Why dont we keep the Sabbath again?

Lol

Ed,
LOL we used to gas up before sunset because, Lord forbid, if you run out of gas on Saturday, you don't want to go to the gas station and make someone "work" by turning on the pump for you! It was ok, though, to travel like two hours to services....the rented halls were few and far between.....many people had a very long commute.

VERY interesting about Armstrong! I never actually heard him preach, though I did read his pamphlets. I joined WCG about a year after he died.

Joining WCG was VERY clandestine!!! You had to call the 800 number to ask to meet a representative of the local congregation. THEN you had to "prove" you understood the Sabbath before they would even tell you the location of services. I still remember meeting one of the elders from the Pawtucket, RI congregation in the lobby of the Providence Holiday Inn. He came walking in....no kidding...in a TRENCH COAT! I had in a bag all the pamphlets that I had ordered from the organization. It was only after I showed that I would keep the Sabbath that he told me the location and times of the service.

I met my hubby there, in WCG, and Praise the Lord we were in the 50% who came to salvation by grace alone, when the church split in the middle 90's. Now we fellowship at a local independent Baptist church.

One of my favorite preachers, J. Vernon McGee, was fond of saying that if there was a law which could make people righteous, well, then, there would have been no need for Christ! It is because man couldn't keep laws like the Sabbath that we have need of a Savior.

 

Exodus 31:13 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.
Exodus 31:14 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.
Exodus 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Exodus 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
Exodus 31:18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.

The Sabbath was given to the nation of Israel as a sign of the covenant made between Jehovah and Israel and their generations forever. It was never for the Gentiles. In fact no Gentile was ever commanded to keep the Sabbath.

 

To those who say neither Christians nor Gentiles are commanded to observe a day of rest:

Could Philemon have righteously refused Onesimus a day off to worship or just to rest? If not, why not?

 

These are all NT verses

Rev 22:14 14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

This appears to indicate that we may (no guarantee) have the right to the tree of life, but keeping the commandments will not guarantee this.

Matt 5:18-19
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, not one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven

Probably speaks for itself.

John 15:10-11 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.Christ said ”If you love Me keep My commandments”

Seems cut and dry. We are to keep ALL of the commandments.

 

You misquote Scripture. "My commandments" in no way refers to the OT Law, which also includes the Ten Commandments. Jesus did not have the Ten Commandments in mind at all. He was speaking of His Commandments--those things which he had commanded his disciples while he had been ministering to them during his time on earth.

 

Hi Emily,

I believe PastorSBC has the essence of the correct answer to your question.

The fact is that we are keeping the Sabbath by resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4

8 For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

HankD​

 

I agree. It wasn't limited to the 10 commandments

Alright. Yet I think Jesus probably had both in mind, the 10 commandments and the other commandments to his disciples.

The fourth commandment affirms that the seventh day was already the Sabbath at the time God hallowed it, not thousands of years later when he gave it to the Isrealites as a sign of their covenant between them. Maybe they needed this as a reminder since they had some pretty bad behavior and it was hard for Moses to keep them under control. "Remember the Sabbath Day...." Note the "Remember"because it was instituted long before. God himself worked 6 days and rested on the 7th day when he sanctified that specific day as THE SABBATH. We say WWJD, well even better is WWGD & WWJD?

In Genesis 1:20, 22, 24-26, and 28, we read that God immediately blessed the work he did during the first six days. Genesis 2:2-3 seems to be an obvious parallel to these verses, and, as such, his blessing and sanctifying of the Sabbath must have taken place immediately as well.
God himself wrote the 10 commandments with his own finger, so now humans can retract one of his commandments? Can Christ retract it and give it to a specific group only, then kill it off? Did he do that with any of the other commandments? Nope.

Can humans edit it to change it to a different day, then tell themselves they are fulfilling God's will. Well most have already edited it since no one seems to want to honor even a specific 24 hour period of new moon to new moon. (Sundown to Sundown). I don't honor what I should myself, I deliberately sin so this is not to point fingers. Just something to consider.
"For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me, says The Lord; so shall your descendants and your name remain. From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says The Lord." Isaiah 66:22-23

Imo, there should be one or more VERY distinct verse which states GOD retracted the 4th commandment for me to believe it happened. Not some general, ambiguous weak verse(s) stretched like silly puddy as a cover all to this specific command to do dumb it down. I wish that were true, it would make life a little easier if we could rest & worship from Sat. Sundown- Sun. Sundown.

The verse tells us a specific day to rest and honor him. That's all we must do to keep this command, just like we must keep the other 9 commandments.

