Dangers of Mixing Law and Grace - 5

 

          Ought we to be Sabbath observant today?  There is no other subject that has caused more controversy and disagreement than this question.  Is worshiping on Sunday a sign one has the so-called "Mark" of the Beast?  Will you go to hell for worshiping on Sunday as so many of the Sabbath observant groups claim?  Why is worshiping on the Sabbath being used as some sort of mark of being super spiritual? 

          This is one of those areas where the mixing of the Law and Grace becomes extremely dangerous.  I have two old rabbi friends back in Rochester, NY that over the years I have drawn on their "Jewishness" to gain my insights to better understand this issue.  For the most part of my life that was never an issue but beginning in the early 1970's and 1980's it seemed that the issue kept coming up, among my contacts, church members, and even fellow pastors.  What I share in this post is "kosher" meaning it is "Hebrew compliant" and would be confirmed by any orthodox rabbi and most rabbis of various theological persuasions.

          Before I get into this, there are several things that one needs to keep in mind when reading the Bible.  If one keeps these three things in mind you will never misinterpret the Scriptures and thus never be misled into unscriptural teachings and theories.  Always find out:

    1. Who is speaking?
    2. Who is being spoken to?
    3. What is being spoken about?

          Now in order to properly grasp the subject of the Sabbath, we need to consider at least five different questions.

                ++First, which day is the Sabbath?
                ++Second, what was the purpose of the Sabbath?
                ++Third, what was the penalty for breaking the Sabbath?
                ++Fourth, to whom was the Sabbath given?
                ++Fifth, when was the Sabbath abolished?

          The answer to the first question is really easy and any Jew will tell you it is Saturday, and it begins at sun down on Friday according to Hebrew customs.  There has never been any other Sabbath, but Saturday, the seventh day of the week.  Exodus 20:10 states, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, or thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:" 

          Many well-meaning people make the mistake of calling Sunday the Sabbath.  I have even heard preachers get up in their pulpits and say, "We have come together this beautiful Sabbath day."  My friend, this is an error because there has never been but one Sabbath - Saturday, the seventh day of the week.  Nowhere in the Bible is the first day of the week ever called the Sabbath.

          Later on, we will notice when and where the Sabbath was abolished, but may I caution all of you to never call Sunday the Sabbath.  Nowhere in the Word of God do we ever read that Sunday is the Sabbath or that the Sabbath day was changed to Sunday.  It's sheer nonsense!

          As to the second question, to whom was the Sabbath given, it is important to be paying close attention.  The Sabbath was given to Israel and to no other nation.  This is made exceedingly plain by the testimony of Exodus 31:12-17.  Notice:  "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for IT IS A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND YOU throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.  Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.  Six days may work be done; but on the Sabbath is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.  Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.  IT IS A SIGN BETWEEN ME AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL FOR EVER: for in six days the Lord made heavens and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed". 

          It is very plain to see from this passage of Scripture that the Sabbath was given only to the nation of Israel, never to the Gentiles.  No place in the Scriptures did God tell the Church to observe the seventh day.  God tells us here that the Sabbath was to be a sign only "between Him and the children of Israel".  See Exodus 31:7 and Ezekiel 20:20 for additional confirmation of this basic truth. 

          Incidentally, God gave the Jews two signs in order to distinguish them as His separate people - the Sabbath and circumcision.  The first was a spiritual sign and the second was a physical sign. 

          Now the Sabbath was a sign to distinguish Israel from all other nations.  Just as the wedding ring is a sign or symbol between husband and wife, even so the Sabbath became a sign between God and Israel.  Had God given the Sabbath to every race of people it could not have been a sign of anything specific.  If a young man gives one girl a diamond ring it is a sign of something.  But if he should give a diamond to every girl he meets, that would not be a sign of anything - except he was a simpleton.

          Once we understand that the Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel we can better understand why God gave them this statute.  Let us notice the reason why the Jews were commanded to keep the Sabbath.  "And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out ... therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day".  -(Deuteronomy 5:15).  "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"  -(Ezekiel 30:12).

          Now here we have the reason as to why God gave the Jews the Sabbath.  The Jews were commanded to keep the Sabbath because God had brought them out of the land of Egypt with a mighty deliverance and this was to be a special sign of that great deliverance.

