The problem with the title of this article is that the same conditioning Sabbatarian and legalistic churches inflict upon their members makes it highly unlikely what I write will be revealed to those same people, whereas those who have transitioned out and embraced the true Gospel can readily see what the others are blinded from seeing. For their exists another aspect of this, a truth of God, that is also not believed by them and that is, there are those who God has blinded from seeing truth, having earlier rejected truth.
And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. — John 9:39
I begin this journey of exposure with this:
For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have only done evil before me from their youth: for the children of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, saith the LORD. — Jeremiah 32:30
A simple question for those reading this… Was God telling the truth, or was He lying? In other words, do you believe God? Or, does your mind look for reasons this might not be true? You might conclude that even an evil person can do a good thing, but what needs to be considered is motive. Evil people may well do what is perceived as good, while the motive for doing so was evil.
But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. — 1 Samuel 16:7
Two truths of God revealed: 1) How He judges, according to the heart, and 2) How man judges, according to appearance.
Jesus elaborated on this here:
Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. — John 7:24
How God judges is righteous judgment, and how man judges, according to appearance, is not. And if it is not righteous judgment, there is only one other kind of judgment that it can be, and that is unrighteous judgment.
Now lets take what God declared through Jeremiah about all the works of the Hebrews from their youth were only evil in the sight of God.
They were given the Sabbath. The Sabbath commandment decrees that no one was to do any work on the Sabbath. Given what God said through Jeremiah, what would you conclude, logically? The only works they could rest from were evil works, for that was all they were doing, according to a God who judges mankind based on their hearts, and not according to appearance; righteous judgment as opposed to unrighteous judgment. Their rest from work was a rest from evil works, only.
Now, were a typical Sabbatarian to agree that all their works; the work of their hands, were evil, what happens when confronted with a scenario that Sabbatarianism disagrees with, fundamentally?
You see back-peddling. You see rationalizations so as to maintain the cognitive dissonance inherent in Sabbatarian theology. You see the redefinition of words, terms, and concepts so that “any” work doesn’t mean “any” and works performed with one’s hands are not necessarily evil, seeing as some works were still done, or could be done on the Sabbath like rescuing an animal from a pit or turning one’s livestock out to pasture; works where no charge of sin resulted. And if you are working from a position where sin is the result of transgressing the law (read: Decalogue), then you can’t be claiming all their works were evil, where evil is a sin, and where sin ALSO transgresses the law as stated in the first half of 1John 3:4 that disrupts the Sabbatarian belief and insistence that sin only occurs and is chargeable upon transgression of the law.
With an understanding and belief that all their works, no matter what they were, were evil in the sight of God, the Sabbatarian definition of sin falls apart and crumbles into proverbial dust. Too much of Sabbatarianism rides on, and is dependent on the belief that sin results when someone transgresses the law, which, by the way, reinforces unrighteous judgment based on appearance, which Jesus also addressed in the context of working on the Sabbath.
Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. °If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? °Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. — John 7:22-24
Righteous judgment looks to the heart and intent of the heart, where those with evil hearts God judges where evil hearted people only do evil in His sight. Conversely, good people do good in His sight, which begs the logical question, who has a good heart if all the Hebrew’s works were deemed evil due to having what God described again through Jeremiah:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? — Jeremiah 17:9
What God spoke through Jeremiah is not believed; not accepted as presented. It is modified to conform to the conditioning received routinely, on a weekly basis. The Sabbath law is also modified, despite Jeremiah and what God said, for the alternatives are unacceptable. For those accepted and exempted works were not evil and sin… somehow… the reality being elusive to Sabbatarians where everything is black and white thinking. With God however, justice is tempered with mercy, else justice is simply tyranny.
An animal rescued from a ditch on the Sabbath alleviates the suffering of the animal, which if left unattended until after the Sabbath was cruelty to the animal, and the Sabbath was not about inflicting cruelty. It also set the stage for later events performed by Jesus; God Incarnate.
