BIBLE STUDY

Jeremiah
Judgment and Restoration
by Joe Morecraft, III
PartXN
Appendix
Christian Sabbath:
The First Day of the Week
Day Changed: The Sabbath Preserved)
I. The Continuing Obligation
of tbe Sabbath
A (Gen. 2: If) The Creation Ordinance
1. Its place in Adam's life (Adam as
head of human race). Sabbath given to
man as man.
a. The sabbath is one day youn-
ger than man.
b. God "blessed" and "sanctified"
it, according to divine example, man,
imago dei, was to sanctify it unto God.
c. Objection: no express com-
mand here. None of the ten conunands
are explicitly given here, although they
were implicitly and clearly written on
the heart.
2. Its significance for Adam.
a. It commemorated God's crea-
tion of heavens and earth. Every sab-
bath he would worship the creator and
sustainer who rested in His works.
b. It pointed Adam to the future
cosmic-sabbath through dominion.
c. It celebrated rest in God "pos-
sessed." It was a "sign" of this.
d. It marked His passage through
time to His (and earth's) appointed goal.
e. It meant physical rest for sub-
duing as prophet, priest and king.
3. The continuance of sabbath-keep-
ing from Adam to Sinai.
a. See Gen. 7:4,10; 8:7-12; 11:7-
9; 18:17-19; 26:2-5; 50:10; 29:20-28;
31:23; Job 2:13; 42:8; Num. 23:29;
Exod. 5:14.
b. Basic motive of Israel behind
Exodus: freedom to celebrate sabbath.
Ex. 7:25; 8:1; 12:16,17; Dt. 5:15;
Hos. 2:10-14; Ex. 15:23-27; 16:1f;
19:1,11; 12:18.
c. Specific intimations (implica-
tions).
(1). In Gen. 4:3 the "end of
days" at which time Cain and Abel of-
fered their sacrifices was most likely the
end of the week, the sabbath.
(2). In Gen. 7:10 we see God
Himself observing the weekly interval
in the preparations for the flood.
(3). In Gen. 8:10-12 Noah ob-
serves this weekly division of time dur-
ing the flood - He twice waited a period
of 7 days to send out the dove.
(4). In Gen. 29:27 we see that it
was customary among the patriarchs to
continue a wedding festival for 7 days.
(5). In Gen. 50:10 Jacob's funer-
al services lasted 7 days.
(6). In Ex. 12:3-20 the rust pass-
over lasted 7 days.
(7). In Ex. 16:22-30 sabbath ob-
servance is seen in full force.
B. The Decalogue (Ex. 20)
1. There can be no arbitrary dividing
of the "ten words."
2. "Remember" implies no new
law.
3. Jew and "stranger'' to keep sab-
The Counsel of Chalcedon May, 1989 page 3
bath.
4. Reason to keep it creation (Ex.
20:1,11) and redemption (Ex. 20:1; Dt.
5). '
5. Not ceremonial: for breaking it
meant death, Ex. 31:14.
6. The sabbath is a needed blessing
(Is. 58:13; 56:2; Ex. 20:11). Therefore,
since it is such, if God has abolished
the Sabbath, the new dispensation is
less blessed than the Old!
C. Old Testament Prophecy.
1. Isa. 56:2,6 pertaining to Messian-
ic Age (now).
2. Isa. 66:22-24 pertaining to Mes-
sianic Age (now).
D. The Teaching of Christ.
1. Mt 24:20; no flight on sabbath.
2. Sabbath made for man - Mark
2:27.
3. Lord of the sabbath- Matt 12:8.
4. Three sabbath-works from Matt.
12; Mk. 2; Luke 6.
E. Apostolic Doctrine.
1. Heb. 4:9 - "Sahbatismos" = sab-
bath-keeping as in Lev. 23:32.
2. Apparent contradictions: Col.
2:16; Rom. 14:5-13; Gal. 4:10-11. A
thorough study of these passages will
show that it is the Saturday sabbath and
other holy days of the Jewish calendar
and not the Sunday sabbath to which .
they are referring. Saturday sabbath no
longer compulsary for New Testament
Christians.
ll. The Change of the Sabbath
(Day)
A (Gen. 2) The First Sabbath in Eden.
1. The seventh day of creation week
was the ftrst full day of Adam's
week(s).
2. It reminded him of his possessed
rest_ with God, from which he began his
living.
B. (Gen. 3) The Effects of the Fall on
the Sabbath. .