          When God gave the Ten Commandments to Israel, He said:  "I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage".  -(Exodus 20:2).  Here we have a salutation or the introduction to the Ten Commandments which proves beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Law was given only to the nation of Israel, for they were the only people brought up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  I don't know why people quote the Ten Commandments and leave off the introduction as to whom they were for.  Martin Luther once said, "If a preacher wants to force you back to Moses, ask him if you were brought by Moses out of Egypt."

          In Romans 2 we have this enlightening truth:  "For when the Gentiles, WHICH HAVE NOT THE LAW, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves".  -(Romans 2:14).

          In this passage we are told twice that the Gentiles do not have the Law.  What could be plainer?  Paul tells us here that every man is possessed by a God-given knowledge of right and wrong, (we call that a conscience), but he emphatically declares that the Gentiles have never had the Law.  Well, this settles the matter beyond all argument for those who are willing to listen to the Word of God.

          Now to the third question, what is the penalty for breaking the Sabbath?  Let us notice the focus on the seventy of the Sabbath law, when it was divinely placed in order for the people of Israel.  In Numbers 15:32-35 a man was caught picking up sticks on the Sabbath day, and God ordered that he be stoned to death.  In Exodus 35:3 we see that they could not kindle a fire on the Sabbath day.  Because the Sabbath day, there was also a Sabbath year, and God was equally strict about this seventh year.  In Leviticus 25:4 and 2nd Chronicles 36:20-21 we see that God sent Israel into captivity for seventy years for violating the Sabbath years.

          Please notice, if you will, some of the rigid rules and drastic penalties connected with the Sabbath.  "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".  -(Exodus 16:29).

          Now, if you want the Sabbath you will have to become an Israelite and put yourself under the Law.  Now the Law of the Sabbath forbids any kind of traveling on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath Law says that you must remain indoors on that day for it is a day of absolute rest.  The Jewish Sabbath was not a day of worship.  It was not a day of religious activity or public meetings.  The Jews were not to bring sacrifices on the Sabbath day, but to remain indoors and rest.

          Listen to the severe penalty which God pronounced upon those who violated this holy day:  "Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people".  -(Exodus 31:14).

          Do you see now why the Bible calls the Law a "ministration of death?"  -(2nd Corinthians 3:7-11)  It is because there was a death penalty attached to each one of the Commandments.  If you are under the Law then you are under the sentence of death.  That's all that the Law can do for you.  The Law will kill you and condemn you, but it can never save you.  And that's the difference between Law and Grace.  Law condemns you for your failure, but Grace forgives you.  Thank God we are not under the Law but under Grace.

          Now we address the question of when was the Sabbath given.  Although it is frequently claimed that the seventh day Sabbath has ever been a universal law from the beginning, YOU MAY SEARCH THE ENTIRE BOOK OF GENESIS without finding any reference to the Sabbath!

          You may also read the first fifteen chapters of Exodus without finding a single reference to the Sabbath!  These books cover a vast era of about 2,500 years, give or take, during which the Bible is as silent as the empty tomb concerning the Sabbath.

          It was not until Israel had been delivered from Egyptian bondage, shortly before the formal giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai that the first reference is made to the Sabbath in Exodus 16:23.  "Tomorrow is the rest of the hold Sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake today, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.  So the people rested on the seventh day".  -(Exodus 16:23, 30).

          If you will read this passage carefully you will see that the Jews knew nothing about the Sabbath up until this time.  They had never even heard of it.  Now here we have the first mention a place where God gave His precious day to the people of Israel.  "See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath".  -(Exodus 16:29).

          Oh, but I can hear someone saying, "Doesn't the Bible say that God rested on the seventh day when He finished the work of creation in Genesis 2:2-3?"  Yes, that's absolutely right - but there is not one single word said here about God commanding man to keep the Sabbath.  It simply says that God rested on the seventh day.  I don't know why people want to read into the Bible things that aren't there. 

          You can search the Bible all you want to and you won't find any mention of the Sabbath from Adam to Moses -  a period of some 2,500 years.  There is no record in God's Word that Adam and Eve or Abel, or Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob or any of the patriarchs ever observed the Sabbath or were acquainted with it. 

