Sabbath disposed of -- Geerhardus Vos

Shane Lems:

I’ve been reading through Joseph Pipa’s helpful book, The Lord’s Day, and I ran across this amazing quote by Geerhardus Vos. I’ve read it before, but I forgot its depth. While there are a handful of biblical arguments against a Christian seventh day Sabbath, I believe the argument from redemptive history is one of the most helpful ones. Here’s Vos:
“Inasmuch as the Old Covenant was still looking forward to the performance of the Messianic work, naturally the days of labour to it come first, the day of rest falls at the end of the week. We, under the New Covenant, look back upon the accomplished work of Christ. We, therefore, first celebrate the rest in principle procured by Christ, although the Sabbath also still remains a sign looking forward to the final eschatological rest. The Old Testament people of God had to typify in their life the future developments of redemption. Consequently the precedence of labour and the consequence of rest had to find expression in their calendar.”
“The New Testament Church has no such typical function to perform, for the types have been fulfilled. But is has a great historic event to commemorate, the performance of the work of Christ and the entrance of Him and of His people through Him upon the state of never-ending rest. We do not sufficiently realize the profound sense the early Church had of the epoch-making significance of the appearance, and especially of the resurrection of the Messiah. The latter was to them nothing less than the bringing in of a new, the second, creation. And they felt that this ought to find expression in the placing of the Sabbath with reference to the other days of the week. Believers knew themselves in a measure partakers of the Sabbath-fulfillment. If the one creation required on sequence, then the other required another. It has been strikingly observed, that our Lord died on the eve of that Jewish Sabbath, at the end of one of these typical weeks of labour by which His work and its consummation were prefigured. And Christ entered upon His rest, the rest of His new, eternal life on the first day of the week, so that the Jewish Sabbath comes to lie between, was, as it were, disposed of, buried in His grave” (p. 158).
The first Adam worked towards rest (the Covenant of Works); the last Adam worked so we can rest (the Covenant of Grace). God’s people got a new calendar after the great redemptive event of the Exodus in the Old Covenant era (Ex. 12), so God’s people have a new calendar after the great redemptive event of the New Covenant era – Christ’s death and resurrection. Now Christians rest on the first day of the week, the day of Christ’s resurrection.
Lord willing I’ll come back to this theme in a few days. For now, let me recommend Vos’book as well as Joseph Pipa’s book (both named above).
shane lems

 

Re:
<<the argument from redemptive history is one of the most helpful … of biblical arguments against a Christian seventh day Sabbath.>>

<<the argument from redemptive history>>— What is it?

Re:
<<<Here’s Vos:
Inasmuch as the Old Covenant was still looking forward to the performance of the Messianic work, naturally the days of labour to it come first, the day of rest falls at the end of the week.>>>

In order for this to be true, let us get it true and change the Present into the Past Tense, and say, <<Inasmuch as the Old Covenant was still looking forward to the performance of the Messianic work, naturally the days of labour to it _came_ first, the day of rest _fell_ at the end of the week.>>
Now it (the translation of?), is correct as well as true. So let’s listen on to what (Vos or Pipa or Shane Lens?) has or had to say . . .

Re:
<<<We, under the New Covenant, look back upon the accomplished work of Christ.>>>

My first objection must be against the arbitrary differentiation between, or splitting up, of <<the Old Covenant>> and <<New Covenant>> of God.

While Vos presupposes the Covenant relevant and valid at the time when God created our world, it nevertheless was God’s, Covenant and God’s only, and Eternal Covenant. It was the New Covenant of old, in the beginning. Itself never was an ‘old’ Covenant; and never in the Scriptures is being called an ‘old’, or ‘the old’, Covenant.
Vos supposes the time at the creation when there was only God’s Eternal ‘Old’ Covenant which cannot and never does get ‘old’ like man’s covenant. God’s Covenant has always been triumphant.

Man’s ‘covenant’ on the contrary from its beginning was old and obsolete because it was a covenant of works. It never would or could become ‘new’ or lasting. The ‘old covenant’ from the beginning was man’s undertaking to obey God, and came after and in response to God’ Covenanting the Gospel of his Son with man. Man’s covenant has always been disastrous failure.

