First mention of a solution against death 6 Authority given to the send one from God coming out of the woman

Christ or the saviour spoken of in the garden of Eden was placed in the book of life before Abraham was born, but was himself born much later, being the seed of Abraham and the seed of David and the seed of Israel.

Those born after Christ can also as seed and followers of Christ likewise should not be followers of evil or followers of satan but should “crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:24) and not be followers of the world.

Galatians 5:4-6 NHEBJE  You are alienated from Christ, you who desire to be justified by the law. You have fallen away from grace.  (5)  For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.  (6)  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

Galatians 5:18-25 NHEBJE  (18)  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  (19)  Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness,  (20)  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies,  (21)  envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.  (22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith,  (23)  gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  (24)  Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.  (25)  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Galatians 3:29 NHEBJE  If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

Galatians 3:7 NHEBJE  Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.

Romans 9:7-8 NHEBJE  Neither, because they are Abraham’s seed, are they all children. But, “In Isaac will your seed be called.”  (8)  That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.

The term devil is not only used to define physical sin in the flesh, but all those who are motivated thereby. It is applied to individuals who stand in opposition to the way of righteousness (e.g. John 6:70), or to governments that are antagonistic to the principles of Christ (e.g. Revelation 2:10). As people used to say a person is of the devil, when he had badness in him so also it is said he or she is a serpent or snake, when he has evil words or likes to take on a bad attitude. The serpent is used in similar fashion to present opposition. It is applied to the sin-promptings of the flesh that must be done with or put away. Such acting be it of the flesh or coming from the mind within should be impaled or crucified (Numbers 21:6; Galatians 5:24) because otherwise they would be as a sting from God bringing death.

Numbers 21:6 NHEBJE  Jehovah sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many people of Israel died.

Galatians 5:24-26 NHEBJE  (24)  Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.  (25)  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  (26)  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, and envying one another.

Adam and Eve showed to God they did not live by the Spirit any more. They provoked one another and the venom of Eve was like the poison of a snake; like a deaf cobra that stops its ear, which doesn’t listen to the good advice God offers to man.

Psalms 58:4 NHEBJE  Their poison is like the poison of a snake; like a deaf viper that stops its ear,

Eve her bad choice, her actual transgression got her as an opposer of God now to take care of herself, with all the pains that could bring to her, bearing children but also facing the agonies and death in her life. Instead of becoming fully like God she became according to the likeness of the snake, with creepy thoughts and political sin-powers of the world of flesh, as a serpent pouring water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. Now she had brought forth transgression and war.

Revelation 12:13-17 NHEBJE  (13)  When the serpent saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.  (14)  Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.  (15)  The serpent spewed water out of his mouth after the woman like a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream.  (16)  The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the serpent spewed out of his mouth.  (17)  The serpent grew angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

With that coming seed the time of the evil was going to be limited. Out of the woman, the virgin Mary came the one who was to tell the world about the faithfulness of That One Who always tells the truth. The One who send him is not a teller of lies, like the serpent wanted Eve to believe. It were her thoughts which are represented by the serpent, which is the father of lies, the adversary, the devil.

Revelation 13:7 NHEBJE  It was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them. Authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation was given to him.

Until now that evil staid in this world, seemingly standing strong, but are not mistaken.

Exodus 9:15-16 NHEBJE  For now I would have put forth my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth;  (16)  but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth;

The diabolos or devil, in time will be captured (Revelation 12:14;  20:2). In Eureka vol. 1, pp. 248-249, Bro. Thomas has this to say on the word diabolos or devil:

“By this time, I apprehend, the intelligent reader will be able to answer scripturally the question,

‘What is that which has the power of death?’

And he will, doubtless, agree, that it is

‘the exceedingly great sinner SIN,’

in the sense of ‘the Law of Sin and Death’ within all the posterity of Adam, without exception. This, then, is Paul’s diabolos, which he says

‘has the power of death’;

which ‘power’ he also saith is ‘sin, the sting of death’.”

But why did Paul style ‘sin‘, ‘diabolos’?
The answer to this question will be found in the definition of the word. Diabolos is derived from diaballo, which is compounded of dia, a preposition, which in composition signifies across, over,… and intransitively, like the Latin trajicere, to pass over, to cross, to pass. It is the Greek for “slanderer”  or “accuser”,  the spirit or power of evil in English often translated as “devil“. It was in later times that false teachings created a sort of fallen angels or demons (not using that word for its original meaning or disease).

In postbiblical Judaism and in Christianity, Satan also became known as the “prince of devils” and assumed various names: Beelzebub (“Lord of Flies”) in Matthew 12:24–27, often cited as Beelzebul (“Lord of Dung”), and Lucifer (the fallen angel of Light).

We saw the first people in the Garden of Eden “crossing the line”. This being the signification of the parent verb, the noun diabolos is the name of that which crosses, or causes to cross over, ox falls over. Diabolos is therefore a very fit and proper word by which to designate the law of sin and death, or Sin’s flesh.

The Eternal Spirit drew a line before Adam, and said,

Thou shalt not cross, or pass over that line upon pain of evil and death.

That line was the Eden law; on the east of that line was the answer of a good conscience, friendship with God, and life without end; but on the west, fear, shame, misery, and death.

To obey, was to maintain the position in which he was originally placed: to disobey, to cross over the line forbidden. But

‘he was drawn away, and enticed by his own lusts’.

The narrative of Moses proves this. The man was enticed of his own lust to cross over the line, or to disobey the law; so that his own lust is the Diabolos. Thus, etymology and doctrine agreeing, the Christadelphian definition must be correct. According to this, the original diabolos was the serpent, whose seductive, tempting voice, lured Eve and then Adam to disobey. In Eden, therefore, there was an external tempter in the person of the serpent. But as the propensities were inflamed through the original transgression, the tempter, the serpent, has been found within.

“And the woman” – The woman is representative of the Ecclesia. She was so in her formation, as well as in her sin. (See the use of this symbol 2Co 11:3; Eph 5:31-32; Isa 54:6).

“And between thy seed” – Those governed by the mind of the flesh. (See Psa 58:4; Psa 140:3; Mat 23:33; 2Co 11:3-4; Rom 8:5-9; Joh 8:44).