          There is one Scripture which fixes beyond all argument the time when the Sabbath was given to man.  "Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments; and MADEST KNOWN UNTO THEM THY HOLY SABBATH, and commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant".  -(Nehemiah 9:13-14).

          So it is clear from this Scripture that the Sabbath was made known to God's people through His servant, Moses.  It was never made known before because the Sabbath was never intended for anybody except Israel.  This leads us to fifth and final question pertaining to when was it when the Sabbath was abolished?

          The Apostle Paul makes it crystal clear that the Sabbath was nailed to the cross along with the rest of the Law when Jesus died at Calvary.   "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; ... let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ".  -(Colossians 2:14-17).

          Could anything be more plainer.  When Christ Jesus fulfilled the Law, He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross.  Then Paul says to the Christian, "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath day; which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ".  -(Colossians 2:16-17).  So when Jesus died on Calvary that was the end of the Law.  (The entire Law that God gave to Israel through Moses).  And today we are living in the dispensation of the Grace of God. 

          Even Hosea spoke of the time when the Sabbath would be done away with.  "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts".  -(Hosea 2:11).  So, there are no holy days, no feast days, no meat ordinances, and no Sabbath days for God's people in this dispensation of Grace.  There isn't a single verse of Scripture which says that the Sabbath is binding upon members of the body of Christ.  This is radical thinking for many Christians because of their ignorance [lack of knowledge] and those that instructed them in their under-standing of the Bible.  It flatly is a matter of confusion because the church or particular denomination has made it that way to keep people in bondage.  The Roman and Eastern Orthodox, along with all the apostate Protestant daughter-churches have been responsible for being disingenuous with its people just as much as Sabbath observant groups.  This goes for their theological institutions as well.  I was once in bondage to the Law because of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Wesleyan seminaries that I attended and graduated failed to properly teach their students this distinction.  Each denomination has its own academic core requirements.   All seminaries teach a course in "Systematic Theology", and a course in "Denominational Theology"; and some may even offer a course in "Biblical Theology", which from my position is the most important of the three.

          Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox Catholicism, and Protestant denominations such as the Episcopalian, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Wesleyan, Nazarene, Christian (Disciples), United Church of Christ, ALL, teach what is referred to as "Covenant/Reformed" theology, which is for all intent and purpose the direct opposite of "Dispensational" Theology.  These churches teach a two-covenant understanding of the Bible, i.e., the Old and New Covenant structured on the two divisions of the Bible.  This is a gross over simplification of something that is intricately more complex and detailed. 

          There are at least eight Covenants in the Bible, but "Covenant/Reformed" churches give their membership an abridged (simplified) teaching on the Bible.  These folks and denominations teach the Bible allegorically and by that they "spiritualize" the text.  They make it [Scripture] say whatever they want it to say.  Every one of those named denominations plus many others, when it comes to End Times or Eschatology, teach the "Amillennialism" view which means they do not believe in the 1000-year millennium of Revelation 20.  This will explain a whole lot for you why there are so many opinions are out there on this topic.

          The denominations or churches that teach "Dispensationalism", include the Assemblies of God, the Christian Missionary & Alliance, and the Evangelical Free Church of America.  Another denomination that believes and teaches Dispensationalism is Calvary Chapel.  I forgot to mention them in a previous post because I was not personally familiar with them, meaning I have never lived in an area where one existed.  They are small by comparison with the other big three that I named.  Others that hold to Dispensationalism include many, if not most Baptists, such as Fundamental Baptist, Independent Bible and Community Non-Denominational churches.  About 15-20% of America's churches are "Dispensational" in their theology and are Pre-Millennial / Pre-Tribulational.  It is my opinion that you almost need a seminary education in order to read most denominational doctrine or their "Statements of Faith", i.e., what they believe.  I have been Non-Denominational since 1996, at which time I left the United Methodist Church in 1998.

          In simple terms ALL "Covenant/Reformed" churches today are apostate because of their negligence and failure to render the differences between Law and Grace.  It may be deliberate, intentional, or errant; however, they fail their people by blurring the differences between Law and Grace.  There is no need for such confusion to exist on this divisive issue.  Doing an exhaustive "Word Study" or "Thematic Study" along with considering the highlighted questions and points I noted at the beginning you begin to find clarity and truth on this matter.

