Sabbeth Keepers
 

any studies along these lines?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Esaias may have some. I believe he keeps the Sabbath.

Are you wanting studies for, or against keeping the Sabbath?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I have written some for keeping the Sabbath.

here is one
WHY KEEP THE SABBATH?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Sorry, I had forgotten that you keep the Sabbath as well. :)

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Is there anything you wish to know specifically, sister?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I just wanted to know some opinions for and against....

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I've got some studies against. can dig them up.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I thought the Holy Ghost is our REST, if so, why would anyone even want to try and keep the sabbath?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

well, I have been talking to a sabbath keeper and just wondered what is used for and against?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

But what does God say? That's all that matters.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

of course what God says matters....lol....we may all see what God says from different eyes...and different understandings...I kindly ask for both sides of the story...I am not debating....

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I'm not against keeping the Sabbath. However, I believe that the Sabbath is kept spiritually, not in accordance to the carnal laws of ancient Israel. The Sabbath is God's "rest". It was a type and shadow of the grace of God, wherein we "rest" from our works and live in accordance to the Spirit. Under grace, the spiritual core of the Sabbath is observed, not a specific day. So, those walking in the Spirit are living in Sabbath daily and may freely choose any calendar day for gathering and worship. Under the Law, the Sabbath was restricted to a single day. Under grace, it is a daily state of being. This understanding is in accordance to love in a love vs. law paradigm. Imagine, if you will, that you only gave devotion to your spouse one day a week, this is Sabbath keeping under the Law. Under grace... we show absolute devotion every single day. As a result, in doing this we not only keep the Sabbath per the Law of God... but we transcend it.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

The way we see it is the sabbath was made before Adam ever left the garden. It was made for man, so it's a blessing and a gift. Keeping sabbath is a way of identifying who you serve - the God of the Bible, who made everything in 6 days and rested the seventh. Jesus kept the sabbath. The apostles kept the sabbath. Early church history shows for hundreds of years Christians kept the sabbath. It was among the churches at Rome and Alexandria that Sunday-keeping and abandonment of the sabbath began, the exact same groups who abandoned Oneness and invented the priesthood, Mary worship, and everything else that became catholicism.

The new testament records only ONE time the church met on the first day of the week, and that was a saturday night teaching session that went to midnight. The next morning Paul left on a journey.

All through the new testament the sabbath is still called the sabbath, decades after Christ rose from the dead.

Hebrews says "sabbath-keeping remains for the people of God".

It's one of the ten commandments. If the fourth commandment is done away with so are the others... which means there is nothing left for anyone to repent of. And that of course is not true. The new covenant, according to Hebrews and Jeremiah, involves God taking his commandments and writing them in our heart.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Another perspective. Hebrews 4 listed sabbath day and even the entrance into Canaan as TWO FORMS OF REST. But the writer still said there was a REST that God's people never yet enjoyed. In other words, it's not sabbath day nor even entrance into the promised land. It's an eternal rest. We cease from human efforts to sustain a relationship with God and allow the word to remove the unbelief from our hearts like a sword, and enter the most holy place where Jesus is our high priest and sit with him on the mercyseat, kick back, and enjoy HIS SPIRIT WORKING IN OUR LIVES.

It's not a sabbath day but a sabbath LIFESTYLE forevemore. An eternal sabbath that the day and the entrance into Canaan merely foreshadowed.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Paul, I believe wrote, Hebrews.

Whatever..

He spoke of the Israelites tempting God in the wilderness.

Hebrews 3:8-19 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: (9) When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. (10) Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. (11) So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

He called it an entrance into REST when they would enter Canaan.

(12) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

He applied their stubborn doubt with the backsliding happening amongst the Hebrew Christians in the church of the first century. As the doubtful Hebrews under Moses failed to enter their REST of Canaan, believers in the church could fail to go all the way God wanted them to go in their Christian lives.

(13) But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

This is a vital point he just wrote. After calling entrance into Canaan a form of REST, he then rephrased it to speak of partaking of Christ. As they could only enter Canaan's rest by faith, we can partake of Christ only by faith.