<<<The first Adam worked towards rest (the Covenant of Works); the last Adam worked so we can rest (the Covenant of Grace).>>>

Re:
<<<We, therefore, first celebrate the rest in principle procured by Christ, although the Sabbath also still remains a sign looking forward to the final eschatological rest. The Old Testament people of God had to typify in their life the future developments of redemption. Consequently the precedence of labour and the consequence of rest had to find expression in their calendar.”>>>

We being New Testament Christians because of the everlasting Newness of God’s Covenant in Christ, <<in principle>> celebrate the Sabbath-rest since Christ in the beginning already had procured the Gospel and New Covenant-Rest-of-God, for us

“Therefore only indeed, does the Sabbath-rest still remain for the People of God”— <<a sign looking back>>, “because Jesus gave them … the People of God … the Rest of God”— <<a sign>> “therefore indeed”, <<looking forward>> to “the Body of Christ’s Own … eating and drinking of Christ the Substance, holding to the Head, Christ. Having Him, the Nourishment ministered by joints and bands knit together in love, the Body grows with the growth of God … to the full stature of Christ”.
Christ is <<the final eschatological Rest>>.

The Old Covenant typified to the People of God the future Christ and how God’s Covenanted Redemption would unfold in and through Him.
From the beginning God’s Rest received precedence and expression in the Everlasting Covenant of His Grace. The Rest of God reflects in “The Seventh Day” of the creation week therein that God
“hallowed the Seventh Day” for Jesus Christ; and
“blessed the Seventh Day” in Jesus Christ; and
“finished all his works on the Seventh Day” through Jesus Christ; and
“from all his works the Seventh Day RESTED” by Jesus Christ.


Re:
<<<The New Testament Church has no such typical function to perform, for the types have been fulfilled. But it has a great historic event to commemorate, the performance of the work of Christ and the entrance of Him and of His people through Him upon the state of never-ending rest.>>>

How sad we find no Scripture for this. Because the Rest of God is no <<<state of never-ending rest>>>, but it is the culmination of the exercise and performance of the “exceeding greatness of God’s Power according to the WORKING of his mighty Strength which He wrought—‘energised’ [ἐνήργηκεν] fulfilled, ended, finished IN CHRIST WHEN HE RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD.” Ephesians 1:19.

Jesus’ Resurrection has been God’s Rest of, and on “the day The Seventh Day Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD” in the beginning; at the exodus; at the giving of the Law; and at and with Jesus’ resurrection in the tomb. Last, in the Last Day when Christ shall come again and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, Jesus’ Resurrection will be God’s Rest and Triumph “in the day The Seventh Day Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD”.

Never has there been reason that God’s Rest Day will fall upon another day than His own Day of Divine Rest, The LORD’S Sabbath Day, “the day The Seventh Day Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD”—“The Lord Jesus’ Day”—‘Kuriakeh Hehmera’.

Re:
<<<We do not sufficiently realize the profound sense the early Church had of the epoch-making significance of the appearance, and especially of the resurrection of the Messiah. The latter was to them nothing less than the bringing in of a new, the second, creation. And they felt that this ought to find expression in the placing of the Sabbath with reference to the other days of the week.>>>

Very true except the inclusion of <<the appearance>> simultaneous with <<the resurrection of the Messiah>>. Jesus’ first appearance was not at the same time or on the same day; “He appeared to Mary Magdalene on the First Day of the week”.

But it is true that to <<<the early Church … the resurrection of the Messiah was nothing less than the bringing in of a new, the second, creation.>>>
The first Christian Church certainly felt that the Resurrection of Jesus “in the fullness of day (‘opse’) on the Sabbath (‘sabbatohn’)”, <<ought to find expression in the placing of the Sabbath with reference to the other days of the week>>. That was why Matthew 28:1 placed the descent of the angel of the Lord to cast the stone away from the sepulchre, “late on the Sabbath in the very mid-inclining daylight towards the First Day of the week”.

