Sabbath? Other questions on Jews, Israel, etc.

[hsmomoffourmi]

Hi Bro Ben

Thank you in advance for whatever wisdom you can impart on this subject. I understand from your answer on the "Law" thread that the moral law was not nailed to the cross. My question is what are we to do with the Saturday Sabbath? It seems to me that it was never changed to Sunday until the Catholic Church changed it. I have wondered about this since I was a small child and first learned the Ten Commandments.

Also, sort of related, why do we call it the "Jewish" sabbath when it was given to Israel and Israel was made up of 12 tribes, and since the Jews are descendants of the tribe of Judah, they are just a small fraction of Israel? (since Israel split into 2 kingdoms after Solomon's reign, during the time of the Exodus the 10 Commandments were given to Israel--not just the tribe of Judah, or the people known as jews today)

^the above historical, Biblical facts (that the kingdom split after Solomon's reign) also makes me think that the current "Christian" attitude of "standing with Israel" in the Middle east conflict might not be the right attitude. I fear Christians are being deceived. Could this be end-times deception?

What do you think?

Thanks again and God bless
sister Ronda

[Brother Ben]

Sister Ronda,
A common mistake made by many trying to make sense of the sabbath is to assume that the sabbath was changed from Saturday to Sunday. Though some writers call Sunday the sabbath it clouds rather than clarifies the issue.

Sunday is NOT the sabbath it is the Lord's Day. Jesus did not update the sabbath, like salvation, he made a whole new day. So what of the sabbath? It was done away with. How? In the person of Jesus Christ

Paul said,

Col 2:16 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]:

Col 2:17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.

The Ceremonial Law was done away with in the finished work of Calvary. Remember this scene?

Mat 11:28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Mat 11:30 For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.

Mat 12:1 ¶ At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat.

Mat 12:2 But when the Pharisees saw [it], they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.

Mat 12:3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him;

Mat 12:4 How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?

Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?

Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is [one] greater than the temple.

Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what [this] meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

Mat 12:8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

The key words I want you to get here are rest, sabbath, and Lord of the sabbath.

The sabbath is the O.T. day of rest. It was symbolic and pictoral of the true rest of the soul that can only be found through Jesus. The sabbath law was nailed to the cross and fulfilled in Christ.

Hbr 3:16 ¶ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

Hbr 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

Hbr 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

Hbr 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

God was showing in the O.T. story of entering the Promised Land the coming of the Promised One. To hold on to the shadow (the sabbath day,) and not fully embrace the real thing, (the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus,) is to stay in unbelief. Jesus is the promised rest of the soul.

We no longer spend Saturday dreaming of the day it WILL happen, we spend Sunday worshipping Him because it HAS happened. Does that make sense?

We have not changed the Saturday sabbath to Sunday, we have replaced it with a "better" thing.

You also asked:

why do we call it the "Jewish" sabbath when it was given to Israel and Israel was made up of 12 tribes, and since the Jews are descendants of the tribe of Judah, they are just a small fraction of Israel?

When the ten Northern tribes went into apostasy they were pretty much destroyed and intermingled with Assyrians and other invaders and the blood-line (in Hebrew thought) was destroyed. This disdain remained until the time of Christ, that is why they has such a low view of the Samaritans, who were their descendants.

The true way was preserved and maintained by the trides that were taken into Babylonian captivity, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. They were usually collectively called Judah, though those of Benjamin were usually proud of it.

Thus as time moved on that which was the official, as it were, version of the Hebrew faith and practice was called Jewish.

As far as our attitude toward them, we must have the reconciling love of Jehovah in our hearts. He loves the scattered Northern ten tribes, and the descendants of those who asked for His Son to be crucified. Israel, all of them, are still the apple of Jehovah's eye and we are to love them because he still loves them and is patiently waiting for the day he can remarry his bride that went whoring and whom He divorced.

We are only deceived when we think that we need to duplicate and mimmick Jewish religion and practice. We are the Gentile Bride.