Rejoicing In the Sabbath:

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Aquila

No one has considered these thoughts...

Matthew 5:17-19 ESV
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

The Law of God hasn't been abolished...only the Law of Moses. Concerning the Sabbath, the Law of God states:

Exodus 20:8-11 ESV
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

The purpose of the Law

Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Gal 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
Are you under a guardian?

Gal 4:1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
Gal 4:2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
Gal 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Gal 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Gal 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!
Gal 4:11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
A Son or a Slave?

Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
Gal 4:23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Gal 4:24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
Gal 4:25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Gal 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband."
Gal 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Gal 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman."
Gal 4:31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Arabia or Mt Sinai? Which covenant?

Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Heb 8:8 For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
Heb 8:9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
Heb 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Exo 16:29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."

Unlike the moral codes, the sabbath was given to them as a day of rest but it was for a sign between God and them, a covenant sign

• Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
  Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
  Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

It was a covenant sign...that covenantg has been done away with.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by RandyWayne

Just out of curiosity, what if I decided to make Tuesday my sabbath? Would it matter?

And if it did, why would it matter? Do we truly know what day the sabbath should fall on considering all the leap years (and leap seconds) that have taken place since the Ten Commandments were written? Aren't the scientists which calculate such things evil and full of lies?

Randy,

You bring up some very good questions. Here’s what I was able to find on the subject:

In the official League of Nations "Report on the Reform of the Calendar," published at Geneva, August 17, 1926, are the following representative statements by noted astronomers:

"The week has been followed for thousands of years and therefore has been hallowed by immemorial use." (Anders Donner, "The Report," p.51. [Donner had been a professor of Astronomy at the University of Helsingfors])

'I have always hesitated to suggest breaking the continuity of the week, which without a doubt is the most ancient scientific institution bequeathed to us by antiquity." (Edouard Baillaud, "The Report, p.52 [Baillaud was Director of the Pris Observatory])

"As to Question (1)--I can only state that in connection with the proposed simplification of the calendar, we have had occasion to investigate the results of the works of specialists in chronology and we have never found one of them that has ever had the slightest doubt the continuity of the weekly cycle since long before the Christian era.
"As to Question (2) --There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected in any way the cycle of the week." (James Robertson, personal letter, dated March 12, 1932 [Dr. Robertson was Director of the American Ephemeris, Navy Department, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.])

"As far as I know, in the various changes of the Calendar there has been no change in the seven day rota of the week, which has come down from very early times." (F.W. Dyson, Personal letter, dated March 4, 1932. [Dr. Dyson was Astronomer Royal, Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London.])

"Some of these (the Jews and also many Christians) accept the week as of divine institution, with which it is unlawful to tamper; others, without these scruples, still feel that it is useful to maintain a time-unit that, unlike all others, has proceeded in an absolutely invariable manner since what may be called the dawn of history." ("Our Astronomical Column," Nature, London, number 127, June 6, 1931, p.869)

"The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of the Mosaic dispensation, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of weeks and their days from that time to the present." (Dr. W.W. Campbell, Statement. [Dr. Campbell was Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.])

"In spite of all of our dickerings with the calendar, it is patent that the human race never lost the septenary [seven-day] sequence of week days and that the Sabbath of these latter times comes down to us from Adam, through the ages, without a single lapse." (Dr. Totten, Statement. [Dr. Totten of New Haven, Connecticut, was Professor of Astronomy at Yale University when this statement was made.])

"The continuity of the week has crossed the centuries and all known calendars, still intact." (Professor D. Eginitis, Statement. [Dr. Eginitis was Director of the Observatory of Athens, Greece.])

"It is a strange fact that even today there is a great deal of confusion concerning the question of so-called 'lost time.' Alterations that have been made to the calendar in the past have left the impression that time has actually been lost. In point of fact, of course, these adjustments were made to bring the calendar into closer agreement with the natural [solar] year. Now, unfortunately, this supposed 'lost time' is still being used to throw doubt upon the unbroken cycle of the Seventh-day Sabbath that God inaugurated at the Creation. I am glad I can add the witness of my scientific training to the irrevocable nature of the weekly cycle.
"Having been time computer at Greenwich [England Observatory] for many years, I can testify that all our days are in God's absolute control--relentlessly measured by the daily rotation of the earth on its axis. This daily period of rotation does not vary one-thousandth part of a second in thousands of years. Also, the year is a very definite number of days. Consequently, it can be said that not a day has been lost since Creation, and all the calendar changes notwithstanding, there has been no break in the weekly cycle." (Frank Jeffries, Statement. [Dr. Jeffries was Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Research Director of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, England.])

