The Answer To The Sabbath Day Controversy
I find it very difficult to break into the Bible for the purpose of studying one particular subject. The Bible is one book, not a collections of books and the passages are related in such a way that the temptation is always there to go off onto another branch of study. However I will attempt to look at the sabbath as completely as I can. This will include looking at some related subjects, which at first may not seem related. Stay with me and I promise that the Holy Spirit will reveal a blessing to you. I can also tell you that even though you may have heard parts of this before, you probably have never heard it presented in a complete study such as I will attempt. I know that no one can understand the bible completely, but I will share the part, which the Holy Spirit has revealed to me.
I suppose the best place to begin is in Genesis. In Genesis, we see the three persons of the Trinity at work. Man was created in the image of God. This is revealed in many areas of the bible. Just as God is triune, the Father, Son, and Spirit, man is also triune, body, soul, and spirit. Three is generally accepted as the number of the Trinity and most of the bible truths are shown in three ways. More on this later.
The Bible is divided into two distinct, yet interrelated sections. The Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There is another section which we are not told much about and that is when our physical bodies die and our spirits go on to be with the Lord. Again we see three sections.
As one studies the Bible, it becomes apparent that the Old Covenant deals with the fleshly man, and the New Testament deals with the spiritual man. The final phase, when we go to be with the Lord is only touched upon. There is much confusion today because people try to enforce laws given under the Old Covenant while living in the New Covenant. The scripture plainly tells us that the law was given to us as a pattern. The New Covenant tells us that God is a Spirit and wants to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth. If the sabbath is studied with this understanding, the reason for all of the confusion concerning the sabbath becomes apparent. There have been church splits and whole new denominations formed because of this misunderstanding.
Let's start in the beginning of Genesis, with the creation account. God created all that is in the first six days and on the seventh He rested. In His commandments for the fleshly man, God decreed that man should also work six days and rest on the seventh. Man was ordered not to work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. The Pharisee's set up "fences", man made rules, to keep people from even coming close to breaking God's law. With time, the man made laws were thought of as God's laws. The intent of God's laws was lost and man was trying to please God in man's way and not as God had stated. Jesus exposed the man made laws and the Pharisee's who had made them. He called these men vipers.
Man does not seem to learn from his mistakes, for today the battle over the sabbath continues with some people claiming that man must observe the sabbath from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. Others just say Saturday and still others say Sunday.
I believe that this study of what God has said will make the answer plain.
God created man on the sixth day, which meant that all man had to do on the day after his creation was to rest in all that God had done.
Genesis 1:24 (NASB) Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so.
25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."
27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
29 Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.
31 And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
The sabbath was a day of physical and spiritual refreshing. It was a joyous and holy day spent in study of the scriptures and worship of God. Breaking the sabbath was a serious offensive that resulted in being "cut off from the chosen".
Exodus 31:14 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."
Even the servants and guests of the Israelites were to observe the sabbath. As Exodus 31:16 states, it is to be a perpetual covenant. If it is perpetual, we should be observing it today, but which day is the correct day? Well, if we had no New Testament, we would have to observe sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. This was the original day given to the Israelites as the sabbath. According to tradition from the early Church, Jesus ascended on Sunday and so Sunday became known as the Lord's day. When Christianity was made the state religion by Constantine, there was a problem because the Sun worshippers worshipped on Sunday (kind of obvious from the name of the day). Having people worshipping on two different days was not good , so the sabbath worship was moved to Sunday. You will hear variations of this explanations, but they are all similar and we do have a New Testament or New Covenant so we must see what it says about the sabbath.
We know that Jesus observed the sabbath.
(Mark 6:2 NASB) And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?
(Matthew 12:1 NASB) At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat.
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath."
3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and his companions;
4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone?
5 "Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent?
6 "But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here.
7 "But if you had known what this means, 'I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,' you would not have condemned the innocent.
8 "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
Lord in the Greek is kurios:G2962 2962. kurios, koo'-ree-os; from kuros (supremacy); supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by impl. Mr. (as a respectful title):--God, Lord, master, Sir.
Jesus is Lord of the sabbath or the supreme authority or controller of the sabbath. From reading His words, we get the feeling that there is much more to the sabbath than what the Pharisees knew. Jesus kept the sabbath because the New Covenant did not come into affect until after He died and rose.
Hebrews 9:15 And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.
16 For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it.
17 For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives.
18 Therefore even the first covenant was not inaugurated without blood.
Jesus not only kept the sabbath, He fulfilled the sabbath and all of the law:
(Matthew 5:17 NASB) "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.