          While I am on this point, I need to note that any Law-based religious body, sect, cult, church, is errant on this matter as well.  As I stated above, there isn't a single passage of Scripture which says that the Sabbath is binding upon the body of the Christ. 

          Frequently it is argued that we ought to keep the Sabbath because Jesus kept it.  There can be no question but that the Lord Jesus Christ observed the seventh day as the Sabbath during the thirty-three years He sojourned upon the Earth.  But here is where so many people make a key mistake.  They say that we should try to imitate the life of Christ and because Jesus kept the Sabbath, thus we should keep it today.  That's just like saying that because Jesus walked on water, we should go and jump in the lake.  I could name many examples of errant logic syllogisms on this point alone. 

          Please do not lose sight of the fact that Jesus lived in a different dispensation than you and I are living in.  Jesus lived under the Law.  He was such a good Jewish boy as Dr. Randy Weiss says on his program "CrossTalk".  Dr. Weiss is a Messianic believer in Jesus Christ.  But the Bible says in Romans 6:14 that we are not under the Law but under Grace.  We read in Galatians 4:4-5 that "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, to redeem them that were under the Law."  Jesus is the only man who ever lived that kept the Law perfectly, and He kept it for us and died for us because we couldn't keep it.  Not one time in the Scriptures are we told to imitate the life of Jesus Christ except in the matter of personal humility.  Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day -(Luke 2:21).  He observed the Passover -(Luke 2:42); He never married, He never had a home and He confined His ministry strictly to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. -(Matthew 15:24).  In order for a person to follow Jesus in all these things, he would have to go and live in Israel.  So let's not forget that Jesus was born under the Law.  He lived under the Law.  And, He died to redeem us from the curse of the Law, and FULFILL the Law!

          One of the favorite Scriptures used by Sabbatarians that try to prove that the Sabbath should be observed today is Mark 2:28.  When the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath, our Lord declared, "The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath; therefore
the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

          Frequently I have heard the question, "why do you say that the Sabbath was made exclusively for the Jews?  Didn't Jesus say that the Sabbath was made for man?"  This is really far-fetched reasoning!  What a superficial argument!   By applying the rule of the "Three W's" (who is speaking? who is being spoken to? and what is being spoken about?) this is a non-issue.  When I was a seminary grad-student, the "Three W's" was foundational training, and often lay-people do not have this in their mind as a filter in understanding Scripture. 

          You will note that Jesus, the Jew, was talking, and He was talking to Jews in the presence of His Jewish disciples about a Jewish day, and what He really said was this, "The Sabbath was made for man AND NOT MAN FOR THE SABBATH."  When we add the rest of this verse, which the Seventh Day observant sects invariably leave off, we find that it means exactly the opposite to what they contend.  It simply means that Jesus emphasized the fact that man was more important than the Sabbath and NOT the Sabbath more important than man.  The word "man" is used well over three hundred times in the Old Testament when referring to Israel alone.  And incidentally, but important none the less, in the Greek, the "Definite" article is found before both occurrences of the word "man", making it "the man", that is, the man to whom it was given.  Read Nehemiah 9:13-14 and Exodus 31:13 and you will see that the Sabbath was given only to Israel. 

          Another argument which our Seventh Day friends frequently use is Matthew 5:17, "Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill".  Some say, "Doesn't this prove that Jesus did not abolish the Sabbath?  No, it does not say that at all.  This Scripture says that Jesus came to fulfill the Law.  Jesus did not destroy the Law, but He fulfilled it.  Jesus did not break God's Law while on earth, but He fulfilled it and moved it out of the way and made it a thing of the past.  Sabbath-day Gentile observers want to twist the plain text through tricky linguistic gymnastics.

          To illustrate: the Law commanded the yearly celebration of the Passover observance with a slain lamb.  Jesus did not destroy the Passover celebration, but He moved it out of the way by fulfilling it in that He became the real Passover Lamb, "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world".  -(John 1:29; 1st Corinthians 5:7).  When Jesus was lifted up on Calvary's cross He cried out, "It is finished."  That was the end of the Law and the beginning of the Dispensation of God's Grace. 

