Believe it or not, there is no biblical commandment to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ! Instead, there are many commands to solemnly celebrate his death!

Most professing Christians are completely ignorant of this fact.

To hundreds of millions of professing Christians all over the world, “Easter” is either the MOST important “Christian” holiday, or second, behind “Christmas.” Few have ever researched the origins of either celebration. Few know that both are laden with paganism; customs derived from heathens who were sun worshipers, and not from the Bible, or the apostles of Christ.

Jesus Christ would never have allowed His chosen disciples to worship Him by using symbols of sex and fertility, such as rabbits, eggs, mistletoe, little green trees, holly wreaths and the like. Certainly, He would have soundly CON­DEMNED the practice of a “religious” service conducted at SUNRISE, facing the SUN! Such is utterly pagan, and Jesus Christ, in His pre-human state, inspired Jeremiah to write, “LEARN NOT THE WAY OF THE HEATHEN,” while He described the Christmas tree (Jeremiah 10:1-4).

Make no mistake! The resurrection of Jesus Christ was a GREAT EVENT! The fact of Christ’s resurrection represents the very cornerstone of the faith of the apostles; the reason for their deep conviction and conversion; the wellspring of their courage in the face of martyrdom! It was the proof of Christ’s resurrection which caused them to assemble in Jerusalem for that first great moment on Pentecost when God sent audible and visual evidence of His Holy Spirit!

Yet, for all the stupendous significance of the resurrection, there is not one scripture in all the Bible which sets apart the DAY of the resurrection as a day to be appointed for worship; not one “thus saith the Lord” which commands Christians to gather for worship on that day!

In spite of this, the entire “Sunday – Saturday” controversy is based on Catholic doctrine (adopted by almost all Protestants) which states that “Our Lord rose from the dead on the first day of the week.”

Professing Christians know there is no command in the Bible to observe Sunday. They say they are doing it in “commemoration of the resurrection.” But the resurrection was NOT ON SUNDAY.

The Bible Commands Us To Celebrate Christ’s Death

While there are no scriptures commanding Christians to celebrate the moment of Christ’s resurrection, there are many plain ones commanding us to observe, in solemn ceremony, His DEATH on the “tree.”

Paul wrote to the Gentile Christians in Corinth, “For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

“And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

“After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.

“For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come” (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).

This was not the age-old celebration of the PASSOVER, but a supper held as the nighttime of the fourteenth began, with new and different symbols which Christ had instituted, conducted from 17 to 24 hours prior to the “Feast.” The Feast of the Passover was eaten in the NIGHT at the beginning of the fifteenth of Abib, or Nisan. The lamb, which pictured Christ, was killed in the afternoon of the fourteenth!

Christ CHANGED the symbols of the Passover, setting His disciples an example of a NEW Testament observance Paul later referred to as “The Lord’s Supper.” In ancient Israel, the roast lamb, eaten on the night of the Feast with their shoes on their feet, their staffs in their hands, in haste, symbolized Jesus Christ, the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” The lamb was slain by shedding its blood. The unleavened bread, or the “bread of haste” symbolized getting rid of SIN. These shadows led to Christ. Once the reality had come; once the very Son of God was now about to become the sacrifice for the sins of all mankind, there was no further need to follow shadows. The shadow LED to the stake upon which Christ died. Now, the Savior of all mankind instituted a NEW ceremony. The ancient Israelites did not engage in a foot washing ceremony; did not partake of only a small piece of unleavened bread, or drink a sip of wine. Instead, they ate an entire meal of roast lamb!

When Christ instituted the NEW Testament symbols of the foot washing, the bread and the wine, He commanded His disciples, “For I have given you an example, that you should DO, as I have done unto you!” (John 13:15).

For centuries, God’s called and chosen servants continued to faithfully observe the “Lord’s Supper” (which many continued to call “The Passover”) ON THE FOURTEENTH OF NISAN.

When an APOSTATE church began to IMPOSE the ancient custom of Ishtar (the “h” is silent, so the pronunciation is “Easter”), and command Christians to cease and desist from observing the Lord’s Supper on the fourteenth of Nisan, many thousands continued to do so in defiance of the “Council of Nicaea.”

For centuries, these believing people, faithful to Christ’s commands and His example, were sought out, persecuted, and murdered. The “Quartodeciman Controversy” is documented through many centuries of history; “Quartodeciman” meaning “Fourteenth.”

Thus, God’s true Church continued to follow Christ’s example by observing the symbols of His DEATH. NEVER did the apostles celebrate a sunrise service! NEVER did they observe the dawning of the first day of the week in “celebration of the resurrection.” NEVER did they revel amid symbols of fertility, such as colored eggs and rabbits!

Instead, they gathered to rehearse Christ’s instructions just as he gave them on the “night in which he was betrayed,” reminding themselves, year by year, of the DEATH of the Lord and Savior of all mankind!

The ONLY SIGN That Christ Was The Messiah

The murder-plotting, posturing Pharisees, like many professing Christians today, wanted to see some kind of supernatural “sign,” as proof of Christ’s credentials. Matthew recorded it: “Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

“But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

“For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:38-40).

The significance of the sign was the precise LENGTH OF TIME Christ would be in the tomb! Think of what this means! Christ was NOT saying that the SIGN of His Messiahship would be the fact of the resurrection, but, instead, the length of time He would be dead, IN THE TOMB!” 

This has caused tremendous controversy, and no end of devious circumventions, human reasonings, evasions, convoluted explanations and outright falsehoods among the so-called “higher critics” and would-be Bible “scholars.” Why? Simply because steeped in the traditions of men, they have clung to their fables surrounding “Easter,” and REJECTED the ONLY SIGN Jesus gave as PROOF that He was, in fact, the Son of God!

None of these would-be scholars will admit he is REJECTING CHRIST! Oh, no, he will use every excuse, every argument, to GET AROUND the plain statement of Christ Himself, and, without knowing it, cling to a FALSE “Christ” of his own imagination, REJECTING the real Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

How do they do this? What reasons do they put forth to get around Christ’s statements?

First, it is obvious that “Good Friday” to “Easter Sunday Morning” cannot fit into Christ’s plain statement that He would be in the tomb for “three days and three nights.”

For, if He was entombed late on “Good Friday,” then Friday sunset to Sabbath sunset is one night and one day; Sabbath sunset to Sunday sunset is two nights and two days, and Sunday sunset to Monday sunset is THREE NIGHTS AND THREE DAYS!

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that something is wrong here!

So, they have decided to say that Christ’s statement was in the Greek language, and that He used a Greek idiom, which meant only “part” of three days and “part” of three nights, or, in other words, just TWO nights, and ONE DAY! Thus, since they claim Christ was buried on “Good Friday” just before sunset, He would have been in the tomb only all night Friday night (which is really not “Friday” at all, but “the Sabbath,” since the days began at sunset), all day “Saturday,” all night “Saturday night” and would have arisen AT SUNRISE on “Easter Sunday Morning!”

But Jesus Christ would not have spoken in Greek to His disciples, who were Galileans; hill-country folk, who spoke Aramaic, a dialect of the Hebrew language which had developed among Jewish captives during the Babylonian captivity!

Also, Jesus said specifically that He would be in the tomb “…AS JONAH WAS three days and three nights!” The book of Jonah was written in HEBREW, not in Greek! The only scriptures extant during the days of Christ and the disciples were the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament! The first book of the New Testament — the very book containing Christ’s words about the sign of Jonah, Matthew, was not written until almost twenty long years later; about 55 AD!

There is no “Greek idiom” contained in Jonah!

Did not Christ know the difference between a day and a night? When He presented the ONLY SIGN which He would leave as a perpetual sign of His Divine origins; His Messiahship, would He have used confusing language?

Jesus said, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because heseeth the light of this world.

“But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him” (John 11:9, 10). Clearly, Jesus stated there are twelve hours of daylight, and an equal time of darkness! He was using a spiritual analogy, of course, but it is absolutely PROVED that when Jesus Christ said “three DAYS” He meant three periods of twelve hour daylight, and three periods of equal darkness — three days and three nights!

There are not three periods of twelve hours of daylight between “Good Friday” at sunset and Ishtar(pronounced “Easter” today) Sunday morning! Instead, there are only TWELVE HOURS of daylight — ONE twelve-hour day —the day we call by its pagan name, “Saturday!”

The so-called “higher critics” admit that Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for seventy-two hours. Jesus said He would be in the tomb for the exact same amount of time! WHY?

For the very important reason that to remain in the tomb for such a protracted period of time would remove any last vestige of doubt about whether Christ had truly DIED or not! When Jesus resurrected Lazarus, He was warned that Lazarus had been in the grave for four days and nights, and warned that there would be a terrible odor, for his body would have begun to decompose by this time!

Notice the account. Christ had arrived at the tomb where Lazarus had been buried when “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days” (John 11:39).

All knew that Jesus Christ had been mercilessly, horribly beaten with a “scourge,” like a “cat o’ nine tails,” or a lash with bits of stone or metal woven into the tips! His flesh had been ripped and torn! God’s Word says, “Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

“As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men [so much so that He didn’t look human!]

“So shall he sprinkle many nations [from the blood dripping out of many wounds!]; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (Isaiah 52:13-15).

In the moving prophecy about Christ’s sufferings found in Psalms 22, it says, “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

“For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

“I may tell [count] all my bones [they had flayed His flesh from His ribs!]: they look and stare upon me.

“They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

“But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me” (Psalms 22:15- 19). A Roman soldier jammed a spear into Christ’s side, at which time He cried out, and died! Christ died by the shedding of His blood from multiple lash wounds and a spear thrust!

It was critical for ABSOLUTE PROOF that He was the Son of God that He remain in the “heart of the earth,” for exactly three days and three nights! Jesus Christ said so!

The Bible Definition Of Days and Nights

Jesus Christ told His disciples that He would “rise the THIRD DAY!” Now, what is the Bible definition of that third day?

“And God [Elohim; more than one. See John 1:1-10] said, Let there be light: and there was light.

“And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening [darkness] and the morning [light] were [together!] the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5). The Hebrew word for “day” is Yom. It means a normal twenty-four hour day, commencing with sunset, with approximately twelve hours of darkness, and twelve hours of light.

Notice further biblical proof about the meaning of “days” in the only scriptures extant when Christ made His prediction from the book of Jonah. Esther asked all the Jews to fast for “three days.” Notice what she said: “Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer,

“Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

“So Mordecai went his way, and did according to all that Esther had commanded him.

“Now it came to pass on the third day, that Esther put on her royal apparel, and stood in the inner court of the king’s house, over against the king’s house: and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house” (Esther 4:16-17; 5:1).

Just as in Christ’s day, the expression “on the third day” meant when the full period of three days and three nights had been completed!

Now you have the BIBLE definition of the meaning of three days and three nights!

Even a little child in the first few grades of primary school can understand this!

Christ had said, “After three days I will rise again!” When His murderers reminded the Roman authorities of this statement, His tomb was not only sealed, but an armed guard was required to remain there! “Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

“Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.

“Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.

“Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.

“So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch” (Matthew 27:62-66).Notice that statement carefully! It was the DAY AFTER THE PREPARATION, which some have mistakenly assumed was the weekly Sabbath! As you shall see, it was NOT the preparation day for the weekly Sabbath, but the preparation day prior to the ANNUAL Sabbath of the FIRST DAY OF UNLEAVENED BREAD; an“high day Sabbath!” Your Bible says so!

Jesus had also said, “Destroy this temple [referring to His body], and IN THREE DAYS I will raise it up … But He spake of the temple of His body” (John 2:19-21).

Obviously, from several absolute proofs, the expression “in three days” does NOT mean AFTER ONLY TWO DAYS, but during a part of the third day. No, it means “after three full days” as we have seen!

The so-called “higher critics” make no mention of the appeal by the Jews to Pilate! WHY? Simply because they did not ask that the sepulchre be made sure for only “part of three days and three nights!” Nor did they speak using a “Greek idiom!” No, they remembered that Christ had specifically stated that He would be three days and three nights in the tomb!

What Was The TIME OF DAY When Christ Was Buried?

Can we know the time of day when Christ was entombed? For if we can determine the time of day, all we need do is count seventy two hours from that time to determine the exact time of the resurrection!

We have seen, from Christ’s own words; from the Bible definition of the number of hours in a day; from The Jews’ own fears and determination to set a watch for three days over the tomb that Christ did NOT say He would be only TWO NIGHTS AND ONE DAY in the tomb, but THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS!

Anyone who refuses to accept this ONLY SIGN of His true Messiahship is REJECTING THE REAL JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH and accepting a false “Christ,” who never existed; a myth!

Now, notice what Mark wrote: “For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day” (Mark 9:31). The duration of time Christ expressed could not be one second PAST 72 hours for Christ to rise from the dead “the third day!” Therefore, it could not have been from Friday sunset to “Easter” sunrise, which would be only 36 hours; two nights, and one day!

Christ was quoted by the Jews [who were speaking HEBREW, not in idiomatic Greek!] as having said, “After three days I will rise again!”

This cannot possibly be figured in less than 72 hours!

John wrote, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

“Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

“But he spake of the temple of his body.

“When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:19-22). This conversation was in Hebrew; the Aramaic dialect, NOT in “Greek idiom!”

Unlike the “higher critics” today, the disciples REMEMBERED exactly what Jesus had said, and it was because of this, and His many appearances to them that “they BELIEVED.”

To be raised up IN three days cannot be MORE than 72 hours. Therefore, the length of time Christ was in the tomb could not have been LESS than 72 hours, and it could not have been MORE than 72 hours! It had to be 72 hours, EXACTLY!

Now, THINK! For the resurrection to have been AT SUNRISE, then the BURIAL had to be AT SUNRISE, 72 hours earlier!

But Christ was NOT buried at sunrise, but just before SUNSET on the day called “the preparation,” (Matthew 27:62; Mark 15:42; Luke 23:54).

It was soon after the “ninth hour,” or at about three o’clock in the afternoon when Jesus “cried out” loudly (Matthew 27:46-50; Mark 15:34-37; Luke 23:44-46). The preparation day would end at sunset, according to Bible reckoning (Leviticus 23:32).

Joseph of Aramathaea came to claim the body of Jesus and accomplish the burial at some time after 3:00 PM, but before sunset on that “preparation” day, which was the day before a Sabbath!

“When the even was come, there came a rich man of Aramathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus’ disciple:

“He went to Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered.

“And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,

“And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed.

“And there was Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary, sitting over against the sepulchre.

“Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,

“Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again” (Matthew 27:57-63).

Now notice the parallel account in Luke’s chronology: “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus.

“And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid.

“And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.

“And the women also, which came with him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.

“And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment” (Luke 23:52-56).

The laws required the Jews to bury a dead body BEFORE A SABBATH DAY began! Therefore, haste was made to bury the body of Jesus BEFORE SUNSET on that preparation day. John wrote, “There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand” (John 19:42).

Jesus Christ was buried before sunset on the same day He died, in a tomb very near to the “place of the skull” called “Golgotha.”

Since the burial of Jesus Christ occurred some time after 3:00 P.M., and before sunset on this “preparation day,” it follows that He was resurrected at the SAME TIME OF DAY exactly 72 hours later!

IF He was buried on a “Friday,” (which He was not, as we shall soon see) then He would have remained in the tomb all of Friday night, all of Saturday daytime, all of Saturday night, all of Sunday daytime, all of Sunday night, until late in the afternoon on a MONDAY!

But Christ did not remain in the tomb until Monday!

Clearly, the tomb was EMPTY when the disciples came to see it while it was YET DARK, “as it BEGAN TO DAWN toward the first day of the week!”

Notice Luke’s account of the resurrection: “Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them.

“And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre.

“And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.

“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments:

“And as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen [obviously, this is past tense; He had already risen!]: remember how he spakeunto you when he was yet in Galilee,

“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:1-7).

It was in the pre-dawn darkness when Christ’s followers first approached the empty tomb! It was not at sunrise! Notice John’s account: “The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

“Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

“Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

“So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

“And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

“Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

“And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

“Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

“For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead” (John 20:1-9).

Since Christ was buried on a late afternoon, some time just prior to sunset on a “preparation” day, and since He plainly staked His claim to divine office; His very Messiahship, on the precise length of time He would be in the tomb, and since He HAD ALREADY RISEN prior to the time the disciples came to the empty tomb while it was yet dark, then Jesus Christ MUST have been placed in the tomb on a WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON!

But wait! How is this possible?

Haven’t we read, time and again, that it was the “preparation” day? And isn’t the “preparation” day the day before the SABBATH? And does not the Sabbath correspond to our weekly “Satur­day?”

The answer is found in the fact that God also instituted seven annual Sabbaths, or “high days,” to picture His plan of salvation. All seven are laid out in Leviticus 23. Notice what God’s Word says about these feast days of God: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

“These are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.

“In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord’s Passover.

“And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.

“In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein” (Leviticus 23:1-7). This holy day could fall on whichever day of the week happened to be the fifteenth day of the month called “Abib,” whether or not it was the seventh day, or the weekly Sabbath. It was called one of God’s “Sabbaths,” and was celebrated as a special “high day” Sabbath.

Notice another example: “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:24).

Regardless as to which day of the week upon which the first day of the seventh month fell; whether a Monday or a Thursday, it was called a “Sabbath!”

Christ Our Passover Is Sacrificed For Us

For centuries, God’s people had observed the annual Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. The paschal lamb, which typified Christ, was sacrificed in the afternoon, which was on the “preparation” day for the FEAST, which was (and is) the first day of Unleavened Bread!

This annual high day Sabbath is the first annual holy day of the year, immediately following the Passover. Christ was killed by a spear’s thrust, following a horrible beating, in which skin and flesh was flayed from His body! He died at the same moment the High Priest slaughtered the first sacrificial lamb! From the time of the Exodus, (Exodus 12) this ceremony had been accomplished on the fourteenth of Abib “at even,” meaning just before sunset “at the going away of the sun.” The lamb was then roasted, and the FEAST was eaten in the nighttime of the fifteenth of Abib.

God commanded Moses, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

“And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

“And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

“And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

“Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

“And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:5- 10).

Millions of people who observe pagan Ishtar (pronounced “Easter”) are absolutely IGNORANT of the events surrounding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. They know NOTHING about the Days of Unleavened Bread which immediately followed!

Because of this, they do not know that the “Sabbath” which was coming on and the “preparation” day on which Christ died which caused the haste with which He was buried occurred on Wednesday and Thursday!

That Thursday was the first annual Sabbath of the year; the FEAST day of Unleavened Bread after the Jews slaughtered the lambs and kids in the ancient Passover ceremony! The lambs and kids were slaughtered in the afternoon of the FOURTEENTH of the first month!

Now, notice John’s eyewitness account of which day of the week it was when Christ was slain: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost [exhaled; breathed His last].

“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away” (John 19:30,31). Of course! This HIGH day Sabbath was the ANNUAL Sabbath; the first day of Unleavened Bread! It was followed by the day we call “Friday,” then “Saturday,” or the WEEKLY Sabbath!

Count back from the time of Christ’s resurrection, late on a weekly Sabbath afternoon, and you come to late Wednesday afternoon! Wednesday was the “preparation day” prior to the FEAST day on that Thursday, which was the fifteenth of Nisan, or Abib!

The calendar proves that the only year in a sequence of years when the first day of Unleavened Bread fell on a Thursday was in 31 AD! But the so-called “scholars” WILL NOT ever choose 31 AD, even though it is the ONLY year in which all the parameters FIT!

Instead, they will choose the years 29, 30, 32 or 33, deliberately avoiding 31 AD!

A little simple research proves that Christ was born in “4 BC” according to the flawed Roman calendar. He was exactly 33 1/2 when He was killed. He was thirty when His public ministry began. The prophecies stated He was to perform a seven year ministry, and was to be “cut off in the middle of the week!” Thus, not only was He cut off in the exact middle of His seven year ministry, leaving another three and one half years to be fulfilled AFTER His second coming (See Isaiah 66:19-23), and He was also cut off in the MIDDLE OF THE WEEK!

The prophecy says, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27). The sacrifices and oblations CEASED for Christians when Christ rose from the dead, for now the reality which had cast the shadow had come. There was no longer any need for a “schoolmas­ter” to lead toward Christ, for Christ had now come in the flesh!

Christ came to “confirm the covenant” by preaching repentance and salvation; the terms and conditions of the NEW covenant (Jeremiah 31:31) for three and one half years.

Notice what Dr. Bullinger says in his Appendix concerning the events surrounding the crucifix­ion: “That Sabbath and the high day of John 19:31, was the ‘holy convocation,’ the first day of the feast, which quite overshadowed the ordinary weekly Sabbath … this great Sabbath, having been mistaken from the earliest times for the weekly Sabbath, has led to all the confusion … We have therefore the following facts furnished for our sure guidance:

“1. The ‘high day’ of John 19:31 was the first day of the feast.

“2. The ‘first day of the feast’ was on the 15^th day of Nisan.

“3. The 15^th day of Nisan commenced at sunset on what we should call the 14^th.

“4. ‘Six days before the Passover’ [John 12:1] takes us back to the 9^th day of Nisan.

“5. After two days is the Passover’ [Matt. 26:2; Mark 14:1] takes us to the 13^th day of Nisan.

“6. ‘The first day of the week,’ was the day of the resurrection [Matt. 28:1, &c.], was from our Saturday sunset to our Sunday sunset. This fixes the days of the week, just as the above fix the days of the month, for,

“7. Reckoning back from this, ‘three days and three nights’ [Matt. 12:40], we arrive at the day of the burial, which must have been before sunset, on the 14^th of Nisan; i.e. before our Wednesday sunset.

“Therefore Wednesday, Nisan 14^th [commenc­ing on the Tuesday at sunset], was ‘the preparation day’, on which the crucifixion took place: for all four Gospels definitely say that this was the day on which the Lord was buried [before our Wednesday sunset], because it was the preparation [day] that the bodies should not remain on the cross [Greek: Stauro, meaning an upright pale] on the Sabbath day, ‘for that Sabbath day was a high day,’ and, therefore, not the ordinary seventh day, or weekly Sabbath. See John 19:31” (The Companion Bible, Bullinger, Appendix 156, p. 180).