“And her seed” – Those governed by the mind of the Spirit, and who are found “in Christ”, God’s son “made of a woman” (Gal 4:4). The emphasis upon the “seed of the woman” rather than that of the man, points to the importance of the divine begettal and virgin birth of the Lord. Php 2:6. {Eureka vol. 1, pp. 248-249, Bro. Thomas}

With the act of Adam and Eve we get a response of them being “Cursed” – The curse rested upon all creation because man, the chief of Creation, was involved. By

“one man’s offence death reigned by one” (Romans 5:12; Romans 5:17);

by

“one act of transgression judgment came upon all men to condemnation” (Romans 5:18 mg.).

By the wrong choice Adam and Eve made, they crossed the line and as such sinned. By their act there was the death-dealing sin, the verdict on that one sin namely was the death sentence. The wrongdoing of one, death was ruling through the one, and from one generation to an other sins multiplied. Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death. For that reason God provided a solution for braking the effect of the act of wrongdoing by which punishment came on all men. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift God offered already at the moment of wrongdoing in the Garden of Eden? This grand setting-everything-right, is the promise which got many hoping all their life. Though they did not see it come trough in their lifetime, they were assured that it was going to become a reality. That promise in the Garden of Eden was to brake with the curse of death, the curse brought by the adversary of God. For centuries there still would come many adversaries of God, but with God’s solution their acts would be nullified. God’s gift was to bring grace which came of many offenses unto justification. For if by one offense, death reigned  because of one man; much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of gifts and of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus the Christ, the world is being told.

Offering of plants or offerings of animals would not any more be necessary, because there would come a man strong enough to proof he could withstand any temptation and would keep to God’s Wishes. That seed of the woman was come on earth out of man, by God’s Grace. In the same manner that by the iniquity of one guilt came upon all men unto condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, he always doing God’s Will and not his, giving his body to God as a ransom offer, grace came upon all men unto justification of life. (Romans 5:16-18)

We do not have to think that we are “condemned” or treated as guilty because of the offence of Adam, but the punishment to which he was condemned (that of mortality) rests
upon all his posterity. Nobody can avoid death. It is our misfortune, not our blame, that we inherit the physical consequences of Adam’s sin; for, let it be clearly understood, it is the physical  consequences of the curse that we inherit, and not the moral guilt; and, furthermore, also the send one from God, Jeshua, Jesus Christ, inherited these in common with us all.

Man was originally in a “very good” physical state (Genesis 1:31); but afterwards was adjudged by the same Judge as evil. Once it even came to the ground being cursed and animal, plants and humans being destroyed by a huge flood. But God did not want such killing any more (Genesis 8:21)

Originally the earth was proclaimed “very good,” but afterwards it sprouted thorns and thistles in abundance (Genesis 3:18). Its proneness so to do is similar to the proneness of the  flesh to sin, producing moral thorns and thistles (see Hebrews 6:8). Originally, the animals were vegetarian, and came tamely before Adam to be named (Genesis 2:19); but subsequently they became carnivorous and fierce; though ultimately they will be restored to their original state (Isaiah 65:25). Man’s physical state under the curse, his proneness to sin, is expressed in Scriptures such as Gen 3:19; Rom 7:5; Rom 7:14; Rom 7:17-18; Rom 7:20; Php 3:21, etc.

 

“It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” –

The Hebrew hu is best rendered “he”; and “bruise”, shuwph, signifies “to crush”, as rendered in Rotherham’s translation. To “crush” the head is to administer a fatal blow, whereas to crush a heel will only incapacitate for a time. Accordingly, the declaration promises to completely destroy the effects of transgression brought into being through the serpent’s teaching, though, in doing so, the seed of the woman would be temporary wounded thereby. This was accomplished through the offering of Christ. Though he died, it was only a temporary affliction, for he rose triumphant over death, and provided the means whereby his followers triumph over sin and death: the heritage of the serpent.

Paul’s comment is to the point:

“Through death (a crushed heel) he might destroy (a crushed head) him that had the power of death (sin in the flesh) even the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

Christ, by doing God’s Will showed that man is able to keep to the commandments of God. He destroyed “the devil” (sin in the flesh) in that in death such is rendered inactive. His sacrificial death ensured his resurrection to life eternal, Jeshua being taken up from the dead after having spend three days in hell. For what Jesus did man should show respect and be grateful he wanted to give himself as ransom. God made him now higher than angels and any other man.

Philippians 2:8-11 NHEBJE  (8)  And being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, yes, the death of the cross.  (9)  Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;  (10)  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,  (11)  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

John 10:17-18 NHEBJE  Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again.  (18)  No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

Acts 2:22-24 NHEBJE  “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you, even as you yourselves know,  (23)  him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;  (24)  whom God raised up, having freed him from the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

Being clothed upon with Divine nature, he was no longer subject to mortality, and sin in the flesh ceased to be an element of his being. Furthermore, through the mercy of the Father, the efficacy of his offering extends to those who are “in him” through baptism. They are granted forgiveness of sins, and are motivated to overcome. The Edenic Covenant of promise, therefore, guarantees life to the seed of the woman through conquest of the serpent power. It promises victory through Christ in the battle against sin and death.

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Preceding articles

A multifold of elements in creation and a bad choice made

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

Next: First mention of a solution against death 7 Human sacrifice

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Additional reading

1. Satan or the devil
2. Satan the evil within
3. The Seed Of The Woman Bruised
4. Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
5. Sayings of Jesus, what to believe and being or not of the devil
6. A question to be posed
7. Has the Bible’s Garden of Eden been found — and restored
8. A promise given in the Garden of Eden
9. Around pre-existence of Christ
10. Heed of the Saviour
11. Because men choose to go their own way
12. Join the debate about the position of fallen angels
13. Fallen Angels
14. Where does Satan lives?
15. Signs of the Last Days
16. What is life?

