T
TrustAndObey
Guest
The following study is from an essay I'm working on called "Contempt for God's Holy Day." This is just a small part of what is turning into a HUGE paper. I would appreciate some insight from my fellow Adventists. 
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I hear a lot of people say Jesus broke the Sabbath commandment by healing on that day.
Did our Savior really break the law of God?
Please consider who it was that said Jesus broke the Sabbath. It certainly wasnt the Bible. The Holy Bible, the word of God, says that Jesus never sinned.
So who was it that accused Christ of breaking the Sabbath?
John 9:16 - Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
John 5:18 - Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Those verses make it clear that the Jews/Pharisees were already seeking to kill Christ and they were looking for any excuse to do so.
We have to remember that these were people who did not accept Christ as the promised Messiah. They were expecting a great king with many riches to appear, and refused to acknowledge a poor carpenter as being the Messiah.
Do an internet search on the Pharisees and see who it is exactly that were dealing with here.
Heres the dictionary definition of a Pharisee (Merriam Webster): PHARISEE--1 a member of a Jewish sect of the intertestamental period noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their OWN oral traditions concerning the law.
Heres basically what any theologian will tell you if you ask them about the Pharisees: The Pharisees were self-righteous and did not believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is consistently evidenced in scripture. They wanted to kill Him because they felt He violated their law. They felt their own manmade laws and the law of Moses would "save" them and they put UNBIBLICAL restrictions on God's law, especially Gods holy day (Sabbath). Therefore Christ felt the necessity to rebuke the Pharisees quite frequently. Their restrictions made the Sabbath day a burden instead of a delight. God always intended for His holy day to be a delight. (Isaiah 58:13)
Matthew 12:14 - Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him [Jesus].
Again, I must urge you to consider the source of these accusations against Christ. It was the same people that wanted our Savior dead.
And then please consider what Jesus said when they accused Him of working on the Sabbath day by healing a man with a withered hand:
Matthew 12:11 - And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12 - How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.
For Christ Himself to call it lawful obviously means that He wasnt breaking the law.
Jesus made it quite clear that there would be emergency situations on the Sabbath (a sheep in a pit for example) and that they had to be taken care of. However, Jesus did not do carpentry on the Sabbath day nor did He accept money for healing. So was He really working?
If Jesus hadnt healed on the Sabbath day, there wouldve been times that He missed someone in need of healing, because He was constantly traveling. What would you think of our Savior if He had turned His back on the man with the withered hand mentioned above? Please think about that.
I admire my Savior even more knowing He cured a man and set him free of affliction on a sacred day. It didnt matter to Christ if it was on the Sabbath day because this was one of His sheep in need. We ARE the sheep of Christ and He pulls us out of pits when we need Him, no matter what day it is.
Mark 3:1 - And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them [Pharisees], Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Healing is one of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-9), and anyone that has this great gift will tell you that it doesnt feel like work, its a blessing. If performing the gifts of the Spirit were unlawful on the Sabbath, then it stands to reason that Christ wouldnt have been able to use the gift of discernment, the gift of wisdom, and the gift of prophecy, or any of the other gifts He clearly displayed on Sabbath either. (again 1 Corinthians 12:4-9). What exactly were the people to do when called for an holy convocation (assembly) on the Sabbath day if they were unable to discuss the word of God and reason among themselves?
To get straight to the point, our Savior did what was lawful on Sabbath, and He should know--Hes Lord of the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:8).
Jesus declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath day to rebuke the Pharisees that wanted to lord their own authority over the people of God.
Jesus also stated that if a priest went into the synagogue to preach on the Sabbath day, that priest was held blameless (i.e. he wasnt breaking the law of God by performing a service for God).
The Pharisees were basically following Jesus around nitpicking every little thing He did, because they refused to believe who He was and were looking for any excuse to kill Him. Read Matthew 12 and notice just how many times these people tried to accuse Christ of breaking the law of God. Then notice please, how many times Jesus rebuked them for it!
Jesus speaking --> Matthew 23:23 - Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
For someone to say Jesus broke the Sabbath puts them in agreement with a group of people whose beliefs obviously angered Christ very much!!
Now I have to ask the question .do you believe people that wanted to kill our Savior over the word of God?
John 15:10 - If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Jesus did not break the Sabbath. According to the bible He was a sinless Man and was very pleasing to the Father (Matthew 17:5--this verse comes long after the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath). According to Jesus Himself He kept the commandments of God (John 15:10 above).
What Jesus did do was break the Sabbath FREE from unbiblical restrictions placed on it by the Pharisees. He openly rebuked the Pharisees several times and called them hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-16, Matthew 23:25-29).
The Pharisees also accused Christ of being possessed and of being a drunkard yet you never hear of a Christian repeating those accusations.
Our Savior is not guilty of ever breaking the law of God, no matter what the Pharisees said.
