looking for help reconciling the Sabbath with common observation?

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
It is what the bible says. God wrote His 10 commandments on tablets of stone. Moses wrote the ceremonial laws in a book.
Exodus chapter 20 predates chapters 24 and 34.
There isn't any Scripture that distinguishes "ceremonial" law from any other kind. Jesus, Paul, and James all made it clear that the whole law is one.
 
Tell me where the stone tablets are now. Tell me where the temple is now. Do you not yet realise that the law is the shadow and Christ is the reality? Jesus came to be the life of the believer. No one in the Old Covenant had the indwelling Holy Spirit. They did not have the new life that is found only in Christ.

What they did have is the law. And that did nothing for them as the law does not include the power to obey. At the right time, God sent His Son to be much more than the sacrifice for sin. Lord Jesus fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law for us.

The law saves no one still. The law is still powerless to change the heart. Lord Jesus made it clear that the law is good. The problem is not with the law, it is with fallen humanity. The law brings death. Now you want me to believe that God saved me and wants to put me back under the law that killed me in the first place.

God has not removed the law and it still has a noble purpose. It's intent is to lead us to Christ. My advice to you is to come to Christ, because if you are still bound to the law, you have not come to Christ.

You do not know what it means to be crucified with Christ. That is hardly surprising. The stinking pride of the human heart baulks at the idea that God's only remedy for self is to kill us. Few preach the truth of the cross anymore, even while quoting Galatians 2:20. They know what it says. They do not know what it means. I don't remember too much preaching on verse 19 either.

"For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. No law applies to dead people. No one takes them to court or even charges them with an offence.

You and your fellow legalists think that we who enjoy liberty in Christ want to sin. Not at all. The life of Christ in us hates sin. Since Christ is the life of the believer, we hate sin also. Obeying the law is not enough to please God. The rich young ruler stated that he had kept the commandments. Jesus told him that was not enough. I don't care how well you keep God's commandments, you also fail to please God.
Gideon, you who distribute bibles but do not know what is written in these books

where is the ark of the covenant ? search the word ARK in the book of revelations and see ! you don't understand a thing Gideon stop pretending you do and get reading all of it please here is a hint;

ChatGPT Image Aug 28, 2026 at 08_45_03 AM.png


the law that was a shadow is not the ten commandments but the rest of it , the law of Moses given because of transgression. it is written. time is short Gideon the door is about to shut, after that it will be too late.
 
Gideon, you who distribute bibles but do not know what is written in these books

where is the ark of the covenant ? search the word ARK in the book of revelations and see ! you don't understand a thing Gideon stop pretending you do and get reading all of it please here is a hint;

View attachment 296094


the law that was a shadow is not the ten commandments but the rest of it , the law of Moses given because of transgression. it is written. time is short Gideon the door is about to shut, after that it will be too late.
You interpret God's word according to your own preconceived notions. You reject the word of God that contradicts you. I died to the Law. I am alive in Christ and I live to God. Jesus lives in me to be all that God demands of me. When He is doing the living, the burden of obedience is placed on Him, not me.

A bird flies because it is a bird, not because it has a pilot's licence. I live in Christ and He lives in me. I am a new creation. I live according to the new covenant, new life and the new law. The new law is the law of the Spirit of life. As long as I am walking in the Spirit, I am not disobeying God. If for some reason I am not walking in the Spirit, nothing I do is acceptable to God, even if outwardly it looks good.

God uses the law to convict of sin and lead sinners to Christ.

1 Timothy 1:8-11

"Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. We realize that law is not enacted for the righteous, but for the lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for killers of father or mother, for murderers, for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching…"

Christ is my righteousness. The law brought me to Christ. It has done its job.

Galatians 3:23-25

"Before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian."
 
Tell me where the stone tablets are now. Tell me where the temple is now. Do you not yet realise that the law is the shadow and Christ is the reality? Jesus came to be the life of the believer. No one in the Old Covenant had the indwelling Holy Spirit. They did not have the new life that is found only in Christ.
The stone tablets are in a cave somewhere in the ark. Not found.
The Lord wrote them on stone because the people forgot them. A clear and unchangeable record.

The temple is in Heaven
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The earthly temple was a copy of the heavenly...
Heb 8:1-2
1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
This heavenly temple is a place of hope, where Jesus lives to make intercession for us! Hebrews 7:25.

Also, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

As the temple of God we are told that Jesus would write the law in our hearts and minds.
Under the New Covenant, God will supernaturally write His law directly into our hearts and minds.

Which law.. not the laws about temples and offerings. But the law inside the most holy place under the mercy seat.

Jer 31:33 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.
(Heb 8:10.)

Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

While the law itself was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), the people failed because they tried to keep it in their own strength. In the New Covenant, the "writer" is the Holy Spirit, and the "table" is the human soul.

