Posted on 11/07/2021 8:02:52 AM PST by OneVike
Throughout His ministry, Jesus never once broke the fourth commandment which required that all Jews observe the Sabbath. He was after all Jew. However, He did give us a clue that a change to the Sabbath was coming. To make my point, you must first understand that the original manuscripts of the Scriptures were not divided into verses and chapters.
The Old Testament manuscripts were written by scribes for the religious leaders to study. The New Testament manuscripts were letters originally written to be dispersed amongst the believers to read. They were like the letters you receive today. Just a document written in sentences and paragraphs with no verse or chapter numbers.
So you really had to know the transcripts well in order find any information you needed. Finally in the mid 16th century a Frenchman named, Robert Estienne (better known as Robertus Stephanus), would divide the Scriptures into chapters and verses. So today we can find passages by memorizing chapters and verses. If you are interested in learning more about Stephanus, below is a five minute audio clip that offers more information.
Now I must say, that while I do believe every Word of the Bible is the inspired Word of God, I do not believe that Stephanus's choices of where he decided to split some sentences up into different verses or chapters were inspired. I say so, because there are many instances in the Scriptures where a reader can be distracted or even misled as to what the passage is conveying.
Case in point is chapters 11 and 12 of Matthew's Gospel. I personally believe that he made a mistake by ending Matthew chapter 11 at verse 30. It's my belief that chapter 11 should have had 8 more verses for a total of 38. Thus it would end after the following statement by Jesus,
“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
(Matthew 12:8)
The following information is quite valuable in the apologetical debate on why so many are mistaken in their belief that Christians should observe Saturday as the Sabbath. Continuing on Jesus' statement in Matthew 12:8, I take you back to the end of Matthew chapter 11. Jesus had just finished telling the crowd that no one born of a woman is greater than John the Baptist, when He started telling everyone to come to Him for rest.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)
By speaking about the concept of rest, the audience He is speaking to would automatically think of the Sabbath rest which God gave them. They were first told about this gift when Moses presented the Ten Commandments God handed to Him for the people to follow. As Moses read the tablets, he said,
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
(Exodus 20:8-11)
By the time Jesus started His ministry, the Israelites had been observing the Sabbath for almost 1480 years. They understood that it was a day of rest, even for the animals. A day they were to be free from the labors of life that kept them from communing with God. So, when Jesus starts talking about rest at the end of chapter 11, he continues his thought process on through to verse 8 of chapter 12. So when He calls them to come to Him for rest, and then claims He is the Lord of the Sabbath, it goes without saying that this is all one thought process and thus chapter 11 should have ended at verse 38, with chapter 12 actually beginning at verse 9 where Matthew wrote,
Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
(Matthew 12:9)
The next 20 verses do continue the matter of a rest, but not until Jesus moved to another site. Thus it then makes sense to split the chapter after Jesus made His statement about Him being the Lord of the Sabbath, and after he had arrived at a different location.
This is important, because when Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law, including the one that calls for us to obey the Sabbath, since as He stated, He is our Sabbath. Just as we are not bound by going through a High Priest by offering a sacrifice, we too do not need to follow the Jewish Law. We can reach God through Christ, on any day at anytime we so desire. Without going through the commandments of the law which Christ abolished.
After 1480 years, the Jews showed they could not follow the Law, and with Christ fulfilling it and the ceremonial ones, we are free from it. So with Jesus, being the Lord of the Sabbath, we are free to chose any day, and anytime to gather for communion and celebration of Him with no more legalistic requirements to follow the old obsolete law.
Any Christian following any portion of the Law, is doing what Paul preached against when he chastised the Judaizers who tried to put the Christians back into bondage to the Law. This is one of the things he wrote to the Colossians about when he said,
Let no one judge you in food or in drink,
or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths
Paul also wrote that, if you observe any part of the Old Law, then you must follow it all. Does anyone truly want to be bound by the full weight of a law that God's own people could never follow? The answer is a resounding NO. Praise God, because we are free to worship HIM anywhere, on any day, at anytime by going through the One who fulfilled and abolished the law. Thus setting us free from a Law we could never dream of keeping.
