Issue: 2019 January

Keys to the Storehouse – You!

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You are very special! Jesus loves you and He loves me. Jesus died for you and He died for me. When I first began studying the Bible, I would look around and think that if these nice people knew my past they would not be so nice to me. I was wrong to think that, because it is Jesus who died that you and I may have life and have it more abundantly. We are to look up at all times and not around at others. Remember, you are loved by God Himself and He gave His only Son for you.

“In this 23rd Psalm Jesus, the Good Shepherd is doing the anointing. It tells of the high esteem with which He holds you.

  • You are ‘the apple of His eye,’
  • You are the one for whom He was willing to pay such a price to redeem.
  • You are the one to sit down with Him on His throne.
  • You are a joint heir with the King of Kings.
  • You are greatly beloved!

“Never question it, never doubt it. Think of it often, talk of His love for you. If, as several have said to me, ‘I am concerned that I don’t love Him more. How can I?’ I tell them ‘don’t worry now about your lack of love for Him but think of how much He loves you, and love will in time beget love.’ Though there are over two billion people in the world, He loves you as though you were the only one. You are special to Him.

“A young American college woman was troubled about God being interested in her when there were so many hundreds of millions more important. She came to her pastor with the query, ‘How can I believe that God is interested in me? There are two billion persons in the world, and He must be far too busy to think of one little atom like me.’ Whereupon the minister asked the girl to extend her hand. ‘Look at your fingers,’ he said, ‘Examine the lines. There are no others like them in all the world. You are handmade. Even your fingertips have had special attention from God.’ As the girl’s mind took hold of the idea, a great peace filled her soul, and, with a radiance in her face that was beautiful to behold, she exclaimed: ‘After this, when I grow doubtful, I will look at my “hand-carved” finger tips. They will prove to me that God is still interested in me, individually and personally.’ ” The Lord is My Shepherd, J.L. Tucker, 32, 33.

Heavenly Father:
Thank You for the personalized hands that You prepared for me and that nobody can imitate. Help me to realize more and more how special I am to You and that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Help me to reflect Your character every moment that all minds around me will be drawn heavenward to You and they also may see the love You have for them. Amen.

Inspiration – Go Forward

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The history of the children of Israel is written for the instruction and admonition of all Christians. When the Israelites were overtaken by dangers and difficulties, and their way seemed hedged up, their faith forsook them, and they murmured against the leader whom God had appointed for them. They blamed him [Moses] for bringing them into peril, when he had only obeyed the voice of God.

The divine command was: “Go forward.” They were not to wait until the way was made plain, and they could comprehend the entire plan of their deliverance. God’s cause is onward, and He will open a path before His people. To hesitate and murmur is to manifest distrust in the Holy One of Israel. God in His providence brought the Hebrews into the mountain fastnesses, with the Red Sea before them, that He might work out their deliverance and forever rid them of their enemies. He might have saved them in any other way, but He chose this method in order to test their faith and strengthen their trust in Him.

We cannot charge Moses with being at fault because the people murmured against his course. It was their own rebellious, unsubdued hearts that led them to censure the man whom God had delegated to lead His people. While Moses moved in the fear of the Lord, and according to His direction, having full faith in His promises, those who should have upheld him became discouraged, and could see nothing before them but disaster, defeat, and death.

The Lord is now dealing with His people who believe present truth. He designs to bring about momentous results, and while in His providence He is working toward this end, He says to His people: “Go forward.” True, the path is not yet opened; but when they move on in the strength of faith and courage, God will make the way plain before their eyes. There are ever those who will complain, as did ancient Israel, and charge the difficulties of their position upon those whom God has raised up for the special purpose of advancing His cause. They fail to see that God is testing them by bringing them into strait places, from which there is no deliverance except by His hand.

There are times when the Christian life seems beset by dangers, and duty seems hard to perform. The imagination pictures impending ruin before, and bondage or death behind. Yet the voice of God speaks clearly above all discouragements: “Go forward.” We should obey this command, let the result be what it may, even though our eyes cannot penetrate the darkness and though we feel the cold waves about our feet.

Advance By Faith

The Hebrews were weary and terrified; yet if they had held back when Moses bade them advance, if they had refused to move nearer to the Red Sea, God would never have opened the path for them. In marching down to the very water, they showed that they had faith in the word of God as spoken by Moses. They did all that it was in their power to do, and then the Mighty One of Israel performed His part, and divided the waters to make a path for their feet.