Re:
<<<Believers knew themselves in a measure partakers of the Sabbath-fulfillment.>>>

So why may believers no longer know themselves in a measure partakers of Jesus’, <<Sabbath-fulfillment>>—“according to the Scriptures”, “the Seventh Day GOD, thus concerning spake (in times past through the prophets but in these last days by the Son): And God the day The Seventh Day from all his works rested”?

Re:
<<<If the one creation required on sequence, then the other required another.>>>

If the first creation required one sequence, and the ‘new’ creation required <another>, the ‘new’ creation would not be the first creation of God renewed, but changed. And God would change, would have changed, and be, changeable.

Re:
<<<It has been strikingly observed, that our Lord died on the eve of that Jewish Sabbath, at the end of one of these typical weeks of labour by which His work and its consummation were prefigured. And Christ entered upon His rest, the rest of His new, eternal life on the first day of the week, so that the Jewish Sabbath comes to lie between, was, as it were, disposed of, buried in His grave” (p. 158).>>>

The Lord Jesus did not die <<on the eve of that Jewish Sabbath>> supposedly “the Seventh Day Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD”. He also did not die <<at the end of one of these typical weeks of labour by which His work and its consummation were prefigured.>> He died in about the middle of the week on the Fifth Day of the week on the eve of “That Day … great day sabbath of”, the passover!

And He rose “in the Sabbath’s fullness being in the mid-inclining daylight towards the First Day of the week” as God entered upon the “Rest-of-God” in Christ The Rest and “Beginning of the (new) creation of God” Revelation 3:14.

“It was night and it was day the Sixth Day”; and “God in the cool of day” that followed, called man and found him as covered with sin as naked. In that night God killed a sacrifice and clad Adam and Eve in its skin—<<in principle>> as with the righteousness of Christ.

It was on the Seventh Day so that no day <<came to lie between>>, or followed after that day in which God at first through Jesus Christ redeemed man <<in principle>>. The Sabbath from the first day after man’s creation on the Sixth Day, was his first day of eternal life.

The Sabbath of the LORD GOD was not <<disposed of>> but was planned and willed and provided unto man’s redemption— “the Sabbath was MADE FOR man”. And in Jesus’ grave the sabbath by no lesser virtue than of the blood of Christ for the salvation of man, was preserved to “REMAIN a Sabbaths-rest for the People of God”.

 

It all depends on what one considers God's Commandment to be.

If one believed "If Jesus gave them Rest … He having entered into His Own Rest-as-God in his own … THEN AND THEREFORE, Sabbath Day's-rest for the People of God REMAINS VALID.”

“THEN AND THEREFORE Sabbath Day's-rest for the People of God remains valid, HE—JESUS—having entered into His Own Rest-as-God in his own.”
HE, JESUS, “entered into His Own Rest as God” by having RESURRECTED from the dead.
And “therefore SABBATH DAY'S-rest for the People of God remains”, because “Jesus having entered” i.e., resurrected, “ON THE SABBATH”.

“God thus … by the Son … concerning the Seventh Day … speaking, gave them—the People of God—, Rest”.
“Gave them” both “the Rest of God”, viz., Himself; and “gave them … a remaining and valid Sabbath Day’s-rest”.

To me, it suffices as Command, “THAT YE, MAY KNOW : WHAT is the exceeding greatness of God’s Power when He Raised Christ and Rested Him Up in His Heavenly Majesty” : “on the Seventh Day”. It suffices as Command : the exceeding greatness of his Power which He wrought TO US-WARD who believe” … “when he raised Christ from the dead.”

“So that ye … us, who believe … MAY …”, as “The Body of Christ’s Own … eating and drinking of Christ the Substance, FEAST Sabbaths”, So that we indeed may “feast SABBATHS”, as God from the foundation of the world IN CHRIST “made the Sabbath for man and not man, for the Sabbath”.

The Sabbath was not then “made” as an afterthought. God, already in his Eternal Council and Purpose in Christ his Son, “made the Sabbath for man”.

