By Julio Cesar Prado
The Old Testament prophecies make it clear that in the last days of human history, those who are loyal to God will be seventh-day observers. In a heavenly vision, Isaiah, contemplating the end time, the time when “My salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed” (Isaiah 56:1), declares, “Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil” (verse 2).
This promised blessing related to Sabbath-keeping in the days immediately leading up to Christ’s coming is not conferred on Jews only or on any singular class of people. “Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer” (Isaiah 56:6, 7).
In the end times, when men, women, and children are waiting for the coming of Christ, there will be a Sabbath reform message, a call to those who love Christ to separate themselves from the world with all its obstacles in order to observe the true Sabbath of the Lord and to be set apart from all sin and evil.
Satan is working today with the same weapons he previously used. Today, the archdeceiver leads people to believe the very thing the apostles warned us against: “Let us do evil, that good may come?” (Romans 3:8). To put it another way, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1). As a result, many people today are being persuaded to break the fourth commandment of the Law, which is the Sabbath. This makes the rebuke of the apostle Paul in Romans 2:23 relevant to them: “Through breaking the law dishonourest thou God” (Roman 2:23).
Breaking the law is a disgrace to God. Many Christians find that if justification is by grace, they don’t need to cease sinning, that is, cease from transgressing the Law of the Ten Commandments—the eternal standard of righteousness. But that’s a big lie. Grace is a means to take away sins already committed, but it is by no means a license to keep sinning. Therefore, we must keep the Law, not to stop achieving justification “for the remission of sins that are past” (Romans 3:25) – for the observance of the Law does not remove past sins – but rather, we must observe it to avoid recidivism – falling into transgression again. Because if we were to sin again, we would nullify the justification already achieved and invalidate the grace, just like if we turned on the water spigot after everything was dry, we would undo the drying already done by the sun and wind.
Therefore, faith, by which we are justified, gives us power to henceforth establish and keep the Law, so that, after justification, we do not fall back into sin: “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31).
“From the pulpits of today the words are uttered: ‘Believe, only believe. Have faith in Christ; you have nothing to do with the old law, only trust in Christ.’ How different is this from the words of the apostle who declares that faith without works is dead. He says, ‘But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves’ James 1:22. We must have that faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Many seek to substitute a superficial faith for uprightness of life and think through this to obtain salvation” (Faith and Works, p. 89).
“There are many who cry, ‘Believe, only believe.’ Ask them what you are to believe. Are you to believe the lies forged by Satan against God’s holy, just, and good law? God does not use His great and precious grace to make of none effect His law, but to establish His law. What is the decision of Paul? He says: ‘What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law … For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and [the commandment then ended?—No.] I [Paul] died … Wherefore the law is [standing directly in the way of my having liberty and peace?–No.] holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” Romans. 7:7-12″ (Selected Messages, Vol. 1, p. 347; brackets and comments are in the original source).
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Great article, but could it be that God’s last day people will have an understanding about the Sabbath that encompasses more than the seventh day of every week?
Leviticus 23:1-44
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (2) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be HOLY CONVOCATIONS, even these are my feasts.
(3) Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the SABBATH of rest, an HOLY CONVOCATION; ye shall do no work therein: it is the SABBATH of the LORD in all your dwellings. (4) These are the feasts of the LORD, even HOLY CONVOCATIONS, which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
(5) In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’S passover. (6) And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. (7) In the first day ye shall have an HOLY CONVOCATIONS: ye shall do no servile work therein. (8) But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an HOLY CONVOCATIONS: ye shall do no servile work therein. (9) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (10) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: (11) And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the SABBATH the priest shall wave it. (12) And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. (13) And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. (14) And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (15) And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the SABBATH, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven SABBATHS shall be complete: (16) Even unto the morrow after the seventh SABBATH shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD. (17) Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD. (18) And ye shall offer with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be for a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meat offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of sweet savour unto the LORD. (19) Then ye shall sacrifice one kid of the goats for a sin offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. (20) And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. (21) And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an HOLY CONVOCATION unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
(22) And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
(23) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (24) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a SABBATH, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an HOLY CONVOCATION. (25) Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
(26) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (27) Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an HOLY CONVOCATION unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. (28) And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. (29) For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. (30) And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. (31) Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. (32) It shall be unto you a SABBATH of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your SABBATH.