The clouds that gather about our way will never disappear before a halting, doubting spirit. Unbelief says: “We can never surmount these obstructions; let us wait until they are removed, and we can see our way clearly.” But faith courageously urges an advance, hoping all things, believing all things. Obedience to God is sure to bring the victory. It is only through faith that we can reach heaven.

There is great similarity between our history and that of the children of Israel. God led His people from Egypt into the wilderness, where they could keep His law and obey His voice. The Egyptians, who had no regard for the Lord, were encamped close by them; yet what was to the Israelites a great flood of light, illuminating the whole camp, and shedding brightness upon the path before them, was to the hosts of Pharaoh a wall of clouds, making blacker the darkness of night.

So, at this time, there is a people whom God has made the depositories of His law. To those who obey them, the commandments of God are as a pillar of fire, lighting and leading the way to eternal salvation. But unto those who disregard them, they are as the clouds of night. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). Better than all other knowledge is an understanding of the word of God. In keeping His commandments there is great reward, and no earthly inducement should cause the Christian to waver for a moment in his allegiance. Riches, honor, and worldly pomp are but dross that shall perish before the fire of God’s wrath.

The voice of the Lord bidding His faithful ones “go forward” frequently tries their faith to the uttermost. But if they should defer obedience till every shadow of uncertainty was removed from their understanding, and there remained no risk of failure or defeat, they would never move on at all. Those who think it impossible for them to yield to the will of God and have faith in His promises until all is made clear and plain before them, will never yield at all. Faith is not certainty of knowledge; it “is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). To obey the commandments of God is the only way to obtain His favor.

“Go forward” should be the Christian’s watchword.

Testimony Treasures, vol. 1, 450–452.

Tour of Waldensian Valleys

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In February, I received an invitation to join a tour of the Waldensian Valleys in northern Italy. Having read about the Waldensians in The Great Controversy, I had always been impressed by their steadfast adherence to the word of God as given in the Bible and intrigued by their determination to remain true to that word in spite of the efforts of the papacy to force them to yield to the authority of the “church.”

I eagerly signed up and looked forward with great anticipation to the trip, never having been to Europe before.

Prior to the trip, tour participants received detailed instructions regarding a rendezvous point at the airport in Milan. Each member was to have a brightly colored sign, inscribed “WALDENSIAN TOUR,” which enabled us to gather at the airport in Milan without too much difficulty.

We climbed into three nine-passenger vans and left Milan for La Gianavella, the youth hostel where we were to make our headquarters for the next week. La Gianavella is a historical structure dating back to the 17th century, built by Josué Janavel (1617-1690), a prominent hero who fought against the Savoy Duke, persecutor of the Waldensian people and representative of papal authority. The hostel overlooks the Rorà valley, hidden in a chestnut woodland. It is reached by a tortuous and winding one lane dirt road, high up in the Italian Alps.

From my previous reading about the Waldensians in The Great Controversy and in J. A. Wylie’s History of the Waldenses, I had assumed that this sect faithfully adhered to the commandments of God. I learned during this trip that the primary point of contention between the Waldensians and the papacy was where authority lay – the church versus the Bible, and was not specifically a Sabbath vs. Sunday issue. I knew that historically the Waldensians were Sabbath keepers and assumed that they continued to remain faithful to the fourth commandment to this day.

I was startled and dismayed to learn that in 1975, they entered into an “integration covenant” with the Italian Methodist churches, having ultimately capitulated to the rules of the church as opposed to the law of God.

In spite of this disappointing discovery, it was inspiring to visit several of the Waldensian churches scattered throughout the valleys of the Italian Alps and learn the history of their valiant fight against papal authority, which dates back to the 12th century. It then took less than a hundred years for the Waldensians to be declared heretical and subjected to intense persecution.

In the 16th century, Waldensian leaders embraced the Protestant Reformation and joined various local Protestant regional entities. As early as 1631, Protestant scholars and Waldensian theologians themselves began to regard the Waldensians as early forerunners of the Reformation, who had maintained the apostolic faith in the face of Catholic oppression. The group was nearly annihilated in the 17th century and was confronted with organized and general discrimination in the centuries that followed.