A better Covenant decision and act of God in Christ to us-ward as New Testament Commandment for Christ’s Sabbaths’ Feast Assemblies, cannot be asked or expected or imagined of or from God who, through his all exceeding best, TRIUMPHED IN JESUS CHRIST.

The “Sabbath Day’s-rest” does not come to God’s People as threatening Command or as a self-righteous work of the Law, but as a permission received in the invitation and Person of Jesus Christ to SHARE WITH HIM in the blessing, sanctity and rest which He provided on the Sabbath Day : HIMSELF “THE SUBSTANCE AND NOURISHMENT MINISTERED”.

 

As I answered you, before, it is the virtuous LEGALIST who demands from God <<command for the NT believer to keep the Sabbath Day>>.

I am not virtuous. I am completely dependent; I am in no position to approach God on conditions.

"18 Let no man beguile you of your Reward" which is Christ my sole Sustenance-- our, Nourishment ministered whilst eating and drinking of Sabbaths' Feast : CHRIST THE SUBSTANCE."

Let no man deprive The Body of Christ's Own of the Bread and Water of Life of their Sabbaths' Feast. 20 For we are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world; for we are not subject to ordinances like, 21 Touch not! Taste not! Partake not! (meaning, Don’t feast Sabbaths!) ---22 which restrictions, pettiness and pusilianimity are all according to the commandments and teachings of MEN and are meant to degrade into corrupt practices 23 in a show of wisdom and self-will— which self-imposed worship leads to the NEGLECT OF THE BODY (OF CHRIST’S OWN THE CHURCH) and idolization and satisfaction of the flesh and fleshly.”

That is what is you get when God’s Sabbath the Lord Jesus’ Day of worship, is exchanged for Sunday or the no-Sabbath of self-will (‘humanism’ / “the world” / “the commandments and teachings of MEN”).

Call it <verbosity> DHK! Call it whatever you like. I know in Whom, I believe, so help me God, in Jesus Christ Lord of the Sabbath!

 

That is very demeaning of Christ!

 

Wrong! <<The whole purpose of the Sabbath>> was not to point to <<our rest>>, but "God thus concerning the Seventh Day ... in times past through the prophets ... but in these last days by the Son ... spake: that GOD, on the day The Seventh Day from all HIS, works, rested"—rested IN CHRIST through the Resurrection of HIM “on the Sabbath”, so that GOD, "on the Seventh Day all HIS works, finished”—finished IN CHRIST “by the Glory of the Father” in the Resurrection of HIM “on the Sabbath”.

So that Jesus—having RESURRECTED from the dead—, obtained Title: Divine Title of “Lord”—“Lord Triumphator” having “destroyed the last enemy, Death”;

And having resurrected “ON THE SABBATH”, Jesus Christ secured Title of “Lord of the Sabbath”—and was declared His Heavenly Majesty, “Son of Man Lord of the Sabbath”!

Then by reason of that Christ rose from the dead “on the Sabbath”, also “the day The Seventh Day” received title—title of “Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD”—Lordly title of “The Lord’s Day”, and was declared “My Holy Day”—“Holy Day of the LORD”!

No one can take away from Christ his royal title or status. He is not <<our rest>> nor <<our sabbath>>; He is “The Rest of God” the Lord of God’s Holy Sabbath Day. Jesus Christ is the only Person of Power and Rank, "His Holy Majesty Rested Up at the Right Hand of the Throne of God in Heavenly spheres".

Despite, the pope vies for Christ’s Position and Authority on earth. So he must destroy the Lord’s Day which he cannot. So he simply corrupts it and watch him and his day venerated on the day right after the Sabbath OF THE LORD GOD every week around the world.

THERE is ‘your rest’ and ‘your sabbath’, JohnDeereFan. You have no <our rest>, no <my sabbath>. You, observe a day of the week as YOUR fake Sabbath because Christ is NOT your Sabbath, but the unholy pagan day of Sunday is your unholy sabbath whether you like it or not and whether you admit it or deny it or not.