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Further reading

1. 1 Corinthians 5:11 People To Stay Away From
2. Kill off all my demons, and my angels might die too.
3. Against All Odds
4. Satyrnalia. Demon Spawn.
5. Who Are the “Sons of God” in Genesis 6? (Part 3)
6. Smarter Than God
7. While there is Life There is Hope
8. Delivered from Demons, Now Return Home and Love!
9. Beelzebub has a devil put aside for us.
10. How (not to) cast out demons – Sermon for June 19, 2016 (Pentecost +6) – The Rev. Amy McCreath
11. Grace and Love
12. Just a Jedi Mind-Trick… or God Incarnate?
13. Understanding the Devil
14. The Devil Doesn’t Exist

Creation of the earth and man #8 Of the Sabbath day #6 If it be necessary to keep Sunday

All I need say in conclusion is, that if it be necessary to keep Sunday as the Jews were required to keep Saturday by the law of Moses, then those who make so much ado about sabbath-breaking are themselves as guilty as those they denounce for the unholy and profane.

“He that offendeth in one point is guilty of the whole.”

If they do not keep open shop, or perambulate the parks and fields, or take excursions, or go to places of public resort and amusement on the Lord’s day — yet, they light fires in the dwellings and meeting houses, they entertain their friends at comfortable warm dinners, drive to church in splendid equipages, annoy the sick and distract the sober-minded with noisy bells, bury the dead, speak their own words, etc. — all of which is a violation of the divine law which saith,

“Thou shalt not do any work, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle”;

and

“Thou shalt not speak thine own words”.

This would certainly put to silence nearly all the preachers of the day; whose “sermons”, when made by themselves, are emphatically their own in thoughts and words without dispute. It is not only ridiculous, but downright Pharisaism,* the fuss that is made about breaking the sabbath. Let the zealots** “first cast the beam out of their own eyes; and then will they see clearly to cast out the mote from the eyes of others”. If they would “keep the day to the Lord,” let them believe and obey the gospel of the kingdom in the name of Jesus; and then “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”  on the “first day”; and cease from the works of sinful flesh (Galatians 5:19) every day of the week; and they will doubtless “delight in the Lord, and ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed with the heritage of Jacob” in the Kingdom of God, as the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.

Acts 2:42 The Scriptures 1998+  (42)  And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

Galatians 5:19-23 The Scriptures 1998+  (19)  And the works of the flesh are well-known, which are these: adultery,1 whoring, uncleanness, indecency, Footnote: 1Only Textus Receptus contains adultery.  (20)  idolatry, drug sorcery, hatred, quarrels, jealousies, fits of rage, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions,  (21)  envy, murders, drunkenness, wild parties, and the like – of which I forewarn you, even as I also said before, that those who practise such as these shall not inherit the reign of Elohim.1 Footnote: 11 Cor. 6:10.  (22)  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustworthiness,  (23)  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no Torah.

Of the things then which have been written under this head this is the sum.

1. The six creation-days were each as long as the seventh, whose duration is defined by the Mosaic law; and consequently the geological notion of their being six several periods of many centuries each, falls to the ground as a mere conceit of infidel philosophy.
2. The Lord God ended His work on the seventh day,. “and was refreshed” by the songs of the Morning Stars, and the joyous shouts of the Sons of God.
3. To celebrate His rest, He constituted it holy and a day of blessing. Hence it was commemorative of the past, and “a shadow of things to come”.
4. The seventh day was observed by Adam and Eve as a day of delight before they became sinners. The immediate cause of their joyousness on the day of rest is not testified. It is certain it was not a burdensome day; for sin had not yet marred their enjoyments. It was probably because of the gracious interviews granted them by the Lord God on that day; and of the revelations made to them of the things contained in the blessing pronounced upon it when He “blessed and sanctified it”.
5. There is no record, or hint, of the existence of a penal statute for not observing the seventh day, from the sanctification of it till the raining down bread from heaven for the Israelites in the wilderness of Egypt.
6. The observance of the seventh day by absolute rest from every kind of work and pleasure-taking, accompanied by a peculiar sacrifice on the brazen altar of the temple, and spiritual delight in its blessedness, was its Mosaic celebration enjoined upon the Israelites, and their dependants in Palestine, and upon them alone.
7. Its profanation by citizens of the commonwealth of Israel was punishable with death by stoning.
8. Israel was especially commanded to remember the seventh day and keep it as appointed by the law; because God in creating their world brought them out of Egypt, and rested from the work of its creation when He gave them a temporary and typical rest under Joshua in the land of Canaan.

Mosaic of the 12 Tribes of Israel. From Givat Mordechai synagogue wall in Jerusalem. Top row, right to left: Reuben, Judah, Dan, Asher Middle: Simeon, Issachar, Naphtali, Joseph Bottom: Levi, Zebulun, Gad, Benjamin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

9. For an Israelite to remember the seventh day to keep it holy, spiritually as well as ceremonially, so as to obtain the blessing which it shadowed forth, he must have had an Abrahamic faith (Romans 4:12, 18–22. Read the whole chapter diligently)  in the promised blessing, and have ceased or rested from the works of “sinful flesh”.
10. The blessing promised to Israelites, who were Abraham’s sons by faith as well as by flesh descent, for a spiritual observance of the seventh day (and which, until “the handwriting”, or Mosaic law, was blotted out and nailed to the cross, could not be spiritually observed and ceremonially profaned) was, that they should “delight in the Lord, ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed with the heritage of Jacob their father”, when the time to fulfil the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob should arrive.
11. The blessing pronounced on a national observance of the seventh day was the uninterrupted continuance of the throne of David, and great national prosperity. Its desecration to be punished by the breaking up of the commonwealth of Israel and desolation of their country.
12. The Mosaic observance of the seventh day was appointed as “a sign” between God and the twelve tribes of Israel. It was a holy day to them, and to be observed perpetually throughout their generations. (Matthew 1:17 — the forty-two generations from Abraham to Christ.)
13. It was lawful for Israelites to do good on the seventh day; but they were not permitted to be the judges of the good or evil. This was defined by the law. The priests profaned the sabbath by hard work in slaying and burning the seventh day sacrifices on the altar, yet they were blameless; because this was a good work which the Lord of the sabbath commanded them to do.
14. Having finished the work the Father had given him to do,a on the sixth day of the week, Jesus, while suspended on the accursed tree, cried with a loud voice, “It is finished!” (John 19:28–30) “All things were now accomplished”, so that the Mosaic handwriting was blotted out, being nailed with him to the cross, and taken out of the way as a rule of life. The Lord Jesus, “rested from his labours” on the seventh day in the silent tomb, and “his disciples rested according to the commandment”. (Luke 23:56)

Luke 23:56 The Scriptures 1998+  (56)  And having returned, they prepared spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the command.

