Information about the sabbath day

Tyler Nally (tnally@csci.csc.com)
Thu, 15 Feb 96 9:46:41 CST

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In a response to: "Robert G. Picart" <rpicart@terraport.net>:

* Please send me some information about the church's position on
* the sabbath.
*
* Since the church reconizes the sabbath to be the seventh day of
* the week, why does it continue to worship on Sunday?
*
* I understand that Sunday is the "Lord's Day", but what about
* the fourth commandment? Does that not count in the new testament?
*
* Please respond. My salvation is at stake.

I thought I'd respond to your post to Higher-Fire concerning Church on
Sundays, Sabbath Day of Rest, and O.T. Law (because the sabbath and o.t.
law are related).

I hope this answers your questions.

-------------------------Concerning Sunday/Sabbath---------------------------

I personally am not sure why church comes together these days on Sunday other
than that's the way it's been for years. I've heard that many centuries
earlier a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church changed the "church" day from
Saturday to Sunday. I don't know about that, and I really can't verify that.

The apostles, however, went to the synagogue every day (as I understand).
Church shouldn't be limited (as well as one's relation to God) to one day
in seven. The particular church I attend gather together on Sunday (twice),
Wednesday, and sometimes Saturday. There's other groups that meet at different
times and days of the week as well. But we come together as a spiritual family
several times a week. Primarily Sunday.

-------------------------Sabbath Day of Rest---------------------------------

Heb 4: 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said,
As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my
rest: although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world.

(sabbath day of rest instituted by God)

4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this
wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because
of unbelief:

(those unbelieving didn't enter into rest)

7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day,
after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts.

(then the rest of the sabbath was LIMITED to a certain day)

8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward
have spoken of another day.

(If God had given the old testament saints rest he would not
have spoken of another day (time/kind) of rest)

9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

(There is another rest to the people of God)

So, if the sabbath rest is limited in scope and duration, and they (o.t.
saints) could only enjoy the rest in a limited fashion (by observation of
ordinance), and were truly never given rest, how much better is receiving the
very promise of God (Baptism of the Holy Ghost) in respect to the obedience of
the o.t. law.

This is the new covenant. I see the "sabbath" rest as having changed from
a "day" of rest, to a "state" of rest. All throughout the o.t. God promised
a type of "rest" that pointed to the Baptism of the Holy Ghost.

Ex. 31:16-18 talks of the "children of Israel" keeping the sabbath through the
generations as a perpetual convenant. What does this mean? Does it mean that
all should observe this "word?" 1) This is a covenant between God and the
children rescued from slavery. 2) Perpetual in nature. What does this prove?
It proves that as long as there is a jew observing the sabbath God is still in
heaven. They have to do it because Gods' word says so. When Jesus said "Let
us go to the other side (of the lake of Galillee)." There wasn't anything,
including tempests, that could stop them from going to the other side. Why?
God said ("Let us go . . .") , and it was. They can't help it. They must
observe this perpetual covenant. They couldn't stop it if they tried. Why?
Because they are a jew. Its that simple.

Also notice in the latter part of Ex. 31:18 it says that God was refreshed.
If God rested and was refreshed, so will man. Man will receive the same rest
and be refreshed. Isiah says in 28:12 "this is the rest . . . this is the
refreshing" (prophecying of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost). Acts 3:19
"Repent ye therefore and be ye converted, that your sins be blotted out, when
the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;" These
are the only two scriptures where "refreshing" is mentioned.

When speaking of a seventh day sabbath, I see it (7th day sabbath) as a perfect
rest. Even by meaning of the term. Seven - complete, finished, perfect.
Sabbath - rest, refreshing. The term seventh day sabbath speaks of a perfect
rest. The only perfect rest can only be the Baptism of the Holy Ghost as the
apostles spoke/taught about.

---------------------------Concerning the Law---------------------------------

Concerning the book of Romans, The apostle wrote to the saints in Rome because
there was a group of Romans that wanted to return to the legalism of the law.
They had already repented, been baptized in Jesus name, and filled with the
Baptism of the Holy Ghost, but they wanted to return to the letter of the law
of the Scribes and Pharisees (S+P).