(33) And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, (34) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. (35) On the first day shall be an HOLY CONVOCATION: ye shall do no servile work therein. (36) Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an 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. (37) These are the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be HOLY CONVOCATIONS, to offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: (38) Beside the SABBATHS of the LORD, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the LORD. (39) Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a SABBATH, and on the eighth day shall be a SABBATH. (40) And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. (41) And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. (42) Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: (43) That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (44) And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.
“I saw that God had children who do not see and keep the Sabbath. They have not rejected the light upon it. And at the commencement of the time of trouble, we were filled with the Holy Ghost as we went forth and proclaimed the SABBATH MORE FULLY. This enraged the churches and nominal ADVENTISTS, as they could not refute the SABBATH truth. And at this time God’s chosen all saw clearly that we had the truth, and they came out and endured the persecution with us.” EW 33.2
“In consequence of continual transgression, the moral law was repeated in awful grandeur from Sinai. Christ gave to Moses religious precepts which were to govern the everyday life. These STATUTES were explicitly given to guard the ten commandments. They were not shadowy types to pass away with the death of Christ. They were to be binding upon man in every age as long as time should last. These commands were enforced by the power of the moral law, and they clearly and definitely explained that law.” RH May 6, 1875, par. 10
“…Moses of himself framed no law. Christ, the angel whom God had appointed to go before his chosen people, gave to Moses STATUTES and requirements necessary to a living religion and to govern the people of God. Christians commit a terrible mistake in calling this law severe and arbitrary, and then contrasting it with the gospel and mission of Christ in his ministry on earth, as though he were in opposition to the just precepts which they call the law of Moses.” RH May 6, 1875, par. 12
Exodus 34:10-23 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee. (11) Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. (12) Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: (13) But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: (14) For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: (15) Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; (16) And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods. (17) Thou shalt make thee no molten gods. (18) The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. (19) All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. (20) But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty. (21) Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. (22) And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end. (23) Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
Is it possible to separate a restatement of the 10 commandments from Jehovah’s direct instruction to also keep holy his annual sabbaths? Notice the language God has used – “Thou shalt keep…” “Thou shalt observe…”
What a blessing for God’s last-day people to be found in direct cooperation with Christ by faithfully seeking to keep and observe the weekly and annual Sabbaths, Holy Convocations, just as God has instructed in his word. Truly, this is “The Sabbath more fully” just as foreseen by Sister White.
We often consider how we might serve God better We ask ourselves are we keeping the sabbath the best we can.
These other sabbaths are essentially part of the ceremonial and sacrificial system that pointed to Christs sacrifice The ultimate fulfilment of these laws and ceremonies occurred on the cross. Rev 14 reminds us to remember our creator, to worship our creator. This has been the law since the beginning of time on this earth. Yes near the end of earths history we will have a closer relationship with Christ, but I don’t think taking part in the old ceremonial sabbaths is the way.
I wonder, where can one find the statement within inspired text (in plain language so that it may be taken as it reads), stating that the time of a holy convocation which God specifically refers to as a Sabbath, is “essentially part of the ceremonial and sacrificial system”? It may come as a surprise to some that the seventh-day Sabbath was the holy convocation upon which the greatest number of sacrifices were offered year upon year. Thus, if the plain inspired statement could be produced showing any Sabbath to be essentially ceremonial by virtue of sacrifices offered, then we would find ourselves with a significant issue in that we must somehow excuse the seventh-day Sabbath from being inextricably connected to the ceremonial system, while at the same time dismissing the annual Sabbaths which God identifies as being his own and as perpetual statutes in the same manner and even with the same wording as He describes the seventh-day sabbath. I encourage you to look for the plainly stated evidence regardless of which side of the matter it supports and evaluate whether you stand upon a firm “thus sayeth the Lord.” When you do this, the weight of evidence will demonstrate what is truth.