"The week is a period of seven days, having no reference whatever to the celestial motions, -- a circumstance to which it owes its unalterable uniformity....it has been employed from time immemorial in almost all eastern countries; and, as it forms neither an aliquot part of the year nor of the lunar month, those who reject the Mosaic recital will be at a loss, as Dalambre remarks, to assign it to an origin having such semblance of possibility." (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition, Vol.4, p.988, article, "Calendar")

And here is an interesting note that I read which listed what many people groups call the seventh day in their own language. All translates… Sabbath. While I’m not absolutely certain, this could indicate an ancient original understanding of the seventh day in the weekly cycle dating back perhaps before cultures evolved into different cultures and languages. Perhaps even to the creation.

Ancient Syriac: shab-ba-tho ("Sabbath")
Chaldee Syriac (Kurdistan and Urumia, Persia): shaptu ("Sabbath")
Arabic (western Asia, northern and western Africa): as-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Arabic (ancient): shi-yar ("chief or rejoicing day")
Samaritan (Nablus, Palestine): shab-bath ("Sabbath")
Falashas (Abyssinia): yini sanbat ("the Sabbath")
Maltese (Malta): is-sibt ("the Sabbath")
Ethiopic (Abyssinia): san-bat ("Sabbath")
Coptic (Egypt): pi sabbaton ("the Sabbath")
Tamashek (Atlas mountains, Africa): a-hal es-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Kabyle (North Africa, Ancient Numidan): ghas assebt ("the Sabbath day")
Hausa (Central Africa): assebatu ("the Sabbath)
Hindustani (Muhammadan and Hindu, India): shamba ("Sabbath")
Pasto (Afghanistan): shamba ("Sabbath")
Pahlivi (ancient Persian): shambid ("pleasantest day of the week")
Persian (Persia): shambah ("Sabbath")
Armenian (Armenia): shapat ("Sabbath")
Kurdish (Kurdistan): shamba ("Sabbath")
Brdhuiky (Beluchistan): shembe ("Sabbath")
Georgian (Caucasus): shabati ("Sabbath")
Suanian (Caucasus): sammtyn ("Sabbath")
Ingoush (Caucasus): shatt ("Sabbath")
Malayan (Malaya, Sumatra): hari sabtu ("day Sabbath")
Javanese (Java): saptoe or saptu ("Sabbath")
Dayak (Borneo): sabtu ("Sabbath")
Makassar (southern Celebes and Salayer islands): sattu ("Sabbath")
Malagassy (Madagascar): alsabotsy ("the Sabbath")
Swahili (east equatorial Africa): as-sabt ("the Sabbath")
Mandingo (west Africa, south of Senegal): sibiti ("the Sabbath")
Teda (central Africa): essebdu ("the Sabbath")
Bornu (central Africa): sibda ("Sabbath")
Fulfulde (central Africa): assebdu ("the Sabbath")
Logone (central Africa): se-sibde ("the Sabbath")
Bagrimma (central Africa): sibbedi ("the Sabbath")
Maba (central Africa): sab ("Sabbath")
Permian (Russian): subota ("Sabbath")
Votiak (Russian): subbota ("Sabbath")
Kazani-Tartar (east Russia): subbota ("Sabbath")
Osmanlian (Turkey): yom-es-sabt ("day of the Sabbath")
Orma (south of Abyssiania): zam-ba-da ("Sabbath")
Congo (west equatorial Africa): sabbado or Kiansbula ("Sabbath")
Wolof (Senegambia, west Africa): alere-asser ("last day Sabbath")
D'oc. French (ancient and modern): dissata ("day Sabbath")
French (France): samedi ("Sabbath day")
Latin (Italy): sabbatum ("Sabbath")
Italian (Italy): sabato, sabbato ("Sabbath")
Spanish (Spain): sabado ("Sabbath")
Portuguese (Portugal): sabbado ("Sabbath")
Roman (Spain, Catalonia): dissapte ("day Sabbath")

I don't think those who claim we don't know on what day the Sabbath would fall have a leg to stand on. Besides... we have the Jews who have kept a record of the Sabbath since long before their Babylonian exile.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Which covenant?

The New Covenant:

Jeremiah 31:31-34
King James Version (KJV)
31Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32Not 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:
33But 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.

What will God put into our inward parts? What will God write in our hearts? His Law:

"...I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts..."

