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The major views in the Sabbath debate By John Chopores Seventh day view “BIBLE HISTORY [by
J.N. Andrews] CHAPTER 1 IN THE BEGINNING — THE CREATION. Time and eternity — The Creator and his work — Events of the first day of time — Of the second — Of the third — Of the fourth — Of the fifth — Of the sixth. TIME, as distinguished from eternity, may be
defined as that part of duration which is measured by the Bible. From the
earliest date in the book of Genesis to the resurrection of the unjust at the
end of the millennium, a period of about 7000 years is measured off.1 Before the commencement of this great week of time, duration without
beginning fills the past; and at the
expiration of this period, unending duration opens before the people of God.
Eternity is that word which embraces duration without beginning and without
end; and that Being whose existence comprehends eternity is he who only hath
immortality, the King eternal, immoral, invisible, the only wise God. (Isaiah. 57:15; 1 Samuel 15:29, margin; Jeremiah 10:10, margin;
Micah 5:2, margin; 1 Timothy When it pleased this infinite Being, he gave existence Lo our
earth. Out of nothing, God created all things; “so that things which are seen
were not made of things which do appear.” This act of creation is that event
which marks the commencement of the first week of time. He who could accomplish
the whole work with one word chose rather Lo employ six days, and to accomplish
the result by successive steps. Let us trace the footsteps of the
Creator from the time when he laid the foundation of the earth until the close
of the sixth day, when the heavens and the earth were finished, “and God saw
everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Hebrews 11:3;
Genesis 1:31.).On the first day of time, God created the heaven and the earth.
The earth thus called into existence was without form, and void; and total
darkness covered the Creator’s work. Then “God said, Let there be light; and
there was light.” “And God divided the light from the darkness,” and called the
one day and the other night. (Genesis 1:1-5; Hebrews 1:10.) On the second day of time, “God said, Let there be a firmament [margin, Hebrews, expansion]
in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” The dry land had not yet appeared; consequently the earth was
covered with water. As no atmosphere existed, thick vapors rested upon the face
of the water; but the atmosphere being now called into existence by the word of
the Creator, causing those elements to unite which compose the air we breathe,
the fogs and vapors that had rested upon the bosom of the water were borne
aloft by it. This atmosphere, or expansion, is. called heaven.
(Genesis 1:6-8; Job 37:18.) On the third day of time, God gathered the waters together, and
caused the dry land to appear. The gathering together of the waters God called
seas; the dry land, thus rescued from the waters, he called earth. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb
yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is
in itself, upon the earth; and it was so.” “And God saw that it was good.”
(Genesis 1:9-18; Psalm 186:6; 2 Peter 3:5.) On the fourth day of time, “God said, Let there be lights in the
firmament of the heaven, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for
signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” “And God made two great
lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night;
he made the stars also.” Light had been created on the first day of the week; and now, on
the fourth day, he causes the sun and moon to appear as light-bearers, and
places the light under their rule. And they continue unto this day, according
to his. ordinances; for all are his servants.
Such was the work of the fourth day. And the Great Architect, surveying what he had wrought, pronounced
it good. (Genesis 1:14-19; Psalm 119:91; Jeremiah 33:25.) On the fifth day of time, “God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after
their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind; and God saw that it was
good.” (Genesis 1:20-23.) On the sixth day of time, “God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle
after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon
the earth after his kind; and God saw that it was good.” Thus the earth, having been fitted for the purpose, was filled
with every order of living creature, while the air and waters teemed with animal existence. To complete
this noble work of creation, God next provides a ruler, the representative of
himself, and places all in subjection under him. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness;
and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth.” “And the Lord God
formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden east. ward in Last of all, God created Eve, the mother of all living. The work
of the Creator was now complete. “The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them.” “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold:,
it was very good.”. Adam and Eve were in paradise; the tree of life bloomed on earth;
sin had not entered our world, and death was not here, for there was no sin.
