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p.2 The Perpetual Sabbath? Words like “perpetual” and “everlasting” are often used to prove the keeper of the Law’s position. But they neglect that it is to be qualified by the phrase “throughout your generations,” a reference to the generations of the Jewish people and their covenant of Moses (which ended at the cross when the new covenant was installed). There are also differences in words meaning in Hebrew and Greek that need to be distinguished. This all made clear when one takes all the Scriptures and reads them in their context. What does the word “perpetual” mean? Exod.31:13, the covenant's duration is given as being “throughout your generations.” This phrase is used to denote the generations of the Jews as God's chosen people. The term “perpetual” is defined and limited by that phrase, which is very easy to prove. Many aspects of the Mosaic covenant are said to be “perpetual.” To mention a few, the Aaronic priesthood was to be a perpetual statute (Exodus 29:9); “ for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations ” (Exod. 40:15). “and it shall be to him and his descendants after him a covenant of an everlasting priesthood” (Num. 25:13) We all know that this priesthood ended because of the new covenant, as Heb. 7:12 “ For the priesthood being changed, of necessity there is also a change of the law.” the Levitical was then passe and the Melchizedic priesthood through Christ began. Also the Passover, You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance (Exod. 12:14). Incense burning was perpetual (Exodus 30:8); the washing of feet and hands by the priests was a perpetual statute (Exodus 30:21), as was the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:41); Exod. 12:17 'So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, …Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance . Lev 3:17 'This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.'" Do law keepers obey this? Do they drained their juicy steak or hamburger of blood? The word everlasting Olam in Hebrew, has the meaning of a vanishing point, unlike the Greek meaning of everlasting: eternal Gr. aionios; perpetual (also used of past time, or past and future as well): 1) without beginning and end, what has always been and always will be. 2) without beginning 3) without end, never to cease, everlasting This is one reason why God is described as from everlasting TO everlasting in the Old Testament. It qualifies the meaning. Do any of the law keepers adhere to the feast days? Lev.23:31 tells us it is a statute forever. The blowing of trumpets by the priests (Numbers 10:8). Lev 16:33-34 and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. "This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel , for all their sins, once a year." Exod. 29:42 “This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD,” (but there is no tabernacle today). “This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel , for all their sins, once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses” (Lev. 16:34). Notice whom God is giving this to, the children of Israel. Not the Gentiles, not the Church. They were the ones who were in covenant with God at this time. This continual sacrifices ended with the New Covenant having one sacrifice that lasts for eternity. Do modern Sabbatarians keep the Levitical priesthood and sacrifice? NO. Why not? Why are they ignoring the other commands and focus on the Sabbath like the Pharisees did? For the believer saved by grace, who understands the new covenant we do not observe the Sabbath as a law (Rom. 14:5; Gala. 4:9-11; Colo. 2:14-17). The Law keeper will ALWAYS use the Old Testament as proof for continuation extracting portions and mixing it with Jesus’ words. They Ignored the Jews were under the law before the final atonement for sin by his crucifixion not inside the temple but outside its walls. The references to one keeping the Law “forever” must be taken to mean “for a long time” instead of eternity if one keeps the words and meaning in its context and lives by the new covenant. But they also neglect the most important part, the recipients who were Israel only, not the Gentiles. Exod. 31:16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.” Nowhere does the Bible say that Paul, the apostles or ANY Christian kept the Sabbath according to a commandment after the resurrection. It was not an obligation. Acts 17:2-5 “Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures .” He had this custom kept because he was a Jew who was wanting to reach other Jews and did not want to offend them by his freedom in Christ. The Sabbath is mentioned only 8 times in the book of Acts and once in one other place (besides Heb.4). Not once does it imply believers were keeping the law that they gathered in the synagogue to worship on the Sabbath. The one other place the Sabbath is mentioned is instruction to the church which actually teaches the opposite of what law keepers tell their people to observe. Col. 2:16-17 “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. ” The Sabbath was a shadow, the light that casts the shadow came, lived among them and fulfilled Scripture. Jesus gave us the new covenant – Himself, the gospel. Shadows pass as it says in Heb.8:8, 13; 12:24). Heb. 10:9: “then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second .” It is God who took away the first covenant of Moses by sending Jesus to die for our sins. The most important words God gave man are not the 10 commandments but THE GOSPEL. Only the new covenant is eternal and gives man eternal life with God. The commandments cannot redeem man but only show how far he is from obeying God. It is left there to make us guilty and drive us to the Messiah, our new Covenant. Once sin is understood we can apply the solution to resolve it; it’s called the gospel, the new covenant that is about Jesus and His work. If one is to keep the Sabbath day as law then they are also be under the obligation to also observe the Sabbath year (Lev.25:17). The land is to be tilled for six years and the seventh year is the Sabbath year. There are so many laws that are attached to the Sabbath, or the Old covenant. There are many other laws that pertain to Sabbath keeping that Sabbatarians do not keep. For example they are to work 6 days not 5. Work is incorporated in the Sabbath “ Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death .” (Ex 31:15). What of the punishments for keeping the Sabbath, when was the last time you heard someone keep them? 2 Chron.7:9 the 10 commandments are not individually numbered, they are a unit (James says if you break one you are guilty of all because they are a unit). God spoke the other 603 laws to Moses besides writing the 10, these are also commandments? God says to obey all my commandments that he gave. Paul states on being in the New Covenant in Rom. 6:14 “ For you are not under law, but under grace.” That is all we need to understand, it is that simple. (Those who are NOT in Christ ARE under the law because its purpose is to bring one to Christ (Gal.3; Heb.8:7-8, 13). Grace is how we operate in the new covenant, law is how Israel operated in the Old Covenant. You can’t have your feet walk in both covenants, some of this and some of that (Rom.6:14-15). They cannot be mixed. Paul refers to this in Rom.7:6-12: “ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter .”( compare this with Ex.34:27,1 Kings 8:9,21: 9, Deut.4:13, 9:9, 2 Chron.6:11) I Jn. 5:11 “ And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son”
Paul in Rom.7:6-12: “
But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we
were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.”
(compare this with Ex.34:27,1 Kings 8:9,21: 9,Deut.4:13, 9:9, 2 Chron.6:11)
If one insists they are under the law, then you must keep all the law, not just the Sabbath. What they are saying is ‘I do not embrace the new covenant to live by grace,’ they are in need to have the gospel explained to them, so that they stand in it alone as 1Cor.15:1 explains. |
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