If our desire is to be identified as good and faithful servants, then we must not ever take the direct commandment of our Master, such as “Thou shalt keep… ” and “Thou shalt observe…” and create a system of assumptions and speculation so that we may do precisely the opposite. Search for a plain “thus sayeth the Lord”, and when you find it, do it without doubt. This is true obedience and is the path which the righteous will choose.
Remembering to keep God’s Sabbath is always a blessing. I’m sure you can testify to this fact in your practice of keeping the seventh day. As it turns out, it is no different with the annual sabbaths (please note that the phrase “ceremonial sabbaths” does not exist either in scripture or Sister White’s writings). As is clearly stated in Scripture, the annual sabbaths are statutes. Ellen White confirms this. I provided a quote previously where she says the statutes are “binding upon man in every age as long as time should last”, which is only one of many similar quotes. In the context of the last days, the prophet Malachi, under inspiration, writes:
Malachi 4:4 REMEMBER ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
With regard to God’s commandments, the word “remember” should ring loud and clear in the ears of every seventh-day Sabbath keeper, for we frequently point out that the fourth is the only one of the ten commandment which starts with the word remember. These points must all be kept in mind as you consider and weigh the evidences, while at the same time eliminating everything from our mind that is not founded firmly on God’s instruction. God is good and He has not left us to wander in obscurity and doubt. He tells us that the thing which has gone out of his lips, he will not alter (Psa. 89:34).
Blessing to you my brother. I know that as you look into this matter more, you will discover many wonders and truths shining forth from the law of God.
Here is a statement in plain language:
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Of course, you don’t believe “the Sabbath days” refers to the seventh day Sabbath, so you really don’t care about what the inspired text says.
It is not possible to keep the feasts according to the commandment, and anything short of observing them the way God commanded is not obedience. How is it impossible, you ask?
There is no temple. It’s gone.
Observing the feasts require a pilgrimage to the temple. They require animal sacrifices. They require circumcision. They require a Levitical priesthood.
The only thing you can do now is observe some parts and ignore other parts, thereby creating your own tradition, but to declare that must observe your man-made tradition is to make yourself a god.
By destroying the temple along with Jerusalem, God made it loud and clear that the ceremonial system had come to an end.
Acts 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days.
“At Philippi Paul tarried to KEEP the Passover. Only Luke remained with him, the other members of the company passing on to Troas to await him there. The Philippians were the most loving and truehearted of the apostle’s converts, and during the eight days of the feast he enjoyed peaceful and happy communion with them.” AA 390.4
I would gladly study any statements from the Testimony of Jesus Christ or from the Scriptures that would support your declaration, but from what I can gather, Paul, together with the Philippians, did not
-make a pilgrimage
-they did not present themselves at the temple
-they did not offer animal sacrifices
-the Philippians were most likely not circumcised (Acts 15:1-21)
-and since this observance of the Passover took place in the Greek city of Philippi, there was no Levitical priesthood involved.
I don’t suppose that anyone would dare to say that Paul was making himself to be a god, so the alternative might be that the popular understanding of what constitutes the keeping of God’s feasts has been skewed by the enemy of righteousness because he hates it when men and women obediently follow God’s instruction. We must be careful in our use of assumptions to establish doctrinal positions… actually, we simply must not do it. Further, if there is any example of observing man-made traditions which “make yourself a god”, it is the keeping of the pagan holi-days such as Christmas, Easter and etc. which are condemned in Scripture.
I would also ask, where in the new testament do we find the direct commandment to keep the seventh-day Sabbath? It’s not there, not even in Hebrews 4, yet we know that we must keep the Sabbath because,
1. It was commanded by God in the OT, and
2. Because of the examples given in the NT by Christ and the Christians.
The same is true of the annual sabbaths, EXCEPT, there does exist in the new testament a statement giving direct instruction to keep a feast…
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast (of unleavened bread), not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
If such a verse existed in the NT about the seventh-day sabbath, every SDA evangelist on Earth would know about it and would use it at every meeting to show the permanence of God’s law. Yet, undoubtedly, those same SDA evangelists will rise up to inform the world that Paul is only speaking in a figurative sense in this verse and when he says “Let us therefore keep the feast,” what he actually meant to say was “Let us therefore not keep the feast.” Reading further into the chapter to find more context, one finds that Paul was speaking of eating and drinking. Sounds like a feast. Notice that Paul is writing to converts living in Corinth. Nowhere does he inform them of required animal sacrifices, pilgrimage, temples, or circumcision.
