How does doing no work on the Sabbath make it holy?

[Sonny]

Gen 2:3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Why did He rest, Bob? You have failed to answer this question!

Did He need a Postum break? Was He tired? From what did God rest?

[Sonny]

Ex 20 appeals to the Gen 2 fact "alone"

Ex 20 was replaced with Deut 5. A new motive was given for the keeping of the Sabbath, remember? No longer as it pointed to a perfect creation (for it was fallen), but instead a perfect redemption from slavery.

[BobRyan]

Hint - No stones were "chisled in Deut 5".

In Deut 5 Moses appeals BACK to Ex 20 saying that Israel was to do exactly what God said for them to do - BACK THEN.

He then "ADDS" another reason for Israel to keep the Sabbath instead of claiming to have deleted then replaced the word of God.

We already saw that here -

According to Deut 5 Moses ADDs --

12 ‘ Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

...

15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

And Moses insists that nothing has changed since the 40-years-ago Sinai event in terms of God's Law when he says

22 “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

in Christ,

Bob

[Sonny]

Hint - No stones were "chisled in Deut 5".

[Sonny]

If the original reference to creation is on the 2nd set then Moses saw fit to change it from a complete & perfect creation to a complete & perfect redemption.

In the end it doesn't matter because the giving of the law was the giving of the Old Covenant:

Deut 4:12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn't see a form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared His covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which He wrote on two stone tablets.

Ellen White: The terms of the “old covenant” were, Obey and live: “If a man do, he shall even live in them” (Eze. 20:11; Lev. 18:5); but “cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them.” Deut. 27:26.

Paul links the Ten Commandments from Sinai as the covenant of death:

2 Cor 3:7 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, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

Under the NC the last 6 are clearly placed in the heart of the believer. Nothing is said of the Sabbath.

Every time the NT speaks of commandments in the NC is gives the last 6.

We accept Christ by faith alone and the result is the Holy Spirit writes in our minds the principle of agape. Agape has nothing to do with the Sabbath.

[BobRyan]

If the original reference to creation is on the 2nd set then Moses saw fit to change it

[BobRyan]

The "old Covenant" of the form "Obey and Live" was first given to Adam and Eve in Eden as we see in Gen 2 -- and Eve points this out in Genesis 3 in her statement to the serpent.

The New Covenant - is the "One Gospel" of Gal 1:6-11 and is first given to mankind in Gen 3 as the protoevangelium of Gen 3.

Paul says it is the "One Gospel" and that if anyone tries to convince you that there are TWO gospels they are mistaken.

Paul says the "Gospel was preached to US just as it was to THEM also" in Heb 4.

[BobRyan]

Clearly Moses gave a new reason to keep the Sabbath.

Indeed 40 years AFTER Sinai - Moses ADDS another reason that is "specific to the Jews".

15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

[phkrause]

And no wonder - God Himself WROTE those words TWICE in the Exodus account. The first set Moses broke - and then God "wrote them AGAIN" in Ex 34:1 - and GOD said He would write the same words that were spoken - the same words that were on the first set of tablets.

But apparently some are doubting God on that point - now at this late date.

in Christ,

Bob

Again an excellent post, its amazing that this can't be understood. Here is what your talking about:

Exodus 34:1 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Cut yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones; and I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by morning; in the morning you are to ascend Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one is to come up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain; don't even let the flocks or herds feed in front of this mountain." 4 Moshe cut two stone tablets like the first. Then he got up early in the morning and, with the two stone tablets in his hands, ascended Mount Sinai, as ADONAI had ordered him to do. 5 ADONAI descended in the cloud, stood with him there and pronounced the name of ADONAI. 6 ADONAI passed before him and proclaimed: "YUD-HEH-VAV-HEH!!! Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh [ADONAI] is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth; 7 showing grace to the thousandth generation, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty, but causing the negative effects of the parents' offenses to be experienced by their children and grandchildren, and even by the third and fourth generations."

Plain as day that 2 sets were written with God's finger. The first which Moses broke, and the second to replace the first.

[Sonny]

He then "ADDS" another reason for Israel to keep the Sabbath instead of claiming to have deleted then replaced the word of God.

