MANKIND AND THE SABBATH
© Orest Solyma Sept 19, 1998
The Church of God in Williamstown
WEB SITE: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sanhub/index.htm

INTRODUCTION
This message is different in approach to what I normally give. Quotes from renowned biblical scholars will be examined for their relevance with respect to the grander view of the Sabbath. Those of you who know me know how I feel about the massive responsibilities theologians, biblical scholars and religious leaders have in giving credence to so much error and thereby misleading vast numbers of people. Generally, they have spent their lives studying and contemplating the mysteries of God. With discerning minds we can recognize what can be of help in their expositions.

THE SABBATH PROBLEM
Familiarity with the Bible informs us that the Sabbath was a problem for Israel in OT times (see for e.g., Lev 26:2,33-35,43; Isa 58:13-14; Neh 9:13-16). It was problematic during Christ's ministry for the Jewish religious leaders were critical of His behaviour on the Sabbath. It did not conform to their traditions (Matt 12:1-8; 15:3,6-9). The observance of the Sabbath was a problem during the time of the apostle Paul where Judaism's ideology clashed with the true Christianity Paul was expounding in the Gentile world (Col 2:16-17). The NT very strongly denounces Judaism as it also does error taught in the Name of Jesus Christ (Matt 24:5). The Sabbath was a problem to Christians during the early post-apostolic era as historical evidence from the Catholic fathers shows (e.g., Ignatius ca.100 AD; Barnabas, ca.125 AD). Ignatius, in his epistle To the Magnesians, IX [the longer version], (Magnesia: a city a little south of Ephesus), had this to say:

But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner [How does one keep the Sabbath in a spiritual manner? By being led by the Spirit of God would seemingly be the way. "Worship God in Spirit and in truth" as Jn 4:24 says.], rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before [a jibe a the Pharasiac approach], nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. [But notice what Ignatius says next]: And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection day, the queen and chief of days." (ANF, Vol 1, [Eerdmans: 1987], pp 62-3).
Please notice that both Sabbath and Sunday observance is advocated by this church father. Such doctrine is a mix of truth and error-of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen 2:9,17; 3:6).

To be fair, however, I'll quote from To the Magnesians as presented in, but unstated as the shorter version, A New Eusebius, Editor, J. Stevenson, Revised by W.H.C. Frend, [SPCK: 1992]. Ignatius' non-biblical absurdity should be very evident. Though scholars argue about which version is unadulterated we need to note that whatever the case might be both reflect early church doctrine(s).

IX.1-2 If therefore those who lived in ancient observances attained unto newness of hope, no longer keeping the Sabbath, but living a life ruled by the Lord's day [contra Isa 58:13; Jer 17:21-27; Ezk 20:11-16], whereon our life too had its rising through him and his death-which some deny, a mystery through which we have received the power to believe, and therefore we endure, that we may be found disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Teacher-how shall we be able to live apart from him? For the prophets also became his disciples, and waited in the spirit his coming to teach them (an Augustinian position). And therefore he, for whom they rightly waited, came and raised them from the dead [contra Jn 3:13; Acts 2:29-34; Heb 11:39-40 for none have ascended into heaven except Jesus Christ] (p 14).
Ignatius was not speaking according to the law, nor the prophets (Isa 8:20; Eph 2:20). We hear him speaking of a resurrection from the dead before Christ's Coming which 1Cor 15:22-3 denies.

The Epistle of Barnabas, which is included in the Codex Sinaiticus (dated to the 4th century [about 350] and includes the oldest copy of the complete NT), says:

Further, also it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, "And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart" [Ex 20:8; Deut 5:12]. And He says in another place, "If my sons keep the Sabbath, then I will cause my mercy to rest upon them" [citing Jer 17:24-5].
Can we comprehend what is said by Barnabas and subsequent theologians? God's mercy is conditional on observance of the Sabbath. But presumably later in history God's mercy is not conditional on Sabbath observance. He certainly is an unpredictable God, but He predicts perfectly?
The Sabbath is mentioned at the beginning of the creation [thus]: "And God made in six days the works of His hands, and made an end on the seventh day, and rested on it, and sanctified it." Attend, my children, to the meaning of this expression, "He finished in six days." This implieth that the Lord will finish all things in six thousand years, for a day is with Him a thousand years. And He himself testifieth, saying, "Behold, to-day will be as a thousand years" [Ps 90:4; A footnote says that the Codex Sinaiticus has: The day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years. LXX translators, Brenton and Rahlfs, have the equivalent of the NKJ which essentially says, with the LORD one day is as a thousand years (cf. 2Pet 3:8)]. Therefore, my children, in six days, that is, in six thousand years, all things will be finished. "And He rested on the seventh day." This meaneth: when His son, coming [again], shall destroy the time of the wicked man [i.e., the son of perdition (2Th 2:3; 1Jn 2:18; Rev 13:11)], and judge the ungodly, and change the sun, and the moon, and the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.
Do we note that the Millennium is bypassed and these verses negated: Rev 2:26; 5:10; 20:4,6?

