Expert: Clive Heath - 9/6/2009

Question
To Whom It May Concern:


I’m searching for a certain denomination and was hoping that by contacting you, you could help me in my search.  This denomination or church will need to have God’s law, the Ten Commandments, and the second coming of Jesus as the basis of their beliefs.

Please correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Jesus write the Ten Commandments with His own finger and give them to Moses and the Children of Israel?

Some people have mentioned to me that this is the Jewish Law and does not apply to Christians in general.  What do you think?  After creating the first man and woman, Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath holy with Jesus.  Adam and Eve were not Jewish.

Do you think that God was only applying these Ten Commandments to one certain group of people or to all people?  Are Jews the only ones who are called to honor God by (1) having no other gods before Him, (2)not making idols and bowing down to them, (3) not taking the name of the Lord in vain, (4) keeping the seventh-day Sabbath holy, (5) honoring your father and mother, (6) not killing, (7) not committing adultery, (8) not stealing, (9) not bearing false witness and (10) not coveting.  All of these can be found in Exodus 20.

I have found in Genesis that when God created the earth, He created something on every day and then on the seventh day, He created the Sabbath.  Also found that Jesus worshiped on His Sabbath day. His disciples worshiped on the Sabbath day. John 14:15 says “If you love me, keep my commandments”.  Revelation 14:12 says, “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus”.  It seems to me that these two texts, which both are found in the New Testament, point back to the law, the Ten Commandments, which God gave to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai.  God did not just give these Ten Commandments to the Jews, but to the whole world.

I understand that Jesus was raised from the grave on the first day of the week.  This event, in itself, is very important and has great meaning to the salvation of mankind, but nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus changed the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day because of His resurrection.  Matthew 5:18  says “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled”.  

When God made the Sabbath on the seventh day, He blessed and hallowed it (to make holy).  As I see in the Scriptures, nowhere does God bless and hallow the first day of the week because of His resurrection.  As I can see, the disciples were meeting on the first day of the week sometimes just like we meet in church in the middle of the week for prayer meeting.

It seems like the Sabbath has been changed by man and not by God.  Why should a God who “changes not” change His own commandments.  Is it better to obey God or to obey man?

I am again looking for a church that worships God and follows all Ten Commandments.  I would like to have your input in this matter.


Answer
Hi Craig,

I hope you are well, this is some question and I can see how much thought you have put into it, so I will really do my best to answer it.

First let me explain that I  am a devout Bapist and our beliefs are that we obey Gods Law as in the 10 Commandments and we cerainly do believe and are waiting for the second coming of our Lord.

The 10 Commandments were written in the Lords own hand and given to Moses but I believe they were meant for Christians in general, beacause as you say, Adam and Eve were not Jewish, we had no denominations then, just Adam and Eve and their eventual offspring.

God was applying the Ten Commandments to all people in time and as the Christian Church grew by the grace of God, they beacme more apparent and adhered to by all true christians as hard as this can be at times.

It is true that when God created the Earth he rested on the seventh day making this day to be the Sabbath, and all who were aware of this followed this, it would not have mattered what day this was, bear in mind that the original Sabbath was a Saturday this being the last day of the week, Sunday [which people treat as the Sabbath] being the first day.

I agree that it appears that the Sabbath was changed by many , but the Jewish people still see the last day of the week as the Sabbath. But you have to remember that man was given free will by God, if this free will was used to change certain things then obviously God was awre of it.

I think the first day of the week became important as it shows new life and new start, just as the resurrection of Jesus did, this being the most important day of mankind. The Bible is very deep as you know and there are many other translations of the scriptures, but this should not affect your faith or belief as we know and believe these things happened.

We meet as most do on a Sunday [the modern day Sabbath] but also we have Bible study and Prayer meetings during the week, so I belief that you can praise the Lord at anytime and the Lord knows this, it is better to obey the Lord than man, but sometimes due to interpritation or just how many years ago these things happened, things do change often by the free will that God has given us, the most important thing is that you are a true Christian and you obviously know the WORD and God knows this and knows you. Christianity is a way of life.

As for the second coming, believe me Craig this will happen as predicted in the books of Daniel and Revelation.

I conclude that we as Baptists certainly believe in Gods Law and the Second Coming, and can only suggest that the Baptist Church and beliefs may be your way.

If not keep your faith in God and he will guide you, as long as you believe he will always be with you.

Please feel free to get back to me, I can only pray that I have helped you some how as I can tell by your tone that you are a true Christian!

God Bless

Clive Heath