally experience the gift of justification by faith by being born again (Ez.36:26: Ps.51:2,7,10). Therefore, it is true, justification is not a theology but an experience with Christ in faith. With God, forgiveness is not merely a judicial act, it is not only forgiveness for sin, but reclaiming from sin. 5. No one is in Christ, unless Christ is in him. For it is true that, if it is impossible to keep the commandments, then no one is in Christ, (1.Jh. 3:24). We receive Christ by faith and abide in Christ through a continual, loving relationship of trust and obedience. As to this fifth grand truth: As long as we maintain our justification and our sanctification then our eternal life has already begun as we live today (1.Jh.5:11-13;1.Thess.5:16-18). This fifth condition results in our sanctification.
To clarify, Matthew 7 teaches that Jesus does not accept false professors of faith. Today, we live in a time when the idea of unconditional acceptance is sweeping through Christendom. We hear of `unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness.' What do we read in Matthew? "Not everyone who says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied (or preached) in they name? ... And then I will profess to them, `I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.'" Mt. 7:21-23. A reason many do not like this message of unconditional salvation is because we are so eager to comfort people who are weighed down with guilt. When we try to help these people, the enemy steps in and says, `Let me tell you how to bring comfort,' and he urges us to leave behind the truth of God's Word and present only an ear pleasing message. We must realize that there is comfort and peace in the Truth but not in falsehood. We must remember it is not our own worthiness which commends us to God, it is only Christ in us by the Spirit through His Word which saves us. We must understand something about the love of God for us. We should never sit and say, Christ has done all that is necessary to save me. Why? Because Christ's sacrifice was not made to minister to sin. He will not plead for us if we do not care for finding out and living a life separated from known sin. A conditionless religion makes the cross of Christ to no effect. Therefore we must know the basic conditions under which salvation occurs. 1) Recognize and acknowledge our guilt (Lk. 18:10-14.; 2) Obey God's commands (Mt. 7:21).; 3) Separate ourselves from the worldliness of the world (2.Cor. 6:17) but not its salvation seeking people.; 4) We must practice self-denial and bear our cross, Mk. 10:21.

[0149] We may say that the gospel was as full and complete in the days of Abraham as it has ever been or will be. No addition to it or change in its provisions or conditions could possibly be made after God's oath to Abraham. Why then was the law added (also means spoken, commanded, emphasized; See here)? It, namely the 10 commandments, was added/spoken because of transgression, Ex. 20:1; Gal. 3:19; Cmp. Dt.5:22; Hebr. 12:19, so that "... the offense might abound" (Rom. 5:20). God proclaimed (spoke) the law by displaying His power and glory because of Israel's unbelief, they were in danger of losing the promised inheritance. They did not believe like Abraham did and "... whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). But the inheritance was promised "through the righteousness of faith." Rom. 4:13. For this reason the unbelieving Jews could not receive it. -- We see then that the Law was spoken to them word for word to convince the people that they had no righteousness necessary for the possession of the inheritance promised to Abraham. That is so, because, although righteousness does not come by the law, it must be "Witnessed by the law" Rom. 3:21. Ultimately this inheritance does not become reality until after the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, "... till the seed should come ...". Why not until the Second Coming? For God's people, the seed of Abraham, will not "... possess the gate of his enemies (enemies as well as Satan) ..." (Gen. 22:17) until then, Rev. 19:11-21. Ever since Adam the Law of God was written in the heart of His people. This God wanted to do something for Israel had they believed. When they disbelieved, yet still professed to be heirs of the promise, it was necessary to show them in the most marked manner that their unbelief was sin. For this reason we can say, that the Law was spoken because of transgression, or, saying it differently, because of the unbelief of the people. -- Israel was so full of self-confidence and unbelief as shown by their murmuring (Ex. 16:7,8) against God's leading and by their assumption that they were able to do anything that God required, that God had to show them their true situation. The choice was always, in the one case it is what we can do. In the other case it is what the Spirit of God can do. The Jews in the days of Jesus had the same spirit as Israel at Mt. Sinai who asked, "What must we do, to be doing the work of God?" (Joh. 6:28) Old Israel answered together, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." Ex. 19:8. What did the Israel of the time of Jesus say? They said, "We will not have this man to reign over us." (Lk. 19:14) Old Israel, and actually Jesus period Israel as well as Christian period `Israel', were [are] ignorant of God's righteousness, instead they thought that they could establish their own righteousness as an equivalent, Rom. 10:3. Unless they saw their sin, they could not apply to themselves the promise given so long ago to Adam and Abraham. Thus the necessity of the speaking of the law. Christians today should know, just like the Bible says, "I will put My laws in their minds, and write them in their hearts" (Hebr. 8:10), law and promise (promises of grace, national greatness) reside in the same place in the believer and there is no conflict, Phil. 3:3. In Paul's writings the question is not whether the law should be kept. The only question is, `How shall it be kept.' Are we to keep it by our own doing, so that God owes us something? Or is it to be God working in us according to His good pleasure and we respond and keep His law? Of course the latter is the true motivation. Ultimately, the law, covenant and all what is said about them we must see today in the light of how God will cleanse or stop the steady stream of sins flowing from the people and accumulating in the heavenly sanctuary so they can be considered perfect and ready to meet the Bridegroom. --- Dear reader, since we speak in this article much on the Sabbath, re-read this reference and substitute the word `Sabbath' each time the word `law' appears. After all God's holy day, His sign of allegiance, is part of His Law.

[0156] Sitting at the feet of the Lord. How is that done in practice? It means taking time out each day to read His letter to us. That is not an option. It is the only way we can know Him and stay in touch. While the cares of this world demand our attention, we must not neglect paying attention to the Lord. Many of us have religion, but religion does not save us. We must have Christ in our heart. Having Christ in our heart means, we must shout His gospel from the mountain tops. But the reading of His Word, if looked upon as a burden, does no good. Only joyful reading is rightful motivation. People all around us are headed for judgment day. Without Christ in their heart they are lost, Eph. 4:18. We must learn to spread the Word of God as our most important call in our daily living so as many as would accept Him can be saved, John 3:16,36.

[0158] Could God ask Israel to keep the 10 Commandments while they were in Egypt? No! - Why no? Because Israel had to serve another master, pharaoh, while they were in Egypt. But after the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, then God could say, now you are mine. Now you can serve me in freedom. What did Israel have to do in Egypt for God to deliver them? Did God say, `Keep my commandments and then I deliver you?' No! God knows no one can serve two masters. First He delivered Israel from bondage before He could marry Israel and say, `Now you are mine,' because He loved His people. Pharaoh was a tyrant, he was a despot. In a way he was a wife beater (God's people or church). God led them to where they could serve Him in peace and safety - but with a stipulation to which Israel agreed, to keep the commandments as a token for their continual, future safety. But Israel saw the 10 laws as a list of regulations they had to measure up to. Their physical status was changed but not their hearts. The difference is the place where the law of God is written. Our problem is not with the sins we did, but with the sin we have in our heart. It does no good to focus on our actions, we must focus on the heart where they come from. We must change the fountain, then the stream will be pure. We cannot with a bad heart keep a good law. We must first take care of our sick heart, our heart disease. How can we do that? That is what is all important. God doesn't do bypass or valve surgeries. God only does total heart replacements. Like the root of all evil is not money in itself, but rather the love of money, so we must love God first - be released from bondage - so we can serve just one master. No one can serve two masters. What is love? See Romans 13:8b; 1.Jh. 2:4; 5:3. - Mankind is in such bondage, bound by Satan, that man has to be persuaded to accepted the salvation that was accomplished by Jesus. Therefore it takes the sacrifice of Jesus plus the continuous prompting and guiding of the Holy Spirit to save man.

[0170] While some have considered these punishments to be too harsh, we must remember that they were never meant to be inflicted on a people keeping the Law of God. There is nothing more final and irrevocable as the second death which those die who turn away from God because of unbelief. That is an unnecessary death. Hardness of heart can lead to it.

[0174] Some denomination may occasionally be heard to state that the God of the OT was not always so demanding about keeping His law, particularly the Sabbath. They imply that after creation was such a time until about the Exodus. Their proof is that our first parents, when Adam was unable to father female offspring, one of the boys had to have sexual relations with his mother in order to begin populating the earth. If anyone hears that, what should be the Bible answer? We should read the scripture where it says, "And in the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters." Gen. 5:4. What is going on in the mind of those who have trouble believing the Word of God? - We ought to show when distrust of God and unbelief fills human hearts, it will destroy many people for eternity. We may say it this way, we study the Bible because we love the Lord Jesus who gave His life for us on Calvary, and we want to serve Him with our whole heart. But the way to do it is at times not really clear in our minds, and we find an inner turmoil going on inside of us. We may even become utterly confused. It may interest you to hear that millions have had the same experience before you. - But you see, we have in our fallen nature a powerful element that constantly seeks to separate us from our Creator, and will surely destroy us unless God's Holy Spirit breaks that distrust and unbelief. Without that help we are losers. To verify that this is so, all we need to do is check what the Bible tells us about those who will miss out on eternal life. We read of Cain, he killed his brother because Abel's trust was a constant rebuke to him. Think of the multitudes of Antedeluvians who perished in the Flood. Or of the descendants of Noah whose distrust and unbelief led them to build the Tower of Babel. By the time God called Abraham out of Ur, such distrust and unbelief had spread throughout the human race. Remember the Israelites who for 40 years wandered in the wilderness because their unbelief shut them out from the Promised Land. - So we understand that distrust of God and unbelief has often blocked God's blessings. That is why the Bible says of Jesus, "He did not many mighty works there because of unbelief." Mt. 13:58. - At this point the question may arise, `What can we do to avoid such a crisis and find help?' - We realize that only our own, personal experience is powerful enough witness to penetrate such thick clouds of unbelief, an experience which shows how God helped you and me. We may read, "By grace are ye saved through faith." (Eph. 2:8). We remember then that grace is the power of the Holy Spirit in action. Therefore, every morning we pray, "Our Father in heaven, I plead the merits of the precious blood of Christ shed on Calvary as the reason that I should receive help in the warfare against evil. By the mighty power of Your Holy Spirit working in my behalf, please save me this day from self, from sin, from the world, and from the power of the fallen angels. Save me from self, by removing from my heart distrust and unbelief, and replace it with a living faith in Thee, so that I can take Thee at Thy word. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace and Your love." - Such a prayer can bring you peace, contentment and wisdom too. It is a wise person who takes God at His word. If you recall, as Moses approached the burning bush, the Lord said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off they shoes from off they feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." (Ex. 3:5). Had Moses distrusted and disobeyed God, he would have said, `Lord I do not see any difference in this soil. Are you sure that this sand right here is holy ground?' Not so. Moses took God at His word, as it was his way of life. - Dear reader, we can have a burning bush experience in the way Moses did, by remembering the 7th day Sabbath to keep it holy. You and I may not stand on holy ground, but we can stand in holy time, by taking God at His word, and respect the sacredness of His holy Sabbath day.

[0179] See Klinghoffer, David, Why the Jews Rejected Jesus; The author strangely relies on the Talmud as his source to reject the Bible Sabbath as if it had authority and stands above the Bible itself. Christian Sabbath keepers know that God's holy seventh day Sabbath is not a burden, but a gift of God for everyone, Mk. 2:27.; Two modern examples of Sabbath keepers which impacted those around them may be Bienevido Tejano, the Philippine ambassador to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands and Sir James Carlisle, prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, who became known as the man who said "no" to the Queen of England, as he could not accept the invitation to be knighted on a Sabbath day.

[180] Paul may write at times a bit cryptic, for he, as a trained theologian in the Thora and Jewish thinking, had given sermons which the members of the early church knew and so they could follow him when he wrote thus. This tendency to write is also a reason why some of his statements about death and what happens to us, are a bit brief for he banks on pre-existing information the church members knew already and did not have to be repeated again and again.

