"Teaching God's Word to God's World"
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As strange as it may seem, the Sabbath is one of the most misunderstood subjects in religion. Some take for granted that Sunday, rather than Saturday, is the Sabbath. Confusion also is caused because many do not use Bible names for Bible things. One denominational writer referred to the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath. Nowhere in the Bible is it called the Christian Sabbath.
Another common mistake is the belief that the Sabbath was commanded in:
Genesis 2:2-3, "2 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. 3 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."
This was observed by all mankind from creation. Those who follow this thinking overlook three important biblical facts:
(1) God did not make known the covenant of His "holy Sabbath" until the Israelites reached Mount Sinai.
Nehemiah 9:13-14, "13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: 14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:"
(2) God gave the Sabbath "to be a sign" between them and God.
Ezekiel 20:10-12, "10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] the LORD that sanctify them."
Ezekiel 31:13, "Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches."
If the Sabbath had been observed from creation by all nations, it could not have been a sign between God and Israel. There would have been no significance whatsoever.
(3) Moses plainly states that "the Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us."
Deuteronomy 5:2-3, "2 "The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, [even] us, who [are] all of us here alive this day."
The covenant Moses spoke of was the law given at Sinai, which contained the command to keep the Sabbath.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15, "12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labor, 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."
This can be seen in the fact that their fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) never observed the Sabbath.
Unfortunately, some of the confusion is the result of false teaching. Several religious groups teach that in order to be pleasing to God we must keep the seventh day Sabbath. One such group is the Seventh Day Adventist. The group was founded by self proclaimed prophetess Ellen G. White. She claims to have had a vision in which she was taken up into Heaven where she saw the Lord Jesus standing beside the Ark of the Covenant. In the Lord’s hands were the tablets of stone and supposedly the fourth commandment was enshrouded in a halo of glory. She claimed that she then heard the words "the Sabbath is not nailed to the cross." [According to Adventist historians, Ms. White was hit in the head as a young child and because of her injuries, she had to drop out of school. They cite as proof of her inspiration the fact that she never learned how to read but yet she wrote multitudes of books.]
We shall consider Ellen’s teaching on the Sabbath next to the Word of God.
(1) Paul wrote that the Sabbath was nailed to the cross; "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross....So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." (Coalescence 2:14, 16-17). Note that the apostle Paul wrote that the Sabbath (along with other ordinances of the law) was nailed to the cross. The word "Sabbath" is singular in the Greek text. Adventists contend that only the ceremonial law (i.e. law of Moses) was nailed to the cross, the Ten Commandments continue to this day. Unfortunate for their theory,
Paul defines the law which was taken away as the Ten Commandments which contained the Sabbath.
Romans 7:1-7, "1 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? 2 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. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 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."
The law of Moses and the law of the Lord are the same thing. They are spoken of synonymously.
Ezra 7:6, "This Ezra went up from Babylon; and he [was] a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given: and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him."
II Chronicles 34:14, " And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found a book of the law of the LORD [given] by Moses."
Luke 2:22-24, 27, and 39, "And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present [him] to the Lord; 23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) 24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons. 27
And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth."
Obviously, there was no distinction intended by the Holy Spirit.
II Timothy 3:16-17, "16 All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
Paul specifically wrote that there was only "one" covenant given at Sinai.
Galatians 4:24, "Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar."
Ellen claims she had a vision wherein she heard that it was not nailed to the cross. If we accept the teaching of Ellen G. White we reject writings of Paul which constitutes a large majority of the New Testament.
(2) Ellen G. White sets herself against the apostle Paul in her claim that she had a vision of Heaven and received a new teaching. The beloved apostle Paul was "caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."
II Corinthians 12:2-4, "2 I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3 And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter."
Ellen heard unlawful words which she should not have uttered. Like most cults, if they cannot get their doctrine from the Bible, they claim to have seen an angel or to have taken a trip to Heaven. Paul wrote: "...if we, or an angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accused."
Galatians 1:8, "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."
(3) Ellen challenges the apostle Paul’s writings concerning women in the Church. "Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence."
I Timothy 2:11-12, "11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. 12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."
Mrs. White has written a multitude of books which are considered by her followers to be inspired and equal to the Bible. When asked for proof of inspiration, they claim that Ellen never learned to read or write, therefore she was obviously inspired. Again we are left with the decision of whether to follow the writings of Paul or the prophetess and female Pope of the Seventh Day Advents church.
As for myself, I will stick with the Bible. Just as "Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, (Hebrews 9:28), the "faith which was once delivered to the saints" is sufficient (Jude 3).
Hebrews 9:28, "So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation."
Jude 1:3 (KJS) Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.