He abode in his place. and did not go out of it until the sabbath was at an end.

Mark 16:1 The Scriptures 1998+  (1)  And when the Sabbath was past, Miryam from Maḡdala, and Miryam the mother of Yaʽaqoḇ, and Shelomah bought spices, to go and anoint Him.

But on the eighth day, styled also the first day, God gave him liberty, (Matthew 28:2) he left the tomb, and “was refreshed”. Having “spoiled the principalities and the powers” constituted by the handwriting, he made the spoliation manifest, “triumphing over in himself” (ἐν αὐτῳ̂), that is, in his resurrection; thus, for ever delivering men from the bondage of the law, which, Peter says, “was a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear”. (Acts  of the apostles 15:10) With the abolition of the Mosaic handwriting the obligation to keep the seventh day as a rule of spiritual life was cancelled as a matter of course.

Acts 15:10 The Scriptures 1998+  (10)  “Now then, why do you try Elohim by putting a yoke on the neck of the taught ones which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

15. The apostles and Christians (Acts 21:20) of the Hebrew nation in Palestine continued a ceremonial observance of the Mosaic festivals (Acts 21:24–26.) (the annual atonement for sin excepted) and of the seventh day, until the destruction of the commonwealth by the Romans, on the same principle that New Testament Christians among the nations now observe Sunday and the laws; not as a means of justification before God, but as mere national customs for the regulation of society.

Acts 21:24-26 The Scriptures 1998+  (24)  “Take them and be cleansed with them, and pay their expenses so that they shave their heads. And all shall know that what they have been informed about you is not so, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the Torah.  (25)  “But concerning the gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should keep themselves from what is offered to idols, and blood, and what is strangled, and whoring.”1 Footnote: 1See 15:20.  (26)  Then Sha’ul took the men on the next day, and having been cleansed with them, went into the Set-apart Place to announce the completion of the days of separation – until the offering should be presented for each one of them.

16. Hebrew Christians who proposed to blend the law of Moses with that of Jesus as a spiritual rule, or means of justification, and consequently to keep holy the seventh day, were severely reproved by the apostles, who stigmatised it as “Judaizing”(ʼΙουδαΐζειν).

Galatians 2:14-16: The Scriptures 1998+  (14)  But when I saw that they are not walking straight according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Kĕpha before them all, “If you, being a Yehuḏite, live as a gentile and not as the Yehuḏim, why do you compel gentiles to live as Yehuḏim?

(15) “We, Yehuḏim by nature, and not of the gentiles, sinners,
(16 ) knowing that a man is not declared right by works of Torah, but through belief in יהושע (Jeshua) Messiah, even we have believed in Messiah יהושע, in order to be declared right by belief in Messiah and not by works of Torah, because by works of Torah no flesh shall be declared right.

17. The Judaizing Christians endeavoured to impose the observance of the law upon the Gentile converts, which would have compelled them to keep holy the seventh day. But the apostles and elders of the Christian community at Jerusalem positively forbade it, and wrote to them, saying,

“We have heard that certain who went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls, saying, Be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment”.

On the contrary,

“it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well.” (Acts 15:24–29)

18. Upon the first day of the week (or day after the seventh, and therefore sometimes styled the eighth day), the disciples of Christ assembled to show forth his death, and to celebrate his resurrection; which, with an enduring rest from the works of “sinful flesh”, was all the sabbatizing they practised.
19. There is no law in the scriptures requiring the nations to keep this day in any manner whatever during his absence at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens. So long as they continue faithless and disobedient to the gospel of the kingdom, neither nations nor individuals can present an acceptable observance of the day before the Lord; on the principle that “Jehovah is far from the wicked, whose way and sacrifice are an abomination to the Lord”: (Proverbs 15:8, 9, 26–29) — and,
20. The “first day” was Judaized by Constantine, the manchild of sin, (Revelation of apostle John 12:2, 5) and his clergy. His present representative is the Italian high priest of Papal Christendom. When his power, and that of his kings, is finally destroyed in “the burning flame”; when Israel is engrafted into their own olive again, and the nations are subdued to the glorious sceptre of the king of saints — then will this day become the holy sabbath, “blessed and sanctified” of God instead of the shadowy seventh day, which was merely “a sign” of the things which will then have come to pass.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 24–27). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Notes:

• Pharisaism or Phariseeism: Hypocritical observance of the letter of religious or moral law without regard for the spirit; sanctimoniousness.
• The Pharisees were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought in the Holy Land during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism (the term ‘Judaism’ today almost always refers to Rabbinic Judaism).
• Zealots (Judea): Jewish faction traced back to the revolt of the Maccabees (2d cent. BCE) and a political movement in 1st century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judaea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jewish–Roman War (66-70). The name was first recorded by the Jewish historian Josephus as a designation for the groups called “fourth sect” or Jewish resistance fighters of the war of CE 66–73.
  The extended sense of zealot as a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals is recorded from the mid 17th century.

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Preceding articles:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

Creation of the earth and man #7 Of the Sabbath day #5 Respecting the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

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Related articles:

1. Holy Sabbath
2. Do we need to keep the Sabbath
3. Are Christians required to keep the seventh day Sabbath?
4. The Sabbath: Is it a special day for Christians?
5. Sunday and the Sabbath (Pdf doc)
6. Blindness in the Christian world
7. Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him
8. We’re allowed to willfully break the Law of Moses
9. Seven full weeks or seven completed Sabbaths and ascension of Jesus
10. A new exodus and offering of a Lamb
11. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
12. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
13. Was Jesus Religious
14. Communion and day of worship
15. Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter
16. Commemorating the escape from slavery
17. Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2
18. Preparation for unity
19. Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart
20. Deliverance and establishment of a theocracy
21. Hosea Say What?