“The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” Thus ended the sixth day. (Genesis 1:24-31; 2:7-9, 18-22; First day view “THE FIRST-DAY SABBATH By Wilson T. Hogue Chapter 4 THE FIRST-DAY SABBATH We now proceed to prove that the setting apart of the first
day of the week, the day on which our Lord arose from the dead, as the
Christian Sabbath, or "the Lord's day," has the unmistakable warrant
of Scripture. Referring to the whole system of Hebrew Sabbaths Paul says
they were "a shadow of things to come" (Col. 2:16, 17). It is but
fair then to regard the occasional first-day Sabbaths as types of a new
dispensation. 2. It is warranted by prophecy. "The Stone which the
builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's
doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the
Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psa,
118:22-24). This prophecy unmistakably refers to the resurrection of
Christ. The evidence of this may be found in the utterances of both Jesus and
his apostles. (See Matt. 21:42, Acts 4:10, 11, and I Peter 2:7.) To what else do the words, "this is the day which the
Lord hath made," refer, if not to the Christian Sabbath, the day commemorative of the
resurrection of Christ and in which the rejected Stone was made "the head
of the corner"? Some day of special and great significance is here
predicted, and expositors have failed to point out any other day as of
sufficient importance to be thus incorporated with the prophecy of our Lord's
triumph over death and the grave and identified as the object of the same. 3. It is warranted from the fact that the change from the
seventh day to the first took place under apostolic recognition and authority.
Their first religious meeting after Christ's resurrection was "on the
first day of the week," the day he arose, and was specially graced and
blessed with his presence (John "The verse plainly teaches, (1) That
the Christians of that early age did not meet together for worship on Saturday,
the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. For Paul was there seven days.(v. 6). He must, then, have been there on the Jewish
Sabbath, but did not preach to the Christians on that day, because that was not
their day for worship. No other reason can be given. "(2) That they, the Christians, did meet for worship
on the first day of the week. This was not a special meeting. It was their
stated day for worship. The language plainly teaches this. It can have no other
meaning. The disciples were not called together to hear Paul. They came
together, according to their custom, for Christian worship. This is implied in
the words, 'And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came
together to break bread, Paul, being present, preached unto them.' "To say that because Paul preached in the evening,
they did not meet together in the day time is too absurd to need even
contradiction. What possible proof can a Sunday evening meeting be that there
was no religious service there in the day time? "But in other places it is recorded that Paul preached
on the Sabbath day. So it is, as in Acts 13:42, "Search the New Testament carefully: you cannot find a
single record of the meeting together on the seventh day of the week of a company
of Christian believers for worship! There is no such record. They did not meet
on that day. The day on which the primitive Christians met for worship was the
first day of the week." About a year after the meeting with the disciples at Troas
Paul wrote as follows to the church at 4. The warrant for the First-day Sabbath is strengthened by
the fact that the apostles were invested with authority to make such a change
as we have seen was made under their administration. This appears when we
consider (1) That they were inspired men, which no
Christian denies. (2) That they were invested with this prerogative by virtue
of the authority conferred upon them to organize and establish the Christian
church and to reject or retain so much of the Hebrew ceremonial as they judged
appropriate. This is the force of the following commission: "Verily I say
unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,
or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which
are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,
17).” View three We should have a Sabbath rest: but all days are good for worshiping the Lord By John Chopores Colossians 2:16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink,
or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, We are not to spend our time judging each other on such matters. Cf. Matthew 7:1 "Judge not, that you be not judged. Spending too much time and energy; on such things can lead us to ready hate each other. Cf. Romans 14:3 Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him. It is the Law of liberty: not man that we are to follow! Cf. James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; Judging others about such minor matters, can do harm to our
spiritual walk. Cf. James It is a waste of our lives, to spend much fighting about the Old Testament Law. Cf.Titus 3:9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless. There are even some (not all, who think about such things) who try to use such matters: to get control over us! Cf. Col. 2:16 ¶ So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. 18 Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— 21 "Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? 23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Galatians Question: Why then the Sabbath? Answer: So that men would have a day to rest and think on all that God has done for us! Cf. Mark We have a spiritual Sabbath: a true rest. Cf. Matthew John A rest that we find: when we seek it in obedience. Cf. Hebrews 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. Hebrews 4:9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Hebrews Hebrews But we must come in faith and holiness. Cf. Hebrews 4:3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
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