630 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
630 lines
36 KiB
Plaintext
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Why God Said Remember
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by Joe Crews
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Numerous surveys and questionaires have confirmed that the
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most popular form of modern skepticism is to deny the creation
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story. Seventy-two percent of ministers interviewed expressed
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varying degrees of doubt that God actually spoke the world
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into existance according to the biblical account. This fun-
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damental disbelief has led to the rejection of other foundati-
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onal doctrines of Christendom such as the virgin birth and the
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atonement.
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It is interesting to note that God apparently anticipated a lot
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of controversy over the Genesis record of fiat creation. His
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claims of manufacturing all the staggering mass of matter by
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merely commanding it to exist-well,there would certainly be
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doubters and disbelievers of such an account. And even those
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who read about it and believed it would soon forget the mira-
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culous fact under the confusing influence of a million false
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gods who would arise.
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So God needed to do something unusual to perserve the knowledge
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of His mighty act of creation. That power to speak heaven and
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earth into existence would distinguish Him from all the counter-
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feit gods and their deceptive claims. What could He do that
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would constantly point mankind back to the focal week of creation
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when He forever established His divine authority.
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Creation-The Mark of God's Sovereignty
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God chose to memorialize that convincing display of creative power
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by setting aside the seventh day of creation week as a holy day
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of rest and remembering. It would constitute a tremendous safe-
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guard of God's sovereignty-a mark of His right to rule as the
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only true God. It would, at the same time, stand as a devastating
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debunking of every god who has not created the heavens and earth.
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The writings of Old Testament prophets are saturated with reminders
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of God's peculiar powers of creation. David wrote, "For all the
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gods of the nations are idols: but the Lord made the heavens."
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Psalm 96:5. Jeremiah expressed it: "But the Lord is the true
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God, he is the living God. ... The gods that have not made the
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heavens and the earth, even they shall perish. ... He hath made
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the earth by his power." Jermiah 10:10-12.
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Did God Himself demonstrate an extreme urgency in keeping the
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truth of creation vividly before the eyes of the world? Yes.
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To such a degree that He wrote into the heart of His great moral
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law the binding obligation of every living soul to keep the
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Sabbath holy, and thus, to acknowledge His divine authority.
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Within those eternal principles forming the foundation of His
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government and reflecting His own perfect character, God wrote
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these words: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh
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day is the sabbath of thy Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not
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do any work. ... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth,
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the sea, and all that in them is ... wherefore the Lord blessed
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the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Exodus 20:8-12
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What an act to highlight the omnipotent work of creation! Once
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a week, as the earth rotated on its axis, the Sabbath reminder
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would travel around the earth reaching every man, woman, and
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child with a message of an instant creation. Why did God say
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remember? Because to forget the Sabbath is to forget the creator
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also.
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Conversion-Creative Power at Work
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Parallel to the accounts of a physical creation we find the re-
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cord of God's power to recreate the human heart. Evidently, the
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two processes stem from the same omnipotent source. It requires
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just as much power to effect conversion or recreation as to call
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something into existence by creation. Said the apostle, "Put on
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the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
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holiness. " Ephesians 4:24 "
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Pointing beyond the mere fact of a physical creation, God spoke
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these words also, "Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be
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a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the
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Lord that sanctify them." Ezekiel 20:12
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Please note that a sanctified Sabbath was to be the mark of a
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sanctified people. The word, "sanctify," meaning to set aside
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for a holy use (a day which spoke of God's creative power),
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served also as a reminder that God could set people apart for
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a holy use through regeneration or recreation.
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In the light of these facts, it is easy to understand why the
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devil has waged a continuing, desperate battle against the
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seventh-day Sabbath. For almost six millenniums he has worked
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through pride of tradition, misinformation and relgious bigotry
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to destroy the sanctity of God's special sign of authority-the
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Sabbath.
