Some thoughts on the Sabbath...
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Also I was reading the book of Acts , it’s so foundational. Where in the 10 commandments does it say to be circumcised? It does not . The gentiles that where converted , where instructed not to participate in pagan worship, by the Apostles. But that does not exclude the 10 commandments either . They all knew the Sabbath was the lords Day and in the 10 commandments. Acts 16 v 5 And so were the churches established in the faith , and increased in number daily .
Acts 16 v 13 And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by the river side , where prayer was wont to be made ; and we sat down , and spake unto the women which resorted thither .
Notice that the Sabbath is being kept not even in a temple or synagogue, but by a riverside ! So its plain to see the Sabbath was the churches established faith . A few thoughts! It is worthy to read the word , I’m always learning things . God Bless !
define Love,
statements like this one, "love fulfills the law". are meaningless unless the word used to explain is not abstract-- no mental picture, easy to define.
not only that how many kinds or types of love are there, and which one is it?
is it sexual,
brotherly
husband/wife
parent/child
but no worries -- God defined it with 10 ways to express our love towards God and man
The Jews,
The Web says there are less the 16 million today, I have also read 30 million, yet the prophecy is for the Chosen People to be in numbers as the sand of the sea and the stars and to become Many nations.
this week I posted "If Jews only are “The” Chosen People, can anyone explain what is taking place in these scriptures?'
no one opened it.
Roger, If you can find it, please let me know what you think.
there are many problems in the Word, if the Jews are all there is .
A few things could be said at this point.
In the ancient Near Eastern worldview, gods were territorial beings: each land had its own deity, and a people belonged to the god of the soil they lived on. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He was not merely rescuing slaves — He was claiming a people for Himself and promising to be their protector, provider, and sovereign within the land He would give them. The covenant formula “I will be your God, and you will be my people” therefore meant that Yahweh was taking Israel under His exclusive patronage, displacing the local gods of Canaan, and binding Himself to them in a way no other deity did. In that world, a god’s power was proven by what happened in his land and to his people; so God’s promise was a declaration that Israel would live under His rule, His blessing, and His presence in the territory He Himself would grant them. The covenant was not abstract theology — it was a concrete, geopolitical claim that Israel would be Yahweh’s people in Yahweh’s land, under Yahweh’s care.
So when Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt and formed a covenant with them, He was claiming them as His people in the land He Himself would give. Within that framework, the Sabbath was not merely a moral command but a public sign of allegiance: by resting on the seventh day, Israel acknowledged Yahweh as their Creator, Redeemer, and territorial Lord. Sabbath‑keeping marked them as the people who lived under His rule in His land, enjoying His provision and protection. In this sense, the Sabbath fits perfectly into the covenant structure of God, land, people, and loyalty, functioning as a weekly declaration that Israel belonged to Yahweh alone.
In that context, a "Jew" was not only the offspring of Jacob but anyone, from any people or family could join the people of Yahweh and live under that covenant. Ruth is a prime example, but she’s part of a much larger biblical pattern. The Old Testament repeatedly highlights individuals who left their native land, kinship group, and gods to join themselves to Yahweh and His people. These stories function as living demonstrations that Israel’s covenant identity was open to outsiders who embraced Israel’s God.
Jesus Christ is the head of a new covenant based on the Promise God made to Abraham. In that covenant, God is taking a different people for himself on the basis that they are "in Abraham." Genesis 17:7 "I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you." Paul argues that the Gentiles who have the same faith as Abraham are included in the Abrahamic Covenant and stand to inherit the blessing of Abraham, which is eternal life. Anyone, whether they be Jew or Gentile, and have the same faith as Abraham will inherit eternal life.
This post is long enough. Let me find your other post and if I can be helpful I will try,
I tried to respond on your blog, but unfortunately, my response was too long. I will post it here instead.