The first two Passovers recorded in scripture (the exodus and upon entry into Canaan) were also decidedly missing many of the ingredients which you indicated as “requirements” for keeping the feast.
I invite you to read my response to brother Tim above and to set yourself on the same path of seeking plainly stated instruction from God, then standing firm upon it. If God said, “Thou shalt keep the feast” as we have already seen that he did, then unless you can find two and three witnesses with equally definitive statements where He says “I changed my mind… now thou shalt NOT keep the feast”, your conclusion should be that He meant what he said and it stands firm. The point is that you will not find God changing his mind and altering the thing that has come from his lips, thus our duty is easy to comprehend. We may not understand the depths of why He says to do it, but nonetheless, obedience is what he expects and in return He imparts his blessing.
What changed between the new and old testament? Do we adhere to the letter of the law? No! It’s the spirit of the law that we keep.
Need we be circumcised to be obedient? Not physically, but spiritually.
What about the feasts? I would say the same application applies no? You posted a great example of this:
1 Corinthians 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast (of unleavened bread), not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
The feast is a work of the heart, a character building that makes us more like Christ. For they pointed to him that we might know the love of God and his plan to save us.
The weekly Sabbath is most different. We keep the 7th day Sabbath because we have 7 days in a week. The seventh of which is blessed by God with the purpose to be Holy, that’s it’s function as a day of the week. Everything God creates has a purpose of function UNTIL it’s purpose is fulfilled. Like marriage. When this world is finished, God has the souls intended for heaven. The purpose of marriage is fulfilled and ceases to be. It is no longer ordained. Christ came to fulfill and did just that. The feasts that point to his sacrifice had their purpose fulfilled. Once the veil was torn, once the temple was destroyed, once God’s glory left that place; it was ordained no more.
The seventh day Sabbath is more than an ordinance, it is a gift to man. Seemingly, according to the scriptures it’s a gift with a purpose that will last for eternity.
For what purpose might the apostles continue to partake in the feasts?
1Co 9:22
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
Not everyone was convinced that christ came and the sacrificial ordinance ended (still to this day actually).
I don’t know dude. You seem pretty convinced about it so to your conscience do what seems right to you. I don’t think God has to verbally cancel anything. I think his actions spoke loudly on this once his son was killed and that shekinah glory split from the most holy place. The service left the earthly tavernacle and proceeded in the heavenly.
The same is with us. The obedience is in the heavenly, we obey with our heart because of our faith and actions of obedience on earth will follow suit.
Maybe I’m mistaken, but maybe I’m not?
Sorry, one more afterthought…
Can the elements be disobedient to God’s command?
When God says that the the wicked will burn for ever, we know this to mean until the work of consumption is to be complete, fulfilled. Sodom isn’t still burning today, the spoken word and divine decree has reached its fulfillment. Without God writing the word ‘cease’, the flames and smoke are no more (physically) . We are left with spiritual lessons only. No?
Thanks for your kind words… so hard to find people that don’t just get mad because something rocks their doctrinal boat. Keep it up brother Andrew!
I hear what you’re saying, but with all due respect, I instead choose to do nothing more and nothing less than that which God specifically instructs. If I sound convinced, it’s simply because I can read it in the Bible plainly stated… no deductive criticism is required on my part. If God says to do it, then that’s good enough for me. As I talk to people, it’s actually shocking to me to find that the great majority can’t see clear to agree with such a simple approach of unquestioning obedience.
If you will bear with me, I’d like to look at some of your statements to see if Scripture can clarify…
“Do we adhere to the letter of the law? No!”