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As a mark of God's right to rule, the Sabbath challenged Satan's
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boast that he would take God's place. Said the adversary, " I
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will exalt my throne above the stars of God. ... I will be like
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the most High." Isaiah 14:13,14. Satan actually wanted to be
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worshipped. To accomplish this, he had to nullify God's claim
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as the rightful ruler. God's authority rested on His claim to
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be the Creator, and the Sabbath was the mark of that authority.
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By destroying the Sabbath, Satan would prepare the way to set
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up a counterfeit government based on counterfeit claims of au-
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thority symbolized by a counterfeit day of worship.
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The Battle Over Authority
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It is fascinating to look over the ages and see the outworking
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of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The contest
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has always focused upon the issue of authority.
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The strategy of the evil one has been a two-pronged attack on
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God's claim to be the creator. First, by the theory of evolution
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with its humanistic doctrine of natural selection. Second, by
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an age-long effort to destroy the observance of the seventh-day
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Sabbath, the mark of creative power.
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We can only say in passing that each of these hellish attempts
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to discredit God's authority has produced a bitter success be-
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yond all expectation. Millions have been turned into religious
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skeptics and agnostics as a result of Darwin's doctrine of or-
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ganic evolution. Denying any fall of man which would necessi-
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tate a Saviour from sin, evolution struck at the plan of red-
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emption as well as the fact of creation.
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In a similar vein, Satan's attacks on the Sabbath have led
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millions to disobey the one commandment in the Decalogue which
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God has made the specific test of obedience to the entire law.
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A sucessful plan to subvert the loyalty of millions who were
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devoted to the true God required a masterpiece of satanic st-
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rategy. It would take time. It would involve centuries of
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deceptive mind-bending. There would be no dramatic turn from
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serving God to serving Satan. The secret would be to win
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obedience through religious subterfuge. Satan understood the
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principle of Romans 6:16 long before Paul ever penned the
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words, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
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to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey?"
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Obedience is the highest form of allegiance and worship. If
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Satan could create an issue that would cause people to dis-
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obey God, he had an even chance of winning their obedience to
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his cause. The decisive contest would take place over the law
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of God. It constituted the foundation of God's government.
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How could Satan destroy confidence in the law and make people
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obey him instead? And which commandment should he attack?
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Obviously, the one which pointed to God's creative power and
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His right to rule. As the idendtifying sign of the true God,
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the Sabbath has always been an object of satanic hate. God
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had chosen the Sabbath as a test of loyalty to His law in the
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Old Testament: "That I may prove them," said the Lord, "whether
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they will walk in my law, or no." Exodus 16:4
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The Test Point of the Law
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Since God had made the Sabbath the test point of all the Ten
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Commandment, Satan determined to make it the giant issue of the
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ages. By destroying the Sabbath, Satan would be prepared to
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launch his super-plan to claim obedience to a counterfeit day
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of worship. Manipulating the weakness of a compromised Chri-
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stianty which had slowly acceded to pagan influences, Satan set
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up his masterpiece- a worldwide church-state-which would ruth-
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lessly enforce compliance with his counterfeit system of worship.
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For over a thousand years, beginning with the so-called conve-
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rsion of the pagan Emperor Constantine, the dark history of
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apostasy unfolded. Almost the first act of the newly-professed
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Christian emperor was the make a law against Sabbath-keeping and
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to institute other laws requiring rest on the first day of the
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week, a wild solar holiday dedicated to pagan sun worship.
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We will not dwell, at present, upon the well-documented history
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of the papal church councils which enforced the observance of
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the pagan Sunday on pain of death. The facts are well-known
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to those who have been willing to search the records with an
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open mind. During the fouth and fifth centuries, the first
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day of the week was exalted by papal decree to displace the
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true Sabbath of the Bible.
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Unfortunately, prejudices and false information have led thou-
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sands of Christians to close their eyes to the overwhelming
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historical evidences of this substitution. The roots of their
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prejudice are not hard to identify. Satan has worked too long
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on his opposition systen to allow it to be rejected easily.