2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Pro 7:1-3
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

When the law is written in the heart, obedience is no longer a "yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1) or a matter of forced outward observance. Instead, it becomes the natural expression of a heart that loves God. (The first covenant failed because it became an outward observance and bondage).

Psalm 40:8 shows the experience of one who has the law within: "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."

Romans 7:22 echoes this sentiment: "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."

1 John 5:3 clarifies that this internal change makes obedience joyful: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

This writing of the law is not something we can do for ourselves; it is a work of divine grace through faith. It requires a new heart and a new mind because the "carnal mind" is naturally at enmity with God's law (Romans 8:7).

By writing His law in our hearts, God restores His image in us,

So to answer your question where is the law today.. In the hearts of those that allow the holy Spirit to write it in their hearts.
 
The stone tablets are in a cave somewhere in the ark. Not found.
The Lord wrote them on stone because the people forgot them. A clear and unchangeable record.

The temple is in Heaven
Rev 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
The earthly temple was a copy of the heavenly...
Heb 8:1-2
1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
This heavenly temple is a place of hope, where Jesus lives to make intercession for us! Hebrews 7:25.

Also, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

As the temple of God we are told that Jesus would write the law in our hearts and minds.
Under the New Covenant, God will supernaturally write His law directly into our hearts and minds.

Which law.. not the laws about temples and offerings. But the law inside the most holy place under the mercy seat.

Jer 31:33 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.
(Heb 8:10.)

Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;

While the law itself was holy, just, and good (Romans 7:12), the people failed because they tried to keep it in their own strength. In the New Covenant, the "writer" is the Holy Spirit, and the "table" is the human soul.

2Co 3:3 Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Pro 7:1-3
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. 2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. 3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.

When the law is written in the heart, obedience is no longer a "yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1) or a matter of forced outward observance. Instead, it becomes the natural expression of a heart that loves God. (The first covenant failed because it became an outward observance and bondage).

Psalm 40:8 shows the experience of one who has the law within: "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart."

Romans 7:22 echoes this sentiment: "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man."

1 John 5:3 clarifies that this internal change makes obedience joyful: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."

This writing of the law is not something we can do for ourselves; it is a work of divine grace through faith. It requires a new heart and a new mind because the "carnal mind" is naturally at enmity with God's law (Romans 8:7).

By writing His law in our hearts, God restores His image in us,

So to answer your question where is the law today.. In the hearts of those that allow the holy Spirit to write it in their hearts.
Simply put, if you are in Christ, the law has done its job. While we are being led by the Holy Spirit, we are pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit is never going to do or say anything contrary to God's character or nature.

If you are still relying on the law to lead you, you are missing out. Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. You really imagine that God puts believers back under the law that killed them in the first place?

New Covenant, new life, new law. It's the law of the Spirit of Life. The law came through Moses and is the ministry of condemnation and death.

2 Corinthians 3:7-11

"Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!"​
 
  • Like
Reactions: Inquisitor
Genesis 2:3, where God blesses and sanctifies the seventh day, but the text never says He commanded Adam, never says Adam kept it, never says it was revealed to humanity as a weekly obligation; the creation act is God’s action, not man’s duty, and Scripture never upgrades that sanctification into a pre‑fall command.
But this is the point.... because there is no record in scripture, it does not mean man did not know.

Cain was guilty of murder. And there is no record of God telling Cain not to murder.

When God made the sabbath He made it for man. He did not need to rest.

The sanctification did not need to be upgraded or downgraded or changed in any way because it has not changed.

It was sanctified at creation and is still sanctified today. We do not know what God said to Adam and Eve and because it is not recorded you make presumptions.

When God made the sabbath holy and rested on it, it was a holy day from that point. Sanctified from that time. It was not made for Himself or Angels. It was made for man.

It was “holy to the Lord.” Exodus 16:23; 31:15. “The, holy of the Lord.” Isaiah 58:13. “My (the Lord’s) holy day.”
The obligation to observe it has sacredness as its basis.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Davidstarr
What do you say to hospital workers, firefighters, ....?
Jesus said it is lawful to do good on the sabbath day.
Even to save the life of an animal that had fallen into a ditch.
Now asking payment for emergency sabbath services; that's a different story....
 
Simply put, if you are in Christ, the law has done its job. While we are being led by the Holy Spirit, we are pleasing to God. The Holy Spirit is never going to do or say anything contrary to God's character or nature.

If you are still relying on the law to lead you, you are missing out. Those who are led by the Spirit are the sons of God. You really imagine that God puts believers back under the law that killed them in the first place?

New Covenant, new life, new law. It's the law of the Spirit of Life. The law came through Moses and is the ministry of condemnation and death.

