The Sabbath and Jesus

In a detailed study of the Sabbath, one cannot but study the words and actions of the Son of God. Our faith teaches us that Jesus, Who is God, instituted the Sabbath. Surely His attitude toward it matters. In the first three Gospels is told the story of how the disciples of Jesus satisfied their hunger one Sabbath:

Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5 [using the Matthew account]. "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Then He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

a. Here Jesus does not abolish the Sabbath, but attempts to abolish wrong thinking about it. He lets His people know that there are good reasons for not keeping the letter of the law, and that God is interested in the heart of man, and his motivations for doing things. He does much the same thing in the sermon on the mount for other commands of God. It is not only murder, but the hatred that brings the murder, that is against the law. It is not only the adultery, but the lust that leads to the adultery that is expressly forbidden of God. Here, it is not the slavish obedience to a Day, but a desire to honor the Lord, that is most concerning Jesus.

But having said all that, the law still stands. Murder, adultery, Sabbath-breaking are three ways to be outside the will of God.

b. Instead of hinting that the Sabbath is about to fade away, He declares that He is Lord over it!

c. In the Mark account of the same story, Jesus makes another startling statement:

Mark 2:27. "And He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

a. That throws an entirely different light on things. So far we have seen a holy God demanding a holy day. Now we understand that all of that demanding is because He wants to give us- and not just the Jews, but all mankind!- a gift. A day lived in holiness before God with the saints of God can only bring a man greater appreciation of God and love for life. It is not meant to be a chore, this Sabbath-keeping, but a piece of Heaven on earth!

b. Jesus suggests here that common sense and mercy combined are more important than ritual observances. The Pharisees would deny the disciples a meal in the name of keeping the Sabbath! They would deny David a piece of bread because it was holy! They would accuse priests, whose very job is to be active on the Sabbath, of Sabbath-breaking! Jesus says that He makes rules for people, not against them.

c. Man came before the Sabbath, or Israel, came. Jesus came before all. Man, Sabbath, the people of God, all are important. But Jesus is more important than all.

The next encounter Jesus has on a Sabbath is likewise recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. It is the story of the man whose withered hand was healed on that day.

Matthew 12:9-12, Mark 3:2-6, Luke 6:6-11 [using the Matthew account]. "Now when He...went into their synagogues... there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? that they might accuse Him. Then he said to them, What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

Mark adds the counter-question of Jesus: "... Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" and that Jesus was "grieved by the hardness of their hearts." He also notes how Jesus' life was suddenly at risk because of His Sabbath interpretation.

Slowly, slowly, Jesus' full picture of Sabbath emerges. Once more the heart is unveiled, and the Spirit of Christ is set up before the evil hearts of men. But far from abolishing the Sabbath command, Jesus shares with His people the heart of the command. Their violent reaction to His teaching shows us that these men had caught the letter of the law which kills; Jesus was showing them what the law was for.

It is fair to add here as we trek with Jesus through the many Sabbath upheavals of His ministry, that Jesus lived and died a Jew. The followers surrounding Him are Jewish. The Old Covenant will not officially die until Jesus is nailed to His cross. Let no one feel at this stage of the report that my readers, especially Gentiles, are being led to an unavoidable conclusion. Nevertheless, the facts of the case so far do point to a very holy day having been in existence for over 4,000 years, being observed by God's special people every week, and that that day is not the first day of the week, but the seventh.

Let us keep examining Jesus' life and work, and see if there is even a clue that something ought to be changing in this custom.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

For North Korea - Think Not of Death!

In the North Korea of not too many years ago, and perhaps yet today, that nation was training up to 140 suicide bomber pilots "to plunge into key South Korean targets if war breaks out on the divided peninsula...the new unit appears to be fashioned after the Japanese kamikaze pilots of World war II." The quote is out of Thomas Belke's Juche.

Anyone reading who remembers the kamikaze of Japan's invading force? World War II? Pearl Harbor? I bring back a bitter memory not to suggest any ongoing hostility in Japan, but to paint a picture of commitment every Christian ought to know. These suicide warriors patterned their lives after the old samurai warrior spirit, embodied in these orders to 1940's Japanese military men:

"A sublime sense of self-sacrifice must guide you throughout life and death. Think not of death as you push through with every ounce of your effort, fulfilling your duties. Make it your joy to do everything with all your spiritual and physical strength. Fear not to die for the cause of everlasting justice. Do not stay alive in dishonor. Do not die in such a way as to leave a bad name behind you."

