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[reddogs]

Sabbath List - Bible Facts on the Seventh-day of the Week (Saturday)
1. After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, God rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2:1-3.
2. This stamped that day as God's rest day, or Sabbath day, as Sabbath day means rest day. To illustrate: When a person is born on a certain day, that day becomes his birthday. So when God rested upon the seventh day, that day became His rest, or Sabbath, day.
3. Therefore the seventh day must always be God's Sabbath day. Can you change your birthday from the day on which you were born to one on which you were not born? No. Neither can you change God's rest day to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the seventh day is still God's Sabbath day.
4. The Creator blessed the seventh day. Genesis 2:3.
5. He sanctified the seventh day. Exodus 20:11.
6. He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:1-3.
7. It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type; for types were not introduced till after the fall.
8. Jesus says it was made for man, that is, for the race, as the word man is here unlimited; hence, for the Gentile as well as for the Jew. Mark 2:27.
9. Not only is the Sabbath made for man, but Jesus said that He was Lord of the Sabbath. Mark 2:28.
10. It is a memorial of creation. Exodus 20:11; 31:17. Every time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that grand event.
11. It was given to Adam, the head of the human race. Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3.
12. It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew.
13. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God."
14. Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day week all through the patriarchal age. Genesis 2:1-3; 8:10,12; 29:27,28, etc.
15. It was a part of God's law before Sinai. Exodus 16:4,23-29.
16. Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law. Exodus 20:1-17. Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable?
17. The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. Deuteronomy 4:12,13.
18. Then He wrote the commandment with His own finger. Exodus 31:18.
19. He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. Deuteronomy 5:22.
20. It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. Deuteronomy 10:1-5.
21. God forbade work upon the Sabbath, even in the most hurrying times. Exodus 34:21.
22. God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they profaned the Sabbath. Ezekiel 20:12,13.
23. It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from the false gods. Ezekiel 20:20.
24. God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath. Jeremiah 17:24,25.
25. He sent them into the Babylonish captivity for breaking it. Nehemiah 13:18.
26. He destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. Jeremiah 17:27.
27. God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. Isaiah 56:6,7.
28. This is in the prophecy which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. See Isaiah 56.
29. God has promised to bless all who keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 56:2.
30. The Lord requires us to call it "honourable." Isaiah 58:13 Beware, you who take delight in calling it the "old Jewish Sabbath," "a yoke of bondage," etc.
__________________

[reddogs]

31. After the holy Sabbath has been trodden down "many generations," it is to be restored in the last days. Isaiah 58:12,13.
32. All the holy prophets kept the seventh day.
33. When the Son of God came, He kept the seventh day all His life. Luke 4:16; John 15:10. Thus He followed His Father's example at creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the Father and the Son?
34. The seventh day is the Lord's day. See Revelation 1:10; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 58:13; Exodus 20:10.
35. Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), that is, to love and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the wife, to love and cherish her. 1 Peter 3:6.
36. He vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man's good. Mark 2:23-28.
37. Instead of abolishing the Sabbath, He carefully taught how it should be observed. Matthew 12:1-13.
38. He taught His disciples that they should do nothing upon the Sabbath day but what was "lawful." Matthew 12:12.
39. He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded forty years after His resurrection. Matthew 24:20.
40. The pious women who had been with Jesus carefully kept the seventh day after His death. Luke 23:56.
41. Thirty years after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit expressly calls it "the sabbath day." Acts 13:14.
42. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it the "sabbath day" in A.D. 45. Acts 13:27. Did not Paul know? Or shall we believe modern teachers, who affirm that it ceased to be the Sabbath at the resurrection of Christ?
43. Luke, the inspired Christian historian, writing as late as A.D. 62, calls it the "sabbath day." Acts 13:44.
44. The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. Acts 13:42.
45. In the great Christian council, A.D. 49, in the presence of the apostles and thousands of disciples, James calls it the "sabbath day." Acts 15:21.
46. It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon that day. Acts 16:13.
47. Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on that day. Acts 17:2,3.
48. It was his custom to preach upon that day. Acts 17:2,3.
49. The Book of Acts alone gives a record of his holding eighty-four meetings upon that day. See Acts 13:14,44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4,11.
50. There was never any dispute between the Christians and the Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians still observed the same day that the Jews did.
51. In all their accusations against Paul, they never charged him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not keep it?
52. But Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the law. "Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all." Acts 25:8. How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath?
53. The Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the Old Testament, "the sabbath day."
54. Not a word is said anywhere in the New Testament about the Sabbath's being abolished, done away, changed, or anything of the kind.
55. God has never given permission to any man to work upon it. Reader, by what authority do you use the seventh day for common labor?
56. No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after the resurrection, ever did ordinary work upon the seventh day. Find one case of the kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modern Christians do differently from Bible Christians?
57. There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh day.
58. As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, so it will be observed eternally in the new earth after the restitution. Isaiah 66:22,23.
59. The seventh-day Sabbath was an important part of the law of God, as it came from His own mouth, and was written by His own finger upon stone at Sinai. See Exodus 20. When Jesus began His work, He expressly declared that He had not come to destroy the law. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets." Matthew 5:17.
60. Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites for pretending to love God, while at the same time they made void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition. The keeping of Sunday is only a tradition of men.
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[Azenilto Brito]

