Expert: Cooper P. Abrams III - 6/27/2008

Question
QUESTION: I just read your response to June's question regarding the Sabbath issue.  You stated that the Sabbath was given to God for the Israelite Nation, and that, I assuming, Christ's death on the cross did away with it.  However you forgot to mention the fact that instruction to ALL people,  who worship God was given in the fourth commandment.  "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy".  "And the lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it". Does that mean by the abrogation of the fourth commandment the other nine are no longer to be kept?
How then do you explain, from the mouth of God, Isaiah 66:22,23 where He says that his people, the saved of all ages, will meet to worship Him, from "from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord".  In verse 22 it tells where this worship is to take place.  "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain".

ANSWER: Hi Ralph,
   Thanks for your question.   Christ's death did not do away with the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was given to Israel, it was not given as an observance for Christians in this the Church age.   It is still an ordinance for Israel.  
   The Fourth commandment was given to Israel....it was not given to Christians in the church age.   Many Christians keep Sunday as a day holy (separated) unto the Lord.   Christians then are keeping the principle of the fourth commandment by worshiping the Lord on the day of His resurrection.   
    Christians are to keep the principles of all the Old Testament laws including the 10 Commandments.   Each law God gave Israel has a spiritual principle on which it was based.   I do not as a
Christian keep the first commandment because I am obligated to do so by a law.  I worship the Lord because He is my Creator, God and Savior and I worship out of respect and love.  Thus my motivation is not because I am under a law and required to do so...I keep the commandment because I believe in God and love Him who loved me and died for my sins.    
   What is confusing to many people is that they do not understand the nature of the Law of Moses.   The Old Testament was was the civil laws of the nation of Israel.   These laws were given to them from God and each was based on a principle of righteousness...(what is right).   These laws made like the fourth commandment mandatory for every Jews.   A Jew then could keep the Law out of belief and respect for God....or they could keep the law simply as a act of obedience because they did not want to suffer the civil penalties that would be imposed.  This type of person would not keep the Law to honor or worship God, but would go through the motions, but not from the heart.
   The New Testament repeatedly states Christian are not under  the Law, but under grace.   We worship and serve God out of love..not simply out of being obligated to.   
   Under the Old Testament law there were strict penalty for disobedience the same as all civil laws.   As a Christian we are members of a local church and no church has the authority to punish believers who sin and disobey God.  There is a vast difference between a congregation of Christians who are members of a local church and the nation of Israel.    To Israel the Law of Moses was their constitution and system of civil law.   When a person understands this truth... it makes things clear.

   "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 66:23)

      The question is does the verse literally say?    It says that in the future, from one moon to another (meaning from month to month), from one sabbath (Saturday) to the next Sabbath, all flesh...(meaning all flesh on earth at that time) will come and worship me.    It is simply stating that from month to month, Saturday to Saturday, all people will worship the Lord.  That means there will be continual worship of the Lord.    In the Old Testament dispensation Israel was only obliged to appear three times in a year at Jerusalem, but during this time all men on earth will continually worship God, not just on a particular day.   

     The Hebrew literally says, 'As often as the month cometh in its month;' that is, in its time, every month, every new moon.   God said to Israel "Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them." (Isaiah 1:14)   Why?   Because they had made a ritual out of the Sabbath.   The Sabbath was not a spiritual day of worship as God intended but to the Jews they had make it a ritual they performed without true worship of the Lord.   In eternity there will no one who does not worship the Lord.   In Isaiah 66:23, God says in the future, or eternity,  Israel and everyone else on earth will worship the Lord in truth continually.    That is the point of the verse.

    The text states this is something that will be in the future.  Some commentators mix Israel and the church age together in interpreting this passage.    However, at the time this passage is addressing which is in eternity,  the Church Age Christians (called my many the church) will be in heaven with the Lord.  They will be resurrected and serving and ruling the Lord as His bride throughout eternity.    It is a mistake to put the churches or Christians in this verse.  Yes, Church Age saints will be in eternity, but they will have already be worshipping the Lord from the Rapture.   This verse is focusing on the whole of the earth and in a future time....not in our time.   Further the verse is not addressing the Sabbath or telling us anything about the Sabbath, but rather using it as a reference to a point in time.   The words Sabbath and moon are parallel words which both refer to a period of time, which explain that worship in this future time will be continual.