          In doing a comprehensive study of the Law, we need also to look at the Sabbath in the book of the Acts period.  During the Acts period we find that the Sabbath is mentioned only in connection with the Jews.  Several times we are told that the apostle Paul went into the Jewish synagogue to preach to the Jews on the Sabbath day.  This is found in Acts 13:14-43; 17:2; and 18:4. 

          Now Paul himself gives us the reason as to why he went into the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath day.  Notice, "Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the Law, as under the Law, that I might gain them that are under the Law:"  -(1st Corinthians 9:20).  There it is very plainly and very emphatically.  Paul tells us that he placed himself under the Jewish Law, including the Sabbath, in order to reach the Jews for Christ Jesus.  And this is the reason we find Paul preaching in the synagogue to the unbelieving Jews on the Sabbath day.  I am aware of two missionaries who work among the Jews who also go to the synagogue area on the Jewish Sabbath.  They don't go there to observe the Sabbath or to worship with the Jews, but they go into the synagogue many times on the Sabbath day because it gives them the opportunity to reach the Jews for Christ.

          All the prophets tell us that there is a glad day coming when Israel shall own Jesus Christ as Messiah and King.  When God ceased dealing with Israel as a nation, the Sabbath disappeared.  -(Hosea 2:11).  Now keeping in mind that the Sabbath is a covenant sign between God and Israel, we would naturally expect to see the Sabbath resumed when the Jews are nationally restored to their own land, and that is exactly what Scripture teaches.  "And it shall come to pass (in the Kingdom age when Israel is restored) that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall as flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord".  -(Isaiah 66:23).

          This is speaking about the Millennium and it says that when Jesus reigns over the house of Israel during the Millennium, the Sabbath will again be observed, not as a matter of Law, but as a memorial of Israel's past history.  And thus we see that Israel will again keep the Sabbath when Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom on Earth.

          Many time the question comes up, "Is there any special day for the child of God to keep since Israel's Sabbath has been done away?"  Let the Scriptures answer for themselves.  "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.  Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind".  -(Romans 14:5).

          It is abundantly evident that NO ONE day is above another in this dispensation, so far as the Scriptures are concerned.  No place in God's Word will you find any command for the bride-church, the body of Christ, to observe any special day. This is of the utmost importance if you are to remain free of "legalism" that is common to the Sabbath-observant churches.  Some of the largest Sabbath-observant churches include:

    ++The Jehovah Witnesses
    ++The Seventh Day Adventists
    ++The Philadelphia Church of God (Gerald Flurries)
    ++The Restored Church of God (David C. Pack)
    ++Living Church of God (Roderick C. Meredith)
    ++Intercontinental Church of God (Garner Ted Armstrong -deceased a few years ago)
    ++United Church of God, (an international association)
    ++Church of God's Faithful (Robert Ardis)
    ++Independent Church of God (Ronald Dart)
    ++Church of God, (an international community - David Hulme)
    ++Christian Biblical Church of God (Fred Coulter)
    ++The Church of God-PKG (Ronald Weinland)
    ++House of Yahweh (Yisrayl Hawkins)
    ++God's Church, Worldwide (David Moore)
    ++Church of God, Faithful Flock (Don Billingsley)
    ++Church of God, A Worldwide Association
    ++Worldwide Church of God (Splinter Groups that came with the demise and death of Herbert W. Armstrong)
    ++Remnant of God.org

          These are but a few of the names of the "major" Sabbath-observant religious groups claiming to be God's "true church".  As best as I have examined them, behind their public facade or image, when you get down to their beliefs, all of them believe you are apostate and will go hell if you worship on Sunday.  Many state explicitly Sunday worshipers have the "Mark" of the Beast.  They distort the Biblical message, and they place their followers under the Old Testament Mosaic Law errantly; furthermore, they mislead innocent folks in their term-twisting of what the "Mark" of the Beast is all about.  Their absence of any understanding of Biblical Greek becomes their downfall.

          Remember, we can rest seven days out of the week, physically, and never have a rest in our soul.  What God wants us to do is to rest seven days out of the week in our soul.  The Sabbath was being used also as a spiritual metaphor or type of Christ who becomes our rest.  The Christian finds a rest in his soul, and so he enjoys a Sabbath, or he enjoys a rest in his soul seven days out of the week.  Although Israel observed the seventh day and did no servile work therein, yet they did not enter into the rest which God had provided for them.  While they observed the "physical" Sabbath, they had not learned the "spiritual" lesson.