Creation is meaningless. The creation is fallen...God is not now resting from His perfect creation, because it is now fallen. The Sabbath of creation is not apart of the NC.

[Sonny]

The "old Covenant"

The OC was the giving of the moral law to the people of Israel. It was based on "obey & live" "disobey & die"

[phkrause]

Creation is meaningless. The creation is fallen...God is not now resting from His perfect creation, because it is now fallen. The Sabbath of creation is not apart of the NC.

Are you that positive???

[Sonny]

Originally Posted By: Sonny

Creation is meaningless. The creation is fallen...God is not now resting from His perfect creation, because it is now fallen. The Sabbath of creation is not apart of the NC.

Are you that positive???

Absolutely!!!! Yes....

First we need to understand why God rests. We know God doesn't get tired, right? The question then is why does God rest? Can you answer this?

[Sonny]

First we need to understand why God rests. We know God doesn't get tired, right? The question then is why does God rest? Can you answer this?

Because His work is finished! The is an absolutely very important point. Failure to understand it mandates tradition, which ends up under the Old Covenant.

You see the Sabbath is always God's rest. It's called the Sabbath - the 7th-day. It always points to God's complete & finished work. So the Sabbath is always the 7th-day, but the finished work it points isn't static - rather it's dynamic!

So at after the creation of this world God rested because His work was complete & finished. Adam & Eve lived in a sinless, perfect world. Their Sabbath keeping was an acknowledgement of this fact.

But Adam & Eve sinned and, as Paul states, "sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin". Does sin & death point to a perfect world? No! Therefore God is no longer resting from His sinless creation because of the fall.

[Dr. Rich]

Sonny, your foundational problem lies with words from others other than Jesus Christ Himself. Clearly sin had entered the world we live in much earlier than what Paul taught. Lucifer had turned into Satan prior to "The Lord God" forming the man out of the earth. Why and how did this happen?

Your mistaken belief that the words in the Old Covenant are different than the New Covenant can't be verified from the words of Jesus Christ. The covenant is the same, only the place it is to be kept is what changed. You will NEVER find that Jesus changed anything in the covenant.

Also, where did you get your proof that Adam kept the Sabbath? Sure, one can assume this, but there is absolutly no evidence to prove that it was true. Adam's work before he was thrown out of the garden was simply to pick and eat. God did everything else for him. He didn't even have to mow the lawn or take out the trash. Of course things did change when he was forced out of the garden to live like the rest of the people, those from the 6 day creation thousands of years earlier. (My theory as it clearly appears by reading the Septuagint).

AND, the 'work' that was finished was the 6 day creation that probably took place thousands of years prior to Adam. God is not a couch potatoe, His work is never done.

As I have said before, the 4th commandment is a test for us just as the tree of knowledge was a test for Adam. Choose to obey and live. Choose to disobey and you have chosen the lake of fire.

[skyblue888]

Originally Posted By: skyblue888

The Sabbath is a memorial, Sonny.

I don't read that it was a memorial in the Genesis account. I read that God rested because His work of creation was perfect. That is no longer true. Hence resting on the Sabbath because of creation is meaningless. Why? Because when you rest you are agreeing with God that His work is complete & perfect. It isn't...it's fallen.

Quote:

On the new earth we will come before God from Sabbath to Sabbath. You know it says that in Isaiah.

Yes, but that's future. The new heavens & and the new earth haven't been recreated yet. It's not a reality....

Quote:

When we abide in Christ, we rest from our own works and He does the works. The Sabbath is a memorial of that.

No, no, no....You are making what He does in us a completed work. The Sabbath always points to a completed work that God has finished. Unless you are perfect, as Christ was/is perfect, then God isn't finished working in you. Hence the Sabbath can't symbolize what He does in you for it is unfinished.

"We are (present tense) created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God prepared before hand and that we should walk in them." Eph.2:10.

This is the work of redemption, creation all over again and this process is a continuing process in Christ until we reflect Him fully. Mark 4:26-29.