[0181] Unfortunately Exodus 19 and Hebrews 8 are used to insinuate that the Ten Laws of God are faulty in order not to have to keep God's seventh day Sabbath holy. - Those among Christianity who teach that, ". . . the world of space and time and matter is messed up, but remains basically good, and God will eventually sort it out and put it right again. Belief in that goodness is absolutely essential to Christianity, both theologically and morally." (Bishop NT Wright, `Time Magazine', Feb. 9, 2008) have not read the Bible carefully. Israel's breaking of the Sabbath is clearly documented in Nehemia, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.

[0185] When Luke writes in chapter 15 of the Book of Acts, "But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses." Acts 15:5, and/ or "Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment." Explanation: The `Law of Moses' is referenced in Luke 2:22,24. We read: "And when eight days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they (Mary and Joseph) brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. . . . And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons." We learn here that the (hand written) `law of Moses', is also sometimes called the `law of the Lord', because God told Moses to build a tabernacle and make all its implements. Therefore, we must look at the context to tell if the `law of the Lord' means the 10 commandments or the ceremonial law. - Acts 15:24 means this, Verse 5, a) "that it was needful to circumcise them (circumcision being part of the ceremonial law), and by doing that (the circumcision) keep the (ceremonial part of the handwritten) law of Moses (which he wrote in a book stored in the side of the Ark of the Covenant). Verse 24, b) which means the same as we explained in a). Conclusion: There is here no conflict between the ceremonial law and the Ten Commandments. The trouble makers wanted the animal sacrifices (or at least circumcision) and sundry additional Jewish temple services to continue because they did not understand or believe what happened on the Cross, as He died for our sins. However, the literal ceremonial law was annulled on Calvary, the Ten Commandments originating from long before the ceremonial laws are eternally binding. That is why Paul in Acts chapter 16 still meets with believers (Lydia) and worships on Sabbath. The Ten Commandments originate from eternity, while simple sacrifices began with Cain and Abel at whose time they had not been written into books of law as far as we know but were orally explained. When Adam and Eve sinned, one may argue, they trespassed in some fashion all ten of the commandments. When Cain slew Abel, he also trespassed the 10 laws of God: attributed to himself the decision of what to sacrifice, thereby making himself equal to God, disobeying his heavenly Father, sacrificing a lying worship, murdering, etc.
For us it may be of interest to watch the Jewish reaction when Sunday laws come into focus. Many Jews are as serious about keeping Sabbath holy as are Adventists. These may have a role in clarifying the issues before the world. Since Jews kept the Sabbath for thousands of years, Seventh Day Adventists are very new at this. So, along with SdAs, the Jews will be thrust into the forefront of the final conflict. Because of the Sabbath keeping Jews, many of these individual covenant keeping people can be viewed as remaining intricately linked to the New Covenant symbol of salvation by faith alone, Hebr. 4. When Sabbath keeping then becomes an outward mark of loyalty to the Lord, they already are "keeping the commandments of God." They will just need God's commandment people to tell them about "the faith of Jesus" (Rev. 14:12), which is also "the faith of the saints" (Rev. 13:10), the "Yeshua HaMaschaih". [See the testimony of Jesus.] The current difficulties in Israel may lead some to seek the Lord in earnest.

[0195] Someone may ask, `Why didn't God just explain to Israel the difference between trying to keep the covenant in their own strength vs trusting in God's strength? Wouldn't that have saved the whole situation and made them a better people?' Answer: The Bible tells us how the faith of Abraham was tested who trusted in the promise of God to make him, through his son Isaac, a mighty nation - and because of his believe that God could raise Isaac up from death after the sacrifice (Hebr. 11:19), he decided to obey God's clear command. When we come to the time of the announcing of the covenant to Israel, this nation too had mighty evidence that it was God Almighty who led them and sustained them. And yet among all these tokens of God's leading, they over and over again put self on a pedestal. Just like we are so often short sighted and don't trust that God really wants to control our life the best way for us, so was Israel too. After all, Israel was free from the excruciating rigors of slave labor and yet, they frequently murmured and complained. God showed them in small steps one truth after another as long as they were approachable. There is a point when the Spirit of God will not strife for people any longer. Some in Israel reached that point and the baleful consequences of the fruits of sin take their course. God does not force his cause on His people but He confronts them through His evangelists with a choice. He wants a free will decision for Him from each of us.

[0198] The gospel is concerned with transforming man. It wants to bring man back from sin to living a godly, righteous life. We said `righteous', not `self-righteous'. We are not trying to impress God. We are not earning our salvation. We are not trying to appease God.We know that the gospel is not "I plus Christ" but the gospel is "I in Christ", (Phil. 3:3-9. "... we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us." Eph. 2:10 (KJV/NEB). If the Holy Spirit is permitted in, life will overflow to its edges, blessings will leak into the world. Nothing we do in our own strength apart from God can have any part in saving us. - Therefore, each Christian ought to know the answer to the question, `What does it mean to be saved? What are we saved from?' - The answers are found in Mt. 1:21; 2.Chr. 7:14; Prov. 28:13; Is. 55:7; Mt. 6:14-15; Ro. 2:13; 1.Jh. 1:9; Ro. 3:24; Eph. 1:7; 2.Thes. 2:13; 2.Cor. 5:21; Ti. 3:5.
The gospel involves also `regeneration', healing of our body and mind. Before Jesus spoke of his death on the cross, he healed many in Israel.

[0205] When Adventists hand out literature it is not to target people as it is to try and draw them to Christ. For it is certainly alarming to see so many churches openly trespassing God's law on the basis of incomplete scriptural comprehension or poorly reasoned grounds. In that we do the same work Christ called for His fellow workers to accomplish in the gospel commission. They wish to diminish prevalent prejudice and misunderstandings. Remember God destroyed the old world because of trespassing His law.

[0209] Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p. 377. Actually this is another example of a law of grace.

[0220] A few more words on the biblical `Day of Judgment' or `Judgment Day'. Is that a real event or just some theological football? Perhaps this is a good place to stop and pinch ourselves to proof once again we are alive and our existence is not just a dream. The manifold forms of life and products of living things are all around us. We are real, creation is real, family, children are real, sin is real, death is real, God is real, resurrection is real - and, yes, Judgment Day is real and everything is set to soon pronounce, `true and righteous are his judgments'.

"The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust for the day of judgment to be punished." 2. Peter 2:9.

Will the case of Christians come up on judgment day? Some teach `no', on the basis of John 5:24, believing those who have eternal life for having accepted Jesus and being faithful, "shall not come into condemnation". To them this means that this krisis, translated as judgment, condemnation (`katakrima') (Jhn 3:19;5:24;James 5:12), damnation (Mt. 23:33;Mk. 3:29; Jhn 5:29) or accusation (Jude 9; 2.Peter 2:11), means their case won't come up on judgment day. In the early chapter of his gospel the Apostle John speaks of `life in Christ'. He references Moses (Jh. 3:14-15), who was a murderer, yet nevertheless, "he that has the Son has life" (Jh. 5:12). Literally it means, "he that has the Son has the life" namely the "eternal life" (Jh. 5:11). This life begins with the Christians new birth (Jh. 3:7), and continues through all eternity, 1.Jh. 3:14; 5:11-12; Jh. 1:4; 5:24; 10:28; 12:25. The one who is victorious in Christ never loses this gift. Death, physical dissolution and decay, and unconscious sleep in death until the resurrection does not take away the gift of life through Christ. All of those who died in Christ will awake and meet Him at the same time. The faithful Christian's life, therefore, is spoken of as "hid with Christ in God" (Col. 3:3). It does not say, it is `hid with Christ by God', as if he lived with God before the resurrection. Listening to others when speaking on justification, sanctification and judgment without one word on God's Law is rather indicative of their paranoia of the Ten Commandments. They seem to avoid mentioning them, instinctively having an aversion for them, for it often results in contentions of the type we bring up here for God's Word confronts such with His (not their) holy day in the center of His law, and they have to continually "translate" Sabbath into Sunday. But obedience is not something just happening on the outside after a believer is saved, we must remain in Christ. Obedience to God must come from the inside. Our streets would also be safer if we always obey the stop signs, even if the law is not watching and teach thus our children. Studying the overall view on these subjects is imperative. If we do not do so we follow a narrow gospel filled with gaps, missing chapters, left out ideas, shrinking concepts on Bible doctrines - to say it again - an abbreviated gospel. The Bible teaches a growing awareness of our need to have our sins forgiven and learn not to sin made possible by Jesus, our mediator in the heavenly sanctuary (where it is explained if we have to go through judgment, we do), to prepare a last generation of faithful believers just before He comes again. God is just looking for enough people which follow His promptings to close out the chapters of sin in this world. We could be that generation.
The question is: `Does accepting Jesus at conversion seal a person's destiny?' What if such a person becomes a backslider and returns again to his former life of sin, Hebr. 2:3? The Bible teaches that there will be a day of judgment, Acts 17:31. While God alone would not need a judgment day since he knows it all, Daniel 7:10 and Revelation 20:12 teaches that the heavenly beings apparently want to know exactly who their new neighbors will be, for sin shall not rise a second time, Nahum 1:9. The thought in John 5:24, in comparison to John 3:19, is best translated as `condemnation'. All will be judged, the professed followers of Christ and those whose disbelief and enmity toward God robs them of the most precious promises of God. While all will be judged (by our record), however, not all will be condemned, John 5:24 (KJV). Those who forsake their own, selfish goals and seek after Jesus Christ and submit their will to His and deny themselves and wear the character which God will `dress' them with, they are counted as His people and inheritance. Does that sound like too much? Do you think God is a pauper? He owns it all. Multiply your talents but give to the Lord what is His. [Ecclesiastes 3:17; 12:13,14 and many more]
Comments: John 5:24 (KJV) uses the word `condemnation (Greek: katakrima)' while the NIV says `judgment (krisin)'. But from Ecclesiastis 3:17 (Hebrew) we know the KJV is right.

[0228] You see, it is easy to say that we love God with our lips, but if we do not keep His commandments and if we teach that it is impossible to keep His commandments, then we have just nullified the Bible definition of love. 1.John 5:1–3 says, "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous." It is the carnal mind which maintains that we cannot keep the commandments of God. It is the mind of a person who still loves the world, who has not been born again.(John 3:3,7)

[0230] Doesn't Matthew 5:48 refer to keeping the Ten Commandments in order to become perfect? Matthew 5:48 says, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." God's righteous standard is perfection. "Perfect" in this verse means "mature or holy." It is not referring to keeping the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, we can never be perfect and neither can we keep the Law perfectly, but in our own sphere, with Jesus in us, we can. Jesus said, "That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Can anyone say that they are righteous? No. Jesus was the only one that ever was, but Christ's righteousness can be imputed to us because of the free grace of God (Rom. 5:15), and when we place our faith and trust in Him.
Vernon McGee declares: Matthew 5:48 is part of the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Mount does not contain the gospel. The gospel is declared in 1. Corinthians 15:1, 3-4.
Is that true? No! Vernon McGee taught an abbreviated gospel. The gospel writers use the word gospel many times, Mt. 4:23; 9:35; 11:5; 24:14; 26:13; Mk. 1:1,15; 13:10; 14:9; 16:15; Lk. 4:18; 7:22; 9:6; 20:1; Paul's other gospel references: Rom. 10:15; 11:27-28; 1.Cor. 1:17-18; Paul speaks of Christ's gospel, 2.Cor. 2:12; 4:4; 9:13; 10:14; Gal. 1:7-8; Eph. 1;13; Col. 1:5-6, etc.
Mr. McGee fought anything which supported the claim that the 10 Laws of God are still binding today. He ignores that Paul spoke to Sabbath keepers. He did not continually have to remind them of that, but God continually wants to remind us of that because today many trespass and do not keep God's holy day.