__________________________________________________________________
I hear a lot of people say Jesus broke the Sabbath commandment by healing on that day.
Did our Savior really break the law of God?
Please consider who it was that said Jesus broke the Sabbath. It certainly wasnt the Bible. The Holy Bible, the word of God, says that Jesus never sinned.
So who was it that accused Christ of breaking the Sabbath?
John 9:16 - Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.
John 5:18 - Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Those verses make it clear that the Jews/Pharisees were already seeking to kill Christ and they were looking for any excuse to do so.
We have to remember that these were people who did not accept Christ as the promised Messiah. They were expecting a great king with many riches to appear, and refused to acknowledge a poor carpenter as being the Messiah.
Do an internet search on the Pharisees and see who it is exactly that were dealing with here.
Heres the dictionary definition of a Pharisee (Merriam Webster): PHARISEE--1 a member of a Jewish sect of the intertestamental period noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their OWN oral traditions concerning the law.
Heres basically what any theologian will tell you if you ask them about the Pharisees: The Pharisees were self-righteous and did not believe Jesus was the Messiah, which is consistently evidenced in scripture. They wanted to kill Him because they felt He violated their law. They felt their own manmade laws and the law of Moses would "save" them and they put UNBIBLICAL restrictions on God's law, especially Gods holy day (Sabbath). Therefore Christ felt the necessity to rebuke the Pharisees quite frequently. Their restrictions made the Sabbath day a burden instead of a delight. God always intended for His holy day to be a delight. (Isaiah 58:13)
Matthew 12:14 - Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him [Jesus].
Again, I must urge you to consider the source of these accusations against Christ. It was the same people that wanted our Savior dead.
And then please consider what Jesus said when they accused Him of working on the Sabbath day by healing a man with a withered hand:
Matthew 12:11 - And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? 12 - How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.
For Christ Himself to call it lawful obviously means that He wasnt breaking the law.
Jesus made it quite clear that there would be emergency situations on the Sabbath (a sheep in a pit for example) and that they had to be taken care of. However, Jesus did not do carpentry on the Sabbath day nor did He accept money for healing. So was He really working?
If Jesus hadnt healed on the Sabbath day, there wouldve been times that He missed someone in need of healing, because He was constantly traveling. What would you think of our Savior if He had turned His back on the man with the withered hand mentioned above? Please think about that.
I admire my Savior even more knowing He cured a man and set him free of affliction on a sacred day. It didnt matter to Christ if it was on the Sabbath day because this was one of His sheep in need. We ARE the sheep of Christ and He pulls us out of pits when we need Him, no matter what day it is.
Mark 3:1 - And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them [Pharisees], Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Healing is one of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:4-9), and anyone that has this great gift will tell you that it doesnt feel like work, its a blessing. If performing the gifts of the Spirit were unlawful on the Sabbath, then it stands to reason that Christ wouldnt have been able to use the gift of discernment, the gift of wisdom, and the gift of prophecy, or any of the other gifts He clearly displayed on Sabbath either. (again 1 Corinthians 12:4-9). What exactly were the people to do when called for an holy convocation (assembly) on the Sabbath day if they were unable to discuss the word of God and reason among themselves?
To get straight to the point, our Savior did what was lawful on Sabbath, and He should know--Hes Lord of the Sabbath day (Matthew 12:8).
Jesus declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath day to rebuke the Pharisees that wanted to lord their own authority over the people of God.
Jesus also stated that if a priest went into the synagogue to preach on the Sabbath day, that priest was held blameless (i.e. he wasnt breaking the law of God by performing a service for God).
The Pharisees were basically following Jesus around nitpicking every little thing He did, because they refused to believe who He was and were looking for any excuse to kill Him. Read Matthew 12 and notice just how many times these people tried to accuse Christ of breaking the law of God. Then notice please, how many times Jesus rebuked them for it!
Jesus speaking --> Matthew 23:23 - Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
For someone to say Jesus broke the Sabbath puts them in agreement with a group of people whose beliefs obviously angered Christ very much!!
Now I have to ask the question .do you believe people that wanted to kill our Savior over the word of God?
John 15:10 - If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
Jesus did not break the Sabbath. According to the bible He was a sinless Man and was very pleasing to the Father (Matthew 17:5--this verse comes long after the Pharisees accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath). According to Jesus Himself He kept the commandments of God (John 15:10 above).
What Jesus did do was break the Sabbath FREE from unbiblical restrictions placed on it by the Pharisees. He openly rebuked the Pharisees several times and called them hypocrites (Matthew 23:13-16, Matthew 23:25-29).
The Pharisees also accused Christ of being possessed and of being a drunkard yet you never hear of a Christian repeating those accusations.
Our Savior is not guilty of ever breaking the law of God, no matter what the Pharisees said.
If even one of the arguments against Sabbath-keeping were provable with scripture, well then I wouldn't be a Sabbath-keeper.