The early Catholic fathers persisted with the belief that world history from Adam to the Second Coming would be 6000 years paralleled from the six days of the week on the basis of the Genesis creation account (and cf. Ps 90:4, 2Pet 3:8). Justin Martyr (110-165) in Dialogue with Trypho, LXXX-LXXXI, Irenaeus (120-202) in Against Heresies, V.XXVIII.3, and Lactantius (260-330) in The Divine Institutes, VII.XIV all make it very clear that they believe in 6000 years of human history with a coming Sabbath with Christ's Coming and presence. Between the time of Constantine (272-337) and Augustine (354-430) that belief was overthrown (i.e., after the Council of Nicea in 325). Let's continue with Barnabas:

Further, He says to them, "Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure" [cf. Isa 1:13]. Ye perceive how He speaks: Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but that is which I made, [namely this,] when, giving rest to all things, I shall make a beginning of the eighth day, that is, a beginning of another world. wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day [i.e., Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also which Jesus rose again from the dead" (ibid. p 147).
Here we find expression to the strange leap of logic: since God is unhappy with the way God's people observe His Sabbaths, then the human solution is to create a new set of observances, with biblically unsubstantiated reasons, which God will be happy with for the institution tells him He should be pleased with the new solution.

Eusebius, the church historian, (ca.260 - ca.340) claims that the epistle of Barnabas is spurious (see his Ecclesiastical History, III.25.4).

It is quite apparent from the NT that the apostolic church kept the Sabbath. Soon churches were keeping Sabbath and Sunday. Then the State, under Constantine's control, banned the Sabbath, the Passover, adopted a new calendar, and above all, totally corrupted the biblical teaching on the nature of God and the Son of God which is the foundation of all doctrine (See our papers: The Immutability of God, Aspects of God's Time).
There is the common presumption that Christ was crucified on a Friday (probably in 33 AD) and was resurrected on a Sunday morning. The crucifixion was on a Wednesday (14 Abib and most likely in 30 AD) with Christ's resurrection occurring just before sunset on Saturday (17 Abib). The symbolism of the wave sheaf offering (cf. Lev 23:9-14) is what occurred on that Sunday morning, 18 Abib-the acceptance ceremony of all that Christ, the Son of God, had done (See our papers Aspects of God's Time and Passover). This almost 1900-year-old dispute is essentially based on acceptance or rejection of whether Christ died at the end of the day before the first holy day of the Passover season (14 Nisan/Abib) and was resurrected at the end of the 17 Nisan/Abib (see Matt 12:39-40; 16:4; Lk 11:29-30). This Quartodeciman controversy can only be resolved on the basis of belief in Scripture rather than the prejudices of traditions founded in the rulings of the Council of Nicea and subsequent early councils. Christ, the Lamb of God, was foreordained by His Father-before the creation of the universe-and died for our sins according to the Scriptures (1Pet 1:19-20; Tit 1:2; 2Tim 1:9; Acts 15:18). God did not get the timing wrong (1Cor 15:3-4; Rom 1:2-3).

HISTORICAL PREJUDICE AGAINST THE SABBATH
"For the first three centuries of the Christian era the first day of the week was never confounded with the sabbath; the confusion of the Jewish and Christian institutions was due to declension from apostolic teaching" says W.E. Vine, in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, [Oliphants: 1974], p 312, Sabbath). A more recent source (see below) has the same historical view.

The references from Ignatius and Barnabas imply there quickly developed an anti-Jewish prejudice, and by misinformed association, prejudice also quickly developed against true Christianity as false gospels with their false christs fought for control of numbers.

In Roman State and Christian Church, A Collection of Legal Documents to A.D. 535, (R.R. Coleman-Norton, [SPCK: 1966], Vol 1, pp 82-3), we read a letter written in 321 by Emperor Constantine, who was born in Dacia (Yugoslavia), of German race (who spoke "Latin, Greek, Pict, Gaulish, Frankish, and at least one Asiatic dialect" [cf. Malachi Martin's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Church, G.P. Putnam's Sons, New York: 1981]; his mother was born in Bithynia (north-central-coastal Turkey):

Emperor Constantine Augustus to Helipidus [possibly a praetorian prefect or acting on behalf of one]:
All judges and urban peoples and artisans of all crafts should rest on the venerable day of the Sun [dies solis].
However, persons situated in the country may attend freely and unhinderedly to cultivation of the fields, since it frequently happens that not another day more suitably are entrusted seeds of grain to furrows or vines to ditches, lest the opportunity granted by heavenly provision should be lost by the favourable moment of a short season.
Posted on 3 March, Crispus [the Emperor's son] and Constantine being consuls for the second time.
It should be noted that both Constantine and his father were respectful of the Persian god, Mithras, whose day of worship was Sunday, the day of the invincible sun (called Sol Invictus) (ibid. p 83).