10 Questions The Anti-Sabbatarians Seem Incapable of Answering

      Those who adopt certain semi-antinomian/dispensationalist theories—an interpretive current among Evangelical Christians that emerged by the end of the 19thcentury, bringing only confusion to the due interpretation of the Scriptures—don’t seem capable of answering certain questions that have been repeatedly addressed them and which are really important. They also came up with unfounded speculations in the field of eschatology regarding the rapture of the church, anticipating it for 1988, in which they certainly proved being in error. But in error they also are regarding the theme of God’s law and the Sabbath. Let’s see 10 questions that prove it:

1) Since we are in the “dispensation of grace”, and the “dispensation of law” is past, how were the children of God saved at the time of the Old Testament?

Note: That is a dilemma for dispensationalists in general, for if they say that they were saved by grace, how could that be, when the “dispensation of grace” hadn’t been inaugurated? If they allege that they were saved by fulfilling the law (as many do), how could anyone ever have reached ontological perfection to achieve that, since God’s law is “perfect” (Psa. 19:7)?

2) Christ said that he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. He recommended the most faithful obedience to all the commandments, not admitting that the least of them were disrespected (Mat. 5:19). Even considering that He referred to the entire Torah, how come some say that Jesus didn’t care much about the faithful observance of the Sabbath commandment and even defended His disciples’ violation of it? If He did that, He would inevitably be contradicting Himself and would have to be considered “the least in the kingdom of God”, according to His own words.

Note: The anti-Sabbatarians never seem willing to give a solution to this evident dilemma of their own arguments, just insisting that He really wanted to diminish the importance of the Sabbath commandment, considering it “inferior to the circumcision”, twisting Christ’s words and showing  that they don’t understand the meaning of His debates with the Jewish leaders. These discussions didn’t have to do with IF they should keep the Sabbath, WHEN they should keep the Sabbath, but HOW to observe it, in the correct spirit.

3) Insisting that Jesus in Matthew 5:17-20 refers to the entire law (Torah), which includes the ceremonies, totaling 613 rules, the anti-Sabbatarians don’t realize that in the immediate context Christ also addresses His audience calling them “salt of the Earth”, “light of the world”, later teaching them to pray the Lord’s prayer. Then, we ask: Are those who TODAY consider themselves “salt of the Earth”, “light of the world”, and pray the Lord’s Prayer, also required to fulfill the 613 legal rules of Judaism?

Note: The allegation that Christ referred to the complete Torah and recommended its faithful obedience (actually He even included the ceremonial offerings in Mat. 5:23, 24) DOESN’T SOLVE the problem that He recommends the faithful obedience of ALL the law, which includes, and not excludes, the Sabbath commandment. But why, then, don’t we observe the ceremonies today? Anyone who knows his Bible can answer that. . .
 