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Through the ages he has perfected a series of subtle false
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arguements to bolster obedience to his counterfeit day of wor-
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ship. He still hates the Sabbath which identifies the true
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God.
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Only as we expose these attacks on the seventh-day Sabbath will
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we be able to understand why millions continue to observe the
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first day of the week, a day for which there is not a single
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supporting Bible text. No one disagrees with the meaning of
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God's handwritten law, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the
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Lord ... in it thou shalt not do any work." Yet millions do not
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obey it. No one can refute the overwhelming evidence of Sunday's
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pagan origin, yet millions keep it instead of the plainly comm-
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anded Sabbath of the Ten Commandments. Why? I repeat, the reason
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is rooted in the clever arguements of Satan which have created
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a climate of prejudice against the holy Sabbath of the Lord.
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We shall now examine some of the major fallices of those arg-
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uments.
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The Sabbath Was Made Only for the Jews
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This falsehood has gained such strength that multitudes of Chris-
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tians refer to it as the "Jewish Sabbath." but nowhere do we
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find such an expression in the Bible. It is called "the sabbath
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of the Lord," but never "the Sabbath of the Jews." Exodus 20:10
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Luke was a Gentile writer of the New Testament and often made
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reference to things which were particuliarly Jewish. He spoke
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of the "nation of the Jews," "the people of the Jews," "the
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land of the Jews," and the "synagogue of the the Jews." Acts 10:22;
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12:11; 10:39; 14:1. But please note that Luke never referred
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to the "sabbath of the Jews," although he mentioned the Sabbath
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repeatedly.
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Christ clearly taught that "the sabbath was made for man." Mark
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2:27. The fact is that Adam was the only man in existence at the
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time God made the Sabbath. There were no Jews in the world for at
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least 2,000 years after creation. It could never have been created
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for them. Jesus used the term "man" in the "generic" sense, re-
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ferring to mankind. The same word is used in connection with the
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institution of marriage which was also introduced at creation.
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Woman was made for man just as the Sabbath was made for man. Cer-
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tainly no one believes that marriage was made only for the Jews.
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The fact is that two beautiful, original institutions were set up
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by God Himself before sin ever came into the world-marriage and
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the Sabbath. Both were made for man, both received the special
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blessing of the Creator and both continue to be just as holy now
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as when they were sanctified in the Garden of Eden.
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It is also interesting to note that Jesus was the One who made the
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Sabbath in the first week of time. There was a reason for His
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claim to be Lord of the Sabbath day (Mark 2:28). If He is the
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Lord of the Sabbath day, then the Sabbath must be the Lord's
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day. John had a vision on "the Lord's day," according to Rev-
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alation 1:10. That day had to be the Sabbath. It is the only
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day so designated and claimed by God in the Bible. In writing
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the Ten Commandments, God called it "the sabbath of the Lord."
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Exodus 20:10. In Isaiah He is quoted as saying, "The sabbath,
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my holy day."
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But we must not overlook the fact that this God who created the
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world and made the Sabbath was Jesus Christ Himself. John
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wrote: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
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God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
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God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any
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thing made. ... And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,
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(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
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the Father), full of grace and truth." John 1:1-3, 14.
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Paul clearly identified Jesus as the Creator, "... his dear Son:
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In whom we have redemption through his blood. ... For by him
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were all things created." Colossians 1:13-16.
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For Christians to separate Jesus from the Sabbath is a tragic
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mistake. For He is the Author, the Maker, the Sanctifier, and
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the Architect of the Sabbath. To discount the blessing which
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He placed on that day is to deny His Authority.
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This argument has led many to believe that the Sabbath existed
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only for a limited period of time following creation. But is
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this a fact? Actually, the Sabbath could never be just a type
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or shadow of anything, for the simple reason that it was made
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before sin entered the human family. Certain shadows and typical
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observances were instituted as a result of sin and pointed fo-
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ward to the deliverance from sin. Such were the sacrifices em-
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ployed to symbolize the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God. There
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would have been no animal sacrifices had there been no sin.