(15) While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. (16) For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. (17) But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (18) And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? (19) So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

So, they could not enter CANAAN'S REST due to unbelief. And we won;t partake of Christ by similar unbelief.
[indent]Hebrews 4:1-16 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.[indent]

As they were meant to enter Canaan's rest, we are meant to enter a rest as well. Canaan foreshadowed this rest. Unbelief will hinder us as it did them.

(2) For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (3) For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

Their GOOD NEWS was entrance into Canaan. OUR GOOD NEWS is partaking of Christ in a rest of some sort. he has not said what it is yet, though.

Then he wrote of the works being finished from the foundation of the world in regards to the rest. That's Genesis. God worked and then RESTED the seventh day.

(4) For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

Sabbath day was the FIRST form of rest we read anything about in the bible.

But there are more forms of rest. We already read about entrance into Canaan being one of them.

(5) And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

He reverted back to the CANAAN form of rest in this verse above.

Psalms 95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

So, after TWO forms of rest were mentioned by the Bible and used in Hebrews 4, we continue...

(6) Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Since Psalm 95 was written thousands of years after Genesis 1 and the sabbath day rest, and God said there was STILL a rest to enter aside from the sabbath day rest, He meant there is a form of rest nobody entered into ever since Sabbath day was instituted. That tells me that sabbath day is not the rest. He's saying that after people kept sabbath day, God still had a REST for man. God would not have said "if they shall enter my rest," if sabbath day was the final resting place. lol

Canaan was another rest!

And when Psalm 95 mentioned Canaan's rest, God spoke to people in David's day when David wrote Psalm 95 saying the people in THAT DAY better ensure they do not harden their hearts as they did generations earlier in the Exodus when they failed to enter Canaan. In other words, Paul said, when David wrote Psalm 95, not only had there been a previous rest of a sabbath day, but ANOTHER REST of Canaan, and yet the people to whom David wrote were STILL TO ENTER A THIRD REST. It wasn't Canaan, since Israel had long since entered Canaan. It wasn't sabbath day, since sabbath day was being kept for generations by the time David wrote.

(7) Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Paul repeated the thought. Long after sabbath day in Genesis, and long after Canaan, THERE WAS A DAY LIMITED AGAIN!

(8) For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

JESUS here is JOSHUA. JOSHUA is the Hebrew form of JESUS. When Joshua finally led Israel into Canaan, that was not the be all and end all of REST. David STILL said there remained a REST! Long after Joshua. David would not have stated there remained a rest if Joshua's entrance into Canaan solved the rest problem.

(9) 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.

Here it is! In the New Testament Book of Hebrews we STILL READ of a plea to enter the rest. It's not a sabbath DAY any more than entering Canaan was a sabbath DAY. Both the sabbath day and the entrance to Canaan typify a SPIRITUAL REST. We cease from our labours. Not physical works like a work week demands for a rest on the seventh day, any more than entrance into Canaan was the rest we are intended to enter.

The Hebrew people in the church were reverting back to LAW KEEPING. Salvation by works. They were not resting in the work of the cross.

(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.

After speaking of entrance INTO A DAY in Genesis, and ENTRANCE INTO CANAAN in Exodus, and even entrance into a third form of rest in Psalm 95, Hebrews 4 says there is ENTRANCE INTO THE THRONEROOM OF GOD.

As we continue in Hebrews, this REST we ENTER is mentioned again and again.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

Hebrews 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

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.

Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Hebrews 9:8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:

Hebrews 9:12 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.

Hebrews 10:19-22 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.

THAT IS THE REST! Hebrews 4 ends off with it and it is repeated evermore in the rest of the book!

It's not a sabbath day any more than it's entrance into Canaan. it is entrance into the rest of the HOLIEST OF HOLIES. David called it ABIDING IN THE SHADOW OF THE ALMIGHTY!