1. Fellowship with God was broken
and rest was lost Now a Savior is need-
ed to restore relationship and rest.
2. Adam lost his rest but not h.is
sabbath. Now, as a sinner, he no longer
started the weeks of his life with rest as
a present posse8sion, but now he
ed forward, waiting, longing for the end
of his weeks; for Christ. who would
once again bririg re8t.
3. His first day sabbath turned into a
seventh day sabbath, coming not at the
beginning but at the end of the week.
C. (Ex. 20) The Sabbath in the Deca-
logue.
1. The sabbath day was no flxed day
of the week. For documentation see
Rushdoony's Institutes of Biblical Law,
page 134f.
2. The fourth commandment com-
mands a rythmic cycle of living - six
days work and one day :test. The Old
Testament sabbath and the New Testa-
ment Lord's Day both ftt into this
cycle.

The key to the
change of day is the
resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
D. (Lev. 23) The Sabbath(s) in the Lev-
itical Calendar.
1. There were other sabbath days be-
sides the seventh days. Called "Sab-
baths" were: first days, 8th days, 15th
days, 22nd days, and 50 days.
a. Seven signifies the covenant.
completeness and fullness.
b. One signifies messianic re-
demption, rest, and newness.
c. Eight signifies rest, newness,
and new beginning.
2. The typological prophecy of the
change of sabbath-day in Lev. 23.
a. (23:2,3) The weekly sabbath
was the supreme day of holy
tion.
b. (23:5) Passover was on the
14th day and the celebration of there-
demptive effects of passover was on the
15th day which was the 1st day of the
3rd week.
c. (23:10f) The feast of first-
fruits was celebrated upon the first day
entry into the promised land It was
fulfilled in Christ who is "the frrst-
fruits of them that sleep."
d. (23:15f) The Day of Pentecost
was celebrated on the 50 day, i.e., the
1st day of the week after 7 weeks of 7
days (7X7+1=50). It was fulfi.lled in
Acts 2.
e. (23:32) It appears as if only
the annual Day of Atonement was from
The Counsel May, 1989 page 4
evening to evening.
f. (23:34,35,36,39) In the Feast
of Booths, the lst and 8th days are of
special importance as days of rest artd
convocation.
g. (25:8-55) the Sabbatical Year
of Jubilee was fulftlled in Christ and is
now His present reign, Lk. 4:16f and
Isa. 61:1f.
h. Conclusion: The Levitical cal-
endar with its sabbatical cycle reveals
the seventh day sabbath as its root; and
it declares the eighth day (or frrst day)
sabbath of the future as its destination,
E. (Acts 4 :10 and Psa. 118:24) The
New Day Sabbath Resulting from
Christ's Resurrection.
1. The Lord made all days, but this
day He made for a special purpose.
. 2. Psa. 118 prophesies a coming
day of joy, salvation, prosperity and
light ushered in by the Lord, who
would be rejectes by men, but who
would erect a magnificent "house" of
salvation and friendship with God.
3. Acts 4 tells us that this Psalm
was fulfilled in the resurrection day of
Jesus Christ.
a. The day of Psa. 118:24, then,
is the (sun-)day Christ arose froin the
grave.
b. It is also the new day of salva-
tion, joy and light that began to dawn
at Christ's restirrection, n Cor. 6:1,2.
F. (Mt 28:1; Lk. 23:56; 24:1; Acts
20:7) The Sabbath and the Life, Death,
and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
1. As the last Adam, He came to
fill the covenant of works, in which
Adam failed, and now we begin our
spiritual life from our rest in Him. The
old is gone, the new is here.
2. As God the son, there-creator and
rest-bringer (Mt. 11), He makes all
things new - new church, new heart,
new people, new law, new sacraments,
new heavens, new earth, new covenant-
for this new day a new day of rest is
needed to commemorate the new. be-
ginning and dawning of the kingdom of
God.
3. The kgy to the chan" of
day js the resurrection . of Jesus
.c.hiisL
a. '1t is important to iwte that
He (Christ) did not rise on the Saturday
Sabbath, turning that day into one of
joy, but deliberately passed it by in
death, and fulfilled the prophecy to rise
on the third day by rising on Sunday,
. the day after the Saturday Sabbath, thus
turning Sunday not Saturday into the
day of joy."- F.N. Lee.
b. In His resurrection on the 8th
day He demonstrated the arrival in
principle of the eighth day of God's crea-
tion week, the day of God's recreation.