It is because people have blindly assumed that the “preparation day” was a Friday that they thought Christ was not buried until late on a Friday, and thus remained in the tomb only two nights and one daylight period!

Did Jesus Christ Fulfill His Sign?

Unless Jesus Christ was EXACTLY the length of time in the tomb He said he would be, you have no Savior!Jesus staked His Messiahship on being exactly three days and three nights in the tomb!

For centuries, because fallible men, many of  whom were bitten with antisemitism, and who desperately wanted to rid the apostate church of all things “Jewish,” claimed they were worship­ing on SUNDAY in “honor of the resurrection!”

But Christ DID NOT RISE ON SUNDAY! The angels told the two Marys, “He is NOT HERE!” They said “HE IS RISEN!” They did not use the present tense that He was just then “rising,” but the past tense, saying He had already risen!

There is simply no question about the days of the month, the days of the week, or the hours of those days in which these MOST IMPORTANT events occurred!

Paul wrote, “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

“By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

“And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

“And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

“After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

“After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

“And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time” (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).

Paul said “…according to the scriptures.”

Paul MAY have known about the earliest gospels, but remember, the only “scriptures” extant during Paul’s day were those of the “Old Testament.” Paul had to be including Christ’s reference to Jonah, and the fact that he was exactly “three days and three nights” in the belly of the great fish, as well as referring to Christ’s statements which were faithfully recorded by the apostles.

The apostles believed because they saw the living proof, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, now GLORIFIED; able to appear and disappear at will; able to materialize within a room enclosed by stone walls! They were so CONVICTED by the proofs they saw that many of them were martyred for their faith! Men do not go willingly to their deaths by crucifixion, burning, or beheading because they believe in a hoax!

Now, notice one final proof! Only the Fenton translation of the English from the Greek takes note of the fact that the word for “Sabbath” in Matthew 28:1 is in the plural! In a footnote to this text in his translation, he says, “The Greek original is in the plural; Sabbaths!”

Of course! There were TWO Sabbaths that week; the annual HIGH day Sabbath, the FEAST, which fell on Thursday, and the regular weekly Sabbath, which fell on the day we call “Saturday.”

Yes, believe it or not, the plain truth is the resurrection was NOT on Sunday!

Jesus Christ commanded His disciples, and He commands US, today, to observe the symbols of His DEATH each year (1 Corinthians 11:23-30) at the “Lord’s Supper.” He told His disciples, “HAPPY are ye if ye do these things.”

You may copy and distribute this information only to friends and family without changes, without charge and with full credit given to the author and publisher. You may not publish it for general audiences.

This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

The activities of the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association are paid for by tithes, offerings and donations freely given by Christians and co-workers who are dedicated to preaching the gospel according to Jesus Christ.

The post Believe It or Not-The Resurrection Was NOT on Sunday! first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Sincerely, D.M. Missouri.

I wish to make clear at the outset that I do not have any special “interpretation” of the Bible. The Bible interprets itself. We are not to presume to “interpret” the Bible, or read any meaning into any scripture which is not substantiated by other scriptures.

With this in mind, I will be happy to respond to the publication he received from the TV program Know Your Bible. I had never previously heard of this program; do not know who sponsors it, or who conducts it. None of my responses should be construed as an attack against the program, its sponsors, or its participants. I will deal with issues, not personalities.

The material he enclosed will be highlighted, and will appear, line by line and paragraph by paragraph, in italics, followed by my responses from the word of God, in pica type:

“WHEN, AND FOR WHOM, WAS THE SABBATH INSTITUTED?

First may I note the Genesis 2:2, 3 passage does not say God initiated Sabbath keeping at the time that he rested.”  This assertion is wholly unnecessary, and attempts to introduce a negative note into the passage by denying that it “initiates” Sabbath-keeping.

Genesis 2:2, 3 says, “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

If one wishes to argue that this plain statement of scripture shows that Sabbath-observance is not necessary, then why does God go to the trouble to tell us that He CREATED the Sabbath day by resting; that He BLESSED the Seventh day; that He SANCTIFIED it (made it holy; set it apart for a holy use and purpose)? To say God did not “initiate” Sabbath-keeping is splitting hairs, and shows anti-Sabbath bias.

“No where [sic] in the Old Testament prior to Exodus does it even imply that anyone kept the Sabbath. The statement in Genesis 2:3 is a commentary on WHY God selected the seventh day for Sabbath [sic] keeping not WHEN, (Cf. Ex. 31:12-17).

“Not even imply?” This is patently untrue. Notice the following scriptures:

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, the Bible definition of SIN is LAWBREAKING. The only possible “law” to which John referred is the Ten Commandments of God.

Notice further, “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15). If there is no stop sign, you cannot receive a citation for running a stop sign. If there IS NO LAW, then there can be no SIN, since sin is the breaking of the law.

Now, notice, “But the men of Sodom were wicked and SINNERS before the LORD exceedingly” (Genesis 13:13). In order to be called sinners, they had to be committing sins! But if there was the existence of sin, which was law breaking, then there was also the existence of righteousness, which is law-keeping!

Notice what God said to Isaac concerning WHY He blessed Isaac’s father, Abraham: “Sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these countries, and I will perform the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;

“And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;

“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws” (Genesis 26:3-5). Commandments? Statutes? Laws? Then clearly Abraham knew about God’s Ten Commandments, and kept them. The Ten Com­mandments did not come into existence at Sinai, but were merely CODIFIED in stone, the most durable writing material. There are many scriptures proving the Ten Commandments were in force long prior to the codification of the Commandments on Sinai.

Notice further what a pagan king said when he found Abraham had told him Sarah was Abraham’s sister, instead of his wife, and God had shut up the wombs of Abimelech’s female subjects: “Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done” (Genesis 20:9).

Abimelech knew that to commit adultery was a GREAT SIN; the breaking of the commandment which says, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Remember, SIN is the “transgression of the LAW.” But there can be no sin where there is no law! Abimelech knew of God’s Ten Commandments, and feared greatly to break them! He referred to adultery as a “GREAT SIN.”

There are ample examples, therefore, even before the book of Exodus is encountered in the Bible, which FAR MORE than merely “IMPLYING” that God’s laws were in full force and effect, plainly prove they were! To say the statement in Genesis 2:3 is a “commentary on WHY God selected the seventh day for Sabbath keeping not WHEN” is unnecessary, superfluous, and misleading. The WHEN is at creation. The WHY is because the Sabbath is HOLY, SANCTIFIED, and is a part of the first four commandments which show how we are to worship God.

The writer continued, “God instituted Sabbath (sic) keeping with the Israelites just before He appeared to Moses on Sinai. He did it in connection with the sending of the manna from heaven. Read Exodus 16:22-26. Please note that God had Moses explain to the Israelites the meaning of the Sabbath (sic) (vs. 23-26). If God’s people had been keeping the Sabbath (sic) since the creation there would have been no need for this explanation.”

The writer should have known that the Israelites had been in slavery for hundreds of years; that many, many generations had come and gone. Because Moses “explained” about Sabbath-keeping does not remotely imply that the Sabbath was just now being “instituted.”

Read the entire passage carefully, including verses 27 to 30, which the author of the anti-Sabbath document omitted: “And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congrega­tion came and told Moses.

“And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remainethover lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

“And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

“And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a Sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

“Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.

“And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

“And the LORD said unto Moses, HOW LONG REFUSE YE TO KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS AND MY LAWS? [emphasis added].

See, for that the LORD hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

“So the people rested on the seventh day” (Exodus 16:22-30).

Remember, this is the LORD who gave the codification of the law on Sinai!

Here, God provided an astonishing MIRACLE of preserving the manna so the people needed not to gather it on the Sabbath day, but observe it as a day of REST, as God commanded.

Moses knew all about the entire wording of the fourth com­mandment, which says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

“Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11). Remember, the anti-Sabbath writer attempted to use the creation of the Sabbath as “merely proclaiming the fact that God rested.” But the commandment says “wherefore [BECAUSE HE RESTED] the LORD BLESSED the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

The commandment says REMEMBER! This looks BACK at creation, and clearly shows the commandment did not come into existence at Sinai.

The ancient pre-flood patriarchs knew about, and observed God’s Sabbath day, just as did Abraham. Noah is called a “preacher of righteousness” (2 Peter 2:5). David wrote, “My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness” (Psalms 119:172).

God’s people did indeed observe the Sabbath from creation! Noah is called “NOAH VIII” as a title. He is called “Noah the eighth.” Translators added an italicized word: “…And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly” (2 Peter 2:5). Apparently, the translators thought Noah was the “eighth” among the eight persons in the Ark. Not so. The translators placed the word “person” in italics, meaning they supplied it, not understanding the meaning. So far as the people aboard the ark were concerned, he was the first! So if he was “the eighth,” then he was the eighth WHAT?

The answer is he was the EIGHTH RIGHTEOUS PATRIARCH FROM ADAM who clung to the Ten Commandments and the truth of God — who KNEW about the coming Kingdom of God! Notice, “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

“To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 14, 15). So Enoch is called “the seventh from Adam.” But the seventh WHAT? Clearly, he was not the seventh first-born. Adam’s first-born was Cain, who murdered his brother, Abel, the second-born son. When Cain was born, his parents merely said, “I have gotten a man from the JHVH,” Or, “The Eternal.” This is the equivalent of saying, “Oh, it’s a boy.” Yet, notice the genealogical record: “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

“Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

“And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth [emphasis added]:

“And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begot sons and daughters:

“And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died” (Genesis 5:1-5). Therefore, Adam lived for more than 90% of the time from creation until the flood during Noah’s day, and was a contemporary with most of the other patriarchs.

Notice that when Cain is born, the parents merely comment that they had “gotten a man” from the Eternal. But when Seth is born, we are told Seth was in the very likeness and image of Adam, who was in the likeness and image of God.

Now, simply count the number of the patriarchs, and while doing so, remember that by no stretch of the imagination was each one the first born son. It is utterly illogical to assume that there were no children born to Eve from the time of Abel’s murder until one hundred and thirty years afterward!

You have seen it proved that Seth was not Adam’s first born. He may have been the tenth, or twentieth. There is no way to determine how many boys and girls were born to Adam and Eve between the death of Abel and the birth of Seth.

Counting, we find the following Patriarchs mentioned: Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, and Enoch, making Enoch the seventh from Adam. But the seventh WHAT?

The key is found in the statement concerning Noah. “And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begot a son:

“And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hash cursed.

“And Lamech lived after he begot Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begot sons and daughters:

“And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

“And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begot Shem, Ham, and Japheth” (Genesis 5:28-32).

Enoch was “translated, and ‘was not found,’” because God took him. Why? Because persecutors were trying to kill him! Enoch is not in heaven, as millions have supposed. God says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). And, a few verses later, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). Therefore, Enoch DIED. He is NOT in heaven today (see John 3:13) Still later you read of Enoch and the other righteous people of God, “And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39).

Perhaps either Methuselah or Cainan were not among those righteous men who clung to God’s commandments and His truth. In any event, it is clear that Enoch was the SEVENTH RIGHTEOUS PATRIARCH from Adam, but was by no means the seventh first­born son! In each case, the patriarchs are said to have lived for lengthy periods of time, and to have begotten “sons and daugh­ters.” Noah is called the EIGHTH. Clearly, he was the eighth righteous patriarch; a “preacher of righteousness,” who foretold the consequences of SIN upon a sinning, violent, God-rejecting world! SIN is what brought the flood upon the world.

Remember, sin is the transgression of the law, and where no law is, there is no transgression! Those who claim the law did not come into effect until the time of Moses are simply wrong.

The writer continued: “WAS THE SABBATH COMMANDMENT A MORAL LAW?

“No, Sabbath [sic] keeping was never a ‘moral law’ nor was it universal.”

The word “moral” means “Good in character or conduct: virtuous according to civilized standards of right and wrong… capable of understanding right and wrong” (World Book Encyclopedia). There is no need to attempt to set the Sabbath aside by claiming it had nothing to do with “morality.” It is WRONG to break the Sabbath, and it is RIGHT to keep it holy!

His statement that the Sabbath was not “universal” is widely off the mark. Of course it was! It was instituted AT CREATION, and was made known to the earth’s only inhabitants — therefore, the entire population of the world!

His meaning becomes clear later when he writes: “The Sabbath day law was included in the Ten Commandments and was a part of the Law of Moses which was given only to the Jewish nation [Exodus 20-8-11; Neh. 9:13, 14).”

To claim the Ten Commandments was a “part of the Law of Moses” is to attempt to diminish the importance of the Sabbath by making it appear Moses invented it. This is subterfuge, and is not true. While the entire Torah is sometimes referred to as “The Law” (Torah), this by no means sets aside the fact that God Himself created the Sabbath day; that Abraham and the patriarchs kept it; that it was enjoined upon the Israelites prior to Sinai.

There was no such thing as “the Jewish nation” until the time of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, when the northern ten tribes were split off from Judah (the Jews) and smatterings of Levi, Simeon, and Benjamin. That nation was overrun by the Romans, and no “Jewish nation” ever existed from that time until 1948, when the state of Israel was unilaterally declared.

There are four books of the Bible devoted to the SEPARATE national histories of the HOUSE OF JUDAH (the “Jewish nation” of the time) and the HOUSE OF ISRAEL. Jeroboam, Solomon’s servant, took away the northern Ten Tribes of Gad, Asher, Reuben, Naphtali, Issachar, Zebulon, Dan, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh, consolidating them into the “House of Israel” with a capital city in Samaria. The southern tribes of Judah, with most of Levi and Simeon, became the “House of Judah.”

First and 2 Kings; 1 and 2 Chronicles detail the SEPARATE national histories of these two nations; their kings; their wars. Shockingly, the first place in the Bible where the nickname “Jew” (derived from Yehudi, or Judah) is encountered is in 2 Kings 16:6, where the Jews are AT WAR WITH ISRAEL! Read it, “Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to war: and they besieged Ahaz[the king of Judah — the Jews], but could not overcome him.

“At that time Rezin king of Syria recovered Elath to Syria, and drave the Jews from Elath: and the Syrians came to Elath, and dwelt there unto this day.

“So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, saying, I am thy servant and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which rise up against me” (2 Kings 16:5-7). So the Jewish king, Ahaz, attempted to form an alliance with Assyria to help him in his war against ISRAEL!

Those who think the Israelites under Moses were “the Jewish nation” are simply ignorant of biblical history, and do not know any better. Continually, they attempt to make it appear that the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath were “Jewish” and therefore are not to apply to modern day Americans and non-Jewish people. This is a lie, and not true.

The writer then says, “It is very important to note that the law of the Lord and the Law of Moses were one and the same (Neh. 8:1, 8,14).”

Why should this be important? What does he mean? What is his point? Let’s read the scriptures to which he referred. However, let’s read the entire passage, and see how the law was read on the special occasion of the FEAST OF THE BLOWING OF TRUMPETS (Rosh Hashanah), one of God’s seven ANNUAL SABBATHS, and how it was received by the people:

“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel [the Torah — the first five books of the Bible].

“And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month [see Leviticus 23:24] .

“And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.

“And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam.

“And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up:

“And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.

“Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place.

“So they read in the book of the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading [the people’s language had become corrupted due to their captivity in Babylon; the priests translated the original Hebrew into the dialect of the people].

“And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law [no doubt they had read Leviticus 23].

“Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

“So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved.

“And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had under­stood the words that were declared unto them.

“And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law.

“And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month:

“And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written.

“So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim.

“And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

“Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner” (Nehemiah 8:1-18).

The anti-Sabbath writer mistakenly committed an egregious error in referring to Nehemiah 8, falling into a trap of his own making, for it proves how the Israelites rediscovered the Laws of God, INCLUDING THE ANNUAL HOLY DAYS; that they REPENTED of not having known this; that they then proceeded to KEEP THE ANNUAL SABBATHS with great joy! The Torah was read com­mencing on the Feast of Trumpets, and when they learned of the coming Feast of Tabernacles, they immediately set out to KEEP THE FEAST!

The anti-Sabbath writer then asked; “WERE THE TEN COMMAND­MENTS TAKEN AWAY? The law of Moses (including the Ten Com­mandments) were fulfilled by Jesus along with the Psalms and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17, 18; Lk. 24:44-47) and were “nailed to the cross” (Col. 2:14-17. The Old Covenant has been replaced with a new and better covenant (Heb. 8:6-13), Read Galatians 3.

Was the law, along with the Psalms and “the Prophets” fulfilled by Jesus? Let’s study carefully the scriptures he listed: Matthew 5:17, 18 says, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” The gentleman seems to read this passage, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to destroy.”

The word “fulfil” means “fill up, fill full, do, or perform.” Jesus Christ performed the laws of God flawlessly, setting us an example that we should follow in His steps. When you “fulfil” the laws of your country, your county, your city, you “do or perform” them by obeying them. Obeying the law, such as in never committing arson, burglary, robbery or murder, does not do away with the law, but fulfils it. Jesus Christ plainly said “THINK NOT” that He came to destroy the law! Yet, the gentleman who wrote this anti-Sabbath article thinks He did, and tries to convince others that He did.

That the word “fulfil” cannot mean destroy, abrogate, annihi­late, or even “complete” is plain by looking at many of the Psalms, which are prophetic in nature, and looking at the vast majority of the prophets, which are yet future!

For example, should you assume, according to this anti-Sabbath writer, that the prophecy of Isaiah 2, Micah 4, Isaiah 11 and Ezekiel 36 are “fulfilled”? This would be utter nonsense.

Look at Isaiah 2, as just one example among dozens: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:2-4). Obviously, this prophecy and its exact counterpart found in Micah 4 foretell the establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth, the millennial reign of Christ. To claim that Christ “fulfilled the prophets” is utterly ludicrous.

Now, see if the passage in Luke indicates that Christ “fulfilled the Psalms and Prophets” or did away with the law: “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.

“Then opened he their understanding, that they might under­stand the scriptures,

“And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:

“And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:44-47). Clearly, Christ singles out the scriptures CONCERNING HIM; His Messiahship, His miracles, His teachings, His arrest, trial and death on the tree, and His impending resurrection. Specifi­cally, He pointed out the prophecies about His suffering, and His resurrection, as well as those concerning the future preaching of the Gospel. Nothing here remotely suggests that He fulfilled all the prophecies, or that He did away with the law that He wrote with His own fingers!

The writer then said that the Old Covenant had been replaced with a new and better covenant, referring to Hebrews 8:6-13. Here is that passage: “But now hash he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

“For FINDING FAULT WITH THEM, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord [so the fault was with the PEOPLE, who BROKE the covenant, and not with the covenant itself!].

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

“And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

“For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins [lawbreaking!] and their iniquities will I remember no more.

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:6-13). Read my booklet entitled Are Christians ‘Un­der the Law’?published at our web site: “garnerted­armstrong.org/.”

Obviously, if God places His Holy Law in our very hearts and minds by the power of His Holy Spirit, He is not “doing away” with the law, but making it INFINITELY MORE BINDING, since it is now applicable IN THE SPIRIT; in the INTENT; reaching into every nuance of human behavior, and not only in the letter!

To refer to the New Covenant in an attempt to negate God’s laws is ludicrous, since it proves the exact opposite!

The writer then says, “Read Galatians 3.” By all means do so.

The Apostle Paul was writing to Gentiles in the cities of Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, who were being seriously affected by “Judaizers,” Jewish so-called Christians who were insisting that these Gentiles be circumcised; that they perform all the dos and don’ts of the Talmud, that they become deeply involved in RITUALS, and the “works” of the law.

Paul explained that the rituals were a “schoolmaster” to lead them to Christ; shadows, patterns, types and examples. He wrote, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

“But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:24, 25). There are no points of the Ten Commandments which can be said to bring one unto Christ. Laws against stealing, lying, murder, adultery; laws which require one to honor one’s parents; to avoid coveting, do not portend the need for a Savior.

The specific passages to which the anti-Sabbath writer without doubt hoped would convince the reader the law has been rescinded are as follows: “0 foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified [Greek: Stauroo; an upright pale] among you?

“This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works [Greek: Ergon — physical labor, work] of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?”

NOTE: No one, by keeping the letter of the Ten Commandments perfectly for a lifetime of 100 years could ever EARN salvation. Salvation is God’s free, loving GIFT, resulting from repentance of SIN (breaking the Ten Commandments); baptism, and having hands laid on for the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

“Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain.

“He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, [Paul, referring to himself], doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?

“Even as Abraham believed God [see Genesis 26:5], and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

“Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

“And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

“For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.”

NOTE: Most who read this verse seem to believe it says “Cursed is every one who continues to KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS” Such is the deception of false teachers who “spin” the scriptures according to their own bias. But the scripture says one is under a curse “WHO CONTINUES NOT in all things … in the book of the law!” In other words, certain curses would befall a person who strayed from observing the tenets of the Torah; the book of the law.

A number of examples are found in Deuteronomy 27:15-26: “Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that lieth with his father’s wife; because he uncovereth his father’s skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen.

“Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Are these “bad” laws, which, IF YOU KEEP THEM, places you under a curse? The anti-Sabbath writer would have you think so. The “curse” was both civil (political) and spiritual. Not only was each action a SIN, which broke one or another of the Ten Commandments, it was also a violation of civil law! Thus, incest or bestiality, or tampering with landmarks, could bring about a civil penalty, including the death sentence, as well as be a spiritual sin.

Such laws SHOULD be upheld today, except for Supreme Court decisions making sodomy “LEGAL,” therefore setting aside a Texas State Law which held it to be illegal!

Continuing in Galatians 3: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, Thejust shall live by faith.” [Of course! The law: either the Book of the Law or the Ten Commandments cannot justify, for justification means the re­moval of past guilt; the forgiveness of SIN. The law is not intended to forgive; merely to point out WHAT SIN IS.

“And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them [a positive statement, not a negative one].

“Christ hash redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree [of course! Christ’s shed blood atones for our having sinned; broken the Ten Commandments]:

“That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The Galatian people were being influenced by Judaizers, who were insisting they must return to the Torah in its entirety, with its meat and drink offerings; circumcision; all the tenets of the ADDED proscriptions which formed the Talmud.