Psalms 91:1-5 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. (2) I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. (3) Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. (4) He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (5) Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

It is a REST from the wearisome worry and fret of troubles in life, where we try our best to recover ourselves instead of RESTING In the holiest of holies -- a secret place because only God is in there and opened it up only to the believers. But so few enter because they work and fret and toil, and never learn to rest in GOD!

THAT is what the sabbath day foreshadowed. It is what entrance into Canaan foreshdaowed. We cease not from picking up sticks on a sabbath day, but from fighting our own battles in our own fleshly power, instead of entering the holiest and sitting with God on the mercyseat in heavenly places and seeing God intervene by faith!

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Esaias, here's another perspective...

As was Jewish custom.

Again, as was customary. They also went to temple and taught in synagogues until they were cast out.

Yes, as most early Christians were of Jewish heritage.

Ah... Gentiles. Like me. :)

When Gentiles were confronted with keeping the Law of Circumcision and other Laws from the OT the church stipulated four simple admonishments:

1.) Avoid meats sacrificed to idols.
2.) Avoid blood.
3.) Avoid meats that have been strangled.
4.) Avoid sexual immorality.

Nowhere is keeping the Sabbath listed, as it relates to Gentiles. In fact, there was the promise of no other burden. Gentile Christians began to abandon the Sabbath and meet on the Lord's Day to distinguish themselves from Judaizing Christianity. Now, under the New Covenant... it really doesn't matter what day in which you wish to gather and worship. So, be at peace. This is walking in the Spirit.

Oh... and remember... some leading Oneness theologians (Modalists) ranted and raged against Trinitarianism and Arianism within the regions of Rome and Alexandria.

Ah, but it appears to have been common practice among believers in Corinth to gather together on the first day of the week. Paul admonishes them to set aside their offerings in support of other churches on this day.

Ah... but within context.

Context. It reads...

Hebrews 4:9-10 (ESV)
9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Do we only rest from the works of the Law or enter God's rest on the 7th day? No! God forbid. The Sabbath rest is within the true and spiritual Sabbath... this New Covenant. Those who enter into the New Covenant Church enter into this Sabbath rest... a rest that has endured for over 2,000 years now, day in and day out. A superior Sabbath that the 7th day Sabbath was only a type and shadow of.

It is written...

Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Notice... Paul references the Ten Commandments. Paul then goes on to state that these, and any other commandment, are fulfilled in one single commandment to live by... love.

Love fulfills the Law. Law would have us enter God's rest only one day in 7. Love would have us enter God's rest every day. Imagine only showing your wife that you loved her one day a week! Under grace, we are free from the Law... and we show God that we love Him 24/7! Love is therefore an infinitely superior law to live by.

Consider the Covenants:

1.) Edenic Covenant - Dispensation of Innocence
2.) Ademic Covenant - Dispensation of Conscience
3.) Noahic Covenant - Dispensation of Government
4.) Abrahamic Covenant - Dispensation of Patriarchs
5.) Mosaic Covenant - Dispensation of Law for Israel
6.) Davidic Covenant - Dispensation of Messianic Promise (Upon the Throne of David)
7.) Messianic Covenant/Covenant of Christ's Blood - Dispensation of Grace (Sabbath Dispensation/Church Age)

We are in the 7th Covenantal Day (Sabbath Dispensation)... and have been since the cross. It is entered through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This Sabbath will remain until Christ returns. Then we shall see the Advent of the Kingdom. Those who do not enter into this covenant of grace... are violating this Sabbath rest and will not enter into the Kingdom.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

The moment you switch your services to any day, except Sunday, I will take your arguments more seriously.

otherwise you are just following the Catholic Church teaching of keeping the Sun-day.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I got my beliefs from the bible itself. Nobody else.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

OK where in the Bible does it say to have church services on Sunday??

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

The early church gathered on the first day of the week. In fact, a week after the cross they already started it.

Joh 20:1 KJV The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

Joh 20:26 KJV And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Sunday to Sunday.

Act 20:7 KJV And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.

