Luk_4:16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Act 17:1 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews
Act 17:2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures
Jesus had a custom, and that custom was to go into the synagogue on the SABBATH DAY.
Years later, Paul, as his MANNER was - went into the synagogue THREE SABBATH DAYS.
Jesus kept the Sabbath the Jews kept, He was a Jew, born a Jew, raised a Jew, and He died a Jew.
Paul, an Apostle of Jesus', was a Jew and the same was said for him, born, raised a Jew, and died…a Jewish Christ follower.
Christ was the Messiah spoken of in the Scriptures (the Old Testament)…
Luk 18:31 Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished.
Luk 24:25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
Luk 24:26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
Luk 24:27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
Jesus was the Jewish Messiah- a longed for Messiah, a predicted Messiah.
Luk 2:22 And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;
Luk 2:23 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
Luk 2:24 And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
Luk 2:25 And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Luk 2:26 And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
Luk 2:27 And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Luk 2:28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
Luk 2:29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
Luk 2:30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,
Luk 2:31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;
Luk 2:32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
Luk 2:33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
Luk 2:34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
Luk 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Luk 2:36 And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;
Luk 2:37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Luk 2:38 And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
The Jewish Messiah, Jesus.
Jesus loved His people. Jesus came to save them! Jesus made Apostles of His people, every single Apostle was of Jewish descent.
Jesus came to reveal to His people that the entire sacrificial system had been set up pointing to His coming. The prophets foretold the suffering of the Messiah, the Son of Man. The Messiah was to be the ultimate sacrifice and once His sacrificed was offered there would no longer be a need for the sacrificial system that had been put into place. The change being made was Jesus sacrificing Himself to save them, not the animal lamb brought constantly in which sins were placed. There was no longer going to be a need to sacrifice animals once Jesus was sacrificed. The Jewish leaders could not fathom anything changing the way they sacrificed in the temple. Their eyes were blinded to the truth in prophecy.
Jesus came to show them a better way, a perfect way, and they wanted nothing to do with it. The leaders of Israel, of the Jewish faith turned their backs on the sacrifice of Jesus leading them into a new way of life, living without the temple sacrificial services.
The animal sacrifices existed for man to atone for his sin, it was an action of faith they committed to find forgiveness, and cleansing once a year. This whole sacrificial system was a huge part of the Jewish life, changing that was unheard of. Only past forced captivity kept any Jew from living out the sacrificial system. Once they were freed to the point of being able to return to Jerusalem and the temple was restored- it's services were restored. Even today there are many Jews waiting to initiate a return to the sacrificial system- they do not recognize Jesus as their Messiah as having done away with the need for the sacrificial system.
The Sabbath WAS not part of the sacrificial system.
The Sabbath WAS given and first kept by God and Adam and Eve in the Garden after the six days of creation, God created the Sabbath. The Sabbath was in place before any sin was committed by Eve or Adam.
The Sabbath was a weekly rest on a day made holy and blessed by God.
Jesus did NOT come to do away with the ten commandments. Jesus did not come to do away with the sin of murder, of stealing, of adultery, of coveting, of idol worshiping, of lying, of taking God's name in vain, of not putting God first, of not honoring our mothers and fathers, and He did not come to do away with the seventh day Sabbath.
He made NO attempt whatsoever to change the day of the Sabbath, how could He, why would He, it was a day appointed at CREATION. Christ instituted the Lord's Supper to commemorate His life and death. He told us to do it OFTEN in REMEMBRANCE of HIM! He did not say to switch the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day in remembrance of Him! He gave a specific ceremony of remembrance, of celebrating His life and death. He also told us that being baptized would be us burying the old man in us, killing the old us and rising up out of the water into new life in Christ! These are what He did and He didn't do them sneakily or subtly, so that it wouldn't be very plain for all to comprehend from His Holy Word.
Paul continued on keeping the Sabbath - the day UNCHANGED. All the Apostles continued on that way, every single one of them. It was a commandment of those which not a single dot of an i or a cross of a t would be altered! It was the CHRIST FOLLOWER'S SABBATH, the CHRISTIAN SABBATH - it was something they ALL carried over from their lives, as being holy and unchanged by Jesus, and it wasn't called by them- the Jewish Sabbath, it was simply the Sabbath because that is what is was, is and always will be!
History has proven that the change to the first day of the week as the supposed Christian sabbath did NOT occur until many years later under the dictate of man, NOT GOD. Remember--
Dan_7:25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws…
It happened! One of God's LAWS was changed! And still today the majority of Christians are DUPED into believing it's fine and of no consequence whatsoever because God is an understanding God and He knows the heart of His followers. They alter God to suit them and their holding fast to deceptions because that's how they've been raised and that's what the majority believes.
Martin Luther - one of the founding fathers of the Reformation did what He did because He was able to read God's word for Himself, something the common person was not able or allowed to do. Once He read God's word for himself he couldn't comprehend why the church of his time, the papacy, did not adhere to God's word in many things. He was led by the Spirit to begin questioning the lies of man substituted for God's truth. Did he uncover all the deceptions, no, there were so many of them.
God led people to His truth as time went on, and the Holy Spirit convicted them of all they needed to know to be His wholly without following any deceptions blindly. This had to be done before our Savior would return, there had to be a people left for the Savior- following all truth, undeceived and able to stand firm in God when Jesus would stand up and announce the end of probation for all mankind. Those living when He does that will belong to Him and will be undeceived in all ways and holding fast to Him in all truth!