Augustine, one of the greatest early Catholic theologians, wrote about the Sabbath at the very end of his lengthy work, City of God, completed in 427:
Book XXII, Chapter 30 The felicity of the City of God in its perpetual Sabbath

Hence the message by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel [ch. 20]: 'I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between me and them; so that they might know that I am the Lord, and that I sanctify them.' This we shall then know perfectly, when we are perfectly at rest, and in stillness see perfectly that he is God.
Now if the epochs of history are reckoned as 'days', following the apparent temporal scheme of Scripture, this Sabbath period will emerge more clearly as the seventh of those epochs. The first 'day' is the first period, from Adam to the Flood; the second from the Flood to Abraham. …
From that time, in the scheme of the evangelist Matthew, there are three epochs, which take us down to the coming of Christ; one from Abraham to David, a second from David to the Exile in Babylon, and the third extending to the coming of Christ in the flesh. Thus we have a total of five periods. We are now in the sixth epoch … After this present age God will rest, as it were, on the seventh day, and he will cause us, who are of the seventh day, to find our rest in him.
… The important thing is that the seventh will be our Sabbath, whose end will be an evening, but the Lord's Day, an eighth day, as it were, which is to last forever, a day consecrated by the resurrection of Christ, foreshadowing the eternal rest not only of the spirit but of the body also (Translated by John O'Meara, [Penguin Classics: 1984], pp 1087,1090-1).
Do we note that Augustine speaks of a spiritual understanding of the Sabbath which to him flows by his leap of logic into an eighth day? But Augustine's symbolism breaks down for at the end of the seventh 'day' there is timelessness of the eternity of the City of God in the new heavens and the new earth (see Rev 20:7-15; 21:1ff.; 2Pet 3:13; Isa 65:17).

BEGINNINGS OF THE SABBATH
Let us look at the first biblical reference to the Sabbath and seventh day and then see what modern biblical scholars and theologians have said and say. Let's notice carefully what those early verses say.

The word seventh, in Hebrew is shebî'î (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Item 2318b), and is from the feminine form of seven, sheba`. The word rested, in Hebrew is shebet, (TWOT, Item 2323a) and is from shabat=keep the Sabbath; and shabbat=the Sabbath. "Something of the importance of this institution (i.e., Sabbath observance) can be gauged by observing that of the ten commandments the fourth commandment is treated more extensively than any of the others" (TWOT, Vol 2, p 903). And continuing from the same page of this dictionary: "In the first place Ex 20:8ff. connects observance of the Sabbath with the fact that God himself rested on the seventh day after six days of work (Gen 2:2-3)." Let us and consider this fourth commandment. We can recognize from the Hebrew inserted in the above verses that comparisons of the Hebrew words are interesting. The prefix h ha=the, before shabbat in Ex 20:11, is not present in shabbat in Ex 20:10. However, the ha is present in each use of the Hebrew for seventh.

MODERN VIEWS-THE MEANING OF THE SABBATH
Late 20th century views about the Sabbath and its practical applications have their origins, broadly speaking, in the mix of Church history, ideological exposition and understanding, dogma, prejudices, political history. The history of the Church gives clear evidence to its monumental impacts upon Western societies. And since Scripture tells us that the saints of God, who know God, who live by the Truth, affect world history and will ultimately affect world history (Nietzsche's satanic Will to Power ideology so powerfully prevalent in the world will bear its universal evil fruits (also see Carl Jaspers' The Origin and Goal of History, 141-248). It will be the God-given internalized doctrines of the saints which will also be critical to the course of all history, as time and prophecy shall verify:

Let us look at a few brief expositions from theologians on the subject of the Sabbath then compare these with the Scriptures. It is also hoped that hearers and readers will note the lack of coherency and logic in many arguments supposedly based on Scripture. Scripture, the word of God, which is truth as understood by the Spirit, is forever profoundly logical, powerful, awesome and beautiful in its coherency (Heb 4:12; 2Tim 1:7; 3:16; Jn 10:35).

The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity (Editor, E. Ferguson, Garland Reference Library: 1990) makes the following statements:

Early Christianity depended upon Judaism for its understanding of the Sabbath [It would rather seem that early Christianity, and all Christians, would depend on Jesus' and apostolic understanding (Eph 2:20)]. The earliest commands to keep the Sabbath occur after Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exod. 16:23-30). These commands were based on God's hallowing of the seventh day in creation.
If God hallows, then how can human tradition unhallow? The supposed 'binding and loosing' authority some claim (as misapplied from Matt 16:19; 18:18-20) presumes that if several theologically minded human beings decide something in the Name of God, but contrary to the Will of God, then God will change His Will and support the decisions they have made holy. Such people, presumably, have participated in the Council of God (Jer 23:18,23). This surely was the supremely arrogant ideology of the religious leaders Christ had to contend with (Jn 8:38,44,55).
[These biblical commands were also based on] remembrance of deliverance from bondage [Man causes bondage; God offers freedom (see Isa 14:3; 2Cor 11:20; 2Pet 2:19; Psa 146:7; Isa 61:1-3; Jn 8:32-36)], and humanitarian values allowing all equally to enjoy rest from toil and joy in celebration (Gen. 2:1-4; Exod. 20:10-12; Deut. 5:14-15). The seventh-year sabbatical and the fiftieth-year jubilee are additional dimensions of God's Sabbath gift to Israel (Lev. 25; Deut. 15).
The Gospels present Jesus often in conflict with the Pharisees' legalistic view of Sabbath laws; Jesus acted to fulfill the liberating purposes of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-3:6; Luke 13:10-18; John 5; 9). [We are expected to conclude, apparently, that these liberating purposes of the Sabbath abolish it so that Sunday becomes the day of assembly of the saints]. Although the New Testament writings show that Christian believers continued to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath, Paul says that believers should not pass judgment on one another regarding differences over Sabbath observances (Col 2:16f.)
Now that's an interesting comment. It seems that the writer quoted here believes that those who are right and those who are wrong in Colossae are Sabbath-keepers. This includes Gentiles in a Gentile environment. Paul was apparently still not sufficiently informed doctrinally or was he being politically expedient in knowing that finally the Sabbath would perish? The people of God must have the courage, and the Go-given capacities, to answer questions-as were put to Job (38:3; 40:7; 42:4).
The epistle to the Hebrews (8:5) regards the Sabbath as a shadow of its fulfillment, Jesus Christ.
This indicates that the article writer believes the Sabbath points or pointed to Jesus Christ in some pre-figurative way. But how is that? Is there a link between the removal of the Sabbath and the fact that there is so much confusion about who Jesus Christ is, for so many, all God-loving churches and theologians, cannot agree? The blindness of belief that by some ecumenical communication, sharing of ideas and discussion, unity will ensue is vain hope contrary to Scripture. Where in Scripture do we find such approaches working? The consistent pattern is that people are drawn to the Truth by the Spirit of God. The people who love God seek the Truth, listen to, heed the Truth. And if they should hear more of it immediately enquire-as do healthy enquiring children. Apostolic gatherings always resulted in agreement as the Acts 15 council makes clear. The Spirit of God leads into the understanding of the Truth in Scriptures. Unwillingness and resistance to Truth would seem to indicate a polite (?) rejection of the God of Truth. If recovery from this state is not forthcoming God removes His presence (Is 59:2).