All of us agree the commandments are binding upon us, whether written on our hearts or whatever..No one throws them out. We all agree we are not under the letter of the law regarding judgement, we are under grace.

I don't believe God "slipped in" one temporary command just for the Jews. Somewhere in the Bible it says something like trying to follow the letter of the law will send you to hell. I can see why, we are under grace. There are certainly good OP bible verses many know offhand, so in weighing both sides, it's whatever she decides. I hope she is as fully convinced as she can be.

Imo, we are still to strive to follow the 10 comandments but not place so much time and effort in following them that we are not able to understand what is important, worshiping him and the finished work on the cross.

The Sabbath of Judaism, with its oppressive laws and its rituals applying to sacrifice and temple, has gone forever. So have the additional laws that surrounded most of the Ten Commandments as found in the Torah. But the Sabbath of Eden remains. It was for the first man and woman; and it is for every man and woman of all time.

We all get to decide for ourselves. My two cents.

 

Jesus wasn't speaking of the Ten Commandments.
There is not one Scripture that commands any Christian or Gentile to keep the Ten Commandments in this dispensation of grace or in the church age. Not one.
In Genesis, during the Creation, there was no command to keep the Sabbath. God rested on the Seventh Day to be sure. But He never commanded man to do the same. That specific command is given only to the Jews as is shown in Exodus 31. It is a sign of the covenant between Jehovah and the nation of Israel and their generations forever.

 

1. I was reading Deut 5 yesterday and I couldn't help being reminded of the purpose of the Sabbath in relation to Israel:

"You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day" (v. 15, emphasis added).

2. This is only applicable to one nation--Israel.

 

Ex 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy

Ok so do you think this explanation is in regards to remember? Remember that you were a slave...Because they can't remember anything that had not heard of already. So they already knew they were suppose to honor the 7th day sabbath.

Though not recorded, it seems logical that the Lord did command Adam and Eve, and their decendents to honor the 7th day Sabbath.

There seems to be so many holes in both sides of this argument that the only safe way is to honor the Command is exactly as it was given, just like the other 9 commandments.

It's not the theme of the 10 commandments to slip in one temporary commandment for the Jews only. That just doesn't sit right.

 

1. They were told to remember the Sabbath throughout their generations.

2. Notice that the Sabbath was given in Exo 16, so ch. 20 is not usual with the word remember. At any rate, this remember is like any other ceremonial command that Israel had to remember. Take the Passover as an example, for they were told to remember it throughout their generations.

3. There are no holes in the arguments for not observing the Sabbath command. Genesis has no record of it commanded to anyone. Get this: circumcision was commanded to Abraham and then his decendants, for we have this in Genesis and then repeated in Exodus and so on. I imagine the Sabbath would have been the same.

4. The 10 Commandments were commanded to Israel alone and no one else. Provide Scripture to the contrary.

***edited.

 

The 7th Day Sabbath is Saturday.
The 1st Day of the week is Sunday, the day that Jesus arose from the dead.

Now, how do you keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord, as the Ten Commandments, according to the Law commands you to?

 

Hi Joe,

We are not under the Law but we are led of the Spirit who we live in and walk in.

Galatians 3
1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?
2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.
5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?​

Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.​

Galatians 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.​

 

Yes, how do we do that under the New Covenant?

 

The other nine commandments grew out of God's relationships with man and woman and were binding on humanity from the time of creation. Certainly the Sabbath grows out of God's relationships with humanity also, and doesn't come into effect first applied to God himself first, then his son, then specific group of People (Jews). It's like static electricity, comes and goes for no reason. It ruins the theme of the 10 commandments being binding in some way to us all, does anyone see that at the very least?

 

Well, as you know, scriptural evidence is in order. :thumbs:

 

I agree, we aren't under the law. But never was fully convinced we weren't under the 10 commandments, though most believe we are under 9 commandments and sort of under the 4th one (making that 10 commandments total)

 

Joe,

The Sabbath was a ceremonial command. A ceremonial command by nature commemorates some historical event.

And that is the purpose of the seventh day Sabbath. Israel was given it to remember their deliverance from Egypt (Deut 5:15).

Provide Scripture to the contrary instead of philosophical and emotionally charged arguments.

 

It's easy. Do what you do now, except pay more attention to the approximate time the sun sets on Friday. I used to keep track of the exact times of sunset but that's too much effort. Just plan that time to begin your rest and worship. We are to worship every day so continue to attend church on Sunday, worship and do what you would normally do. Except there is no obligation to rest on Sunday.