When the Waldensians were chased from the Pellice Valley by the Duke of Savoy, they retreated into several deep valleys in the Italian Alps, eventually establishing churches, where their presence is still very prominent. The world headquarters of the Waldensian Church, its synod, is located in Torre Pellice, a now thriving town in northern Italy. The Waldensian Museum is located across a pedestrian thoroughfare from the synod building. Unfortunately, it was closed for renovation when we were there.

Our visit included stops at one of the caves where several hundred Waldensians hid from their persecutors, similar to the one where many were suffocated when the entrance was blocked, barricaded with flammable materials, and set afire—simply because they would not capitulate to papal authority.

Another inspiring site we visited was the precipice where those faithful to God’s word were thrown to their deaths unless they acknowledged the authority of the “church” as superior to the Bible.

Being a father and a grandfather, I had quite an emotional experience as I envisioned whole families making the steep trek up the mountain to their deaths, the fathers attempting to reassure their children of the love of God in spite of their ultimate fate.

We also visited the “infirmary,” where the Waldensians attempted to hide their elderly and infirm, a narrow, almost inaccessible ledge, invisible from above, that could be reached only by an extremely difficult descent through a narrow gap between huge boulders.

The determination and strong will of these faithful souls became more and more apparent as we toured the various places where they clung so tenaciously to their beliefs, beliefs which were based solely and completely on the Bible.

Perhaps, then, you can imagine my shock when I learned that today, the majority of those adhering to the Waldensian faith are Sunday keepers. It took centuries for the papacy to gain the victory, which testifies to the relentless efforts the enemy of souls exerts to lead souls astray.

What a lesson this is for us today. Will we, individually or as a sect, eventually yield to Satan’s subtle but relentless efforts to dissuade God’s people from the path of truth and righteousness? Or will we remain faithful to God’s word, even when threatened with death?

NOTE: For further information on the current beliefs of the Waldensian Methodist church, visit their website at www.chiesavaldese.org/aria_video_category.php?video_category=2. Although the original is in Italian, Google will translate it into English. It is a sad revelation of the current state of a once-faithful people.

 John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

A Concept of God

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Various Concepts of God

The world is full of a variety of ideas about God; certain ideas cause men to hate God; others to serve Him from fear; and others inspire men to adore Him so ardently that they delight to do His will and wish they could spend an eternity with Him. Our attitude toward Him depends quite fully on our ideas about Him—on our concept of the kind of God He is. Whether or not we will serve Him depends largely, then, upon what we think about Him. Therefore it is of first importance that we know Him.

The True God Should be Truly Understood – The Origin of Mis-concepts

Go back in time about 6,000 years to an Eden home of perfect bliss which a kind, loving God gave to the holy pair of innocents; they possessed perfect bodies and minds; their minds were full of joy; and their bliss was to be everlasting.

But an enemy came, saying,

1    God did not tell you the truth when He said you would die if you eat of this tree; you cannot depend on what He says. You will not die.
2    You will enter a higher state—become like God—if you eat the fruit; He is keeping from you that which is for your good; He is hindering your advancement; therefore He is unkind and does not love you as He claims to do.
3    He has placed a very strict regulation around you forbidding you to do the things which are for your good; such regulations are unjust; He is not fair with you.
4    In thus treating you He is curtailing your liberty—your rights; He is a tyrant!
5    If He were infinite in wisdom, as He says He is, He would know better than to manage His affairs of state like this; He would change His methods. Such a course is bound to fail; He cannot succeed; He claims infinite power, but no amount of power can perpetuate a government based upon injustice; and so on.

Thus he gave to Eve a false description of God to change her concept of Him so as to change her attitude toward Him so she would cease to serve Him and turn against Him.

Had Eve continued to believe in God as He really was, she would not have turned from Him; she believed the misrepresentation of Him and so took her stand against Him.

That experience was the beginning of all false concepts of God in this world. From that day until this, Satan has sought to make the service of God seem undesirable by putting Him and His ideas in a false light. Among the heathen will be found idols to represent their concepts of God, and some of these are more horrid than any human mind could conceive, apparently trying to make idols as bad in looks as they believe their gods to be in fact.

Satan works in every conceivable way to impart distorted concepts of every kind about God.