Must be hard to defeat an enemy like that. What if we, soldiers of Christ, were that kind of enemy? What if an army of believers would simply rise up and preach Christ in, say, North Korea, as the apostles did in the dangerous terrain of their time? They died. They were beaten. Imprisoned. Made to suffer loss. But somehow they considered that the norm. And the church arose and prospered and eventually won over the hearts of the known world.

What do we consider "the norm"? The cross? Or the Western way of life? Deeper into Christ should be our prayer daily, for our own spiritual good and the good of those who so need us.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

The Deity of Jesus Christ - Peter and John

Peter and John were often in each other's company. They also shared the same ideas about their Saviour.

I Peter 1:10-11, The Spirit of the Prophets. Do I need to prove to my readers that it was Jahweh, the Covenant God of Israel, who sent and spoke through the prophets? No? Good. But there is a piece of information that we are not given until the Apostle Peter shares it with us in his letter; listen carefully: "Of (your) salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently...searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify..." But wait. There's more to the mystery. Peter continues (II Peter 1:21) "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Yahweh, Christ, Holy Ghost. One.

I John 5:7, Simply One. That's right, John, keep it simple for us. " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." With a statement like this, we want to say with the disciples, "Now speakest Thou plainly, and speakest no proverb..." (John 16:29) These three are one. Not to be understood. To be believed!

I John 5:20, True God. John, in typical zest for this topic, ends his first epistle thus:(5:20) "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. THIS is the true God, and eternal life." Jesus, the true one, is the true God.

Revelation 1:8, God of the visions. At the beginning of the feverish activity of this book, John sees one that he claims is like "the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and His eyes were as a flame of fire; and His feet like unto fine brass...and His voice as the sound of many waters." Later Jesus identifies Himself more clearly by stating, "I am He that liveth and was dead." (1:18)

But others in the line of prophets have seen similar men. They did not call them Jesus, but we always assumed they were God. For example, Daniel's "ancient of days." (Daniel 7:9) "...the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool..." Then there's Daniel's "certain man," found in 10:5-6 "...and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz; His body also was like the beryl, and His face as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of fire, and His arms and His feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of His words like the voice of a multitude."The same Divine Being .

Revelation 5:13, Equally Praised. You will notice a praise service going on. "And every creature which is in Heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. Same equation here. We can't stretch so far as to say that there are two separate entities here, both receiving these adulations. Neither can we deny the dual character of the One God. Marvelous mystery!

Revelation 22:13, Alpha and Omega . We can do no better than to end with these famous words from Jesus. Or are they from the Father? Even the "red-letter-makers" of my King James Bible get confused on this one! Clearly it is Jesus calling Himself "Alpha and Omega" in the first chapter of the book, verses 8 and 11. By the time we get to chapter 21, and the same words are spoken, the editor shies away from his red letters when he comes to verse 6. Here the context speaks of God, the God who shall "wipe away all tears", and "make all things new", and "give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." This One says "I will be his God, and he shall be my son," to that same thirsty one. But no red letters! I ask you, Who is the "Alpha and Omega"? All you have to do to find out is go to chapter 22, where , in the brightest of red letters , in verse 13, following a verse that says "Behold I come quickly," is the statement, I am Alpha and Omega..."

The inconsistency is understandable, but hardly justifiable. This God of the New Jerusalem is none other than Jesus Himself! And if every word that was ever spoken by this God known as Jesus were to be colored red, would not the entire set of Holy Scriptures have to be of this hue? The Book is "God-breathed", is it not? To be God-breathed means to be Jesus-breathed. I think you've probably got the point by now!

Jesus is God.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. I have created over 200 blogs and the site features a live news feed, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosen together! Contact me any time at diakonos5@yahoo.com

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. I love to write Scriptural works. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond.

How Imminent Is The Return Of Christ?

The doctrine of Imminence is one that is sworn by these days. Suggest that you don't quite believe in it and you're out!

"Jesus could come at any time, today, this hour." That's the watchword of believers in this teaching. I know what the people who say this mean, but we must take objection to that statement as it stands. For, Heaven has a day circled on the Heavenly Calendar when Jesus must come. [Acts

17:31, "(God) has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by the Man Whom He

has ordained."]

That is to say, God knows when Jesus is coming. It is not a random day. It is clearly and definitely scheduled. Jesus cannot come at just "any" time, but only on the day He has appointed. The problem is not that there is uncertainty in Heaven, but that we are uncertain. The question then is, just how far is that uncertainty to extend?

When the disciples asked Jesus, "What shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3) why did Jesus even suggest a time frame? Why did He answer such a thing at all, if we are not to know something ? Why not say, as we hear commonly today, "Don't worry about it! It will all pan out. I'll come when I come."