Matthew 5:17-18 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil [Eric’s note – fulfill = to make full, not to cancel]. (18) For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Romans 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. [Eric’s note – justification is God’s action of making us to be innocent despite our clear guilt. It is only accomplished by the faith of Jesus Christ. We cannot obtain it by works of the law, however… see the previously quoted verse and Romans 3:31 which follows]
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
What are the only things from the law that God clearly indicated would cease? The sacrifices and offerings (Daniel 9:27), and the Levitical priesthood (Hebrews 8, 9, & 10). He did not cancel them… He never cancels anything that He says. The sacrifices and oblations were a sign pointing to the one and only sacrifice that could cancel the wages of sin. This was the case ever since the beginning when the promise of the Savior was given in Genesis 3:15.
Ask yourself which parts of the law you no longer keep… Do you kill? Do you keep the Sabbath? Do you tithe? Do you fornicate? Do you wear women’s clothing? Do you mark your body? Do you eat fat or blood? All of these are statutes. Yes, a couple are also part of the 10 commandments. Why do you adhere to these statutes? There is only one reason. Because they are commanded by God and by definition, righteousness is doing, keeping, and living in God’s law. I believe that all people know this instinctively, but we have been brainwashed into this new religious mindset where 75% of the Bible is thrown out with the sentiment, “all we have to do to be saved is believe.” It is true, we must believe, but that does not and cannot cancel the rest of God’s word which so clearly indicates that those who keep his law are the ones that will be saved.
Revelation 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
I can come to no other conclusion than that if God says, “Thou shalt keep…(the feast)” that it constitutes a direct commandment. They are clearly identified as statutes, which we have seen is part of God’s law. I am unwilling to use my frail human reasoning, supposition, and assumed conclusions to nullify a direction commandment. The tree of life is at stake!!!
“Need we be circumcised to be obedient? Not physically, but spiritually.”
I don’t want to dwell on circumcision, but I will say that I don’t believe it to be ceremonial, even though there is an aspect of blood associated with it. I rather find it to be a token, or a sign of the covenant that God made with Abraham… please take note, this is of the nature of the 2nd covenant which is of faith, and not of the nature of the first covenant at the foot of mount Sinai.
Romans 2:25 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.
Also notice that after Acts 15 when the question of whether grown male gentile converts should be required to be circumcised was settled, what was the first thing that Paul did as he met up with Timothy? Yep, circumcised him. Was Paul practicing unrighteousness and giving a wicked example? Not at all… “For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law.”
Thus, your next point where the feasts are compared to circumcision I find to be supportive of the feasts, rather than contrary. I’m not surprised by the use of a spiritual application to 1 Corinthians 5:8 because I agree, there is a very beautiful spiritual application… yet there’s no avoiding the direct language Paul used instructing them to keep the feast and the other following verses where he instructs the Greek converts from Corinth on the appropriate manner in which to keep the feast. Regardless, feasts in the NT do not hang on one verse. I only pointed it out because of the succinct statement. There are many more examples, some I’ve already brought up, others, such as God the Father giving his Spirit to Jesus Christ, who then shed this forth upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:32-33) a little over 50 days after the cross clearly shows us the importance that God places upon his Holy Convocations. I presume you’re an SDA, thus, I also assume that you must understand that God chose the Day of Atonement as the time of commencement for the investigative judgement of the righteous dead. Is it not strange that He continues to signal the importance of his Holy Convocations while we concurrently strive to make them of insufficient importance to acknowledge?
“For what purpose might the apostles continue to partake in the feasts?”
This is a bewildering point to me against feast observance because it virtually accuses the apostles of heresy and unrighteousness. The argument goes, “We don’t need to keep the feast because the apostles only kept them so that they could reach the Jews.” Well, this is exactly what the whore of Babylon did… she only adopted the pagan festivals so that she could bring in the pagans into Christianity. How did that work out? I don’t believe it to be a wise thing to hang apostacy around the necks of the apostles who walked with Christ, learned from him, worked miracles by God’s power and received Christ’s Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. To my reconning, no one alive today can claim this closeness to God. To say that feast keeping is done away with, then to admit that the apostles kept them as a means to an end is to say that the writers of the new testament were unstable, conniving and manipulative. On the other hand, to accept that God’s instruction stands forever and thus the feasts still stand in the same fashion as the seventh-day Sabbath, allows the apostles the dignity they deserve as examples to us of what an obedient follower of Jesus Christ looks like. This seems to me to be a more reasonable conclusion.