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Further background articles:

• Zealotry in Environmentalism
  Magazine article from: Review – Institute of Public Affairs …evangelical statement on environmental diplomacy, cited green zealotry in his column in The Australian newspaper. He noted that for…capitalize upon and extrapolate genuine concerns. The modern era of zealotry in environmentalism appears to be characterized by apprehension..
• Partisan Zealotry Is Subverting the Nomination Process
  Newspaper article from: St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) …on nominees, for reasons of ideology and politics, with a zealotry that knows no bounds of truth. The attackers are in both the…politicians and editors are going to have to restrain their partisan zealotry. That has done more harm than the much-criticized press..
• “Remember Amalek!” Vengeance, Zealotry, and Group Destruction in the Bible…
  Magazine article from: Shofar “Remember Amalek!” Vengeance, Zealotry, and Group Destruction in the Bible According to Philo, Pseudo-Philo, and Josephus, by Louis H. Feldman. Cincinnati: Hebrew…
• A Spitting Incident Sets off Israeli Frustration with Jewish Zealotry
  Newspaper article from: The Christian Science Monitor …suburb of Beit Shemesh is shaking Israel’s self image to the core, stirring nationwide outrage about escalating religious zealotry and creeping public segregation of women. For months, Na’ama Margolis and classmates at her school endured insults and…
• Look for Old Truths about Power, Zealotry as Doyle Tale Plays Out
  Newspaper article from: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) …refute the charges that clearly impugn the integrity and fairness of the 16th Judicial Circuit. Or maybe we will be reminded anew of the dangers power or zealotry can present. And not so eager to believe what sounds too good to be true.
• Business daily: Israel
• Sabbath
• Why don’t you keep the Sabbath commandment of God?
• Taxi driver’s petition – Free Church opposition to Sabbath use of public transport
• SDA Cult: Ellen G. White Disagrees with Jesus
• Mighty Men Of Valor, #StandUP!
• Sabbath days (part two)
• Be Strong Women of God!
• I can buy bread, but not milk

• Irrefutable Facts About the Sabbath Day

• Conflict Of Interest #5: Should A Married Couple Have Sex On The Sabbath?
• God’s Conspiracy Theory
• Sabbath Keeping — with Jesus
• Spiritual Greed
• Teshuvah!
• Last Words; Sabbath Thoughts (Oliver Sacks)

• Did Jesus Break The Sabbath

• Sabbath Reminders
• Distraction of Drifting #devotionblog
• Called for a Higher Purpose
• The Risk of Hard Work
• Life’s Work
• Backwards
• Flip Flops and No Watches

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Related articles

• Hebrews 10:35-39
• The Bronze Serpent – Prophecy Fulfilled
• The Anti-Fear Theme Song
• Does John 4:22 say that salvation is just for Jews?Qk
• What is the Kingdom of God about?
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 18 August 2015
• ModernTribe to celebrate Jews of all colors on Sweet Auburn
• Sydney M. Williams “Sanctuary Cities”
• You are they
• Seasons

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

As I have shown, the observance of the seventh clay was obligatory only upon the Israelites so long as the Mosaic code was in force, being “a sign” between God and them. The sabbaths belong to the land and people of Israel, and can be only kept according to the law while they reside in the country. This will appear from the fact that the law requires that “two lambs of the first year without spot” should be offered with other things “as the burnt-offering of every sabbath”; an offering which, like all the offerings, etc., must be offered in a temple in Jerusalem where the Lord has placed His name, and not in the dwelling places of Jacob. Israel must therefore be restored to their own country before even they can keep the sabbath. Then, when

“the throne is established in mercy; and he (the Lord Jesus) shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness”, (Isaiah 16:5)

then, I say

“shall the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God: and they shall hallow my sabbaths.” (Ezechiël 44:15, 24.)

But these sabbaths will be no longer celebrated on the seventh day. They will be changed from the seventh to the eighth, or first day of the week, which are the same. The “dispensation of the fulness of times”, (Ephesians 1:10) popularly styled the Millennium, will be the antitype, or substance, of the Mosaic feast of tabernacles which was “a shadow of things to come”.

Eph 1:3-14 The Scriptures 1998+  (3)  Blessed be the Elohim and Father of our Master יהושע  {Jeshua} Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Messiah,  (4)  even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be set-apart and blameless before Him in love,1 Footnote: 12 Thess. 2:13.  (5)  having previously ordained us to adoption as sons through יהושע  {Jeshua} Messiah to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His desire,  (6)  to the praise of the esteem of His favour with which He favoured us in the Beloved,  (7)  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of His favour,  (8)  which He has lavished on us in all wisdom and insight,  (9)  having made known to us the secret of His desire, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Him,  (10)  to administer at the completion of time, to gather together in one all in Messiah, both which are in the heavens and which are on earth, in Him,  (11)  in whom also we did obtain an inheritance, being previously ordained according to the purpose of Him working all matters according to the counsel of His desire,  (12)  for us to be the praise of His esteem – those having first trusted in Messiah,  (13)  in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your deliverance, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Set-apart Spirit of promise,  (14)  who is the pledge of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His esteem.

In this type, or pattern, Israel were to rejoice before the Lord for seven days, beginning

“on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when they had gathered the fruit of the land”. In relation to the first day of the seven, the law says, “

it shall be a holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein”. This was what we call Sunday. The statute then continues, “on the eighth day”, also Sunday,

“shall be a holy convocation unto you, and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein”.

Again,

“on the first day shall be a sabbath and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath” ( Levites 23:34–43)

 

Lev 23:34-43 The Scriptures 1998+  (34)  “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl saying, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Festival of Booths for seven days to יהוה {Jehovah}.  (35)  ‘On the first day is a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work.  (36)  ‘For seven days you bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}. On the eighth day there shall be a set-apart gathering for you, and you shall bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}. It is a closing festival, you do no servile work.  (37)  ‘These are the appointed times of יהוה {Jehovah} which you proclaim as set-apart gatherings, to bring an offering made by fire to יהוה {Jehovah}, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a slaughtering and drink offerings, as commanded for every day –  (38)  besides the Sabbaths of יהוה {Jehovah}, and besides your gifts, and besides all your vows, and besides all your voluntary offerings which you give to יהוה {Jehovah}.  (39)  ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you gather in the fruit of the land, observe the festival of יהוה {Jehovah} for seven days. On the first day is a rest, and on the eighth day a rest.  (40)  ‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees, and willows of the stream, and shall rejoice before יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim for seven days.  (41)  ‘And you shall observe it as a festival to יהוה {Jehovah} for seven days in the year – a law forever in your generations. Observe it in the seventh month.  (42)  ‘Dwell in booths for seven days; all who are native Yisra’ĕlites dwell in booths,  (43)  so that your generations know that I made the children of Yisra’ĕl dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim. I am יהוה {Jehovah} your Elohim.’ ”

