this may not be news to some of you but its news to me. I had been a legalist adventist but have come to a better understanding that Christ being the true adam satisfied the law by his obedience therefore fufilling it and in turn brought us grace through faith in place of a system of rules. With that being said I couldn't figure out why I still felt it necessary to keep the sabbath. When we keep it in a legalist way of any sort now we are keeping it wrong, when we say you can't cook or you can't do this or can't do that, we are making a misuse of it's new purpose.
To figure out it's new purpose we have to use the Dueteronomy 5 version of the commandment.
Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
What do we learn about this commandment when reading it in this form. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out. <--this isn't mentioned in the other version found in exodus 20.
Paul calls the Sabbath day a shadow of things to come in Christ. But how so did he mean it? Let me explain the very clear understanding I just received from God regarding the true meaning behind it.
Every truth has a bridge Line upon line precept upon precept here a little there a little.
These are the keys:
Key 1: Egypt: Which represents a prison of slavery,
Exodus 13:14 And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, "what is this? then you shall say to him, "with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery
Key 2: Slavery: This is the transition word to build line upon line precept upon precept
Key 3: An act of God apart form the works of man
the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: This represents that it was a doing of God by himself, not by any deeds of man. Therefore something that we had no part in.
The keys unlock a door hidden in Romans chapters 6, 7 and 8
Lets start with Romans chapter 6 verses 5 and 6
4 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
5 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,(Key 3) so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of His death certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Here we see key 3 clearly manifested God raised christ up through his own glory ie his outstretched arm.
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should longer be slaves(key 2) to sin (key 3).
Sin is a noun in this passage therefore it is a person place or thing. Sin in this form is not talking about sin in the verb sense of comitting a sin but in the noun sense of the prison of slavery. ie: Egypt.
7 For he who has died is freed from sin.
Once again sin is a noun it's a person place or thing.
Now heres where the grace concept intermingles with the sabbath concept
14 For sin(Key 1) shall not be master(key 2) over you, for you are not under law, but under grace(key 3).
With grace by definition being unmerited favor from God it is clear it is something he has done on his own for you by his outstretched arm.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sactification, and the outcome eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So based on this we know that God freed us from Egypt (slavery to sin) by his outstretched arm (Christ Crucified and the free Gift it brought) Therefore we keep the Sabbath day as a remberence. But How might you ask shall we keep it?
This is where chapter 7 comes in
6 But now we have been released from the Law having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newnewss of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
tying in finally with chapter 8
25 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba father!
So what are we to get from all this. The sabbath is no longer supposed to be some legalistic requirement meant to cause fear in us if were unable to fufill it's letter (not working, not cooking, not picking up sticks etc). But instead a remeberence of when we accepted Jesus. A remeberence of when we stopped being slaves to sin leading to death, but instead became righteous through the free gift leading to eternal life. The day when we did nothing to earn the Grace of God but were given it anyways by his outstretched arm.
Therefore let no man judge you in your keeping of sabbath days (in the letter of the law form) But know they are a shadow of things to come (eternal life, by the blood of Christ Jesus).
To figure out it's new purpose we have to use the Dueteronomy 5 version of the commandment.
Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
What do we learn about this commandment when reading it in this form. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out. <--this isn't mentioned in the other version found in exodus 20.
Paul calls the Sabbath day a shadow of things to come in Christ. But how so did he mean it? Let me explain the very clear understanding I just received from God regarding the true meaning behind it.
Every truth has a bridge Line upon line precept upon precept here a little there a little.
These are the keys:
Key 1: Egypt: Which represents a prison of slavery,
Exodus 13:14 And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come saying, "what is this? then you shall say to him, "with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery
Key 2: Slavery: This is the transition word to build line upon line precept upon precept
Key 3: An act of God apart form the works of man
the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: This represents that it was a doing of God by himself, not by any deeds of man. Therefore something that we had no part in.
The keys unlock a door hidden in Romans chapters 6, 7 and 8
Lets start with Romans chapter 6 verses 5 and 6
4 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
5 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,(Key 3) so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have become united with him in the likeness of His death certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Here we see key 3 clearly manifested God raised christ up through his own glory ie his outstretched arm.
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should longer be slaves(key 2) to sin (key 3).
Sin is a noun in this passage therefore it is a person place or thing. Sin in this form is not talking about sin in the verb sense of comitting a sin but in the noun sense of the prison of slavery. ie: Egypt.
7 For he who has died is freed from sin.
Once again sin is a noun it's a person place or thing.
Now heres where the grace concept intermingles with the sabbath concept
14 For sin(Key 1) shall not be master(key 2) over you, for you are not under law, but under grace(key 3).
With grace by definition being unmerited favor from God it is clear it is something he has done on his own for you by his outstretched arm.
22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sactification, and the outcome eternal life.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So based on this we know that God freed us from Egypt (slavery to sin) by his outstretched arm (Christ Crucified and the free Gift it brought) Therefore we keep the Sabbath day as a remberence. But How might you ask shall we keep it?
This is where chapter 7 comes in
6 But now we have been released from the Law having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newnewss of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.
tying in finally with chapter 8
25 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out Abba father!
So what are we to get from all this. The sabbath is no longer supposed to be some legalistic requirement meant to cause fear in us if were unable to fufill it's letter (not working, not cooking, not picking up sticks etc). But instead a remeberence of when we accepted Jesus. A remeberence of when we stopped being slaves to sin leading to death, but instead became righteous through the free gift leading to eternal life. The day when we did nothing to earn the Grace of God but were given it anyways by his outstretched arm.
Therefore let no man judge you in your keeping of sabbath days (in the letter of the law form) But know they are a shadow of things to come (eternal life, by the blood of Christ Jesus).
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