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The Sabbath Day Exodus 20.6-11 Introduction: Different religious groups have tried to go to the Old Testament to authorize their religious teachings and practices. That is one reason we are to be "diligent and rightly divide the word of God" 2 Timothy 2.15. Religious groups have tried to authorize instrumental music, multiple wives, and the observance of the Sabbath Day by using the Old Testament. Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventist teach that we are still to keep the Sabbath Day. They even go so far as to say Sunday worship is the "mark of the beast" from Revelation 16.2. Sunday-keeping must be the mark of the beast." ... "The reception of his mark must be something that involves the greatest offense that can be committed against God." (The Marvel of Nations, Elder U. Smith pages 170, 183) "Here we find the mark of the beast. The very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, on the part of the Catholic church, without any authority from the Bible." (Ellen G. White, The Mark of the Beast, page 23) "The Sunday Sabbath is purely a child of the Papacy. It is the mark of the beast." (Advent Review, Vol. I, No. 2, August, 1850.) "The change of the Sabbath is the sign or mark of the authority of the Romish church." ... "The keeping of the counterfeit Sabbath is the reception of the mark." (Ellen G. White, Great Controversy, Vol. 4, page 281. "The mark of the beast is Sunday-keeping. A law will enforce this upon Seventh-day Adventists. They won't obey. Then they will be outlawed, persecuted, and condemned to death! Of all the wild Advent speculations in the prophecies, this deserves to stand among the wildest." (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced" by D.M. Canright, 1914) "Sunday-keeping is an institution of the first beast, and ALL who submit to obey this institution emphatically worship the first beast and receive his mark, 'the mark of the beast.' .... Those who worship the beast and his image by observing the first day are certainly idolaters, as were the worshippers of the golden calf." (Advent Review Extra, pages 10 and 11, August, 1850)"the Seventh day, Saturday, must be kept; that keeping Sunday is the mark of the beast; that all should pay tithes; that Mrs. White is inspired as were the writers of the Bible; that the Bible must be interpreted to harmonize with her writings" (Seventh-day Adventism Renounced" by D.M. Canright, 1914) I) According to the Seventh Day Adventist A) Sunday worship was not practiced until the Catholic Church instituted it 1) Sunday worship is foreign to the Bible 2) Mrs. White was inspired by God and we are to take her words over the Bible B) Reply 1. Various passages mentions Sunday as the day of worship for the New Testament church, Acts 20.7, 1 Corinthians 16.1-2 2. These were before the Catholic Church or the Pope ever came into existence 3. We are to "test the spirits" 1 John 4.1 and not accept the words of people like Ellen G. White II) More Seventh Day Adventist Teachings On the Sabbath Day A) Sabbath Day instituted in the Garden of Eden 1. It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew. The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath but always "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath-facts.html B) Reply 1. Those under the Patriarchal Dispensation were told what to do, Romans 10.17 2. Able was told what to sacrifice to God, Genesis 4.4 3. Noah told to sacrifice "clean animals" Genesis 8.20 4. Where were they commanded by God to keep the Sabbath? C) Sabbath Day observance commanded in the Law of Moses for all mankind 1. The Sabbath is the only sign between God and His people. It is a sign that we are his children. When this passage speaks of "the children of Israel," it is speaking of God’s people. Literal Jews are not God’s people any more. Bondservants of Christ are spiritual Israel or spiritual Jews today (Romans 1.16; 2.28-29; 9.4-8; 10.12, 1 Corinthians 10.2-4, Galatians 3.16, 26-29, Colossians 3.11), and this sign applies to us. http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath-facts.html B) Reply 1. What about the sign of circumcision? 2. It is truth that God’s people are spiritual Israel today but were are we commanded to observe the Sabbath in the New Testament. D) The Sabbath is still binding today 1. Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man (Mark 2.27); this is, for all men. http://www.ecclesia.org/truth/sabbath-facts.html E)Reply 1. Find where the Gentiles were commanded to keep the Sabbath or where they were guilty of breaking the Sabbath. 2. If we assume they were under the Sabbath then we must conclude that they kept it perfectly since they were never changed with breaking it. III) Sabbath Day Changed to Sunday In What Some are Calling the "Christian Sabbath" A) Sabbath Day is Sunday for it is the 7th day of the week B) Reply 1. Both of these arguments seem to argue that we have to keep the Sabbath but we can decide which day the Sabbath will be. 2. If you argue we are still under the Law of Moses then we will be under their system of time, and the Sabbath will begin at sun down Friday night to sun down Saturday night. 3. If you argue that Sunday is indeed the seventh day and Monday is the first day of the week then the following will be true. a. Jesus was resurrected on Monday and not Sunday, John 20.1 b. If Jesus was crucified on Friday then He was in the grave one day too long, Matthew 12.40 c. They broke bread on Monday, Acts 20.7 d. The assembled on Monday, 1 Corinthians 16 4. Sabbath Day observance was commanded only of the nation of Israel and ended at the cross, Colossians 2.14 **Special Note: Some claim the days of the week have changed and Sunday is actually the Sabbath Day. The only calendar change was in 1582, 10 days were skipped, October 4th to 15th. Thursday to Friday, no days of the week were skipped. IV) The Sabbath in the Old Testament A) Genesis 2.1-2 the Lord rested on the Sabbath Day 1. No command for anyone to keep the Sabbath Day as a holy day in Genesis 2. Some argue that the word for rest is "saboth" which is true but there is still not command for man to observe the Sabbath in Genesis. B) Exodus 16.22-23, 26 is the first mention of the Sabbath Day 1. This is a direct command from God to Moses 2. Exodus 20.8-11 gives the reason for the Sabbath Day what they were not allowed to do: a. Established as a day of rest, Lev. 23.3 stresses they were to work six days and do no work on the seventh b. A day to remember the work of God in the creation c. A sign between God and Israel, Exodus 31.16-17 d. This included Gentile converts that lived among the Israelites, Isaiah 56.6-7 e. Breaking the Sabbath was punished by death, Numbers 15.32 f. One of the signs of Israel’s unfaithfulness was their abuse of the Sabbath Day, Jeremiah 17.19ff C) The Law of Moses was ratified with the blood of animals in Exodus 24.8 1. The Gentiles were not under the Law of Moses 2. Gentiles were a law to themselves, Romans 2.14 3. They were under a different system, Ephesians 2.11-12 Conclusion: We are under the Law of Christ today. Those wanting to go back to the Law of Moses are separated from Christ, Galatians 5.3-4. The Law of Christ has set us free from the Law of Moses, the Law of sin and death. We now have the law of life. D.T. @ Westside Church of Christ 11.04.07 |