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These offerings were abolished when Christ died on the cross,
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because the types had met their fulfillment (Matthew 27:14-16).
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But no shadow existed before sin entered this world; therefore,
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the Sabbath could not be included in the ceremonial law types
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and shadows.
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Paul referred to the temporary system of ordinances in Colossians
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2:14-16 as being "against us" and "contrary to us." He tied it
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to the meat offerings, drink offerings, and yearly festivals
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of the law that was "blotted out." It is true he referred to
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sabbaths also in the text, but take careful note that he called
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them "sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come." Were
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some sabbath days blotted out at the cross? Yes, there were at
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least four yearly sabbaths which came on on certain set days of
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the month, and they were nailed to the cross. They were shadows
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and required specified meat and drink offerings. All of these
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annual sabbaths are described in Leviticus 23:24-36, and then
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summarized in verses 37 and 38: "These are the feasts of the
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Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer
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an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and
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a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing
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upon his day: BESIDE THE SABBATHS OF THE LORD."
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The scripture plainly differentiates between the annual, shadowy
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sabbaths and the weekly "sabbaths of the Lord." The ceremonial
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sabbaths were blotted out at the cross; they had been added as
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a consequence of sin. But the Sabbath of the Ten-Commandment
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law had been hallowed before sin was introduced and was later
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incorporated into the great moral law written by the finger
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of God. It was eternal in its very nature.
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Just Keep Any Day in the Seven
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By this argument Satan prepared the world to accept a substitute
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in place of the Sabbath God had commanded. Upon the tables of
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stone God wrote the great, unchanging law of the ages. Every
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word was serious and meaningful. Not one line was ambiguous or
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mysterious. Sinners and Christians, educated and uneducated,
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have no problem understanding the simple, clear words of the
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Ten Commandments. God meant what He said and He said what He
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meant. No one has tried to void that law as too complicated to
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comprehend.
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Most of the ten begin with the same words: "Thou shalt not,"
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but right in the heart of the law we find the fourth commandment
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which is introduced with the word, "Remember." Why is this one
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different? Because God was commanding them to call something to
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memory which already existed but had been forgotten. Genesis
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describes the origin of the Sabbath in these words, "Thus the
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heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made. ...
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And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that
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in it he had rested from all his work which God created and
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made. " Genesis 2:1-3"
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Which day did God bless and sanctify? The seventh day. How
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was it to be kept holy? By resting. Could any of the other
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six be kept holy? No. Why? Because God commanded not to rest
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those days but to work. Does God's blessing make a difference?
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Of course. This is why parents pray for God to bless their ch-
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ildren. They believe it makes a difference. The seventh day is
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different from all the other six days, because it has God's
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blessing.
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Some more questions: Why did God bless the day? Because He
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had created the world in six days. It was the birthday of the
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world, a memorial of a mighty act. Can the Sabbath memorial
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be changed? Never. Because it points backward to an accomp-
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lished fact. July 4 is Independence Day. Can it be changed?
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No. Because the Declaration of Independence was signed on July
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4, 1776. Your birthday cannot be changed, either. It is a
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memorial to your birth, which happened on a set day. History
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would have to run through again to change your bithday, to
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change Independence Day, or to change the Sabbath day. We can
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call another the Sabbath, but that does not make it so.
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Did God ever give man the privilege of choosing his own day
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of rest? He did not. In fact, God confirmed in the Bible
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that the Sabbath was settled and sealed by His own divine se-
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lection and should not be tampered with. Read Exodus 16 con-
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cerning the giving of manna. For 40 years God worked three
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miracles every week to show Israel which day was holy. (1)
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No manna fell on the seventh day. (2) They could not keep it
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without spoilage, but (3) when they kept it over the Sabbath,
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it remained sweet and fresh.