You mentioned you may or may not be right in your understanding of the matter. I’m sure you were simply trying not impose your viewpoint and took a humble position. Please understand that it isn’t human pride or arrogance if we state, “I have proved it from Scripture, therefore I know it to be true.” We should search matters out by seeking a plain “thus sayeth the Lord” and stick to it. I do not doubt the Father’s command, nor the fact that to heed his command is righteousness. Some might call it my conscience, but it is much more than that… I choose to follow the word of God. I can stand on this platform in full surety that when the books are reviewed, at least upon this point, my name will be clear. Lord knows that there are many others that I need a work of reform in.
There are dozens of verses in the Bible in reference to keeping the commandments of God, not the levitical laws. Exodus 20:8 states that we are to remember and keep holy the Sabbath day but we often overlook the next verse that instructs us to labour and work the other six days. There are no exceptions, no feast days, celebration days or holidays listed. The purpose of the keeping the seventh day is outlined in verse 11, which is to honour our Creator. That means looking back to our origin rather than looking forward to which the levitical laws represented and was fulfilled when our Saviour died and the earthly temple veil was torn in two.
I’m responding late on a work night out of genuine interest and love, so please don’t take my words as a personal attack, just an encouragement for further thought.
You said that God requires rest on the Sabbath and only the Sabbath to the exclusion of all other days including feast days. Are you then suggesting that God made a mistake? Because in the same discourse with Moses from Mount Sinai, he very clearly states that he wants him to tell the people to keep the feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks. How? He (Jehovah) makes it clear what He expects from his people in the further instructions he gave to Moses as detailed in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. God says that whatever soul does any work on the Day of Atonement will be destroyed from among his people. This is God speaking, not me. He doesn’t beat around the bush.
I wonder, do you go to your job and work on Christmas day? How about Thanksgiving day, the 4th of July, New Years, etc.? If you do, you’re unlike most people I’ve ever met. Why don’t you work on those days? The answer is because it is a tradition to spend those days at home with family having fun. Why is it that it’s so easy to excuse those traditional days of no work (which are based on pagan holy days), where very little communion is typically held with God, whereas the days that God calls HIS VERY OWN HOLY CONVOCATIONS where he desires to meet with his people (just like on the Sabbath) are ignored if not outright opposed (with no Biblical basis I might add)? “Oh strange infatuation!”
Please read Exodus 34:10-23 again. It was posted in the comment you replied to. Is it not clear that God is mixing and matching parts of the ten commandments with parts of the statutes? Why would you choose to rationalize this away to nothingness?
–God says not to worship any other god…. check.
–God says not to make yourself a molten god… check.
–God says “The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep…” wait, um, give me a sec. I’m sure I can come up with some excuse…
–God says to not work on the seventh day…. Ok, now we’re back on track… check.
–God says “thou shalt observe the feast of weeks…” Uh-oh, here we go again.
I would be interested to hear your take on the two quotes from EGW that were also supplied in the original comment. One of them from Review and Herald, May 6, 1875, par. 10 clearly states that the moral law was REPEATED in awful grandeur from Sinai and included religious precepts called STATUTES which were explicitly given to GUARD the ten commandments. These statutes, she says are to be binding upon mankind for as long as time should last. Doesn’t that seem to contradict what you’re saying? What I have repeatedly found from personal experience is that when I discover a contradiction, it is never the inspired text that is contradicting, but it is my interpretation of it. If I allow the inspired text to stand and prayerfully submit myself to it by looking in Scripture and the SOP for how I can change my thinking to be in agreement with it, then it always, and I mean ALWAYS works itself out. Also, don’t let it slip past you that she said the statutes were REPEATED. That means that He had previously stated them, does it not?