The Lord's day thus becomes the week-
ly sign of the day of the Lord.
c. Resurrection day was more
than likely midnight to midnight.
(1). Women carne way be-
fore dawn and He had arisen.
(2). Walked 8 miles to Em-
maeus and then met with disciples at
least 2 hours after dark in Jerusalem on
1st day.
(3). Resurrection day as
fuirtllment of Psalm 118 was a
day of turning sadness into glad-
ness. Friday and Saturday spent
in death and humiliation. "How
could His disciples ever again celebrate
the sorrowful horrors of the last old,
joyless Saturday Sabbath? How could
they ever cease celebrating the joy and
gladnes of that first new Sunday Sab-
bath?" - F.N. Lee.
4. The new sabbath of the post-resur-
rection appearances of Christ
a. Many, if not all of the post-
resurrection appearances on Sundays,
Mt. 28:1f; John 20:2,19,26; next ap-
pearance 8 days after fll'St.
b. Christ's teaching during these
40 days.
(1). Bring them comfort and joy-
ful assurance - "peace be unto you."
(2). Upbraid them for unbelief
and hardness of heart (Lk. 24:37).
them.
them.
(3). Assure them of His reality.
(4). Supped and communed with
(5). Expounded God's word to
(6). Opened their understanding
to the word He spoke.
(7). Equipped them with power.
(8). Commissioned church with
Matt 28.
C. Conclusion:
Christ was resurrected on Sunday.
Christ appeared to His congregated
church on 1st Sunday.
Christ appeared to His congregated
church on 2nd Sunday.
Christ by-passed 7th day sabbaths
during 40 days.
Christ gave His Spirit on Pentecost
Sunday.
Christ caused His supper to be cele-
brated in His congregated church on
Sunday.
Christ caused contributions to be
made by His congregated church every
Sunday.
Christ appeared to John on Patmos
on Sunday.
In short, the 1st day of the week be-
came the new day. Christ would "Sab-
bath" with His people.
d. The significance of divine
example.
(1). Divine example is as
valid and instructive a guide to
duty as is express command.
(2). We keep f"ll'st day sab-
bath for same reason Adam kept
sabbath - divine example.
(3). Adam's sabbath commemor-
ating creation-rest was great but the last
Adam's sabbath commemorating re-
demption-rest is greater.
G. (Acts 2) The New Pentecostal Sab-
bath.
1. The Day of Pentecost in Acts 2
was the (re-)creation of "a new heavens
and earth" by the ("hovering") Spirit of
God. Compare Gen. 1: lf.
2. As the day of Christ's resur-
rection, so with the Day of Pentecost.
It was a day of joy and gladness.
3. The events of that day, (as well
as those connected with the post-resur-
rection appearances of Christ) would
give a distinct character to the subse-
quent Sundays thereafter.
a. There would be the preaching
of the word.
b. There would be congrega-
tional prayer.
c. There would be the administra-
tion of the sacraments.
d. There would be praise to God.
H. (Acts 19:8-10) The New Sabbath in
Apostolic Tradition.
1. (Acts 19:8-10) This separation
marked the fmal parting of the ways
between the synagogue and the church,
between the Jewish Saturday sabbath
and the Christian Sunday sabbath.
From here on there are no further Bib-
lical records of Christian evangelization
of the. Jews on the Saturday sabbaths in
the synagogues.
2. (I Cor. 16:1,2) This epistle en-
joins (implicitly or explicitly) every
one of the Ten Commandments.
a. It abounds with references to
the Lord's death, the Lord's Supper, the
Lord's resurrection, and the Lord's
corning.
b. In this passage, it commands
Christians to give offerings in as-
sembly on the flrst day of the week,
Le., the Lord's day.
3. (Acts 20:6,7) Paul waited seven
days to be able to attend the regular
gathering of the disciples on the frrst
day of the week.
a. The disciples did not gather
just for Paul's sake.
b. On Sundays, the ap{>stles and
disciples partook of the Lord's Supper
and assembled to hear the preached
word.
c. Notice: Sunday is from mid-
night to ntidnight. In Acts 20:8 they
met on Sunday after sunset.
4. (Heb. 4:9,10) The word "rest" oc-
curs repeatedly in Heb. 4, but in verse
nine the word for "rest" is an entirely
different word than the other. It is "sab-
batismos," which is the Old Testament
word for "sabbath-keeping." It refers to
a weekly (Christian) sabbath.