On the other hand, God has been working to help men to see Him as He really is; but error always has the advantage over truth because error can use methods to propagate itself which truth cannot use. This is one reason why truth sometimes waits a long time for vindication.

God Must Be Revealed

Thus the conflict—the greatest conflict that has ever raged in the minds of men—is about God!

One author has said, “No science is equal to the science that reveals the character of God.” Fundamentals of Christian Education, 393.

Therefore a gospel, if it is to cause men to return from their departure from Him, must begin its work for sinners by restoring a true knowledge of God, and this must ever be its true drawing power; His characteristics must be revealed to the people so they will see that He is “the chiefest among ten thousand and the One altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:10, 16); that He is the embodiment of all that is desirable, and that all good comes from Him.

One day Moses asked God to reveal Himself to him, and in response to the request God presented the words, “mercy,” “graciousness,” and “goodness,” meaning that it is by such attributes that the Great I AM wishes to be known among men (Exodus 33:18, 19). This concept of God must become the drawing power of the redemption plan.

Christ’s First Objective

When the Son of God came to this earth to expound redemption and win sinners back to God, His first objective must be to reveal the true character of God; they must be won by being captivated by His lovableness, He can offer to die for them—He may die for them ten thousand times—but if they are not interested in God they cannot become interested in returning to His service, and the atonement would not be accepted, and He would die in vain. The first step in offering the gospel must be to help them to understand God. A dark cloud hung over the minds of men shutting out the true conception of God and hiding His true attitude toward them. If men only knew Him and how He really feels toward them, their hearts would be won and they would adore and love and serve Him forever.

Not by Force

“The earth was dark through misapprehension of God. That the gloomy shadows might be lightened, that the world might be brought back to God, Satan’s deceptive power was to be broken. This could not be done by force. The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love; and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened. To know God is to love Him; His character must be manifested in contrast to the character of Satan. This work only one Being in all the universe could do. Only He who knew the height and depth of the love of God could make it known. Upon the world’s dark night the Sun of Righteousness must rise, ‘with healing in His wings’ (Malachi 4:2).” The Desire of Ages, 22.

For these reasons the conflict rages—Satan ever striving to conceal God, to misconstrue His motives and character and to confuse the minds of men concerning Him, and God ever at work to impart a true knowledge of Himself.

The Christian’s Experience, 221–223. [All emphasis author’s.]

 

The Assurance of Salvation

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From the Lives of Two Patriarchs

Perhaps no other characters in the Bible give more hope to the repentant sinner than do Jacob and David. Jacob is referred to by name 377 times in the King James Bible and by inference many more times. Likewise, David over one thousand times.

The name Jacob means “heel catcher” or “supplanter,” that is, one who displaces or usurps the position of someone else. Note that this is exactly what Satan desired to do in heaven—usurp the position that Christ held—and as a result, he was cast out.

“Opposition to the law of God had its beginning in the courts of heaven, with Lucifer, the covering cherub. Satan determined to be first in the councils of heaven, and equal with God. … When Satan had succeeded in winning many angels to his side, he took his cause to God, representing that it was the desire of the angels that he occupy the position that Christ held.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 222.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7–9).

The similarities between Satan’s act of deception and that of Jacob are interesting to study.

“Now Isaac pleaded with the Lord for his wife, because she was barren; and the Lord granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. … So when her days were fulfilled for her to give birth, indeed there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red. He was like a hairy garment all over; so they called his name Esau. Afterward his brother came out, and his hand took hold of Esau’s heel; so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them” (Genesis 25:21, 24–26).

The story of Jacob’s usurpation of Esau’s birthright is told in Genesis 25 and 27. He colluded with his mother to deceive his father and obtain the birthright that, according to custom, belonged to Esau.

This is the point at which the similarities between Jacob’s and Satan’s stories diverge. Satan has continued his relentless assault on Christ and His followers for millennia, while Jacob made a full surrender of heart and soul to Jesus and is regarded as a patriarch of the Christian faith.

In fact, when David was uttering his last words, Scripture refers to him as “The anointed of the God of Jacob”: “Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1).

Although the text is specifically a reference to David’s position with God, note that the verse also acknowledges that Jacob was considered a subject of high esteem who was under the domain of the God of the universe.

Considering that David was guilty of the death of Uriah, a violation of the sixth commandment, and Jacob was guilty of theft by deception, a violation of the eighth and ninth commandments, this one text shows that when one confesses and repents, acceptance into the kingdom of glory is assured.