Continuing with our quote:

Luke presents Jesus' mission as fulfilling the liberating sabbatical and jubilean aspects of the Sabbath (Isa 61:1-4; Luke 4:16-21). [So land sabbaths and biblical principles of debt write-off are also abrogated. Is this part of the reason for the Western anti-biblical economic rapaciousness?]
Does supposed spiritual application negate visible and practical applications? Perhaps one should have a secret love for the Sabbath (Prov 27:5)?

Do we note that we are expected to believe that preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the brokenhearted, preaching deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed, preaching the acceptable year of the Lord are all fulfilled in Jesus Christ? It seems that "Christ" is far from being fulfilled. Am I to believe that Christ is here and that His Kingdom is here (an Augustinian view that denies the Millennium)? The 1994, 800-page Catechism of the Catholic Church condemns belief in the Millennium (Item 676). This is against what Matt 24:27 says: For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be-and is contrary to Jude 14: Behold the Lord is coming with many thousands of His saints. The world is famished of truth and light! These verses are derisively dismissed as apocalyptic.

[Continuing with the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity]: Most Christians believe [and history seems to verify that the majority is invariably right, just as politics reveals] that the Lord's day observances fulfill or replace Sabbath day observances [How and on whose authority? Certainly this is not scriptural, nor apostolic, nor according to the biblical prophets.] although Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbatarian groups argue that God instituted the Sabbath at creation [which He did] for all time and for all people (Gen 2:2-3; Isa 66:22-23). This position holds that no human person or group has authority to change God's divine and eternal command.
But then, amazingly, like most other authorities we find advocacy for the change on the basis of human traditions. Please note the next shocking statement in The Encyclopedia of Early Christianity.
The Sabbath was replaced by Sunday as a result of three apostate influences in the second century: anti-Judaism, arising from the church's separation from the synagogue [In fact the synagogue separated from the church: Acts 13:42,44,50; 17:1-9; 18:4-10]; the influence of sun cults in the Roman empire, which led the church into making Sunday the holy day; and the church of Rome's growing authority shown in changing the day (pp 807-8).
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Edited by F. L. Cross, OUP: 1993) includes these comments:
Acc. to Ex. 20.11 and 31.17 it [the Sabbath] represents the rest God took on the seventh day from His work of Creation, whereas acc. to Deut. 5.15 it is apparently kept in remembrance of the deliverance from Egypt. … Though the primitive Christians largely continued to keep the seventh day as a day of rest and prayer [an interesting admission], the fact that the Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Ghost had taken place on the first day of the week soon led to the observance of that day (i.e. Sunday), to the exclusion of the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday.
Again, one has to ask the question, "If God has instituted the Sabbath on whose authority does a person or institution change what God has done?"

A. T. Lincoln's From Sabbath to Lord's Day: A Biblical and Theological Perspective (Edited by D. A. Carson, Zondervan: 1982) attempts to answer such questions.