Is that "law" the Law of Moses with all of it's ordinances and regulations which were against us? A resounding NO! But God's Holy Law of Righteousness, the Law of Love, the Law of Liberty... the sacred and holy Ten Commandments!

Imagine what insanity would be driven from the church if we realized the simplicity of what God asks of His redeemed? Prax, you've been saved. Now...do you want to sanctify yourself and be holy? Here's how; obey the following:

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)

1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

No crazy dress codes or hair codes. No unbiblical legalistic insanity. No ancient "Law of Moses" ceremonial purity garbage. Just pure moral teaching that reveals the heart of God. And Jesus explained that the Law rests on two principles:

Matthew 22:37-41
King James Version (KJV)
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38This is the first and great commandment.
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

These are the two governing principles of the Law. How do we demonstrate our love for God? We obey the following:

1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

How do we demonstrate our love for our neighbor? We obey the following:

6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

A sweet simplicity! There has to be a base line. A foundation. For example, ask a swinger how they believe they can demonstrate how they love their neighbor. lol Ask a new pagan convert how they can demonstrate their love for God. Without starting at the most basic instructions given by God... it becomes a free for all. So now we have swinger Christians "loving" their neighbors and new coverts building statues to Jesus and His mother. Ahhhh... but if we have the Ten Commandments... they have the most basic, reasonable, logical, and moral foundation for every decision they ever could make. No wonder James called God's Law the "law of liberty"! Praise Jesus!

Those who are taking part in the New Covenant have God's Law written upon their very hearts! A LOVING DESIRE to obey!!!

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Act 20:7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Again, as I explained to Michael. Their day started at sunset. If they gathered on the first day of the week and Paul preached until midnight of the first day of the week... they met Saturday night after sunset! Duh! lol

1Co 16:2 On the first day of the week, each of you should set aside some income and save it to the extent that God has blessed you, so that a collection will not have to be made when I come.

Here Paul simply told them to begin laying in store for the offering on the first day of the week. It would be logical that if they met on Saturday to begin saving for the offering beginning on the next day, the first day of the week. This says nothing about having church on the first day of the week.

This is what was referred to as the Lord's Day...the day of His resurrection

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
Paul used the Sabbath to go to the Jews and preach the gospel to them (evangelize)

I'll challenge you on this one. Can you find a single reference for the first day of the week being named, "the Lord's day" in Scripture??? No. John received his vision on the "Lord's day".... the only day Scripture has ever named the Lord's day... the Sabbath.

Prove me wrong. lol

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

The purpose of the Law

Gal 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Gal 3:24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
Are you under a guardian?

Gal 4:1 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything,
Gal 4:2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.
Gal 4:3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.
Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Gal 4:6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Gal 4:7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Gal 4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.
Gal 4:9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Gal 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years!
Gal 4:11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
A Son or a Slave?

Gal 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman.
Gal 4:23 But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise.
Gal 4:24 Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.
Gal 4:25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
Gal 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, "Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband."
Gal 4:28 Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Gal 4:29 But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.
Gal 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman."
Gal 4:31 So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.
Arabia or Mt Sinai? Which covenant?

Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
Heb 8:8 For he finds fault with them when he says: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah,
Heb 8:9 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more."
Heb 8:13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Exo 16:29 See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day."

Unlike the moral codes, the sabbath was given to them as a day of rest but it was for a sign between God and them, a covenant sign

• Exo 31:14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
  Exo 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
  Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

It was a covenant sign...that covenantg has been done away with.

The Law of God....

The Law of God (Ten Commandments)

Called "the Law of the Lord"
ISA. 5:24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Called "the Royal law"
JAMES 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:

Written by God on stone
EXO. 31:18 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.
EXO. 32:16 And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables.

Placed inside the ark
EXO. 40:20 And he took and put the testimony into the ark, and set the staves on the ark, and put the mercy seat above upon the ark:

Will stand forever
LUKE 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Points out sin
ROM. 7:7 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.
ROM. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Not grievous
1 JOHN 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Judges all men
JAM. 2:10-12 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

Spiritual
ROM. 7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Perfect
PSALMS 19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

The Law of Moses was nailed to the cross… not the Law of God (Ten Commandments).

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

The purpose of the Law

Prax... without the Law of God (the Ten Commandments) how do we define sin?

The New Testament states:

1 John 3:4
Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Without the Law sin cannot be defined! For sin is... transgression of the law.

Paul illustrates that the Law of God points out sin...

ROM. 7:7 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.
ROM. 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

For those who have the Holy Ghost there is no need to fear the Law of God. It is a rejoicing and through Christ the Law becomes a sweet Law of Liberty. John writes:

1 JOHN 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

WOW! THIS is the love of God? What is it again?