This is not the only text that provides the assurance of salvation to David as a result of his confession and repentance. In 1 Kings 14:8, God’s amazing grace is clearly revealed when He refers to David as, “My servant David, who kept My commandments and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what was right in My eyes.” This commendation occurs long after David’s devising of the death of Uriah and shows how forgiving and forgetting God is when the sinner pleads for and complies with the conditions necessary for forgiveness.

Jacob, too, is reckoned in Scripture as being highly favored of God. On his initial flight from home, he had the well-known dream of the Ladder that extended from earth to heaven and received this wonderful promise: “I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants. Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you” (Genesis 28:13–15).

After his decades of perhaps unwilling albeit faithful service to Laban, Jacob’s faith in this promise was severely tested as he returned to the land that God had promised to him. Jacob received word that Esau was on his way to meet him with 400 men, with the apparent intent of fulfilling the vow he had made when he learned of Jacob’s theft of his birthright: “So Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, and Esau said in his heart, ‘The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob’ ” (Genesis 27:41).

Familiar is the story of Jacob’s wrestle with the Lord the night before his reunion with Esau, recorded in Genesis 32: “Then Jacob was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, ‘Let Me go, for the day breaks.’ But he said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me!’ So He said to him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Jacob.’ And He said, ‘Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed’ ” (Genesis 32:24–28).

What wonderful and amazing reassurance the story of these two patriarchs provides the striving pilgrim today. Both Jacob and David are mentioned in Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, as being of the household of faith, in spite of their unrighteous acts. Their lives exemplify the fulfillment of God’s promise, written by David in Psalm 103:

 

“Bless the Lord, O my soul;

And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord executes righteousness

And justice for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses,

His acts to the children of Israel.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

He will not always strive with us,

Nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,

Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

As far as the east is from the west,

So far has He removed our transgressions from us”

(Psalm 103:1–12).

David wrote this uplifting psalm after his prayer that God create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him, having been made to realize his sin by Nathan (see Psalm 51:10). It is undeniable evidence of the assurance that the repentant sinner has of God’s forgiveness.

Inspiration also acknowledges the assurance of salvation the lives of these patriarchs offer the repentant soul.

“Jacob’s history is also an assurance that God will not cast off those who have been deceived and tempted and betrayed into sin, but who have returned unto Him with true repentance. While Satan seeks to destroy this class, God will send His angels to comfort and protect them in the time of peril. The assaults of Satan are fierce and determined, his delusions are terrible; but the Lord’s eye is upon His people, and His ear listens to their cries. Their affliction is great, the flames of the furnace seem about to consume them; but the Refiner will bring them forth as gold tried in the fire. God’s love for His children during the period of their severest trial is as strong and tender as in the days of their sunniest prosperity; but it is needful for them to be placed in the furnace of fire; their earthliness must be consumed, that the image of Christ may be perfectly reflected.” The Great Controversy, 621.

“Though David had fallen, the Lord lifted him up. He was now more fully in harmony with God and in sympathy with his fellow men than before he fell. In the joy of his release he sang:

‘I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.

I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord;

And Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. …

Thou art my hiding place; Thou shalt preserve me from trouble;

Thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance’

(Psalm 32:5–7 KJV).

“Many have murmured at what they called God’s injustice in sparing David, whose guilt was so great, after having rejected Saul for what appear to them to be far less flagrant sins. But David humbled himself and confessed his sin, while Saul despised reproof and hardened his heart in impenitence.

“This passage in David’s history is full of significance to the repenting sinner. It is one of the most forcible illustrations given us of the struggles and temptations of humanity, and of genuine repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Through all the ages it has proved a source of encouragement to souls that, having fallen into sin, were struggling under the burden of their guilt. Thousands of the children of God, who have been betrayed into sin, when ready to give up to despair have remembered how David’s sincere repentance and confession were accepted by God, notwithstanding he suffered for his transgression; and they also have taken courage to repent and try again to walk in the way of God’s commandments.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 726.

How blessed we are as modern Israelites to have such an indisputable record of our loving Father’s forgiveness!

All Bible quotes NKJV unless otherwise noted.

John R. Pearson is the office manager and a board member of Steps to Life. He may be contacted by email at: johnpearson@stepstolife.org.