The apostles writings in this book show them (the Roman saints) that the law
was inadequate and never saved anyone. As we have discussed before "a
schoolmaster to Jesus Christ". The o.t. schoolmaster being the slave that
makes sure a master's children to school. If the children aren't agreeable
the schoolmaster has the permission to drag the kids there. Such is the
o.t. law. It shows us (or draws us) to Christ.

In Romans 7, the apostle uses the example of marraige of a woman to her husband
and how she is bound by law to him until death. As long as he lives she is
guilty of adultery if she marries another man. She is a slave to the "law".
The divorced wife is bound by the "law" with no chance for escape (liberty)
until her ex-husband's death.

By o.t. law all the husband had to do in order to get a divorce from his
current wife was to give his wife a slip of paper stating that they were no
longer married, and say "I divorce you" three times. She is then left out on
her own with no recourse but to prostitute herself because relatives thought
her to be a disgrace and would not accept her. She was bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. The difference between Ruth and Naomi and the
women of divorce is that their husbands were deceased. Yet they were to face
a similar end (of prostitution) if a near kinsmen had not taken Ruth as wife.

The n.t. church (a type of o.t. wife) would also be bound by the law as long
as the husband is alive. The n.t. church was freed from the bondage of the law when Jesus Christ died on the cross. The n.t. church was no longer a slave to
the law. This is the example that the apostle Paul tried to bring home to the
legalists of Rome. A clear and perfect example of bondage to the law.
The law and obedience to it can't bring salvation to anybody and is shown as
inadequate for salvation. The law can only make sins chargeable to the sinner.
"Grace" surpasses the "law".

The apostle states that the law is not sin. I agree. The apostle states that
the law is holy. I agree. The apostle states that the law is spiritual. I
agree. How can anything from God almighty be anything but these things? It
can't. Does that mean that a person can go out an rob banks and murder people?
God forbid! The apostle Paul writes that this kind of activity fulfills the
works (lust) of the flesh. And we both know that the flesh is in constant
battle with the spirit (latter Rom. 7). Jesus Christ talks about the
commandments and the law briefly when he was dealing with the S+P about the law.Jesus said that a man was guilty of adultery with a woman when he looks on a
Jesus said that a man was guilty of adultery with a woman when he looks on a
woman with lust in his heart. Is that contained in letter of the law? Nowhere does the o.t. law describe this "new" definition of adultery. In another place Jesus tells the S+P that they are guilty of murder if they hate their brother. That certainly isn't the letter of the law concerning "thou shalt not kill".
On the sabbath, Jesus and his disciples, gathered corn for later consumption.
Jesus healed a man with a withered hand and a lame man on the sabbath. The
n.t. meaning of the commandment concerning the "sabbath" must have been
percieved somehow differently, in the mind of Jesus (the author of the law),
contrasted against the S+P interpretation of the letter of the law.

As Jesus says, and the apostle Paul echoes, the two greatest commandments
(I know that I have typed this before):

Mat 22:36 - (Another lawyer) Master, which is the great commandment in
the law?

:37 - Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
:38 - This is the first and the great commandment.
:39 - And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself.
:40 - On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

ALL of the law and operation of the prophets hung upon these two commandments.
These two commandments are the sum total of the perfect law of liberty that
as James says "will judge us". Another example of the inadequacy of the saving
power of the performance or obedience to the letter of the law is when the
rich young ruler came to Jesus and inquired about how to inherit eternal life. Jesus said:

Luk 18:20 - Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not
kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father
and thy mother.

:21 - And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.

:22 - Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest
thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow
me.

:23 - And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very
rich.