[0240] We distinguish between the concept of `perfection' and `perfectionism'. Perfectionism does not mean an absolute state of being before the Second Coming of Christ. Perfection is not equality with Christ. Perfection is an unbroken advancement, an exercise of faith which keeps the soul pure from every stain of sin or disloyalty to God. It is an attitude recommended in the Book of Hebrews when its says, "... let us go on unto perfection," Hebr. 6:1. It is a dynamic lifestyle of a person who reflects the life of Jesus. According to scripture, what does it mean to be perfect? It means to love your enemy as yourself. Perfectionism is not of biblical origin but of Greek philosophy. Perfectionism focuses on a quality in man which can exist independently of abiding in Christ. Perfectionism is wrong and dangerous, but so is the doctrine of imperfection, which allows the sinful and helplessness of man to overshadow what God promised to do for repentant sinners through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. To settle for the doctrine of imperfection is to plan to dishonor Christ. [LGT]

[0242] The seventh day is the blessed and sanctified day inaugurated from creation week, which became known as the Sabbath day, Exodus 16:26. This scripture proofs that God's holy seventh day is the seventh day Sabbath, not the false first day, Sunday `sabbath' called that by those who misread the plain words. God had called out a people and given them the Sabbath as the sign of loyalty to Him. This was part of the Law, but what was missed is that the Sabbath was God's rest - Adam had not worked even one full day prior to the first Sabbath - and now through the Sabbath God was inviting men in sin to enter into that rest which was provided by Jesus, Matthew 11:28-30, cmp. with Heb. 4:1-4. God's rest & man's rest: So, while Adam had not worked one full day, God had worked six full days, Gen. 2:3. The subtle difference is, that God rested from His work accomplished, man rests for his work ahead of him in the coming week, his future, to give man enabling strength to face it successfully. Therefore we are saved not by our own works but by the works of God. Sabbath rest originated with God (Gen. 2:2), that gives it universal and eternal validity. This Sabbath rest constitutes the substratum and basis of all peace and rest, the pledge of an ultimate and satisfactory purpose. By juxtaposing Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 95:11, Hebrews 4 provides unshakable assurance that God's people through Jesus Christ shares at length in the whole purpose of creation and redemption epitomized by the Sabbath rest. The actual Sabbath rest was not the issue for Hebrews addresses a Jewish audience which literally and obediently kept each Sabbath day holy. Paul in Hebrews is not engaged in a polemic defense of the Sabbath but in an exhortation to experience its blessings. While the epistle talks about a future Sabbath rest, it also talks about a present Sabbath rest by using past tense reaching back in time and still going on by the time of writing in verse 3, "For we which have believed do enter into rest." (Hebr. 4:3). The author of Hebrews (Paul, GC 347) does not deal with negative `do away with the day' aspects of Sabbath keeping, but encourages the positive side. He does not really shift emphasis for us today, but only for his Jewish audience by presenting for them a deeper meaning of the day than they ever understood. Paul tried to wean Jewish Christians away from an external and material concept of its observance. He does not talk about abandoning the holy day.
Sunday was never pronounced holy, neither was the day of the resurrection. Sunday was never properly announced, ratified and published as was the Sabbath. No sacrifice was offered on the first day to confirm a new covenant as Sunday preachers would like their flock to believe. God did not give mankind a wishy-washy day to keep holy. Procedures were followed much more binding than earthly law making could present. Yet Sunday is loudly taught over the air waves by its supporters realizing they are being challenged as they uphold it as if it was sacred and binding for Christians today. This is the situation we find in the world today. It is a culture war, a controversy between God and Satan which seems to intensify today. Long held traditions are put up ahead of the Word of God. The plain Words in the Bible challenge these traditions and proofs them false. We are talking about a world view. We are talking about root causes of the problems we see in the world today. Abandoning God's holy Sabbath opened in time the gate for a flood of errors. Just like in the creation/ evolution controversy, so is also the Sabbath/ Sunday controversy a point of contention for those who try to defend Sunday keeping at all cost. Friends, do not heed the claims of these false Sunday holy day teachers.

[0253] The cup of the Lord's Supper is an acceptance of the new covenant, the ministration of the spirit. We read, "And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave [it] to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matth. 26:27-28. When we participate and partake in the communion service we express faith in Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and implicitly accept the terms of the New Covenant, to let God write His Law in our heart and mind. "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Hebr. 10:16. On the new testament see 2.Cor. 3:6-9.

[0264] What is "real grace?" Jesus did not need the grace of pardon like we do, but He did need the grace of power. He sought the Father in prayer, as we do. That way He received day-by-day grace - cooperating with the divine will.
What is "cheap grace?" If Christ did it all without having to identify Himself with us; if He lived and died instead of us, then we should be able to receive the blessings of His holy life and death simply by agreeing mentally to this truth. We do not have to identify ourselves with His living and dying - as true faith and baptism demand us to do (Gal. 2:19,20; Rom. 6:1-4) We simply accept that Christ lived and died instead of us. The is called "cheap grace." - Jesus did not grant us the privilege of sinning, but the privilege of winning.

[0275] E.J. Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, pp. 101-102, as quoted in L. Kirkpatrick, Real Grace for Real People, p. 49]
The following view was expressed by Geoffrey J. Paxton in his `The Shaking of Adventism':
"The height of this approach to righteousness by faith is found in the theology of H. E. Douglass and the Review and Herald leadership of the church. Here the gospel is equated with the believer. (Rome and much neo-Protestantism—e.g., Schleiermacher— have done the same thing.) This is the inevitable result of mixing justification and sanctification. In this theology the medium (the believer) is the message. The infinite qualitative distance between the God-man Saviour and those whom He saves is qualified so that there is only a quantitative difference. Instead of being the unique Saviour, Jesus becomes the "Model Man". Imitation of Christ swallows up faith in His God-man achievement as well as ethical conduct motivated by that achievement. Anyone with the slightest grasp of the Reformation gospel will not fail to see that Douglas' theology is more consistent with Rome than the Reformers. To speak of it as "furthering the work of the Reformation" is to change the meaning of plain words. The reformers identified their falling away from the original purity of the Christian faith not on basis of philosophical issues, they decried the idea that the church had innate authority, or that tradition trumped biblical truth. So should we.
I repeat, we must beware of being wiser than Paul and the Reformers in this matter of righteousness by faith. More than once this author has come across the mentality which says, "Sure, that is how righteousness by faith is used in Paul, but we Adventists have chosen to use it this way [i.e., to include both justification and sanctification]." This type of approach carries great dangers:
1. The chief danger is that the distinctive Adventist use of the expression will drastically alter the Pauline-Reformation use. We believe this has happened.
2. This type of approach encourages the suspicion among evangelicals that Adventists want to stand over the Bible instead of under the Bible.
3. Even if the different use of a biblical expression did not ultimately alter its meaning, such a use should still be questioned— especially when the expression is one that lies at the heart of the biblical message. This author is reminded of all too many sermons on biblical texts. Although they may not be saying something incorrect, they are not saying what the text says. While they may state theological truth, the use of the text confuses people about what the Bible is saying. People are thus encouraged to move away from the biblical message."
Comment: The author's analysis blames SdA's in the way they use scripture when that applies even more so to main stream Protestant preaching. He does not take into account what we just wrote, Jesus Christ lives today and we cannot take apart any qualities like righteousness by faith, justification and sanctification by faith and speak of them as stages of cooperation in the Christian walk of faith, which coexist, but never merge in the living Christ now living in His people, in whom all fullness, spiritual maturity, dwells, Eph. 4:13; Col. 1:19; 2:9. Who then `confuses people about what the Bible is saying?' Have we not presented the clear statements in the Bible which state that God's law is immutable, unchangeable? - that it is only the post-modern mind which fishes for loop holes and crutches to support disbelief and vindicate a Godless, purposeless worldview? It is not the `Thus saith the Lord' which confuses people, it is the unwillingness to accept start up Bible truths, which lead to additional biblical truths, because they war against traditional doctrines, i.e. immortality, Sunday is Sabbath, etc. which are not taught anywhere in the Bible. Bible believing Christians accept the reality that God created the world and everything in it in 6 days and rested on the seventh. If you don't, you are not one of them. The transcendent God then set aside the 7th day Sabbath day for a holy purpose which today many try to destroy because of unbelief in the plain words of scriptures. In contradicting God's Word which says that the Law of God is firm and unchangeable, they side with relativism and betray an incomprehension why Christ had to die on the cross and rose again in the first place.

Listen to an experienced Bible writer, "When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." Eze. 33:13. Iniquity is known sin. If we are no longer under the law but under grace, and can continue in sin as many assume is ok to do, why does Ezekiel say they die for their `known sins'? It cannot be talking about sinners here because sinners do not know what sin is until they find Christ and His perfect Law. For it is written, "…for by the law is the knowledge of sin," and "…I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Therefore Ezekiel speaks here to people who know God and His teachings well, they were Jews in his time, they are Christians in ours.

Case in point. Let us say that a Sabbath or Sunday keeper thinks he lives a righteous life. He thinks he is ok with God. So he trusts in his own assessment. Something happens, and he commits sin. What does it say? That sin is "iniquity" for him, it is known sin. He should have known better. Then, Ezekiel writes under inspiration, God will not remember any of this man's righteouness from before. That all is forgotten. That man shall die before the law because of having knowingly committed iniquity type sin. What was his sin? It could be lying, Sunday keeping when the Bible knows only the Sabbath, any sin.

Let us not be mistaken, Ezekiel is speaking of the Ten Commandments here as well because he quotes from the Commandments when he speaks of coveting, Eze. 33:31. Ezekiel is talking about people claiming to be God's people. Sinners that have no clue of what the law is simply cannot commit "known sin"! Only believers can do that. Nonbelievers do not know what sin is.

Good thing is, the one committing `iniquity' recovers himself and realizes his sinfulness. He fathoms his lostness and comes before the cross to confess and repent and Jesus forgives. The man in utter thankfulness cooperates and determines to be a true follower and live like Christ, in obedience to all that God requires. He saved his life.

But some, like the author from above speaks like a dispensationalist according to which matters of faith and salvation are limited to Paul and the reformers. In the light of what we exposed he sounds like a false teacher trying to divide the Word of God into sets of contradicting teachings - the phenomena when false teachers warn of false teachers. Doesn't he know who changed Sabbath to Sunday? Hasn't he read the `Sacramentum Caritatis' or similar documents for instance? Not so, the above quoted author sounds merely pious while at the same time dividing the Word of God falsely. Seventh day Adventists consult the whole Bible to learn the ways of God.

Here we learn that the creative, spoken Word of God has this power to accomplish at will, even making us over in a born again creation (righteousness, holiness, truth, faithfulness) in relatively no time at all. Why? Because a Christian, the patient, has accepted and is taking the divine medicin to remove sin out of the life, and thus be cleansed. Now your Sabbath keeping can amount to something and he who observes that holy day knows the Creator, the one who created all. If you do not believe in this power of God, you are an evolutionist. But you do not need to remain one. The true Christ abides in the heart of the believer through His words. If we had any parts of Christ's physical body with us, are any of His physical blood, it would not profit us at all. "The flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are "life". "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom," said the apostle.

[0340] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Grand Rapids: 1972, Vol. II, p. 339. Do not reinterpret these words as if they apply to Sunday keeping. Obey the Bible as it reads, not as you think it should read. Actually when we consider `legalism', it was not tithing and obedience that Jesus condemned, but selective obedience and the omission of larger principles. The Hebrews termed it "halakah", the rules or laws that were to guide a person's life. This is the grim combination of religion and self that Jesus condemned as hypocrisy, but which also constitutes legalism. In short, obedience is not legalism. And an obedience in small matters that ignores larger moral matters, is not obedience. See more on Calvinism.
In closing, for a more recent Protestant view, they hold that "Satan promotes legalism, as well as license," as they refer to Gal. 5:1-4, 13-14. Overall the author seems to have a paranoia of freely mentioning the law of God even while referring to specific sins. It must be, he fears being called a legalist. Doesn't he know that a legalist is a person who keeps a law not ordained by God as if it was ordained by God? Doesn't Satan promote illegalism? One example is Sunday keeping, of course. [C.F. Dickason, `Angels: Elect and Evil', Moody, 1995. We address Galatians 5 in various paragraphs in this topic.]

