Our Seventh-day Adventist friends, as well as a few other religious bodies, insist that the weekly Sabbath should be observed today. They admit that something was done away when Christ was crucified, but insist that it was only animal sacrifice, incense, etc.
They teach that there were two laws given on Mt. Sinai: that God gave one, and that Moses gave another; that the one given by the Lord was written on tables of stone, which were durable and still in force today; and that the law given by Moses was written in a book, and was abolished by Christ. They further assume that the law of God pertained to moral obligations, and that the law of Moses consisted of ceremonial duties.
They make a distinction --- where there is no difference. These distinctions are not taught in the Bible. Adventists ASSUME them. Their first premise which is assumed is false, therefore, their conclusion is false. They assume the thing they must prove. We can prove anything if we are granted the privilege of assuming one premise.
With no ill-will toward the Adventists --- but with love for their souls and the truth, let us weigh their claims in the light of God's word:
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1. Adventists' Claims Concerning the Sabbath and the Law in the Light of the Bible.
A) Adventsists Teach:
[That "the law of God" and the "law of Moses" were two different laws.]
The Bible Teaches:
That they are one and the same law, and uses the expressions interchangeably: "This Ezra went up from Jerusalem. And he was a ready scribe in the LAW OF MOSES, ** '." (Ezra 7:6).
The same chapter says, "Ezra the priest, the scribe of the LAW OF THE GOD of heaven, * * * " (Ezra 7:12). The expressions are also used interchangeably in Nehemiah 8:1; 8:8; and again in Luke 2:22, 23.
B) Adventists Teach:
[That Moses gave the law of Moses.]
The Bible Teaches:
That God gave the law of Moses.
"This Ezra went up from Jerusalem. And he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses which the Lord God had given." (Ezra 7:6).
C) Adventists Teach:
[That God gave the law of God.]
The Bible Teaches:
That Moses gave the law of God:
"And when they brought out the money that was brought into the house of the Lord, Hilltiah the priest found a book of the law of the Lord given by Moses." (2 Chronicles 34:14).
These verses proves that the Adventists are wrong when they teach that God gave "the law of God" and that Moses gave "the law of Moses" and that they are two separate laws. There was only one law given. What Moses gave was by God's authority. God made known the sabbath and other precepts, statutes, and laws by the hand of Moses. (Nehemiah 9:14).
D) Adventists Teach:
[That animal sacrifice, incense, etc., were in the law of Moses. These they admit were abolished when Jesus was crucified.]
The Bible Teaches: That animal sacrifice was in the law of God, “He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt offerings, to wit for the morning and the evening burnt offerings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set -feasts, as it is written IN THE LAW OF THE LORD”; (2 Chronicles 31:3). “And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:24).
Can the law of God be changed or done away? If not, then animal sacrifice is still binding. Yes, God abolished the Sabbath with the same authority he did animal sacrifice. The law had to be changed. (Hebrews 7:12). Christ took away the first that he might establish the second. (Hebrews 10:9, 10).
E) Adventists Teach:
[That God gave the Ten Commandments, and that Moses gave incense, etc.]
The Bible Teaches:
That Moses gave the Ten Commandments:
Jesus said, "For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; * * * (Mark 7:10). This was the fifth of the Ten Commandments. Jesus said Moses gave it; Adventists say God gave it. Which will you believe?
“Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why are you about to kill Me?" (John 7:19). Here again Jesus said that Moses gave the law. "Thou shalt not kill' was one of the Ten Commandments. So Moses gave the ten commandments.
The Adventists make a distinction where there is no difference. God gave the law of Moses. Moses gave the law of God — the one given on Mt. Sinai. God had law, of course, before Moses was born. He had law for Adam, Noah, Cain, and Abel; but it was not the ten commandments. They were not given until the children of Israel came out of Egyptian bondage. (Exodus 20:1-17).
F) Adventists Teach:
[That the Sabbath is a moral obligation.]
The Bible Teaches:
That the Sabbath "WAS MADE." (Mark 2:27).
Moral obligations are right within themselves. Religious duties are right only because God commands them. The Sabbath was made right and binding on the Jews only because God commanded it. (Exodus 20:8). Moral obligations relate to our fellow men. Religious duties relate to God. When Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, they sinned because they violated a command of God; but they did not thereby commit an act of immorality. They sinned against God, but not against their fellow men.
