This article has been derived from combining four recent posts that I made on Facebook concerning the Seventh Day Sabbath Rest instituted by God. It is not meant to be disrespectful to those who wish to keep the Seventh Day Sabbath in the traditional Jewish manner - or as it was prescribed by God in
Exodus Chapter 16, and again in
Exodus Chapter 31, where it is called a Covenant sign, and a day in which the Israelites were to rest from their labors, and do no work.
At the time the Sabbath rest was instituted, which was at the time of the Exodus, Yahweh made not keeping the Sabbath day punishable by death (See
Exodus 31:14). Yahweh did this because He wanted His special people to set themselves apart from the rest of the world, which was paganistic and idolatrous and did not set aside a proper time for anyone to rest from their labors. This lack of rest time can be detrimental to one's health, and many of Yahweh's laws concerning human diet and behavior were specifically designed to keep His people healthy. Yahweh also wanted His human children to have no distractions keeping them from remembering Him, praising His Name, and worshiping and fellowshipping with Him in prayer. This is because it not only brings joy to our Heavenly Father, but can have healing affects on those who willingly worship Yahweh with joy and thanksgiving in their hearts.
Yahweh wanted to ensure that His human children rested at least one day a week - or for a portion of each day outside of bed time - because it is essential for human health to have some serious leisure time, especially if it is devoted to worship and prayer. For these reasons, keeping the Sabbath Day in the traditional day-long manner is a great idea for people who can take a full day to rest from work, although this is becoming increasingly hard to do in today's fast-paced, activity-packed world.
However, the ritual lighting of two candles, and the prescribed prayers that Jews associate with keeping the Sabbath are not delineated anywhere in the Bible, so they are optional. The important thing is to make sure that you devote this set apart day - or, alternatively, a portion of each day - to study God's Word, to pray, to fellowship with other believers, to help those believers that need help, and to purify and heal your body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Each separate post that I made about the Sabbath on Facebook has been woven together here to be read as one full article, with sub-titles opening each new article section. I hope and pray that it will bless everyone with a better understanding of the Sabbath rest that Yahweh God ordained to commemorate His Creation of the Universe, and how it should be viewed in light of our New Covenant in Christ.
The reason why I felt it was necessary to write this four part commentary on the Sabbath is because of the controversy that exists between various legalistic Judaizers in the Body of Christ. These Judaizers can be found among more legalistic Torah-keeping Messianic Jewish believers, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Worldwide Church of God, and the Seventh Day Adventists, who all insist that a strict observance of God's Seventh Day Sabbath as laid forth in the Law of Moses, and as one of the Ten Commandments, is not only necessary, but essential for salvation to occur. Meanwhile, their detractors in the greater body of Christ believe that Christians are under a perpetual Sabbath rest unto God through our baptism with the Holy Spirit. Our baptism with the Spirit of God indwelling us is a seal indicating that we are saved. It also marks our identification with Christ's shed blood for our salvation, and to our death to the world of sin, and the sinful desires of our bodies. Seeing ourselves as dead to the world and separating ourselves from worldly pleasures allows us to live for Christ via His Spirit every day of the week. As the Apostle Paul said:
Romans 6:3-11 ~ “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So the Apostle Paul - whose teachings Judaizers such as strict Sabbath keepers often hate and do their best to ignore - tells the saints that they were baptized into Christ's death as a symbol of their death to the world and to sin so that they can seek to always live for Christ as slaves to righteousness. So, if all saints are now dead to the world of sin and slaves instead to righteousness, doesn't this mean that saints no longer need to follow the world's rules and regulations for the living any longer? Logically, the answer is they do not, because our physical bodies are to be viewed as dead to the world, and we are to see ourselves as only alive in the Spirit, which does not need to rest because dwelling in the Spirit means being in a perpetual state of supernatural rest or peace that transcends all human understanding (See
Philippians 4:7).