          In Hebrews 4:1-6 we read that the people of Israel entered not into God's rest because of unbelief.  They had certain strict rules about the Sabbath, but they lacked real faith in God.  And that is the way of things today.  People want to keep a day, and on that day they want to have an outward show of going to church and engaging in certain forms of religious ritual, but they miss the thing that God wants.  What God wants is a believing heart that looks to Him every day, and loves Him in return for His great love wherewith He loved us.  That was even the intent of the Law, as interpreted for us by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself -(Matthew 22:37, and we read in John 6:27-29, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He (God) hath sent". 

          Today, Jesus is our Sabbath.  He is our rest -(Hebrews 4:3,9).  The Jews rested in a day.  We rest in a person - the Lord Jesus Christ.  That's not rest from chopping wood, or digging coal, or plowing corn.  That's perfect rest for our souls.  The trouble with the above noted "legalists" Sabbath-observant religious denominations is that they are trying to work their way into Heaven instead of coming to Jesus to get rest for their soul.

          The Lord wants us to worship Him the same 365 days a year.  Note what the Apostle Paul says about the observing of days:  "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain".  -(Galatians 4:10,11). 

          The apostle tells us here that the observance of days is a sign of weakness, childishness and lack of development or spiritual growth.  It is very plain to see that God doesn't want us to observe any days or months or seasons.  To the Christian there are no special holy days.  Every day is the Lord's Day for the child of God.  Every day should be holy unto the Lord.  Praise God - we serve a real and living Christ who lives all year round.

          Let us rejoice in the liberty which is ours in Christ Jesus.  Let us thank God that we have been set free from the Law of sin and death.  We can enter into our Sabbath, the Lord Jesus Christ, and have a Sabbath every day in the week; every day in the year; that is a true rest of the soul.  The Sabbath of the Old Testament was only a shadow. Thanks be to God for that day that brought Jesus Christ on the scene and God delivered us from the powers of darkness and the ritual and formality of the Old Testament types.  Now it is Christ seven days out of the week, three hundred sixty five days out of the year.  Christ Jesus is our peace!  Christ Jesus is our rest!  To know Him is joy unspeakable and full of glory.

          Now, I am about to shake the tree a bit when we come to the question, "What about Sunday - is it a day to be observed?  Was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday?"  No, neither Sunday nor any other day is the Christian Sabbath.  The Christian's Sabbath is rest to the soul.  The seventh day Sabbath was rest to the body.  The "born-again" believer finds rest in his soul seven days out of the week because Jesus has now become our True Sabbath.  You may have to wrestle with that for a while but there is liberation in grasping it.  I am not saying to stop your worship on Sunday but I am simply saying that every day of the week is to be holy unto the Lord!

          Paul said to the Galatians who were having a hard time to break away from the bondage of the Law.  "Ye observe DAYS, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain".  -(Galatians 4:10-11). You can see - God isn't so much concerned about our resting physically as He is about our resting spiritually.

          The Bible speaks of "the first day of the week" eight times.  But not once in these 8X do we find even a hint that Sunday is a day to be observed.  This may shock you but I will try to do a separate post on the expression "the first day of the week" in greater detail.  The passages set forth that our Lord's resurrection was discovered on that day, that certain disciples gathered to break bread on that day (which they also did the day following - Acts 20:7-11) and that gifts were to be set aside on that day in anticipation of a visit from Paul.  Upon these meager facts, a great superstructure has been built which is supposed to make Sunday a day to be observed or kept by all who profess Christ Jesus.  Its observance as a holy day is based solely upon the commandments of men and not upon any instruction from God.  Not a single line of Scripture can be found which authorizes, suggests or commands its observance as a day unto the Lord.  Actually the church has misrepresented the day [first day of the week] in how it transliterated the Greek text.  That is fodder for another post; however, I will go so far as to say, from the best scholarly input, Jesus rose from the dead just after the close of the Sabbath, minutes into the first day of the week.  Jesus rose from the dead approximately 6:15 pm Jerusalem time, as the Sun set into the west, and as the Sabbath ended, or the first day of the week was beginning.  When the women came to the grave we are told it was early on the first day of the week (how early, 5am, 6am, 7am?).  We can only speculate and most would simply conclude at day break.