Sabbath in the Time of Jesus

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The Sabbath, along with marriage, was first introduced in the Garden of Eden to our first parents. Since then there has been a controversy over the day that the Creator set aside to be a blessing to His people. When on earth, Jesus had many controversies with the Jews over the Sabbath. Who better to understand the meaning of Sabbath than the Creator Himself, but the Jews had conjured up a lot of manmade rules they thought would make them holy. They used these manmade rules to judge others, even Jesus, accusing Him of breaking the Sabbath.

By distorting the actual words of Jesus, Christians today believe that He invalidated the Sabbath. It is claimed that the Sabbath was blotted out by Jesus’ death on the cross. The texts commonly used to try to prove this are Colossians 2:14–17.

Paul says, “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. Therefore, let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon, or sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (literal translation).

We know that Jesus’ death did not blot out the Sabbath, and that Colossians 2:14–17 is not talking about the blotting out of the Sabbath, for the following reasons:

  1. In verse 14, Paul uses the phrase, “blotting out the handwriting.” The Ten Commandments were not handwritten. We all write by hand but God does not, He uses His finger. “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18).

Deuteronomy 9:10 says, “Then the Lord delivered to me (Moses) two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.”

  1. The Sabbath of the Lord was made before sin entered the world. It is not, therefore, one of those things “which are a shadow of things to come” that foreshadow redemption from sin. It was given as a memorial of creation.
  2. The Sabbath was made for man before the fall. It is not one of those things that are against him, and contrary to him, as Paul said of the ordinances in Colossians 2:14. The Sabbath was given to be a blessing to man.
  3. When the ceremonial sabbaths were ordained, they were carefully distinguished from the seventh-day Sabbath, which is called the Sabbath of the Lord.

Leviticus 23 describes all of the ceremonial sabbaths:

  • the Passover, “the fourteenth day of the first month” (verse 5);
  • the Feast of Unleavened Bread on “the fifteenth day” (verse 6);
  • “the seventh day” of the Feast of Unleavened Bread (verse 8);
  • the Feast of the Firstfruits, the wave sheaf (verses 9–11).

Remember, there was a Passover, then a first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread on the fifteenth day. Then the next day (the sixteenth day), stated in verse 11, was “the day after the sabbath [when] the priest shall wave” the wave sheaf.

Let’s look at the order of events from the crucifixion of Christ until He returns:

  • Christ was crucified on Friday, or Good Friday. That was Passover, the fourteenth day of the first month.
  • The fifteenth day, which was the seventh-day Sabbath, was also a ceremonial Sabbath. That is why it was called in the gospel of John, “a high day” (John 19:31). It was the first Sabbath of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the first ceremonial Sabbath.
  • The sixteenth day was a Sunday, the day they were to wave the wave sheaf. The wave sheaf represented the firstfruits. Jesus Christ and those who were raised with Him were the firstfruits. 1 Corinthians 15:23 says, “… each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.” Christ rose on the exact day so that type (the foreshadow) would meet antitype (the real).
  • The Feast of Weeks followed: “And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the Lord” (Leviticus 23:15, 16). Fifty days later was Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out.
  • Then came the Feast of Trumpets (verse 23), which was the first day of the seventh month to warn the people that the Day of Judgment was coming.
  • The Day of Atonement was next (verses 26–33), which was the tenth day of the seventh month.
  • Then the Feast of Tabernacles (verse 34) began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month.

After these ceremonial sabbaths are listed, Moses says in verses 37 and 38, “These are the feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on its day—besides the Sabbaths of the Lord.” [Emphasis supplied.] Notice that these are ceremonial sabbaths, yearly feast days, that are in addition to the Sabbaths of the Lord, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings. When the ceremonial sabbaths were ordained, they were carefully distinguished from the Sabbaths of the Lord.

5.  The Sabbath of the Lord does not owe its existence to any handwriting of any ordinances, but is contained in the                  heart of the Ten Commandments, which Jesus said He did not come to destroy (Luke 16:17) or blot out by His                      death.

  1. The effort of Jesus throughout His entire ministry was to redeem the Sabbath from the thralldom of the Jewish doctors and to vindicate it as a merciful institution. Jesus claimed that it was lawful to do what He did on the Sabbath. He said, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:7, 8).

