Harter: Remember the Sabbath Day
Elder Gus Harter identifies three types of sabbath days in scripture.
First came the Old Testament sabbath. It was instituted at the dawn of time when God ceased creating on the seventh day, Saturday. Through Moses, God gave the Israelites a formal command to honor Him on the last day of the week, as well as every seventh full year by leaving their ground fallow. Giving up one of every 7 potential work days and an entire year of crop yields made the children of Israel unique among the nations and people of that day, and as God intended, it demonstrated obedience and trust. By keeping the command to honor the sabbath, the children of Israel showed their faith that the God who delivered them from the Egyptians and fed them manna in the wilderness would surely help them honor the law He gave them.
The New Testament chronicles the fulfillment of the covenant law by Christ, and a new order of worship. Christ rose from the grave on Sunday, the first day of the week. He appeared first to his disciples as a group on a Sunday. The early church broke bread and worshiped corporately on Sunday. In Revelation 1:10, John refers to Sunday as “the Lord’s day.” We may well call it the Christian sabbath.
There is one more sabbath. It is outlined most clearly in Hebrews 4. In this passage, the day of rest set forth in Old Testament law is identified as a metaphor for the rest and peace now available to God’s child when he has “ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”
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Harter: The Sabbath Day
God commanded His people to remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Old testament Jews observed strict rules surrounding sabbath days, months, and years. Violators were stoned to death! As new testament Christians, what is our obligation toward the sabbath? Should we follow old testament law as we plan our Saturday? Is Sunday the Christian sabbath? Elder Gus Harter opens the scriptures to answer these questions in a straightforward and practical lesson on keeping the sabbath holy.
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