In the following Scripture, the Apostle Paul clearly states that the saints are to view themselves as dead to the world and its rules and regulations so they can be free to do Yahweh's spiritual Will at all times:
Colossians 2:11-23 ~ “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 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. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.
16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
So here the Apostle Paul tells the saints that - just as all the priestly ceremonial rules, blood offerings and sacrificial laws connected to the Mosaic Law were nailed to the Cross with Christ (See the Book of Hebrews, Chapters 9 through 12) - the Book of Colossians tells us that the rules and regulations connected to the Jewish Feasts and Sabbaths and New Moons have also been nailed to the Cross. So all that effectively remains of the Mosaic Law for the saints to keep then is the Moral Law that governs human familial and neighborly social behavior. Incidentally, this is why Yahshua's Sermon on the Mount dealt exclusively with God's Moral Law, and didn't directly discuss keeping the rituals and feasts attached to the blood sacrificial system and the hereditary priesthood designated by the Mosaic Law.
However, though I believe that Christ was ascribing great importance to the first day of the week as the day of the Firstfruits Offering that He effectively became when He presented Himself before His Father in Heaven on that day a little over two thousand years ago, this article is NOT an argument for or against the belief that Sunday has become the Christian Sabbath. What this article will do is show that Christians are entitled to keep a more traditional Sabbath rest unto God on any day of the week that they choose to keep it, including on Sunday, and that they can also choose not to keep a traditional Sabbath because they view everyday as a Sabbath Rest unto God.
To begin this exploration of what it means to be in the Perpetual Sabbath Rest of God in Christ, I will now share the importance of the idea of the 1,000-year long Great Day of the Lord, and how it relates to the Great Day Sabbath Rest that signifies the coming Millennial Rule of Christ.
UNDERSTANDING OUR
GREAT DAY SABBATH REST IN CHRIST
Link To Original Facebook Post:
https://www.facebook.com/helena.lehman/posts/10208656825954639
I really think it's sad how believers are so divided on the issue of Sabbath keeping, and how divisive and abusive they get toward one another whenever the topic of the Sabbath is brought up for debate. The simple truth is that, under the New Covenant, we have entered Christ's Everlasting Sabbath Rest through our acceptance of His sacrifice on the Cross for our sins, and if we are following Him wholeheartedly, we have died to the world to live for Christ, which means that we are living for Him and through Him every day of the week, not just on the seventh day.
Some may wonder how we are to die to the world, and how we are to live for Christ when we can't stop working and being active members of society. First of all, believers need to understand that the Word of God does not teach us to die to ourselves. More correctly, we die to the world outside of ourselves, with its carnal lusts and desires, and live for Christ by keeping His commandments and listening to the promptings of His Holy Spirit in us that calls us to be good to others, and to share the Good News of the Kingdom of God with them.
However, contrary to what some Christian preachers teach, Christ's disciples were never meant to completely lose themselves, but to retain the essence of who they are that makes them special by putting it to use in Yah's service. Indeed, our Heavenly Father Yahweh wants us to find ourselves by working for Him at our fullest potential through and in Christ.
As the Apostle Paul put it, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). This does not mean that Paul put his "self" to death. Rather, it means that Paul's self had been merged with Christ's self, and the two had become one. This is what it means to be married to Christ. It is the mystical joining in a marriage of souls where the two shall become one flesh. My prayer is that all may one day experience this mystical joining with Christ. If you haven't already, all you have to do to experience it is to repent of your sins, surrender your will and your life to Christ, and ask Him to heal, restore and perfect you by indwelling you with His Spirit.
Indeed, it is the Holy Spirit that gives us our true liberty and freedom to serve God freely and abundantly in this world, and without Him, we will become lost and ineffectual. If we are true believers who love Yahshua with all of our hearts, we must be imbued with the Holy Spirit, Who gives us fruits, gifts, knowledge and discernment, and we must enter into the new spiritual life through the Spirit of God that we will forever be in as God's servants.