18 "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until all is accomplished
(Luke 24:44 NASB) "Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.""
(Romans 8:3 NASB) For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
(Colossians 2:16 NASB) Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day--
17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
18 Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind,
19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.
20 If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as,
21 "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!"
22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)-- in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?
23 These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence.
3:1 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
From these scriptures we see that Jesus Christ not only fulfilled the sabbath, but that it and the other festivals were a mere shadow of what was to come, but the substance belongs to Christ! We see from 1Corinthians 10 that much of the Old Testament was given as examples. We can also see from Jesus' walk with the two apostles on the Emmaus road (Luke 24:44 list above), that Jesus is all over the Old Testament in shadow form. But that is a study in itself.
(1 Corinthians 10: 5 NASB) Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.
7 And do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY."
8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.
10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.
11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
If Jesus is the fulfillment of the sabbath, how do we keep it? Do we keep a certain day of the week? The Pharisees kept the sabbath day to the extreme and Jesus called them vipers! I think that it is the wisdom of God to rest the body one day a week, but you will not go to hell for not keeping a certain day of the week as the sabbath. You will only be tired and if you do not worship and study at least one day a week you will be more aware of the flesh than the Spirit.
The day referred to in the Old Testament was sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. Under the New Covenant, it is the day that we are living in now. It is a spiritual day. A day that started when the New Covenant started and will continue until our Christ comes again. During this time we must cease from our works of the flesh and rest in Jesus. The word sabbath comes from the Hebrew word shabbat, which means to cease or desist. If a person does not rest in Jesus, he will be cut-off from the children of promise, the Church. If a person is resting in Christ, he is part of the bride of Christ. Hebrews 4:10 explains it. When you rest in Christ, you are keeping the sabbath, no matter what day it is, in fact this should happen every day. This rest begins now and goes on for eternity. It is a perpetual covenant. This is what Exodus 31:16, which we read earlier, is speaking of.
shabbath:H7676 7676. shabbath, shab-bawth'; intens. from H7673; intermission, i.e. (spec.) the Sabbath:-- (+ every) sabbath.
(Hebrews 4:1 NASB) Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.
3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, " AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST," although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";
5 and again in this passage, "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
7 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.
9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.
(Exodus 31:16) 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
This brings up another controversy - who are the sons of Israel? The scripture plainly tells us.
(Roman's 9:6 NASB)-But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;
7-neither are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but; Through Isaac your descendants will be named."
8-That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.
Roman's 2:28-For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which outward in the flesh.
29-But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.
This is another study in itself.
When we die, we enter into eternity. Certainly, in eternity, there are no days to be kept. In the Old Covenant which was for the body had a person keep a special day. In the New Covenant, though we are still in the body, when we are saved, we have the Spirit of God living in us. We must stop our efforts to earn the salvation which is given freely when we rest in Jesus. Jesus is the only Way. We must rest and be guided by the Holy Spirit. When we enter His rest, we enter into covenant with Him for eternity and we are keeping the sabbath.
The Bible also made provision for a sabbath year. During the seventh year the land was to lie fallow so that the land might rest, the needy might feed on the aftergrowth, and the animals might eat the surplus. God promised an abundant harvest the sixth year to carry through the sabbatical period. In addition, debts were to be cancelled during that year (note Exod. 23:10-11; Lev. 25:1-7, 18-22; Deut. 15:1-11). At the close of seven sabbatical cycles a year of jubilee was instituted. Land that had been sold was to be returned to its former owner, and there were other sabbatical year provisions. These provisions underscored the fact that ultimately God owned the land. D. A. RAUSCH
(Exodus 23:10 NASB) ""And you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,"
11 "but on the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the beast of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove."
12""Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor in order that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves."
The Sabbath of the Seventh Year
(Leviticus 25:1 NASB) "The LORD then spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying,"
2""Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, 'When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a sabbath to the LORD."
NOTE:
Leviticus 25:2: (vv. 2-7) Every seventh year was to be a sabbath for the land, a stipulation designed to guard the Israelites against covetousness, as well as a sound agricultural principle. 2 Chr. 36:21 attests that the Babylonian captivity was a judgment of God against the Israelites for their disobedience in failing to observe the sabbath years (cf. Lev. 26:34, 35).
3"'Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop,"
4"but during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath rest, a sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard."
5"'Your harvest's aftergrowth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather; the land shall have a sabbatical year."