4) Besides not knowing how to answer the question in the previous topic, the anti-sabbatarians cannot justify the fact that in Matthew 5:17-19 the Sabbath is included, while the ceremonial part of the law has ceased—which was indicated by the rendering of the Temple’s veil from top to bottom. Since the Sabbath is NOT a ceremonial precept, why shouldn’t we obey it?

Note: Although some allege that the Sabbath was a ceremonial precept which ended at the cross, actually there is no way to prove this point. The ceremonies were instituted AFTER man’s fall, while the Sabbath was established before sin (Gen. 2:2, 3; cf. Exo. 20:8-11 and Heb. 4:4). Also, the ceremonies point to the future—Christ’s atoning sacrifice, inasmuch as the Sabbath points to the past—is the memorial of Creation.

5) Christ declared that the Sabbath was made “because of man” (Mar. 2:27), correcting the true meaning of the commandment. How the first part of this statement is to be understood? After all, was the Sabbath made for the Jewish man only? The word in the text for “man”—anthropós—denotes the universal man, as it is also used in Matthew 19:5.

Note: Those who deny the divine Sabbath commandment don’t know what to do with this text. Some attempt to prove that Christ had in mind only the Jewish man. But that doesn’t work in view of Gen. 2:2, 3; Isa. 56:3-7 and Mat. 19:5. Also it wouldn’t make sense to interpret the second part in the suggested sense: “and not the Jewish man [was created] because of the Sabbath”. There was no creation of “Jewish man”, but of the universal man. After that there appeared “Jew”, “Babylonian”, “Roman”, “Greek” men as time went by.

6) Christ in Matthew 24:20 anticipates that two things would continue to exist after His ascension: a) winter; b) Sabbath observance by His followers. Referring to the future destruction of Jerusalem He recommended to His followers: “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day”. Why didn’t Jesus say that they prayed that they hadn’t to flee on a Sunday, since that would be the new day of observance according to the theses of some anti-Sabbatarians (not all, because the majority opted to adhere to the more user-friendly nodayism/anydayism/everydayism).

Note: The anti-Sabbatarians don’t know what to do about this clear prophecy of Christ as to the Sabbath being still observed by His followers after the cross. Then, one of them attempted a clear  way-out smokescreen asking teasingly: “Do Sabbath keepers observe the winter?” But that was all he said regarding the text, with no explanation to Christ’s prediction! And the tentative argument that the doors of the cities were locked on the Sabbaths, thus nobody could get out of a city on that day (which would explain His words) is not valid because they could leave the city on a Sabbath too, through smaller doors, as the episode of Christ’s disciples on a Sabbath day exploring a plantation for food to eat at the scene (Mat. 12:1) proves. Also Jesus’ words were not limited to the urban environment, for He said: “. . . them which be in Judea flee into the mountains” (vs. 16), also referring to those who were “in the field” (vs. 18).

7) In the council gathered in Jerusalem to face the challenge of the judaizers (Acts 15), some instructions were given on things that the Gentile Christians should abstain from, and among these the Sabbath commandment IS NOT LISTED. Isn’t it a clear proof that there was no doubt among those believers as to the validity of the commandment, obeyed by all, especially for the fact that the first Christians were ethnically Jews and  “zealous of the law” (Acts 21:20)?

Note: The way to explain out this important evidence in favor of the Sabbath commandment being still in force among the early Christians is to allege that the judaizers pointed to the “law of Moses” as having to be fulfilled (vs. 5). But in this way they discriminate illegitimately against the Sabbath commandment, forgetting that the “law of Moses” didn’t have only that precept, but also “ye shall not kill”, “ye shall not commit adultery”, “honor thy father and thy mother”. . . Were the Gentile Christians under no obligation to respect these principles?

8) Paul clearly states in Rom. 3:31: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law”. It’s obvious that as a pattern of conduct the law couldn’t having been abolished, for  in the same epistle to the Romans Paul stresses that it is holy, just, good, spiritual, pleasurable and says: “. . . with the mind I myself serve the law of God”  (Rom. 7:12, 14, 22, 25). In Rom. 13:8-10 he shows that the obedience to the law’s commandments has love as its foundation. He quotes part of the law, but implying he refers to the entire Decalogue without having to quote commandment by commandment (see  vs. 9, “. . . if there be any other commandment. . .”). What Paul condemned was the illegitimate use of the law (1 Tim. 1:8). Why did he speak in such positive terms about the law, if he intended to teach that it was no more normative for Christians?

