Your article on observing the Sabbath has several mistakes

Question:

I noticed your article on the Sabbath. I find there are several mistakes in the first paragraph not to mention the rest of the article.

  1. The first mention of the Sabbath day is not in Exodus 16 but Genesis 2. Exodus 20:10 verifies that fact.
  2. "in the nearly 3,000-year record which was given in Genesis there is no mention of mankind observing a Sabbath day." That statement proves nothing and is misleading. There is no record that Cain was told murder is sin. But he knew it. So at some time, the whole race was told of God's laws.
  3. Exodus 16 What we really find there is opposite what is said in your article. God said to the Israelites "how long do you refuse to keep my commandments (plural)". He would not have said that if they were not at least familiar with the ten commandments.

If the Sabbath was not in force right after creation why would the fourth commandment say remember? And why would it say the reason for the commandment is that God created the world in six days and rested the seventh. When you look in Genesis you see the weekly cycle mentioned. Where else did that come from except the creation week of seven days. There is a lot not mentioned in Genesis, such as where did Adam's children come from. Just because it does not mention anything doesn't mean it did not happen. Where are the instructions for sacrifice in Genesis? It is not there, but they knew about it. There many other things I could mention.

I hope you will look at this carefully. As Christians, if we truly love Jesus as our savior we will want to do His commandments. Because the Law is written on our hearts as Paul says "I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them" (Hebrews 10:16). Remember Paul said we, the Christians of the New Testament, establish the Law. Why establish the law through faith and then do away with it?

Answer:

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:1-4).

The Hebrew word for "rest" is shabath, which is often transliterated into English as "sabbath." Yes, God rested on the seventh day from His creative work. It does not say that man was commanded to rest or even did rest that same day. In the giving of the Law, Moses said, "But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:10-11). This does not claim that the seventh day of every week was declared to be a Sabbath (rest) day for man. It is an explanation of why God selected the seventh day for Israel to rest. You agreed that there is no mention of a Sabbath day as a weekly observance for the first 3,000 years of earth's history. The first mention of a weekly rest is in Exodus 16. Therefore, no mistake was made. That you don't agree with the conclusion doesn't constitute a mistake on my part.

Cain was warned that he was about to sin if he was not careful. "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it" (Genesis 4:7). It is the fact that God held him responsible for the death of his brother that we know Cain was aware that murder was wrong. "For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law" (Romans 5:13). No one was ever charged with violating the Sabbath law prior to Exodus 16. You claim it existed, but a claim is not proof. We only have your assumption, which is worthless.

Every mention of "commandments" is not restricted to only the ten commandments. That is again an invalid assumption on your part. What you find is that in Exodus 16 the Israelites were told not to save the manna overnight, but some did anyway. Then on Friday, they were told to gather twice as much and not to go out to gather on Saturday, but some did anyway. Multiple commands from God were violated, hence God asked how long were they going to continue ignoring His commands.

The Israelites were told to remember the Sabbath for the same reason you were told to remember your anniversary. That you were to remember it does not imply it was your anniversary from the creation of the world. The Israelites had been observing the Sabbath since they left Egypt (about three months). In the giving of the law, they were told not to forget the observance.

Adam's children came from Adam's relationship with his wife, Eve. "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. After he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he had sons and daughters" (Genesis 5:3-4).

The fact that Cain and Abel were offering sacrifices tells us that God commanded it. Where do you see anyone observing a day of rest to indicate that a command was in place?

If obedience was so important to you, then why are you ignoring the commands of God in His New Law? In speaking to the Gentile Christians, Paul told them:

"And you, being dead in your trespasses the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (Colossians 2:13-17).

The Gentile Christians were not to let the Judaizing teachers condemn them for not following the shadow (the Old Law). Yet you demand that people return to the shadows. I teach the glory of the gospel.

"But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious" (II Corinthians 3:7-11).

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