The Sabbath is a memorial of the spiritual rest we have in Christ. On that day we rest also from our physical labors as a sign that we are resting in Christ, in His merits, in order that His grace may enable us to do the works of God.

sky

[BobRyan]

God said in Ex 20 (long AFTER the fall of Adam and Eve) that the Sabbath was STILL a memorial of the creation event.

Those who love to claim that the "the Bible is wrong" from one text to the next will sometimes complain that Ex 20 contradicts Gen 2:1-3. But those familiar with the method of exegesis found in the Historical Grammatical model will be glad to "let the Bible speak for itself" without the need to slice-and-dice it into slivers claiming that this sliver negates that sliver.

in Christ,

Bob

[BobRyan]

Creation is meaningless. The creation is fallen...

Not according to God Himself speaking in Ex 20 over two thousand years AFTER the fall of mankind.

Hint - in Deut 5 Moses said that the law is STILL valid JUST as God gave it at Sinai 40 years before.

in Christ,

Bob

[BobRyan]

Again an excellent post, its amazing that this can't be understood. Here is what your talking about:

Exodus 34:1 ADONAI said to Moshe, "Cut yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones; and I will inscribe on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

Well I agree that the text is impossible to bend twist or obfuscate and that Deut 5 refers BACK to that giving of the law just as God spoke it.

I suggest that when something so clear and obvious "can't be understood" the real problem is that there is a false teacher out there with "an agenda" like Acts 20 states. And that person tells stories that "sound good" to some people. Those people then come here and are surprised that not everyone falls for the stories they were told and that the Bible is in complete contradiction to those stories.

Thus the present problem I believe.

in Christ,

Bob

[Sonny]

Also, where did you get your proof that Adam kept the Sabbath?

An assumption....

[Sonny]

This is the work of redemption, creation all over again and this process is a continuing process in Christ until we reflect Him fully. Mark 4:26-29.

Sorry, full growing up into Christ hasn't happened. The Sabbath always points to a finished work. Sanctification, as important as that is, is an unfinished work.

[Sonny]

God said in Ex 20 (long AFTER the fall of Adam and Eve) that the Sabbath was STILL a memorial of the creation event.

The Sabbath points to God's finished work. Creation is ruined....It no longer points to this. Moses gave a new reason...I don't care what's on stone! What matters is what's on the heart...true motive. That's what God's interested in.

2 Cor 3:6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant--not of the letter [the law on stone] but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Rom 7:6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.

[cheddar]

The Sabbath is not designed for mere physical rest, but for spiritual. It has a higher meaning than is commonly attached to it. True, we are enjoined from doing our own labor on that day, but the cessation from physical labor on the Sabbath day is but an emblem of the spiritual rest which God gives to those who accept him as the Creator of all things. Without spiritual rest there is no true Sabbath-keeping. The Lord says that they who turn away their feet from the Sabbath, and do not do their own ways on his holy day, but call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, shall delight themselves in the Lord. (Isa. 58:13,14.) A man may refrain from labor on the seventh day as scrupulously as ever the strictest Pharisee did; yet if he does not know and delight in the Lord Jesus Christ, he is not keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. True Sabbath rest can be found only in Christ.

EJ Waggoner - The Gospel in Creation.

[Sonny]

The Lord says that they who turn away their feet from the Sabbath, and do not do their own ways on his holy day, but call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, shall delight themselves in the Lord. (Isa. 58:13,14.)

This is a vague request. Since it is vague Adventist have come up with all sorts of rules to keep the Sabbath: No swimming, no games, no restaurants, no biking, no sports, no TV, no radio, no cooking, no this, no that. Terrible! It's a day filled with don't do anything.....

Do you know what all this does? It takes away from what the Sabbath symbolizes, i.e., salvation only in Christ - justification by faith. All these rules make it salvation by works - the opposite of what the Sabbath symbolizes!

[skyblue888]

I suggest that when something so clear and obvious "can't be understood" the real problem is that there is a false teacher out there with "an agenda" like Acts 20 states. And that person tells stories that "sound good" to some people. Those people then come here and are surprised that not everyone falls for the stories they were told and that the Bible is in complete contradiction to those stories.

Thus the present problem I believe.

in Christ,

Bob

___________

Amen Bob. Well said.

sky :)