1Co 16:2 KJV Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

It's not a change of Sabbaths. It's a change of days of emphasis. Sunday is not the sabbath. It's day of worship. The day the Lord made was the day the stone was made the head of the corner, which was the first day of the week.

Psa 118:22-24 KJV The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. (23) This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. (24) This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.


Your turn. Where does the bible say to have church on saturday?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

I don't think it is vital to have church Sunday. It could be any day. But personally I work Saturday morning and have Sunday and Monday off, and others work monday. So.... It's just most convenient. But Sunday is not the sabbath. Sabbaths -- all fo them -- were a shadow and the body that casts the shadow is Jesus and so I have the real body of Sabbath, Jesus.

Col 2:16-17 KJV 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.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Some will mock, but I see a spiritual message in the first day of the week instead of the seventh for church. It's not a dogmatic stance, but a message.

The seventh day of the week was rest AFTER WORK. You work six days then rest later on seventh.

The seventh day sabbath was a memorial of OLD creation. We are in a new creation now in the new covenant. And instead of resting AFTER WE WORK, which is sort of like a salvation by works mentality, which law was, we rest BEFORE we work by worship and praise. Sunday is time of spiritual refreshing, not physical.

Sabbath day is a day of DO NOT DO THIS OR THAT. But first day is an emphasis not on what we cannot do, like sabbath, but what we CAN DO.... praise and worship! And we do that BEFORE we work in the world, first day. We do all our works BASED upon a spiritual refreshing of praise, instead of resting after we work in a physical sense. the first day of the week is contrasted from the last day by saying we refresh BEFORE we work instead of physically resting AFTER we work.

Those with eyes to see will get what I am saying and rejoice!

Law said work and then get life. Lev 18:5.

Christ said get life from God FIRST and then work.

It's like the difference between doing good to be saved as opposed of doing good BECAUSE we're saved.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

EVERY Sunday (first day of the week), I join in with the early church and celebrate the greatest event of the Bible, His resurrection.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

http://www.biblesabbath.org/confessions.html

quotes:

Daniel Ferres, ed., Manual of Christian Doctrine (1916), p.67.
"Question: How prove you that the Church hath power to command feasts and holy days?
"Answer. By the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants allow of, and therefore they fondly contradict themselves, by keeping Sunday strictly, and breaking most other feasts commanded by the same Church.'

Catholic Virginian Oct. 3, 1947, p. 9, art. "To Tell You the Truth."
"For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the[Roman Catholic] church outside the Bible."

Peter R. Kraemer, Catholic Church Extension Society (1975),Chicago, Illinois.
"Regarding the change from the observance of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sunday, I wish to draw your attention to the facts:
"1) That Protestants, who accept the Bible as the only rule of faith and religion, should by all means go back to the observance of the Sabbath. The fact that they do not, but on the contrary observe the Sunday, stultifies them in the eyes of every thinking man.
"2) We Catholics do not accept the Bible as the only rule of faith. Besides the Bible we have the living Church, the authority of the Church, as a rule to guide us. We say, this Church, instituted by Christ to teach and guide man through life, has the right to change the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament and hence, we accept her change of the Sabbath to Sunday. We frankly say, yes, the Church made this change, made this law, as she made many other laws, for instance, the Friday abstinence, the unmarried priesthood, the laws concerning mixed marriages, the regulation of Catholic marriages and a thousand other laws.
"It is always somewhat laughable, to see the Protestant churches, in pulpit and legislation, demand the observance of Sunday, of which there is nothing in their Bible."

T. Enright, C.S.S.R., in a lecture at Hartford, Kansas, Feb. 18,1884.
"I have repeatedly offered $1,000 to anyone who can prove to me from the Bible alone that I am bound to keep Sunday holy. There is no such law in the Bible. It is a law of the holy Catholic Church alone. The Bible says, 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.' The Catholic Church says: 'No. By my divine power I abolish the Sabbath day and command you to keep holy the first day of the week.' And lo! The entire civilized world bows down in a reverent obedience to the command of the holy Catholic Church."