The twelve tribes were indeed split into two kingdoms. The division of the twelve tribes into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah happened at Shechem after Solomon’s death, when his son Rehoboam refused to ease the heavy labor and taxation that had supported Solomon’s building projects. The northern tribes, already feeling marginalized under Davidic rule centered in Judah, gathered at Shechem and asked for relief; Rehoboam’s harsh reply confirmed their fears that the Davidic monarchy would continue to exploit them. Led by Jeroboam, a former official who had opposed Solomon’s policies, the northern tribes rejected Rehoboam’s authority and declared independence, forming the kingdom of Israel. Judah (with Benjamin) remained loyal to the Davidic line, forming the kingdom of Judah. Politically, the split resulted from economic strain, tribal tensions, and Rehoboam’s arrogance; theologically, the biblical narrative frames it as God’s judgment on Solomon’s unfaithfulness, fulfilling the prophetic word that the kingdom would be torn apart. The schism at Shechem thus marks the moment when the united people became two nations with separate kings, capitals, and destinies.
By the time Jeremiah began his ministry, the northern kingdom of Israel had already been destroyed by Assyria for nearly a century, its people exiled and its cities gone. Jeremiah, therefore, was not warning Israel but Judah, the southern kingdom that still remained. His message repeatedly points to Israel’s earlier fall as a living example of what happens when a covenant people refuse to listen to God. Jeremiah’s entire prophetic career unfolds in the decades leading up to—and then through—the Babylonian conquest of Judah, warning that what Assyria had done to Israel, Babylon would now do to Judah unless they repented. In this way, Jeremiah stands between two national disasters: long after Israel’s collapse, and just before (and during) Judah’s own.
In the midst of Judah’s collapse and the looming Babylonian exile, Jeremiah 31 breaks open with a startling message of hope: God will not abandon His people to the fate they have earned. Though Jeremiah has spent chapters warning that Judah will suffer the same judgment that overtook Israel, he now promises that God will one day restore His scattered people, reunite Israel and Judah, and renew the covenant they have broken. At the center of this hope stands the promise of a New Covenant—one written not on stone but on the heart, marked by forgiveness, internal transformation, and an unbreakable relationship with God. In a moment when the nation’s institutions, land, and identity were disintegrating, Jeremiah 31 declares that God’s commitment to His people is deeper than their failure and stronger than their exile, and that He Himself will rebuild what their sin has destroyed.
Israel is back in the land today. I believe we are waiting for Joel's prophecies to be fulfilled.
God lacks nothing. But God needs the order and obedience of His creation or the nature of the universe falls apart.
God sets the principles and order that His creation needs to live by.
God could destroy everything and start again. He lacks nothing.
When I say God needs obedience it isn't because God lacks anything. God it is because without obedience everything suffers. Sin = death. For the nature of the world and universe to remain in peaceful harmony God needs obedience.
He set the standard and in order for that standard to remain GOOD, we need to obey God.
It isn't about God lacking or being imperfect in any way. It is about the universe which God created. God gives us free choice and because the Devil did not obey and Love God the problems started.
God needs obedience from his creation in order for peace and order to remain in their surroundings.
The Bible I read is clear. It is very plan that God blessed the Sabbath at creation.
Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Blessed = made holy; consecrated.
Sanctified it. = to set aside, to make holy.
H6942, qadash
to consecrate, sanctify, prepare, dedicate, be hallowed, be holy, be sanctified, be separate.
It was made HOLY at creation. From week 1 it was to be set aside, hallowed, and dedicated for holy use.
Before sin and Jewish people ever came into the picture..
That is clear.
I surely not reading all that but I share a bit
It not a bad idea be home Friday evening and staying with family all Saturday .But the saberh was made for man slave bodies . OT natural born Jewish I can't keep all them laws TJ So just At the Lord to the family day have fun in Him
It not a bad idea be home Friday evening and staying with family all Saturday .But the saberh was made for man slave bodies . OT natural born Jewish I can't keep all them laws TJ So just At the Lord to the family day have fun in Him
There is no denying that God choose Israel. God gave them laws and ordinances. Even civil laws.
Different laws for different reasons.
God set natural laws in place. Laws like gravity and time.