The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
(Galatians 5:17:18)
Thus if you are not under the law, you are not under any obligations to any of the ceremonial requirements either. Nor are you bound by the Jewish Sabbath as I pointed out above from Paul's letter to the Colossians. Anyone who feels obligated to an abolished symbolism of the Old Law is keeping themselves from truly enjoying all the freedom God offers us through His Son's death and Resurrection, which is the true rest we have been given.
I pray those who have ears to hear will hear His voice and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who paid the price for all our sins. Amen
No, this has not been, otherwise you would know the truth and accept it.
I’m off to church, but your name says it all, Bipolar.
You claim to follow the World of Christ, yet you are stuck in the legalism of the law.
Chose one or the other. You cannot be of Christ if you cling to the law.
The commandment, the first one dealing with mans activities within the world, is keep holy tge sabbath.
The tenets of the Catholic Church, in particular, include participation at Mass every Sunday, not doing so is a Mortal Sin
The Cure D’Ars, St John Vianney, commented that in France during his time, had no regard for tge sabbath and tgat this was the cause of much evil in the country
Driving through town I am sometimes amazed yo see so much retail going on. I still fr Percy things to be quiet, stores closed as it was whe I was a kid. It was normal. People ignore God for commanding a day of rest and of devotion to the creator
We look at birth control and abortion as the evil causing all this
I’m not so sure that blowing off tge sabbath is so lacking in consequences
What About The Sabbath?
All indications to Bible readers are the standards went higher. Even thinking about something was the same as doing it.
But people like the idea of the Sabbath day. It is a prescription, do this and you are ok. Take your medicine and you will be good.
So what replaced the law? The temple was destroyed, the ark disappears, the priestly system and sacrificial system removed. The curtain was ripped from top to bottom.
What was left? A direct relationship with God the Father through the Holy spirit and Jesus.
Love the Lord you God with all your heart became the new standard. Now that is a tough standard that requires a lot of grace.
Please note Jews do not believe Gentiles have to observe the Sabbath.
It's not one of the laws of Noah.
Under the New Covenant of Grace which supplants the discarded Old Covenant of the Law (Heb. 8:13), our "sabbath" day of rest is actually, as it was meant to be for Israel, our Promised Land - not a physical territory, but a position and destiny God has for his people.
Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.... There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore labor to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.Heb. 4:1-3,9-11.
So today, our sabbath rest is to rest and flow in God's works finished from the foundation of the earth.
As David said, "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:24.
Much more to be said about this, but this is our destiny and should be our goal. The only place under the New Covenant where we are told to "labor" and "fear" because outside of God's rest we are not living the victorious life God has meant for us.
However, unfortunately, like Israel, few believers actually enter into their "Promised Land" of rest, blessing, and abundance. Think about it (maybe you have). Only two out maybe three million who came out of Egypt entered the Promised Land of Canaan (Joshua and Caleb). That's 0.0001%. I'm not sure our % is much better today.
May we "be afraid" and "labor" to enter into our Sabbath Day of rest God has for us in our Promised Land.
“You cannot be of Christ if you cling to the law.”
Paul referenced keeping the law as a means of obtaining salvation through works, which he describes as impossible. He affirmed the law (Ten Commandments) as a matter of personal conduct. The “law” to the Jews contained about 600 rules.
But in his long list of the works of the flesh that kept people out of the Kingdom of God, Sabbath breaking was not on it.
I’m not so sure that blowing off the sabbath is so lacking in consequences
Doing has no value to God, He does not want our sacrifices and offerings and doing, he wants our hearts.
If He has our hearts he has us completely.
Some honor God one day, some another, some everyday is the Sabbath.
Jesus worked on the Sabbath and also rested on the Sabbath.
What is on our hearts with every thought? OUch..............
Christ was born on the New Moon Day when the woman was clothed by the sun and the moon was under her feet.
A day that the temple gate was to be opened, like the Sabbath Day.
On the 8 day, Christ was circumcised.
According to scripture, the 8th day of the Father’s calendar months, is the 7th Day sabbath.
So, Christ born on an appointment day.
Christ circumcised on the Sabbath.
Christ died as the Passover Lamb, the 14th Day of the Father’s months.
