History of the Sabbath J. N. Andrews. Chapter 10 The Sabbath during the Last of the Seventy Weeks or The Sabbath in the Time of Christ

Transcription

1 History of the Sabbath J. N. Andrews Chapter 10 The Sabbath during the Last of the Seventy Weeks or The Sabbath in the Time of Christ 1

2 To review... The observance of the sabbath after Nehemiah to the birth of Christ is not mentioned in the Bible or in the SOP, but it is mentioned in the historical records of 1 and II Maccabees. Tertullian of the 2nd 3rd century AD developed for the first time a theology of the relationship between the socalled divine persons of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit and coined the term trinitas. He also applied the already existing Latin term persona to each of the three. No trinitarian doctrine is explicitly taught in the OT...The NT contains no explicit trinitarian doctrine. ( plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html) John 14:16, 18 2

3 The Sabbath during the Last of the Seventy Weeks The Sabbath in the Time of Christ Maccabean revolt BC Ezra s journey from Babylon to Palestine, Nehemiah about 13 years later Artaxerxes I s decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem 3

4 Jesus, the Sabbath Reformer Andrews wrote that since all things were made by Christ Hebrews 1:3 then Christ made the sabbath (in another place Andrews stated Christ was with the Father when the sabbath was made), and Christ is, therefore, the perfect judge of the sabbath s true design and of its proper observance. 4

5 Sabbath Reformation 5 Christoph J. Kugler

6 As his custom was, Jesus went to the synagogue on the sabbath day (Luke 4:16). He taught them on the sabbath days (Luke 4:15, 31). He healed on the sabbath (Luke 4:35, 39). These are the first miracles on record as performed by Jesus on the sabbath. But the people were so indoctrinated against healing on the sabbath that they waited until sunset to bring their sick to him (Mark 1:32; Luke 4:40). 6

7 The second mention of the sabbath... Luke 6:1 5 Matthew 12:1 8 adds important information in verse 6. Mark 2:27 adds more important information. 7

8 Luke 6:1 5 The issue was not about walking through the corn on the sabbath, for the spies of the Pharisees were also there. The issue was that the disciples were violating the sabbath by plucking and by rubbing the corn. The supposed violation was not in eating the corn, but in the work involved in plucking and in rubbing the grains. Not only was the gathering of the grain a kind of reaping, but the rubbing of it in the hands was a kind of threshing. Thus, in the opinion of the rabbis, there was a double offense (DA 284.1). 8

9 Jesus answered from the scriptures. He cited examples of acts performed on the sabbath day by those in the work of God. Secular work of the same nature on the sabbath would be sinful, but this work was not sinful when performed by the priests on the sabbath. (See DA 285.) The disciples, in doing the work of Christ, were engaged in God s service, and that which was necessary for the accomplishment of this work it was right to do on the Sabbath day (DA 285.2). 9

10 The same God who had said in the fourth commandment, Six days shalt thou labor and do all THY work, had commanded that the priests upon the Sabbath should offer certain sacrifices in his temple. Herein was no contradiction; for the labor performed by the priests upon the Sabbath... was not doing what the commandment calls THY WORK. Labor of this kind... was not, and never had been, a violation of the Sabbath. (JNA, HSFD 119, 120) 10

11 In this place is one greater than the temple (Matt. 12:6). The shewbread was to be prepared each Sabbath for the temple, and those who did this work were guiltless. Jesus was now with them, one greater than the temple, and the disciples were also free from guilt when they plucked corn to relieve their hunger while engaged in the business of following him. 11

12 There was an issue far greater than plucking corn on the sabbath that Jesus addressed. If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matt. 12:7) If God held those guiltless who offered sacrifices upon the Sabbath, how much less would he condemn those who extend mercy and relief to the distressed and suffering, upon that day. (Andrews 120.3) 12

13 It is the service of love that God values. When this is lacking, the mere round of ceremony is an offense to Him. So with the Sabbath. It was designed to bring men into communion with God; but when the mind was absorbed with wearisome rites, the object of the Sabbath was thwarted. Its mere outward observance was a mockery. (DA 286.1) 13

14 The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). God made the Sabbath for the man that he made of the dust of the ground; and being thus made for an unfallen race, it can only be a merciful and beneficent institution. (Andrews 121) 14

15 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath (Mark 2:28). This title implies that the Messiah should be the protector, and not the destroyer, of the Sabbath. And hence that he was the rightful being to decide the proper nature of Sabbatic observance. With these memorable words ends our Lord s first discourse concerning the Sabbath. (Andrews 123.1) 15

16 The Next Miracle on the Sabbath Luke 6:

17 Luke 6:6 11 What was the act that caused this madness of the Pharisees? On the part of the Saviour, it was a word; on the part of the man, it was the act of stretching out his arm. Did the law of the Sabbath forbid either of these things? No one can affirm such a thing. But the Saviour had publicly transgressed that tradition of the Pharisees that forbade the doing of anything whatever toward the healing of the sick upon the Sabbath. 17

18 And how necessary that such a wicked tradition should be swept away, if the Sabbath itself was to be preserved for man. But the Pharisees were filled with such madness that they went out of the synagogue and consulted how they might destroy the Saviour. Yet Jesus only acted in behalf of the Sabbath in setting aside those traditions by which they had perverted it (Andrews 124). 18

19 Diego Torres John 5:

20 He had broken the sabbath, and he had made himself equal with God. 20

21 Objections By his word he had healed, but saying something broke no commandment. Jesus set at naught the tradition that forbade any curing of disease on the sabbath. Carrying his bed... was designed to show the reality of his cure and thus honor the Lord who had cured him. 21

22 My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. The Father has continued to mankind, even on the sabbath, all the acts of mercy by which the human race has been preserved. This work is precisely of the same nature that Jesus had done in this instance in John, so there was no ground to accuse him of disregarding the sabbath. 22

23 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. Jesus was doing that only which would have been the pleasure of the Father to do. He was not engaged in the overthrow of the Sabbath. By the meek answer - The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do - Jesus showed the groundlessness of their charge of self-exaltation. 23

24 Second answer by Jesus is found in John 7: In his first answer, he stated he had done precisely the same as what his Father would have done. His answer this time is that his act of healing no more violated the Sabbath than does the act of circumcising upon the Sabbath. Andrews says these two answers are in harmony with the unanimous testimony of the sacred writers, that the Sabbath originated with the sanctification of the restday of the Lord in Eden. 24

25 The Jewish leaders hated him for healing someone upon the sabbath who had been helpless for 38 years. But this act of mercy was in strict accordance with the sabbath. Had he left the man in his wretchedness because it was the sabbath, when a word would have healed him, he would have dishonored the sabbath and thrown reproach upon its author. Jesus was at work rescuing the sabbath from the hands of those who had utterly perverted it. 25

26 John 9:1 16 Another act of mercy; this man was blind from birth. This act of healing is worthy of the sabbath. Jesus was working the works of the Father. The man was cast out of the temple (verses 19 34). Jesus sought him out (verses 35 38). 26

27 Luke 13:10 17 A woman was in the synagogue, but was bound by Satan and could not lift herself up. She had been like this for 18 years. Jesus healed her on the sabbath day. The ruler of the synagogue was indignant. He considered healing a work that should be done on the 6 days of work. Jesus used the example of them watering their animals on the sabbath day and that it was also appropriate to heal on the sabbath. 27

28 Luke 14:1 6 Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day? The lawyers and Pharisees did not answer. Jesus asked a second question if you ox falls in a pit will you not pull it out on the sabbath? Jesus taught that the weightier matters of the law were judgment, mercy, and faith, and he vindicated the sabbath as a merciful institution. 28