[0341] Confession of sins are to be made to the Lord God as He was known in ancient Hebrew times who is the Lord Jesus Christ as we know Him from New Testament times, Nehemia 1:5-6; Psalm 32:5; Matthew 10:32; Romans 14:10-11; 1.John 1:3-9; Rev. 3:5. However, James a brother of Jesus says, our faults, we may confess to one another, that is to those who we faulted, James 5:16. As a brother of Jesus he knew that the siblings of Jesus had sinned by not believing in Jesus as the Messiah and needed to confess their mischief and disbelief to Him. The lesson taught in the Bible is that we confess our sins to the Lord Jesus Christ, not to our pastor, priest or parent, who themselves need to pray to Jesus for forgiveness. Our faults we can confess to our closest friend.

[0346] People from all faiths and ages will be in heaven. But Seventh day Adventists know also that men like Adam, the patriarchs (they were keepers of the commandments), Moses, David, Solomon, the prophets, apostles, Jesus himself and all the angelic host are/were Sabbath keepers and it will be a big surprise for this worlds meager majority in the eyes of total history, to think that Sunday keepers will feel at home in heaven unless they did not know the truth. It seems Sunday keeping has more of a chance to keep you out, rather than in, Revelation 22:18,19. In fact lawlessness will keep you out.

[0358] The phrase "In the beginning" as found in Genesis 1:1, John 1:1 and Hebrews 1:10 does in the Hebrew (Gen. 1:1) and Greek contain no article "the" and should read, "In beginning", or as it reads in German "Am Anfang". If there was an article, "the", there could be no eternity implied. The connection to Exodus 20:11 is established by the assertion, "God created [the] heaven" in Genesis 1:1 compared to "... the Lord made heaven ..." Ex. 20:11 compared to "Lord ... thou hast (created) the heavens ..." Hebr. 1:10. For the next phrase "... God created ... the earth ..." Gen. 1:1 applies the same.

[0364] What are these certain conditions? What did Calvary pay for and when was it given out? (1) It made the appeals of the Holy Spirit on human hearts possible, convicting of sin and drawing to Christ since Adam.; (2) It provided forgiveness and justification for those who accepted and remained in Christ.; (3) it provided enabling grace for them to overcome sin and resist temptation, day by day by beholding Jesus (2.Cor. 3:18).; (4) it makes the resurrection, translation, glorification, and eternal life of those finally redeemed possible.; (5) Calvary made it possible for Christ to minister later on in the first and then in the second apartment of the heavenly sanctuary. It was by that ministry that He gradually gives out the pre-close of probation benefits of His great sacrifice.

[0377] At the time of their conversion and baptism the Colossian believers for example pledged themselves to put away beliefs and practices that had until then been a part of their lives, and to be true to their allegiance to Christ. In his letter, Paul reminded them of this, and urged them not to forget that in order to keep their pledge they must put forth constant effort against the evils that would seek for mastery over them.
"If ye then be risen with Christ," he said, "seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:1-3. {AA 475.3}
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have become transformed into the image of God. This change is in itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word, it is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. {AA 476.1}
When the Spirit of God controls mind and heart, the converted soul breaks forth into a new song; for he realizes that in his experience the promise of God has been fulfilled, that his transgression has been forgiven, his sin covered. He has exercised repentance toward God for the violation of the divine law, and faith toward Christ, who died for man's justification. "Being justified by faith," he has "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1. {AA 476.2}
But because this experience is his, the Christian is not therefore to fold his hands, content with that which has been accomplished for him. He who has determined to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers and passions of unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of darkness, are arrayed against him. Each day he must renew his consecration, each day do battle with evil. Old habits, hereditary tendencies to wrong, will strive for the mastery, and against these he is to be ever on guard, striving in Christ's strength for victory. {AA 476.3}
"Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth," Paul wrote to the Colossians; "in the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived in them. But now ye also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. . . . Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." {AA 477.1}

[0390] In the Douay Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible, the reader finds that the producer of that Bible says the following in the margin with respect to Exodus 20:20a. "This is the priestly version of the Ten Commandments; another version, the Deuteronomic, is found in Dt. 5, and it is the second which has been adopted by the Church." We see here that the publishers of this Bible version trusts in the theologians division of the Pentateuch to have been written and edited and so on, by many copyists and scribes. They do not trust that God is mighty enough to preserve the truth in His word and that he warns people not to take away from the words of His Book for mankind, Rev. 22:19. So we look at Deuteronomy 5 and how the law of God is written up in that chapter and we realize that it was Moses who spoke these words during a sermon he preached to the people of Israel. We read, "Moses called the whole of Israel together and said to them . . . " Dt. 5:1. But we remember that the 10 commandments were already written by the finger of God in hard stone many years before at Mt. Sinai, the law of God, as it is written in Exodus 20. So, when a preacher preaches a sermon and quotes the whole law and changes the wording slightly to address it to the circumstances of his people at that time, does that change the Law of God written in stone? Of course not. But the church of Rome prefers the Deuteronomic version because then they can make that a bit easier to assign that to merely a law for the Jews, so they think, and thus set it aside or change it around according to their own imaginations. But God's law was not based on a sermon, it was spoken and written by God Himself right there at Mt. Sinai. - So, always remember this fact.
What about these ordinances, statutes and judgments? What are they? Are they still valid? The ordinances pertaining to the altar, the sacrifices, are no longer performed. The ceremonial system was made up of symbols which pointed to Christ, his sacrifice and His priesthood. The law differs from the intent of the statutes given to guard the Ten Commandments. Jesus' death completed the `ordinances of the altar' of sacrifice. Daniel states, that the "sacrifice and the oblation" were to cease - the animal, grain, oil and wine offerings, Dan. 9:27.
We read about statutes that in New Testament times the Communion Service takes the place of the Passover, the `Harvest, Ingathering' Feast (German: Erntedankfest), takes the place of the Feast of Tabernacles. As for the day of atonement, its application in our day is not so much an annual occasion as much as it is the entire period of time since judgment in heaven began. We also read about statutes that, in the Hebrew language, they consist of two types, (a) `choq' (Strongs# 2706), and (b) `chuggah' (#2708), of these two words, `choq' is in the mascular and `chuggah' in the feminine; `choq' pertains to the sacrifical system and `chuggah' laws are permanently binding; `chuggah' laws, God's holy day laws, in the feminine case remind us of God's church, keeping the commandments of God because of her love of God, is the `bride' of Christ whom He `married' at Sinai.

[0395] The word "it" in Hebrew can also be translated "He." The Hebrew text is, , hu yeshupheka rosh, `He will crush your (Satan's) head', Genesis 3:15.

[0410] What about the `remaining rest' we read about in the Book of Hebrews chapter 4? First we ought to note that Hebrews presents the Second Coming of Christ as, "And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Hebr. 1:6. Jesus, the firstbegotten comes again into the world, now to be worshipped by the angels whose worship he did not accept when he lived among man on earth. The rest that remains, then, is one of freedom from persecution, fear for one's own life, freedom from the cares and aches of life, strive and lack of faith and trust in God. It is not a rest in the sense that looks back on a Sabbath rest on earth as if it was inadequate or wishy washy and non-binding. Not at all. The Sabbath rest on the earth made new is one practiced by the faithful already during the time of the reign of sin, often under duress and inconvenience, but now in heaven where all beings of the universe of God are Seventh day Sabbath keepers, they can finally rest from worldly cares. Keeping God's Sabbath holy is not legalism but being obedient to our Lord (Isa. 8:16), ignoring His 7th day Sabbath is illegalism.

[0423] Some apparently state that Jesus told his disciples to pray that the escape from the city may not occur on the Sabbath was, because on that day the gates were closed. That seems a bit naive. When the Roman army was waiting outside, the gates were closed from the inside every day.

[0427] Since the Apostle Paul uses the Greek word `kuriakos', meaning `Lord's' in 1.Corinthians 11:20 when he speaks of the Lord's Supper, he would have naturally also spoken of the Lord's Day (`kuriakos hmera'), if such a day existed. Since he never speaks of the `Lord's Day', therefore, interpreters cannot claim that the Lord's Supper gave rise to the Lord's Day. Of course the Lord's Supper would be celebrated during Sabbath hours when a congregation met for worship. Since Paul uses the adjective `Lord's' only for the communion service supper and never for the first day of the week, Sunday, that vividly shows that the adjective was used with no thought of Sunday holiness attached to it.
Perhaps we can also read the turn of speech `for the son of man is Lord even of the sabbath' and compare it with other ancient writings. In the El Amarna letters we read how royalty addresses one another. We read, "So says the ..., the king of so and so, mayest thou . . ." (EA#1) or the following, "The servant of the king, who views the land of the king, my lord." (EA#306). We ought to realize from this that the "lord" in all of these is the owner of that he speaks about and in no way can we construe the ways Jesus says it into something denying the sacredness of the Sabbath. The opposite is true, Jesus emphasizes its enduring sacredness. Only flippant readers can confuse the binding sacredness of God's own holy seventh day Sabbath. Destroyers of the Sabbath day, we must conclude, have this and this problem.

[0438] The real issue is not passing through the corn on Sabbath, for the Pharisees did likewise. To understand the real issue we recall that certain necessary tasks were permitted to accomplish on the Sabbath, such as tasks for the maintenance of the sanctuary services: preparing new shewbread every Sabbath (Lev. 24:5-9;1 Chr. 9:32). With that in mind, the disciples eating seeds that Sabbath connects the case of the priests to that of David and bears upon the act of the disciples. In view of the fact that Jesus was greater than the temple (Mt. 12:6), if the shewbread was prepared on the Sabbath for the use of those who ministered in the temple, and those who did this were guiltless, how free from guilt were then the disciples who followed Him, who was greater than the temple?

[0440] The reading should be understood as, "The Sabbath was made for The man, not The man for the Sabbath", which means the "The" man was Adam - a conclusive testimony that the Sabbath originated at Creation week. Since pre-existent Jesus created Adam, He is Lord of that day. The Sabbath was instituted in the Garden of Eden before sin entered and was honored of God, set apart by divine appointment, and was given to mankind as a perpetual memorial of a finished creation, Exodus 31:16-18. The sacredness of the Sabbath is based upon the fact that God Himself rested from His work of creating, blessed His Sabbath, the day of rest and sanctified it, or set it apart for man, Gen. 2:1-3; Mark 2:27. Setting apart a day for special honor is only God's prerogative, not man's. Jesus, the Son of God, as the Creator of the world appointed the Sabbath day, and, therefore, is the Lord and protector of the Sabbath, Mark 2:28; Exodus 20:10. The Sabbath belongs to Jesus. It is His day, it is the Lord's day. Since we, His blood bought children, belong to Him and live in Him and He lives in us (Galatians 2:20), it is only natural that Sabbath observance, among other expressions of love and loyalty to Him, should be revealed in our lives. Devoted followers of Christ kept the Sabbath day holy for centuries after the time of Jesus on earth. Only terrible persecutions decimated their ranks and gradually increased apostasy (insubordination) from obedience to God's law. But there were always a few who still lived in obedience like in Israel of old. However, the apostasy of rebelling against the Law of God, is rampant today inside many churches as in vanity they think of themselves connected with God. As we pointed out such do not realize the detailed impact of the sanctuary message. If they would study it earnestly, they would realize that Jesus, as our High Priest, serves now in the Most Holy apartment (Study Rev. 3-5;11;). But Protestantism at large remained in their theology in the outer court and Holy apartment, which is good as far as it goes but Jesus is not there anymore. The shut door was opened, and His ministry was taken into the Most Holy where the Ark of the Covenant is located inside which the Tablets of The Law of God are kept - the Law which no one can change. Protestants Sunday keeping proofs that they do not understand these phases in the ministry of Jesus Christ. [To learn these points in more depth study here, here and here!.]