Paul was merely making the distinction between such ritualism and faith; showing that no amount of ritualism can atone for sins; that only Christ’s shed blood can do that! He wrote, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified [NOTE: It matters not which law is being considered, although in Galatians the “Book of the Law” which was a “schoolmaster” is under discussion. Even if the Ten Commandments were a part of such discussion, the same fact remains: No one can ever be justified by keeping the law. Only repentance of sin; the breaking of the law, and atonement through the blood of Christ can forgive sin.

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners [Ten Commandment breakers], is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.

“For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor [NOTE: If one had committed a theft, for example, but had bitterly repented and been forgiven; why return to a code which required one on a daily basis to recite the CURSES one would come under for committing such a sin? This would be “building again the things which had been destroyed.”].

“For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Galatians 2:16-21). There is not one hint, breath, whisper or inference in all the book of Galatians that the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath are “done away.” The same man who wrote to the Galatians also said to the Romans, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

Next, the anti-Sabbath writer said, “We are free from the old law, which included the ten commandments and the Law of the Sabbath. “ Paul says we are free from the law of Moses, that we might be married to Christ (Rom. 7:1-6). Then he clearly shows that the ten commandments were a part of this ‘law,’ from which we are ‘released.’ Paul says, ‘the Law said, YOU SHALL NOT COVET’ (vs. 7). This is clearly commandment #10.”

Let’s see if Romans 7 says we are free to break the Ten Commandments; free from having to keep them: “Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

“For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

“So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

“For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:1-6). Of course! When we are forgiven, we are FREE FROM THE PENALTY (CONSE­QUENCES) OF THE LAW! When we are lawbreakers, we are under the sentence of death — death for ALL ETERNITY, not just the “first death” which is the natural end for every person.

But when we are forgiven for lawbreaking, we are considered “dead” to the law, for the penalty for breaking the law has been carried out! But it was carried out on CHRIST, and not on us!

Paul says we should now “SERVE IN NEWNESS OF SPIRIT, and not in the oldness of the letter”! So he is saying we should SERVE the law, not ignore it!

Continue in the context: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet [NOTE: For the anti-Sabbath writer to seize upon this scripture as if proof Paul is doing away with the law (which he would never have had authority to do in the first place) is really ridiculous. Paul is pointing out that the law defines WHAT SIN IS, and showing he would not have KNOWN it was wrong to covet unless the Ten Commandments told him so!].

“But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead [So far as his consciousness was concerned; he would not have known about the proscriptions of the law if he had been ‘without law,’ meaning unaware of it].

“For I was alive without the law once: but when the command­ment came [to his consciousness], sin revived, and I died.

“And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

“For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me [Exactly! “The wages of sin is DEATH” (Romans 6:23)].

“Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:7-12). This anti-Sabbath writer has the awkward habit of referring to scriptures which utterly destroy his own theory; scriptures which are powerful reminders that God’s Ten Commandments are to be OBEYED; that to disobey them is SIN; that the penalty for sin is DEATH!

One is incredulous to see the convoluted reasoning of such teachers. How can the same man who said “…the LAW IS HOLY, AND THE COMMANDMENT HOLY, AND JUST, AND GOOD,” be accused of having DONE AWAY WITH THE LAW only a few verses earlier?

Next, the anti-Sabbath writer asserts: “THE TABLES OF STONE WERE TAKEN AWAY.

There can be no mistake (sic) that the phrase ‘tables of stone’ in 2 Cor 3:7 have reference to the Ten Commandments (Ex.24:12; 31:18; 32:15, 16, 19; 34:1, 4, 28; Deut. 10:1, 2).”

Let’s read the entire passage in its context: “But if the ministra­tion of death, written and engraved in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

“How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

“For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more cloth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.

“For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

“For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

“Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:

“And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:

“But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ.

“But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart” (2 Corinthians 2:7-15). Again, Paul is contrasting the “glorious” ministration of death under the Old Covenant and Moses with the much more gloriousness of the “ministration of righteousness” under Christ.

Again, there is NOTHING said about doing away with the Ten Commandments, but rather the gloriousness of the laws of God in human hearts and minds!

Jesus Christ illustrated this point perfectly when He contrasted the letter of the law with the spiritual intent of the law. He said, “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment [the “letter of the law” under Moses]:

“But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire [the SPIRIT of the law in Christ!]” (Matthew 5:21, 22).

Which is MORE BINDING? Which carries more FORCE? Which has the more fearsome PENALTY? Murder under the letter of the law resulted in death. But this was the first death, which is “given to all men” (Hebrews 8:27). Even HATING your fellow man in your heart, under the ministration of “righteousness” brings the penalty of DEATH IN GEHENNA FIRE — death for ALL ETERNITY!

The anti-Sabbath writer continued: “The apostle Paul, (sic) contrasts the ‘new covenant’ with the covenant of Moses in 2^nd Cor 3:1-18. The following is a brief list of these comparisons:

NEW (second) COVENANT, OLD (first) COVENANT (vs. 6) (vs. 14; see Heb. 8 & 9)

1. Written on heart (vs. 2) on tables of stone (vs. 3, 7)
2. Of the Spirit (vs. 6) of the letter (vs. 6)
3. Ministry of Spirit (vs. 8) ministry of death (vs. 7)
4. Ofrighteousness (vs. 9) of condemnation (vs. 9)
5. Surpassing glory (vs. 7-10) glory (vs. 7-10)
6. Thatwhich remains (vs. 11) which fades away (vs. 11).

It is clear from the above that the Sabbath commandment, which was one of the ten commandments, ‘written on tables of stone, ‘was a part of the Old Covenant and has faded away. “

Yes, Jesus said he didn’t come to destroy the law, but He adds that he came to FULFILL it (Matt. 5:17). Yes, Jesus said that ‘till heaven and earth passed away, not the smallest letter or stroke should pass away from the law…’ but he added, “…till all is accomplished” (fulfilled (Matthew 5:18) (sic).

The taking away of the Law and the Sabbaths is not a reflection on the good they served in their day. All of the moral quality of the ten commandments have been (sic) recovered in the New Cov­enant. They have been improved and enlarged in Christianity. See Matt. 5:21, 22; 5:27, 28; 5:31, 32 and 5:33, 34.”

Such an argument is so shallow it is embarrassing. Naturally, looking at his list of contrasts taken from the scriptures we have already read in 2 Corinthians 3, one would prefer the SPIRITUAL ones, not those of the letter; of the “ministry of death”; of “condemnation.”

But WHAT IS BEING CONTRASTED?

Why, the LAW; THE TEN COMMANDMENTS! The contrast is plain. The law was LIFTED TO A MORE GLORIOUS, SPIRITUAL PLANE by Jesus Christ, making it infinitely MORE BINDING than it was during Moses’ day.

Strange — the gentleman went far out of his way to “prove” a completely irrelevant point early in his paper, claiming the Sabbath, which is one of the Ten Commandments, was not a “moral law.” Now, he claims it WAS a moral law, and that the “moral quality” of the Ten Commandments is “recovered” (an unfortunate phrase, for it was never lost) in the New Covenant!

His final point, “They [THE TEN COMMANDMENTS; THE SAB­BATH; THE MORAL LAW] have been IMPROVED AND ENLARGED IN CHRISTIANITY!” (Emphasis mine).

Precisely! This is what Jesus Christ plainly said!

“Recovered” in the New Covenant? But what is the “New Covenant”?

Jeremiah wrote, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

“And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).

This passage says not one word about doing away with God’s laws! Notice that the New Covenant is to be made with the HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND THE HOUSE OF JUDAH! It says NOTHING about the church!

When Paul rehearses this statement in the book of Hebrews, he explains that there was no fault with the covenant — but that the fault was with the people who BROKE the covenant!

“For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8).

The covenant is not the law! The covenant is an agreement! A covenant requires two parties to enter into an agreement to do or perform something.

Notice the description of how God revealed His righteous laws and judgments to His people; how they AGREED TO OBEY them, and the difference between the law itself, written and engraved in stone, and the covenant, which was the agreement between God and the people:

“Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

“Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understand­ing people.

“For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

“And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

“Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

“Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

“And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with dark­ness, clouds, and thick darkness.

“And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

“And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone” (Deuteronomy 4:5-13).

The covenant God proposed was His commands that the people MUST PERFORM His law! Notice what happened: “And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

“And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD com­manded him.

“And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD” (Exodus 19:6-8).

Here was the people’s answer! They said “All that the Eternal [JHVH: “Jehovah,” or that member of divine Elohim in COV­ENANT RELATIONSHIP with Israel] hath spoken WE WILL DO!”

But they did NOT fulfill their part of the covenant! “Finding fault with THEM…” wrote Paul. There was no fault with the law. It was PERFECT, and converts the soul (Psalm 19:7). There was no fault with the covenant, for it was simply the AGREEMENT between God and the people. The fault was with the PEOPLE, who broke God’s Ten Commandments!

Remember, the New Covenant is nowhere said to be proposed to the CHURCH! It is to be made between God and the two houses of Israel (which includes all the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes,” [read my book entitled Europe and America in Prophecy for a complete understanding], as well as the house of Judah; the Jews).

Again, there is nothing whatsoever said in God’s word concern­ing the Old and New Covenants about any inefficacy of the law; any imperfection of the law; any flaw, or error in the law, or any need for the law itself to be “done away.” Instead, the need is for the perfect, righteous, holy law to be “written in the HEARTS AND MINDS” of God’s people.

Next, notice another argument set forth by the anti-Sabbath writer: “BUT, JESUS AND THE APOSTLES OBSERVED THE SABBATH!

“Yes, Jesus observed the Sabbath and all the Law of Moses because He was a Jew and the Law was still in effect. The New Covenant didn’t take place until after Jesus died and the church was established.”

To allege that the New Covenant has taken place is ludicrous! Clearly, the New Covenant is NOT YET IN PLACE; HAS NOT YET BEEN RATIFIED! Read again the description of the FUTURE EVENT of the coming proposal of the New Covenant, NOT to the church, but to the peoples of the House of Israel (the Ten Tribes) and those of the House of Judah (the Jews).

“For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people” (Hebrews 8:8-10).

The Jews as a whole have rejected Christ! The so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” represent such nations as the United States, Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Holland, France, Switzerland and Ireland, while the “House of Judah” represents all Levites (there are millions of them in America, Britain, Europe and Israel), those of Judah, and Simeon.

By NO MEANS has the TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD been WRITTEN IN THE HEARTS AND MINDS of all these people!

Revelation the seventh chapter shows how the one hundred and forty-four thousand; twelve thousand from every tribe save Dan, will not be converted until they actually see the HEAVENLY SIGNS from God following the Great Tribulation!

Paul describes how Israel and Judah shall eventually be re­united: “For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

“And so all Israel shall be saved [including the Jews!]: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob [Abraham’s grandson, whose name was changed to “Israel,” and who was the progenitor of thirteen tribes]:

“For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

“As concerning the gospel, they [the Gentiles] are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

“For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

“For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

“Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

“For God hash concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all” (Romans 11:25-32).

Exactly. The “veil” that is over the minds of the Jewish people today is allowed of God, until the “fullness of the Gentiles” (nations other than Israelites) come in — have the gospel preached to them as a witness!

And what occurs when God eventually proposes the New Covenant to Israel and Judah? He says it will be proposed so they can obtain MERCY; so He can “take away their SIN.” And what is sin? It is the breaking of the Ten Commandments, including the FOURTH one!

Now, notice a description of conditions which are to prevail when Jesus Christ establishes his world-ruling Kingdom on this earth. Speaking of poisonous snakes, as well as wild, predatory beasts, He says, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

“And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [Christ], which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.

“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

“And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth [all these peoples are pictured as being in a horrible CAPTIVITY at the time of the coming of Christ].

“The envy also of Ephraim [Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and part of South Africa] shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah [the Jews; modern-day Israel] shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim” (Isaiah 11:9-13).

None of this has happened! It is all yet future! As Paul wrote, even the Jewish people will have their minds opened to receive Jesus Christ as the true Messiah and Savior!

Now, notice once again how the SEPARATE nations of the past, Israel and Judah, are to be reunited in the Kingdom, and in the Great White Throne Judgment, following the millennial reign of Christ. The first part of Ezekiel 37 deals with the famous “Valley of Dry Bones,” which pictures the nations of physical Israel; slain, dead, but to be resurrected: “And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, 0 my people, and brought you up out of your graves,

“And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the LORD have spoken it, and performed it, saith the LORD.

“The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

“Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:

“And join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand.

“And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?

“Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

“And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thine hand before their eyes.

“And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land:

“And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all [David. See Jeremiah 23:5]: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:

“Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgres­sions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 37:13-23).

Therefore, the New Covenant IS ONLY BEING PROPOSED BY THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL TO ALL NATIONS at this present time! It is NOT being proposed by Jesus Christ in person, face-to-face, as it will be in the millennium, and the Great White Throne Judgment.

The vast majority of all the nations represented by the House of Israel and the House of Judah HAVE NOT ACCEPTED the terms and conditions of the New Covenant!

Instead, deceived teachers deceive others into believing the New Covenant somehow DOES AWAY WITH GOD’S TEN COM­MANDMENTS – ESPECIALLY THE SABBATH!

How utterly false! How totally untrue!

Now, notice the next assertion by the anti-Sabbath writer: “Paul, the apostle, attended synagogue worship on the Jewish Sabbath (sic) to teach the Jews. He honored Jewish customs and practices only that he might influence the Jews for Christ (Acts 28:17; 1^st Cor. 9:20-23). But he never ‘observed’ the Sabbath as a religious duty or requirement. (Note his stand on circumcision, Gal. 2:1-5).”

To say Paul never “observed the Sabbath” is utterly ludicrous! Notice, “Now when they had passed throughAmphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:

“And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

“Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” (Acts 17:1-3). Of course, false teachers will retort, “Yes, but this merely shows it was Paul’s CUSTOM to go into the synagogues on the Sabbath day, it does not show he was keeping the Sabbath with Gentiles!”

But notice what happened when Paul preached to a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles at Antioch in Pisidia: “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.

“And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.”

These Gentiles were hearing Paul in the late 50s or early 60s AD! This was perhaps THIRTY YEARS after the resurrection of Christ! Now, the Jews were GONE! Only non-Jews remained! Not knowing that the NEXT DAY WAS SUPPOSEDLY THE “CHRISTIAN” DAY FOR WORSHIP, these Gentiles in Antioch pled with Paul to speak to them again the NEXT SABBATH day! But Paul did not say to them, “Why, that will not be necessary. There is no need to wait a whole week in order to hear me speak again on these things. Why don’t you Gentiles just come back TOMORROW, on SUNDAY, and I will speak to you THEN, because we ‘New Covenant Christians’ have been worshiping on SUNDAY ever since Pente­cost!”

No, he said NO SUCH THING. Instead, the inspired word, written and completed by Luke in about 65 AD, says, “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:41-44). The next formal meeting was ON THE SABBATH!

Paul was the man, remember, who wrote, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” He also said, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

“0 wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Romans 7:22-25).

To add that we should note Paul’s “stand on circumcision” is utterly beside the point. No Christian believes circumcision neces­sary. Circumcision was a token of the covenant between God and Moses, and between God and Abraham, and was merely a TYPE of conversion. Paul makes it plain it is not enjoined on Gentiles, and says, “circumcision is nothing.” But circumcision had nothing to do with the Sabbath, and attempting to link circumcision, which truly IS “done away,” with the Sabbath is, at best, ignorant, and at worst, dishonest.

After quoting numerous profane writers, attempting to prove that early Christians observed Sunday, the anti-Sabbath writer then says, “It was the Holy Spirit through the holy apostles of Christ that set aside the Sabbath and set forth the first day of the week’ as a day for Christian communion and worship (Acts 2:42; Acts 20:7,- 1^st Cor 16:1,2). Sunday, the first day of the week, is the Lord’s Day and the day of worship for Christians… Christians met on the first day of the week for worship (Acts 20:7; 1^st Cor 16:1, 2; Rev 1:10).”

It is not surprising that this writer uses the same scriptures as does the Catholic Encyclopedia to justify Sunday worship.

Let’s see if the scriptures to which he referred indicate that the apostles of Christ had “set aside” the Sabbath and “set forth the ‘first day of the week’ as a day for Christian communion and worship.”

Acts 2:42 says, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” To be sure, continuing in steadfast belief, fellowshipping together, praying together, and eating their meals together is a worshipful series of acts. But the scripture SAYS NOTHING WHATSOEVER about any specific DAY on which such things were done. The expression “breaking of bread” has NOTHING TO DO WITH “COM­MUNION,” but means, simply, “eating a meal.” Remember, these events took place in the days immediately following PENTECOST, which occurred on the fiftieth day following the Sabbath during the Days of Unleavened Bread — over a month and ten days AFTER the Passover! So this could NOT have been a “Lord’s Supper” celebration, for such could not have been celebrated until the following Springtime, on the fourteenth of Nisan.

Not one word in Acts 2:42 justifies any observance of Sunday.

Notice the next scripture, Acts 20:7. In order to understand the entire context, read all of it to verse 14: “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

“And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

“And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

“When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed.

“And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

“And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot.

“And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene.”

Remember, the days began at sunset. Following the Sabbath, that first day of the week began at sunset. Therefore, the way we count time today, this was a “Saturday night” meeting, which continued until midnight, when the young man appeared to have died, and was revived.

When it came time that evening (at our Saturday night) to eat a meal, and all the disciples (Paul’s disciples, not those of Christ) gathered for the occasion, Paul began to speak, teaching them. Perhaps it was a question and answer session. No matter the format, he continued for several hours, until the stroke of mid­night.

The next morning, at sunrise (our Sunday morning), Paul began to WALK across a narrow Isthmus, toAssos, which was approxi­mately nineteen MILES away. The peninsula juts out into the sea. The ship had to tack against the winds, and could not have arrived at Assos much before Paul’s arrival afoot, so Paul decided to make use of the time to remain with the eager disciples until the last moment.

The point is that Paul went to the grueling WORK on that Sunday to WALK MANY MILES. He did not continue speaking on the daylight part of the first day of the week, but set out afoot AWAY from the disciples, on his way to Assos. The expression that, after the young man had revived and was “come up again, and HAD BROKEN BREAD, AND EATEN,” proves that the expression “breaking bread” merely means eating a meal, and has no spiritual connotation whatsoever!

There is NOT ONE WORD in Acts 20:7 which justifies abrogating God’s Ten Commandments, or “setting aside” the fourth com­mandment. This took place about two decades AFTER the resurrec­tion. IF Sunday worship was in vogue, Paul and the others would have slept through that Saturday night; then had their meeting on SUNDAY MORNING, instead of using this first WORK day of the week to go to the arduous task of walking many miles!

Now, let’s see if 1 Corinthians 16:1, 2 justify Sunday obser­vance: Once again, let’s read the entire context in order to understand the true meaning: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.

“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

“And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem.

“And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me.

“Now I will come unto you, when I shall pass through Macedonia: for I do pass through Macedonia.

“And it may be that I will abide, yea, and winter with you, that ye may bring me on my journey whithersoever I go.

“For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit.

“But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost” (1 Corinthians 16:1-8).

How interesting! This book, or letter to the church in Corinth was written to GENTILES in the mid-50s AD, about twenty five or more years following the resurrection of Christ, and the great events of that Pentecost when the Holy Spirit empowered and begat the apostles.

Surely, there had been ample time for Sunday observance to become firmly established in the New Testament church, espe­cially among GENTILES, after twenty five or so years had passed! Also, there had been sufficient time to DO AWAY with all the so-called “Jewish” Sabbaths, including the ANNUAL Sabbaths, or Feasts. Yet, to these GENTILE Christians, Paul says he needs to wait at Ephesus UNTIL PENTECOST! Ephesus was a large and important Gentile city. Pentecost was a NEW Testament occasion; now commemorating the great events of that first Pentecost following Christ’s resurrection, as well as noting the significance of the “firstfruits” to God from among all human kind. Clearly, Paul wanted to be with the large group of people who lived in Ephesus (where John became Bishop of the church) on that important holy day!

The “collection for the saints” was the result of a famine which had afflicted Palestine! Many were on the brink of starvation. Paul was writing about the need to harvest fruits, nuts, grains and all kinds of produce; preserving them by drying or placing them in containers. He urged them to go out into the fields and WORK to harvest this produce, then LAY IT BY THEMSELVES IN STORE, so they would not need to be out in the fields when he arrived!

Lugubriously, many churches have seized upon this scripture, printed it on the backs of little offering envelopes, and placed it in the pews of churches for the use of parishioners when an offertory is taken up. Ridiculous! Not ONE WORD is said here about a religious meeting on Sunday, nor is there any remote suggestion that Paul was speaking of taking up an offering in a church meeting!

Instead, Paul instructs them to use the FIRST WORK DAY OF THE WEEK, placing FIRST the need to alleviate the suffering of fellow hungry Christians by WORKING IN THE FIELDS gathering food­stuffs!

What do you do when you “lay be YOURSELF in store”? Do you hand something of value to someone else, or place money on a plate in a church service? Nonsense! Any housewife who has a pantry knows that layingby herself in store means storing up non­perishable foods such as canned goods or dried goods for future use!

Now, notice the next attempt by our anti-Sabbath writer to justify Sunday observance. He refers to Revelation 1:10, which we will read in its entire context from verse 1: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

“Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.

“Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy [note that this is not a narrative; not history of recent events, but PROPHECY for the future], and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

“John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;

“And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

“And hash made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen [The prophecies of the book of Revelation lead toward the second coming of Christ and the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth].

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

“I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

“Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea” (Revelation 1:1-11).

So John was commissioned to bear record of three things: The Word of God; the testimony of Jesus Christ, and the things which John was to SEE, in vision.

He then says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” and tells about having heard a great voice, as if a trumpet, which is the voice of Christ, commanding him to write what he sees in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia.

It is utter nonsense to claim John is saying he was in some ecstatic, spiritual mood on Sunday! Such an assertion does violence to the entire context of the book of Revelation, which is a summary of the major prophecies leading to the return of Christ and the establishment of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, on this earth.

Bullinger’s Companion Bible says of this verse, “THE LORD’S DAY = the day of the Lord (Isa. 2, 12 &c.), the Heb. Terms for which are equivalent to the Greek he kuriake hemera, the Lord’s day. Occ. 1 Thess. 5:2, 2 Thess. 2.2 (with texts). 2 Pet. 3:10. Not our Sunday. See Ap. 197.”