Note: The anti-Sabbatarians engage themselves in exegetical gymnastics attempting to demonstrate that Paul wouldn’t refer to the Ten Commandments, which had been “abolished”, since any division of God’s law as “moral”, “ceremonial”, “civil” is denied by them. The error regarding how to consider the law, according to Paul, was in looking for justice through it’s obedience, which is an impossibility because the function of God’s law is not to save (see Rom. 9:30-32). As a mirror only points to the stain but has no means to clean it up, the law points to sin (Rom. 7:7), but has no way to eliminate it, nor has any means to transmit sanctity. However, it’s significant that Paul says that he served God’s law (Rom. 7:25), which is the one having the commandment, “ye shall not covet” (vs. 7, 8).

9) Another of the anti-Sabbatarian arguments is that as He declared Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” Christ would be saying that He had the right to do whatever He wanted with the Sabbath, including to violate it, or even, as a certain Evangelical apologist alleged, to set the “degrees of violation to the Sabbath”, certainly a revolutionary concept! If that was true, where exactly are these “degrees” for Sabbath violation defined? Imagining that the Sabbath is indeed ceremonial (which, obviously has no foundation), were there violability degrees to any other ceremony? If not, why not?

Note: What happens is that some people try to transfer to Christ their anti-Sabbath presuppositions and prejudices, which, certainly He who declared Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” wouldn’t harbor. Christ declared Himself “Lord of the Sabbath”, not to campaign against the Sabbath (as some anti-Sabbatarians imply), rather to demonstrate His authority to correct the distorted vision regarding its legitimate obedience. The Jewish leaders also distorted the meaning of the 5th. Commandment (Mar. 7:9ff), and the tithing principle (Mat. 23:23). They often asked him, “by what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority”? (Mat. 21:23) Thus, He was “Lord of the Sabbath” because He had authority to correct them regarding the form of observing the commandment, pointing them their deviations on the question of HOW to observe the Lord’s day in the correct spirit.

10) The adherents of the theological dispensationalist semi-antinomian current hush entirely regarding the undisputed proofs that what constitutes the Evangelical orthodoxy on the Sabbath theme for centuries is the current validity of the Decalogue as Christian conduct pattern, the division of the law as having “moral, “ceremonial”, “civil” precepts, and the understanding that the 4th. commandment is not only a moral, but also a universal commandment that stemmed from Eden.

Note: Many anti-Sabbatarians simply pretend that there aren’t proofs and more proofs that centuries before the Seventh-day Adventists appeared in the religious scene, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Lutherans and other Christians already taught the same thing about the current validity of the entire Decalogue and about the “division” of the law. There was a certain Evangelical “apologist” that even assured the Evangelical community he addressed that the notion of existing this division of “moral”, “ceremonial”, “civil” law is an “artifice” created by the Adventists to advocate the keeping of the Sabbath, which is simply not true.

[RND]

I used to wonder why Jesus mentioned only five of the second group of the Ten Commandments when talking to the rich young ruler until I realized that He was trying to correct the covetousness of this man.

If Jesus' intention was to "eliminate" the Ten Commandments and usher in the period of grace after the cross, why'd He bother?

[Johann]

Have just returned from a trip to Scotland where we spent a whole day on the island of Iona, the cradle of Christianity in the British Isles. This Christan center was created by the Irish prince Colomba around the time when the Roman Cahtolic Church was gaining power in Rome. But it seems like Columba held to the original faith of the Apostles, including keeping the Sabbath. Later, when the Roman Church was gaining control, some of his followers had to flee from Scotland because they insisted on keeping the Sabbath.

Some scholars claim they fled to Iceland and became the first settlers here before the arrival of the Norse Pagan Vikings. A few centuries later the Catholic relgion rrepæaced the paganism.