[0455] In this connection we ought to speak up on the meaning of the Bible text where we read, "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell." Proverbs 23:13-14. Is it really true that the Bible teaches parents here to practice corporal punishment on their children? No! Not really. In Bible language, as "the rod" was an instrument in the hand of Moses, so is a person an instrument in the hand of Jesus. The primary application of this Verse in Proverbs is not to freely use corporal punishment after a child disobeys, but rather to "give" the child Jesus. Teach your child about Jesus, the rod of Israel, about salvation, overcoming of sin for no one can force anyone to sin, and then, as a consequence to such an upbringing, the child's soul will be delivered from hell.

[0459] A legalist is one who thinks he can make it to the kingdom of God by doing all of the things that God tells him to do, without any help from the Lord Jesus Christ.

[0465] The subject of false teachers and how to recognize them is sometimes mentioned by teachers of all religions, false ones included. As such it is really interesting to listen how false teachers warn of false teachers. They may start with bringing up sort of overall characteristics, usually dwelling in a few biblical books like those written by the apostle Paul. They warn of deceptive teachers, those who have a peace and safety message, those whose spiritual fruits are lacking, those who deny the truth, creation, the deity and atonement of Christ, the bodily resurrection, work of the Holy Spirit and Second Coming. While these are true, some of these terms are pretty non-specific, i.e. deceptive, fruits, and could be applied in various ways but there is one criterion these false teachers, which warn of false teachers, never (at least as often as this writer listened) mention. Which test of false teachers could that be? Try to guess before clicking for the answer. Study what the two key terms mean according to the biblical record and you learn the crux of the matter, answer click.

[0470] How amazing when those called to preach the gospel think of it as some good story or edifying but unchallenging message with nothing in it for a last generation before the Second Coming to answer their questions and strengthen them in their spiritual struggles. So one could argue, the enemy has entered the gate of churches. He offers messages which have the least spiritual content, the least of Jesus and the cross but try to ecumenicalize. They desire a method of forgetting God which will pass for remembering Him. They put forward their own merits and explain their not remembering what God said, to remember by some rationalization alien to the thrust of the Bible, and yet claim to present it unabridged. Others endeavor to preach a salvation designed to accommodate and sound mature presenting a "salad" of messages on grace for sinners without obedience to God's commands. Both of these groups are getting to a place where they call evil good, and good evil. All this because God's people who know the truth have slept at the gate and let the enemy in the door preaching a gospel allowing sin. Obeying God is troublesome to them. They call it legalism when disobedience is illegalism - sin. It is the obedient follower of Christ who is under grace, not the law breaker.

[0485] See Catholic Record, September 17, 1891.

[0488] Dr. Walter R. Martin's (1928-1989) definition of cults includes the following criteria:
1. They are started by strong, dynamic leaders who have complete control of their followers.
But he never thinks of the largest church in Christendom, the Luterhans or other traditional Protestant groups as a cult under this criteria.
2. They posses some scripture that either adds to or replaces the Bible.
Like for instance the `immortality of the soul' when the Bible says that only God is immortal? Or like their own books which they keep advertising? The Bible Answer Man, of course, can come up with lengthy round and round explanations which none of the prophets, disciples of Jesus or the apostles ever heard forgetting a rule of Bible interpretation, the simpler answers are the right ones.
Other rules include not all Bible truth is given in one Bible Book. We must consider the full spectrum of scriptures for, are we to ignore the Book of Daniel because it does not explain the Seven Days of Creation or ignore the book because it does not explain the furniture in the sanctuary as does Exodus and Hebrews? Are we to reject the historical prophecies of the Book of Revelation because it does not include the sweeping historical views found in the Book of Daniel? Of course not.
3. They have rigid standards of membership.
Which church doesn't?
4. They are actively evangelistic.
Which church is not evangelistic?
5. Their leaders are often or mostly professional clergymen. People who trained themselves in theology, who are not formally trained in Bible schools and seminaries. The only criteria for being a leader in a cult group is that you are a good follower of the cult leader.
Are traditional Protestant Bible schools teaching pure, true biblical doctrines, i.e. keep Sunday religiously instead of Sabbath? Are they good followers of Professor Martin's views?
6. They believe in a continual, ongoing communication from God. They allow for new communication to come and they allow for that new revelation can sometimes contradict or even replace previous revelation.
Like what traditional Protestant theologians (Wellhausen, Bultman, etc.) have been teaching? These men and others like them, not believing in `theos', God, neither did they believe in the `logos', the whole Word from Genesis to Revelation, and therefore have no right to call themselves theologians. Who can limit God to stop talking to humanity after Christ or the apostles? Have they not read that Acts 2:17-18 with reference to the last days? - Of course the voice of unbelief may retort that the orthodox (meaning old) teachings found in ancient ecumenical creeds, like those in the centuries of apostate Christianity, are the guiding principles versus the whole Bible. A discerning apologist knows that the Bible Answer Men mix truth with error.
7. They claim to have truth that is not available to any other group. They claim to be the `restoration' or `pure Christianity' or the `only true church.'
Like traditional Protestants do on radio and television, through their literature and church services? They certainly are aware that, according to the Bible, the true Israel (means `overcomer', Gen. 32:28) will be saved, Romans 9:4, and true Israelites are true Christians, Gal. 6:15-16, those who obey all the commandments exactly as they read, but do they obey?
8. Each cult has its own vocabulary by which it describes the truth of its revelation.
You mean all the new terminology which Protestant theologians came up with?
Liberal theologians are invariably of evolutionistic persuasion. That is why they cannot agree to the Bible as inspired by God, to the reliability and integrity of the Word and the doctrines found in them. For a daily Bible reading and believing Christian wanting to participate in apologetics, learning to refute the theories of evolution and how to conduct question and answer occasions are of paramount help in defending the faith. But as to the above, the replies to the criteria of Dr. Martin are a little bit `tongue-in-cheek' but cited to illustrate that this subject is not all that cut and dry and we must be careful not to make these criteria into a rigid definition of their own. Dr. Martin was an unbeliever in God's Sabbath and the mortality of the soul, to say the least. They are not thorough students of the literature on the subject.
What we need to recognize is that Satan leads people astray in various ways. His lies are insidious and only by God's Word can anyone recognize them. The above paper outlines some very neglected Bible truths a careful reader will recognize. We must use some key biblical criteria to distinguish truth from error. All men and women of faith had to do that. We must guard first against the obvious.

[0490] While judgment is already in progress in the heavenly courts, by this statement we do not mean someone standing in person before the bench but rather that a person is represented by his record and Jesus pleading for him or her.

[0500] That the good news of salvation was to be preached to all nations is brought out in the Bible: "Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." (The one sided contract between God and Abraham is decribed in Genesis 15:7-21; Jer. 34:18.) - "I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles." - "And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength." - "Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying: The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people ... For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name ... Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. The Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him. " - "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." - "O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." - "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." Found in Gen. 18:18; Isa. 42:6; 49:6; 56:3-8; 60:3; Jer. 16:19; Zech. 8:23.

[0520] Why "times"? During the time of the beast power (Rome) two items having to do with time were changed. One was the day of worship was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week and the second item changed was the divinely instituted counting of time from sunset to sunset, to be now from midnight to midnight. The latter is a method based on clock time, not observable by people through the ages, who could not easily know when the hour struck midnight. The horn's `eyes' may be understood as keen discernment but its `mouth' is letting out its own opinions not found in God's Word. In history this is mentioned by arch bishop Eberhard v. Salzburg in 1241, as he tries to defend Kaiser Friedrich (`Barbarossa', 1152-1190), who was under a papal interdict, before the bishops at Regensburg, "Hildebrand (born around 1020, pope from 1073-1085 as Gregory VII.) laid 170 years ago the foundation of this anti-godly world empire under the guise of religion." "Those Babylonian priests, desire to rule over everything. Equality they cannot stand and leave in place until they have trodden down everything underneath their feet, to sit in the temple of God and have their worship lifted up." "Because of the increase of their regiment the highest power is spread over several, in pieces, or one would like to say, torn among them, how can we sense through the squables among citizens that there is no rest from devastating conflicts. `Kaiser' is merely an empty title und shadow. Ten kings exist now side by side which occupy the circle of the earth, the Roman Empire, not to govern it but to destroy it. Ten horns, of what seemed to Augustin so unbelievable ... own the Roman provinces and have destroyed the Roman inhabitants thereof. A little horn grew up among them ... three of these powers, in particular Sicily, Italy and Germany, it submits itself to and compels them to serve it. God's people and the saints of God it torments by means of intrusive government and mixes the divine with the earthly and plans abominations and cursed deeds. How could such a revelation be understood?" [See J. Aventini, Lib. VII, c.5, transl. by CIAS and Dr. Döllinger, Kirche und Kirchen, p. 33.]

[0550] Mr. McGee wrote: `God made it ...' as if the 10 commandments were only made for Israel. If so, that is a considerable theological blunder. God's law is represented as eternal, all inclusive and unchangeable.

[0600] The phrase "weeping and gnashing of teeth" occurs five times in the Bible (NT). It is always applied to the unfaithful servants in the situation after judgment.

[0630] Some teach that the 7th day Sabbath instituted by God at Creation for man to keep, is a "type" of the rest day yet to come. (See `Pentecostal Bible Study Course Vol. I', E. Rohn, Lesson 17, p. 37.) However, the Bible teaches that this 7th day is a sign and a memorial for man not to forget Creation and his Maker, Ez. 20:12; Ex. 20:8-11. A memorial is not a type. The "type" sabbaths (small `s') are those spoken of in the law of Moses pertaining to feast and ceremonial days (a `shadow') relating to the temple services. Such sabbaths could fall on any day of the week. The Cross is prefigured, a shadow, in the tabernacle arrangement itself. The idea of `shadow' does not pertain to the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:10-16) for it contains the eternal law of God. The shadow of the cross is fulfilled in the altar on the outside and the furniture of the Holy apartment. What we learn here is, that, when Christ died on the cross, the shadow of the cross was taken away and God's people could now understand the meaning of the services taking place in God's heavenly sanctuary, Hebr. 8:1,2; Col. 2:16,17. - The Cross made only the offering of sacrifices and oblations obsolete while the covenant was especially confirmed. It, the covenant law, was uplifted in the life of Jesus and the apostles for 1 week (7 years), so we may know its importance and how to obey and keep it, Dan. 9:27. It follows, the presence of Aaron's rod that budded in or by the ark of the covenant, does not make the law obsolete. In hind sight it is a figure or promise of the risen Jesus. Like we said, the broken law made the Cross necessary because it is God's eternal law, the foundation of His government. Those who break God's law are in rebellion to God's government. - By the time Solomon constructed the Temple in Jerusalem, we are told, the ark apparently contained only the two tables of the law, 1.Kings 8:9. That was over 400 years after the time of Moses.

