What is the purpose of the Sabbath?

[pasifika]

So? Why do I have to fail on the 4th commandment any more than the other 9? You're going to have to explain this to me. Sin is sin and the same urges apply to breaking all the commandments. All I have to do to break the commandment not to commit adultery is to look at a woman with lust in my heart. All I have to do to commit murder is to hate someone. Your comment baffles me.

Good question..The answer is because the same God (same law giver) who commanded the 4th commandment to be kept is the same God who also commanded the other 9 commandments. You either accept Him or Not. Nothing in between. See James 2:11

Yes, sin is sin, and sin is breaking God's commandments (All of them)

 

[Gary K]

Good question..The answer is because the same God (same law giver) who commanded the 4th commandment to be kept is the same God who also commanded the other 9 commandments. You either accept Him or Not. Nothing in between. See James 2:11

Yes, sin is sin, and sin is breaking God's commandments (All of them)

So your point is?

 

[pasifika]

So your point is?

This is your question.."Why do I have to fail on the 4th commandment any more than the other 9? If I didn't answer your question above then I interpret your question wrong. You can rephrase it to see what you meant.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

most of these sabbath threads soon turn into the same back and forth from the same people and with the same canned arguments (myself included and if it's you too you know who you are). But for the moment let's table the arguments of the requirement of the Sabbath and talk about the purpose of the Sabbath which I feel is a more noble conversation.

So in whatever you say, make sure you are speaking about the purpose and not just rehashing the same things we can see in pages and pages of threads before this. A mother may say to her child "eat your vegetables" so the immediate instruction/requirement is clear which is to eat the vegetable but nothing is said about the purpose of eating the vegetables and it's to that purpose I'm getting at.

Let's try and be critical about this too and avoid sentiments like "because God says to obey it". Although that may be a statement of motivation it is not a statement of purpose and to that expect a reply of "Why does God say to obey it?" Better yet ask yourself why first, and keep asking why until you can get to the root and that should show you the purpose.

What is the purpose of the Sabbath?

WOW!! Somebody has actually asked a very intelligent question. This is something that I have been thinking about for about 20 years.

As I have studied this out,. A number of objectives come to mind.

1. It shows the sovereignty of God. It shows his rulership, his law, his order is the proper way to live. And still in effect. IT Reminds us with healthy is, it reminds us of what normal is. It reminds us that God's plan in the garden of Eden is what normal and healthy is and that's what we should aspire to be

2. It is an appointment with God. It is literally the time that God shows up to meet with us. His presence is in the day. Something cannot be holy without God's presence being a part of it. I have literally felt the presence of the Lord come on the Sabbath day.

3. Is the day of blessing. When the Lord shows up the blessings come with the Lord.

4. It is the promise of sanctification,. God will do the job to get us ready to have a relationship with him because he wants to have a relationship with us he will do the work. You just have to show up.

5. It is a weekly vacation courtesy of God. He wants us to take time off to enjoy ourselves. I'm not work ourselves to death. Tyranny of having to do work and be competitive does not allow us to enjoy life. The Sabbath says everybody must stop,. Workers must have some time to enjoy their lives. They must experience freedom and release from their burdens. At least once a week. Jesus first miracle was at a party on the Sabbath day. Let that sink in. She wanted to have fun and good times. Fun and the good times come with the Lord. That's what he really wants for us.

6. It is a sign of loyalty. The Jews use the Sabbath as a sign of loyalty to Judaism when they were in Babylon. They were in captivity. You had to assemble, read the Torah, on the Sabbath day. This I think thisis a valid application to our time and place and what seventh-day Adventist trying to accomplish. In a world that believes in evolution, LGBT rights,. Sexual permissiveness and the destruction of the family. This is a way to show that you are loyal to God's order and still believe in that way of living life

7. It is a sign of his promise to rule and regin in Jerusalem for a thousand years. God promised he would restore His order to this earth. We are still loyal to that promise.

8. Is a sign that you will wait for God to restore that order. Rather than try to solve that problem yourself. Moses tried to take matters into his own hands and it cost him 40 years in the wilderness. The last temptation of the church is to try and set up kingdom of God on Earth before Christ comes. Daniel 11:45, Daniel 7:7,8, Rev13;18, 1 Kings 10:14, 1 Chro 9:13.

 

[Bob S]

Not true at all.
Exod 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Come on Him, you should know better than that. Ex 20: 6 is not one of the ten commands.

 

[Bob S]

So then why do you not believe we need to obey the 4th commandment? It is God's power that enables us to keep it. It's no works of ours to obey Him.