External aerial view of Sukkah booths where Jewish families eat their meals and sleep throughout the Sukkot holiday

Thus, in this “pattern of things in the heavens”, the first and eighth days are constituted holy days in which no work was to be done. It also represents the palm-bearing or victorious ingathering of the twelve tribes of Israel from their present dispersion to the land of their fathers, “when the Lord shall set his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people”

Isa 11:11 The Scriptures 1998+  (11)  And it shall be in that day that יהוה {Jehovah} sets His hand again a second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left, from Ashshur and from Mitsrayim, from Pathros and from Kush, from Ěylam and from Shinʽar, from Ḥamath and from the islands of the sea.

Three times in four verses does Zechariah style the yearly going up of the Gentiles to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there, the keeping of the feast of tabernacles; (Zechariah 14:16–19) an event which is consequent upon the destruction of the dominion represented by Nebuchadnezzar’s image, and the re-establishment of the kingdom and throne of David.

Zec 14:16-19 The Scriptures 1998+  (16)  And it shall be that all who are left from all the gentiles which came up against Yerushalayim, shall go up from year to year to bow themselves to the Sovereign, יהוה {Jehovah} of hosts, and to observe the Festival of Booths.  (17)  And it shall be, that if anyone of the clans of the earth does not come up to Yerushalayim to bow himself to the Sovereign, יהוה {Jehovah} of hosts, on them there is to be no rain.  (18)  And if the clan of Mitsrayim does not come up and enter in, then there is no rain. On them is the plague with which יהוה {Jehovah} plagues the gentiles who do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.  (19)  This is the punishment of Mitsrayim and the punishment of all the gentiles that do not come up to observe the Festival of Booths.

This national confluence of the Gentiles to Jerusalem is characteristic of Messiah’s times; and of the true or real festival tabernacles, when he will “confess to God among the Gentiles, and sing unto his name”, and “they shall rejoice with his people”, Israel.

Rom 15:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+  (9)  and for the gentiles to praise Elohim for His compassion, as it has been written, “Because of this I shall confess to You among the gentiles, and I shall sing to Your Name.”  (10)  And again it says, “Rejoice, O gentiles, with His people!”

Referring to this time, the Lord says,

“the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name shall the House of Israel no more defile, neither they, nor their kings, by their whoredom, nor by the carcases of their kings in their high places.… They have even defiled my holy name by their abominations that they have committed: wherefore I have consumed them in mine anger. Now let them put away their whoredom, and the carcases of their kings, far from me, and I will dwell in the midst of them for ever”. (Ezechiël 43:7–9)

This is clearly a prophecy of what shall be hereafter, because the House of Israel still continues to defile God’s holy name by their abominations; but when this comes to pass they shall defile it “no more”.

After the declaration of these things, Ezekiel is commanded to show them the description of the temple which is destined to be “the house of prayer for all nations”, with the ordinances, forms, and laws thereof. The Lord God then declares,

“the ordinances of the altar in the day when they shall make it”,

and when the Levites of the seed of Zadok shall approach unto Him. The “cleansing of the altar”, and the consecration of the priests, is then effected by the offerings of seven days.

“And when these days are expired, it shall be that upon the eighth day, and So Forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you (O Israel), saith the Lord,” (Ezechiël 43:27 27)

Thus, the day of the Lord’s resurrection from his seventh-day incarceration in the tomb, becomes the sabbath day of the future age which shall be hallowed by the priests of Israel, and be observed by all nations as a day of holy convocation in which they shall rejoice, and do no manner of servile work at all.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 21–23). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Note:

The phrase “They will be changed from the seventh to the eighth, or first day of the week, which are the same” could give the impression we believe the Sunday came in the place of the Sabbath, which is not.

We want to remind our readers that “Elpis Israel – An Exposition of the Kingdom of God” (commonly called “Elpis Israel” (English transliteration of Greek for “the hope of Israel”, taken from Acts 28:20)) is a theological book written by John Thomas, founder of the Christadelphians, in 1848-1849 and published in 1849. It predated the coining of the name “Christadelphian” by a decade and a half, but sets out in a logical manner the distinctive and fundamental beliefs that the Brotherhood, all these years afterwards, still upholds.

The original manuscript was essentially the substance of a lecture series delivered by Brother Thomas during a visit to the United Kingdom from the USA in 1848. After being encouraged by many who heard these lectures to put them into a more permanent form, Brother Thomas stayed for a time in London, and in a feverish period of activity centred mainly on six weeks when – to use his own description – he oscillated like a pendulum between his desk and his bed, he produced this important work.

Before the author’s death in 1871, the work went through four editions, the last of these incorporating some changes, mostly in the third and last part. As he explained in the Preface to that edition, he was agreeably surprised that so few changes were necessary: less than a dozen altogether in the first two parts of the book. Those in the last section were occasioned mainly by developing international events, but also by a more detailed consideration of the subject of resurrection.
In the light of changing times and modern discoveries, especially in the field of textual knowledge, several visions got changed. Where there is some doubt regarding the scriptural support for any point, this has generally been covered by a footnote in the later editions, and not by amending the text.

At first you could receive the impression Dr. John Thomas is for the replacement of the Sabbath with the Sunday, but as you will see later and in texts of his works he first stated what he got to see in his time, wanting to observe a Judaized Lord’s day (p. 23).  For him it was a voluntarily inflicted case and restriction upon themselves, bringing on them selfinflicted limitations or pains and penalties to which they may be entitled for its “profanation”. Later the vision on Sunday as observance day became much more clear and the new light or insight on the Sabbaths made it clear that we do not have to have Sunday as the specific day of worship for God. Any day of the week can be used. The same for work and rest, each person can work on any day or night and take some rest on whatever day of the week, as long as he provides enough rest for himself to recuperate from his duties.