Jesus claimed to be keeping the Sabbath, not according to Jewish traditions, but according to the law of God. “So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Arise and stand here.’ And he arose and stood. Then Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?’ And looking around at them all, He said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And he did so, and his hand was restored as whole as the other” (Luke 6:7–10, literal translation).

Jesus continually pointed out the hypocrisy of the Jews, especially in regard to the Sabbath. While criticizing Him for healing on Sabbath, they circumcised babies if the eighth day fell on Sabbath (John 7:21–24).

While Jesus redeemed the Sabbath from the thralldom of Jewish customs, He did not invalidate or depreciate it.

  1. The Lord’s instruction to His disciples concerning their flight from Jerusalem, which was to occur many years after the crucifixion, recognized the sacredness of the Sabbath, as found in Matthew 24:20: “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”

Opponents of the Sabbath came up with the argument against this verse saying they could not flee on the Sabbath because the gates of Jerusalem would be shut and they could not get out. This is pure speculation and not only can it not be proven, there is pretty good evidence that it just wasn’t so.

Nehemiah 13:15–19 says, “In those days I saw people in Judea treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, ‘What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.’ So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day.”

Verse 22 says, “And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.”

The gates were guarded to prevent people from hauling their carts back and forth on the Sabbath with all their merchandise for selling. A person was not prohibited from going in or out of the city on the Sabbath. Jesus often came from the Mount of Olives and into the temple to teach the people on the Sabbath.

Jeremiah said, “Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates. Thus says the Lord: “Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers” ’ ” (Jeremiah 17:20–22).

These instructions were given to prevent trading and carrying on business on the Sabbath. It was not wrong to carry something on the Sabbath. Jesus was accused when He healed the man by the pool of Bethsaida on the Sabbath day when He told him to take his bed and go. The man rolled up his mat, his bed, and put it on his shoulder. When he started to walk away, he was accused of breaking the Sabbath. It was not wrong to carry his mat with him on the Sabbath. He would need it when it was time to sleep again.

Our Lord’s instruction to His disciples concerning their flight from Jerusalem, many years after His crucifixion, recognized the sacredness of the Sabbath (Matthew 24:20).

  1. The Sabbath in the new earth will be a perpetual reminder of the Creation. “ ‘For as the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall remain before Me,’ says the Lord, ‘So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord” (Isaiah 66:22, 23).

It would make no sense that in the new earth throughout eternity that every Sabbath all flesh is to come and worship before the Lord if the Sabbath was obliterated at the cross.

  1. Many years after the crucifixion of Christ, the authority of the fourth commandment was recognized. We read in Luke 23:54–56, written many years after the cross: “That day (when Jesus died on the cross) was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near. And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”
  2. The royal law, which was not abolished, includes the ten commandments and consequently embraces and enforces the Sabbath of the Lord. James 2:10–12 says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty.” There is no doubt that the “law of liberty” is the Ten Commandments.
  3. The Ten Commandments are not ten separate laws, but one law. By breaking any part of the ten, the whole law is broken. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them’ ” (Exodus 24:12).

Notice, it is the law that God has written. That is singular—one law. If you break one, you are a law-breaker. Psalm 89:34 says, “My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”

Some argue that time may have been lost. Therefore, how do we really know which day the Biblical Sabbath was? The death of Jesus confirms time. Luke 23:54 says, “That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.” The Christian world today calls the day that Jesus died on the cross Good Friday. So Good Friday is the day before the Sabbath. “They returned, prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment” (verse 56).

“Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared” (Luke 24:1). This passage of Scripture raises several points:

  • It contains an express recognition of the fourth commandment. It was written many years after the crucifixion of Jesus.
  • It is the most remarkable case of Sabbath observance in the whole Bible. The Lord of the Sabbath was dead, and preparation was being made to embalm Him. But, when the Sabbath drew on, the preparations were suspended while they rested according to the Sabbath.
  • It shows that the Sabbath is the day before the first day of the week that we call Sunday, thus identifying the seventh day in the commandment as our Saturday.
  • It is a direct testimony that the knowledge of the true seventh-day was preserved as late as the crucifixion, for it says, “They observed the Sabbath according to the commandment.”

Many think that when Jesus rose from the dead, the Sabbath was changed from the seventh to the first day of the week. To determine the truth of those assertions, look at all the records in the New Testament of these events:

Matthew 28:1: “Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.” He had already risen.