Bullinger’s Appendix number 197 says, “2. Its SCOPE &c. The key to unlock the meaning and scope of the book [of Revelation] is found in 1.10. ‘The Lord’s day’ = THE DAY OF THE LORD (Jehovah). See (Isa. 2:12.) John was not in a ‘state of spiritual exaltation’ on any particular Sunday at Patmos, as the result of which ‘he saw visions and dreamed dreams,’ But as we are told, ‘I came to be (or found myself) by the Spirit in the day of the Lord’ (cp. Ezek. 1:1; 8.3 &c.). He is then shown, and both sees and hears (22.8), the things he records.”

“‘The day of the Lord’ being yet future, it follows that the whole book must concern the things belonging to ‘that day,’ and consequently is wholly prophecy. Though partial adumbrations of judgment may be traced in connection with affairs of past history, yet the significant, solemn warning here (1.10) that the ‘judgments’ in Revelation relate to the day of the Lord, ‘the day of vengeance’ (cp. Isaiah 61.2; 63.4 &c.), makes it clear that the book concerns the future, and the day of the unveiling (the Apocalypse) of the great ‘King of Kings and Lord of Lords’ (see Ap. 198).”

Review the scriptures our anti-Sabbath writer set forth as proof of “Christians coming together to celebrate communion.” Do you see so much as a HINT that such is taking place? In one instance, they are eating a late meal, when Paul departs on that Sunday morning at dawn for a grueling walk of many miles. In another, Paul tells them to WORK on the first day of the week, harvesting foodstuffs to “lay by themselves in store” so they will not be out in the fields gathering when he comes. In still another, John comes to be “in the spirit” projected forward in time into the “Day of the Lord” which is yet future, whereupon he begins to relate all that he saw and heard, which forms the Book of Revelation.

It is utter nonsense to propose that such scriptures show “Christians taking communion”!

In one of his closing arguments, the anti-Sabbath writer says, “The questions have been raised. ‘Is it a sin to observe the Sabbath?’ Will people be forgiven not observing the Sabbath?’ Based on clear biblical teaching it would not be a sin not to worship on the Lord’s Day (Hebrews 10:24-26; Acts 2:42). I don’t believe it would be a sin to observe the Sabbath (sic), unless one substituted it for Christian worship or commanded others to obey it (Rom. 14).”

What an incredible statement! So the writer says it is not a sin for a nominal Christian to fail to worship on his so-called “Lord’s Day,” but it WOULD BE A SIN TO SUBSTITUTE THE SABBATH FOR CHRISTIAN WORSHIP, OR COMMAND OTHERS TO OBEY THE SAB­BATH!”

A SIN?

And what IS sin? “Sin is the transgression of the LAW!” This writer goes so far as to accuse Christ, Paul and the apostles of SIN for commanding others to OBEY THE SABBATH!

Think for a moment of this convoluted reasoning! He says it is NOT a sin for an individual to “observe the Sabbath.” But it IS A SIN for some other person to “command others to obey it”! Incredible. Amazing.

Finally, you need to understand just WHO IT WAS who instituted the Sabbath in the first place; WHO “rested on the seventh day” and therefore “blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” You need to know WHO wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger; WHO gave it to Moses; WHO instructed the Israelites to keep the Sabbath!

The answers are found in John 1 and Hebrews 1. Please read John’s first chapter, verses 1 through 14 slowly and carefully. After you do so, I will comment: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“The same was in the beginning with God.

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

“And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness compre­hended it not.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

“The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

“He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).

Having read these inspiring verses, you should now know and understand that the one called “God” in the Old Testament is the one who BECAME JESUS CHRIST in the New Testament!

Your Bible says, “In the beginning God created…” The Hebrew word for “God” is ELOHIM, which is a PLURAL word, meaning more than one, like “group,” “club,” “assembly,” or “church.” Notice the proof, with the Hebrew word supplied: “And God [Elohim] said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26).

Now, notice John’s inspired statements again, this time with commentary: “In the beginning [this is the SAME “BEGINNING” as in Genesis 1:1. There cannot be two beginnings] was the Word [Greek: Logos,meaning “Spokesman”], and the Word was with God [Greek: Theos which is a PLURAL, the Greek equivalent of Elohim], and the Word was God [the Logos was Theos].

“The same was in the beginning with God [the divine SPOKES­MAN was there in the very beginning with the great ELOHIM; “God,” meaning more than one].

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made [so the CREATING was done by the one who said “Let there be light!”].

“In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

“And the light shineth in darkness [spiritual darkness, as in the case of those who deny the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath]; and the darkness comprehended it not [they are “blinded” as Jesus Christ said].

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

“The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light [John’s ministry fulfilled the prophecy of the “Elijah which was to come,” preparing the way for the ministry of Christ], that all men through him might believe.

“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

“He [Christ; who was the Logos whose divine commands brought about the creation] was in the world, and the world was made by him [He created the earth, and all life upon it], and the world knew him not.

“He came unto his own [the Jews], and his own received him not.

“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name [one of Dr. Billy Graham’s favorite scriptures; an OBVIOUS reference to Jesus Christ!]:

“Which were born [Greek: Gennao, meaning “begotten”], not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

“And the Word [the Logos; the Spokesman of divine Elohim] was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Here is a profound truth, as plain as the nose on your face. But the CONSEQUENCES of believing and accepting it are just too painful for nominal Christians who, while professing the “name” of Christ, REJECT HIS LAWS and His MESSAGE!

To admit that the Ten Commandments were written by the finger of the one who became Jesus Christ is just too bitter a pill to swallow for deceived, deluded, blinded people who have not REPENTED OF BREAKING THE TEN COMMANDMENTS!

Now, notice further corroboration: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hash appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds [so the creating agent was the SON of God; Jesus Christ; the Logos of divine Elohim!];

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person [Christ said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father], and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1: 1-3). Can anyone in his right mind deny this is speaking of Christ? Can anyone be so rebellious against God as to DENY THE PLAIN TRUTH OF THESE SCRIPTURES?

“And, Thou, Lord [REFERRING TO JESUS CHRIST!], in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

“They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;

“And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail” (Hebrews 1: 10- 12).

The person of the Godhead who spoke to the patriarchs; who brought the flood upon the ungodly; who called Noah; who called Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah; who called Moses and Aaron; who gave Israel His law; who inspired the prophets, is the SAME person of divine Elohim who BECAME JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH!

When Christ was about to be condemned to death, He prayed, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gayest me to do.

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was” (John 17:4, 5).

Jesus Christ plainly referred to the glorious condition in which he dwelt, as a part of ELOHIM (Theos – God) with the Father even before the universe was created!

Now, review in your mind facts from the inspired word of God, which will JUDGE us in the judgment:

(1) Jesus Christ was the one who was the God of the Old Testament.

(2) He was, in the form of divine Elohim, the person of the Godhead who “blessed the Sabbath Day, and sanctified it.”

(3) He wrote the Ten Commandments, including the fourth one, with His own finger.

(4) The Ten Commandments were in full force and effect from the time of Adam; a series of righteous patriarchs, including Enoch and Noah, knew of the coming Kingdom of God, and were preachers of God’s laws.

(5) The men of Sodom were SINNERS exceedingly before God. Sin is the transgression of the LAW. Where no law is, there can be no transgression.

(6) Abimelech knew it would be a GREAT SIN to take Sarah as one of his wives.

(7) Abraham was blessed of God because He “kept God’s commandments, His statutes, and His laws.” Abraham is the “father of the faithful.”

(8) The Sabbath was reintroduced to the Israelites after four hundred years in slavery; it was introduced by the one who became Christ, through Moses, BEFORE Sinai!

(9) The decalogue merely codified in stone what had been in force and effect for centuries!

(10) The Ten Commandments are MORAL laws, as well as spiritual laws.

(11) God [the one who became Christ] said, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). He also inspired Paul to write, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

(12) Jesus Christ said He did NOT COME TO DESTROY THE LAW.

(13) Christ told the young nobleman, “…if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matthew 19:17).

(14) Paul said the “…the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12).

(15) John wrote, “ For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

(16) There is not one scripture in the entire Bible which commands Christians to “keep Sunday.”

(17) The final remnant church is described as being persecuted by Satan: “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).

(18) The final chapter of the Bible describes those who have a “right” to enter God’s Holy City: “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14).

(19) Jesus Christ IS LORD OF THE SABBATH DAY — the true LORD’S DAY: “And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man [not “the Jews”], and not man for the Sabbath:

“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28).

(20) The first great edict the returning, conquering Christ will issue to all nations is to OBSERVE HIS ANNUAL SABBATHS! “And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

“And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.

“And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

“This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16-19).

(21) All flesh shall worship God and Christ in the millennium from Sabbath to Sabbath:

“ For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 66:22, 23).

It is one thing to be DECEIVED. God says Satan has deceived the whole world (Revelation 12:9). It is axiomatic that a deceived person can be HONEST; can be SINCERE; can be completely UNAWARE that he or she is deceived. What you don’t know — you don’t know that you don’t know it! If God has not opened the mind of a sinning human being, that person simply CANNOT see the truth.

Christ said, “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

“And And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

“For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them” (Matthew 13:13-15).

Yes, it is one thing to be deceived. But it is another thing entirely to be rebellious against God; against His Commandments and His Sabbath, with a nagging conscience which continually makes one rely on the millions in Catholicism and Protestantism; on one’s religious upbringing; on one’s family and friends, attempting to quiet that nagging conscience by saying to one’s self, “Surely all these churches can’t be wrong.”

But the Hindus outnumber all those churches, and all those churches know the Hindus are WRONG!

Could YOU have been WRONG and didn’t know it?

It’s a possibility worth considering.

You grew up in a “ready-made” world. To illustrate the point, a radio station manager once said to me, “I was born a Catholic.” Of course, people are born of their parents; born in a certain country, of a certain race. No one is “born” into a particular religion. The man meant to say “My parents reared me as a Catholic.”

Had the western world of professing Christianity never become completely oriented toward Sunday observance, its attitude toward God’s Holy Sabbath day would be quite different. But when all commerce, industry, education, government and even the military are oriented toward Sunday observance, it seems to the majority that any one observing the seventh-day Sabbath is out of step with the rest of the world around them.

This is why I chose the title, Why Would Anyone Keep Saturday For Sunday? for my booklet on the subject. It seems strange — even cultic — to most.

Therefore, the Sunday-observing world looks askance at the Sabbath — desiring to connect it with the “Jews, who rejected Christ.” Most, without ever really thinking it through, look at Sunday as “liberty,” and the Sabbath as “bondage.” The exact opposite is true.

The Sabbath day was set aside by your Creator — the member of the divine family called Elohim who became Christ — as a day of REST from your labors. In the commandment itself God gives an explanation as to WHY we are to rest: “…for in six days the Eternal [Christ in His pre-human state] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:8-11)

The Sabbath is both a MEMORIAL, looking back at, and acknowledging Elohim [Christ] as the Creator of all things; of all life; and is also prophetic, in the sense that it looks forward to the millennial reign of Christ!

Few know there is a scripture the translators did their best to conceal which CLEARLY SAYS THE KEEPING OF THE SABBATH REMAINS FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD!

Notice the following scriptures with comments: “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

“Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

“When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

“Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

“So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) [Moses chided the Israelites at the waters of Meribah for rebellion. The older generation all died in the wilderness. The Promised Land was called the “rest” of God, and was a type of the Kingdom. See Joshua 1:13-15].

“Take heed, brethren [connected to “wherefore,” at the beginning of the verse, following the parenthetical insertion], lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day [remember this! It points out a specific DAY which is called “To day”]; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

“While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

“For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

“But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

“And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

“So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief [the Greek word for “rest” here is katapausis,2663 in Strongs, and means “reposing down,” “abode,” … “rest”].

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest [katapausis], any of you should seem to come short of it.

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it” (Hebrews 3:7-19; 4:1, 2).

Now, notice how the passage continues toward a conclusion concerning the Sabbath day:

“For we which have believed do enter into rest [as a custom; as habit. This is not saying we sleep at night, or that we look forward to the kingdom, but describing how believers REST each week], as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest [the force of the sentence is “Shall they enter into my rest?” his oath delivered in wrath at their disobedience]: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world [important reference to what is to follow].

“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works [Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20: 11].

“And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest [at Meribah; repeated by Joshua].

“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in [to the promised land; a type of the Kingdom of God] because of unbelief:

“Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.”

Study this carefully! He LIMITS a CERTAIN DAY; meaning He points out, selects, indicates, specifies a particular DAY. Why? Because he is introducing a logical conclusion concerning the fact that Joshua did NOT “give them rest,” which is why “another day,” the specified, or selected day, is discussed.

The scripture continues, “For if Jesus [Joshua: the Hebrew name Joshua is exactly synonymous with Jesus. The translators erred. See the Diaglott and Bullinger’s Companion Bible. See also Acts 7:45, where the same error is made obvious in the context] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.”

So a DAY is the subject here. What day? Which day is a type of God’s kingdom; the millennial reign of Christ?

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The Greek word throughout the previous verses, and in the two verses following for “rest” is katapausis, meaning a “downsitting,” or “reposing down.” But here, in verse nine, the original inspired Greek is Sabbatismos, a derivative ofSabbaton, which means “the Sabbath; i.e., Shabbath, or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself) … Sabbath day.” The transliteration in the Diaglott reads: “Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9). The margin of the King James Version in the large type “Philadelphia Press” Bible reads, “Or, keeping of a Sabbath.:

The term Sabbatismos means, literally, “keeping of a Sabbath!” Even as biased translators deliberately substituted the word “Easter” in Acts 12:4 for the original Pasch, or “Passover” (as all versions, including the Diaglott have it, with the exception of the KJV), so biased translators, influenced by the Roman Catholic doctrines, as well as centuries of Sunday observance, sought to obscure this strikingly UNIQUE WORD (it occurs only once in the New Testament) by rendering it “rest” as they had rendered “katapausis” so many times.

The force of the original writing is clear. Since Joshua could not have given the Israelites any kind of permanent “rest,” ANOTHER DAY is specified — which is why a “KEEPING OF THE SABBATH REMAINS FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD.” Now, notice the ensuing verses:

“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:10). So the Sabbath rest pictures how God “rested on the seventh day” and blessed it; hallowed it; set it apart as holy!

Those who obey God and rejoice in the joys of the Sabbath are picturing God’s own rest; which was CREATIVE acts. Creation was not finished in six days. God was not through creating until after the SEVENTH day. He CREATED the Sabbath day by RESTING upon it.

Christ said, “And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:

“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28).

So WHICH DAY IS IT OF WHICH CHRIST IS LORD? Which day, after all, is the true “Lord’s Day?” Why, the SABBATH! He is “Lord also of the Sabbath”!

Notice that the Sabbath was made FOR MAN, not “for the Jews.” The subtle attempt to make it appear that it was “delivered to the Jewish nation” when no such “Jewish nation” existed; the attempt to make it appear “Jewish,” and therefore repugnant is at best ignorant, and at worst, dishonest!

The Sabbath was something which was MADE – created! It was made FOR man; for his delight; his enjoyment; his blessed rest!

Now, notice how the passage in Hebrews concludes, following the statement that a “keeping of the Sabbath remains for the people of God:

“Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). It certainly does! The discerning of the very thoughts and intents of the hearts of many who are rebelliously hostile to the Sabbath stems from their lifelong traditions, together with the customs of all nominal Western “Christianity,” which has been locked into “Sunday” observance for so many centuries!

The Sabbath is to be a day of JOY; a day of thanksgiving; of day of rest, relaxation, recreation, contemplation, prayer, happy fellowship and assembling with brethren — a DELIGHT!

God says through Isaiah “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure [doing your own will; going about your own business], nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:13,14).

Some, in their eagerness to place rigid obedience into their lives, tend toward making the Sabbath a day of duty; of strictness; of many constraints. Some go so far as to fear to turn on an electric range to cook breakfast, thinking it is they who are causing someone in the electric company to “work.”

But this is turning the Sabbath into an impossible burden! Should such an one throw the master circuit breaker, and have no lights, heating, or air conditioning in the home? What about the coldest day in winter, or the hottest day in summer?

Such people make the Sabbath a yoke; a burden to be borne, and not a “delight.”

The Sabbath should be the primary day for church attendance! Thousands, beleaguered by the Sunday-observing world around them, are constrained to worship at home, among their own family, or gather in small groups for viewing a video-taped sermon; for Bible study and fellowship.

God commands us, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:23-25).

The Sabbath is a day for sleeping in; for a leisurely breakfast; for reading, relaxing, and for extra time for prayer. It is a day to “smell the roses,” to walk in the yard, or go to a park, or take the children to the zoo if convenient, to show them the marvelous creation of God. It is a day to sunbathe, or to watch a documentary about fish, animals and insects (weeding out the pro-evolutionary comments which are always present). It is a day for sending a card of love and appreciation to a friend; making a phone call to a lonely person; visiting a sick person in the hospital or nursing home — a day of service, consideration, sharing and giving.

Families should find ways to teach their children about the creation; about biblical history; about their own family roots.

God told His people, “Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it [this chapter follows Deuteronomy 5, where the Ten Commandments are reiterated]:

“That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

“Hear therefore, 0 Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

“Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

“And these, words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart [harbinger of the “New Covenant,” in which God’s laws will be written in the hearts and minds of Israel and Judah]:

“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up” (Deuteronomy 6:1-7).

How many families set aside the Sabbath day for explaining one of the Ten Commandments to their children? Perhaps a father should explain how he HONORED his own father (or failed to do so?); their grandfather. Perhaps a mother should tell them what a wonderful mother she had — what a fine person their grandmother was; get out an album, show them their heritage!

Children should be taught to look happily forward to the Sabbath, because it means special things of interest; special treats; special experiences, such as a trip to a nearby lake for a relaxing family outing and picnic. Very young children should be provided with coloring books about animals or nature to take to church services with them if there is no organized “Sabbath school” for them because of the size of the group.

While riotous, noisy play is not to be desired, children will be children, and sometimes they need to socialize in playful ways following a church service they are too young to really understand.

The Sabbath should be FAMILY day — a day for rejoicing, thanksgiving, happiness, and family worship of God and His creation.

The time is coming when this entire world will call the Sabbath day a DELIGHT!

God says, “And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD” (Isaiah 66:23).

This is a prophecy for the distant future — the “New Heavens and the New Earth.”

Then, far into the future, all those who today hold anti-law, anti-Sabbath feelings in their hearts will joyfully observe God’s Holy Sabbath day!

Those who repent of their anti-Sabbath bias and begin KEEPING the Sabbath holy will find great joy in knowing, in their innermost being, “God is happy with me today!”

End-

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The post Where In The Bible Does It Say, “Thou Shalt Keep Sunday”? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

From the earliest days of America, Saturday has been the “market” day; the day when throngs of people descend upon the shops; when truck farmers take their produce to town for sale. It seems odd that anyone would “keep Saturday for Sunday.” Yet, millions do, the world over. All religious Jews keep the “Old Testament Sabbath.” So do “Seventh-Day Adventists,” Seventh-Day Baptists, and dozens of other “Sabbatarian” churches, some of which are quite large.

Are they all merely “cults,” with a strange belief, out of step with the “mainstream”?

Or can they PROVE why they do what they do? Have you ever looked into it for yourself, or have you always just taken your religious beliefs for granted, without proof?

Surely, since the gigantic Catholic Church and her hundreds of protestant daughters “keep Sunday,” there must be ample proof from the Bible which proves they are correct. You will be astonished at the answer!

I grew up in a Sabbath-keeping home. I grew to dread the “Sabbath day.” Because he believed in the seventh-day Sabbath, my father was an outcast. All around me, my schoolmates and neighbors went to church on Sunday. Every exciting, interesting event at school was geared to a Sunday-observing world.

I could not participate in many school activities for the simple reason that most important football and basketball games were played on Friday night. Our Sabbath began, my father said, on sunset Friday. That meant sports events, parties, practices, dances—a host of school and social events were taking place on the Sabbath. I was forbidden to attend or participate.

As a boy, I grew up deeply resenting my parent’s practice of observing the Sabbath, instead of Sunday.

My father, Herbert W. Armstrong, was a preacher. He spoke each Saturday to a group of about fifty or so in a small, clapboard church outside the city limits of Eugene, Oregon, which featured outdoor his and her facilities, a wood-burning stove near the small alcove, and hard, hand-made wooden benches.

On the right hand wall beside the small stage with its little railing and pulpit hung a large scroll of the Ten Commandments. Each Sabbath, the entire congregation recited, in unison, the commandments.

It was easy to learn them by heart, what with hearing them fifty-two times each year.

Public School and the Sabbath

In the 1930’s, the U.S. Supreme Court had not yet made it a criminal act to recite the Bible, or to pray, in school. Students were not then expelled, nor teachers or principals fired from their jobs for allowing the free exercise of religion in public schools.

Even further than that, about once each month, a volunteer Sunday school teacher from one of the prominent Sunday-keeping churches would take an hour’s class, teaching us to memorize certain parts of the Bible. I remember a contest she initiated.

She drew up a large chart with each pupil’s name to the left, marking off about ten squares to the
right. She then assigned various Bible verses, or short chapters, which we were required to memorize. As we were able to stand up before the class and recite our memorized verses successfully, we saw her paste a brightly-colored paper star in one of the squares.

It was of course the little girls who seemed to have more stars opposite their names, rapidly building toward the finish line. This caused a feeling of competition. How could I let those little girls receive more stars than I did?

I remember telling my mother of my elation one day. The Sunday school teacher had inadvertently assigned me to memorize the Ten Commandments!

I said, “Mom, I won’t even have to study. I know them by heart already!”

She asked if I was supposed to recite them all, and I said yes. Then, she cautioned me, “If you recite all of the fourth one, you’ll probably see stars!”

Somehow, she seemed to know that the Sunday school teacher would not take it kindly if this little black-headed boy should stand before the class and chirp, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work; thou, nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

If memory serves, she did not hit me up alongside the head when I recited the entire passage, but she did caution me, “Teddy, it is not necessary to recite the whole thing. Just `Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,’ is enough.” Sure enough, I got a star by my name, instead of a lump on the head.