God gave moral laws and laws of love that protect us from sin. They define sin and reveal evil.
God gave laws to deal with sin. Cerimonial laws and ordinances that were shadows of Christ's ministry.
Christ would be, is our high priest and would be the lamb without spot.
Every one of the 7 Jewish ceremonies is a type.
Passover = crucifixion
Unleavened Bread = Christ in the Grave
First Fruits = Resurrection of Christ
Feast of Weeks = Pentecost
Trumpets = second Advent movement
Atonement = Pre-advent Judgement.
Tabernacles = Homegoing at second Advent.
Many laws do not apply today because we are not a nation with God ruling the Civil powers and Christ caused the cerimonial laws to end.
But the moral laws have not changed.
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Col 2:14 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 his cross;
Abolished and blotted out laws....
but
Rom 7:12 Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Mat 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
These laws have not changed.
Knowing which laws are removed and which have not changed is important.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts:
What can we conclude from the fact that God blessed the Seventh Day prior to the Mt. Sinai Covenant? While God rested on the seventh day prior to the Mount Sinai Covenant, his command for Israel to keep it holy by resting on Saturday didn't take place until much later. And even so, resting on Saturday was unique to the nation of Israel.
Now although God's rest on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3) did foreshadow a future sabbath law, there is no Biblical record of the sabbath being kept before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt. *Nowhere in Scripture is there any hint that Sabbath keeping was practiced from Adam to Moses.
The word "Sabbath" first appears in Exodus 16:23 - Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning. This command was for the Israelites.
We have a problem Houston.
Your saying that Abraham had the law as in the Mt Sinai law as shown above.
Yet Paul states the following.
Galatians 3:16-18
Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many,
but rather to one, “And to your seed,” that is, Christ. What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and
thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the
inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of
a promise.
We also have the verse below.
Deuteronomy 5:2-3
The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us,
with all those of us alive here today.
So logically, Abraham certainly did not have the law of Mt Sinai.
Care to explain Genesis 26:5 and what commandments, statutes, law, it is referring to?
Have you read Genesis 26: 5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The word "law" is the Hebrew word Torah in which are the 10 commandments the Sabbath and the 7 Holy Feasts of God.
Lexical Summary
torah: law, instruction, laws
The reason all of this is not clear --- is exactly what Christ told His 12 --11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
unless the Father opens a persons mind to HIS Truth --- it can not be understood which is proven by the tens of thousands of diverse churches all divided in what they believe. There is ONE Body of Christ not tens of thousands.
out of 8 plus billion alive today only maybe 20% or 25% claim to be some kind or type of christian,
Even IF all 2 billion claiming to be a christian were to be given eternal life -- 6 billion are dead.
Is God that weak He can only save 25%?? or is this only A day of salvation with another to come?
Christ said He is not willing that any be lost ---- but 75% is OK?
and what about the billion or more before He came?
I have heard some preachers say that billions are in hell now suffering --- what mercy, what love does that show?
Genesis 26:5 does not specifically say which laws, statutes and commandments that Abraham kept. To say it was the 10 commandments given through Moses in Exodus is speculation.
If every man from Adam to Moses kept the Sabbath, why is the Hebrew word for the weekly Sabbath not found in the book of Genesis? Why is no one before Moses ever commanded to keep the Sabbath? Why are there no examples of anyone keeping the Sabbath before Moses? Why were the Patriarchs never instructed about the Sabbath but were instructed regarding: Offerings: Genesis 4:3-4, Altars Genesis 8:20, Priests: Genesis 14:18, Tithes: Genesis 14:20, Circumcision: Genesis 17:10, Marriage: Genesis 2:24 and Genesis 34:9. Why would God leave out the Sabbath command in Genesis if it was for everyone to keep before Moses?
The sabbath was not given to all the nations. It was given to the nation of Israel. Look at Deuteronomy 5:1-15, which gives the commandments to Israel. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
Nehemiah 9:13 - "Then You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. 14 So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, and laid down for them commandments, statutes and laws, Through Your servant Moses."