"...that we keep his commandments..."

And what is our disposition towards God's Commandments?

...and his commandments are not grievous."

Whew! I thought he was talking about the Law of Moses with all the dietary laws, dress codes, etc., etc.. John is only talking about God's moral Law... the Ten Commandments.

James gives us some insight...

JAM. 2:10-12 For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

Okay... so we can't keep all but one law (for example the Fourth Commandment) without violating the whole law. So we are admonished to do what?

...So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.

BAM! There it is! LOL

Praise God!

[Aquila]

Interesting poem...

It's Jewish
Uriah Smith (circa mid to late 1800's)
[Some words have been changed without changing the context or meaning.]

When we present G-d's holy law,
And arguments from scripture draw,
Objectors say, to pick a flaw,
'It's Jewish.'

Though at the first Most High blessed
And sanctified His day of rest,
The same belief is still expressed,
'It's Jewish.'

Though with the world this rest began,
And thence through all Scriptures ran,
And Yeshua said "'twas made for man"--
'It's Jewish.'

Though not with Jewish rites,
which passed,
But with the moral law 'twas classed,
Which must exist while time shall last,
'It's Jewish.'

If from the Bible we present
The Sabbath's meaning and intent,
This answers every argument--
'It's Jewish.'

Though the disciples, Luke and Paul,
Continue still this rest to call
The 'Sabbath day', this answers all:
'It's Jewish.'

The good news teacher's plain expression,
That " Sin is of the law's transgression,"
Seems not to make the least impression--
'It's Jewish.'

They love the rest of man's invention,
But if the L-RD's day we mention,
This puts an end to all contention:
'It's Jewish.'

O ye who thus G-D's day abuse,
Simply because 'twas kept by Jews,
The Saviour, too, you must refuse,
He's Jewish.

The Scriptures, then, we may expect
For the same reason you'll reject;
For if you will but recollect,
They're Jewish.

Thus the apostles, too, must fall;
For Andrew, Peter, James, and Paul,
Thomas, Matthew, John, and all
Were Jewish.

So to your helpless state resign
Yourself in wretchedness to pine;
Salvation, surely you'll decline,
It's Jewish.

[Aquila]

Rejoice you holy ones...

Psalm 1:1-6
1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

[Aquila]

Taking time to rest from your own labors and worship God when He has established time to worship IS a moral issue. We want God on our schedule... few struggle to re-arrange their own lives to God's.

A final word until next posting. Please understand... keeping the Law doesn't justify anyone. Jesus is the door. One must be SAVED through Christ and His shed blood and obey the Gospel. However, we are saved unto good works. We are called to sanctify ourselves. This is where an understanding of God's Law comes into play in our spiritual walk. You might not be perfectly obeying God's Law at the moment. Just repent and pray that God reveal His will and way to you. That God correct those circumstances that prove to be an obsticle to your obedience. And then walk in faith knowing that GOD will reward your efforts to obey, no matter how small.

What I'm trying to show you my born again brethren is that you don't need dress codes and legalistic bondage to sanctify yourself or be "holy". You simply have to obey the LORD's commandments:

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17 NKJV)

1 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My Commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.”

The Ante-Nicene Fathers put it this way....

"Have before thine eyes the fear of God, and always remember the ten commandments of God, - to love the one and only Lord God with all thy strength; to give no heed to idols, or any other beings, as being lifeless gods, or irrational beings or demons. Consider the manifold workmanship of God, which received its beginning through Christ. Thou shalt observe the Sabbath, on account of Him who ceased from His work of creation, but ceased not from His work of providence; it is a rest for meditation of the law, not for the idleness of the hands." (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 7, p. 413, 1951 edition).

[Aquila]

Thought:

Jesus said,

Mark 2:27
And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

Jesus never said that the Sabbath was for strictly for the Jews. Jesus indicates that the Sabbath is for all mankind. Please note, God sanctified and hallowed the seventh day LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG before the nation of Israel existed:

Genesis 2:3 (KJV)
3And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

To "sanctify" something means to separate it for a sacred purpose. The Sabbath was established and ordained at creation for mankind's benefit. Not just given as part of the law delivered to Israel.

Now... if Jesus IS your Sabbath and you rest in Him from your own works of self righteousness... you have the most essential understanding. However... this does go deeper into being an applied teaching. Especially when one discovers the importance of the Ten Commandments. Keep pressin' in my brethren!