If, as believers, we study ourselves approved by knowing God's Word, we would learn to understand that Christ's coming 1,000-year reign on the Earth is meant to be a literal renewal of Yahweh God's original 1,000-year Seventh Great Day Sabbath Rest that was abruptly halted in the past - when Adam and Eve sinned and plunged the world into spiritual darkness. This 1,000 year principle for the length of each Creation Day is based on the belief that the Jews have that mankind has been given six thousand years to show the wicked fruit of their works without God in control as opposed to the perfect goodness of the works that God did in the first 6 Great Days, or 6,000 years when His initial act of Creation was made manifest.
When viewed this way, the past 12,000 years signify God's 6,000 years of goodness being obliterated by Satan and mankind's 6,000 years of wickedness, which God will put an abrupt halt to on the “Great Day of the Lord”, which is an allusion not to an ordinary day or seventh day Sabbath, or to the destruction of the world in one day, but to the inauguration of the Great Day Sabbath Rest of Yahshua's Kingdom. At the beginning of Christ's Millennial Kingdom, every mortal still alive on the catastrophically devastated remains of the Earth will be judged, the Earth will be renewed, and those who survive their appearance before the Judgment Seat of Christ will be allowed to enter into the continuation of Yahweh's literal Great Day Sabbath Rest. This literal Sabbath Rest will be far more joy-filled than the spiritual Sabbath Rest that believers currently experience every day during their walk with Christ.
This 1,000-year Great Day principle is hinted at when, in 2 Peter 3:8, the Apostle Peter reminds believers that: “with the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day”. This Biblical principle is also brought forth in Psalm 90:4, where it says: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night”.
This 1,000-year Great Day is also hinted at in Revelation Chapter 1, when John the Revelator told his audience that: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day”, which is not necessarily a reference to an ordinary Sabbath day since the vision that John shared spanned a thousand year period that included a detailed prophetic description of the Great Tribulation, the Millennial Rule of Christ it will lead up to, and the creation of a New Heaven and a New Earth at the end of the thousand years of peace and prosperity that all born-again believers will experience in the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Finally, this 1000-year Great Sabbath Day is tied to Christ's Millennial Rule in Revelation Chapter 20, where it says:
~*~ Revelation 20:4-6 ~*~ “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.”
When this 1,000-year Great Day idea is accepted and applied to our spiritual knowledge base, it explains why God set aside a thousand years before the New Heaven and New Earth are created for the reign of His Son. It makes sense that God did so because everyday in Christ's kingdom will be a Great Day Sabbath Rest for the whole world, not just for those who love and follow Him in this current wicked world, and so it will fulfill the establishment of the Seventh Great Day - and all eternity to follow it - as a Great Unending Day or Age of resting in our love for God forever.
For those who say that the above view somehow changes, adds to, or diminishes the importance of the Sabbath, there is no way that seeing every day as a Sabbath rest unto the Lord has taken away or added to God's Commandment to keep the Sabbath. Instead, it merely amplifies the importance of the Sabbath rest as a perpetual state of mind, body and spirit that never has a beginning or end in Christ.
To learn more about my research behind the Great Day of the Lord and its connection to the Millennial Rule of Christ and our perpetual Sabbath Rest in Christ, please read my book “
The Language of God in Prophecy”, where I have hundreds of pages of information about it recorded.
Here is a link to find out more about my Language of God Book Series, and how to purchase them, including the above mentioned book:
http://pillar-of-enoch.com/bookstore/index.html
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WHY THE SABBATH IS
ALL WEEK LONG UNDER CHRIST
Link To Original Facebook Post:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208589750917805
Through a composite of several Scriptures recording the words of our Messiah Yahshua and the Apostle Paul, we are told to live as though it was the Sabbath everyday of the week in Christ, and we should not consider any day to be more special than another. When studied together, these important Scriptures clarify our Sabbath responsibilities to God and one another under the New Covenant with Yahweh God in Christ. This is because God's Word is meant to be taken in a holistic fashion, with each new declaration building upon, and expanding upon the basic principles at its foundation that were laid down in the Law of Moses, but were then transformed by the Commandments of Christ that are tempered by the gift of Grace or unmerited favor, and the Holy Spirit, Who shows us what God's Will is in our lives, and how we should live to please Him.