Rev 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
They keep the commandments of GOD, not of man, and they have the faith of Jesus.
WAKE UP! Seek the Lord with all your heart!
Jer_29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
PLEASE, don't be among the deceived! Please… please!
May the Lord bless us and keep us in His truth, His way, His life always! All through the Lord our Savior, Jesus Christ now and forever!!!!!!!
Amen!
(Excerpt)
Christ and the Pharisees -OR Christ's Faithfulness in Sabbath-Keeping.
BY A. T. JONES.
[Religious Liberty Library, No. 18]
[Cont.]
Here is another element which enters in now. The Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians. The Herodians were a sect of the Jews, who stood at the extreme opposite pole from Phariseeism. They derived their title-Herodians-from being the friends, the supporters, and the rigid partisans of Herod and his house in their rule over the nation of Israel. The Pharisees were the "godly" of the nation, especially in their own estimation. They held themselves to be the righteous ones of the nation, the ones who stood the closest to God, and therefore they stood farthest from Herod and from Rome. They despised Herod; they hated Rome. The Herodians were the political supporters of Herod, and consequently the friends of Rome and Roman power. Therefore as denominations, as sects, the Pharisees and the Herodians were just as far apart as they could be. Now Herod was the stranger that sat on the throne of Judah when the prophecy was fulfilled which Jacob had spoken: "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." Herod, a stranger, an Idumean, a heathen, was sitting on the throne of Judah and was lawgiver to Judah by direct appointment of Rome and the Roman Senate; and they all knew that the time was come when the Messiah should appear. For when the wise men came to Jerusalem, and said, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews," Herod was troubled "and all Jerusalem with him." Why was Herod troubled and all Jerusalem with him when they heard that Christ was born?-Because they knew the time was come that he should be born. And therefore they called the scribes and inquired where Christ should be born, and they said, "In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel." Matt. 2:1-6; Micah 5:2.
Herod was that stranger, and the Pharisees hated him and his family, because he was the one from the Gentiles, from the heathen, that was ruling over the house of God, More than that, they hated Rome, because it was Roman power that not only held them down, but that held up Herod.
By this it is seen also that these Herodians were a political sect,-they were a religious sect too, for that matter, but more political than religious. They were the partisans of Herod and his household, to sustain him among the people, to plead for him, to apologize for him, and set him in the most favorable light all the time; and also, as a consequence, they had to be friendly to Rome, and do the same thing for Rome, because Roman power sustained Herod. Now when the Pharisees saw that, Christ was not going to yield to their ideas of Sabbath-keeping, they, in order to carry out their purpose to kill him,-it was a far-reaching purpose,-joined themselves, not only to their sectarian enemies, but to these particular religio-political sectarian enemies, so that they could get hold upon Herod, arid at the last upon Pilate, so that they might have the government on their side, that they might have the civil power under their control, and thus make effectual their purpose to destroy Jesus. So they entered politics.
At the last, Herod and Pilate were made friends over this very thing; the priests and the scribes and the Pharisees took Christ to Pilate, and Pilate sent him to Herod for Herod to judge him, and he did. Then they took him again to Pilate, and they afterward under threats drove Pilate to judge him also. Now we can see the far-reaching purpose which the Pharisees had in this counseling with the Herodians. It was to get both Herod's and Rome's power in their hands, to carry out their determined purpose to kill Jesus because he would not yield to their ideas of the Sabbath, and give up God's ideas of the Sabbath.
That is why they joined the Herodians-they wanted political power, and political power, too, which they themselves despised, The Pharisees despised this political power; and were professedly separated from it, and infinitely above it. They despised Herod and hated Rome, but they hated Jesus more than they hated these. And in order to carry out their purpose against Jesus-which was as really against the Sabbath-they joined themselves to their extremist sectarian enemies, in order to get political power to carry out their wishes; because they could not carry out their wishes without political power. Well, we may as well carry along the parallel. Haven't we and all the people seen the same thing not only in our day, but within the last five years? Haven't we seen a people professedly and confessedly separated from political power-Protestants, pledged to a total separation from political power, and having nothing whatever to do with it-haven't we seen a professed Protestantism, in plain opposition to the Sabbath of the Lord, joined with politicians and with Rome herself, the chiefest political power on earth, and religio-political also? Haven't we seen this Protestantism taking counsel with Catholicism, to get possession of the civil power, in order to crush out of existence God's idea of the Sabbath, even the Sabbath of the Lord as he made it and as he has named it, and to set up man's, even the Sunday of the papacy, as the Catholic Church has appointed it? Then do we not need to consider Christ Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, in his faithfulness to Sabbath-keeping in such a time as that, when we live now in just such a time?
This story of Jesus was written for us. It was written for the people who live in the United States and in the world to-day. Then let us see that we consider his faithfulness, and draw from him that faithfulness that will keep us as faithful to God's ideas of the Sabbath, as it kept him. And just here is another important point. The record says: "They were filled with madness; and communed one with another what they might do to Jesus. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Luke 6:11, 12.
While they were plotting, he was praying. While they were courting political power, he was praying for the power of God. While they were putting their dependence upon the power of man and earthly government, he was putting his sole dependence upon the God of heaven and earth. Let it be so now with us, and with all who would be like him.
(End Excerpt)
