Commentary on "The Message of the Prophets"

MARTIN CAREY

 

Day 4: Tuesday, March 3, 2009

This lesson attempts to show how the Sabbath was ordained from creation to be the central institution of worship for Christians, that it is a particular object of attack by Satan, and that it measures our attitude towards God.

The author asks, what is it about the Sabbath commandment that stands out? He answers, it is a “test commandment” that reveals our spirituality. As a uniquely non-material entity, existing only as a span of time, it is ideal to measure our attitude towards God. It is also the only commandment that is acceptable to break in a Christian society such as ours. This is because it does not have any obvious logic to it, such as not stealing or murdering, and you don’t have to be a Christian to obey those rules. Keeping an apparently arbitrary Sabbath command reveals our willingness to obey God, as an act of faith.

Lastly, we should keep the Sabbath to commemorate Creation, and demonstrate to the world our assurance of Christ’s salvation for us, “not just daily, but also in a special way each week.” Sabbath keeping expresses our rest in Christ. The “Learning Cycle” section also mentions that controversies among Adventists over the practices of Sabbath-keeping can be informed by remembering the themes of creation and redemption.

 

Problems

The starting assumption for Sabbath-keeping requires an eternal, universal Ten Commandments that apply for all times and places. It is significant that in Genesis the seventh day is not called Sabbath, for only God observes that day without evening or morning. There is no Sabbath command given to Adam and Eve, and there is no record of anyone in Genesis observing it. It is not part of the covenant with Abraham. It is not commanded to humans until Exodus 16:23 when the manna was given. “The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us…(Deut. 5:2,3).” It arrived with the Sinai covenant, not before.

The Ten Commandments were the “words of the covenant (Ex. 34:28).” The Law and the Sinai covenant are one, and they began with Moses (Gal. 3:17). This covenant ended with Christ when he gave both Jews and gentiles a new covenant in his blood, along with a new sign to remember him (I Cor. 11:25). The Sabbath was therefore made at a specific time for a specific species (man), a certain race (the Jews), for the appointed time. It was “made for man;” not for angels, not for space aliens, only man. Its time ended at the death of the “Seed” (Gal. 3:19), who is the Sabbath’s Lord, the real “bread from heaven.” Therefore, it is not universal.

Where does it state in the Bible that the Sabbath is to reveal our spiritual condition? It is the word of God that reveals the “thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb. 4:12). Christians are judged by their acceptance of the free gift of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. There is nothing arbitrary about that. We cannot say we celebrate the Sabbath as a sign of our assurance of salvation, then remove that assurance by making the Sabbath a test of faith. We have assurance because there is but one test, faith in Christ’s finished work.

The lesson cites Hebrews 4 as a source of rest and assurance, but it misses the main point. The chapter is not a call to return to the Law. Hebrews is a book of contrasts between the old and new covenants, and the new is always “better.” We have a better revelation, better covenant, better sacrifice, better promises, and in Hebrews 4, a better Sabbath. The old covenant could not give rest, that is only found in a person who commanded us to come to him for rest.

The gospel promise of entering his rest was made to Israel in Moses’ and Joshua’s time, but they did not enter because of unbelief. They had been given the Sabbath, and later in Canaan “the Lord had given them rest on every side” (Joshua 21:43). The kind of rest offered in Hebrews 4 was not found in military strength or in a Sabbath day for they had both those things, and they had not entered. What they sought they did not find, for they only looked for a physical rest. They could stop work and travel, but they did not believe. They needed rest for their souls.

What eluded them is the “Sabbatismos,” a unique word in the Bible meaning Sabbath-like rest, and it is far better than any offered by Moses, Joshua, or King David. So “again he appoints a certain day, Today…Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:7) They did harden their hearts, so another day of opportunity was appointed. “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest (Sabbatismos) for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:8-10)

 

Summary

1. When we hear his voice in the gospel of Christ, we are given living faith to believe it, and made a new creation by the Holy Spirit.
2. Our beginning is no longer back in Eden on the 6th day. We have died to that history, it is finished. We have died to the Law on the Cross, and we serve in “new way of the Spirit” (Rom. 7:4).
3. For us Christians, the beginning of history is an empty tomb, and our Rest now sits at God’s right hand.

 

 

Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised March 4, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.

The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.

 

Official Adventist Resources

Standard Edition Study Guide Week 10

Teacher's Edition Study Guide Week 10

Easy Reading Edition Study Guide Week 10

Search the Complete Published Ellen G. White Writings

DOWNLOAD
DOCUMENT
FOR PRINTING