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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Sabbath
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8-11—NIV)
I am not writing this essay to seek an argument with those who insist Christians must keep the Sabbath, or circumcision, or any of the dietary laws.
Whenever people ask me if Christians should keep the feasts of the Lord, such as Passover, I say, "Sure. Go ahead, if it is a blessing to you. Just don't let it become a bondage. Remember that all that went before is only a shadow of the reality in Jesus Christ."
So I am not writing to combat those who would have us refrain from pork, or not work on Saturday, or observe the Passover. In our church we have a kind of Christianized Passover. We celebrate the festival at the time of the Jewish Passover but emphasize Jesus Christ throughout.
No, I am not writing to stir up debate. I myself hate debating the Scriptures (or anything else) and will not be drawn into such antics of the flesh.
Rather, I see great change coming to the Christian churches as they leave the traditional patterns and enter the events leading up to the appearing of the Lord. There will be multitudes of young warriors, boys and girls alike, who will hear from the Lord and bring a true witness of God to all the nations of the earth, in fulfillment of the words of the Lord in the Book of Matthew.
Doctrines such as Sabbath observance or refraining from eating certain foods will arise and draw the believers away from the fullness of Jesus Christ that God wants to give us in these days. There always seem to be those who worship their own stomachs and draw away disciples after themselves.
When Paul spoke of the grace of Christ superseding the Law, Paul meant the entire Law of Moses, including the Ten Commandments. The requirement to observe the Sabbath day is one of the Ten Commandments.
Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. (Romans 3:20—NIV)
There is no question, if we believe the writings of Paul to be the Word of God that the righteousness that comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ supersedes the righteousness that comes from observing the Law of Moses.
But then, the question arises, "If we are not bound by the Law of Moses, how about the commandment, ‘You shall not commit adultery.' "? This also is one of the Ten Commandments. It may be at this point that Christians become confused. "Why is it true that faith in Jesus Christ replaces the Sabbath day but we are still bound by the commandment concerning adultery?"
To be continued.