… nowhere do the New Testament writers or the writings of the first three centuries of the church's life indicate that the first day was actually treated as a day of rest [Now that's also an interesting admission. Does this not contradict the theological implications in Hebrews 4? -"there remains therefore a rest (sabbatismos) for the people of God" (v 9)].
A further question needs to be raised. Even if an appeal to the Sabbath as a creation ordinance (one day's rest in seven as enjoined on the first man and woman) could be sustained, how much force would this have in the construction of a Sabbatarian argument? Does a mandate to Adam before the Fall necessarily mean such a mandate is perpetually binding on all men and women? (p 347)
What an approach! A God-given mandate given before man sinned has to be abrogated into disuse after man has sinned. It is the Sabbatarians who are asked to construct their arguments to demolish arguments imaginatively constructed by those who are insistent on Sunday worship, and which have no biblical support, but whose supports are constructed by human reasoning that distorts the truth of ecclesiastical history and Scripture. The spurious argument, much like Christ faced with religious leaders of His day (Jn 8:43,45; Matt 22:29), is illustrated as we continue to quote and consider.
While His creatures, made in His image, are to reflect the character of the Creator, this does not necessitate a perpetual obligation to reflect the pattern of the Creator's relation to the first creation.
If Sabbath observance is part of reflecting the character of the Creator how can it no longer perform such spiritual function? How does that which is godly and spiritual perish? Does not God want a relationship with man that is sinless? And what a capricious and cruel God it is who sentences to death those who break a law that He will supposedly later negate (Ex 31:14)! No wonder so many young people abhor institutionalized religion and its numerous hypocrisies.
After all, marriage can be considered a creation ordinance (Gen 1:28; 2:24) [And it still is] but it is not binding on all men and women for all time, for certainly in the new order celibacy is seen as at least an equal option for obeying God (Matt. 19:10ff.) and Paul considers it preferable (1 Cor. 7).
Aspects of Marriage
Celibacy, as Carson and Lincoln seem to see it, is out of gnostic asceticism, founded in Neo-Platonism which includes vegetarianism, and was adopted by early Catholic ascetics (see J. Pelikan, The Emergence of Catholic Tradition, pp 87-8, 135-6, 288-9). According to the Encyclopedia of Early Christianity "Plato supplied the philosophical basis for asceticism as it developed in the late-antique age and flourished in the emerging Christian church" (p 104). Hans Lietzman's The Era of the Church Fathers (Lutterworth Press: 1955) also confirms this (p 128). Furthermore, Plato was of a way of mind that Rom 1:22-8 condemningly describes. Hans Licht's Sexual Life in Ancient Greece (Abbey Library: 1971) verifies that Plato was a life-long paedophile (pp 412-3, 469) and this was the prevailing culture of the Greek philosophers (pp 440-6). Can love-based principle emanate from a perverse mind? Can good fruit come from an evil tree (Matt 7:15-20)?

Paul's celibacy, which is assumed, for he may have been married before his "road to Damascus" experience," and alien to the early false Christian practices, was freely chosen probably because of His extremely robust approach to his apostolic work (1Cor 15:10 the hardest working of all the apostles; 7:7,32). How could he be fair to a wife considering his work? His celibacy had no strangely mystical thought patterns as exemplified in Anthony, the Cappadocians, et al. Christ's celibacy was based on His annulling His marriage covenant with Israel (Hos 2:2; Jer 31:32; Ezk 16:45,59) and preparing His Bride, the Israel of God, the Church (Eph 5:25,32; Rev 19:7; 21:9). Furthermore, the strongest NT statements in support of marriage are from Paul (Eph 5:1-33), and this should be kept in mind when reading 1Cor 7. The marriage ordinance seen in Adam and Eve is forever applicable to all married couples, and if defied in any way the consequences are as with all sins.

The marriage ordinance is binding on all men and all women who are married, until death. Yes, the Bible permits divorce, but it is with grievous consequences nevertheless (Matt 19:7-12). Because godly faithfulness, emotional and cultural maturity, including mutual growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ are so profoundly decisive in the happiness of a marriage, the risks of ongoing disappointments and ultimate failure are very high (cf. J. Dominian, Marital Breakdown, [Penguin: 1976], pp 19,24,28,37-40). Very few these days experience any wise council in choosing a mate for marriage. It is the very rare marriage that fulfills the description Christ gives. And it is this description that the apostles responded to so fearfully ("If such is the case of the man with his wife, it is better not to marry" Matt 19:10).

Let's continue with the generally accepted views about the Sabbath and note how assumptions are the foundations of all kinds of beautiful words.

THE UNIVERSALITY OF THE SABBATH
Paul K. Jewett, in God, Creation, and Revelation A Neo-Evangelical Theology, (Eerdmans: 1991), seems to typify so many theologians' dogma and current theology.

When one reads the creation narrative in terms of natural science, to cite one last example, the meaning of the Sabbath rest on the seventh day is that no "higher forms" have appeared since homo sapiens; with the creation of humankind the Creator's work is finished (p 482).
No it is not finished. Before the creation God knew man would sin and hence had appointed His Son as the Lamb, as 1Pet 1:19-20 makes clear (see also Heb 2:5-9). Since God knows the end from the beginning-the principle of prophecy-He has all things in His grasp (Isa 46:10; 48:3,5; 42:9). For example, some assume that circumcision is abolished but Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul all had the same understanding-that circumcision is of the heart (Deut 10:16; Jer 4:4; Rom 2:29). Circumcision is a willing commitment to total sensitivity to the word of God which must bring forth godly fruit and not any abortive and deformed brain-child. Much the same can be said of sacrifice: present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God (Rom 12:1; also Ps 51:17; Is 40:6; Amos 5:21-27). We are to be totally dedicated to the Will of God-with unblemished consciences (1Tim 1:5), washed by the Word (Eph 5:26), and cut by His Word (Heb 4:12) so that our spiritual sacrifices are acceptable to God in the House of God (1Pet 2:5). We should note that the Christianity of Scripture reflects the life of the Son of God, not the Christianity contaminated by human traditions of practice, liturgy and presumptuous dogma.

