Monthly Archives: August 2014

What day is the Sabbath

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The Sabbath is a perpetual covenant between the Lord and His people (Exodus 2:1-2), but what day that is depends on your work. Jesus taught that the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, not man for its benefit (Mark 2:27). The Sabbath is to give us a certain day of the week on which to meditate on God’s Word with a heart of worship and build our personal relationship towards God.

Some people work on Saturday and Sunday so they can only get to have a Sabbath on another day. Jesus worked on the Jewish Sabbath.

Did you know that the Jews had two Sabbaths in a week? Jesus ministered for 3 1/2 years, from 27 AD at the beginning of a year of Jubilee to His death in 31 AD Passover which meant that that Passover week had two Sabbaths, a High day Sabbath (John 19:31) followed by a regular Sabbath.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced in 1582, then in 1752 the British by an act of Parliament advanced the calendar overnight from September 2 to September 14, 1752. It has also been proven that the year date could be up to 4 years out.

Then if we look in our Bibles we have prophetical year which has 360 days.

In chapter four of Ezekiel we see that he uses the pattern that is set out in Leviticus verses 3 and 14 and then 18, 21, 24, 27 and 28 in Deuteronomy and in Numbers for the Biblical day of disobedience, which is, each day of disobedience was to represent a year of judgment and punishment against the nation. We see here that Ezekiel’s theme of punishment or judgment is a prophetic day which equals a year.

Ezekiel 4:5 For I have laid on you the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Please note that in Numbers 14:34, where a day equals a year of punishment (Ezekiel 4:6) “and when you have completed these you shall lie down a second time but on your right side and bear the punishment of the house of Judah, forty days I assign you a day for each year.”

One prophetical day stood for one year of 360 days – one cycle.
A “time” was 360 days in prophetical year .

Some don’t agree on the 360 days prophetical year or even 365 day year and say that the Israelites had a 354 day year and they at times added days or a month to keep things in balance thus we are now talking about a year of 383/4 days as it suited.

With this type of discrepancy even our Saturday and Sunday may be incorrect; therefore the actual Sabbath of a Saturday or Sunday has been lost. Thus many “Sabbatarians,” (Saturday Sabbath) and “Lord’s Day” keepers are wrong on what day the Sabbath can be.

In the big picture it is not important to know what day of the week that Jesus died on or rose again! It has nothing to do with our salvation, other than we are saved by the faith of Christ on the Cross and our act of repentance. What is important is that we give a day to the Lord.

Religious people want to say, ‘which is the correct day’ and they don’t see the issue of having a day of rest as the most important. In either case you could be wrong! If you are worshiping and giving God a day on a Tuesday or any day you will not be condemned because you are in Christ Jesus.

In China we have church on a Wednesday to cater for people, who work on weekend, and we have church on Saturday and Sunday for others who work during the week and I have a day on Thursday. I am too busy on the other days even though I enjoy fellowship with the saints (Hebrews 10:25).

For example pastors work on the Sabbath, so for them to have a day just with God in rest, it maybe a Monday or any other day.

To say it must be and can only be on a certain day then it is under the Law.

How can we find out if we are under the Law?
If we say:
• I must do this to get more of God’s love, then it is under the Law.
• I want to do this; because God is well pleased then it is under grace.

We do certain things not only because He commanded it, but because we want to do them in obedience using our free will.

Saturday or Sunday is not the issue; it is the condition of the heart of worship in the believer towards God in having a day of rest.

God ended his work Genesis 2:1-3
Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 31:13-14)
Remember the Sabbath day, (Exodus 20:8-11, 31:12-13, 16; Isaiah561-8; Jeremiah 17:19-27)
Six days ye shall gather it; (Exodus 16:22-30)
Direct our thoughts towards God (Mark 2:27)
Pastor working on a Sabbath (Luke 6: 1-11)

 

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Does Hell exist?

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Ask some Christians, “Do you believe in heaven?” All Christians will say, “yes”.

Then ask them, “Do you believe in hell?” The answers will be split between “yes and no”.

This is because of the spirit of unbelief in some toward Scriptures that talk about eternal punishment, hell etc!

Some liberalists say, “Man is not lost in sin and going to Hell as Hell does not exist”. This clearly contradicting Scripture.

Some liberalists believe in annihilation, as one is swept from existence, which is quite unthinkable or unconceivable because it contradicts what Jesus and writers of Scripture have said.

Luke 1:32-33: … shall be no end.

Ephesians 3:21: …throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.

Hebrews 7:15-16: …. but after the power of an endless life.

Revelation 1:18: … I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

Revelation 15:7: … who liveth forever and ever.

We advocated that the eternal life given to repentant believers is a life where one lives with God eternally. This is true, but it needs to be qualified as a spiritual life as a spiritual being with a body and with an awareness of God for eternity, as a reward for believing in Jesus (John 3:16) with an act of repentance.

We are spiritually alive when we become repentant-believers and the inverse for the non-repentant person is correct.

The non-repentant person is spiritually dead to the things of God, albeit they are still physically alive.

The main issue here is the use of the words life and death, as some want spiritual life for the believers and a spiritual death for the non-believers. “Everlasting” means “everlasting” in heaven as it does in hell.

Death here for the non-repentant is to be conscious of their disobedience while still in a spiritual form with a body and not swept from existence which is rejected by those who advocate the doctrine of annihilation.

To say that there is an annihilation of non-repentant is like giving them a reward for disobedience and lack of repentance toward God. This is clearly a contradiction with Matthew 25:46—”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.“

Another view says that there is an ultimate reconciliation of the non-repentant, who are given a reward for disobedience toward God.

Again it is clear contradiction with Matthew 25:46—”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” But in Luke 18: 30 it refers to life everlasting, aionios and then when we compare this to Matthew 18:8 we see the same word used for everlasting punishment.

Therefore we are left to conclude that there is eternal life, which means ‘eternal fellowship spiritually and physically with God as a spiritual being’. Thus there is an eternal separation spiritually and physically with God in hell.

Jesus is our Forgiveness; He is the one who stands before God as our Advocate to proclaim where we stand in Him, whether we have made Him Lord and therefore appropriated His forgiveness.

2Corinthians 5:21 For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (MKJV)

Jesus’ death and the shedding of His blood provided forgiveness for the sins of the entire world – yours and mine. Now in Romans 6:23b tells us, “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”. There are three points to consider in this part of Scripture.

i) God wants to give us a gift, and the gift is eternal life.

ii) God wants to work through His Son, Jesus Christ to give the gift to mankind.

iii) The eternal life through Jesus Christ can be received only by making Jesus Lord; that is to say, you must be in Him.

The sickness that takes us to hell is “Sin with an unwillingness to repent”.

The medicine that takes us to heaven is repentance and receiving Jesus as Lord.

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