You may find more about the Sabbath and Sunday in later writings on this site (a.o. when we shall discuss Jesus’ saying on this subject.) or in previous writings on our other sites. Please do find also our article: Sabbath according to the Scriptures.

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Preceding articles:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

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Related articles:

1. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
2. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
3. Hellenistic influences
4. Do we need to keep the Sabbath
5. Communion and day of worship
6. Christmas and other feasts or holy days in certain Christian groups – Kerstmis, Katholicisme en heidense feesten
7. Old orthodox Dissenters and Unitarians in 19° Century London
8. Two new encyclopaedic articles
9. To find ways of Godly understanding

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Further reading:

• Feast of tabernacles or Feast of Sukkot
• Feast of tabernacles (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. , 2015 article)
• Sukkah
• Sukkot
• Simhath Torah (religious festival)

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Related articles

• Cleansing
• The Daily Gospel and Readings 17 August 2015
• Parshat Va’etchanan: The oneness of Israel and God’s love
• Daily Torah: Shemot
• The Children Of Israel Will Be In The Lands Of Their Captivity Until Messiah Comes (UPDATE)
• Go Forward
• What has the Levitical Priesthood got to do with Mission?

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Continuation of Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

The ordinances of the law of Moses are styled by Paul “the rudiments”, or “elements of the world”, which, in Galatians, he also terms “weak and beggarly elements, whereunto they desired again to be in bondage”. They evinced this desire by “observing days, and months, and times, and years”;(Galatians 4:3, 5, 9, 10) not being satisfied with the things of Christ, but seeking to combine the Mosaic institutions with the gospel.

Gal 4:3-5 The Scriptures 1998+  (3)  So we also, when we were children, were under the elementary matters of the world, being enslaved.  (4)  But when the completion of the time came, Elohim sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Torah,  (5)  to redeem those who were under Torah, in order to receive the adoption as sons.

Gal 4:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+  (9)  But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters,1 to which you wish to be enslaved again? Footnote: 1See v.3, Col. 2:8 & 20.  (10)  You observe days and months and seasons and years.

This was Judaizing, and the first step to that awful apostasy by which the world has been cursed for so many ages. When the Mosaic constitution, as “the representation of the knowledge and the truth”, had “waxed old” by the manifestation of the substance to a sufficient extent to nullify it, it “vanished away” by being “cast down to the ground” by the Roman power, and with it the law of the seventh day.

The Disciples Eat Wheat on the Sabbath (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Even before its abolition, Paul expressed his fear of the Galatians, “lest he should have bestowed labour upon them in vain”, seeing that they were becoming zealous of the ordinances of the law. They seemed not to understand that the Mosaic economy was only a temporary constitution of things, “added because of transgressions, till the seed should come”; that when he came, “he redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them”; and that therefore they had nothing to fear, nor to hope for from keeping, or transgressing its methods. They had got it into their heads that “except they were circumcised and kept the law of Moses”, as well as believed and obeyed the gospel of the kingdom, they could not be saved.

Mat 12:5 The Scriptures 1998+  (5)  “Or did you not read in the Torah that on the Sabbath the priests in the Set-apart Place profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

Therefore they “desired to be under the law”, and began to busy themselves about “keeping the sabbath”, and doing other works which Moses had enjoined upon Israel. Paul was very much distressed at this, and describes himself as “travailing in birth again until Christ be formed in them”. They had been delivered from “the yoke of bondage”, by putting on Christ; but by seeking to renew their connexion with Moses’ law, they were selling their birth-right for a mess of pottage.

“I say unto you”,

saith Paul,

“that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”.

A partial observance of the law can do no one any good. If he kept the sabbath in the most approved manner, but neglected the sacrifices, or ate swine’s flesh, he was as accursed as a thief or a robber; for to one under the law it saith,

“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which axe written in the book of the law to do them”;

hence even the sinless Jesus was cursed by it, because he was crucified; for it is written,

“Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”

Gal 3:4 The Scriptures 1998+  (4)  Have you suffered so much in vain – if indeed in vain?
Gal 5:4 The Scriptures 1998+  (4)  You who are declared right by Torah have severed yourselves from Messiah, you have fallen from favour.

What hope then is there for Jew or Gentile of escaping the curse of the law, seeing that from the very nature of things connected with the present state of Jerusalem it is impossible to observe it, save in the few particulars of “meat and drink, or in respect of the sabbath” partially, etc. The observance of the seventh day was regulated by the Mosaic law, and the penalties due to its “desecration”, or “profanation”, are pronounced by it alone; but it is dear that the law being taken out of the way, or abolished, by Jesus, who nailed it to his cross, there remain no more retributions for the non-observance of its appointments; and therefore there is no transgression in working or pleasure-taking, or in speaking one’s own words on the seventh day.

On the first day of the creation-week God said,

“Let there be light, and there was light”;

so on the first day of the week “The True Light” came forth from the darkness of the tomb “like dew from the womb of the morning”. It is a day to be much remembered by his people, because it assures them of their justification “in him”, of their own resurrection to life, and of the certainty of his ruling or “judging the world in righteousness” as Jehovah’s king, when they shall also reign with him as kings and priests to God.

Rom 4:22-25 The Scriptures 1998+  (22)  Therefore also “it was reckoned to him for righteousness.”  (23)  And not because of him alone was it written that it was reckoned to him,  (24)  but also because of us, to whom it shall be reckoned, to us who believe in Him who raised up יהושע  {Jeshua} our Master from the dead,  (25)  who was delivered up because of our trespasses, and was raised for us to be declared right.

Rom 8:11 The Scriptures 1998+  (11)  And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע  {Jeshua} from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you.

1Co 15:14 The Scriptures 1998+  (14)  And if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclaiming is empty, and your belief also empty,

1Co 15:20 The Scriptures 1998+  (20)  But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep.

Act 17:31 The Scriptures 1998+  (31)  because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed,1 having given proof of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Footnote: 1See 10:42.

Rev 5:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+  (9)  And they sang a renewed song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because You were slain, and have redeemed us to Elohim by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,  (10)  and made us sovereigns and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the earth.”1 Footnote: 1Dan. 7:18-27.

