1. The Scriptures you quoted selectively say clearly that the Sabbath was a sign between God and ancient Israel. Who
was God speaking to in those verses? He was speaking to ancient Israel.
Of course it was selective. I can't quote the whole of scripture in a single post (I already have a problem with being long winded). But you miss the point...
The key phrase in the Ezekiel passage is "
..that you may know..." In other words the Function of the Sabbath as a sign - regardless of who God was talking to and no matter the context - is the function God describes, which is "
that one may know that He is יהוה"...as opposed to it being any other god. Our God is a jealous God. We realize this from the first commandment. He doesn't want to be mistaken for any other god or for any other god to be put in his face. And I put "yah" as a courtesy to help that point. I don't know what your point is regarding God's name or what it has to do with what we are talking about. But "The Lord" wasn't in the original text and isn't a name, yet most of us don't read Hebrew to see whats being said.
Read also Exodus 31:16-17 to see that
the Sabbath was a sign for ancient Israel that they were under the Old Covenant.
Actually notice in the passage you've shared that it says the Sabbath is a sign for a
perpetual covenant. means "to last forever". This means it doesn't end. Your passage even emphasizes this fact because it adds "throughout your generation
s".
Exodus 31:16-17
"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."
The Sabbath sign doesn't end. Forever is a pretty long time.
2. There is no evidence that any human kept the Sabbath until Exodus 16. Any assertion you make in this regard is an argument from silence. Show me a Scripture if you want to assert otherwise. God ceased creating on the seventh day, but there is no evidence that any human kept the Sabbath before Exodus 16.
What you're asking is illogical. You're asking me to prove if any man followed a command from God before God officially gave it. That's an unfalsifiable hypothesis. I never asserted whether or not any man obeyed the Sabbath prior to Exodus. I stated that God gave the Sabbath commandment because
he takes us back in memorial (in memory) to the very day he sanctified the 7th and rested from his work...as a mark to show we are his. The Sabbath was established as a sign, by God himself, in Genesis 2:3. He didn't just cease from work.
"And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it ["set it apart"]: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
Now with that said, interestingly enough scripture tells us that Abraham followed God's commandments.
Genesis 26:5
"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."
...So what commandments, statues and laws were these that Abraham followed? We don't know personally, but we know that God doesn't change; that he's the same forever.
I am aware that the Abrahamic Covenant is a separate covenant. The sign wasn't just a sign between God and Abraham; it was a sign between Abraham's descendants as well.
Circumcision, however, was co-opted into the Old Covenant. Leviticus 13 specifies the need for an Israelite to be circumcised. Not only that, but it also was a sign associated with the Old Covenant. Galatians 5:1-4 points to this. Paul basically says in these verses that circumcision was part of the Law.
You're not making the distinction between physical (fleshy) circumcision and circumcision of the heart. I stated that "circumcision of the heart" is the true circumcision (spiritual). It's what Paul talks about. It's what Christ talks about and it's what God talks about. If you love God with every ounce of your being you are circumcised by God (in spirit, not in flesh). "The flesh profits nothing". Paul was answering a problem regarding *fleshy* circumcision in Galatians...this is why he continues in Galatians 5:16-23 contrasting the flesh vs. the spirit. The flesh is bondage. The spirit is freedom.
I am not sure if you are saying that the Old Covenant is still in effect or not. If you are, you are contradicting Scriptures which I referred to earlier.
See these Scriptures. Study them. Then come back and present your case.
lol I'm pretty studied up on scripture, thanks. But let's let God declare what the "New" Covenant is.
Jeremiah 31:1,4,10,31-34
1 At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
[...]
4 Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
[...]
10 Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a shepherd doth his flock
[...]
31 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
There's no contradiction if I merely reference scripture. But here are a few questions for you:
1) You say the old covenant was between God and Israel and that the new covenant is for Christians, but based on Jeremiah the promise of this "New" covenant is still between God and Israel, isn't it? The principal party of the new covenant is the house of Israel, right?
2) The Law of God is STILL present in this covenant, isn't it?
...My point is, the difference between the old covenant and new covenant is the same as the difference between Christ walking in the flesh before his crucifixion and Christ resurrected from death. Christ transformed upon his resurrection, from old body of flesh to new body of spirit...but he was
- The Same Christ
- The Same son of God
- The Same King of Israel.
- Yet he can no longer die.
Likewise, the covenant changed from "old" to "new"; transforming from fleshy bondage of sin and death (God's law on outside) to spirit and life (God's law on inside)...but it is
- The Same promise to become a holy priest nation
- The Same parties are involved in the covenant
- The Same benefits given to its recipients
- Yet those recipients no longer need to die for their transgressions. There's a new living way the covenant operates.
And if we are a part of the new covenant we are grafted into the House of Israel, the principal party, with Christ as her King.
To better understand the meaning behind "new" covenant (as it relates to the "old" covenant) is to consider what it means to say "new moon". Does a separate distinct moon appear in the sky each month while the previous moon is destroyed? Of course not. Rather, the moon is restored with new light from the sun, and is no longer dark...as if to say it's resurrected to new life. Likewise, the Son has given the old covenant new light, resurrecting it to a new living way. It is no longer dark. It is transformed.