That was not His approach. Jesus for all time laid out a clear description of a particular generation, a season, when He will come, so that those believers living in that generation will know it is time! All others of all time, not totally certain of what He was saying, since the time was not ready, have been commanded to watch, and be ready. Of course, the coming of Jesus at a man's death is reason enough for any person, any time, to be on guard against foolish behavior.

The importance of knowing a particular season is confirmed by our dear brother, the apostle Paul, in I Thessalonians 5. First he says to the ungodly (verse 2) that Jesus is coming as "a thief in the night." This is the concept that has been passed on to godly people as their own norm

for looking for Jesus to come! But moving even one more verse leads us to : "For when they say, 'Peace and Safety' then comes sudden destruction upon them..."Who are they and them? The world! The unbelievers! Verse 4 insists, "You are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief!"

That means we can and should know the general time of His coming, especially if we are living in the last generation. That generation is described further by Paul in II Thessalonians 2:3. In words that could not be more clear, Paul demands that that Day will not come unless there is a noticeable world-wide apostasy and the revealing of the man of sin .

Oh my! Jesus could come at any moment? Yes, in death. Yes, theoretically to those who walk in darkness and have not read the words of the apostles. But in fact? No! He must come when Paul says He must come, and that is after the great apostasy, and after antichrist.

The man or woman who is seeking God with all the heart about the coming of Jesus will see the plan unfold clearly and will indeed be watching when He comes. The ungodly "carnal" Christian, if there be such a thing, will be loudly proclaiming His love for a Jesus who might come just any time, and for him the coming will be a surprise, for that person has never dug deeply into God's Word to find the truth. I am saying that more light is

revealed to those who seek, and those who do not seek will be still in darkness and fulfill their own prophecies about how "we can never really know."

The only information that has been denied to us is the very day on the calendar and the very hour on the clock when Jesus will come. Let us be diligent though to comprehend with all the saints what are the times and seasons God has revealed to us.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Daring to Study The Sabbath

The Sabbath. Is it for me?

It is good to be free. I highly recommend it for all God's people. Free from sin. Free in conscience. Free from a denominational stance that demands a "proper" explanation of all things Scriptural. Though I serve one local church and attend another , I am not bound by either of those groups to pursue any man's agenda. I am free.

It is especially helpful to be un-attached in regards to the subject at hand. When one begins speaking of the Sabbath it is assumed that the speaker is headed to the Seventh-Day Adventists, or some cult. In less generous days, Mother Church would have sniffed out this heretic as a Judaizer, one bowing to the ways of Judaism and thus fit for severest of persecution. At the very least, a sincere seeker along this trail will be branded as a legalist for whom Christ's death is meaningless, since he is now seeking to place himself squarely under the law that cursed him.

May I quickly rid myself of these accusations and fears that may be in the minds of my readers. Those who know of my aversion to female leadership, something I picked up from a fellow from Tarsus, will be assured that I am not about to join a group which is in slavish servitude to the teachings of a self-styled prophetess, as the one who founded the Adventists. As to other groups, they may exist in Chicagoland, but I have never contacted them or been contacted by them. The Jews do enter favorably into this discussion, because Messianic, that is, Jesus-believing, Jews, do tend to stay with their own and keep the Sabbath as revealed in Scripture. But never have any of them suggested to me that Gentiles must join them in this practice. As to questions of the law, it will be my purpose in this study to deal carefully with that very matter.

No, this is a sincere desire of a still-growing believer to be and have all God is and has for His own. I have noted some inconsistencies in Christian teaching and practice when it comes to things we have considered "Jewish", and I have been forced to grapple with these issues, as one who feels called to teach the people of God the whole counsel of God. It seems to me that what the Hebrew calls a "repose" a "desisting from exertion", an "intermission" weekly for God's people must be a valuable gift, if indeed it still exists for us. If it is for me, I want it!

An examination of this sort should fall broadly into four categories, three basic questions. I trust that I will be able to keep the attitude of a questioner throughout, yet at the same time affirming without question that which God has specifically stated through an apostle or prophet, that is, in His Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Covenant.

First then would be to search those Scriptures from beginning to end looking for clues as to God's meaning in giving a Sabbath. Next , what of the testimony of Church History for the first three centuries? After that, Sunday observance was codified into Church Law, so I would examne those laws from Roman Catholic sources. Finally, and I believe most importantly,it is necessary to discover the present status of the law of God.

For, as one does research on this matter, it becomes clear early on that Sabbath vs. Sunday is not the issue. In the minds of many godly believers the issue is rather law vs. grace. The observance of a Sabbath, Jewish as it is, seems to fly in the face of an unmerited salvation. After all, was not the law of God "nailed to His cross"? This is the thorniest issue of all, and demands a close look at Scriptural principles.