The following collection of Scriptures build on one another to show believers how to live for Christ, and in the process, they clearly define what responsibilities to God that believers in Christ have in regard to keeping the Law of Moses - especially in regard to the Mosaic Laws concerning the Sabbath, and the dietary laws. What believers learn through these Scriptures is that the Law of Moses should be viewed as superfluous to those who are born again, dead to the world, and fully living in Christ because the Holy Spirit in us stands as a guarantee that we have fulfilled all the legal requirements of the Law through Christ, and we know how to please God through the living counsel of that same Spirit.
The first Scripture is from the Gospel of John, and in it we are told that the Jews felt that Yahshua did not keep the Sabbath because He ignored their strict interpretation of what is allowed, and what is not allowed on the Sabbath according to the Law of Moses:
~*~ John 5: 9-23 ~*~ “And that day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’”
Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.”
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”
Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
The preceding Scripture strengthens Yahshua's position as someone with the full authority to interpret the Law of God, and to explain how it should be viewed. This is done by verbally reinforcing the fact that Yahshua is indeed the Son of our Heavenly Father, and He has the same authority as the Father in judging all things.
This fact is hinted at again in the next Scripture, which is taken from the Gospel of Mark, but is also found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In it, the Pharisees question Yahshua when He and His disciples are found breaking the religious restrictions that were placed on the Israelite people on the Sabbath. In His response, Yahshua tells the Pharisees that He is the Lord of the Sabbath, and God made the Sabbath to bless His followers, not shackle them:
~*~ Mark 2:23-28 ~*~ “Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?”
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”
Here, we are confronted with the fact that Yahshua is the Lord of the Sabbath, meaning that He can dictate how the Sabbath should be viewed, and what believers need to do, and do not have to do to keep the Sabbath. To please God, believers in Christ are called to mimic how God rested on the seventh day of Creation by seeing how all that had been created was good, and enjoying the full extent of that goodness, which was lost until Christ came into the world to restore it for those who believe in Him, and accept His blood sacrifice for their sins.
In the next Scripture taken from the Gospel of Luke, Yahshua shows His lordship over the Sabbath again by breaking the Sabbath restrictions that were imposed on all the children of Israel by their religious leaders. This time, He does so by indicating that it is lawful for us to heal others, and to do all of the good works that our heavenly Father's Spirit causes us to want to do on the Sabbath day - just as it is lawful to do these things during the rest of the week. By doing so, Christ laid the groundwork for the principle that our Sabbath rest in Him should be viewed as all week long, and not just on the seventh day of the week:
~*~ Luke 6:6-11 ~*~ “Now it happened on another Sabbath, also, that He entered the synagogue and taught. And a man was there whose right hand was withered. 7 So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him. 8 But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, “Arise and stand here.” And he arose and stood. 9 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?” 10 And when He had looked 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. 11 But they were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus (i.e. Yahshua).”
Before going on, it's interesting to note that - in this last Scripture - we are told how those who still saw themselves as obligated to keep the whole Law of Moses were enraged toward Yahshua for challenging them, and by going against their interpretation of the Law. This is similar to how Radical Muslims act toward non-Muslims in wanting them to conform to their Sharia Law, which is expected to be strictly kept by Muslims and Non-Muslims in the same ways that the Law of Moses was kept, and is still expected to be kept by religious Jews. But there is nothing loving or righteous about forcing anyone to conform to any fleshly, human interpretation of God's Laws, whether they believe in God or not. Instead, our response as to how we should keep God's Law should come from our own intimate spiritual relationship with the indwelling Spirit of God, Who serves as the perfect divine Counselor to every born-again believer.
