The cross of Christ is the center point of the Bible—everything before the cross points to it. Everything after the cross looks back at it. Paul preached the word of the cross. He wrote to the Corinthians, “For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor.1:17–18). Further, Paul penned these words: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:1–2).
Jesus’ death on the cross nullified, made void the Old Testament. Paul said, “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” (Col. 2:14). The old covenant or testament had to be removed before the new could begin. The writer of Hebrews said, “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb.10:9–10). Even though the Old Testament has ended, many still want to jump over the cross to bring up some law or practice from the Old Testament.
The Seventh-Day Adventists go to the Old Testament to uphold their doctrine of observing the sabbath. They make a distinction between the law of God and the law of Moses. We are told that the law of God is the Ten Commandments, but all of the other laws are Moses’. However, the terms law of Moses and the law of God or the Lord are used interchangeably. After the birth of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus went up to Jerusalem to fulfill the law concerning her (ceremonial) purification. Luke records, “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; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)” (Luke 2:22–23). [bfv’s underlining]
The sabbath was the seventh day of the week. It was given to Israel because they had been delivered from Egyptian bondage and had gathered at Mount Sinai. We are told, “And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. The Lord talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire, (I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you the word of the Lord: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying, I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deut. 5:1–6).
This passage above clearly shows that the patriarchs – Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were never required to keep the sabbath. It is interesting to note that when a man violated the sabbath after Sinai, he was placed in confinement until Moses received word from the Lord about what to do with him. He was to be put to death. If sabbath keeping had been required under the patriarchs, would Israel not have known what to do with one who violated the sabbath?
Deuteronomy 5:15 is plain as to why Israel was to keep the sabbath. Moses wrote, “And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15). God delivered Israel from Egyptian bondage, and this was the reason they were to observe the sabbath.
Those who claim the sabbath is still binding today do not observe the sabbath. They work on the sabbath if they can make a little money. They travel to their meetings on the sabbath but are not to travel (Lev. 23:31). They do not stay in one place (Ex. 16:29). Some travel many miles to arrive at their assemblies. They are not to cook on the sabbath (Ex. 16:29-30). They should not bear burdens on the sabbath (Jer. 17:21-22; Neh. 15:13-21). They do not offer lambs on the sabbath (Num. 28:9). To violate the sabbath was the death penalty (Ex. 31:14-15).
Sabbath keeping ended at the cross. There were Jews who were still trying to bind the Old Testament on Gentile Christians, in particular, circumcision. Paul’s argument against that false doctrine has equal force against those who want to bind sabbath-keeping on others today. Paul wrote, “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law” (Gal. 5:3). If one is bound to keep the sabbath, then he must keep all of the law. He is a debtor to keep the whole law.
The Lord’s day is the first day of the week. Jesus was raised from the dead on the first day of the week (Mark 1:9). The church began on the first Pentecost following the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2:1, 47). Pentecost (or as it was known in the Old Testament, “the feast of weeks” – Deut. 1:16) always came upon the first day of the week (Lev. 23:15-16). The disciples remembered the Lord’s death by observing the communion on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 11: 23-29). The early church gave as they had prospered on the first day of every week (1 Cor. 16:1-2). The Apostle of Love, separated from his brethren, wrote, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet” (Rev. 1:10).
–Ben F. Vick, Jr.