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Second Quarter 2015 (April–June)
COMMENTARY ON THE BOOK OF LUKE

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Week 5: April 25–May 1
COMMENTARY ON CHRIST AS THE LORD OF THE SABBATH

PHIL HARRIS

Following is a combined commentary on the material included in the Bible Study Guide with references as necessary to the supplemental passages included in the E. G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons.

 

Note: Unless otherwise stated, all biblical quotes are from the English Standard Version (ESV).

 

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Overview

This week's commentary focuses on the important points as they relate to the issue of present day Sabbath Keeping by first considering it from within the fuller context of the unconditional eternal covenant first made with Abraham before examining the conditional Mosaic Old Covenant God made with Israel at Sinai.

The laws of the Mosaic Old Covenant are the conditions Israel agreed to wherein they would be blessed if they obeyed but there would be curses, adverse consequences, if they sinned and did not repent of their sin. The message of the Mosaic Old Covenant is that there must be an atonement for sin before a sinner can have restored fellowship and be able to worship God. We should not forget that the first mention of God's plan for the redemption of sinners is mentioned in Genesis 3:14-15 nor we should forget that God's promise he made with Noah, Genesis 9, is another unconditional covenant.

In the beginning creation was totally a work of God in the person of Jesus Christ. As an expression of his love and will God created mankind after his own image. However on the very day they sinned Adam and Eve died as warned by God. As it was when God breathed life into the human race at the time of creation, dead sinners can do nothing to bring themselves back to life physically nor spiritually. Only through God's own perfect holy power can there be a resurrection. Hence, we see God's promise of a Redeemer. God declared that Adam would now live by "the sweat of your face" meaning he would no longer have ongoing true rest without the coming of the promised Redeemer.

 

Observations

 

I. GOD'S COVENANT WITH ABRAM (ABRAHAM)

After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” But Abram said, “O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.” And behold, the word of the LORD came to him: “This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir.” And he brought him outside and said, “Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:1-6)

You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. God said, “No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.(Genesis 17:11 & 19)

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. (Genesis 22:1-3)

• God's covenant with Abraham is an unconditional eternal covenant.
   
• Abraham believed God and his faith in God was counted as righteousness.
   
• The sign of this covenant for the people and nation of Israel was physical circumcision.
   
• Without Abraham having done anything God gave him his son Isaac and confirmed that he would keep his promise to him by introducing the sign of circumcision.
   
• Abraham's wife Sarah was long past the ability to bear a child which means the birth of Isaac was totally a miracle and work of God.
   
• Abraham's willingness to obey God and sacrifice Isaac was after God had already confirmed his unconditional eternal promise to Abraham.
   
• Since Abraham contributed nothing to God's unconditional covenant God made with him, the question of Sabbath keeping not established until 400 plus years later in a covenant not given to him, could not have been a part of his faith in God.

 

II. THE MOSAIC (SINAITIC) COVENANT

God speaks directly to Moses:

"You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” (Ex. 19:4-6)

The law of this covenant God made with Israel:

And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” (Ex. 31:12-17)

The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur):

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.” (Lev. 23:26-32)

• God made this covenant exclusively with the people and nation of Israel. For Israel entry into the Mosaic covenant and finding 'rest in the promised land' required obedience to the sign of the Abrahamic covenant of physical circumcision, Psalm 95:10-11 & Joshua 5:2-7.
   
• The Mosaic Covenant was a conditional covenant wherein Israel would be blessed if they obeyed the conditions (the law) of this covenant. Otherwise there would be adverse consequences if they sinned and did not repent of their sin.
   
• The keeping of the Sabbath day holy by Israel was the sign of this covenant. God did not give this covenant nor the sign of this covenant to those gentile nations surrounding Israel.
   
• The Sabbath was a day of rest. It was not and never was a commanded day to worship God.
   
• Those who violate the Sabbath by not resting were to be put to death.
   
• On the Day of Atonement the blood of an innocent animal portrayed the coming shed blood of the Messiah who would restore rest eternally from the consequences of sin.

 

III. THE MOSAIC COVENANT IS A BROKEN COVENANT

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.·And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34)

• God declared that he would make a New Covenant with the Hebrew people which would be unlike the Old Covenant.
   
• In this covenant that would replace the Mosaic covenant God would remember their sins no more.
   
• The laws of God would be written upon the hearts of God's people instead of tablets of stone.

 

IV. THE NEW AND BETTER COVENANT

Jesus is the New Covenant:

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:19-20)

Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness:

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Heb. 9:11-14)

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures... (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Dead to the law:

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Rom. 7:4-6)

What you must do to have eternal salvation:

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:3-6)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:25-26)

Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:30-31)

Our rest in Jesus Christ:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30)

For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. (Heb. 4:4-10)

The Seal of the Holy Spirit:

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:11-14)

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Cor. 1:20-22)

• In the New Covenant our Sabbath rest is no longer about a certain day because our salvation is in the person and work of Jesus Christ who is our rest... rest from the penalty of sin.
   
• When we rest in faith in Jesus Christ who is our Sabbath rest it is the same as during the Creation Week. Creation was totally a work of Jesus, our Creator, where he work for six days and then rested without end on the seventh day from that work.
   
• The Seal of the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of a Christian's faith.

 

V. WORSHIP

• Genesis 4:1-7 establishes that a blood sacrifice must be brought before the Lord before a sinner can approach and worship God.
   
• The willingness to obey God and sacrifice Isaac shows that Abraham understood how God was to be worshiped, Genesis 22:1-19.
   
• In the Mosaic covenant the tabernacle (later to become the temple in Jerusalem) was where the Hebrew people went to worship God. Worship was preceded by presenting before God a blood sacrifice, Leviticus 16.
   
• Jesus announced to the Samaritan woman at the well, John 4:19-26, that very soon it would no longer be about where to worship God "but the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him".
   
• Worshipping God is not and never was about which day of the week to worship God.

 

Summary

1. In the beginning Adam and Eve were perfectly created. However from the day they sinned Adam would "by the sweat of your face you shall eat bread". Because of sin there was no longer rest in what was once a perfect creation. At that time God made his first unconditional promise of the coming Redeemer who would "bruise" the head of the serpent.
    
2. God chose Abraham, through whom he would fulfill his promise to Adam and Eve and declared unconditionally to him that he would be the father of a mighty nation. Through him all the nations of the world would be blessed. Abraham, without any deeds of his own believed God. For this God declared Abraham to be righteous and gave him the sign of circumcision before the birth of Isaac. Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac was the result of his faith in the promise of God already confirmed by the sign of circumcision.
    
3. Long before the existence of the written law, without any deeds of his own, Abraham's faith rested solely upon God's unconditional promise. Abraham's rest was not about observing physical rest on a certain day of the week.
    
4. The Mosaic covenant was a conditional covenant God made between himself and the Hebrew people. The conditions of this covenant was the written law which is all of the law contained in the first five books of the Bible. The Ten Commandments represented all of the law with weekly Sabbath keeping being the sign of this covenant.
    
5. Sabbath keeping was never commanded at a day of worship. Resting on the Sabbath day is in remembrance of God's deliverance of the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt where they had no rest. Slavery in Egypt is understood to represent our slavery to sin with God's deliverance been the only possible escape from sin and death, the penalty of sin.
    
6. To worship God, as contrasted to a Christian's New covenant ongoing eternal rest in the completed sacrifice of Jesus at Calvary, is not about which day of the week to formally worship him.
    
7. While Jesus Christ is certainly 'the Lord of the Sabbath' he is far more than that. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest from the work and penalty of sin.
   
   
    

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