The idea that our religious convictions have to come from a position of utter confidence in God's Spirit, and our ability to interpret God's Word correctly through God's Spirit is brought forward again in the next Scripture taken from the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. In it, we are told that the dietary laws under the Law of Moses, as well as the special observances of various days such as the Sabbath, are no longer important or obligatory for followers of Christ unless they are in the presence of those who are still bound by these restrictions. Whether it be due to a lack of faith in Christ, or refusal to accept Paul's teaching that the Laws under Moses were no longer necessary to be followed, the Jews and Messianics who still felt obligated to keep the old Law were to be respected.
This meant that the laws these Jews and Messianics kept were to be followed by new believers when fellowshipping with those still keeping the old legal requirements of the Mosaic Law. They were to do this so that they would not cause these Judaizers to stumble in their walk with God. As Paul explained it, they could stumble into sin if they acted outside of what they felt were the legal requirements of their faith, because anything we do that is not done in faith is sinful:
~*~ Romans 14:1-10 ~*~ “Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. 2 For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. 3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. 4 Who are you to judge another’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand.
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and rose and lived again, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living. 10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.”
And, a bit later in the same chapter...
~*~ Romans 14:19-23 ~*~ “Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.”
So in Romans 14, the Apostle Paul - who was a devout and zealous Jew before becoming a follower of Christ - clearly makes the case that the divinely given dietary laws under Moses are no longer applicable in Christ because He makes all things clean for us when we have faith that Christ can make them clean, and when we pray over our food in thanksgiving. Furthermore, no special days need to be observed in Christ, for each new day is a reason for believers to experience thanksgiving and joy in our salvation in Christ.
However, we are also warned that we should not be contentious with those who still feel that they are bound to keep the whole Law, or who do so because they feel it is a loving action in imitation of Christ, who was a Jew. We are to respect their desire to keep the whole Law when in their presence, and through our observance, to not cause any of them to stumble due to their weaker faith.
This next Scripture taken from the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians again tells believers that the special observances of various days such as the New Moon, or beginning of the month, and the Sabbath or seventh day are no longer important or obligatory for followers of Christ, and these days are not to be viewed as more special than any other day, but that we should live every day as if it were dedicated to serving our Lord and Savior Yahshua. This is because we who are born again are called to see ourselves as dead to the world, but alive in Christ:
~*~ Colossians 2:8-23 ~*~ “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; 10 and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 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. 15 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, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God.
Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh.”
All in all, these Scriptures work together to show that believers in, and followers of Yahshua Ha Mashiach or Jesus the Christ are under no obligation to keep the whole Law as the Jews interpreted it, but only to follow the Spirit of Christ that is living in, and helping believers to do God's Will every day of the week.
Unfortunately, many legalists or Judaizers appear to lack the actual baptism of the Holy Spirit that makes us born again in Christ. This is often evident in those who do not see any supernatural component to their faith, and who deny the outpouring of spiritual fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as the signs and wonders that always follow those who are born again when they are actively pursuing intimacy with God, and brotherly love with one another.
For the misguided people that do not see this outflow of power in the Holy Spirit that accompanies born again believers, their faith is based on a strict, literal interpretation of God's Word that is not tempered by the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within. This means that they are not given a deeper understanding of God's Word, nor are they shown its practical applications in everyday living through visions, dreams and direct words of knowledge from God because they either deny their existence, or see them as demonic, and this is what Yahshua meant when He talked about blaspheming the Holy Spirit, and how such a flagrant denial of the supernatural power of God will never be forgiven:
~*~ Luke 12:9-11 ~*~ “But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. And anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.”
This Scripture serves as a warning to all those who use legalism to deny the power of the Holy Spirit to help believers see the truth in God's Word, and to spread the power of the Gospel of the Kingdom via the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as through dreams, visions, signs and wonders.
YAHSHUA BROKE THE SABBATH
WITH HIS RESURRECTION!