According to scripture, Passover is the Father’s 6th day.
It makes the 15th, or Day Christ laid in the tomb, resting from finishing all His Work, the 7th Day Sabbath.
Christ’s circumcision, and burial rest occur on the Father’s Sabbath Day.
The last, great day,the 22nd Day, is also the Father’s 7th Day Sabbath, according to scripture.
That’s the day that is recorded that Christ stood up and stated that all that believe in Him, out of His belly should flow rivers of living water.
A day that foreshadows a 3rd prophetic week that began on the 16th Day, Resurrection Day. First Fruits Day, Wavesheaf day.
And will end on the 6th and final work day, the 21st day, the day before the 7th Day Sabbath, the 22nd Day, the Father’s 7th Day Sabbath..
A full 22 letters of Hebrew alephbet begining and ending.
The first and the last.
Each of the first 3 weeks on the Father’s calendar, commemorating the first and last, the beginning and the end.
The work of Creation,Redemption,Sanctification.
Each of those Sabbath days pointing to the Son.
The Master of the Sabbath.
Those are His Days.
Circumcised on the 1st Sabbath
Resting in the tomb on the 2nd Sabbath
Will reign and rule on the 3rd Sabbath
The 4th Sabbath every month points back to Moses and the 10 Commandments and Feast of Weeks.
Where 3,000 were slain.
And the same day about 2,000 years ago, the Feast of Weeks, when the Holy Spirit came down, and about 3,000 were slain.
According to scripture, it’s all about Him.
His plan,His patterns. His glory
And for most of the year,the world has no idea when His Sabbath is.
Because His Sabbath isn’t Saturn day every week.
Because His week isn’t Satan’s Sunday,Moon day, Tiws day, Woden’s day, Thor’s day, Frigg’s day, Saturn’s day
But religion would beg to differ
Those who follow the Lamb will know the Truth of the Sabbath.
And the Truth will set them free.
Christ the Passover Lamb
Vs
Christ the Good Frigg day Lamb
Islam,Judaism and Christianity has made their choice
And the Day of the Lord will come
And Satan’s days are numbered.
Mene Meme
Jer_31:33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the LORD. “I will put My instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
Heb_8:10 But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people.
How do you know God has a relationship with you?
You claim to follow the World of Christ, yet you are stuck in the legalism of the law.
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Don't do things that the Lord hates.
You cannot be of Christ if you cling to the law.
Like the serpent in the garden, you mix a little truth with a little lie for your syllogism. Shall we murder? Shall we worship false gods? What say ye? If not, why not? No law, right? Wrong. Ps. 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. One cannot expect the law to save them. It cannot do that. That is not its purpose. Only the Blood of Christ saves but that does not relieve us of our duty to follow Gods Laws wrote with His finger in stone. God changes not.
How does this assertion comport with the fact that Jesus healed afflicted persons seven times on the Sabbath?
Regards,
Actually the death of Christ gave us a much higher standard - GRACE.
The Old Covenant of the Law has been replaced by the New Covenant of grace (Heb. 8:13).
Not to God it isn't. "If you Love Me keep my Commandments", remember? If we honor God we will keep His Commandments, otherwise we are honoring someone else. Someone who leads us astray. They say one day is as good as another. What difference does it make? Well it matters to God and He's the one we should be listening to instead of these false leaders. He said "…8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—"
Funny that this is the ONE Commandment that starts with the word "REMEMBER" as if people would forget or think it was of no importance. It's in the Bible.
Jesus “worked” on the Sabbath.
It comports quite nicely. This was not work like a shoemakers who cobbles shoes. This was doing the Lords work for the glory of God. Someone was in pain or distress. God is a God of love and this was demonstrated. It was not for profit or other motives man devices to excuse their behavior. Does the sun shine on all seven days? Does the rain fall on the Sabbath? Be glad that it does. God wills all of it else we perish.
Yes He did.
I’m just saying what the Catholic Church says
I’m not interested is converting to your made up church
Take it or leave it. But. You can watch for the anti Catholic FR flame fest which you have thrown down on
Birth control and abortion are not the cause of the evil in this world.
They are among the symptoms of the evil, not the cause of it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