Mark 16:1, 2: “Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen.”

Mark 16:9: “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.”

Luke 24:1: “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared.”

John 20:1; 19: “Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be to you.’ ”

Some conclusions can be drawn from these verses:

  1. There is no mention of any change of the Sabbath.
  2. They carefully distinguish between the Sabbath and the first day of the week.
  3. They apply no sacred title to the first day of the week, and they do not refer to it as a Sabbath.
  4. They make no mention of Christ resting on the first day of the week, which would be absolutely essential if the first day of the week was a rest day. The word Sabbath means rest. Throughout the Old Testament the word Sabbath from Genesis and on can be translated rest or rest day.

In order for the rest day to be transferred to Sunday, Jesus would had to have rested on this first Sunday. The trouble is, these verses make no mention of Christ resting on the first day of the week.

  1. They make no mention of God removing His blessing from the seventh day. Remember, after God had completed His creation He rested on the seventh day, He blessed it and sanctified it and made it holy (Genesis 2:2, 3).
  2. They give no precept in support of first day observance, nor do they contain a hint of the manner in which the first day of the week can be enforced by authority of the fourth commandment.

When people read these verses, it is claimed that Jesus met with His disciples on the first day of the week after His resurrection. Let’s examine this claim.

In Luke 24:29 Jesus is walking with two disciples on the way to Emmaus. It says, “But they constrained Him, saying, ‘Abide with us, for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.’ And He went in to stay with them.”

It was the first day of the week and the sun was just about to go down. They prepared a meal, sat down and as Jesus blessed the food they noticed the nail prints in His hand. They recognized Him, and instantly He vanished, and they said, “Did not our hearts burn within us” (verse 32)? They were so excited about the most wonderful news that they didn’t even eat their meal and left the food right there on the table. “So they rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together” (verse 33). Emmaus was about seven miles from Jerusalem along a hilly and rocky road that they travelled after dark.

In Jewish time the evening and the morning were one day, meaning the next day began at sunset.

  • The first meeting that Jesus had with His disciples was not on Sunday but after sunset on what we would now call Sunday evening, the beginning of Monday.
  • The second meeting would be either Monday or Tuesday, however you would reckon it. The first meeting was on Sunday night, or the beginning of Monday. In John 20:26 it says, “And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ ”
  • The third meeting, we are not told what day of the week it was, but that the disciples had been out fishing all night.
  • The fourth meeting when He met with them all as a group was forty days after the resurrection on the day He ascended to heaven. Forty days after the resurrection (Sunday), was actually a Friday.

There is no evidence to show that there was any change or transfer of holiness or any blessing given to Sunday as the first day of the week, a day to go to church, or anything else—Sunday sacredness is a manmade institution. The memorial for Christ’s death and resurrection is baptism and the communion service—the ordinances of the New Covenant.

We are told that the Sabbath/Sunday issue will be the conflict that divides the whole world into two camps at the end of the world. “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21).

(Unless appearing in quoted references or otherwise identified, Bible texts are from the New King James Version.)

Pastor John J. Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by email at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559.

Editorial – How the Holy Spirit Works

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The Saviour’s eye penetrates the future; He beholds the broader fields in which, after His death, the disciples are to be witnesses for Him. His prophetic glance takes in the experience of His servants through all the ages till He shall come the second time. He shows His followers the conflicts they must meet; He reveals the character and plan of the battle. He lays open before them the perils they must encounter, the self-denial that will be required. … They are to contend with supernatural forces, but they are assured of supernatural help. All the intelligences of heaven are in this army. And more than angels are in the ranks. The Holy Spirit, the representative of the Captain of the Lord’s host, comes down to direct the battle.” The Desire of Ages, 352.

“Those who see Christ in His true character, and receive Him into the heart, have everlasting life. It is through the Spirit that Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received into the heart by faith, is the beginning of the life eternal. Ibid., 388.

“At all times and in all places, in all sorrows and in all afflictions, when the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Comforter will be sent in answer to the prayer of  faith. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend; but no circumstance, no distance, can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is always at our right hand to support, sustain, uphold, and cheer.” Ibid., 669.

“In describing to His disciples the office work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus sought to inspire them with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. … It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the world’s Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church. Ibid., 671.