Link to Sabbath Day Post on Facebook of Saturday, May 28th, 2016:
https://www.facebook.com/helena.lehman/posts/10208650667560683
When I did a study of Yahshua's Crucifixion and Resurrection, I discovered that Yahshua or Jesus was to give the Sign of Jonah, which meant He was to be dead for three full days and three full nights before rising from the dead. Now, since Yahshua was seen alive and outside of the Garden Tomb early on Sunday morning by Mary Magdalene, and He promised to be dead for three full days and three full nights before rising from the dead, Yahshua had to have died on a Wednesday. In addition, the Gospels tell us that Yahshua was taken down from the Cross and buried before the start of Passover, which began at dusk. This means that He was buried BEFORE the Sun set on a Wednesday.
Furthermore, we are told that three women that were disciples of Yahshua went to visit His tomb while it was yet dark on Sunday morning, and they were surprised to find His tomb empty before the Sun had risen. Now, since Yahshua died on Late Wednesday afternoon, was buried before the start of Passover at dusk, and He was to be dead for only three full days and three full nights, it suggests that He rose from the dead before dusk on Saturday just as He died before dusk on Wednesday, meaning He rose just before the close of the seventh day Sabbath, thereby breaking the Sabbath as the Jews defined it.
Although strict Sabbath keepers may try to dismiss this teaching as a false conjecture, it is a logical argument based on Scripture, and it makes perfect sense when we take a look at Yahshua's earthly ministry in the Gospels. There are numerous times in the Gospels where we can find Yahshua - Who in His preincarnate state was the Creator of the Universe and the Maker of the law of the Sabbath rest - breaking the Pharisaic, man-made traditions and rules surrounding the keeping of the Sabbath as the Jews defined it. Yahshua also made the bold statement that God made the Sabbath for mankind, and not mankind for the Sabbath, which meant it was to be a blessing for us, and not a burden. This means that we should be free to do all the good that we can do on the Sabbath, as well as to enjoy all the good things that God created for us to enjoy.
I presented some of those Scriptures in another article about the Sabbath that I posted last week (which is posted in the sub-titled section before this one). In the meantime, have a blessed Sabbath, however you choose to keep it.
Shabbat Shalom!
KEEPING THE PERPETUAL SABBATH
Link to the Original Facebook Post:
https://www.facebook.com/helena.lehman/posts/10208580872375847
In Christ, all believers are being called to keep a perpetual Sabbath. This is evident via the fact that Yahshua or Jesus gives His beloved, born again saints His indwelling Spirit, Who in turn gives His saints the liberty and freedom to practice the Sabbath rest of God every day, not just on the seventh day of the week. In fact, we are called to give our lives to Yahshua, to His Spirit, and to our heavenly Father Yahweh, and to live only for our Triune God not just on the seventh day, but every day of the week.
This also holds true for those who believe that the Sabbath should be kept on Sunday due to Christ's first day of new Life as the Firstfruits of the First Resurrection into Everlasting Life. What should be the case is that those who truly love and follow God and His Son and Spirit should not see any day as more special than another, for all the days are to be viewed as equal to them, and fully dedicated to the Creator God they love and follow by keeping His 10 Commandments - and the Two Commandments Yahshua gave that encompass the Ten Commandments - every day of the week.
Those who love and follow Christ are also given the promise of God's Grace or unmerited favor, and His forgiveness when they fail to keep His Commandments perfectly, but then repent and seek to make amends for their wrong doing. Then they are forgiven, and called back into fellowship with God through His Son and Spirit, and their sins are remembered no more. This is another blessing of being in God's perpetual Sabbath rest in Christ, where all believers can find forgiveness, acceptance, comfort and peace when they honor Christ and love others as He does everyday of the week.
Hallelu-Yah for our salvation through Yahshua, our King, Bridegroom, Mentor and Friend through His Spirit, and Hallelu-Yah for our perpetual Sabbath Rest in Him!
A Bible Teaching from
Your Sister in Yahshua,
Helena Lehman,
Scholar, Author and Artist for
The Language of God Book Series, and
Webmaster for the Pillar of Enoch Ministry Site
Ministry Web Site: http://pillar-of-enoch.com
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