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

"Protestants ... accept Sunday rather than Saturday as the day for public worship after the Catholic Church made the change... But the Protestant mind does not seem to realize that ... in observing Sunday, they are accepting the authority of the spokesman for the Church,the pope."Our Sunday Visitor, February 5th, 1950. - See more at: http://www.sabbathtruth.com/sabbath-....GyO4jfSE.dpuf

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

"Jesus is our rest, therefore we keep the fourth commandment simply by being a Christian."

God is our father, may we then ignore the fifth commandment or spiritualize it in such a way that we don't have to actually honour our parents?

Our relationship with Christ is typified by marriage. Does this mean Christianity abolishes matrimony?

The Bible says "the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God". Jesus isn't the seventh day, He is the Lord of the seventh day.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Don't fall for the doctrine of the Pharisees!

Mark chapter 7:
[9] And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
[10] For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
[11] But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.
[12] And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother;
[13] Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

Notice the pharisee teaching: One could avoid actually doing what the commandment of God required by claiming a higher, spiritual purpose. By dedicating one's money as a gift to the service of God, one was free of the obligation of obedience to the actual stated command of God (in this case the fifth commandment).

Modern Pharisaism does the same thing with the fourth commandment. By claiming a "higher spiritual purpose", higher and "more important" than actual obedience to the commandment's words, they reject the commandment of God in order to keep man-made tradition.

Beware the leaven (teaching) of the Pharisees!

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

"Sabbath keepers are trying to work to get life but sabbath breakers are enjoying life because Christ did the work/by faith/by grace etc."

Obedience to God is not trying to get life from works, anymore than baptism is.

Suppose a person obeys the third commandment and refuses to profane the Lord's name. Is that person trying to "work to get life"?

Should they repent and start profaning God's name to be more "spiritual" and to make sure they aren't being a "legalist"?

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Having church on saturday:

It says nothing about saturday. It does speak of the seventh day IS the sabbath of the Lord our God. (Is the seventh day the sabbath of YOUR God? If your God is Jesus Christ then it is...)

And it says this:

[1] And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
[2] Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
[3] Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings. (Lev 23:1-3)

The sabbath is said to be a "holy convocation" - a sacred assemblying together.

The sabbath is also specified as a "feast", that is, a "moed" which is a divine appointment for meeting God in worship.

No reason not to gather together on the Lord's sabbath to worship the Creator!

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

:thumbsup

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

It is important to note that early believers in Jesus living in Palestine and Judea had Jewish roots and family. They regularly partook in the Temple Sabbath services of Judaism, met in synagogues on the Sabbath, observed the Jewish hours of prayer (3 times daily), observed Sabbath laws, observed dietary elements of the Law, observed circumcision, observed Jewish feast days, etc.. However, they didn't worship Jesus openly in these venues. Jewish authorities presided over these venues. They met on the first day of the week to break bread (the Lord's Supper) and to reflect on what Jesus taught them, share their testimonies, and worship Jesus.

As Judaism became increasingly hostile against believers in Jesus within their midst, believers in Christ began to be thrown out of the Temple and the synagogues. Soon, believers in Jesus were dubbed "Christians". They continued to meet on the first day of the week to dedicate their worship to Jesus. Upon the destruction of the Temple (in AD 70) the vast majority of Christians within Judea completely abandoned the Jewish customs and a distinctly "Christian" way of life began to evolve. As more and more Gentiles became Christian, fewer and fewer Christian assemblies observed Jewish customs. The conflict between Christianity and Judaism became a cool rejection between the two and a new threat began to rise against the church... Roman paganism and emperor worship. The rest is history.

To paint a picture of an expanding Gentile church observing the Sabbath and various elements of the Law disingenuous. All quotes and references depicting such a thing are taken out of context and misconstrued to drag one back into bondage to the Law. Christians are not to live according to the Old Testament Law, but rather, we live by the law of love. Love will worship God to the fullest at all times, not just on special days (Sabbaths, holidays, etc.). Christianity is truly a universal faith that is relatively neutral as it relates to human culture. That is what made it so beautiful and unique among all religions on earth. Anyone could be a Christian. And being a Christian, they didn't have to act like they were of another culture, race, or secret sect to do so. True spiritual freedom.