[0650] The `eighth day' arguments explained. Some clergy, looking for biblical sounding reasons to keep on keeping Sunday holy, regard the 16 `eighth' references in the Bible as giving sufficient reason to pitch God's seventh day sacredness against a few eighth day references. To start with, all eighth day references have to do with ceremonial conventions surrounding the Israelites faith. Jesus touched on these issues. In context we learn, Jesus gave the rabbis an evidence of His divinity by showing that He read their hearts. Ever since the healing at Bethesda they had been plotting His death. This way they were themselves breaking the law which they professed to be defending. "Did not Moses give you the law", He said, "and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill Me?"
Like a swift flash of light these words revealed to the rabbis the pit of ruin into which they were about to plunge. For an instant they were filled with terror. They saw that they were in conflict with Infinite Power. But they would not be warned. In order to maintain their influence with the people, their murderous designs must be concealed. Evading the question of Jesus, they exclaimed, "Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill Thee?" They insinuated that the wonderful works of Jesus were instigated by an evil spirit.
To this insinuation Christ gave no heed. He went on to show that His work of healing at Bethesda was in harmony with the Sabbath law, and that it was justified by the interpretation which the Jews themselves put upon the law. He said, "Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; . . . and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man." According to the law, every child must be circumcised on the eighth day.[**] Should the appointed time fall upon the Sabbath, the rite must then be performed. How much more must it be in harmony with the spirit of the law to make a man "in every way whole on the Sabbath day." And He warned them to "judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."
What does this all mean? It causes us to ask, `How can one uphold `the spirit of the law' without `the letter of the law?' The "letter" or the very "letters" of the law are the very basis for the spirit of it. For the Jews the over 600 rabbinical additions and sayings of the sages had become more important than the briefly, clearly and distinctly spoken law of God itself. To uphold man's traditions and make the 7th day Sabbath a burden was not according to the divine plan. What does Jesus mean by saying, `judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment?' Jesus taught consistency in matters of doctrines and faith. To rightly circumcise a baby on the eighth day but not allow the healing of a suffering person, was inconsistent with God's plan which puts forth to love our fellow man. But that does not make `eighth day' references the successor of God's holy seventh day Sabbath day. Clergy who argue that way, are like the Jews who sought to trap Jesus to find a reason to kill him. It is dangerous to ignore God's command to `remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy' and forget it and replace it with a day of their own choosing without a single divine admonition to change the weekly day of worship - after all it does not say, `Start to remember.' The Sabbath was not made in the time of Moses, it was made the next day after the six days of Creation.
Eighth day references are part of a given month's ceremonial temple service tasks and do not replace the seventh day Sabbath. If the `eighth day' is now supreme it should have been so since the days of Moses who wrote of it in his books. Everyone knows the Jews kept the seventh day, not the eigth day, holy.
** This may remind us of the scripture where it says, "Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: and that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name." Romans 15:8,9. - Some use this text to press the point that the ministry of Christ pertained to the OT, thus insinuating that we, being part of the NT, have to filter the OT parts of the Christian faith out and only keep the NT parts. That is dangerous. Before we do that we must study this scripture more closely for it is translated quite differently in other Bible translations. Let us look at the NIV. We read, "For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy..." Rm. 15:8,9. Moffat's translation says, "Christ, I mean, became a servant to the circumcised in order to prove God's honesty by fulfilling His promises to the fathers, and also that the Gentiles should glorify God for His mercy..." Rm. 15:8,9. - Does looking at the Greek help? After all some translations have `circumcision', others have `ministry', what does the Greek have? We read, The Greek word `peritomes' means circumcision. That means some translations are trying to uncover the overall meaning - what Paul intends to say. What does it mean, `Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God'? It means that Christ became `the Father's servant for the salvation of Israel (the circumcised one's), who He came to minister to so they might convert and be saved.' He is telling the Gentile Christians to be patient with the scrupulous Jews. He shows them that they were under the greatest obligations to His people; to whom, in the days when Christ walked among them in the flesh, He confined His ministry to them, showing the world that He gave His people allowance as having the first right to hear the gospel truths. Thus He confined His ministry to the Jews to confirm the covenant with them, the promises made to the patriarchs.

[0700] Some may wonder, can this rest be done on any day of the week or does it have to be done on the Sabbath day? Even though such a question may sound a bit like a taxi driver asking his passenger, `Can I pick you up some other day or does it have to be today?' The Lord God made it crystal clear for Israel which exact portion of time they were to set aside for the Sabbath day:
"He (Moses) said to them, "This is what the Lord commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil (today, Friday). Save whatever is left and keep it until morning. ... and it did not stink ... `Eat it today', Moses said, `because today is a Sabbath ... you will not find any of it (manna) on the ground today, Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any. Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. The Lord said to Moses, `How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath: that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out.' So the people rested on the seventh day." Exodus 16:23-30.
Already before the 10 commandment law was given, Israel was to keep the Sabbath day holy. During the 40 years of desert life, Israel followed this routine, collect manna from the first day of the week (our Sunday) to the sixth day (Friday), but not on Sabbaths in order to make it crystal clear which day God wanted them to keep holy. In the entire Bible can we find no mention of retraining God's people to keep the first day of the week holy.
The inconsistency which becomes apparent from the point made by V. McGee, and all those who preach that at death a soul goes to heaven, is this: Mr. McGee said, `We do not serve a dead Christ'. Why would he have said that if the soul of Christ went to heaven at death? It seems, in some way the preachers of these falsehoods want it both ways.
Therefore, dear reader, be aware of those clergy who place themselves so high, they make statements like, "As I told you before", "Did you follow me in that?", "That is why I said", "I studied this out", "I never realized that before until the Holy Spirit made it clear to me". ... While such statements can be quite alright, depending on context and the speakers intentions, we ought to listen also for indications that a preacher has consulted what has been said on a topic by previous mighty presenters of God's word, His prophets, law abiding evangelists and authors. Be weary of private interpretations on matters of biblical doctrine.

[0751] Now, some come up with scenarious where one visits a sick person on a Sabbath and the lawn needs to be mowed, should we do that on a Sabbath? Well, if there is no other person who does it or another possible solution, and if it comes out of a heart which knows how to do good, there may be a case for it if it cannot be done another way. We should not do it for secular labor or lightly, as a provocation to show God what is allowed in our thinking. Usually there are other solutions for such strained scenarious.

[0780] Question: But I heard one preacher just say the other day that we don't need to get baptized with water.
Answer: These quote usually "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor. 1:17-18. The text says that Paul understood his ministry not to be the one who baptizes - Why? Because before baptizing a convert he would have to go through weeks of instruction in the faith. If Paul would have done that, he would have been tied down for too long, so instead he let others do the Bible studies and baptisms so he could continue preaching. That is why a church has different offices to care for its members. We ought to realize that Paul does not oppose the words of Jesus who gave in His gospel commission a commandment of grace, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Mt. 28:19.

[0800] How is the Jewish `Feast of Passover' and `Easter' calculated ? Leviticus 23:5 states that the 14th day in the first month (Nissan - our March) is the Lord's passover. Since the old Jewish month always began with the observation of the new moon, when it is just a sliver of a sickle, 14 days later would always be close to full moon. In 2007 the biblical full moon occurred on Tuesday the 20th of the month Nissan. Consequently the 14th day was Monday April 2 (March 20 was counted as the 1st day), the Passover (the type for the crucifixion) was celebrated then. Protestants frequently vehemently claim that they uphold the Bible only in doctrinal matters. The question is, when did the Protestants celebrate `Passover', or the New Testament day for the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? According to biblical time of month reckoning they should celebrate Easter - their passover - April 4, 2007, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread Sabbath the 5th and the Feast of First Fruits - the OT type for the resurrection - on the 6th. But all Protestants celebrate Passover this year on the 8th of April. Why? They never follow `sola scriptura' in this matter (and on Pentecost) but the day chosen by the Catholic church which stipulates that Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon, after the Spring Equinox as decreed by the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. If in a given year the full moon oriented Passover/ Easter falls on a Sunday it is moved to the next Sunday.

[0900] That the apostles kept the 10 commandment law of God is either stated or implied by those of whom we have written information. Peter did- 1.Pet. 3:12; 2.Pet. 2:9,21; James (Zebedee)-James 2:10; John-1.John 3:4; Andrew-; Philip-; Bartholomew-; Matthew-Mt. 15:6; Thomas-; James (Alphaeus)-; Thadaeus-; Simon (the Canaanite)-; Paul-Acts 13:14,44; Jesus himself-Mt. 19:17; Mark 3:16-18.
That the early, original apostles kept the Sabbath is brought out in Acts 13:14 and 44 where the apostle Paul (born ca. 2-67 AD) and his company kept the Sabbath at Perga, that is during the time of his 1st missionary journey. He was converted in 34 AD, the year of the stoning of Stephen.
Paul's missionary journeys (Map):
1. journey from Antioch (Syria) to Salamis and Paphos (Cyprus), Perge, Antioch (Phrygia/Turkey), Iconium, Lystra, Derbe and back; Acts 13:5-15:35 (ca. 49-50 AD). Phrygia was the region of central Turkey around Alaca Huyuk.
2. journey from Jerusalem to Antioch (Syria), Tarsus, Derbe, Iconium, Troas, Neapolis, Philippi, Apollonia, Beroea, Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, Rhodes, Caesarea, Jerusalem. (51-53 AD);
3. journey from Antioch (Syria) to Tarsus, Iconium, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi, Troas, Miletus, Cos, Rhodes, Tyre, Caesarea, Jerusalem (53-58 AD).
It is important to note that we find on the basis of these missionary journeys and Acts 13:14,44 that Paul and Peter and all the other missionary disciples and their following kept the Sabbath still in 50 AD and of course beyond that, thereby disproving the claim of those that nearly right after the resurrection in 31 AD Sunday was kept.
Question: What about those saying, well, the apostle Paul visited the Jewish synagogues on Sabbaths and that is why it appears that he kept the Sabbath.
Answer: Oh, really, such an argument would make Paul a phony, wouldn't it? He would appear not to keep any day holy then, wouldn't he? For he certainly is not mentioning worshipping God on the day after he attended the synagogue. Friends, some will go to any length to proof them right and the Word of God wrong. With such arguments those who engage in it show themselves to be of the camp of antichrist.

[0950] According to the pattern (Ex. 25:9;Hebr. 8:5) of the High Priestly service of Jesus in the heavenly sanctuary, Jesus serves now, at this period of the heavenly judgment (Hebr. 9:23; 1.Tim. 5:24), within the second veil in the Most Holy (Dan. 7:10-26; 1.Peter 4:17; Hebr. 9:3). "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me ..." Jer. 15:1 "though ... Noah, Daniel, and Job" are there, "they shall deliver neither son or daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness." Ez. 14:14,16. When His service is ended therein He shall put on the garments of vengeance (Is. 59:17) and be on his way for the blessed day of His Second Coming. Do we need to fear judgment? The throne of God, His Judgment seat, is also the `Mercy Seat', Psalm 103:13; Isa. 38:17; Micah 7:18,19. God's mercy is great, He even gives consideration to where we were born, Ps. 87:6. But to the incorrigible God says, `He will not be mocked', Gal. 6:7, and He `will not acquit the guilty.' Ex. 32:31-33, but see Ex. 34:6-7. When the Judgment of the righteous is finished, "the household of God" will be set in order, Eph. 2:19, and Jesus comes again.

[1000] The Bible teaches two basic types of laws, the laws written by God on tables of stone emphasizing their eternal validity (Ex. 24:12; 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1,28-29; Deut. 5:22), while with God on the mountain for 40 days, Moses received besides the tablets of the Ten Commandments instructions on how to build and set up the services for the tabernacle and laws relating to social affairs for Israel. These laws and regulations he wrote in the pages of a `book' or scroll, in time they became known as the `Law of Moses' (2.Chr. 35:12; Deut. 31:24; Col. 2:14). But to Jewish writers all of these laws were ordained by God and they don't always keep the distinction before their readers. After all, God authored all of them. Only during the Christian period have supposed followers of Christ tried to throw out the 4th Sabbath commandment of the Ten Commandment Law of God written on stone, with the ceremonial laws pertaining to the temple services (sacrifices, purification ceremonies, etc.) by their sometimes clever devices and arguments which show to what lengths they will go to disobey God's commandments and yet claim to obey Him. Among the handwritten laws of Moses in a book, however, are some which will always be valid. These are statues which were given by God to Moses to protect the poor, orphans and strangers. They were given to govern everyday life and guard and explain the 10 commandments. They were not part of the types and shadows:
1. "Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates." Deuteronomy 24:14
2. "At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it." Deuteronomy 24:15
3. " Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour ..." Leviticus 19:13
4. "The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning." Leviticus 19:13.
Health laws were also not part of the types and shadows. What made people sick then, makes them sick today. Health laws were given to prevent among others, inflammations, open sores and tumors. Laws protecting the pregnant mother and, by implication her unborn fetus/ child, is taught in the Bible, Exodus 21:22-25; Psalm 51:5. The arguments that abortion should be made available are `Straw Man' arguments, i.e. because of rape - a pregnancy because of rape hardly ever happens.
"But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee."
"The Lord will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed."
"The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart."
"And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore..."
"The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head."
"Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee."
"And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever."
"Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things." Deuteronomy 28:15,27,35,45-47.
The Israelites were commanded to wash their clothes, which automatically washed their hands too, after doing certain things like carrying a carcass. While they did not know about bacteria, they knew washing after such a task prevented desease. Other laws and statutes dealt with making friends with unbelievers (Deut. 7), being thankful, being unselfish, being obedient, no idol worship, no false prophets, no pagan burial practices (Deut. 14), support of the priesthood, giving false witness, rights of the first born, using honest weights, tithing, etc.