2 Corinthians 3:7-11

"Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness! Indeed, what was once glorious has no glory now in comparison to the glory that surpasses it. For if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which endures!"​
If you are being led by God's Spirit why would you want to break any of His 10 commandments?
This would include the 4th commandment. The only one of the 10 that actually tells us which God gave this law. Our Creator (Exo 20:11). The other 9 do not say.

You should examine which spirit is leading you if it leads you to break ANY of the 10.....
 
The Bible says the whole Sinai covenant‑agreement was voided, not piecemeal laws: Heb 8:13 says the covenant was “obsolete… ready to vanish away,” Heb 7:18 says there was a “disannulling of the commandment,” Col 2:14 says the covenant’s “handwriting of ordinances” was “blotted out,” Eph 2:15 says Christ “abolished… the law of commandments,” and Gal 3:25 says we are “no longer under the tutor.” These are covenant‑level statements declaring the entire agreement ended.
The agreement ended ... True.
But did the law end. ?

If I make an agreement ...
"I will give 1 million dollars to anyone that does not kill or lie or commit adultery and keeps the sabbath holy for the next 3 weeks. "

After 3 weeks I find out that everyone I made the agreement with failed except for 3 people. I pay them out and that's it. The agreement has ended.

Does that mean the laws are now void..

Does that mean People can commit adultery and lie freely from now on??

The agreement ended with Israel and a new agreement started. But you presume that everything ended. God does not change and the same principles that determine sin are still in place today.

Did the moral laws end. The law ....

Deu 6:5-6
5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. 6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

Lev 19:18 .... but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.

So where all the laws made void?
 
Moses wrote the ceremonial laws in a book.
Why did you say that "Moses wrote the ceremonial law"?

That's not what the text states (Exodus 24).

Here is the text below.

Exodus 24:3-4
When Moses came and told the people all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all responded with one voice:
All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD.

Three times in two verses the same phrase is stated "ALL THE WORDS of the Lord"

That is a comprehensive description of the entire law.

Now you need to prove that Moses only wrote the ceremonial law and not the ten words, in the Book of the Covenant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gideon300
Naturally then since we no longer kill animals for redemption from sin then we can steal, murder, worship other gods right?

If all those laws are made void then none of them need to be obeyed....

Two people, one an atheist the other a Christian. Both of them climb to the top of a tall building and start randomly shooting people on the streets. As soon as the cops reach them they each shoot themselves.

Naturally the atheist is going to hell right?
But the Christian is not under the same laws as the atheist. He will go on to heaven...

Is that where you wish to stand?

There is no way you can get rid of the 4th commandment without getting rid of all 10 of them.
This is how far you wish to go just to avoid keeping the 7th day sabbath?
If one law or letter of the law is void then the entire law is void.

Jesus said.

Matthew 5;18
For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law, until
all is accomplished.

The fulfillment of the law must occur before even one letter of the law can pass away.

Has Jesus fulfilled the law or not?
 
Gideon, you who distribute bibles but do not know what is written in these books

where is the ark of the covenant ? search the word ARK in the book of revelations and see ! you don't understand a thing Gideon stop pretending you do and get reading all of it please here is a hint;

View attachment 296094


the law that was a shadow is not the ten commandments but the rest of it , the law of Moses given because of transgression. it is written. time is short Gideon the door is about to shut, after that it will be too late.
Oh no, a graven image.
 
If you are being led by God's Spirit why would you want to break any of His 10 commandments?
This would include the 4th commandment. The only one of the 10 that actually tells us which God gave this law. Our Creator (Exo 20:11). The other 9 do not say.

You should examine which spirit is leading you if it leads you to break ANY of the 10.....
I do not observe the Saturday Sabbath. If you had clue about the reality of purpose of the Law, you would know that your question is foolish. The Law of the Spirit is not a matter of rules but of life. A bird flies because it is a bird, not because it understands aeronautics. A believer lives righteously because it is in his nature, not because he opens his rule book to find out how he should behave.

Yes, there are times when believers ignore the inner witness. There are reasons for that. Paul and others pointed out that some behaviours are unbecoming and unacceptable. Jesus made it clear on the Sermon on the Mount that the law was inadequate for Kingdom living. Like all religion, Law works from the outside to try and make individuals conform to a certain standard. Like every religion, it does not work. God works from the inside, leading and guiding the believer in the righteous path of life.

I am not a Jew. The Law was given to Israel, not to the Gentiles. Humanity lived for thousands of years before the law was introduced. God set apart one nation in covenant relationship. God gave that one nation the Law. He did not give it the Egypt, Babylon, Greece or Rome. Acts 15 makes it clear what God requires of Gentile believers. The Sabbath is not given as a requirement.

Some people here seem to enjoy adding to the Word of God. The New Testament never commands believers to observe the Sabbath. Our "Sabbath" rest is found in Christ, not in refusing to turn on the light switch on a Saturday (that is considered to be work).