          Roman Catholicism's "Sun" worship has won the hearts and minds of folks by the institution of Easter Sunrise Services, by their masking their worship of the "Sun" behind the Christian veneer of Christ Jesus' Resurrection!  Easter Sunrise Service is in reality worship of the “Sun”.

          Those who insist this is a day to be observed unto the Lord should be able to tell us where we will find divine instructions as to how to keep or observe it.  Shall we make up our own rules, and brand everyone as a "Sabbath breaker" who refuses to comply with our self-imposed rules for keeping a day?  We begin to see how silly man is in trying to narrow the worship of the Lord to a single day.  But it helps man put God in a box and relegate God to a small corner of our lives.  Sunday 11 AM, as the standard time of church worship, for centuries, came as the result of farmers needing to milk their cows twice a day, 5 am and 5 pm.

          There are many who feel they find support for the observance of Sunday in the term "the Lord's day" in Revelation 1:10.  They take this to mean that John was "in the Spirit" on Sunday, and that he called this "the Lord's day".

          When anyone says that "the Lord's day" of Revelation 1:10 is the first day of the week, and the assertion is supported only by the authority of the speaker, for it is a statement that cannot be proved.  I have as much right to say that it refers to Tuesday as anyone has the right to say that it refers to Sunday, since there is nothing in the passage that shows that it refers to any day of the week.

          "But," someone will object, "you are being ridiculous - Tuesday could not possibly be the Lord's day".  In answer, I ask, "then whose day is it?"

          And if John were "in the Spirit" on Sunday, then what day was his state on Saturday or Monday.  The truth is that John was carried forward by the Spirit into the great day of the Lord and saw the things that will come to pass when that day is upon the Earth.  -(Isaiah 2:12; Joel 1:15).

          It is my conviction that only by fully accepting and walking in the truth that the Sabbath belongs to the Jews, Israel, and that Sunday was never given by God to anyone as a day to be observed, that we can walk in harmony with the truth expressed in Romans 14:5-6; Colossians 2:16; and Galatians 4:10-11.  "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike.  Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.  He that regardeth the day, regarded it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it,"  -(Romans 14:5-6).

          This passage gives abundant evidence to the Gentiles, to whom these words were spoken, no one day was above another.  If a man then, or a man now, wishes to set aside one day to the Lord he has every right to do so.  But he must not wrest the Word of God in order to find Scriptural support for this practice.  That day can be the Sabbath, Sunday, or Monday or any day of the week and the result will be that God will have more of his time just because he has dedicated one day to Him.  In this country, cultural custom and tradition has made Sunday the most convenient for this purpose.  There is no sin in either giving Sunday to the Lord as His day, or in giving Him all the days with no special significance upon any one of them.  "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days".  -(Colossians 2:16).  Nationally, things began to change with a combination of court decisions and the repeal of state “Blue” laws during the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

          If men condemn us because of our failure to observe a day that they regard as a Sabbath, let us treat their judgment with all the silent contempt that it deserves.  We can appeal their harsh judgments directly to the throne of God and their judgment will be reversed by Him.  "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed labor upon you in vain."  -(Galatians 4:10-11).

          The bottom line of this particular post is that the individual who tells you that you must keep the seventh day or the first day or any other day at all is not preaching Christ Jesus at all.  He is preaching human efforts and he is making the death of Christ of no effect.  He is frustrating the Grace of God.

          In closing, I want to point you to Jesus Christ if you are not saved.  I don't want to point you to a day to be observed, or an ordinance or a ritual or a ceremony.  None of these things can save you.  If they could, Jesus would have never needed to die for you!  Christ Jesus stands alone ready this very moment to save you and give you eternal life if you will simply trust in Him and His finished atoning work at Calvary.  "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved".  -(Acts 16:31).  All man-made systems are nothing more than works-righteousness, unless they are declared "Thus saith the Lord"!  You do not have to feel guilty or fear that you are going to hell over which day you worship the Lord.  Those who teach that kind of reasoning are liars and fools!

God bless all, even those who have yet to be liberated by His Love, Grace, and Mercy,


Pastor Bob