Why Sunday

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Amanah

The dividing line between jews and gentiles was torn down when the ordinances were abolished

Eph 2:15 - Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

Sabbath was an ordinance.

It was against us gentiles just as Paul said in Col 2:

Colossians 2:14-17.. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; ..(15).. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ..(16).. 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: ..(17).. Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Tearing down the wall of enmity of commandments contained in ordinances is saying the same thing as blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were against us.

Anyone can convince of us of anything if they keep at it enough, and we do not see what the Bible actually says in simplicity.

The reason commandments in ordinances and handwriting of ordinances was against us is because they were particularly Old Covenant Israelite. We have a spiritual temple, New Jerusalem, sabbath and even circumcision. Making the flesh rest or not rest has no spiritual effect, but as shadows of what does have a spiritual effect in a spiritual sabbath they formed a purpose like every other ritual of OLD.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 KJV
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. [13] Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: [14] 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. [15] And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

In Exodus 20, the original giving of the Decalogue, states the reason for the 4th commandment thus:

Exodus 20:8-11 KJV
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] 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: [11] 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.

Putting the two together, we get this: remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, because God made everything in 6 days and rested the 7th, and blessed it and sanctified it making it holy. Remember you were once slaves in Egypt, but God delivered you with a mighty hand and signs and wonders, proving that He alone is the one true God (maker of heaven and earth), therefore because you were personally delivered out of bondage by the one true living God who created all things in six days and who rested the seventh and blessed and hallowed it, you were commanded to keep the Sabbath holy.

In other words, they were to remember WHO brought them out of bondage: the Creator God Himself. Sabbath keeping is a declaration of which God you serve, that you serve the MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH.

It says nothing about who did or didn't keep Sabbath prior to the Exodus. But if it did imply something along those lines, it would imply Israel while in bondage serving heathens was not obedient to keep Sabbath holy. Their lack of Sabbath keeping was a sign of their bondage. The Bible indicates they were in bondage at least partly because of their idolatry: worshipping gods other than the Maker of Heaven and Earth. Thus, if anything, God is telling them they were in bondage for forgetting to honour God, therefore make sure they keep His Sabbath holy as a recurring testimony to the fact they now serve the True God and Creator.

And then there is this:

Deuteronomy 24:10-18 KJV
When thou dost lend thy brother any thing, thou shalt not go into his house to fetch his pledge. [11] Thou shalt stand abroad, and the man to whom thou dost lend shall bring out the pledge abroad unto thee. [12] And if the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge: [13] In any case thou shalt deliver him the pledge again when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee: and it shall be righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God. [14] Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant that is poor and needy, whether he be of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that are in thy land within thy gates: [15] At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the Lord , and it be sin unto thee. [16] The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin. [17] Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge: [18] But thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I command thee to do this thing.

God commands equity and justice in taking collateral for debt, payment of wages, capital punishments, dealing with strangers, orphans, and widows. They are to do these things, and remember they were slaves in Egypt once, but were delivered by God. THEREFORE they are to do these equitable and just things. Nobody would suggest or draw the conclusions that 1) nobody prior to Exodus was required to do the right thing as outlined in these verses, or 2) Christians today are free to violate these instructions, all because "these things were commanded because God brought Israel out of Egyptian bondage."

It is not so complicated as that. The simple truth is that we all know Exodus is the foremost perfect picture of salvation of the New Testament by the blood Of Jesus. And there is a REST that exodus . portrays from the slavery of Egypt, which is why God said keep sabbath as a memiorail fo the rest from slavery that Exodus provided.

As far as your last words are concerned, it has already been shown that sabbath was a shadow like temple and animal sacrifice, but we are not in the days of shadows any more, aside from the clearest fact that Paul said do not keep Law's holy days in Gal 4.

[mfblume]

While studying Romans 6 for my sermon tomorrow, teaching spiritual maturity, I was led to see the following and how sabbath was truly a shadow.