[1100] Examples of some very misleading theological interpretations of these BAM are: 1) arguing for the resurrection day taking the place of the Sabbath, thereby making God into someone who just willy nilly changes His own law while earthly courts have procedures and meetings and a host of processes to pass any changes to their law. What a clearly false view of Almighty God of order is thus presented by these unless they convert. 2) The state of the dead making Abraham's bosom into a receptacle for newly arriving souls in heaven, 3) the millennium, using Job 33:23 which has nothing to do with time, to explain the millennial years allegorically. While scriptures dealing with symbolic items (Abr. bosom) are explained as if real and items which are real are explained as symbolic (millennium), they teach Babylon, confusion.

[1200] Exodus 35:2, Israel had become a nation, a theocracy. Nations make laws. Once the theocracy came to an end, these laws were not transferred beyond that period. The 4th commandment is at the same time (1) a sign of sanctification, (2) a sign by which we recognize our connection with Almighty Creator God, (3) a sign of the believer's rest from his own works of sin, and his entrance into the rest of soul which Jesus promises to those who come to Him. The punishments meted out in OT times were discontinued because of transgressions. The time had come when God was silent, 1.Sam. 28:6; 1.Cor. 10:21. Does that mean God is not particular anymore? No. It means the punishment will not be inflicted until after the judgment at the end of the world for those who do not want to be with God.
The incident in Numbers 15:32-41 of a man gathering sticks was not the type of gathering one may do as a need or inadvertant task to take care of one's family. The severity of this case underscores that in the heart of this man was outright rebellion. He made a statement by his public gathering of sticks that he would not comply with the Law of God. He displayed Satanic rejection of God after visible and audible demonstrated evidences of the power and glory of God. God knew his heart and that his deed would be an ensample to Israel and had to be dealt with right there and then. It is the same in matters of church discipline as carried out by Lutherans, Baptists and so on over the ages. As Christians and especially Sabbath keeping Christians, we are not to "seek after our own heart or after our own eyes, but remember the commandments of God and keep them." [Isa. 58:13; Num. 15:39-40; Deut. 26:16-19; 27; 28.]
OT Punishment and Penalty: The penalty of death at the hand of the civil magistrate is affixed to the violation of the Sabbath. The same penalty is affixed to most of the precepts of the moral law (Lev. 20:9,10; 24:15-17; Deut. 13:6-18; 17:2-7). It should be remembered that the moral law embracing the Sabbath formed a part of the Civil Code of the Hebrew nation living in a theocracy. As such, the great Lawgiver annexed penalties to be inflicted by the magistrate, thus doubtless shadowing forth the final retribution of the ungodly. Such penalties were suspended by that remarkable decision of the Saviour that those who were without sin should cast the first stone. But such a Being will arise to punish men, when the hailstones of his wrath shall desolate the earth. Our Lord did not, however, set aside the real penalty of the law, the wages of sin, nor did he weaken that precept which had been violated. (Jh. 8:1-9; Job 38:22,23; Isa. 28:17; Rev. 16:17-21; Rom. 6:23).
Those who say, `But Jesus broke the Sabbath,' are trying that way to get out of having to keep God's day holy. If Jesus broke the Sabbath, He is a sinner because sin is the transgression of the law. If he is a sinner, he would need a redeemer. That means, he could not be the redeemer himself. We are lost. Jesus did not break God's Sabbath, He broke the sabbath of the Pharisees which is not the Bible Sabbath but a twisted version of it. Just like Jesus sought to reinstate the creation institute of marriage when the issue of divorce came up, so too, did He try to make it plain that Sabbath has to be kept God's way, not as the Pharisees kept it apart from its original meaning.
Creation Sabbath was several millennia and centuries later reaffirmed at Sinai, the Sabbath commandment is at the heart of the Decalogue. The immutable, eternal law is God's gift to mankind, a day where we can dwell in a spiritual connection with God, as Adam and Eve could walk with God in the cool of the day in Eden on that day. The Sabbath reminds Christians of Christ's work as Creator, Preserver, Benefactor, and because of his Messiah-ship as Redeemer. But to the Jews, Sabbath meant different things than it does to us today. Their annual feast days taken together added up to over a month of feast days. In their life of work, employers gave no vacation, but the feast days were kept. They revolved around the system of sacrifices and were tokens of the future redemptive work of the Savior which was little understood in their days for they sought not God but developed their own agenda. So do Christians today who ignore God's eternal law. As a theocratic, God centered nation, God gave them specific instructions and laws and how to deal with transgressors. These punishments were never meant to be inflicted on a sanctified people. During periods of apostasy they were also not justly applied laws, for the people had forsaken God. They were meant to be guard rails to keep Israel from losing their connection with the living God. Today's laws also are meant to be applied only in extreme situations, just like in Israel of old. They set them apart from the pagan societies surrounding them, societies which inflicted harsher laws at a whim of the king or priest. When Jesus died on the cross, any vestige of the theocracy also came to an end. The types and shadows of the sabbath feast days were fulfilled and done away with (Dan. 9:27 only the sacrifices and oblations ceased). Nevertheless, Jesus died on the cross for man's transgression of the Ten Commandment Law. If any of these laws could be abolished or changed, he would not have had to die (Before Wesley in England, Antinomianism taught that the moral Law of God was abolished. However, "If the commandments are preserved in heaven, certainly they are not abolished on earth." Rev. 11:19.). That teaches us, that the 4th commandment is still in force exactly as it reads. Any reinterpretation of this law today, is build on evasive views of ill considered theologies which represents a rebellious view against God's law to support human dogmas because of misunderstood interpretations. No longer did Israel need to raise sheep and goats to slaughter for sin offerings. The few New Testament references to activities of the early church on the 1st day of the week, were done on the first day, because on the Sabbath before they rested.
Explaining the `First day" Bible References from a Sabbath Keeping Point of View.
Among all the hype of a supposed transfer of sacredness from Sabbath to Sunday, the actual law binding transfer must have occurred on resurrection day and thus be contained in the four scriptures describing that event. These scriptures are: Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1,2.9; Luke 23:56; 24:1; John 20:1,19. As a discerning reader will realize, no such transfer of sacredness is intimidated in these passages at all, but the opposite is true, they proof that Sabbath sacredness was still in force on that resurrection day. - Those who claim that Matthew's (28:1) reading "in the end of the Sabbath", means in the Greek the end of the Sabbath as a holy day, are mistaken, for the Greek word `opse' is an adverb meaning late after, or as a masculine genitive, it means `after', namely after the day was over, of course that means after sunset. There is not hint that the KJV English implies a cessation of holiness after this event. In fact Martin Luther translated the same Greek word as "als aber der Sabbat um war", meaning `as the Sabbath was over.' Doing away with a pulicly published and announced Sabbath commandment, it would surely take more to annul such a divine law, than such a everyday usage of speech. But those fighting the Sabbath, as we show, look for every little thing to support their abominable claim.
1) "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. ... and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed." Acts 20:7-11 - In Jewish time, a new day started with the night first, followed by day time. Therefore, early in the first day of the week was after the Sabbath came to a close at sunset. We can see then this meeting took place between sunset and midnight on a Sabbath night, what the Jews would have thought of as the early Sunday hours, and lasted till day break. This get together was on the occasion of a farewell sermon for a missionary journey of Paul which he began on Sunday morning - it does not mark the 1st day as a holy day. We can hardly keep a day holy which was not pronounced holy by God. Those who claim this breaking of bread was in honor of the first day resurrection may have a difficult time since breaking of bread commemorates the crucifixion and if this instance, in the mind of the foes of the Sabbath, institutes any holy day, it ought to be Friday.
2) "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem." Acts 16:2. To set aside tithe and offerings to support missionary work, is hardly an activity suitable to be done on a holy day since it involves money counting - taking care of the cares of the world. Setting aside funds was done between the first and sixth day of the week in order not to dishonor It, God's Holy Day.
3) "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 sepulchre." Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:1; Luke 24:1; John 20:1. Again, after resting on the Sabbath day, Mary went to the grave site. This event argues in favor of Sabbath keeping (See also here Luke 23:56). There is no indication of first day holiness. (Jewish time keeping)
4) "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." 1.Cor. 16:1-2. The same answer applies to this event as in 2).
5) SABBATH KEEPING IN THE BOOK OF ACTS
"But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down." Acts 13:14. The following text connects the Sabbath with both the grace of God and the Gentiles: "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Acts 13:42-44.
Paul didn't say, `Come back tomorrow. I will be preaching on Sunday.' The Gentiles had to wait until the following Sabbath to hear the Word of God being preached. From what Paul told those following him, it is crystal clear that one can keep the Sabbath and continue in the grace of God at the same time.
Paul even worshipped upon the Sabbath when there was no Jewish synagogue in town: "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13. Therefore it wasn't just to witness to Jews in the synagogue that Paul worshipped on the Sabbath. - The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus regularly worshipped on the Sabbath: "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16. Acts tells us that Paul also regularly kept the Sabbath day holy: "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." Acts 17:2. "And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4. This study shows that the statement that Christ's followers did not meet for worship on the Sabbath day is simply not true.
These 1st day events mark Sunday more so as a work day rather than a holy day. But for God it will not do to offer Him a common work day for the Sabbath. It will cause His wrath unmixed with mercy, Rev. 14:10 (cmp. Lev. 10:1-5; 2.Thess. 1:7-9). The 1st day activities are evidence of Sabbath keeping, not Sunday sacredness. When Christ rose on that Sunday morning, did he rise in a public demonstration for all to see? Not at all! Only those officially placed by his tomb to guard it from some supposed disruption, witnessed briefly the arriving angels glory, which sent them running. The power and glory displayed was fleeting and quick and only Jesus' appearances afterwards to initially disbelieving followers brought power to the early church. We must remember that Jesus had raised people from the dead before for all those present to witness. These are described as events of largely normal reactions, even unbelief, among those witnessing it. Let us therefore not misplace the effects of the resurrection to a level not really supported by the Word of God, calling it `exploding the tomb', `exploding the fetters of death' or similar expressions, just to support a supposed change of the law. For us today, a resurrection may sound like a spectator event, but let us use scriptural, not sports phrases. The long range impact of the cross and the resurrection certainly is of great significance. The shadows and types had come to an end and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost was the last Pentecost used as a day of gathering after the cross. Johannes, or John in English, the beloved disciple of Jesus, called Sunday still the first day after the resurrection. He did not call it the `Lord's Day', John 20:1, a lengthy time after the resurrection when he wrote his gospel. The Lord's Day is the Sabbath day, even decades later when John wrote the Book of Revelation. When Sunday keeping was introduced and took hold, the church used the powers of the state to punish those who insisted to keep the Sabbath holy instead of the new Sunday. In time the state-church killed more for this unbiblical Sunday Law than the Jewish theocracy punishing sabbath breakers ever did.
The Catholics testimony to the validitiy of the Sabbath day and the Protestants deception.
The Catholic Mirror: "... the same expression had been used eight times already by St. Luke, St. Paul and St. Peter, all under divine inspiration, and surely the Holy Spirit would not inspire St. John to call Sunday the Lord's day, whilst He inspired Sts. Luke, Paul, and Peter, collectively, to entitle the day of judgment "the Lord's day." Dialecticians reckon amongst the infallible motives of certitude, the moral motive of analogy or induction, by which we are enabled to conclude with certainty from the known to the unknown; being absolutely certain of the meaning of an expression can have only the same meaning when uttered the ninth time, especially when we know that on the nine occasions the expressions were inspired by the Holy Spirit." Therefore, the `Lord's Day' in Revelation is also the day of judgment or Second Coming of Jesus Christ. [The `Catholic Mirror', September 23, 1893, p. 8,9.]
Conclusion: Listening to sermons on this subject shows that we need to present church history and how Jews understood and used the division of the day time hours, which we address here, more clearly. The `First Day' verses never say, `the holy first day' of the week. The Bible translators correctly don't even capitalize `first day'.
The above detailed account of the historical background to continued Sabbath keeping in the New Testament after the resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrates that it is quite misleading to state that "Within weeks, thousands of Jews willingly gave up a theological tradition that had given them national identity" [H. Hanegraaf, `The Bible Answer Book', Vol. I, p. 17.], if it is supposed to give a biblical reason for the change from Sabbath to Sunday holiness. The sabbaths (no capital S) which were done away with were the ceremonial ones as we repeatedly show.