Gradually, as I grew up, I learned that other people thought we were very strange to be “keeping Saturday for Sunday.”

Then, in the late 1930’s or early 1940’s, my father began to become convinced he should be observing the annualSabbaths of God, as well! In the early years of the observance of the Feast of Tabernacles, only my own family paid it any attention. Eventually, his patient teaching and preaching convinced the Eugene congregation they should be observing the holy days. Finally, they began traveling up the McKenzie River to an old resort called “Belknap Springs,” remaining there for the entire eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.

How embarrassing it was, as a young boy, to go down to the Vice Principal’s office with a small piece of paper in my hand upon which my mother had written, “Please excuse from school on Thursday our son, Teddy Armstrong, for it is a holy day of our church.” It might have been the Feast of Trumpets or the Day of Atonement; an annual Sabbath.

“What kind of a strange church is it which believes Thursdayis holy?” She would ask.

Ashamed and embarrassed, I didn’t know how to explain.

My youthful years were punctuated with many embarrassing and shameful experiences. My family didn’t keep Christmas or Hallowe’en, or Easter, but they did keep the Sabbath, and the feast days of the Bible.

In order to shed some of my embarrassment, I would go to a Sunday-keeping church on a rare occasion with one of my school friends. When a church league basketball tournament was formed, I went with my friends to a “First Christian” Church one Sunday each month to qualify to play on their basketball team.

I so wanted to be like everybody else. I didn’t want to be singled out as “different” because of my father’s religion.

After high school, I left home and joined the Navy. My primary goal was to get away from my father, who was autocratic. But behind this primary urge was the entire panorama of all his teachings; my resentment of the Sabbath, and other teachings.

In the Navy I could blend in. I wore the same uniform, slept in the same barracks, or, later, aboard the same ship. I ate the same food, including pork chops about once each week, had the same haircut. I was one with the others. I didn’t stand out. At last, I was conforming to the world around me. With that conformance came acceptance. No one thought me “different” in any way. I was just one more sailor, which was exactly the way I wanted it.

For four years, I ignored the Sabbath and the annual holy days. I had no idea when they fell during the year, except letters from home might inform me when the major festival of the year, the “Feast of Tabernacles,” occurred.

I hitchhiked to Oregon over a long weekend late in 1949 to visit old school friends in Eugene and Springfield. The feast was being observed up in Belknap Springs, even though my family had moved to Pasadena, California, in 1947. I went to Belknap in my Navy uniform, remaining only a couple of hours to say hello, and promptly went back to Eugene. I am sure my father was embarrassed by having his uniformed young son, standing around with a cigarette in his mouth, with all those tattoos.

No one could have undergone a more complete rejection of the Sabbath—both weekly and annual—than I did. I had dreaded it as a child. As a man, I rejected it entirely.

How could the whole world be out of step except my dad? Who gave him the right to be right? How could all those huge churches, with millions of members, be wrong? Didn’t the Roman Catholic Church, and the Methodist Church, and the Baptist Church, keep Sunday? Didn’t dozens of others, like the Church of Christ, the Assembly of God, and Pentecostal churches?

You couldn’t tell me those huge churches didn’t know what they were doing—that they didn’t have any authority for what they believed and practiced!

Then how did it come to happen that I was to become, from about age twenty-three, such a strong advocate for Sabbath observance?

No matter what you think about the Sunday-Saturday controversy, I want you to know that I did not merely “grow up keeping the Sabbath,” or blindly accept Sabbath-keeping because it was ingrained in me from childhood. I resented it, as stated above. Later, as a man, I would have dearly lovedfinding absolute biblical proof for Sunday! If I could have done that, I could remove one of the major obstacles most people deal with when they begin discovering God’s truth!

Vaunted Authorities

I had heard my father recite almost endlessly his early experiences with religion. He had been brought up by a Quaker family. My mother’s family were Methodists. Both believed there was a God, but neither one of them had ever been Bible students; neither one had ever studied the essential doctrines of their family’s religions.

Then, my mother became grievously ill, with both blood poisoning and lockjaw. She went down to less than ninety pounds in weight; could not eat or drink. This was in the days long prior to intravenous feeding.

A friendly neighbor lady, a Mrs. Ora Runcorn, suggested to my mother that their minister, who happened to be a Sabbath-keeper, was a man of faith, who believed God could heal the sick. She asked my mother if she and my father would want this minister to anoint my mother, and pray for her.

Both my father and mother believed God could heal, but they did not know if He would heal. The complete story was written by my mother to a nonreligious school chum in a letter she sent in 1927, three years before I was born.

She was instantly, miraculously healed! Long prior, she had been told she could never have any additional children. Eight years and six months had passed since she gave birth to her second daughter. Then, following her miraculous healing, my brother, Richard David, was born in 1928, and I was born in 1930. My brother died following an automobile accident in the summer of 1958, while on a baptizing tour in central California.

Because my mother had become very friendly with Mrs. Runcorn, and was obviously hugely thankful, humbly grateful, and spiritually elated over her healing, she wanted to know more about Mrs. Runcorn’s religion—about her minister.

One of the most obvious points was the fact that the Runcorns “kept Saturday for Sunday.”

My mother asked about it.

Mrs. Runcorn did not reason, or attempt to teach. Instead, she asked my mother to read several passages of scripture. She pointed to one, and then to another, without any comment or explanation, and asked my mother to read them.

But let my father tell you about it, for, after all, I had not yet been born, and she told him all about it. He wrote, in his autobiography, “She asked my wife to turn to a certain passage and read it. Then a second, then a third, and so on for about an hour.

“Mrs. Runcorn made no comment—gave no explanation or argument—just asked my wife to read aloud a series of biblical passages.

“`Why!’ exclaimed Mrs. Armstrong in amazement, `do all these Scriptures say that I’ve been keeping the wrong day as the Sabbath all my life?’

“`Well, do they?’ asked Mrs. Runcorn. `Don’t ask me whether you have been wrong—you shouldn’t believe what any persontells you, but only what GOD tells you through the Bible. What does He tell you, there? What do you see there with your own eyes?’

“`Why, it’s as plain as anything could be!’ exclaimed Mrs. Armstrong. `Why this is a wonderful discovery. I must rush back to tell my husband the good news. I know he’ll be overjoyed!’

“A minute or so later, Mrs. Armstrong came running into my parent’s home, with the `good news.’

“My jaw dropped!

“This was the worst news I had ever heard! My wife gone into religious fanaticism!

“`Have you gone CRAZY?’ I asked, incredulously…`Loma,’ I said sternly, `this is simply too ridiculous to believe! I am certainly not going to tolerate any such religious fanaticism in our family! You’ll have to give that up right here and now!’

“But she wouldn’t!” (The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong, vol. l, p. 288, 289).

The last thing in the world my father wanted to hear was that the Sabbath should be kept! As he explained, he thought my mom had taken up with religious fanaticism. They argued, and the argument grew so heated, he even threatened to divorce her over the issue.

Many years later, when I had come home after four years in the Navy, including operating offshore Korea during the Korean war aboard an aircraft carrier, I began to face some of the same questions.

At first, I had no intention whatsoever of having anything to do with my father’s religion. I was still smoking. My life’s desire was to become a singer.

I began looking into religious literature, wondering if they could substantiate their doctrines. I picked up tracts and booklets at supermarkets, published by various religious organizations.

I remember a tract I read by a protestant radio preacher about “law and grace.” He quoted a scripture to support his theory that there was no “law-keeping” involved in the Christian life. Unfortunately for him, I decided to look up the scripture he quoted.

He had written how the Bible said, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.

“Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

This certainly seemed to say we could not be saved by any works we might perform, such as keeping the Sabbath or holy days!

But wait a minute! What was this? In the entire context of this statement, Paul had written, in the very next verse, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). The obvious meaning of the passage was that we should be accomplishing good works. God had ordained that we should walk [the word means “live,” as in “walk of life”] in them!

This passage showed that we are saved, not by “works,” which would earn salvation, but by God’s grace, which is unearned, undeserved forgiveness for sin. On the other hand, once forgiven, God wants us, in Christ, to accomplish good works!

Yet, the entire thrust of his little pamphlet was that we were to avoid such things as Sabbath-keeping, or feeling under any obligation to obey any laws. It was all love, and grace, and faith. Just believe, and profess Christ, and, presto! You’re saved. There was no obedience toward God in the view of this radio preacher.

My earliest reading into the doctrines of other churches did not begin to compare with the in-depth research I would accomplish in the months and years later.

If vaunted authorities, who represented a major excuse of mine against my father’s teachings (surely all these huge churches can’t be wrong?) were proved wrong from the bible, then I was no longer pitting my father against other churchmen, but pitting other churchmen and my father against the Bible. I was not biased. I would have been elated if I could have found biblical proof for Sunday; found absolute biblical proof that my father was wrong to observe “Saturday for Sunday.”

The Catholic Encyclopedia – The Greatest Authority For Sunday Observance

Later research astounded me. Like eroding sand, the basis for my resistance toward Sabbath-keeping, and my assumption that “surely all these big churches can’t be wrong,” simply disappeared. I felt betrayed; left high and dry, without any foundation.

Is there any greater “authority” for Sunday observance than the Pope in Rome; the Roman Catholic Church? For, after all, the only authority by which Protestants justify Sunday observance is old mother Rome, and the writings of the so-called “church fathers” of the second, third, and fourth centuries, as well as various church councils, which took place hundreds of years after Christ.

Here is what the highly respected Catholic Encyclopedia says about Sunday, and Sunday observance.

“SUNDAY, (day of the sun), as the name of the first day of the week, is derived from Egyptian Astrology…Sunday was the first day of the week according to the Jewish method of reckoning [note: the Jews never called it `Sunday’], but for Christians it began to take the place of the Jewish Sabbath in Apostolic times as the day set apart for the public and solemn worship of God. The practice of meeting together on the first day of the week for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice is indicated in Acts xx,7; 1 Cor., xvi, 2; in Apoc. 1, 10, it is called the Lord’s Day” (Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. XIV, p. 335).

What is the “Eucharistic Sacrifice?” It is the “Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper,” or “Communion.”

But Jesus Christ did not command the disciples to observe the ceremony of foot washing, wine and bread every week. He made it a memorial occasion (Luke 22:19). Like all other memorials, such as birthdays, anniversaries, national holidays, or “memorial” day, it was to be celebrated once each year, on the same day as the original event.

Notwithstanding these plain indications of scripture, and the practice of Christ Himself, the Roman Catholic Church began celebrating the so-called “Eucharistic Sacrifice” each Sunday.

Now, note well that this vaunted authority says that you and I, when we turn to the three scriptures referred to, will find Christians gathered “for the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice.”

Let’s see if we can find any reference to Sunday observance, or Christians observing the “Eucharistic Sacrifice” in the scriptures listed by the Catholic Encyclopedia. Get your own Bible, and look them up. Study each word, and each verse carefully.

Read up to the passage referred to in Acts 20. Commencing with verse 6: “And we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days.”

Luke, who was the journalist, naturally included in his diary the fact that they had sailed just after the Days of Unleavened Bread. Why? For the simple reason that this annual holy day period immediately following the Passover, or Lord’s Supper, was still being observed. Paul had written to the Corinthian church, “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost” (1 Cor. 16:8). He also said, as Luke wrote a little later than this account of his trip to Troas, “…I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem” (Acts 18:21).

Repeatedly in Paul’s writings, and in those of Luke, who chronicled the deeds of the early apostolic church, careful note is taken of the occurrence of God’s Sabbath days and the annual Sabbaths, or holy days. These words were written in Luke’s journal approximately thirty years after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; thirty years after that first Pentecost; thirty years after the founding of the apostolic church. Remember, Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles, not the Jews. Yet, we see him continually keeping God’s Sabbath days, and observing God’s annual Sabbaths as well.

Now, continuing in Acts 20, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight [nighttime on our “Saturday night”].

“And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together.

“And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down from sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

“And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.

“When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed” (Acts 20:7-11).

Notice that the expression “breaking bread” merely means eating a meal. It does not connote a religious ceremony, or a “Eucharistic Sacrifice!” “Breaking bread” could include eating an entire meal, including meat and vegetables.

Following the Day of Pentecost about thirty years earlier, the people “…continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house [Margin: “at home”], did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart” (Acts 2:46). This view into the custom of the people of that time shows they were “breaking bread and eating their meat” from home to home in joyous fellowship together.

Sliced bread was unknown in those times. Bread was baked in whole loaves, like “French Bread” today. Even in American frontier days, the expression, “Let us break bread together” connoted eating a meal, and had nothing to do with a religious ceremony. The Bible plainly says they had “broken bread, and eaten,” not that they had broken bread ceremonially.

Notice too that this meeting took place sometime after sundown on our “Saturday night.” But the new days began at sunset then. “Saturday night” back then was the beginning of the first day of the week. Paul’s preaching began at the evening meal on what would have been our Saturday night, and continued until midnight. This was on the “first day of the week,” but the meeting continued through the night, until the morning, which would be our Sunday morning.

On that day, the first day of the week, our “Sunday,” during the daylight part, what did Paul do? Remember, their breaking bread and eating a meal had taken place at supper time about twelve hours previously. Now, it was what we commonly call Sunday morning. Was this a time for worship for Paul? Was it a time for rest, or for abstaining from any work?

“And we went before to ship [writes Luke], and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed [decided], minding himself to go afoot” (Acts 20:13).

Assos was around a narrow peninsula from Troas. By ship, it required hours of sailing, and the prevailing winds would have required much tacking back and forth. Knowing this, Paul decided to remain with those Christian people as long as he could, speaking to them right on through the night, (which is hard work!), and then walking nineteen miles during the daylight hours of that Sunday.

Talk about work!

This was no “Eucharistic Sacrifice,” as the vaunted Catholic Encyclopedia would have you believe. It was a meeting which took place from about Saturday sundown until nearly dawn the next morning. Since the Bible always begins the days at sundown, the beginning of the “first day of the week” commenced at sunset on Saturday.

Paul then worked all night. Then he walked an incredible nineteen miles from Troas to Assos, to meet Luke and the others aboard ship.

Did you read anything there about Christians meeting for the purpose of conducting the “Eucharistic Sacrifice”? The word “Eucharist” is nowhere in the Bible. No, there is no “Eucharistic Sacrifice” mentioned here. Instead, this was an informal “Bible study,” except Paul was preaching from personal experience and his own knowledge of the scriptures (the Old Testament represented the only “scriptures” that existed then), since the people did not possess Bibles as we do today.

But, surely, we shall find Christians meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, to celebrate the “Eucharistic Sacrifice” in the second scripture listed in the Catholic Encyclopedia, won’t we? Let’s see.

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye” (1 Cor. 16:1). Read Acts 11:27-30. Agabus had prophesied of a terrible drought to strike Palestine. The church rallied, gathering stored nuts, dates, grains, and dried meats and fruit, to send relief to people who might otherwise have starved.

Paul, eager to help, wanted the Corinthian church to generously devote a full day of work each week prior to his arrival in famine relief. Here is how he stated it, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings [harvesting, collecting, gleaning] when I come.

“And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters [to me], them will I send to bring your liberality [your generous gifts of foodstuffs] unto Jerusalem” (1 Cor. 16:1-3).

What do you do when you “lay by yourself in store”? Why, you store up, or you save something. You place it close to hand, like in a storage shed, or your garage, or in your home.

Did you read one single word about a “Eucharistic Sacrifice” here? No? But the vaunted Catholic Encyclopedia said you would find Christians conducting a religious ceremony on Sunday! It said this was a meeting by Christians to celebrate the “Eucharistic Sacrifice.”

This had absolutely nothing to do with worship one way or the other. Paul urged the brethren to go out and accomplish hard work on the first day of the week, which is our Sunday, so they would have gathered their produce and stored it prior to his arrival.

But surely, then, we shall find at least ONE correct reference out of the three scriptures the Catholic Encyclopedia quoted which allegedly show Christians keeping the “Eucharistic Sacrifice” on Sunday?

Let’s see. John, the apostle, was given many visions by Jesus Christ to reveal to God’s people what would come to pass down into the time near the end of man’s civilization on earth.

The very first vision John saw was that of a being who spoke with a voice like a powerful trumpet blast. John wrote, “I was in the spirit [as in a spiritual trance—seeing a vision] on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

“Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest [in the visions to follow], write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches…” (Rev. 1:10, 11).

Do you read of any meeting of Christians here? No.

Do you read of a “Eucharistic Sacrifice”? No. Instead, you read of how John was transported in spiritual vision into the “Day of the Lord,” or the “Lord’s day.” In his mind’s eye, he was experiencing a vision. His vision concerned a great time of world cataclysm called “The DAY OF THE LORD” in the Book of Revelation. This was not some “Eucharistic sacrifice,” but a vision given John of an impending time of God’s intervention in human affairs, as the following chapters of Revelation prove.

What “day” is “the Lord’s day”? Notice, “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him,

“That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the Day of Christ [Christ is the Lord, so this is the Day of the Lord, or the “Lord’s day”] is at hand.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed…” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3).

The book of Revelation reveals three major divisions of events which shall usher in the time of God’s divine intervention in human affairs: The Great Tribulation, the heavenly signs, and the Day of the Lord.

The entire period is called the “Lord’s day” by John in his first chapter.

The Greek word for “on” means “into,” or “within.”

The Diaglott translates directly from the Greek, which says, “I was in spirit in the Lord’s day.” John was transported in vision into the future “Day of the Lord,” or the “Lord’s day.” This had nothing to do with any day of the week, but with the whole period of time, of about three and one-half years duration, of the Tribulation, Heavenly Signs, and the Day of the Lord, which will end in the second coming of Christ. The “Lord’s day” of which John wrote is still in the future, and remains to be fulfilled.

A number of other translations as well as the Diaglott make it clear that John was saying he had been transported, mentally, as in a vision, forward in time INTO the time of the DAY OF THE LORD. The Day of the Lord spoken of by Paul to the Thessalonians is the same time period in prophecy that is revealed in detail in the Book of Revelation.

John’s statement about his vision of the Day of the Lord comes as a part of the introduction to the awesome prophecies of the book of Revelation, which gives details of the coming time of Tribulation, Heavenly Signs, and the terrible wrath of God which will be poured out upon the earth during the Day of the Lord.

It is obvious this has nothing whatsoever to do with a religious service of any kind. John was alone. There is no “Eucharistic Sacrifice” mentioned here! No one else was present. John was given a startling vision of awesome future events which will take place during the Day of the Lord.

Which Day Is “The Lord’s Day”?

Millions of professing Christians commonly refer to Sunday as “The Lord’s day.” Some people here and there have brazenly transferred the name of God’s Sabbath day to Sunday, and refer to it as “The Sabbath.” But it is neither the Sabbath, nor is it the “day of the sun.” It is, simply, the “first day of the week,” which is a work day to God.

But which day is the day of which Christ is Lord?

Notice, “And He said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath:

“Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27, 28). Which day is the “Lord’s day”? Jesus Christ said He was (and is) the Lord of the Sabbath! Then the Sabbath day is the true “Lord’s day,” and not Sunday, or the day of the sun.

Notice carefully what Christ said.

He said the Sabbath was “made for man.” The Sabbath is something which was made—created—at the end of creation week. God had finished His work of creating, but He had not finished creating. The Sabbath was made for man, not the Jewish race, and it was made when man was made—during creation week.

God created the Sabbath day, put His presence into it, blessedit and hallowed it, which means He made it holy.

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which he had made.

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [set it apart as holy]: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Genesis 2:1-3).

The Sabbath was made when man was made. It was made forman, as Jesus said, not as a yoke of bondage, or a rigorous, legalistic burden. It was made for man’s rest; for his relaxation, his enjoyment, his time for introspection, meditation, study, prayer, and for his worship toward God.

The Sabbath was created to give joy to mankind; a welcome, desirable respite from his work week—time for his family, and his brethren in God’s church—time to look back upon creation, and to look forward toward God’s kingdom.

The Sabbath is a memorial of creation, and its observance acknowledges the Creator. It is also a shadow, or a foretaste, of the coming world-ruling kingdom of God!

The true “Lord’s day,” or the day over which Christ is said to be Lord, is the Sabbath day, which He created.

The Sabbath Pictures Millennial Rest

God has allotted six thousand years for man to learn the hideous, blood-drenched lesson that man cannot govern himself apart from God. At the end of those six thousand years, Jesus Christ will come in the power and glory of God to put down all human rule and authority, establish His great kingdom on this earth, and rule it with a rod of iron for one thousand years.

This is the millennial rest of Christ.

When ancient Israel ended their forty years of wandering in Sinai and crossed Jordan into the promised land, Joshua (whose name in Hebrew is exactly the same as “Jesus” in the Greek) was said to have given them “rest.”

As they settled down in the promised land, the new generationof Israel typified God’s people entering into the kingdom of God.

“Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Eternal your God giveth you to possess it.

“And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Eternal commanded you, saying, The Eternal your God hath given you REST, and hath given you this land

“Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle, shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them;

“Until the Eternal have given your brethren REST, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Eternal your God giveth them…” (Joshua 1:10-15).

The Israelites, led by Joshua, crossed through Jordan dry shod (Josh. 4:18) but a short Sabbath day’s journey on the Sabbathday, which was the tenth day of Abib (Josh. 4:19), and then kept the Passover which was on our Wednesday, on the fourteenth of Abib in the evening (Josh. 5:10).

Now, notice carefully the rich type God reveals concerning the Sabbath, picturing Christ’s millennial rest, as the Israelites were given rest after forty years in Sinai.

“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest [His kingdom—the millennial rest], any of you should seem to come short of it.

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: [the Israelites under Joshua; see Heb. 3] but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

“For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, [or, shall they enter into my rest]: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Heb. 4:1,2).

When did God rest from His works at the time of the creation of the world? On the Sabbath day (Gen. 2:1-3).

The Sabbath day is here being explained as a type of the promised land during the time of Joshua, and a type of the Kingdom of God in the millennial reign of Christ.