“Adam taught his descendants the law of God, which law was handed down to the faithful through successive generations. The continual transgression of God’s law called for a flood of waters upon the earth. The law was preserved by Noah and his family, who for right-doing were saved by a miracle of God in the ark. Noah taught his descendants the ten commandments. The Lord preserved a people for himself from Adam down, in whose hearts was his law. He says of Abraham, “He obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” 3SG 296.1
“If man had kept the law of God, as given to Adam after his fall, preserved in the ark by Noah, and observed by Abraham, there would have been no necessity of the ordinance of circumcision. And if the descendants of Abraham had kept the covenant, which circumcision was a token or pledge of, they would never have gone into idolatry, and been suffered to go down into Egypt, and there would have been no necessity of God’s proclaiming his law from Sinai, and engraving it upon tables of stone, and guarding it by definite directions in the judgments and statutes given to Moses.” 3SG 299.2
This shows us that the term “Levitical laws” is actually very narrow sighted and limiting when speaking about God’s statutes. Yes, there are Levitical laws – they had to do with the work and duty of the Levitical priesthood, but God’s law is eternal, both pre- and post-dating Levi by thousands of years, if not all eternity.
I’ll throw another quote into the mix for your consideration…
“They cast aside the restraint of the law, and give loose rein to the corrupt passions and the promptings of the natural heart, and then triumph in the mercy and grace of the gospel. Christ speaks to such: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven.” What is the will of the Father? That we keep his commandments. Christ, to enforce the will of his Father, became the author of the statutes and precepts given through Moses to the people of God. Christians who extol Christ, but array themselves against the law governing the Jewish church, array Christ against Christ.” RH May 6, 1875, par. 16
Please note, the above quote makes the statutes (which includes God’s Holy Convocations) a matter of entering the kingdom of heaven. Are you absolutely sure of your position? Do you have a solid scriptural foundation to stand upon? Please be sure that you do because this is a life and death matter.
I believe you indicated that the feast days were fulfilled (which presumably you meant ended, although to fulfill simply means to make more full) when our Savior died. Can you tell me how the Day of Atonement ended with the tearing of the veil? The Day of Atonement points us forward to the period of time when the forgiven sins of the righteous are placed upon the head of the scapegoat (Satan). I believe that this will take place just prior to Christ’s return. Further, that same scapegoat is led out into the wilderness by a strong man to a place uninhabited. This points us to either the 1000 years when Satan will be bound, and/or to his ultimate destruction. Do you agree? If so, then how can you so equivocally state that the feast ended at the cross? How can we as SDA’s take such a position when our history is steeped in a knowledge of God’s acknowledgement of the Day of Atonement in 1844? We could easily do the same with all the other feasts. The feast of tabernacles is mentioned more than once in Zechariah 14, the context of which is when Christ descends to the earth after the 1000 years and as his feet touch the mount of Olives, it is split and made into a great plain upon which the New Jerusalem descends. I don’t know the full meaning of this chapter despite studying for a long time, but at a minimum, the reference to the feast of tabernacles in a post-millennium context is very informative. Pentecost is another easy one to consider… how long after the cross was Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks) honored by the Father by pouring out his Spirit? How about the feast of Trumpets? Are there not trumpets that are yet to sound?
“Solemn events before us are yet to transpire. Trumpet after trumpet is to be sounded; vial after vial poured out one after another upon the inhabitants of the earth.”—Selected Messages 3:426 (1890). LDE 238.1
My sister, I encourage you to look deeper in to these matters. They are not insignificant. To brush it aside is to put yourself at odds with the instructions that we have been given both in the Bible and from Sister White. Don’t rely on the words of “peace, peace…” that you get from our leaders and famous teachers. Look into this for yourself in scripture, not to simply try and prove your present position correct through interpretive use of isolated verses, but like the Bereans, to see if these things be so.
God bless you in your studies.
If the ten commandments are the eternal standard of righteousness, then it is ok to hate your neighbor and look lustfully on a woman. It is also ok to dishonor your grandparents and your aunts and uncles and your cousins and any other member of your family, as long as it isn’t your mother and father. You can also bear false witness, as long as it isn’t against your neighbor. And the fourth commandment is a day of rest, not a day of worship. Why do you add to the jots and titles by saying that it is? And why do you removed the jots and tittles regarding the death penalty for those who break the Sabbath?