It has always been wrong to murder, steal, lie, and commit adultery. These things are wrong within themselves. God forbids them because they are wrong.
Failure to keep the Sabbath violates no moral law. Men would never have known to keep the sabbath if God had not commanded it. Furthermore, worship is a religious duty and not a moral obligation.
Even the morals of the ten commandments are below the standards of Christianity!.
"Thou shalt not kill." This command does not condemn hate. (I John 3:15). "Thou shalt not commit adultery." This command does not condemn lust. The new law under Jesus does. (Matthew 5:28). "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." This command does not forbid false witness for a neighbor, nor to a neighbor. The new law says, "AND ALL LIARS, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with are and brimstone: * * *." (Revelation 21:8). Many ask if they can live up to the ten commandments and be saved. The answer is emphatically "NO."
G. Adventists Teach:
[That the Sabbath is a universal day of worship for all mankind.]
The Bible Teaches:
That the Sabbath was given to the Israelites and to them only—unless a Gentile was proselyted to their faith.
Ten Commandments:
“And Moses called all Israel and said unto them, Hear, 0 Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." (Deuteronomy 5:1-3. See also Exodus 20:1, 2)
To quote the Ten Commandments and leave off the introduction as to whom they were to and for, is to misapply the scriptures and deceive the people. [Remember context is everything! dc]
“It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: ' * * *" (Exodus 31:17).
God has never in any age commanded a Gentile, as such, to keep the sabbath. There is no more reason for a Gentile to keep the sabbath ,than for Spain to celebrate the 4th of July, or the white race the 19th of June. The sabbath had a national significance to the Israelites. It celebrated THEIR deliverance from bondage. "Therefore" (for this reason) God commanded the children of Israel to keep the sabbath day.
H. Adventists Teach:
[That the Sabbath was given at creation and has been observed by men ever since.]
The Bible Teaches:
That the sabbath was made known on Mt. Sinai.
"Thou camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: and made known thy holy sabbath, and commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant." (Nehemiah 9:13-14).
The Sabbath is first mentioned in Exodus 16:23, and this is AFTER the children of Israel came out of Egypt . As they get to the foot of the mount, in the Wilderness of Sin, when the manna is given, the sabbath is first made known. It is evident that they had not been keeping the sabbath because the day before, Moses said, " Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord; * * *" The next day he said: "Today is a Sabbath unto the Lord."
This was just a few days before the sabbath was made one of the ten commandments. When they were told to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," it does not mean that they had been observing it from creation; but as they reached the foot of the mount at the giving of the manna the sabbath had been made known.
(Note: Horeb and Sinai are often used inter-changeably. Horeb is a range of mountains; Sinai is a peak in this range. The law was given in Horeb. (Malachi 4:4). The Wilderness of Sin is within the Horeb range).
Nehemiah says that God came down upon Mount Sinai (or Horeb) and made the Sabbath known. He had never given it before. The word is not found in all the book of Genesis. Remember that Moses lived and wrote 2500 years after creation. God rested on the seventh day. Twenty-five hundred years thereafter, God set it apart as a memorial of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt because in it HE HAD rested. There is neither command, example, nor penalty concerning sabbath observance during the patriarchal dispensation which embraced the first 2500 years of the history of man.
During the next 1500 years, from Sinai till the new law went into force (Acts 2), we find the command, example, and penalty concerning sabbath observance.
From the time the church was established, A. D. 33, (Acts 2) until the last inspired apostle penned the last verse of the book of Revelation, There is not one command in the New Testament for Christians to observe the Sabbath. Neither is there one penalty for not observing it.
II. The Sabbath Abolished.
Christians are commanded NOT to observe the sabbath. "'Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross * * *” “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: which are a shadow of things to come but the body of Christ." (Colossians 2:14-17).
Since Christ nailed the old law to the cross. THEREFORE, for this reason, let no one judge you in observing these things named—including the Sabbath. Sabbath observance was a religious requirement, made holy by commandment, and never was a moral obligation. Therefore, it is properly here classed with ordinances.
Some argue that this passage does not include the weekly sabbath, but "Sabbath days" would include all Sabbath days. However, the. word "days" is in italics which means that it was supplied by the translators. Leaving off days, the passage would read, "or of the Sabbath." When God said, "Remember the Sabbath day," Adventists say it refers to the seventh day Sabbaths. Then when God gives us a better law, and tells us not to observe " the Sabbath " why should it not likewise refer to the weekly Sabbath?