I'm Irish. I'm not Jewish. Had I lived during the first century, I might hear rumors about Christian brethren living in Judea observing elements of the Judaism they'd practiced for generations. But, being Irish... that would all be alien to me. Only the legalistic Judaizers among them would try to pressure me to act Jewish and observe the Law. Paul would have me know that I don't have to be circumcised, eat Kosher, or observe Jewish holy days (Sabbaths and festivals) to worship and be a Christian. Nor would I have to pray in Hebrew or dress like a Jew with a rag on my head when gathered for worship. Paul would admonish me to be modest and unprovocative in my attire. He'd admonish me to encourage my family to be born of water and spirit. Paul would also encourage me to gather with other Christians as often as I could for fellowship and teaching. He would also admonish me to continue partaking in the breaking of bread (the Lord's Supper), showing the Lord's death until His return. He'd explain how the Jerusalem council asks that I do not partake in anything associated with paganism as it relates to diet (foods sacrificed to idols, blood, or things strangled). Partaking in these things would offend or confuse many new converts. Lastly, he'd admonish that I avoid sexual immorality. As a Gentile Christian... this would be my faith.

We desperately need to graduate from the Law and endeavor to live and walk in the Spirit. It's an infinitely higher path than living according the Law.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Pure fantasy. History proves christians kept sabbath for centuries after the close of the apostolic era.

Further there is no proof christians met regularly on the first day of the week in the bible. There is ONE - O N E - reference to a gathering of believers on the EVENING AFTER THE SABBATH and it was clearly a special meeting because paul was leaving in the morning.

But hey these be the days where everyone just makes it up as they go along so hey why not?

lol

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

:lol ya--the evening after the Sabbath being Saturday night.
my understanding was that early Christians kept Sabbath on pain of death, and it took the RCC over a hundred years to dislodge it anyway.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Christians were never commanded to observe the sabbath.

On the contrary, they were to refrain from telling other folks to keep it or not to keep it....
(it became a useless tradition after Pentecost)



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.



Hebrews 10 King James Version (KJV)

10 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.


The sabbath was clearly under the Law and only considered a "shadow".

To go back and keep any part of the Law, including sabbaths is living in the shadows and prior to Christ.

By keeping the Law, we are putting Jesus back on the cross and "crucifying Him afresh"...

Hebrews 6:4 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

wadr, i can't help but compare this with the rationalization for Easter...and, i find it significant that those considered in the "Well done..." group will apparently keep Sabbath in the New Jerusalem. I don't mean to imply that you are not doing what you do with a pure heart, but that you may be celebrating His resurrection among those focused mostly on His death, likely unbeknownst to even them. I find the deception here nearly all-encompassing; and thank God that He judges hearts, and not standards.

Some did since there'll always be Judaizers.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

Can you quote from history where GENTILE Christians kept Sabbath for "centuries" after the close of the apostolic era?

Galatians 4: 9 But now having known God, or rather being known of God, how turn ye back to the weak and beggarly elements, to which ye desire to be in bondage again?

10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have laboured upon you in vain.

This teaches the church had no sacred days. Not even Sabbath. Chapter 3 said the law was Israel's schoolmaster til Jesus came. And chapter four says gentle believers were mistaken to use Israel's schoolmaster when Israel graduated from that elementary schooling themselves.

Re: Sabbeth Keepers
 

i also, after much struggle here, believe this as well. I no longer observe the Sabbath "religiously," and don't feel guilty about making exceptions...but i am curious how y'all understand this keeping of the Sabbath in the New Jerusalem thing? There is even Scripture to that effect, if i remember right.i would also be interested--i remember doing a study that indicated that it was quite difficult for the RCC to dislodge Sabbath-keeping, but i have forgotten the source--which might be suspect...etc