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But some Israelites had the same idea as many modern Christians.
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They felt that any day in seven would be alright to keep holy:
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"And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people
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on the the seventh day to gather, and they found none. And
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the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my comm-
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andments and my laws?" Exodus 16:27,28.
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Get the picture? These people thought another day could be
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kept just as well as the seventh day. Perhaps they were pla-
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nning to observe the first day of the week, or some other
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day which was more convenient. What happened? God met them
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and accused them of breaking His law by going forth to work on
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the seventh day. Would God say the same thing to those who
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break the Sabbath today? Yes. He is the same yesterday,
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today and forever--He changes not. God made it very clear
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that, regardless of their feelings, those who go forth to
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work on the Sabbath are guilty of breaking His law. James
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explains that it is a sin to break even one of the Ten Comm-
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andments: "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet
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offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said,
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Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou
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commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a trans-
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gressor of the law." James 2:10,11.
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We Can't Locate
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the True Seventh Day
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This is a fallacy that has comforted many in their disobedience
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of the forth commandment. It is just not true. Here are four
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positive proofs which identify the true Sabbath today:
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1. According to the Scriptures, Christ died on Friday and rose
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on Sunday, the first day of the week. Practically all churches
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acknowledge this fact by observing Easter Sunday and Good
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Friday. Here is the Bible evidence: "This man went unto Pilate,
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and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped
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it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone,
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wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the prep-
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aration, and the sabbath drew on." Luke 23:52-54.
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Here is proof that Jesus died the day before the Sabbath. It
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was called the "preparation day" because it was time to get
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ready for the Sabbath. Let us read the next verses: "And the
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women also, which came from Galilee, followed after, and beheld
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the sepulchre, and how his body was laid. And they returned,
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and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day
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according to the commandment." Verses 55, 56.
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Please notice that the women rested over the Sabbath "according
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to the commandment." The commandment says, "The seventh day is
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the Sabbath" so we know they were observing Saturday. But the
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very next verse says "Now upon the first day of the week, very
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early in the morning, they came into the sepulchre, bringing the
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spices which they had prepared. ... And they found the stone
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rolled away from the sepulchre." Luke 24:1, 2.
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How clearly these three days are described for us. He died Friday,
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the preparation day, commonly called Good Friday. He rested in
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the tomb on the seventh day, Sabbath, "according to the comm-
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andment. " That was Saturday. Then on Sunday, the first day of"
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the week, Easter Sunday to many, Jesus rose from the grave.
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Anyone who can locate Good Friday or Easter Sunday will have
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absolutely no difficulty finding the true Sabbath.
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2. The calendar has not been changed so as to confuse the days
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of the week. We can be positive that our seventh day is the
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same day Jesus observed when He was here. Pope Gregory XIII
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did make a calendar change in 1582, but it did not interfere
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with the weekly cycle. Our present Gregorian calendar was
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named after him when he made that small change in 1582.
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What did Pope Gregory do to the calendar? Before 1582 the
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Julian calendar had been in effect, instituted by Julius
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Ceasar about 46 B.C. and named after him. But the Julian ca-
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lendar had calulated the length of the year as 365 1/4 days,
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and the year is actually eleven minutes less than 365 1/4
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days. Those eleven minutes accumulated, and by 1582 the num-
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bering of the calendar was ten days out of harmony with the
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solar system. Gregory simply dropped those ten days out of
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the numbering of the calendar. It was Thursday, October 4,
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1582, and the next day, Friday, should have been October 5.
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But Gregory simply made it October 15 instead, dropping ex-
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actly ten days to bring the calendar back in harmony with
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the heavenly bodies. Were the days of the week confused?
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No. Friday still followed Thursday, and Saturday still fol-
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lowed Friday. The same seventh day remained, and the weekly
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cycle was not disturbed in the least. When we keep the sev-
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enth day on Saturday, we are observing the same day Jesus kept,
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and He did it every week according to Luke 4:16.