[1250] Sabbath keepers in Europe: (1) In Transylvania (Siebenbürgen), Romania, i. e. Francis Davidis (1560's) of Cluj/Klausenburg {46.8° north-23.7° east}. Other Sabbath keepers were Jacob Palaeologus (died 1585); Ambassador, General Bequessius; counselor Chaquius; John Gerendi; General Andrassi; Rector John Somer; Professor Christian Francken; Matthias Glirius and Adam Neusner, to name a few. (2) Bohemia, (3) Russia - the Strigolniks, later called Seleznevtschini, of Tula and many other areas. Before the time of Luther there were many Sabbath keepers in Russia who believed the same as the Catharians and Waldensians (also called Passaginians). Protestants (Luther) speak of these Sabbath keepers frequently as practicing circumcision. Luther charged even Carlstadt with that biblical custom. It became a common occurance to characterize Sabbath keepers that way, for when men lack argument, they use opprobious terms, - the theologian will certainly then represent them as rejecting Christ and the gospel, and accepting Moses and the ceremonial law. (4) In Germany - Baptist minister Stephen Benedict (early 1500's), Hans Borzen (executed Thursday, Sept. 16, 1529) and his wife, Barbary von Thiers [Manual of the Seventh day Baptists, p. 16], not to mention many more in many countries.

[1300] Some detractors of Sabbath keeping use the argument of Exodus 16:29 in a false way. We read: "See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days: abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." Obviously this scripture is repeating God's instruction not to go out and collect manna on the Sabbath day for the double portion of manna for the sixth day and Sabbath was to be gathered on the 6th day only. That is all it means. It does not mean, that ever since, Sabbath keeping Christians cannot leave their homes to go on a walk, visit or enjoy God's creation. Careless Bible readers may not discern these connections. Jesus gave us examples on how to keep the Sabbath holy. Since old times He says to guard the borders of the Sabbath hours from evening unto evening, Lev. 23:32; Lk. 23:53-56. This division of the weekly days has been instituted since creation week where a day started with the evening, the dark part first, and continued with the morning, the daylight hours, until nightfall. Beware of teachers who do not want to follow this pattern in our age.

[1400] To relate some Bible truth, one could make a case that breaking the 4th commandment trespasses also against the 5th commandment if we regard for a moment God as our father by virtue of being our Creator and we do not honor the day He pronounced holy. Breaking the 4th commandment also breaks the 8th commandment in that we steal time which God marked and set aside to meet with us and spend it on ourselves and try to worship on a day set aside for work. We could argue breaking the 4th commandment also breaks the 9th commandment in that we bear a false witness to the world on what our Christian duties are. Of course it also breaks the 1st, 2nd and 3rd commandments in that, in reality, we worship another god when we do not remember His Day. We make a forbidden image when worshipping on a day He did not pronounce holy and we take His name in vain when we belittle those who obey God and mark them as some strange fringe group when in reality that applies to the derisive speaker.

[1440] "She took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." Genesis 3:6. Having herself transgressed, she [Eve] became the agent of Satan working the ruin of her husband. In a state of strange, unnatural excitement, with her hands filled with the forbidden fruit, she sought his presence, and related all that had occurred.
An expression of sadness came over the face of Adam. He appeared astonished and alarmed. To the words of Eve he replied that this must be the foe against whom they had been warned; and by the divine sentence she must die. In answer she urged him to eat, repeating the words of the serpent, that they should not surely die. She reasoned that this must be true, for she felt no evidence of God's displeasure, but on the contrary realized a delicious, exhilarating influence, thrilling every faculty with new life, such, she imagined, as inspired the heavenly messengers.
Adam understood that his companion had transgressed the command of God, disregarded the only prohibition laid upon them as a test of their fidelity and love. There was a terrible struggle in his mind. He mourned that he had permitted Eve to wander from his side. But now the deed was done; he must be separated from her whose society had been his joy. How could he have it thus? Adam had enjoyed the companionship of God and of holy angels. He had looked upon the glory of the Creator. He understood the high destiny opened to the human race should they remain faithful to God. Yet all these blessings were lost sight of in the fear of losing that one gift which in his eyes outvalued every other. Love, gratitude, loyalty to the Creator--all were overborne by love to Eve. She was a part of himself, and he could not endure the thought of separation. . . . He resolved to share her fate; if she must die, he would die with her. After all, he reasoned, might not the words of the wise serpent be true? Eve was before him, as beautiful and apparently as innocent as before this act of disobedience. She expressed greater love for him than before. No sign of death appeared in her, and he decided to brave the consequences. He seized the fruit and quickly ate.
So it is today. Since breaking God' law does not result in immediate peril, people boldly continue breaking the law, not looking ahead to the day of judgment. Those who break the law of God have left the true church. The true church never countenances the breaking of the law of God.

[1500] Jesus resting in the grave is a picture for us that sees death as a span of time, a respite, though unnoticed by those who are dead, during which sin cannot afflict them. "Behold, I will gather thee to thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eyes see all the evil that I will bring upon this place, and upon the inhabitants of the same." 2.Chronicles 34:28

[1580] What was nailed to the cross? While the handwritings of ordinances, the ceremonial law was discontinued (nailed to the cross) after the cross, we might say it was actually sin that was nailed to the cross. The animal sacrifices were necessary because of sin until calvary. After calvary, however, Christ was the perfect sacrifice and these animal sacrifices had fulfilled their purpose and were discontinued. However, sin still reigns and we need the law of God, the schoolmaster, to point them out so we can confess our trespasses and repent and follow the sinful path no more because we decided by faith to accept the sacrifice Jesus made to change our life and follow Him instead. - The prophet Jeremiah forsaw that the law of God would not ever be nailed to the cross when he wrote, "the city (of Jerusalem) shall remain for ever" but "If ye will not hearken unto me ...", Jer. 17:25,27; 2.Chr. 36; Exe. 20.

[1700] Studying the many manuscripts of biblical books or writings about biblical books show that the closer in time a manuscript comes to the time of its historical focal point, the fewer textual variations occur to be finally just about completely irrelevant.

[1810] In OT times the following ceremonies or rituals could occur on the 7th day Sabbath: (1) offering of two lambs without spot; (2) two tenth portions of flour for a meal offering mingled with oil; (3) a drink offering; See Numbers 28:9,10. This part of Sabbath keeping was done away with at the cross, Dan. 9:27.

[2000] It is instructive how shallow theology and Bible interpretation wars against the living Word of God by ignoring scriptures we present and committing the evil of assigning sacred holiness to a man made Sabbath by reading `The Westminster Larger Catechism' of the Reformed Church of England on Isaiah 58:13. We have shown the scriptural evidence, as best as we can at this time, to establish that the 7th day Sabbath is still God's holy day and that the 1st day Sunday-Sabbath is a spurious, foreign insertion by theologians still attached to the church who instituted it. Throughout history half converted Christians, those who interpret the Bible through their Roman glasses, have wrecked havoc in Bible upholding, Christian churches. This problem is of long duration. We set out to help expose the word twisting doctrines of `Babylon'.

[2080] Why did Jesus have to die on a cross? Unless you realize that the Law of God is immutable, you will not find a coherent reason why Jesus had to die. The word `atonement' occurs only once in the NT. "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement" Romans 5:11, where its Greek word is `katallage', a word meaning "reconciliation", or "reconciling" and is elsewhere so translated, Rom. 11:15; 2.Cor. 5:18-19. The related word `katallasso' occurs six times, and in each case is translated as "to reconcile" (Rom. 5:10; 1.Cor. 7:11; 2.Cor. 5:18-20). Katallage should be rendered "reconciliation" in Romans 5:11 also. The word `atonement' occurs much more frequently in the OT as a verb, "to make atonement" (in Lev. 1:4; see Ex. 29:36), but occasionally also in the noun form "atonement"(Lev. 23:37, etc.). The simple form is found in Genesis 6:14, translated as "pitch" what realy means "to cover", as in to cover sin, `to make amends', ` to make things right', to expiate', `to make atonement', `making adequate compensation for wrong done', see 2.Sam. 21:3ff. When Christ ascended back into heaven (cmpr. Jh. 20:16,17; Mt. 28:9; Jh. 20, 26-28), he heard from God Himself the assurance that His atonement for the sins of men had been all sufficient or ample, that through his blood all might gain (not have) eternal life. God Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that he would receive repentant and obedient men, and would love them as He loves His Son. Christ was to complete His work, and fulfill His pledge to "to make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir." Isaiah 13:12. When Jesus cried on the cross, `It is finished' he addressed the Father. The compact plan of salvation had been fully carried out. Jesus said in effect, `Father, it is finished, I have done Thy will, O My God. I have completed the work of redemption. If Thy justice is satisfied, "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." (John 19:30; 17:24) ... The voice of God is heard proclaiming that justice is satisfied. (Eph. 1:6; Ps. 85:10). Therefore, let us remember that the Lord has never asked anyone to keep a day holy as a memorial of redemption (then Friday would be such a day, Eph. 1:7, not Sunday), but He has asked us to keep Sabbath holy as a memorial of creation.

The word "covenant" can either mean a contract, and agreement between two parties, or a will, a promise made by one person but benefiting others. The Bible describes two opposite methods of salvation labeling them as the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The Old Covenant was a contract made between God and the Israelites, while the New Covenant is a will, a promise made by God that He would redeem mankind through the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Old Covenant was first introduced to the Israelites of the Exodus. This covenant was a (`marriage') contract, an agreement between them and God. In this contract, God spelled out His laws, especially the Ten Commandments, and in return, the Israelites promised to keep all of them. The agreement was that if they obeyed, they would live; and if they disobeyed, they would have to die.

However, when God gave His laws to the Israelites and entered into the Old Covenant, He knew that man in his sinful nature could not and would not keep them. Even though that God's Word tells us over and over again that it was God's plan for us to obey His law, (Gen. 27:8; Ex. 19:5; Dt. 30:20; 1Sam. 12:14; Jer. 7:23; Dan. 7:27; Acts 5:29; Eph. 6:1). The whole purpose of the Old Covenant, based on man's promise and performance, was to make them aware that they were sinners in need of a Savior, thus preparing their hearts to accept the New Covenant, God's promise of salvation in Christ.

Since sin is a deceiver, many make the same mistake as the Israelites and enter into an Old Covenant relationship with God, thinking they can be saved by promising Him to be good. In this study we will examine the two Covenants and see why the Old Covenant can never save us. Our only hope of making it to heaven is the New Covenant: salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in what God obtained for us in Jesus Christ.

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