6"'And all of you shall have the sabbath products of the land for food; yourself, and your male and female slaves, and your hired man and your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you."
7"'Even your cattle and the animals that are in your land shall have all its crops to eat."
Provisions for the Seventh Year
18 "'You shall thus observe My statutes, and keep My judgments, so as to carry them out, that you may live securely on the land."
19 "'Then the land will yield its produce, so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it."
20 "'But if you say, "What are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops?""
21 "then I will so order My blessing for you in the sixth year that it will bring forth the crop for three years."
22 "'When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crop comes in."
(Deuteronomy 15:1 NASB) ""At the end of every seven years you shall grant a remission of debts."
2 ""And this is the manner of remission: every creditor shall release what he has loaned to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother, because the LORD'S remission has been proclaimed."
That is lot of scripture about a seven year sabbath, but what does it have to do with today? Are we supposed to take every seventh year off of work? I WISH!! Under the Old Covenant, farmers did rest the land and themselves every seventh year.
When Israel was in the wilderness after being delivered from Egypt, manna was provided by the Lord for the people to eat. We know that on the sixth day, they gathered enough for the sixth and seventh days. We also know that the scripture refers to Jesus as the Manna from heaven. The manna was a type of Jesus.
We have just seen the same pattern carry over for years. During the sixth year, enough was harvested to sustain the people for the seventh year. We also see that debts were forgiven during the sabbatical year. Of course this is a type of the forgiveness of Christ who died so that we could have remission of our sins. We who were slaves of sin are set free.
We also see the pattern carried for groups of seven years. After seven groups of seven years, or the fiftieth year, a year of Jubilee was celebrated.
The Year of Jubilee
(Leviticus 25:8 NASB) "'You are also to count off seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years, so that you have the time of the seven sabbaths of years, namely, forty-nine years."
NOTE:
Leviticus 25:8: (vv. 8,9) Every fiftieth year was designated a Year of Jubilee, and the jubilee trumpet (shophar, Heb.) was blown on the Day of Atonement. On that day slaves were to be freed and properties returned to their original owners. According to Luke 4:17-21, the Year of Jubilee served as a type of deliverance by Christ from the bondage and slavery of sin (cf. John 8:36; Gal. 5:1).
9 "'You shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the day of atonement you shall sound a horn all through your land."
10 "'You shall thus consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, and each of you shall return to his own property, and each of you shall return to his family."
11 "'You shall have the fiftieth year as a jubilee; you shall not sow, nor reap its aftergrowth, nor gather in from its untrimmed vines."
12 "'For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field."
13 "'On this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his own property."
14 "'If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend, or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another."
15 "'Corresponding to the number of years after the jubilee, you shall buy from your friend; he is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops."
16 "'In proportion to the extent of the years you shall increase its price, and in proportion to the fewness of the years, you shall diminish its price; for it is a number of crops he is selling to you."
17"'So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God."
During the year of Jubilee, people were instructed to return the land which was given to them by God and to their families. No more were they slaves in strange lands. They came home. They were not to work the fields or reap from the unkept vines. God provided them for. They did not have to work. This is a beautiful picture of what happens when Christ comes a second time to take His bride home where she belongs, with her family. Our Father will supply all of our needs. Of course He does this now, but because we are still in fallen bodies and in a fallen world, we are sometimes deceived into believing that we are providing for ourselves.
The number five is generally recognized as the number of grace. Five multiplied by ten, which is the number of completion would speak of grace completed. It could also be tied back to the day of Pentecost which also speaks of fifty, but this is another study.
(Luke 4:16 NASB) "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read."
17 "And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,"
18 ""THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE DOWNTRODDEN,"
Luke 4:18: Jesus reads from Isa. 61:1, 2 and interpolates a phrase from Isa. 58:6, following the LXX. By stopping in the middle of Isa. 61:2, Jesus calls attention to "the acceptable year of the Lord," which compares the blessings of His ministry to the ancient Year of Jubilee.
(Luke 4:19 NASB) "TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.""
Luke 4:19: The accuracy of Jesus and subsequently of Luke is remarkably demonstrated in a significant omission in Jesus' quotation of Isa. 61:1, 2. Jesus quotes the passage, omitting the phrase, "the day of vengeance of our God." The Isaiah passage is messianic; but in the First Advent ministry of Jesus, the latter affirmation was not fulfilled. That fulfillment awaits the return of Christ. Therefore, Jesus omitted the last phrase in His concluding remark, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (v. 21).
(Luke 4:20 NASB) "And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him."