The Counsel of Chalcedon May, 1989 page 5
a. The weekly (Christian) sab-
bath rest is commemorative of the
Olristian's spiritual rest in Christ
b. (4:10) Sunday points back to
Christ's entry into His rest on His resur-
rection day when He finished the great
work of redemption through His death
and entered into His exaltation.
c. Sunday also points forward to
the believer's full entry into his eternal
rest on "the day of the Lord."
5. (Heb. 10:25) The assemblying of
the church was related to "the day of the
Lord."
6. (Rev. 1:10) "The Lord's Day."
a. This is the same Greek w6rd
as in "the Lord's Supper," which was
celebrated on the first day of the week.
b. John heard Christ preach and
teach as "the Lord of the Sabbath."
c. John saw the resurrected
Christ and was assembled with His
disciples on the (frrst) days of Christ's
post-resurreetion appearances.
d. John's phrase is apparently
one recognized by his readers. He is
identifying for them the place (Patmos)
and the time {Sunday) of his prophecy.
e. "The Lord's Day" is unmistak-
ably the Sunday of the resurrection of
the Lord of the sabbath.
7. Conclusion: A precedent set by
the apostles may be as binding as their
command. They were Spirit-inspired
men, who knew their obligation to the
law of God, yet who did not see the
seventh day sabbath as of continuing
obligation and who regarded the Lord's
day as our holy day of rest
a. ''If men will presume that
apostles filled with the Spirit appointed
the Christian sabbath without the
Spirit, they may question any chapter
or verse in the New Testament."
-Baxter
b. We keep the first day sabbath
as the Lord's day because of the authori-
ty of Christ and His apostles, illustrated
in 2000 yeats of church history.
Conclusion:
In Acts 20:7 there is the demarcation
of time according to sabbaths by the
Christian church. In that fifst is the
pregnant phrase - "the f.rrst of the sab-
baths." Luke 23:56 and 24:1 says:
"They rested on the sabbath day
according to the commandment. Now
on the first of the 'sabbaths' (literal
translation of Greek) . ... " Matt. 28:1
says: ''In the end of the 'sabbaths' as it
began to dawn towards the first of the
'sabbaths' . ... "
These phrases seem to describe the
end of one era and the commencement
of another. The old order was giving
way tO the new. Yet at the same time
the eternal principles of the sabbath-law
remained. Here are two ends of sabbaths -
the close of one and the beginning of
another. The difference is not with the
sabbath week. as a whole, but with the
end of it. The f.rrst day of the week' (on
which Christ arose) shall be thesancti-
fied day of rest D
Wlhle1Til to Crull
f((J)JT ilie lElicdlteJT
The Biblical Prescription
for Temptation
James
When should a Christian call for
the Elders to pray for for him? What
did James mean by these words? In or-
der to answer this question we will have
to consider the larger issue - How
should a Christian respond to sickness,
illness, and disease? This is a very sen- .
sitive issue, but a very practical and im-
portant one.
There are two extreme positions
held by Christians. On. the one hand,
there are those who believe that it is
not God's will for Christians to be sick
at all; that Christ bore all our diseases
in his death on the cross; and therefore,
if we enough faith, God will heal
us of all our siclcnesses now. Other
Christians treat illness in purely physi-
cal tenns. You go to the docto,:, get
your prescription ftlled, and eventually
get well. They would not think of call-
ing for the Elders, or even praying
about "it unless it were something seri-
ous.
The majority of Christians do both -
they pray, and go to the doctor! But
they often feel guilty. "Maybe if! had
enough faith God would heal me with-
out going to the doctor," they say.
How should a Christian handle sick-
by Wayne Rogers
ness? When should I call for the Elders
to pray for me?
James 5 is perhaps the most im-
portant passage in the NT for under-
standing the way Christians should han-
dle sickness today. James is not sim-
ply providing additional information to
the other Scriptures on how a Clnistian
should handle sickness. James is pro-
viding the standard operating procedure
that should govern the life and practice
of the church until the corning of the
Lord.
Before we can look at James 5 I
believe we need to review what we
know about sickness and healing in
general from the Scriptures.
I. GOD IS ABLE TO HEAL TilE
SICK
A. We believe that God is able to
heal and does heal the sick. He controls
sickness, illness, and disease for His
own purposes. He put diseases on the
Egyptians. He promised that He would
not inflict His people with those
diseases if they kept covenant with
Him, Ex. 15:26. Psalm 103:3 says
that He "healeth all your diseases."
The counsel of Chalcedon May, 1989 6