The rich young ruler was innocent under the charge of the written commandments. He said that this he had kept. But, when Jesus talked about the greatest
He said that this he had kept. But, when Jesus talked about the greatest
commandment (the perfect law of liberty) this the rich young ruler could not
fulfill. Why? Because he loved his wealth more than his neighbor. He didn't
love his neighbor as himself. It is obvious that keeping the written o.t. law
(as spiritual as it is) was inadequate for salvation. This was something the
S+P couldn't understand.

All that Jesus said rubbed the S+P the wrong way. People that were assigned to kill/aprehend him return with their catch uncaught with the reason "never have
we heard anyone speak with such authority". The S+P legalists hated Christ
because he taught things that were perceived by them to be contrary to their
teachings of the law. They had perverted the law to such an extent that people could buy a sacrifice from money changers on the inner grounds of the temple.
could buy a sacrifice from money changers on the inner grounds of the temple.
The S+P didn't like this decrease in income a single bit. The "spirit" of the
law (liberty) that Jesus taught was entirely different from their knowledge of
the law that hung from their robes.

The apostle Paul even states that (in 2 Cor. 3:6) that the "letter" killeth.

2 Cor 3:6 - Who (God) also hath made us able ministers of the new testament;
not of the letter, but of the spirt: for the letter killeth, but
the spirit giveth life.

:7 - But if the ministration of death (the "letter of the law), written and engraven in stones, was glorius, so that the children of
Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the
glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

:8 - How shall not the minstration of the spirit (the perfect law
of liberty, the teachings/preachings of repentence, water
baptism in Jesus name, and baptism of the Holy Ghost)
be rather glorious?

:9 - For if the ministration of condemnation (the letter of the law)
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
(the perfect law of liberty) exceed in glory.

:10 - For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this
respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

:11 - For if that which is done away (the breaking of the ministration
of the letter of the law as Christ died on the cross thus freeing
the bondwoman) was glorious, much more that which remaineth
(ministration of the spirit through the perfect law of liberty)
is glorious.

Does the above scripture hint to the voidance the law? God forbid! It just
shows the limits of the ministration of the letter of the law. And how much
better is the ministration of the spirit. Am I saying that the ministration
of the letter of the law is to be done away? No, I think that the ministration
of the letter of the law is good and holy and is a terrific foundation for the
ministration of the spirit. The ministration of the letter of the o.t. law
is done away (had its prime time) as the apostle Paul states.

The apostle Paul uses these kinds of arguments over and over again. All
throughtout the n.t. this kind of example is used to show how the o.t. law
has had its time. Galations is rich in this. The whole book of Romans
adresses this. The last part of Rom. 2 and early Rom. 3 talks about it in
terms of circumcision/uncircumcision of the flesh/heart. The same discussion
about the letter of the law from different legal points and terms.

In conclusion:

1) Adherence to o.t. letter of the law doesn't put somebody in a special
category of blessedness in order to receive the gift of salvation.
If so the rich young ruler would have easily qualified.

2) The o.t. letter of the law is, as stated before, a valuable schoolmaster
to Jesus. Or the o.t. law is "a good mirror to detect flaws". An
adequate reflective substance for someone in order to correct current
habits and other flaws.

3) It is GRACE (ministration of the spirit) and its saving power that
supercedes and goes beyond that which the law (ministration of the
letter of the law, or ministration of condemnation) couldn't perform.
The letter of the law is finite in its ability. The law still binds
the jews and the o.t. saints. To them the Messiah (or husband) hasn't
come to set them free from the law (like that of adultery). To even
the n.t. age unbelievers the law is viewed (and likewise Christianity)
is viewed as very enslaving to a set of laws because they haven't
accepted the freedom of the laws that Jesus granted when the bondwoman
was set free. I know that to many unbelievers of Christianity doesn't
appear to be a lifestyle of freedom. An unbeliever will say that he
doesn't want to be a Christian because he doesn't want to do this or
that or something else. To him it is bondage to a group of rules.
Whereas we know it is freedom to operate in GRACE and power and to
live and have a chance against sin. GRACE starts where the ministration
of condemnation ends. GRACE sets us free to serve in liberty.

For where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty (2 Cor 3:17).