The placement of the Sabbath day Commandment in the Decalogue is unique and quite insightful when it comes to determining the point of what Sabbath day ob-servance foreshadowed, as Paul noted. It is placed be-tween the first three that speak of laws in our relation-ship to God, and the last six which speak about laws in our relationship to mankind.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

4. SABBATH

5. Honour thy father and thy mother
6. Thou shalt not murder
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor
10. Thou shalt not covet

Placing no gods before the one true God, not making any graven image and not taking God’s name in vain all have to do with our relationship to God. It is actually our way of loving God.

Matthew 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? (37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The first three can be summed up by saying we must love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and minds.

The last six fulfill the need to love our neighbours as ourselves.

So, we read about love toward God to start the com-mandments, and love toward man to end them, and in-between we have the unique forth commandment to keep the seventh day Sabbath.

When you look carefully at the ten commandments, not only do we see the first set dealing with us and God and the last set dealing with us and man, but the 4th commandment brings man and God together. It’s uniquely positioned as 4th for a reason, sitting between laws about God and laws about man. It’s like a link between man and God in more ways than one.

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (9) Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: (10) 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: (11) 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.

God rested the seventh day, personally. As we have shown, man was not told to rest on the seventh day until Moses was given the Law. But when the Law arrived, man was invited for the first time to enter the rest with God in which He was resting. Only God rested the seventh day before this. Despite people’s claims, neither Noah, Abraham or any follower of God rested the seventh day when God rested. There simply is no written record of any man being directed to do so before Moses. Many people will assume things and add to the Word of God by claiming Abraham was indeed commanded to keep the sabbath by God and did keep it. But not one written word exists to inform us of that.
Sabbath keepers point to the following verse to justify their claims that Abraham kept the sabbath.

Genesis 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

We cannot assume Abraham knew of a seventh-day sabbath to be kept when the Bible does not say he was commanded it. Here are on the only commandments we read about before Moses’ time and Abraham’s time.

Genesis 9:1-9 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (2) And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. (3) Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. (4) But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. (5) And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. (6) Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. (7) And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. (8) And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, (9) And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;

People know of these laws as the Noahide Laws. All mankind must keep them. There is not a word about keeping the seventh day. We cannot even find the word “sabbath” in the entire Book of Genesis!

So, we find a powerful truth. God rested alone on the seventh day from the time of Adam until Moses. Man is invited to join God in this sabbath, but only one day a week, on the seventh day when God first rested. The idea of man joining God’s rest at the start of the Old Covenant is important.

This is the first time God invited man to join anything that He Himself enjoyed. Of course, there are things like love and joy that God knows and experiences, that we are to experience with Him. However, this aspect of the day of rest is totally unique in nature from those things.

This brings to light a truth about the Gospel.

Jesus Christ accomplished the work of the cross in having died, been buried, resurrected and ascended into Heaven to sit at the throne of power. We are told that these experiences are actually ours as well. Paul stated that our baptism into Christ were baptism into His death! Once we are baptized into His death, then it is to be taken for granted that we likewise were buried, and risen with Jesus to even be seated with Him in Heavenly places (Romans 6:3-12; Eph 2:6).

When Jesus sat down on the throne of glory, He finished His work.

Hebrews 10:11-12 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: (12) But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;

It is contrasted form the unfinished work that caused earthly priests to ever remain standing. They could nev-er finish their work and rest! Christ’s sacrifice completed the work that had to be done, whereas the priests of the Old Covenant never offered that kind of sacrifice.

And in the same chapter where we read of this in He-brews 10, we also read about the invitation to come.

Hebrews 10:19-23 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (20) By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; (21) And having an high priest over the house of God; (22) Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. (23) Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised

Jesus sat down in Heaven’s actual holiest of all and rested from a completed work. We are invited to enter the same place.

Hebrews 6:19-20 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

We are also told that Jesus entered in by His own blood.