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3. The third evidence for the true Sabbath is the most con-
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clusive of all. The Jewish people have been observing the
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seventh day from the time of Abraham, and they still keep it
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today. Here is a whole nation-millions of individuals-who
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have been counting off time meticulously, week after week,
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calendar or no calendar, for thousands of years. Could they
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have lost track? Impossible. The only way they could have
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lost a day would have been for the entire nation to have slept
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over for an extra 24 hours and for no one ever to tell them
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about afterwards.
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There has been no change or loss of the Sabbath since God made
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it in Genesis. The origin of the week is found in the creation
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|
story. There is no scientific or astronomical reason for mea-
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|
suring time in cycles of seven days. It is an arbitrary arra-
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|
ngement of God and has been miraculously preserved for one
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|
reason-because the holy Sabbath day points to the creative
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|
power of the only true God. It is a sign of His Sovereignty
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over the world and over human life; a sign of creation and
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|
redemption.
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Is this not the reason God will preserve Sabbathkeeping thr-
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|
oughout eternity? We read in Isaiah 66:22, 23: "For as the
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|
new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, saith the
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|
Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall
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|
come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one
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|
sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me,
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|
saith the Lord."
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The Sabbath is so precious to God that He will have His people
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|
observe it throughout all time to come in the beautiful new
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|
earth. If it is so precious to Him, should it not be precious
|
|
to us? If we are going to keep it then, should we not keep
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|
it now?
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|
In an age of false gods, of atheistic evolution, and traditions
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|
of men, the world needs the Sabbath more than ever as a test of
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|
our loyalty to the great Creator-God and a sign of our sanct-
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|
ification through His power.
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4. Proof number four lies in the fact that over one hundred
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languages of the earth use the word "Sabbath" for Saturday.
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For example, the Spanish word for Saturday is "Sabado," meaning
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|
Sabbath. What does this prove? It proves that when those hun-
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|
dred languages originated in the long, long ago, Saturday was
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|
recoginized as the Sabbath day and was incorporated into the
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|
very name of the day.
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The Sabbath Was Only a Memorial
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|
of Deliverance Out of Egypt
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This strange idea is drawn from a single text in the Old Testa-
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ment and is disstorted to contradict many clear statements about
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|
the true origin of the Sabbath. The text is found in Deuteronomy
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5:14, 15: "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy
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|
God: in it thou shalt not do any work, nor thy manservant, nor
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|
thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy
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|
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-
|
|
servant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And re-
|
|
member that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that
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|
the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand
|
|
and by a streched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded
|
|
thee to keep the sabbath day."
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|
Some people draw from this text that God gave the Sabbath as a
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|
memorial of the Exodus from Egypt. But the Genesis story of
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|
the making of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3) and the wording of
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|
the fourth commandment by God Himself (Exodus 20:11) reveals
|
|
the Sabbath as a memorial of creation.
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|
The key to understanding these two verses rests in the word
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|
"servant." God said, "Remember that thou wast a servant in
|
|
the land of Egypt." And in the sentence before this one He
|
|
reminds them "that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest
|
|
as well as thou." In other words, their experience in Egypt
|
|
as servants would remind them to deal justly with their se-
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|
rvants by giving them Sabbath rest.
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|
In similar vein God had commanded, "And if a stranger sojourn
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|
with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him ... for ye were
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|
strangers in the land of Egypt." Leviticus 19:33, 34.
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|
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|
It was not unusual for God to hark back to the Egyptian del-
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|
verance as an incentive to obey other commandments. In Deu-
|
|
teronomy 24:17, 18, God said, "Thou shalt not pervert the
|
|
judgement of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; not take a
|
|
widow's raiment to pledge. ... Thou wast a bondman in Egypt,
|
|
and the Lord thy God redeemed thee thence: therefore I
|
|
commanded thee to do this thing."