We need to consider how to keep the Sabbath holy. The problem of circumcision is not the cutting or not cutting of the flesh but how the heart is cut (Acts 2:37; Heb 4:12). The problem of sacrifices is not in the life or death of animals but in crucifying the flesh (Rom 12:1-2; Ps 51:16-17; Gal 5:24). Similarly, the problem of Sabbath observance is not in the supposedly ritualized behaviours of traditions but in the observable Spirit-led holiness in the time setting God provides. Can this be shifted into a specific time period not endorsed by God? Who tells us how to worship: God or man?

[Continuing with Jewett's thoughts:] Now this may be true, but no adequate theology of the Sabbath, central both to the faith of Israel and the church, should ever look in this direction [Does Jewett mean that the Creator's work is finished in the context of the Adamic creation? If so, what do we make of 1Cor 15:45-49, which compares the earthly man, Adam, destined to death-to the heavenly Man, Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, and His co-heirs, who are destined for resurrection? Is this not inherent in the creation story and the Sabbath associated with it?
Jewett continues:] To do so would be to miss altogether the significance of the Sabbath of creation, the denouement [final outcome] of creation's story. The Sabbath symbolizes the ultimate purpose of creation [and yet its observance is abolished?]; it is the rest of delight and satisfaction God takes in his creation as he gives himself in fellowship and love to the creature made in his image [And this is taken as becoming an eschatological reality-something that will really happen, but the present literal noting of what points to that reality-the Sabbath to come-should be abrogated as a present prefiguring and reverential observance?] Only such an interpretation of the creation Sabbath reflects the perspective from which the author of the Genesis narrative writes, a perspective that is not scientific but theological in nature (pp 482-3).
It is stunning that he should make some insightfully profound statements but then deny Sabbath observance. I am reminded of the religious leaders in Christ's day who saw that He was from God but they still denied Him. This spiritual disease persists: Will Christ find faith on the earth (Lk 18:8)?
…. in the figure of a week of work followed by a Sabbath rest [is] the essential mystery of the origin of all things in the will of God and the end of all things in the Sabbath rest of fellowship with him (p 484). [What an amazing admission of spiritual truth with respect to the Sabbath. So why turn to Sunday observance?]
But this reminder of our human finitude, the contingency of our being as creatures, is infused with hope because creation begins with the light of the first day ["Let there be light," Gn 1:3; and Christ is "the Light of the world," Jn 8:12] and ends with the rest of the seventh, a Sabbath that will finally be fulfilled in the new creation where there is "no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb" (Rv. 21:23) (p 484).
If creation reflects the resolve of the Creator that there should be a world, the purpose of this resolve is that there should be another [Yes, there will come another world-the Kingdom of God, which shall begin with the Coming of the Messiah], apart from himself [The Son of God shall be present: Rev 20:6; 1Cor 15:23; Zech 14:3-5], with whom he may enjoy fellowship [not some 'mystical ecstasy' of self-transcendence consanguineous with the 'erotic divine love' described by Gregory of Nyssa (cf. LaCugna's God For Us, pp 350-6)], a fellowship symbolized in the Sabbath rest. The Sabbath rest is God's free and joyous satisfaction as he communes with the man and woman whom he has made for himself. …
Fellowship of like-minded and Spirit-led brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ is affirmed in: Do we have the kind of trust in one another, the kind of trust in God, in his Son, and in the inspiration of the Spirit that if we were in similar circumstances to the Jerusalem congregations we would be identical in our wholeheartedness? What is required for such trusting commitment?
But obviously this pristine purpose of creation has miscarried. The mutual fellowship between God and the creature has been deeply disturbed by the transgression of the creature. As a result, the ultimate purpose of creation "has become eschatological" (Weber [German theologian often referred to by Jewett; wrote Foundations of Dogmatics]). Creation history has become a primal history that sets the stage for redemptive history [which was and is God's purpose all along: 1Tim 2:4 God desires that all mankind should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth; 2Pet 3:9 God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance]. Rather than the consummation of the creation [a material impossibility because flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God], the Sabbath rest has become a reiterated rest-the weekly Sabbath of the Jews [and Jews were not there at creation but are, by a sudden leap of blind faith, the cultural preservers of the Sabbath thus precluding others from Sabbath observance?]-which by virtue of its constant repetition [and oh how boring that must be in practice] can never bring final rest [because the Sabbath rest is typologically prophetic of the Kingdom of God]. In fact, even the fulfillment of the Sabbath rest in Christ is a fulfillment in hope [because hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? (Rom 8:24)]. Like the Jews, therefore, Christians repeat their Lord's Day celebration week after week [Is it therefore vital that Jews continue to bore themselves spiritually in observing their traditional Sabbaths and that Christians not observe the biblical Sabbaths because they might overcome the boredom of their present traditional Sunday observances?].
But for the writers of Scripture, the meaning of this general history is seen from the perspective of God's purpose as Redeemer. World history, in other words, is the theater of redemptive history. It is in and through world history that God is uniquely moving to accomplish the redemption of his people and thereby restore creation to its true and proper end [Prophecy, particularly apocalyptic, verifies this].. Through God's redemptive work [Jn 6:29], the Sabbath rest of the creation will be finally fulfilled in a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (pp 491-2).
How remarkable that Jewett recognizes the universal prophetic overtones in the creation Sabbath which speak of the New Jerusalem (Rev 22:1-5), but because of traditional dogma must incorporate into his arguments a present Sunday observance. Does Sunday also prefigure the new heavens and the new earth?