“For He spake in a certain place [The scripture just referred to; Genesis 2:1-3] of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works.” (Heb. 4:4). The subject being addressed is the Sabbath day, as a type of both the promised land, and the millennial reign of Christ!

Paul continues, “And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest” (Verse 5). This is a quotation from Psalm 95, which says, “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

“When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

“Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

“Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest” (Psalms 95:7-11). And they didn’t!

The generation of Israel that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness, not being permitted of God to enter into the promised land of Palestine because of sin, which included Sabbath-breaking.

God had said, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments alwaysthat it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deut. 5:29).

When God first revealed His Sabbath to the Israelites who had been in Egypt, He ordered them to gather twice the amount of food on the “preparation” day, our Friday, so they would not be working on the Sabbath.

God was raining down manna to provide them life-giving sustenance. In spite of God’s commands, “…it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

“And the Eternal [JHVH, or Jehovah always rendered “LORD” in capital letters in the KJV] said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Eternal hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day” (Ex. 16:23-30).

The person of the divine sovereign Godhead who made this command is the One who became Jesus Christ. One has only to read John the first chapter to absolutely prove this.

Notice that this command to observe God’s Sabbath day was given before the giving of the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, which is found two chapters later!

Now, notice again the special subject matter of Hebrews 4: “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief [margin: disobedience]:

“Again, He limiteth a certain day [that is, He sets apart, or points out, a certain DAY], saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Heb. 4:6,7).

David’s Psalm is quoting from Joshua’s Sabbath-day message, just as Hebrews is in turn quoting from David’s Psalm.

The exact Hebrew equivalent for the name “Jesus” is “Joshua.” As the margin correctly renders it, the following verse should read, “For if Joshua had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day” (Heb. 4:8).

A day is being singled out in these passages. “Today,” always placed in capital letters by the translators, refers back to Joshua’s oration on that Sabbath long ago, when the second generation of young Israelites were warned not to harden their hearts, as their parents had done, as they entered into the promised land, which the Sabbath depicted, across the river Jordan.

David then refers to the same event, and depicts the Sabbath day as a picture of “rest,” which is a type of the promised land, and the shadow of the millennial rest of Christ.

Now, notice an astonishing truth. So far, we have read again and again the word “rest” in God’s word. At least seven times, we have read the English word “rest,” referring to God resting; to the “rest” of the promised land, or the “rest” in the millennium with Jesus Christ.

The Greek word is katapausis, or, twice, katapauo, which mean: “reposing down; abode; rest,” or, “to settle down, to colonize, or figuratively, to cause to cease or desist—cease, give, rest.”

But then comes verse nine of this fascinating passage of scripture, where a completely different Greek word was used in the original. Some Bibles, like my own large “studio” Bible, which I have used on the radio and television studio desk for decades, published by Philadelphia Press, has a marginal note about this word. It says, “A keeping of the Sabbath!” Notice the scripture: “There remaineth therefore a rest [Greek: Sabbatismos] to the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). Sabbatismos means, “A Sabbatism; the repose of Christianity, rest.” It means “A Sabbatizing,” or a “Sabbath rest.”

The translators of 1611 had been subjected to centuries of church tradition. They had “learned” in their studies of the ancient church councils; of actual legislation effected by popes and emperors concerning Sunday observance. Even though they had clear evidence before them that the word katapausis meant a “down pausing,” or a “reposing down,” and Sabbatismos meant “a keeping of the Sabbath,” they chose to conceal, as much as they could, the true meaning of verse 9!

Yet, it is only when one understands the true meaning of verse 9 that the entire passage from Hebrews 3:7 to Hebrews 4:11 makes sense!

Again and again, we are reminded of Joshua’s orations; of how he urged the Israelites “Today, harden not your hearts!”

We are reminded that the older generation of Israelites did not attain to the “rest” in the promised land, and warned that we, as Christians, might not attain to the “rest” in the millennium with Jesus Christ if we harden our hearts against God’s laws.

We are told that David specifically set apart, or pointed out, a certain DAY in this regard (Heb. 4:7), speaking of the Sabbathday.

Then, we are told that, if the true “rest” of God had been given under Joshua, God would not “have spoken of another day.”

Then we are told, “There remains therefore a keeping of the Sabbath to the people of God!” (Heb. 4:9). Look it up in the margin of some King James Bibles, or in the Diaglott, or in an exhaustive concordance! This is the truth of God from your own Bible, not the ideas of any man, or the twisted misinterpretation of scripture that we have seen in attempts to justify Sunday observance.

Now, one can far more clearly understand the exhortations given in Hebrews 3: “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

“But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

“For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end;

“While it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation” (Heb. 3:12-19).

This is nothing short of urging God’s people to fellowship together; to exhort one another “while it is called Today,” meaning on the Sabbath days, lest any become hardened of heart, and draw back from God’s laws, and His way of life.

The Sabbath BEFORE the Ten Commandments Were Given

God’s Sabbath Day was created long before the giving of the Ten Commandments, or the “decalogue,” as it is called, at the foot of Mount Sinai.

God created Adam on the sixth day of creation week, and He created the Sabbath day on the seventh day of creation week.

While God had finished working, He had not finished creating.

God rested from all His works on the seventh day of creation week, and by the act of resting, He created the Sabbath. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

“And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made: and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” (Gen. 2:1-3). The Ten Commandments were not codified, or written in stone, until many centuries later; long after the flood of Noah’s time; long after Abraham! That is why the Ten Commandments look back to the time of the creation: “Remember [think back, and never forget!] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

“Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.

“But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

“For in six days the Lord [JHVH, or “The Eternal,” sometimes called Jehovah] made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Eternal blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it [made it holy!] (Ex. 20:8-11).

The Sabbath is the only day of the week God ever dignified with a name. Today, our days of the week bear completely pagan names: Sunday is the “day of the Sun,” or Solis invictus, which means, “the day of the invincible sun.” Monday is the “day of the moon.” Tuesday is the “day of Theus,” while Wednesday is “Woden’s day.” Thursday is the “day of Thor,” and Friday is “Friea’s day,” all named after pagan gods which are nothing but the figment of the imagination of heathens long in the past.

The knowledge of the weekly cycle was given to Adam, and to all the patriarchs, long prior to the flood of Noah. When God called Israel out of hundreds of years of slavery, He revealed to them His Sabbath days, and His annual holy days, or festivals. It was by the means of the first Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread that God brought them out of slavery; out of Egypt, and into the land of wandering for a time of testing; forty long years.

One of their great tests was the Sabbath. It is the “test”commandment; the one which requires our doing something—by resting on that day—worshiping God as our Creator, looking back to creation, and looking forward to the Kingdom of God.

Study again the 16th chapter of Exodus, four chapters beforeSinai, and the delivery of the Ten Commandments on two tablets of stone, and see how God reminded Israel of His Sabbath day! When they broke His law concerning the Sabbath, God demanded, “How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? (Ex. 16:28).

The Ten Commandments of God define what is sin. Notice, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin?, Nay. I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet” (Romans 7:7). God’s law points out what sin is.

If a policeman were to ask you, “Do you know what it means to break the law?” you might think he were either jesting, or crazy. You would wonder why he would ask such a ridiculous question. If you break the law, you break the law—you act contrary to written legislation, or do something illegal.

Can you run a stop sign where no stop sign exists? Can you exceed the speed limit where there is no speed limit? Of course not!

Now, notice, “Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15). How plain!

Where there is no law, there is no law to break. Sin is defined as the breaking of God’s Ten Commandments—His righteous law:

“Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for SIN IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF THE LAW” (1 John 3:4). Therefore, when the Bible says people sinned from the time of Adam to the time of the giving of the decalogue at the foot of Mount Sinai, it is obvious the Ten Commandments were already in place; that they were known by the ancients; that it was a sin to violate them.

The Ten Commandments includes the fourth command, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” It carries the same penalty as murder. It carries the penalty of death for breaking it!

John wrote, “And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

“He that saith, I know Him,’ and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3, 4).

Just as it is impossible to run a non-existent stop sign, it is impossible to commit a sin if there is no law that points out what sin is.

Yet, sin was committed by human beings from the moment following Satan’s deception of our first parents, and that clearly means that God’s laws were being broken. God did not “think up” and produce His Ten Commandments at Sinai. He revealed His perfect laws to our first parents, and to all the patriarchs long prior to the flood; to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His laws were known, not only to His own godly patriarchs, but known by pagan kings in many countries in the Mideast, long before Sinai.

When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they broke several major points of God’s Ten Commandments. First, they lustedafter the forbidden fruit; they coveted what God had forbidden. That broke the tenth commandment. They disobeyed and dishonored their only Parent, God Almighty, when they did exactly what He had forbidden them to do, thus breaking the fifth commandment. They took what was not theirs, which was stealing. That broke the eighth commandment!

James wrote that if we break one commandment, we are guilty of breaking all of them. “But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:9, 10). This plainly shows that Sabbath-breaking is on a par with idolatry, or stealing, or murder; that breaking one point of God’s law is the same as breaking them all. Because Adam and Eve sinned, they were driven out of their fabulous garden. Their children grew to young adulthood. Then occurred the first murder recorded in the Bible. Cain murdered his own brother because of resentment and jealousy.

The Creator God of the Old Testament warned Cain about his attitude. Abel had appropriately brought the firstlings of his flock as a sacrifice. God had already shown the first family that the commission of sin requires the shedding of blood; that the wages of sin is death, and that there was need for an atoning sacrifice for sin. This was many long centuries before the flood of Noah; many, many centuries before the giving of the law at Sinai; many centuries before there was ever a nation called Israel; many centuries before there was a Levitical Priesthood.

Yet, the knowledge of an atonement for sin by offering the firstling of a flock, such as a lamb or a goat, had been revealed to the first family. Abel obeyed God’s instructions, and his offering was looked upon favorably with God.

Cain decided to offer vegetables; the “fruit of the ground” instead (Gen. 4:2-7). He should have bartered with Abel, offering his produce in return for an animal, and then offered the animal in sacrifice.

God’s word says, “And the Eternal had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

“But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

“And the Eternal said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

“If thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; unto thee is its desire, but thou shouldst rule over it” (Gen. 4:4-8). God showed Cain that sin was right at the door because of Cain’s angry attitude. He explained that, once human emotion is involved; bitterness, resentment, anger, jealousy, hatred—self pity—sin is not far behind.

And what is sin? What is the Bible definition of sin? We already read it: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” But there can be no sin where there is no law which points out what sin is! “Where no law is, there is no transgression.” But there was a law in place—God’s holy Ten Commandments, which say, “Thou shalt do no murder!”

God’s Laws Were In Full Force BEFORE Sinai

Now, notice how long ago, and how early on in the Bible sinis mentioned. God Himself warned Cain that sin lay at the door.

Cain, in spite of the warning, plunged right ahead with his bitterness toward his brother, and murdered him!

What is sin? It is the transgression of the law.

The law of God was revealed to our first parents. God’s law is truth. It is righteousness (Ps. 119:172). It is holy. It is perfect, just, and good (Rom. 7:12). God’s law shows us, through the first four commandments, how to love God. It shows us, through the last six commandments, how to love our fellow man. God’s law did not come into existence at Sinai. It was, and is, an expression of God’s will toward His human creation—telling us how to live in peace, prosperity, and happiness.

Notice how God characterized the sickening, depraved homosexuality of the Sodomites and people of their neighboring city Gomorrah: “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Eternal exceedingly” (Gen. 13:13).

In order for those Sodomites to be labeled as wicked and sinners, there had to be a law that was being broken!

God destroyed the pre-flood world because of sin. The whole world had become filled with violence and murder. Cannibalism was rampant. It grieved God to the heart that He had made man. God found only one man whose heart was right with God in that generation, and because of him, and him alone, God spared Noah’s family, and destroyed the entire human race except eight persons (Gen. 6, 7).

The wages of sin is death. The ancients knew this; they knew about God’s laws.

When God made His covenant with Abraham, it was because Abraham was a man of righteous character. God showed that all nations of the earth would ultimately be blessed through Abraham, “Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, and my laws” (Gen. 26:5).

But Abraham was not “justified” through keeping God’s laws. He is called the “father of the faithful” because He believedGod, and because he had absolute faith in God. This does not mean he was perfect. He was capable of sin; of making mistakes.

When Abraham had used human reasoning to protect his wife Sarah from Abimelech, God intervened, so a sin would not be committed.

Abraham was traveling toward the south, and was sojourning in a land called “Gerar.” Abimelech was the king. Afraid Abimelech would kill him and take his wife, Abraham said “she is my sister.” This was a partial lie, but a lie, nevertheless. Abraham was using human reason, and not trusting in God to protect Sarah. Abimelech had large forces. Abraham was a traveller in his country. Seeing the beauty of Sarah, Abimelech took her, and added her to his harem.

But God “…came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man [the wages of sin is death], for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.

“But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?

“Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.

“And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

“Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet… Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done” (Gen. 20:1-9).

God Almighty told Abimelech He had withheld Abimelech from sinning against God. Abimelech himself acknowledged that if he had taken Sarah as a wife, it would have been a great sin, for she was already married. What is sin? You have read it! Sin is the transgression of the law. And where no law exists, there can be no sin.

Therefore, it is plain that God’s law was in full force and effect long before Sinai.

The codifying of God’s Ten Commandments on stone did not bring those laws into existence. The tables of stone delivered to Israel through Moses merely provided Israel with a written record of God’s laws; written with the finger of God on stone, the most durable of all writing materials.

But God had revealed His laws to the ancient patriarchs. He had revealed them to Adam and Eve; to Cain and Abel; to Enoch, and to Noah. He revealed them to Abraham. They were known and understood by the kings of small city states all over the Mideast centuries before Moses led Israel to the foot of Sinai.

The One Who Became Christ Wrote the Ten Commandments!

Millions of nominal Christians in the various “mainstream” churches assume God the Father gave the Israelites theTen Commandments, and then Jesus Christ, the Son, appeared on earth to “nail them to His cross.” Millions assume the Son did away with the Father’s laws. To them, the Ten Commandments are harsh, rigorous, unfair!

But which laws are so “unfair”? Which ones of the ten are so harsh and unreasonable they are a terrible “legalistic” burden? Is it the law against stealing that people detest? No, all church-goers would agree it is wrong to steal. Do they hate the commandment that says “Honor thy father and thy mother”? No, all church-goers agree that the family is the most important unit in society; that we should love, and honor our parents. Is it the commandment against adultery the one they hate? Perhaps, in “gay” churches, or some which are so liberal they preach total licentiousness, but these are extremely rare. The mainstream fundamentalist churches all believe premarital or extramarital sex is wrong; that it is a sin, leading to illegitimacy, abortion, venereal disease, and forced marriages. Just because certain kinds of sins are commonplace in society does not mean the churches condone them.

Do they hate the commandments which Christ summarized, saying, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy mind”? No, they all agree that we should love God, because He first loved us. Few know that the love of God is defined in the Bible as keeping His Ten Commandments: “For this IS the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3).

Then which commandment is it which people resent?

Think of it, and be honest with yourself. If the fourth commandment said, “Thou shalt keep Sunday,” there would be no argument in the professing “Christian” world! But it says we should remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy! And there’s the rub! Because you and I live in a Sunday-observing, nominal “Christian” world with centuries of tradition of Sunday observance, any discussion about keeping God’s Sabbath day causes instant argument!

It does not matter to many whether they can prove that Sunday-observance was imposed upon professing Christians by a church council which did not take place until about three hundred years after Christ! It does not matter to them if they can read Catholic documents which cheerfully admit the Roman Catholic Church changed the day of worship to Sunday solely on the authority of the popes! It does not matter if they can prove, by overwhelming, voluminous proofs from history, that it took centuries for Sunday observance to be gradually forced upon nominal Christians.

No, to most people, tradition is more important. To most, they reason, “Surely all these big churches can’t be wrong“?

Since they live in a Sunday-observing society, and since it is human nature to want to conform, and to avoid standing out, or being thought of as a “religious nut” of some kind, many cling to Sunday observance, even though their conscience nags at them about the Sabbath. I know and understand this feeling, for I myself reasoned this way in my resentment against Sabbath-keeping as a teenager. I didn’t want to prove my father right about the Sabbath day, I wanted to prove him wrong! But I couldn’t! I cannot obliterate the plain scriptures in my bible which make me responsible for keeping the Sabbath today!

Little do millions know that the member of the Godhead who wrote the fourth commandment with His own finger is the very same person who was born of the virgin Mary; who became Jesus Christ of Nazareth! This is an astonishing truth, and yet very easy to prove.

All you need do is read, carefully and slowly, with no one there to twist or distort the meaning; no one there to tell you it doesn’t mean what it says; the entire first chapter of John’s gospel. Here are major excerpts:

John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word [Greek: Logos, meaning, “Spokesman”] and the Word [notice that the translators knew they need to show respect by capitalizing the letter “W”] was with God, and the Word was God [The Logos was Theos; Greek].

“The same was in the beginning with God.

“All things were made by Him: and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3). So the One who said “Let there be Light;” who said, “Let the dry land appear;” who said, “Let US make man in OUR image,” was the One Who became Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

Continue, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

“And the light shineth in darkness: and the darkness comprehendeth it not.

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

“The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

“He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

“That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

“He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

“He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.

“Which were born [Greek: begotten], not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [the Greek word is “tabernacled” and has great significance!] among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).

The Creator God of the Old Testament is the member of the divine Family called Elohim who did the creating. Not that He was the sole Architect of the universe, for the Bible clearly tells us He said “Let US create man in OUR image.” The Father and the Son were involved in the creation—they did it together!

Jesus said “I and my father are one,” and said that the Father Who dwelt in Him produced the works He performed, and gave Him the message He should speak.

Nevertheless, your Bible clearly tells you it was the one you and I know as Jesus Christ of Nazareth who gave the Ten Commandments; who was the “Word,” who spoke and said, “Let there be light;” who rested on the seventh day, and hallowed it.

It was This member of the divine Elohim who dealt with Cain, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He allowed Moses to see His back parts (Ex. 33:11-23). He wrote the Ten Commandments with His own hand! It was He who created the Sabbath day, and carried out the death sentence on those who broke it!

You need to deeply inculcate this fact down into your mind, and never forget it! It helps you understand the whole Bible!

Millions who profess Jesus Christ; who “believe on Jesus,” would be astonished to know that the person who became Jesus Christ is the same person who wrote the Ten Commandments! Yet it stands absolutely proved in your own Bible!

Now, why would the divine sovereign Elohim, whom we know of as Jesus Christ, write a law He knew He was going to destroy?

Why would He give Israel a law He knew “wouldn’t work,” and then put them to death for disobeying it?

Is it logical to suppose the Great JHVH, sometimes called Jehovah, or the great “I AM,” the One who is called the “Word”, and who is Jesus Christ, would deliver a law to Moses and the Israelites He knew He would soon rescind? Would He put people to death for disobeying it then, but allow millions to break it today?

Nonsense! He says, “For I am the Eternal, I CHANGE NOT, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8).

Jesus Christ told His disciples, “Think NOT I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am NOT COME TO DESTROY but to fulfill.

“For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

“Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matt. 5:17-19).

When you fulfill an obligation, you do or perform it. When the obligation is lifelong, you continue to fulfill it for so long as you live. Christ did not say “I am not come to destroy but to destroy,” which would be a blatant, direct contradiction.

He said He did not come to destroy the law; He said not the crossing of a “t,” or dotting of an “i” would pass from the law until all of its intent were fulfilled. The intent of the law is that all mankind finally live within its holy, perfect precepts; that the world become a place of utopian beauty, with no sin; no crime, no violence, no war!

It is absolutely nonsensical to think Jesus Christ, as the Logos, or “Spokesman” of the divine Elohim would give His perfect law to His people when He knew He would eventually come into this world as a fleshly human being, to destroy the same holy and righteous law He wrote with His own finger!

Jesus said, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (John 15:10).

“But That’s Legalism!”

Millions have heard my voice over the past four decades, and the voice of my father before me, preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. We have always emphasized that the Kingdom of God is the coming world-ruling government of God, and shown that God will not save a single person who is not willing to obey Him. We have upheld God’s Ten Commandments, and shown that the Sabbath is to be observed.

“But that’s legalism,” some scoff. Thousands of sermons are preached each week in Sunday-observing pulpits, and over religious radio and television programs against God’s Sabbath day; against any “legal” requirements to obey God! Much of this preaching, and a large number of books, articles and tracts have been written to combat thousands of these radio and television programs; my father’s booklets and mine.

“Just come to the cross,” they say. “Only believe on Jesus,” they say. “You can’t be saved by works,” they say.

But there is more to salvation than only belief! We must believe what Jesus Christ preached; what He taught; believe and obey His example, as well as believe “on” Christ.

It is true that neither you nor I can be saved by works! You can only be saved by the sacrifice of Jesus’ life in your stead, to atone for sin, which is the breaking of God’s law. We are saved by the life of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead to sit at the right hand of the Father in heaven. We are reconciled to God by Christ’s death, but we are saved by His life, as you will soon see.

By clever speeches, and quoting beautiful verses about love and forgiveness, many preachers deceive their listeners into believing they do not have to obey God’s Ten Commandments!

When you go to a real-estate agent and decide to purchase a home, do you want it done legally? Do you want a legal appraisal? A legal title search? A legal document saying the home does not sit on a flood plain, or has no termite damage? Do you want a legal document that fixes an interest rate you can live with? Do you want a First Trust Deed, and a legal mortgage, with both parties promising, in writing, to fulfill their obligations? Of course you do! When you purchase a home, you want it done legally!

When you buy a car, do you want everything done legally? Do you want a legal paper that states the odometer has not been wound back; a legal paper that tells you the exact price, and the interest rate; a legal paper that says you are the “registered owner”? Of course you do!

You can apply this analogy to anything you do in life; whether applying for a job, going to school, or purchasing a pair of slacks! You want things to be done legally!

Then how is it that religious teachers can instill in their followers the concept that the last thing in the world they want is LEGALISM when it comes to their relationship with God?

Do you want God to fulfill His promise to you of GIVING you eternal life if you repent of sin, and surrender to Him?