21 "And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.""
The acceptable year of the Lord is referring to the year of Jubilee. When Christ came, He set the captives free. All who allow the Holy Spirit to control their lives are set free from sin. He gave sight to the blind. We were blind to the ways of God and to His kingdom, but once we submitted to Jesus, the veil was lifted and we can now see the deception, we can see the Truth, and we can see the kingdom. He came to set free the downtrodden. All who look to or depend upon themselves will realize the futility of it all. They will become downtrodden, but if you turn your life over to the Holy Spirit, you will experience a peace which passes all understanding.
We are given the Holy Spirit as a down payment of what is to come when we die and join the Lord. We are able to return to land which was given to Adam and Eve before they fell, the land which was stolen by satan. We will no longer be strangers in this land but returned to where we long to be now. We will join our family, the bride of Christ. We will see the true fulfillment of the sabbath. We will truly rest in the Lord.
In a Jewish wedding, the bridegroom left after the engagement to add a room to his father's house. The father is the one who determined when this room is finished. The bridegroom did not know when his father would declare the room finished.
Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you.....
(John 14:2 NASB) ""In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you."
NOTE:
John 14:2: Vs. 14:2 dwelling places. The same word is used elsewhere in the NT only in verse 23, where it is translated "abode."
(John 14:3 NASB) ""And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
When he was told that the room was finished, he would go for his bride in the middle of the night and call with a shout.
(1 Thessalonians 4:16 NASB) "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first."
17 "Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord."
His return will be the fulfillment of the Year of Jubilee.
A Jewish master would go through the market place shopping. When he saw something he wanted or needed, he would point it out and it was wrapped and sealed. His signet ring was pressed into the wax or soft clay, leaving his mark. He would later send a servant to pick up his purchases. The servant brought home only the items which had the master's seal on them.
Those of us who have accepted Christ as our Lord and Savior have been sealed with the Holy Spirit. Christ will sent His servants to gather all of us that have His seal.
(2 Corinthians 1:22 NASB) "who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge."
NOTE:
2 Corinthians 1:22: Vs. 1:22 The seal indicates security, and the pledge is a guarantee that God will fulfill His promises. See notes on Eph. 1:13, 14.
(Ephesians 1:13 NASB) "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,"
NOTE:
Ephesians 1:13: Vs. 1:13 having also believed. The time of sealing coincides with the time of believing. sealed . . . with the Holy Spirit. A seal indicates possession and security. The presence of the Holy Spirit, the seal, is the believer's guarantee of the security of his salvation.
(Ephesians 1:14 NASB) "who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory."
NOTE:
Ephesians 1:14: Vs. 1:14 pledge = deposit, down payment. The presence of the Spirit is God's pledge that our salvation will be consummated.
(Ephesians 4:30 NASB) "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption."
In the Old Covenant, man worked six days and rested on the seventh. He kept the sabbath by observing a special day. We saw where this was but a shadow of the real. Shadows are not clear pictures, but are vague representations of something real. What would you think of a married man trying to carry on marital relations with the shadow of his wife. There could not be any fruit from such a relationship. This is what is happening today within the Church. The Church is too weak to recognize the difference between a shadow and the REAL. There is no fruit because the Church arguing about carrying on with shadows and has missed the REAL. In the New Covenant, man keeps the sabbath by resting in what Christ has bought for us with His life.
Scholars generally agree that there were two thousand years from the Creation to the flood and that there were two thousand years from the flood to the first coming of Christ. Counting from the coming of Christ, we are now in the year 1997. 2Peter tells us that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years. We see again the pattern of six days. We are approaching the end of the sixth day. The seventh day, the fulfillment of the sabbath day, year, and the year of Jubilee are at hand. In that day we will live in glorified bodies with the Lord Jesus Christ as our king and husband. This is the day which all of the former sabbath days were looking to.
(2 Peter 3:8 NASB) "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
There are discrepancies in the calendars, which would add or subtract as much as twenty years. We do not know the day or the hour, but we do know the season and the time of His second coming,
(Matthew 24:36 NASB) ""But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."
Have you been sealed with His Holy Spirit? Will you be part of the Bride when Jesus the Bridegroom comes? Or are you one who is fighting about which day we should kept. Satan has deceived the very elect. God is Spirit and wants to be worshipped in Spirit and Truth. If you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit, learn to hear and heed His voice. If you are not sealed with the Holy Spirit, it is not too late! Religion by any name will not save your soul. Only submission to Christ will accomplish that. Amen.
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