Show us one place in all of scripture where God demanded Gentile nations to observe a day. Show us where Christians are demanded to observe a day. I can and will show you where no one is under the ten commandments. 2Cor3 6-11. The 10 commandments were given to the nation of Israel and only them. The old covenant which contained all of the commands ever given to Israel ended at Calvary where Jesus ratified the new and better covenant with His own blood.

6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant​

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

 

[Studyman]

Come on Him, you should know better than that. Ex 20: 6 is not one of the ten commands.

So let me get this right. You are now Preaching that God's 10 Commandments doesn't include "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Wow, that one is out there, even for you BS.

 

[Bob S]

So let me get this right. You are now Preaching that God's 10 Commandments doesn't include "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

Wow, that one is out there, even for you BS.

Show me where I said that Studyman. Seems like you and others need a lot of help understanding Ex20 verses 4,5, and 6. If you are going to copy and paste scripture it is proper to add the verse numbers. Verse 6 is not a command

4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

 

[DamianWarS]

I will disagree once again. Jesus' life here on earth was a perfect exposition of keeping the 10 commandments. He could not have failed in any nitpicking sense and still have been our Savior.

Sure, and nit just the 10 but the entire law. But that has nothing to do with my point of his focus of love.

 

[Gary K]

Sure, and nit just the 10 but the entire law. But that has nothing to do with my point of his focus of love.

Sure it does for Jesus kept the law perfectly. Their is no dichotomy between perfectly keeping the law and love for God is love.

 

[DamianWarS]

Sure it does for Jesus kept the law perfectly. Their is no dichotomy between perfectly keeping the law and love for God is love.

Yet Jesus shows us what the law was unable to.

 

[Gary K]

Yet Jesus shows us what the law was unable to.

Yup. It was never designed to encourage perfection. It was designed to reveal imperfection. As Paul says it is our school master to bring us to Jesus who provides all of our spiritual needs.

 

[DamianWarS]

Yup. It was never designed to encourage perfection. It was designed to reveal imperfection. As Paul says it is our school master to bring us to Jesus who provides all of our spiritual needs.

I've lost your point

 

[Adventist Dissident]

Show us one place in all of scripture where God demanded Gentile nations to observe a day. Show us where Christians are demanded to observe a day. I can and will show you where no one is under the ten commandments. 2Cor3 6-11. The 10 commandments were given to the nation of Israel and only them. The old covenant which contained all of the commands ever given to Israel ended at Calvary where Jesus ratified the new and better covenant with His own blood.

6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant​

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

Jesus calls himself LORD of the SABBATH. The New Covenant is the Law written on the Heart. so where do you see that being done away with.

 

[Gary K]

I've lost your point

How? I have had the same point in my last few posts to you. Do you not remember Paul saying that the law is our schoolmaster?

Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

Meaning that since we are all one in Jesus the same rules apply to all of us. Gentiles don't operate under separate rules.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit produces that in us against which is in violation of no law, which includes the 10 commandments, and have crucified our fleshly lusts in Him.

 

[DamianWarS]

Paul saying that the law is our schoolmaster?

Paul said the law was our schoolmaster that we are no longer under.

 

[Gary K]

Paul said the law was our schoolmaster that we are no longer under.

So you're going to ignore everything else I said? Why?

The idea of being under condemnation of a law is found when one breaks that law. At no other time can we be under it's condemnation. We are under the condemnation of the law against murder when, and only when, we commit murder. At no other time does it affect us.

 

[DamianWarS]

So you're going to ignore everything else I said? Why?

The idea of being under condemnation of a law is found when one breaks that law. At no other time can we be under it's condemnation. We are under the condemnation of the law against murder when, and only when, we commit murder. At no other time does it affect us.

Thats not what Paul says

 

[Gary K]

Thats not what Paul says

You may say that, and you have every right to think what you like, but the meaning of being under the condemnation of the law doesn't change no matter what your opinion or mine may be.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

You may say that, and you have every right to think what you like, but the meaning of being under the condemnation of the law doesn't change no matter what your opinion or mine may be.

since this is off topic, let me ask those who Say the Sabbath is not binding on Christians, what did Scripture or Jesus mean when he said
1. "I am Lord even of the Sabbath"?
2. "Until Heaven & Earth Pass away not one Jot ot Tittle will pass from the law?"
3. "The Law will be written on your Heart?"
4. What do you do with the fact the Sabbath is the Sign of the 1000 years of rulership on the Earth"