   Hope this helps.    As I hope you can see, it is really easy to presuppose one's idea on a passage.   Some suppose this verse is saying the Sabbath will be kept in the future using this verse.  However, I hope you see that is not what the verse is saying and it is a false interpretation to say this is talking about details of the Sabbath or Sabbath keeping.

    If you have further questions please write.
Cooper Abrams
http://bible-truth.org
Romans 12:1-2


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for your response to the first half of my question.  Let me first say that I don't agree with your explanation of the first half of my question.  However, in your answering of my question, you obviously missed the second half of it, that is the 22nd verse regarding the time element when this worship event occurs.  In my understanding of verse 23, the worship of God by His people, refers to the future, after Christ's return to gather home His saints, or as you put it, the rapture. The reason I believe that it refers to the future is that according to the 22nd verse, this worship of Him, by all God's people, will take place in the new heavens and the new earth, not the earth which we are living on now. And, if Christ, who is our example, preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath when He was here on earth, I believe we should  follow His example, don't you?

Answer
Sir,
   Respectfully, I answered your and gave you the biblical answer. Verse 22-23 says that in the future...continually, God will be worshiped, every day, every week and every month.  The use of the word sabbath is simply referring to the last day of the week...thus it means a week.  This is literally what the two verses are saying and it not tell us that the Sabbath day will be observed in the New Heaven and earth.   
   "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." (Colossians 2:16)

    God stated the time frame of keeping the Sabbath, "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant." (Exodus 31:16)   Clearly, this was addressed to the Nation of Israel because the Sabbath was a special sign between God and Israel.
    ""It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:17)  The verse says this sign (Sabbath) was between God and Israel.   Nowhere in New Testament does God say the Sabbath was to be observed by Christians.  Christians observe the principle of worshiping the Lord and resting one day of the week which is Sunday the first day of the week and when Jesus arose.
    Jesus preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath to....Jews.  Christians after Pentecost worshiped the Lord on Sunday and none of the Epistles even mention Sabbath keeping.

   Note the following.

1. On the first day Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9).
2. On the first day Jesus first appeared to his disciples (Mark 16:9).

3. On the first day Jesus met with the disciples at different places and repeatedly (Mark 16:9-11; Matthew 28:8-10; Luke 24:34; Mark 16:12-13; John 20:19-23).

4. 4. On the first day Jesus blessed the disciples (John 20:19).

5. On the first day Jesus imparted to the disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).

6. On the first day Jesus commissioned the disciples to preach the gospel to all the world (John 20:21; with Mark 16:9-15).

7. On the first day Jesus ascended to Heaven, was seated at the right hand of the Father and was made Head of all (John 20:17; Ephesians 1:20).

8. On the first day many of the dead saints arose from the grave (Matthew 27:52-53).

9. The first day became the day of joy and rejoicing to the disciples (John 20:20; Luke 24:41).

10. On the first day the gospel of the risen Christ was first preached (Luke 24:34).

11. On the first day Jesus explained the Scriptures to the disciples (Luke 24:27,45).

12. On the first day the purchase of our redemption was completed (Romans 4:25).

13. On the first day the Holy Spirit descended (Acts 2:1). Pentecost was on the 50th day after the Sabbath following the wave offering (Leviticus 23:15,16). Thus Pentecost was always on a Sunday. Therefore God instituted the "ekklesia" or local church on the first day of the week which is Sunday. This is indisputable evidence of God approving of Sunday as the day of worship for Christians.

14. The Christians met to worship on the first day (Acts 20:6,7; 1 Co. 16:2). Sunday is "the Lord's Day" (Re. 1:10) (D.M. Canright, Seventh-day Adventism Renounced).


  If you want to keep the Sabbath...then do so.   If you want to believe that worshiping on Saturday vs Sunday for Christians is what God dictated...you are wrong.   As I explains before.  Christians gather in a local congregation are not a nation nor subject the the civil laws God gave the Nation of Israel.   To correctly interpret God's word, one must keep Israel and the local church separate, as they are to different groups of people.

  I hope this helps.  I wonder why God inspired Paul to write Colossians 2:16 to this Gentile church if God requires Sabbath worship for Christians?

   Thanks for your question.   May I suggest an article that could help you in interpreting God's word.  http://bible-truth.org/Principles.htm   If you carefully study the article it may help you to better understand the this matter and others in God's word.
Respectfully,
Cooper Abrams
2 Timothy 2:15