Do you want God to keep His word? To fulfill His promises? God makes promises about healing us when we are sick; about delivering us from terrible troubles; about taking our spirit unto Himself, and then bringing us back from the dead at the resurrection! He makes many wondrous promises! You and I hope God will FULFILL His promises, just like we hope a car or home we purchase will be delivered to us lawfully—LEGALLY!

The Old Testament is just that: a testament between God and His people, like a will. God promised to be Israel’s God; to be their protector, provider, and faithful “husband,” if they would obey His laws, which were given for their good.

Israel, like a potential bride answering the proposal of a suitor, said, “All that the Eternal hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). Israel accepted God’s proposal. He said He would give them rain in due season, healthy crops, protection from their enemies, healthy, happy babies, solid, long-lasting marriages; that he would lay none of the diseases of Egypt on them; that they would inherit a wondrous land, flowing with “milk and honey.” He promised them good health, and long life. He promised them peace in the land, and prosperity! Is there anything wrong with all those fabulous promises?

God said, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!” (Deut. 5:29). God’s Ten Commandments, including the fourth commandment about observing the Sabbath, were for their good; for their great benefit. The same is true of us today.

God said to them, “The Eternal shall establish thee an holy people unto Himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if thou shall keep the commandments of the Eternal thy God, and walk in His ways.

“And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee.

“And the Eternal shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Eternal sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

“The Eternal shall open unto thee His good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

“And the Eternal shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Eternal thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them” (Deut. 28:9-13).

When the people of Israel heard the fabulous proposal of God, they accepted His proposal with alacrity! This was the covenant between God and His people. This was an agreement on the part of Israel to obey God’s laws and be faithful to Him, so that He would bless them with full, rich, abundant lives. The covenant was about something. The covenant is not the law, but an agreement about the law; an agreement that Israel would keep the law, and that God would keep His promises. The word covenant means “an agreement between two parties” about something.

God promised to bless and protect them, and the people promised to observe His laws for their own good.

The “Old Covenant” was characterized as a marriageagreement. God said, “Behold, the days come, saith the Eternal, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: which my covenant they brake, although I was an HUSBAND unto them, saith the Eternal” (Jer. 31:31,32).

The covenant, or the “Old Testament,” or the “Old legacy,” or “Old Will,” was like a legal agreement between God, as the Suitor, and Israel, as the potential bride. It was like a “prenuptial agreement,” or a contract.

The laws Israel promised to keep included the Sabbath day, as well as the annual Sabbaths, tithing, and many laws concerning how to love God, and how to love neighbor. They were good laws; laws which would produce every benefit; every blessing! You have read how God said He wished their heart were such that they would keep all His commandments, that it “might be WELL with them and with their children.”

But the people broke their part of the agreement. When one party to a contract fails to keep his part of the agreement, the contract is useless.

God had warned them, “Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

“Take heed to thyself lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

“But ye shall destroy their altars, break their asherah [upright, pagan images—phallic symbols], and cut down their groves:

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Eternal, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

“Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

“And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

“Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

“The feast of unleavened bread thou shalt keep…six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

“And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks [Pentecost], of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering [Tabernacles] at the year’s end” (Ex. 34:11-22).

The pagans worshiped the sun. They worshiped pagan gods of all descriptions, including “Malcom,” and “Molech,” and “Baal.” The features of such worship were perverted adoration of procreation; of life! The pagans did not know the Creator God, who gives us the seasons. Instead, they worshiped symbols of life and fertility, like phallic symbols, rabbits, eggs, and the sun itself, just as millions of professing “Christians” continue to observe purely pagan “holidays” today, with the very same symbols used by ancient Babylonians, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans!

But God commanded His people to continue to keep His Sabbaths which look back to creation, and remind us of God as the Creator of everything that is. He commanded them to observe His annual Sabbaths, which are rich with types of Christ, and which remind us seasonally of God’s great plan.

But the people broke their part of the agreement!

Millions are deceived into thinking the new Covenant does away with the law, when in fact it is intended to write God’s laws in the innermost parts of our hearts and minds; lift His laws to a spiritual plane.

As an example, remember that Jesus Christ said the law against murder had said, “Thou shalt not kill [do no murder],” but Jesus said if we hate our brother in our heart, we have broken the law against murder! Which is the more binding, the literal interpretation of the law, or the spiritualinterpretation of the law, which reaches into the human mind?

The new Covenant can also be viewed as analogous to a legal document. Now, instead of promising physical, material blessings such as rain in due season, healthy children, and protection from enemies, God promises eternal life in the Kingdom of God if we will repent of sin, accept His Son as our personal savior, and allow Christ to live His life within us. Salvation is His free, loving gift, but God does not give precious gifts to people who hate Him, and who hate His laws! He loves us, and He wants us to return His love by being obedient to Him; by honoring His Sabbath day; by following the example of Christ.

Then, they did not have the heart to obey. Now, God promises to change our hearts and minds by placing His Holy Spirit within us, to make it possible to be acceptable to Him!

Salvation is the GIFT of God Through GRACE, and Cannot Be Earned!

Make no mistake! You could not qualify to inherit the Kingdom of God by keeping the Ten Commandments perfectly for one hundred lifetimes of one hundred years each! Salvation is the free, loving GIFT of God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We can never earn salvation.

Keeping the Sabbath day will not “earn” anyone justification from past sins, or “earn” anyone an entrance into the Kingdom of God! But Sabbath-breaking is a sin, just like stealing or murder is a sin.

We must repent of sin in order to be justified; to have our guilty past removed! We have already seen that sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). When we break God’s law, we are under the sentence of death, for the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23).

When we repent of having broken God’s law (Acts 2:38), God forgives us of having sinned. Now, we are justified; redeemed, made right in God’s sight. Now, God has forgiven us for the sins we committed, and has applied the blood sacrifice of His Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who died in our stead, thus paying the penalty for sin!

Now, we are under God’s merciful grace! What is “grace”? It is undeserved, unmerited pardon for our past sins. It is not license to continue to live in sin; to thumb our noses at God’s Ten Commandments; to ignore His Sabbaths!

Paul wrote, “What then? shall we sin [break God’s laws], because we are not under the law [the law no longer holds the penalty of death over our heads], but under grace? God forbid!

“Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:15,16).

Now, think! If you are arrested for a crime, and the judge sentences you to a year in prison, but you are forgiven for that crime, and allowed to go free, are you now free to go out, and commit the same crime? Of course not!

Forgiveness of sin does not mean we are now free to sin!

Repentance and baptism “justifies” us in the sight of God, but the forgiveness of sins that are past, believe it or not, does not save us! Millions think that if they “only believe” that they have sinned; that Christ died to save sinners; that Christ will forgive them of sin—they are saved!

But there is more.

Notice it, in your own Bible: “But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

“Much more then, being now justified by His blood, we SHALL BE saved from wrath through Him.

“For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we SHALL BE SAVED BY HIS LIFE! (Rom. 5:8-10).

If Christ’s death could save us, why did He need to be resurrected? No, by His death is the atonement for sins that are past. This is “justification.” This is “reconciliation.”

If you and a beloved family member are at odds; if you have fought and argued over something, and have been estranged, and if you are then reconciled, does this mean you continue to fight and argue over the same things that divided you?

No, reconciliation is being “brought back” to the previous state! It has to do with removal of past guilt, but is not a stamp of approval for future sins!

Jesus Christ is our living High Priest, at the right hand of God the Father, to make daily reconciliation for us when we go to Him in broken-hearted repentance for sins that we all commit virtually every day! We are reconciled by His death, but we are saved by His life!

No judge would give you a legal document that says you have received a pardon for murder, so now you are free to go out and kill anyone you wish.

Now, a vitally important question: Because you are free as a result of a pardon, and you decide never to commit such a crime again, does living a crime-free life earn the pardon you received? Of course not! It was a free gift! You didn’t earn it.

No American earns his right of citizenship and his precious freedoms by obeying the law and staying out of prison! His rights and liberties are a gift, given by right of birth or by legal immigration and citizenship. When we break the law, our liberties and freedoms can be taken away.

If we break the law, and are given a pardon because a judge was merciful, this does not mean we are now free to break the law again and again!

As Paul wrote, “But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

“Being then made free from sin [because Christ’s blood atoned for sin], ye became the servants of righteousness (Rom. 6:17,18).

“All thy Commandments are righteousness,” God says (Ps. 119:172). To become the servants of righteousness is to begin living within God’s laws, by allowing Jesus Christ to dwell in your hearts and minds through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Sabbath is A Perpetual SIGN — A “Mark” Between God and His People

God established the Sabbath day as a perpetual sign between Himself and His people! Who did this? As you have read, the divine member of the Godhead who became Jesus Christ did this!

“And the Eternal spake unto Moses, saying,

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Eternal that doth sanctify you.

“Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death [the wages of sin is death]: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

“Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Eternal: whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

“Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

“It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Eternal made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

“And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex. 31:12-18). Are there any end-time remnants of the “Children of Israel” existing today? You know there are, even if you believe they are “Jews,” which only a small percentage of them are. If you have not yet read my book, Europe And America In Prophecy, which clearly sets forth the identity of the United States, Britain, and Europe in the light of Biblical history and prophecy, please write, or call for it immediately.

God does not have two different standards by which He judges human beings. This was a perpetual covenant; a perennial sign; one which would last so long as the two parties exist!

You have read that God never changes. You have read that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. You have read that the One who wrote the Ten Commandmentswith His own finger is the One who became Jesus Christ!

Notice that it was the Sabbath, the great test commandment, which was especially emphasized by the Creator when He gave Moses the two tables of stone!

The Sabbath is a sign between God and his people. A sign is an identifying label, or a “mark.” For astonishing insight into the true meaning of the infamous “Mark of the Beast,” write, or call for my booklet entitled, The Mark Of The Beast? 

God Promised Great Blessings For Sabbath-keeping

Almighty God promised His people they would be greatly blessed if they would only keep His laws! Specifically, He pointed to His Sabbath days as a great blessing.

“Thus saith the Eternal, Keep ye judgement, and do justice:

“My salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed,

“Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

“Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Eternal, speak, saying, The Eternal hath utterly separated me from His people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.

“For thus saith the Eternal unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant;

“Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off,

“Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Eternal, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Eternal, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer…” (Isa. 56:1-7).

An everlasting name? This is nothing short of a promise of salvation.

Notice, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath; from doing thy pleasure [doing as you please] on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Eternal, honorable: and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Eternal; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob [Israel] thy father: for the mouth of the Eternal hath spoken it” (Isa. 58:13,14).

The heritage of Jacob is the Kingdom of God. God promised eternal inheritance of this earth!

Jesus Christ told the Pharisees, “Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of God, and you yourselves cast out” (Matt. 8:11,12).

Again, who said this? God does not lie. His word is truth, and He does not change. You have read the words of your own Bible, which absolutely prove that the divine Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, is the person of the Godhead who wrote the Ten Commandments with His own finger!

Millions of professing “Christians” are simply deceived. They do not know these biblical truths. Their eyes are blinded by tradition. They have never truly studied to discover the truth of God’s word about His holy Sabbath day.

Paul’s “Custom” of Sabbath-keeping—and What He Taught the Gentiles

God raised up Paul as His apostle to the Gentiles all over the Mediterranean world. As Saul, he had terribly persecuted the church, hailing men and women into prison. He was struck down on the road to Damascus, blinded, and so frightfully shocked that he was made ready to obey Jesus Christ, be baptized, and receive God’s Holy Spirit (Acts 9:1-22).

Saul called himself an “Hebrew of the Hebrews.” He had been brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, one of the greatest teachers of rabbinical law. There was never a question in Paul’s mind about God’s laws; about the Sabbath day, or the annual holy days. They were a vital part of his life, as they were a part of the lives of all the apostles. He had been brought up from an infant by parents and teachers who kept God’s weekly and annual Sabbaths.

As he traveled about, he continually preached on the Sabbathday. Nearly every town and city had a Jewish synagogue. Paul went to the synagogues, preaching on the Sabbaths. However, there were many Gentiles living all over Asia Minor, and they outnumbered the Jews in nearly every case.

Notice some examples: “Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem.

“But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down” (Acts 13:14-41). Paul was invited to speak, and preached powerfully about Christ’s resurrection from the dead, concluding, “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets: Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you” (Acts 13:40-42).

Now, notice what happened! The Jews left the synagogue, and only Gentiles remained. “And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Vs. 42).

What an opportunity for Paul and his men! Here were only Gentiles, asking the apostle to the Gentiles about coming together again for worship, and hearing the word of God preached, on the next Sabbath day! All Paul had to do was to explain to them that they didn’t need to wait a whole week—they could come back the very next day, our Sunday, to celebrate the “Eucharistic sacrifice!” Did Paul do this? Remember, Luke wrote these words about thirty years after Christ had ascended to heaven. There would have been plenty of time for the “custom” of “Christians meeting together on Sunday in commemoration of the resurrection” in those thirty years.

What happened? “And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God” (Vs. 44). These Gentile believers were not counseled to come back the next day. Not one word was said about Gentile Christians observing Sunday as the day for worship. Instead, they all came together the following Sabbath day. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, was certainly not observing the first day of the week, nor was he teaching Gentile Christians to do so. No, he continually taught them on the Sabbath days.

During the Jerusalem conference, as the apostles were wrestling with the false teaching from the Jews that all the new converts should be circumcised, James summed up the speeches and gave his final decision: “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

“But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

“For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day” (Acts 15:19-21). James did not remotely suggest that this custom be changed, nor did any of the other apostles. The Sabbath simply never came up as a question. It continued to be observed for centuries by the early Church Jesus founded.

Shortly thereafter, Paul and Silas were summoned of God in a dream to go into Macedonia. They went from Troas to Philippi. “And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither” (Acts 16:12-14).

As the Diaglott shows, this word for “Sabbath” is in the plural, and should be rendered “Sabbaths.” It was on the “Feast of Sabbaths” or “Feast of Firstfruits” that Paul and Silas spoke to Lydia and her household. Since the birth of the church, the Feast of Sabbaths, or Firstfruits, has been called “Pentecost,” which means “fiftieth.”

Now, notice, “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews:

“And Paul as his manner was [this was His custom; his way!] went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures [the only “scriptures” extant were those of our Old Testament!],

“Opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ” (Acts 17:1-3). The city disintegrated into a riotous uproar, and Paul and Silas had to leave at night, and travel to Berea. In passing, notice, “These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily [The Old Testament—the only “scriptures” extant at that time!] whether these things were so.

“Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few” (Acts 17:11, 12).

Later, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he found Aquila, who was a tentmaker. Paul, who knew the trade, stayed with Priscilla and Aquila, because the emperor Claudius had ordered all Jews out of Rome, and they were dispersed in all directions.

“And because he was of the same craft, he [Paul] abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers.

“And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:1-4). Again, a group of the Jews rebelled and vehemently opposed him. Paul said, “Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles” (verse 6).

Paul remained in Corinth for a “year and six months, teaching the word of God among them” (verse 11).

Later, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him, Paul journeyed to Ephesus, where “he himself entered into the synagogue [on the Sabbath days—the only days when the synagogue was attended], and reasoned with the Jews.

“When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not;

“But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus” (Acts 18:18-21). Here Luke records how Paul was urgently wanting to be in Jerusalem, to be with others of the apostles and the brethren, on the upcoming Feast, one of God’s annual holy days! Luke wrote these words, remember, about thirty yearsafter the resurrection of Christ. This allowed ample time for any changes in the custom, practice, and worship of God’s apostles and His early church. They would have had over three decades to put any such changes in doctrine or custom in place. Obviously, the apostles and the early church continued to keep God’s Sabbaths and His annual holy days.

Much later, in Paul’s defense before the governor, Felix, he said, “But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they [the Jews] call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (Acts 24:14). Paul believed all things written in the “Old Testament” of your Bible! That includes every scripture concerning God’s Ten Commandments, and Gods Sabbath days, as well as the annual Sabbaths, and all the many prophecies about Jesus Christ.

Do you believe all things written in the law and the prophets? Does most of professing Christianity? Do most of the Sunday-observing preachers and religious teachers believe them?

You know that they do not! Most of them teach against the Old Testament; against any obligation to observe God’s Sabbath days or His annual holy days.

Later, before Agrippa, Paul said, “Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

“That Christ should suffer, and that He should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and unto the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22, 23). Notice His belief. Notice His custom.

In the next chapter, Luke again makes mention of one of God’s annual holy days, the “Day of Atonement,” as a logical and important date on the calendar, having to do with the seasons: “Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them…” (Acts 27:9). The margin says: “The fast was on the tenth day of the seventh month: Lev. 23:27; Num. 29:7,” which refers to the Day of Atonement.Remember, Luke was writing in about 59 to 61 AD, approximately thirty years after Christ’s resurrection!

Paul Loved God’s Ten Commandments, and Strove to Keep Them

For centuries, gainsayers have attempted to use the writings of the apostle Paul to do away with any requirement to observe God’s Sabbath days, annual holy days, or any other of God’s laws! Peter warned about this, saying, “…account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation: even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you:

“As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest [twist out of shape], as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:15, 16).Did Paul contradict Himself? Notice what He said about the law of God: “Because the law worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15). This is a simple principle with which we have already dealt. Sin is the transgression of the law.

Paul wrote, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin [the wages of sin is death]; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned (Rom. 5:12).

Paul was explaining what you have already read; how the law of God, though not yet codified on stone, was nevertheless in full force and effect, and was known by the ancients.

Notice how many times Paul upholds God’s Ten Commandments: “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid, nay, I had not known sin [known what it was; how to avoid it], but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet…Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Rom. 7:7-12).

Paul did not blatantly contradict himself by continually upholding the law; saying it was “holy, and just, and good,” and then turn around and teach Christians they did not have to obey it!

He wrote, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14). Then follows one of the most moving and encouraging passages of scripture. Read, in your own Bible, all of Romans 7, especially verses 14 through 25. After explaining how Paul, with the innermost intent of his heart, wanted to obey God’s laws; to do that which is good,he said, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

“But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin [the pull of carnal human nature] which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:22-25).

Paul explained only a few verses later, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7).

The average human being possesses a carnal, physical, human mind, which is antagonistic against the law of God!

God shows it is human nature to resent God’s authority; to resent His laws. Thousands of would-be “Christian” teachers are perfectly willing to “believe on” Jesus Christ, so long as they feel they are under no obligation to obey Him!

Millions say they love the Lord Jesus Christ, but they will not do what He said!

When many who claim to be “Christian” are passionately opposed to God’s law, it is obvious they are yet carnal, and are not truly converted. An instant test to determine whether one is indeed carnal minded instead of spiritually minded is to simply ask whether one believes one should keep God’s Ten Commandments. If people are antagonistic toward God’s laws, they are carnal; not yet converted. If they love God’s laws, the chances are they are converted.

One of the best Bible definitions of a Christian is found a few verses later: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). The only way to receive the Spirit of God is to “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). But God will only give His Holy Spirit to those who will obey Him (Acts 5:32).

What is repentance? It is the deep remorse over having broken God’s laws; over having sinned, which is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).

Therefore the definition of a Christian is one who has been deeply sorry for having broken God’s laws; has repented of having broken them, been baptized, and received God’s Holy Spirit. Such a person will then want to live a life of obedience to God as best he or she can, going to God in prayer for every human failing, mistake, or sin.

Paul, who wrote so feelingly to the Romans about how holy, and just and good was God’s law; who said he served the law of God; who said it was spiritual; would never have turned around and written to a different Gentile church that they did not have to keep it!

The “Weak and Beggardly Elements”

True to Peter’s warning, there are those who wrest Paul’s writings; who select certain “proof texts” which are “hard to be understood,” in order to “prove” to people they do not have to observe God’s laws.

Of course, they are not attempting to set aside the laws against idolatry, or covetousness, or adultery, or murder! No, they are only interested in getting rid of the Sabbath days and the annual holy days, so they can remain a PART of a Sunday-observing world! They desperately want to CONFORM to the world around them, looking to the great Catholic Church, or their own protestant denomination, saying to themselves “surely, all these churches can’t br wrong.” But they ARE wrong, as you have seen with your own eyes, and from your own Bible!

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a prime example of how false teachers WREST the writings of Paul in their attempts to do away with the Sabbath and the annual holy days. These Gentile people in the area of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe were being heavily influenced by “Judaizers”; Pharisaical Jewish “believers” who, while they accepted Jesus Christ, just could not let go of dozens of “do’s and don’ts” of the “book of the law.” One of the primary controversies that arose in the early church was the insistence of many Jewish converts that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised and observe ceremonial laws, such as those found in the Torah and the Talmud.

Acts the 15th chapter is an important historical document, which proves how widespread was this teaching. Paul learned that the Gentile Christians in the region of Galatia were being seriously affected by those who wanted them to embrace all the laws of Moses. The Ten Commandments were simply not a question among these people. Rather, Judaizing teachers wanted them to become deeply involved with all the laws of the Torah, including many additional man-made ordinances, rules and regulations.

Paul introduced the subject by writing, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:

“Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ [false teachers, who were insisting there must be many physical works; outward show and manifestation, to salvation].

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:6-9). Paul then repeated this ominous statement, making it a double curse.

The first and second chapters are written to prove that Paul was specially called of God; that he was not “Peter’s messenger,” and that he was equal in every way to the other apostles. He related how Peter, giving in to racist leanings, was eating with a group of Gentiles, but when Jewish leaders from Jerusalem came to Antioch, Peter “withdrew and separated himself [shunning the Gentiles with whom he had been fellowshipping], fearing them which were of the circumcision” (Gal. 2:12).

Read Paul’s impassioned rebuke in Galatians 2:14-21.

A much misunderstood verse is Galatians 2:16: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

Paul sums up the same thought when he says, “…for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain” (Gal. 2:21).

Paul is speaking of the “Torah” to the Galatians; the whole lawas contained in the first five books of the Bible. He makes it clear that Israel could never have attained to salvation by living within the terms and conditions of the Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments. The law cannot save us! The law points out what is sin.

Justification, or the forgiveness of sins (sin is the breaking of God’s laws) can only come through faith in the sacrifice of Christ to atone for sins. It cannot come through performing rituals, ceremony, or through rigorously abstaining from proscribed food, drink, or clothing.

Yet, even though God’s Ten Commandments are not the specific subject of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he makes it clear that the Old Covenant, including the rituals and sacrifices, was added because God’s laws were being broken.