And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. °And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. °And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. °And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. °And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. °The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? °And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? — Luke 13:10-16
What were the Hebrews told to remember on the Sabbath day when they were resting from their works? The Sabbath itself, like Sabbatarians conclude? They were to remember how they were slaves in Egypt, where there was no rest from the bonds of slavery. And now, here was the God who told them what to remember on the Sabbath having to remind them of what they forgot on the Sabbath.
They were told to keep the Sabbath holy, by doing what? Not working. How then does not doing anything equate with keeping the day holy? The sacrifices were holy, but first the animals had to be sacrificed, by working to do so in a manner specifically commanded by God who also told them not to do any work on the Sabbath. The Sabbath command did not apply to works that were in compliance with the will of God.
Now, another question which Sabbatarians prefer not to answer… Is it God’s will that we do good works, or evil works? It seems like a silly question up front; a ‘no-brainer’ if you will. In this context, I remind the reader that Jesus said good works were lawful on the Sabbath as contrasted by Him with evil works.
Jesus identified the will of the Father for us today by reading in the narratives of what all He said and taught:
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. °And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. °And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day. — John 6:38-40
What happens to those who believe Him and believe IN Him? They are given the Holy Spirit, also referred to as a “new heart” that replaces the evil one all mankind starts out with; a GOOD heart. A heart that produces good fruits; good works, and not evil works. The believer is called to good works.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10
Do Christians then suspend their good works on the Sabbath, or do they emulate Christ who worked on the Sabbath, doing good works?
Now, here’s where it gets truly interesting… What do Adventists conclude when others who are actual Christians, with new hearts from God, where all their works are now good fruits, work on the (their) Sabbath? They sin. Their works are a transgression of the Sabbath commandment, resulting in a charge of sin.
Who then calls good, evil? Those with good hearts, or evil hearts? Who judges another to be a sinner for having transgressed the Sabbath command, based on judging according to appearance, where they SEE another working on the Sabbath?
I don’t know how to make all of this any plainer or easier to understand. Christians, with a new heart imparted to them by God, are now categorized by God as good trees that can only produce good fruits, regardless of what day it is. Sabbatarians will read this, and still conclude, due to their deceitful and desperately wicked hearts, that some works, such as works of employment and for gain, are still sin if done on the (their) Sabbath, which, when you pay attention to what Jesus said and taught, makes works of employment evil works to begin with!
I remind the reader what God said through Jeremiah, that the works of their hands were only evil in His sight, and that Sabbatarians insist the works of Jesus were in a spiritual category; works of healing, supernatural in nature, so I present this:
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. °And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? °Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. °I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. °As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. °When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, °And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing.
°°The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? °Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. °There- fore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? °He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. °Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not.
°°They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. °And it was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. — John 9:1-14
The significance of making this clay is easily overlooked. It was Jesus working with His hands as part of this miracle.
Witness then what Paul referred to as the “severity of God” (Romans 11:22). Those with the evil hearts of unbelief, who demonstrate no love of truth, receive what is translated in 2Thessalonians as a “strong delusion” that they are given that they do believe in, which is a lie, that ultimately condemns them. They had “pleasure in unrighteousness” by judging others with unrighteous judgment, according to appearance.
Sabbatarians demonstrate on a daily basis on social media the pleasure they derive by accusing others of sin based on unrighteous judgment according to appearance when it comes to the Sabbath as well as charging those same people with another sin for worshiping God on a “Sunday” they associate with sun worship; again all according to appearance; the fruit/works of an evil heart of unbelief.
What happened on the first day of Creation Week? Light came forth from darkness.
What happened on the day following the Sabbath when Christ Jesus was resurrected from the dead? The light of the world came forth from the darkness of death.
How then is Christ pictured by the prophet Malachi?
The “Sun” of righteousness. Christians are worshiping the “Sun” of righteousness on the first day of the week when the “Sun” of righteousness met the typology of the first day of Creation Week, with a new beginning now; a new “work” now, where Christians are the work of Jesus; a new creation that is truly made in His image.
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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )
Acts 17:11
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