Hebrews 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; (12) Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

As Chapter 9:12 stated that Jesus went in with His own blood, Chapter 10:19 says that we can enter with boldness by the blood of Jesus.

Chapter 4 mentions this entrance as well, and states something that shows us the concept to rest that Sabbath day foreshadowed.

Hebrews 4:9-16 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (10) For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (11) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged 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. (13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Above, we are told that a rest remains for us, and Paul spoke these words to people who were already saved from sin by the Second Covenant. In fact, these Hebrew believers were tempted to draw away from the second covenant and return to the first one, which is the reason Paul wrote this letter!

This rest is not something we can claim as something that already happened to us, as we can say about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Paul did not teach us that we have to die with Jesus as believers, as though believers have not yet died with him. The same is to be understood about burial and resurrection. These things already happened to us automatically because we were baptized into His death. We died, were buried and resurrected with Jesus! However, when it comes to rest-ing with Jesus, that is not something that is automatic.

This is where the unique placement of the 4th commandment to keep the Sabbath Day comes into play.

Jesus died, was buried, resurrected and ascended into Heaven to sit on the throne. But He also rested! We died, were buried and resurrected with Him, and were even seated with Him. But yet we are still told to enter His rest! Resting is not automatic.

[Esaias]

Brother Blume, it is indeed "not as complicated" as you are making it out to be.

But to each his own.

[mfblume]

Originally Posted by Esaias

Brother Blume, it is indeed "not as complicated" as you are making it out to be.

But to each his own.

Brother, I'm not the one with the hoops. For the plain reading of Colossians 2 and sabbaths a shadow, the plain reading of no reference to keeping sabbaths before Moses, the law as a schoolmaster under whom the tutors of Israel before Christ being called the elements of the world, the word to Galatia about Hagar representing the old covenant that gendered to bondage after we read about "elements of the world" bringing bondage, and holy days and months and years referred to in context of schoolmastery of law, a person has to create hoops to say sabbath day is for the new testament believer.



The only hoops I see in my view are the ones in which some slam-dunks are being made!

[Amanah]

Thanks everyone, you have given food for thought and an interest in further study.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Amanah

Thanks everyone, you have given food for thought and an interest in further study.

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by mfblume

Brother, I'm not the one with the hoops. For the plain reading of Colossians 2 and sabbaths a shadow, the plain reading of no reference to keeping sabbaths before Moses, the law as a schoolmaster under whom the tutors of Israel before Christ being called the elements of the world, the word to Galatia about Hagar representing the old covenant that gendered to bondage after we read about "elements of the world" bringing bondage, and holy days and months and years referred to in context of schoolmastery of law, a person has to create hoops to say sabbath day is for the new testament believer.



The only hoops I see in my view are the ones in which some slam-dunks are being made!

Q: Why do you do what you do?

Me: Because it is written, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Exodus 20:8.

You: Because (insert multiple pages of reasonings, alleged connections, arguments that prove things even you don't believe, anything and everything EXCEPT a verse that actually says "don't remember the Sabbath day but follow the standard set by Rome and at least do church every day of the sun.).

You're making slam dunks alright, just on the wrong side of the court.

[Praxeas]

Originally Posted by Evang.Benincasa

Sunday was the day of the Sun in the Roman Empire. When the Constantine made Christianity the umbrella religion of the empire, he made Sunday the Church day. Why? Because Romans already were use to that being the day of the risen sun.

Saturday was the day to worship Saturn. Every day had a god, but Christians gathering on the first day of the week predates Constantine.

It started in the bible. Christians gathering on the first day made sense as original they were Jews and spent the 7th day evangelizing Jews

[Esaias]

Originally Posted by Praxeas

Saturday was the day to worship Saturn. Every day had a god, but Christians gathering on the first day of the week predates Constantine.

It started in the bible. Christians gathering on the first day made sense as original they were Jews and spent the 7th day evangelizing Jews

Read the whole thread.