This day is also notable on account of the special interviews which occurred between Jesus and his disciples after his resurrection.

Joh 20:19 The Scriptures 1998+  (19)  When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,and when the doors were shut where the taught ones met, for fear of the Yehuḏim, יהושע {Jehsua} came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.”

Joh 20:26 The Scriptures 1998+  (26)  And after eight days His taught ones were again inside, and T’oma with them. יהושע {Jehsua} came, the doors having been shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

He ascended to heaven on this day, even the forty-third from his crucifixion; and seven days after, that is the fiftieth, being “the day of Pentecost”, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and the gospel of the kingdom preached for the first time in his name.
Power being in the hands of their enemies, the Christians of the Hebrew nation still continued to observe the seventh day according to the custom. Hence we find the apostles frequenting the synagogues on the sabbath days and reasoning with the people out of the scriptures.

Act 17:2 The Scriptures 1998+  (2)  And according to his practice, Sha’ul went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths was reasoning with them from the Scriptures,

Act 17:17 The Scriptures 1998+  (17)  Therefore, indeed, he was reasoning in the congregation with the Yehuḏim and with the gentile worshippers, and in the market-place daily with those who met there.

Act 18:4 The Scriptures 1998+  (4)  And he was reasoning in the congregation every Sabbath, and won over both Yehuḏim and Greeks.

Act 19:8 The Scriptures 1998+  (8)  And having gone into the congregation he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the reign of Elohim.

 To have done otherwise would have been to create an unnecessary prejudice, and to let slip one of the best opportunities of introducing the gospel to the attention of the Jewish public. They did not forsake the synagogues until they were expelled. While they frequented these, however, on the seventh day, they assembled themselves together with the disciples whose assemblies constituted the churches of the saints and of God. They ordained elders over these societies, and “taught them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus had commanded them”.

Mat 28:20 The Scriptures 1998+  (20)  teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Amĕn.

Act 2:42 The Scriptures 1998+  (42)  And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

Act 14:21-23 The Scriptures 1998+  (21)  And having brought the Good News to that city, and having made many taught ones, they returned to Lustra, and Ikonion, and Antioch,  (22)  strengthening the beings of the taught ones, encouraging them to continue in the belief, and that through many pressures we have to enter the reign of Elohim.  (23)  And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Master in whom they had believed.

In his letter to the Hebrew Christians, Paul exhorts them “not to forsake the assembling of themselves together”

Heb 10:19-25 The Scriptures 1998+  (19)  So, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Set-apart Place by the blood of יהושע {Jeshua},  (20)  by a new and living way which He instituted for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,  (21)  and having a High Priest over the House of Elohim,  (22)  let us draw near with a true heart in completeness of belief, having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies washed with clean water.  (23)  Let us hold fast the confession of our expectation without yielding, for He who promised is trustworthy.  (24)  And let us be concerned for one another in order to stir up love and good works,1 Footnote: 1Mt. 16:27.  (25)  not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging, and so much more as you see the Day coming near.

Such an exhortation as this implies a stated time and place of assembly. On what day, then, did the churches of the saints meet to exhort one another so as to provoke to love and to good works ? Certainly not on the seventh day, for then the apostles were in the synagogues. What day then more appropriate than the first day of the week ? Now it cannot be affirmed that the saints were commanded to meet on this day, because there is no testimony to that effect in the New Testament. But it is beyond dispute that they did assemble themselves together on the first day of the week, and the most reasonable inference is that they did so in obedience to the instruction of the apostles, from whose teaching they derived all their faith and practice, which constituted them the disciples of Jesus.

To keep the first day of the week to the Lord is possible only for the saints. There is no law, except the emperor Constantine’s, that commands sinners to keep holy the first, or eighth, day, or Sunday, as the Gentiles term it. For a sinner to keep this day unto the Lord he must become one of the Lord’s people. He must believe the gospel of the kingdom and name of Christ, and become obedient to it, before any religious service he can offer will be accepted. He must come under law to Christ by putting on Christ before he can keep the Lord’s day. Having become a Christian, if he would keep the day to the Lord, he must assemble with a congregation of New Testament saints, and assist in edifying and provoking them to love and good works, in showing forth the death of Jesus, in giving thanks to the Father, in celebrating the resurrection of Christ, and in praising and blessing God. Under the gospel, or “law of liberty”, he is subjected to no “yoke of bondage” concerning a sabbath day. It is his delight when an opportunity presents, to celebrate in this way the day of the resurrection. He requires no penal statutes to compel him to a formal and disagreeable self-denial, or “duty”; for it is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father who is in heaven.

Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 17–20). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

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Preceding article:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

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Additional reading:

1. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
2. First Century of Christianity
3. Hellenistic influences
4. The early days of Christianity – Position and power
5. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #4 Mozaic and Noachide laws
6. Sabbath according to the scriptures
7. Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path
8. Marriage of Jesus 7 Impaled
9. Raising digression
10. Object of first woe
11. Seven Bible Feasts of JHWH
12. Seven full weeks or seven completed Sabbaths and ascension of Jesus
13. Hebraic Roots Bible Book of The Acts of the Apostles Chapter 1
14. Speaking in tongues
15. Tongues a sign of authenticity or divine backing
16. Meaning of “speaking in tongues”
17. Remember the day
18. Finding and Understanding Words and Meanings
19. Reasons to come together
20. Congregate, to gather, to meet
21. An ecclesia in your neighbourhood
22. Do we need to keep the Sabbath
23. Communion and day of worship

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Further reading of interest:

• Time – Philippians 3:13-14
• Discovering Grace – Prayer
• Amazing Grace
• Preparation for Worship for Sunday, August 16, 2015
• The Ordinance of Humility?
• The Liberty of Christ – Colossians 2:11-23 (audio)
• Case for Credobaptism: 10 Reasons Why I Reject Infant Baptism
• Baptism and communion
• 40 Questions About Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
• July Prayer 2015
• Psalm 119 — Real wisdom for real life
• Covenants Connects Us to Heaven
• How sweet are thy words unto my taste! The Torah Challenge.
• As Jesus Is – So Are We – in This World – Jesus – Firstborn of Many Brethren –
• The folly of trying to work my way into salvation – Galatians 3:1-14

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