When Paul writes of the “book of the law,” he includes the Torah, or Genesis through Deuteronomy.

When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He commanded them to obey His voice! But they disobeyed. They continually broke His laws. We have read how God imposed the death penaltyfor Sabbath-breaking before the Ten Commandments were written on stone on Mount Sinai. Sin occurred throughout the period of time from the creation of Adam until the giving of the law on Sinai, and sin is not imputed when there is no law (Rom. 4:15). God’s Ten Commandments were being broken, which was sin.

The added laws, including the rituals and sacrifices, could never bring them salvation. They were added as a “schoolmaster,” to teach those people that it requires the shedding of blood to atone for sin.

God said, “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:

“But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you” (Jer. 7:22).

Burn that truth down deep into your mind, and understand it! As already proven, God’s laws were in full force and effect from creation to Sinai. They did not come into existence at Mount Sinai, they were codified; written down with the finger of God, and eventually contained twice within the Torah, in Exodus 20, and Deuteronomy 5.

Speaking of the codification of God’s laws, including the rituals, Paul writes, “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator [Moses]” (Gal. 3:19). If one has a broken leg, and a splint is placed upon it, or a cast, the cast or splint is added to the leg because it has been broken. A “transgression” is a sin. Sin is the “transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Because these stiff-necked Israelites were breaking God’s law, committing sin, God added the “book of the law.” As Paul explained, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

“But after faith is come [faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died for our sins!], we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Gal. 3:24).

The Greek word for “schoolmaster” is paidagogus. You will recognize the English word “pedagogue” in the Greek. A pedagogue is a teacher, or a headmaster. Today’s modern school systems do not usually feature a “headmaster” in the fashion of 17th century Britain. The law was like a “headmaster,” or a head teacher, to keep the Israelites in a disciplined, orderly mode of learning.

The headmaster of old was not only an instructor, he was a strict disciplinarian. Paul is showing the Gentiles that the law was a strict disciplinarian; as an headmaster of a school, who had the power to punish for infractions.

God’s laws given to Israel not only taught the people the terrible consequences of sin, they prescribed the punishmentsfor infractions! Thus, one could be banished from the community; forced to restore something stolen; perhaps restore it double, or suffer the death penalty inflicted by the civil community for breaking various points of the law.

One of the primary outward manifestations of that “headmaster,” or “schoolmaster” was circumcision. It is one of the primary subjects Paul addressed in his letter to the Galatians: “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

“For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law [observe all the other rites and ceremonies]” (Gal. 5:2,3).

Again, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Gal. 6:15).

Remember, these people in Iconium, Lystra and Derbe were Gentiles, with pagan, polytheistic backgrounds. They had been reared in a culture which taught dozens of superstitions. From the time they were children, their parents had taught them about false gods, taboos, ominous signs in the heavens, “lucky” or “unlucky” days. They were “dismayed” at the seasons; at astrological phenomena. They thought certain months, or days, or seasons, were propitious or unpropitious.

As new converts, these Gentile Christians were only too eager to listen to intelligent, gifted teachers and speakers who wanted to cause them to be circumcised, as well as to encourage them to accept all the various added “do’s and don’ts” of the law of Moses. Whether or not they should break the Ten Commandments was simply not part of the subject matter.

Paul told them that they had been “in bondage under the rudiments of the world” from their childhood: “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

“But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father.

“Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements [Greek: “rudiments”] of the world” (Gal. 4:1-3).

The word “rudiments” means elemental, fundamental, basic; something roughly formed. Notice that Paul speaks of the bondage of the world, and is not speaking at all about God’s Sabbath days, or God’s Ten Commandments. He is speaking about man-made religious taboos and requirements which made one’s daily life a rigorous, continual annoyance; burdened down by dozens of detailed little things to do, including manner of dress, hair styles and the like.

Only when one has studied the incredible lives led by people from Tibet to Haiti, and from the jungles of the Amazon to the streets of Beijing, can one understand how many people are in bondage to various superstitions and ritualistic performances. I doubt that anyone reading this book lights a “joss” stick and places it at his door each morning when leaving for work, or prays to a tree, apologizing to its “spirit,” before cutting it down. Neither are you cautioned to avoid killing a flea on the Sabbath unless it bites you first!

Now, notice a passage of scripture that is one of the favoritesof those who would insist that keeping God’s Sabbath is “bondage!”

“Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods [pagan idolatry; worshiping non-existent deities].

“But now, after that ye have known God, how turn ye again [notice! These were Gentiles, and some of them were turning back again into their pagan past] to the weak and beggardly elements [rudiments], whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?

“Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.

“I am afraid of [for] you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain” (Gal. 4:8-11).

Never did God command His people to observe months! He condemned those who were “observers of times.”

When Israel drove out the inhabitants of the promised land, God told them to avoid adopting any of their abominable, pagan practices, such as “observing times.” “There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination [dealing with demons, or “familiar spirits”], or an observer of times [those who believe certain positions of the planets; certain months, or seasons, or years, are either specially propitious, or unlucky], or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a necromancer [one who claims to foretell the future by communicating with the dead].

“For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Eternal: and because of these abominations the Eternal thy God doth drive them out from before thee” (Deut. 18:9-12).

The people of Galatia were brought up in a completely paganworld. Their parents and their grandparents believed in many different pagan myths and superstitions. On the other hand, they were aware of Jewish synagogues in their midst; of the different dress mannerisms, and habits of the Jews. Both elements were at work among them when Paul wrote his letter.

The early Christians of Galatia were being pulled this way and that way by different teachers. Some were Judaizers, attempting to cause the Galatians to become involved in all the outward ritualistic show of “righteousness,” such as circumcision, prescribed fasts, habits of dress—a plethora of “do’s and don’ts” which would dominate their every waking hour. Others were teaching pagan astrology; encouraging them to become “observers of times.”

Nowhere does Paul tell them to abandon God’s Sabbath day, or His annual Sabbaths! Paul wrote to the Gentiles in Corinth, “Let us therefore keep the Feast,” referring to the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread (1 Cor. 5:8).

Now, notice how the Gentiles at Colossae were also being affected by false teachers, who were insisting that they observe various outward, physical, sensual rites, taboos, and requirements: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments [elements] of the world, and not after Christ” (Col. 2:8)

Paul was teaching against man-made traditions; against the vain “rudiments” of the world, not the laws of God, or God’s holy Sabbath day. Returning to the “rudiments of the world” would be as if an advanced English major, studying to receive a doctor’s degree, would be required to learn his “ABC’s.” It would be like turning away from real knowledge; from advanced study and understanding.

After these Gentiles had been delivered from superstitions, taboos, belief in pagan deities, myth and idolatry, false teachers were attempting to influence them to become enslaved to various ritualistic customs; not only circumcision, but many other “taboos.”

Paul showed how Jesus Christ had made all these “rudiments” of the world totally unnecessary.

“And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened [made alive] together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

“Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was againstus, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross [Greek: stauros, meaning upright pale, stake, or tree]” (Col. 2:13,14).

Never are God’s Ten Commandments referred to as “the handwriting of ordinances.” These “ordinances” were humanly-devised restrictions, such as abstaining from certain kinds of foods on certain days, avoiding business dealings on “unlucky” days, or being married during a certain month. There were dozens of them, of which “Friday the 13th,” and things like walking under a ladder, breaking a mirror, or having a black cat walk across your path are carryovers to modern times.

Never are God’s Ten Commandments spoken of as “against” us. Instead, God shows they are for our good. Read Deuteronomy 5:29 again, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!”

Now, continue with the next verse in Colossians: “And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it [or, “Himself”].”

Christ triumphed over death! He triumphed over Satan the devil; over the Sanhedrin; over the Roman government. His triumph was that death could not hold Him; that God resurrected Him from the dead, thus completing the wondrous plan of saving mankind from sin. Because Christ had done this—because of His triumph over the wages of sin, Paul urges these gentiles not to allow anyone to judge and condemn them in minute, unimportant, ritualistic symbolism, like various taboos. He instructed them not to worry about what other people would say, but to live their lives for Christ: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days” (Col. 2:14,15).

Notice this says not to let any man judge, or condemn you; it says nothing about God judging. Why would men be judging, criticizing, or condemning the people at Colossae? Simply because, from either extreme of Judaism or paganism, false teachers wanted them to become enslaved by many and varied restrictions! The Judaizers wanted them to become circumcised, and the “observers of times” wanted them to rigidly observe various “times,” and other superstitions.

Other men were judging them because they were eating meat, or because they violated certain drink restrictions. Some were judging and condemning because of the manner in which these people were observing God’s holy days; the manner in which they were observing God’s Sabbath days. Six of the seven annual Sabbaths are feast days, in which food and drink play an important part. The only exception is the Day of Atonement, which is a fast day.

Paul was not saying God was judging or condemning—but that man was.

The margin says “Let no man therefore judge you because of your eating and drinking!”

Do you know of any “eating and drinking” taboos that are urged upon religious people today? Who has not heard of the American experiment with total prohibition in the twenties? Who is not familiar with “blue laws”? Who does not know about some churches which absolutely forbid certain kinds of beverages, in some cases, even coffee and tea? Who does not know about tens of thousands of restaurants offering clam chowder on Fridays as their “soup of the day”? How strange it is that tens of thousands of restaurants honor the Catholicreligion of eating fish on Friday, and totally ignore the Jewish and Arab (Islamic) proscriptions against pork products. Such practices are a clear violation of the principal of the separation of Church and State, but the various civil rights activists, such as the ACLU, have yet to protest!

Many religious groups observe many different “written ordinances” today, which are enforced upon their people; oftentimes used as cause for disfellowshipment if they are broken. Most Baptists eschew any alcoholic beverages; Mormons eschew any stimulants, including tea and coffee; Catholics believe one must eat fish on Fridays.

Paul continues the thought, “Let no man judge you [because of] meat, or in drink, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ” (Col. 2:16,17). The word “is” has been placed in italics by the translators, which confuses the meaning of the verse. On its face, the verse seems to say that the substance of the things foreshadowed is Jesus Christ. However, merely noting the cycles of the moon, and therefore knowing whether it is the first month or the seventh month in determining God’s annual holy days hardly foreshadows Christ. Neither does meat foreshadow Christ.

The point is, that understanding a shadow, while important, is not as important as the object that casts the shadow, in this case, Jesus Christ. People then as now were making a religion of minutia; little, unimportant rites and rituals, taboos, and various prescribed ways of doing things.

The implication may be that it is the “body of Christ,” meaning the church, to whom Christ gave the power of “binding and loosing” that should be discerning the manner in which God’s people observe God’s holy days and Sabbaths, not self-appointed teachers who attempt to impose various “rudiments of the world.”

Think back into your own religious background. Do you know of any relatively unimportant things which were either imposed as requirements, or proscribed as things to avoid? I do. I well remember many restrictions involving hair lengths, men’s facial hair such as beards and mustaches, makeup; even whether or not simple quiet visiting was to be allowed in some church services.

If unchecked, it will not be long until “spiritual” religious leaders will begin to enforce an incredible number of “do’s and don’ts” upon their followers. Let’s face it. People LOVE RITUAL! It is so EASY to perform certain RITES, such as avoiding certain foods or drink, or wearing certain garb, as opposed to loving one’s enemies, or “doing good to those that hate you.” An outward show is much, much easier than control of one’s emotions and innermost thoughts.

Paul also condemned the outward show of “spiritual humility” which some people love to portray, and which some religious leaders urge upon them.

Notice, “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2:18).

“Voluntary humility” is not true humility, but an outward showof pretended humility! How do people enter into “voluntary humility”? By effecting certain stark, drab, dark, unattractive clothing; by abstemiousness to an extreme, like required fasts which are not commanded by God; by effecting certain headgear, like veils, or certain haircuts, or the lack thereof.

Even today, some religious groups enforce outward signs of “voluntary humility” upon their members. This is not the true humility of the heart which Jesus Christ taught, but merely the “tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world” (verse 8).

Paul wrote, “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ [through repentance and baptism (Rom. 6:1-4)] from the rudiments [base elements] of the world [not of God, but the world], why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?” (Col. 2:20-22).

Read this verse slowly and carefully, and see what it does notsay, as well as what it does say. It does not call the Ten Commandments of God, or the Sabbath day, “ordinances of men.” There is no commandment which says “touch not, taste not, handle not.” These are humanly-devised proscriptions; religious taboos.

There are many, many restrictions imposed on the members of various religious groups which fit this description exactly! One has only to research the incredible number of “written ordinances” in the Talmud, and in the Judaism of the time of Paul, to understand how rigorous was the daily life of an adherent. The same is true today in various Catholic orders; in the rigorous lives of Tibetan monks, and among many cults.

Paul is condemning the “commandments and doctrines of MEN,” not of God! In modern times, these commandments and doctrines of men include everything from facial hair and hair styles to skirt lengths and makeup; from the kinds of cloth one may use in clothing to the ingredients in soda crackers.

As astonishing as it may seem, religious “taboos” can become so all-pervasive that they dominate virtually every personal choice in life, including whether to see a professional physician when one is sick to whether or not to use dietary supplements. Various habits of dress, hats and headgear; even the kinds of conveyances one may ride in are either specifically forbidden or allowed by some religious groups. One of the most destructive of such “commandments and doctrines of men” is when religious leaders interfere in the choosing of one’s mate.

Paul is dealing with a combination of oriental theosophy, asceticism, and Judaism. For “oriental theosophy,” read: Middle Eastern Gentile Polytheistic Paganism, or the belief in many pagan “gods,” which were nothing but the imagination of Gentile philosophers.

If one were to paraphrase verses 14 through 18, it would read, in modern English, “Blotting out the humanly written ordinances that were so burdensome to us, and took them out of the way, nailing them to His tree:

“And having demolished principalities and powers [those that judged Him and condemned Him, as well as Satan himself, who was the Lord of the dead], He openly showed them for what they are, and triumphed over them.

“Therefore, don’t let anyone criticize or condemn you in your eating of meat, or in your drinking, or in the manner in which you observe the holy days, or the new moons, or the Sabbath days, which are shadows of things to come; rather, concentrate on Jesus Christ.”

In modern English, “Don’t let anyone beguile you out of your reward by outward affectations of humility, like various dress habits, hair styles, fastings and the like, or worshiping of angels, because such teachers are intruding into things of which they know nothing, vainly puffed up by their carnal minds.

“They are not concentrating on the Head, Jesus Christ, from which all the body [of the church] by joints and bands [individual members] having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.

“Wherefore if you are considered `dead with Christ’ through repentance and baptism; dead to any obligation to go back to the base, rough-hewn, rudiments of the world, why is it, though you must still live in this world, you are subject to man-made ordinances, such as `touch not taste not handle not,’ all of which are utterly useless, after humanly devised commandments and doctrines?”

This is the sense of what Paul was conveying. Never is God’s Sabbath day referred to as one of the “rudiments” or “elements” of this evil world! Those who use these scriptures to argue against the law and the Sabbath are utterly ignoring the many plain statements by Paul that he loved and served the law of God.

The Sabbath Day From Creation Week to the Kingdom of God

God created the holy Sabbath day, setting it apart for mankind as a wonderful rest from his labors; a day which looks back at the awesome miracle of creation itself; a day which acknowledges God as Creator; a day which looks forward to the millennial “rest” of Jesus Christ.

God put His presence into the Sabbath, “sanctifying” it, which means setting it apart for an holy purpose. He revealed His Sabbath to the first family, and to all those who followed. Enoch “walked with God,” and spoke of the coming Kingdom of God (Jude 14, 15). Enoch could never have been so described had he been a Sabbath-breaker. He kept God’s laws.

God’s Sabbath day was kept by the ancient patriarchs, including Noah. Abraham kept it, as did Isaac and Jacob. Moses and Israel kept it, and when some rebelled and broke God’s Sabbath, they were meted out the death penalty on the spot! It was the one whom we know of as Jesus Christ who did this! The Sabbath day was always the test commandment, more than any other. When Joshua warned the second generation of Israelites to avoid idolatry and to remain faithful to God’s laws, he spoke on the Sabbath day, just before crossing over Jordan.

Every time ancient Israel was plagued by God and allowed to be smitten before their enemies, it was because of two main sins; Sabbath-breaking and idolatry. The great restoration under Hezekiah featured observance of the Passover in the second month. They observed an entire seven days of Unleavened Bread, and then, because the king and the nation so rejoiced in restoring the holy Sabbaths of God, they “took counsel to keep other seven days, and they kept other seven days with gladness” (2 Chron. 30:23).

Hezekiah was restoring the true worship of God which his predecessor, Ahaz, had abandoned. God said, “And their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, even unto heaven” (2 Chron. 30:27). Read the entire chapter, for it is very inspiring.

Jesus Christ, your savior and mine, kept the Sabbath. He called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath day” (Mark 2:27). All the apostles kept the Sabbath. Paul kept the Sabbath day, and preached to the gentiles on the Sabbath. The early church kept the Sabbath day, and continued to observe the Passover on the 14th of Nisan down through history.

It was not until more than three centuries after the time of Christ that Constantine convened the council of Nicaea, and an apostate church began setting dates for “Easter” (Ishtar, or Astarte,a pagan goddess of fertility), and began trying to abolish the Sabbath. It required centuries for the apostate church to force those who were continuing to observe the Passover on the fourteenth of Abib to desist from doing so. Even so, the apostate church never succeeded in completely stamping out Sabbath observance. There have been small, scattered groups all down through history who have tenaciously clung to the “faith once delivered to the saints,” keeping God’s weekly Sabbath days, and observing the Passover on the 14th of Nisan.

There is a vast amount of literature available to any serious student of the Bible to prove that the Roman Catholic Church was the “sole authority” for changing the practice of the large, visible church from observing the Sabbath to observing the “day of the sun,” or Sunday.

God’s true church is described as but a remnant during the coming Great Tribulation and Day of the Lord. What will that persecuted remnant church be doing? “And the dragon [Satan] was wroth with the woman [the true church], and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17).

The “testimony” of Jesus Christ is the message He brought” to this earth. It is what he said, or testified. He gave the GOSPEL to His disciples, and commissioned them to preach it to all the world. The two main identifying signs of the true church which Christ built are, (1) They are striving to KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD, and, (2), they are holding fast to the GOSPEL of Christ, and striving to preach it to all the world!

At the very beginning of the Bible, God shows us He created the Sabbath. At the very end of the Bible, notice the description of those who are allowed entry into the Holy City, which symbolizes salvation, and God’s kingdom: “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14).

Soon, now, the time when men and women may read, and study, and ponder, and research various doctrines and points of truth will be over. Soon, now, Jesus Christ will establish His righteous kingdom on this earth, and enforce His Sabbath days, and His annual holy days (Zech. 14:16-19). Soon, now, the work that Jesus Christ is accomplishing through His church as a human instrument in His hands will be a thing of the past. Soon, now, the “window of opportunity” for people to read, and research, and think, and become convinced of God’s truth a point at a time will be over!

Soon, now, God will rend the heavens and reveal His mighty power to all mankind!

In the time to come; the time of the Great Tribulation and the heavenly signs (Rev. 6,7); the time of the great Day of the Lord (Joel 2; Micah 4; Rev. 16-19) there will be no need for a human teacher to present God’s truth over television, or radio, or on the printed page, or out of a pulpit.

Soon, now, God will show all mankind His glorious power, and there will be no longer a single human being who doubts God!

John wrote, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake: and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

“And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, and she is shaken of a mighty wind.

“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

“And said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us! and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

“For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:12-17).

When Christ reveals His great power and glory, the time for arguments against God’s word; the time for expressions of personal “opinions” about the Sabbath and God’s laws will be over!

Christ will establish His Kingdom on this earth, and begin to RULE it with a rod of iron! He offers you and me a place with Him in ruling this world! “To him that overcometh will I give power over the nations and he shall RULE them with a rod of iron…” (Rev. 2:26).

Notice the picture of life on this earth shortly after Jesus Christ returns; life on this earth even before the bodies of all those who rebelled against God have been consumed by fire:

“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.

“And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die [maggots do not die—they hatch into flies], neither shall their fire be quenched [Gehenna fire!]: and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (Isa. 66:23, 24).

Yes, it will be an abhorrent sight! A horrible, stinking, abominable sight of bloated, dead, burning physical bodies who will be thrown into Gehenna fire, to become ashes under the feet of those who have received Jesus Christ, repented of sin, been baptized and begotten as children of God, and who have learned to obey God (Mal. 4:1-3).

Such a fate need not occur to any human being. God Almighty pleads with all of us, urging us to obey His laws that it might be well with us, and with our children and grandchildren.

God loves sinners! He hates the sin, but He loves the sinnerwho was enslaved by sin! Even as Ezekiel pleaded with Israel, “Turn ye [repent ye!], turn ye, for why will you die, O Israel?” So God pleads with all mankind today, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

Remember, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish [as the abhorrent picture of Isaiah illustrates], but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Your Savior and mine is the one who created the Sabbath day. He blessed it; set it apart; hallowed it—made it holy time for our great blessing, week by week. He will enforce His Sabbaths and His annual Sabbaths on all mankind during His reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. The only ones who will share in His millennial rule over this earth are those who will surrender to Him; who will not only believe on Him, but who will believe Him, and obey Him! In a very few years now, YOU will be keeping God’s Sabbath day with enthusiasm, joy, thanksgiving, and happiness, as will every other person on this whole earth!

Further, believe it or not, the members of the very divine Family of God; as co-heirs with Christ, will be responsible for seeing to it that the whole world obeys God’s Sabbaths for one thousand years!

Finally, this sin-sick world of squalor, poverty, sickness and disease; of crime, drug abuse, violence and war will know peace. Finally, all mankind will have entered into one thousand years of God’s “rest”; the glorious, wondrous, abundant, happy, joyous Kingdom of God under the loving, merciful rule of Jesus Christ.

May the loving, merciful God lead you to surrender to Him; to honor and obey Him; to enter into His Sabbath days with joy and thanksgiving.

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This publication is intended to be used as a personal study tool. Please know it is not wise to take any man’s word for anything, so prove all things for yourself from the pages of your own Bible.

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