May God answer these questions and give us grace to abide by His answers.

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. For one year I wrote a blog featuring news, book reviews, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

The North Korean Martyr Who Was Killed Twice!

North Korea's church history is rich with accounts of martyrs. We know this is information that the church of Christ treasures, and we pass it on to you.

We're studying Korean Church History and have gotten to the war years, "II" and Korean. It was during this time that young Christian teacher Sung Du died twice.

When the Japanese ruled Korea in the early part of the 20th century, this novice yielded to pressure and began to worship at the shrines set up by the invaders. What a disappointment he became to himself and his peers. Not unlike our own falling away under the pressures of materialism... but that's another story.

Sung Du repented. "I will die before denying the faith again!" he promised. He was given that very opportunity. Twice. He accepted it both times. One canceled out his denial, and the other... We will allow God to offer His own praises on that day, but isn't it wonderful that a man like Peter, who denied 3 times, was permitted to accept 3 times (John 21)?

Sung Du went to seminary to prepare for the ministry. Ordination followed. His first assignment was a church near Suyang-Ch'on. The Japanese were gone. But the Koreans, under Communism, turned out to be worse. He was arrested and sent to a mine as a slave laborer, a practice which continues to this "enlightened" age of our own in dark Chosun.

Brother Sung believed that the first day of the week is the Lord's Day and that work should not be done then. He refused! He was therefore beaten. This is the Communist response to any number of ills. They beat him so badly that it seemed he was dead. Since he was "dead", they threw the "corpse" into the river. Watching church members dived in when the Communists went away, and pulled his body out .

They took him back to the village to prepare him for burial. But - and I know you are way ahead of me- he was not dead! (Sounds like a Dae Joyoung episode, only this one is true!).

Months later he was again preaching, almost as strong a testimony as raised Lazarus. But the Communists arrested him again. This time they shot him. They wanted to be sure.

Of course we know the rest of the story. Sung Du woke up once more, in the arms of His Saviour, and he waits there for the rest of us to die for Jesus and join him there. Are we willing to die, even once?

(Some of preceding ideas from Hefley's By Their Blood.)

Thank God for the Korean believers!

http://chosunhouse.com is a website I put together a few months back to get the word out to believers that they need to pray for North Korea. Just about every day I'm writing a blog featuring some news, a book, or a story of North Korea. There's a live news feed on the site, lists of resources, picture essays, and ways to respond to the overwhelming need in North Korea. Let's love Chosun together!

And who am I? A man found of God over 50 years ago, called to the ministry, serving the Lord as needed in my world. Married, member of a local church in the Chicago area, with full time work in public education. Who are you? Would love to fellowship with believers who respond on my site.

Properly Exercising Faith - People Who Represent Christianity

It's your responsibility as a Christian to properly exercise your faith and to express your opinions as such. If you don't know something for a fact, you are obligated to seek and gather more information about these so-called facts.

With this said, if you hear a Bible verse quoted to you by someone and you don't necessarily understand 100% of what they are saying or you think that they might be twisting around the Scripture, it's your obligation to find out, the truth and nothing but the truth.

Let me give you an example of how to properly exercise your faith. An atheist walks up to you and asks you why you believe in God, you reply," Because it says so in the Bible." Wrong.., wrong answer. Because it says so in the Bible, isn't what I would consider a good answer. It's what I would consider to be a controlled Christian answer, simple but untrue.

The minute that you start referring to things in the Bible and you don't really understand what it is that you're talking about, you're not doing Christianity any favors. The minute that you listen to another person quote out of the Bible and start repeating, what it is that they were saying, without clearly understanding the truth, you're simply spreading rumors.

Think about this, the next time that you tell someone something that you heard, just because you hear something three times, doesn't make it a fact. I would like to tell you a little secret, so pay attention, simply because someone within your religious community, who others look up to, say something that sounds believable, don't start spreading rumors, find out for yourself, if it's actually true.

Christian Bible Problems

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Greg Vanden Berge is a published author and a inspiration to millions of people. He has been involved in religious research for almost 30 years, and his influence in the Christian community is growing. The Holy Bible, is the core to Christian beliefs and most Christians don't even question it. Was the Bible actually written by men?

His newest book," Did God Actually Say That?" Was written specifically for Christians who are interested in gaining additional knowledge about the Bible. This book provides Christians with advanced biblical knowledge, answer some tough questions and should be read by every faithful follower of Christ.

Understanding the Bible