Let us look at another source with similarly astounding comment about the Sabbath. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology (Editor, Walter A. Elwell, [Baker: 1992], p 964) has this to say:

The sabbath was a joyous holy day, a day of spiritual refreshment and reverent worship [So that which was once joyful, spiritually refreshing, and was set aside for reverential worship is now stripped of all those characteristics, and since traditions are now "lord of the sabbath," (contra Matt 12:8; Mk 2:28), the authority of Jesus Christ is over-ridden by human pronouncement. A fitting end to the Sabbath, is it not?] It seems to have been a popular day, an opportunity for man to imitate his Creator, to devote himself to contemplation and to community worship. Those that delighted in the Lord in this fashion were promised that they would "ride on the heights of the earth" (Isa. 58:13-14). [Does this author (D. A. Rausch) expect us to infer that those who observe Sunday will ride as immortal souls in the heights of the heaven of heavens?] Even foreigners who kept from profaning the sabbath and held to God's covenant were promised blessing and deep joy (56:6-8). Jewish tradition held that Isaiah declared the eventual universalization of the sabbath among the nations (note 66:23 [all flesh shall come from one Sabbath to another to worship the LORD]) [Zech 14:16 speaks of universal observance of the Feast of Tabernacles. If the weekly Sabbath is abrogated then all the Sabbaths must fall with it (cf. Lev 23:1ff)].
One of the world's recent great historians of comparative religion, Mircea Eliade, claims that his best book is Cosmos and History The Myth of the Eternal Return (first published 1945, then 1949; Harper Torchbooks, New York: 1954). In his preface he outlines the significance of his book title:
The myths [e.g., of ancient Babylonia as the Epic of Gilgamesh, Egypt, Assyria, Brahma the Hindu creator god, and such as the myths in Gen 1-3] preserve and transmit paradigms, the exemplary models, for all the responsible activities in which men engage. By virtue of these paradigmatic models revealed to men in mythical times, the Cosmos and society are periodically regenerated. … [Under what conditions does the Holy Spirit regenerate?]
… I have used the terms "exemplary models," "paradigms," and "archetypes" in order to emphasize a particular fact-namely, that for the man of traditional and archaic societies, the models of his institutions and the norms for his various categories of behavior are believed to have been "revealed" at the beginning of time, that consequently, they are regarded as having a superhuman and "transcendental" origin (p viii).
The concept of sacred time is common to all ancient religions. It is generally believed that the sacred symbols of the Bible were adopted from Canaanites, Hittites, Babylonians, Gnosticism. How rare it is for scholars to contemplate the reality of one true God, whose true characteristics are preserved only in the Scriptures, and that all other sources with their variant descriptions of the heavenly cosmogony are the result of combination of corrupted memories from a common source (Gen 11) and the overlay of demonic inspiration (Rev 12:9; 1Jn 5:19).
[Ancient] Iranian tradition knows that religious festivals were instituted by Ormazd [the Zoroastrian counterfeit of Christ, the Son of God, as Creator] to commemorate the stages of the cosmic Creation, which continued for a year. At the end of each period-representing respectively, the creation of the sky, the waters, the earth, plants, animals, and man-Ormazd rested for five days [not one day], thus instituting the principal Mazdean festivals (cf. Bundahišn,I, A 18 ff.). Man only repeats the act of the Creation; his religious calendar commemorates [the sacred calendar and the Plan and Purpose of God], in the space of a year, all the cosmogonic phases [activities and purposes of the gods (elohim)] which took place ab origine [originally; in the beginning]. In fact, the sacred year ceaselessly repeats the Creation; man is contemporary with the cosmogony [the origins and purposes of God] and with the anthropogony [the nature and future of man] because ritual [symbolic practice] projects him into the mythical epoch of the beginning….
The Judaeo-Christian Sabbath is also an imitatio dei [an imitation of God's purposes]. The Sabbath rest reproduces the primordial gesture of the Lord, for it was on the seventh day of the Creation that God "… rested … from all his work which he had made" (Genesis 2:2). The message of the Saviour is first of all an example which demands imitation. After washing his disciples' feet, Jesus said to them: "For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (John 13:15) (pp 22-3).
Eliade gives other examples of such symbolic acts common to ancient religions with their variant corruptions of the nature of the true God and His true Purpose. All doctrinal variations are philosophically based on the nature of God and God's Purpose. For example, as soon as the church began to actively teach error on the nature of God it was inevitable that the entire Plan of God would change: Easter and Xmas must follow-as time conclusively reveals. Satan knows God, knows His Plan, knows those whose names are in the Book of Life. Being the enemy of God Satan does and has always done, throughout history, everything he can to cause confusion, delusion, and disaster. Being the originator of sin, the relentless and reprobate liar and murderer that he is (Jn 8:44; Rev 12:9), there can be no possibility for his redemption as some believe. If there were any possibility for his redemption then no human could possibly be consigned to the Lake of Fire for all sins are originated in Satan (Rev 19:10; 20;10,14-5). Anyone who holds that Satan will be redeemed must inevitably and progressively give the nature of evil and the nature of the true God non-biblical definitions. The perverse "logic" would suggest disguised evil in the proponent of such error. With a redefinition of evil the nature of God and His love is redefined: a heathen god ensues who is a mix of good and evil, which few recognize (2Cor 11:14-5). And so the rot gets larger and larger. See our papers The Avenger of Blood and Azazel and Atonement.