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|
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|
Neither the command to be just nor to keep the Sabbath was
|
|
given to memorialize the Exodus, but God told them that His
|
|
goodness in bringing them out of captivity constituted a
|
|
strong additional reason for their dealing kindly with their
|
|
servants on the Sabbath and treating justly the strangers
|
|
and widows.
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|
|
|
In the same way, God spoke to them in Leviticus 11:45, "For
|
|
I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt. ...
|
|
ye shall therefore be holy." Surely no one would insist that
|
|
holiness did not exist before the Exodus, or that it would
|
|
be afterwards limited only to the Jews, to memorialize their
|
|
deliverance.
|
|
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|
Keep Sunday in Honor
|
|
of the Resurection
|
|
|
|
It is true that Jesus rose on the first day of the week, but
|
|
nowhere is there the slightest intimation in the Bible for
|
|
anyone to keep that day holy. The basis for Sabbathkeeping
|
|
is the direct handwritten command of God.
|
|
|
|
Many wonderful events occurred on certain days of the week, but
|
|
we have no command to keep them holy. Jesus died for our sins
|
|
on Friday. That is probably the most significant event in all
|
|
of recorded history. It marks the moment my death sentence was
|
|
commuted and my salvation assured. But not one Bible text hints
|
|
that we should observe this day of such great significance.
|
|
|
|
It was a dramatic moment when Jesus rose from the grave on that
|
|
Sunday morning, but there is not a scintilla of biblical evi-
|
|
dence that we should observe it in honor of the resurrection.
|
|
|
|
Not one instance of Sunday observance has been found in the
|
|
recorded Scriptures.
|
|
|
|
There is, of course, a memorial of the resurrection commanded
|
|
in the Bible, but it is not Sundaykeeping. Paul wrote: "There-
|
|
fore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like
|
|
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
|
|
even so we also should walk in newness of life." Romans 6:4.
|
|
|
|
Baptism is the memorial of Christ's death, burial and ressur-
|
|
ection. Those who believe that Sunday observance honors His
|
|
ressurection cite the upper room meeting of the disciples on
|
|
the same day He arose from the grave. To them that gathering
|
|
was to celebrate His resurrection. But when we read the
|
|
Bible record of the event, we discover that the circumstances
|
|
were quite different. Luke tells us that, even though the
|
|
diciples were confronted with the eyewitness story of Mary
|
|
Magdalene, they "believed not," "After that he appeared in
|
|
another form unto two of them, as they walked into the
|
|
country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither
|
|
believed they them. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven
|
|
as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief
|
|
and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had
|
|
seen him after he was risen." Mark 16:12-14.
|
|
|
|
Obviously, none of those upper room disciples believed that He
|
|
was raised, so they could not have been joyously celebrating
|
|
the resurrection. John explains their reason for being to-
|
|
gether in these words: "The doors were shut where the dis-
|
|
ciples were assembled FOR FEAR OF THE JEWS." John 20:19.
|
|
|
|
Thus, we have examined the major arguements used against the
|
|
observance of God's holy Sabbath day. Not one of the objections
|
|
provides a scintilla of evidence that God ever changed His
|
|
mind about the Sabbath. When He wrote the word "remember"
|
|
into the fourth commandment, it was in reference to the same
|
|
seventh day that appears on our wall calendar. Neither men
|
|
not demons can diminish the validity of that eternal moral
|
|
law.
|
|
|
|
May God grant each one of us the courage to honor the Sabbath
|
|
commandment AS heaven's special test of our love and loyalty.
|
|
As we have discovered, when Jesus returns, we will keep that
|
|
same Sabbath with Him, ages without end. Even so, come Lord
|
|
Jesus.
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Copyright 1980 by
|
|
Joe Crews
|
|
All Rights Reserved
|
|
|
|
Published by:
|
|
Amazing Facts, Inc.
|
|
P.O. Box 680
|
|
Fredrick, MD. 21701
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