The Sabbath was a type or shadow. Those who try to keep it are clinging to a shadow.
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1. The covenant God made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt was the Ten Commandments.
"And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to perform, even Ten Commandments; and wrote them upon two tables of stone." (Deuteronomy 4:13).
"There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt." (I Kings 8:9).
2. God took away the covenant He made with Israel when He brought them out of Egypt. (Hebrews 8:6-13; 10:9, 10).
3. Therefore, God took away the Ten Commandments.
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a) God took away the Ten Commandments — just proved.
b) The sabbath was one of the Ten. (Exodus 20:8).
c) Therefore, God took away the Sabbath.
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1) When the covenant, the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, was given, Moses' face shone when he came
down from the mount. (Exodus 34:27-35).
2) The covenant that God gave when Moses' face shone "is abolished." (2 Corinthians 3:13).
3) Therefore, the Sabbath is abolished."
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The Sabbath is spoken of as being perpetual. (Exodus 31:16). "How could a perpetual Sabbath cease?" it is asked. The same way that the perpetual temple service (I Kings 9:3), and perpetual incense (Exodus 30:8), ceased.
"Jesus kept the Sabbath," we are told. He also kept the Passover, and the rest of the law. Jesus was born under the law, (Galatians 4:4), and lived under the law. When He died, He nailed it to the cross. (Colossians 2:14-17).
"Paul kept the Sabbath," some say. Why then did the Jews persecute him? Paul preached on the sabbath in the synagogues because it was an opportunity. Of him it was said, "This man persuadeth men to worship contrary to the law." (Acts 18:13).
"If the Ten Commandments are abolished, then men can steal, lie, etc.," it is said. Certainly not! All sin is condemned in the New Testament. See?
"The Catholics changed the Sabbath," it is argued. This just is not true. The law was changed (Hebrews 7:12) before the Catholic Church ever existed. During the days of the apostles, the early Christians were taught to worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2), and they were taught not to keep the Sabbath. (Colossians 2:16). Christ changed the day of worship (Hebrews 10:9, 10) — not the Catholics. The Bible is right regardless of what Catholics, Adventists or anyone else says.
"Jesus came not to destroy the Law." He came to fulfill. He said: "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." (Matthew 5:18). Till when? TILL ALL BE FULFILLED.
When it was fulfilled THEN IT DID PASS AWAY! Did Jesus fulfill it? On the cross He said, "It is finished." After his resurrection, Jesus said He had fulfilled the law, the prophets, and the psalms. (Luke 24:44). Therefore, the Law HAD passed away.
"We are to live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," another argues. The command to build the ark, offer animal sacrifice, burn incense, and practice circumcision all proceeded from the mouth of God. Are we to live by these commands? Commandments of God in the Patriarchal and Mosaic ages are not binding on Christians. (Hebrews 1: 1, 2). We must now hear Christ. (Matthew 17:5; 28:18).
The Apostles, guided by the Spirit went to work and executed the will of Christ on the terms laid down by Him. This plan of redemption is new. It is different to that of the old law.
Now under Christ we have a new plan of salvation, a new covenant, sealed by new blood, a new name, a new method of worship, and a new day of worship—the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 16:2). We also have new music—vocal only. (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16).
Remember that in all the instructions to Christians there is NOT one command for a Christian to keep the Sabbath, but we are commanded not to keep it.(Colossians 2:16).
Those Who Claim To Keep The Sabbath Do Not Keep It! Keeping the Sabbath required the following:
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Do no work. (Exodus 20:9, 10).
Kindle no fire. (Exodus 35:3).
No baking or boiling. (Exodus 16: 23).
Bear no burden. (Jeremiah 17:21, 22).
Offering two lambs. (Numbers 28: 9, 10).
If it is argued that the other things were abolished because they were not in the Ten Commandments, then why do Adventists refuse to eat pork? There is no prohibition against eating pork in the ten commandments. The doctrine of abstaining from meat today is of the devil. (1 Timothy 4:1-4).
It is a. fact:
THAT the Seventh day Adventist denomination, nor any other denomination is not in the Bible.
THAT they have a church manual, or creed, to which all members must subscribe; and this manual contradicts the Bible.
$1000.00 REWARD
For just one Bible text that names the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
For just one Bible text for a Christian to keep the Sabbath.
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