THE ROLE OF GOD'S PEOPLE - MANKIND AND THE SABBATH
We should already be somewhat stunned with the awesomeness of what men greater than any of us in the world have said about the relationships with respect to: God, creation, man's nature and destiny, and man's obligations before God-in present religious living and future hope. What is the purpose and role of the people of God?

May I use one more famous biblical scholar, Walther Eichrodt, who died in 1978. His two-volume Theology of the Old Testament (SCM: 1987) is full of remarkable insights but is mixed with biblical errors based largely on trinitarianism and the "conventional wisdom" that today's religious leaders have more theological insight than the patriarchs and prophets of the OT and apostles of the NT.

The unveiling of God's work of salvation is a gradual process. Through the cult of the Tabernacle, or the setting-up of the throne of David the heavenly world is projected into that of earth, and human poverty is flooded with divine power; and in this way the great milestones of human history are made visible.
We would understand this in that the Sabbaths and the Festivals foreshadow the unfolding of God's Plan of Salvation so that the firstfruits are brought to a full number (Rev 6:10-11) and are called to the Coming Messiah who will descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to begin the millennial rest-which is not the ultimate rest. After this, after the release of Satan from his thousand-year bondage, he is cast by Jesus Christ into the Lake of Fire-and in the aftermath of the burning up of the earth (2Pet 3:10; Ps 102:25-6; Is 34:4; 51:6)-then will be the final Rest in the new heavens and the new earth in the New Jerusalem in which is the eternality of immortality with God and all who are God's.
Nevertheless, the course of this history is considered not as the prologue to a final decision which, though it may be yet to emerge, is irresistibly approaching, but as the unfolding of a cosmic order planned for permanence and perfection, arched over by the rainbow of God's covenant of peace, and proclaiming his Yea to his creation.
The institution of the Sabbath at the very moment of the Creation [and foreseen by God before the Creation as was the Lamb (1Pet 1:19-20; Tit 1:2)], and the construction of the Tabernacle or the Temple in accordance with a heavenly pattern, are striking examples of this way of thinking … (Vol 2, pp 424-5).
The Tabernacle and Temple symbolize the meaningful worship and holy role of God's people-their culture, their cohesion, their beliefs, their society, their hopes and their ultimate goals-and that all of humanity, all peoples and ethnic groups should be saved by the mercy, grace, power, wisdom, and love of God with the examples, guidance, teaching of the kingdom of priests as a cutting edge of example and godly leadership. So what does such universal responsibility require of the saints of God? What standards of behaviour, justice, problem resolution, discipline, wisdom, righteousness are required for such awesome and universal responsibility? What does it mean to rule with Christ (Rev 2:26; 3:21; 5:10)?
Moreover, since the festivals at the sanctuary with their joyful sacrificial meals are described as opportunities for demonstrating sentiments of brotherhood, and the Sabbath and the sabbatical year, the firstfruits and the tithes, are all closely linked with the social and ethical responsibilities, man's duties toward God and his neighbour are indissolubly fused and his social consciousness is directly rooted in his religion. The implications of this for the concept of the state may be seen in the 'law of the king' (Deut 17:14-20) (ibid. p 92).
The law of the king required that the king have his own copy of the Scriptures, study them daily, and make all decisions in the light of God's Word. This is required of the royal kingdom of priests when they shall enter the Land in the resurrection-a complete internalization of the Word of God so that all decisions and choices are those that uphold the covenant of life and peace with God. The Law of Truth must be in the hearts of God's priesthood, they bring reverence to the Name of God, righteousness must be the outpouring of their mouths, the walk of peace and equity is their way; they turn many to righteousness, their lips give the knowledge of Jesus Christ, people seek the Law which is the outpouring of their hearts, and they are the messengers of God-this is expressed on the basis of Malachi 2. Such people will provide Sabbath for the whole of mankind that is willing to love God.

One last quote from Eichrodt that helps summarize these thoughts from Mal 2:5-7:

It is no longer a question of simply carrying out certain external regulations, assisted by the power of the state; the law has been drawn into the sphere of operation of the spiritual and moral life, where external compulsion must be replaced by personal moral decision … but must be the expression of a faith determined by the reality of the covenant God … the primary commandment is that of love for God. This alone can point the way to a just observance of God's ordinances (p 93).
How extraordinary that we have an endorsement for observance, but extraordinary is the leap into the folly of dogma that replaces such biblical observance with the imaginations of the hearts of men who turn to their own traditions.

Here is how God views what he wants of each and every person who looks to the Promises:

May the love and grace of Jesus Christ and His Father be with us all who turn to the Almighty God.

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