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The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The concept behind this Sabbath's selection is Passover and the calendar. If your browser does not support Greek characters, please click on this file: Printable/viewable PDF format
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For the Sabbath of April 12, 2008
The person conducting the Sabbath service should
open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer
acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ
Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them. The
person conducting the service should read or assign to be read Matthew chapter 26,
verse 17, through chapter 27, verse 66; followed by Luke chapter 22, verse 7,
through chapter 23, verse 56; followed further by John chapters 18 & 19. Commentary: The preceding is a large amount of reading, most of
which will not be read during the actual Passover service at which feet are
washed and the sacraments taken. Therefore, the commentary section of this
week’s reading will be shorter than usual. The narrative flow reads in Greek as: I± *¥ BDfJ® Jä< •.b:T< BD@F82@< @Ê :"20J"Â Jè [0F@Ø 8X(@<J,Hs A@Ø 2X8,4H ©J@4:VFT:X< F@4 N"(,Ã< JÎ BVFP" — in English, literal translation: “on
the first the unleavened came the disciples to Jesus, saying to him, Where will
you we may prepare for you to eat the Passover” (Matt 26:17) ‚/82,< *¥ º º:XD" Jä< •.b:T<s Á ¦*,4 2b,F2"4 JÎ BVFP"q — in English, literal: “came And the
day of the unleavened, on which must be killed the Passover” (Luke 22:7) In John, we get the expression “the great day
of that Sabbath—:,8V80 º º:XD" ¦6,\<@L J@Ø F"$$VJå” (John 19:31), for the day on which Jesus
could not remain on the cross. Within Sabbatarian Christendom, dispute still
exists over when the Passover sacraments should be taken. There should never be
any dispute that the so-called Last Supper was the Passover meal referred to by
all of the gospel writers. Jesus ate the Passover. A lamb was sacrificed, and a
meal from that lamb was prepared. And after the disciples ate this meal, Jesus
took unleavened bread, broke it, and gave it to His disciples and said for them
to eat, that the bread was His body—this was the bread served at this
Passover meal, and controversy exists over whether it was unleavened or
“regular” bread … when authority broke down early in
Christianity’s history (by mid 1st-Century) controversy over
every aspect of what was done and what should be done ensued. But much of that
controversy need not exist: in usage, the Sabbath was not one day, the seventh
day of the week, or even the high day of the 15th of Abib, but in
usage the Sabbath was the entire period of “unleavened,” which
included the seven days of the Feast as well as the preparation day for great day of the Sabbath and apparently
the entire period from the 10th of Abib through at least the 22nd
of the month. Thus, there was about two weeks of “Sabbath” when
every male Israelite was to appear before the Lord in The icon “•.b:T<” represents one of the three times a year
all males were to go to Jesus was not betrayed on the dark portion of the great day of the Sabbath although
someone will try to make this the case—Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus
would not have been able to procure in weight seventy-five pounds of myrrh and
aloes on the great day of the Sabbath;
plus, the great day of the Sabbath is
not a preparation day. Nor was the great
day of the Sabbath the weekly Sabbath. The Pharisees would have been eating
their paschal lambs on the dark portion of the great day of the Sabbath, but Jesus was in the Garden Tomb while
the Pharisees roasted their paschal lambs with fire. Language ambiguity preceded calendar ambiguity as
the reason for the Passover to be eaten on successive nights … again, the
entire period was Sabbath so if
eating the Passover on one night was good, the Passover celebrating liberation
and as such was the reason for keeping the weekly Sabbath (Deut 15:5), then
eating the Passover on a second night was even better—for the entire
period commemorated what the weekly Sabbath represented under the Moab covenant
(Deut chaps 29-32), which would have Israel observing everything written in
Deuteronomy (30:10). Jesus’ death, while a somber occasion, is
also a time to celebrate; for with His death, better promises were added to the
eternal There are sincere but deceived Sabbatarian
disciples who will take the Passover sacraments on the 15th of Abib,
the day after Jesus was betrayed. They believe they know what they are doing.
They have done enough research to know that Pharisees and temple authorities
were sacrificing paschal lambs on afternoon of the 14th of Abib in
preparation for the great day of the
Sabbath, these lambs sacrificed at 3:00 pm, halfway between noon, the first
“even,” and 6:00 pm, the second “even.” … This is
not the practice Moses commandment Twilight or between the evens was the period when
the sun dipped to the horizon until when it dropped below the horizon: it
wasn’t noon! But with the construction of Herod’s temple, The somberness of taking the Passover sacraments of
bread and wine comes from the awareness that Jesus shed His blood for the sins
of disciples. Instead of each disciple having to slit the throat of a lamb,
feeling the knife slice deep and the warmth of the blood gush over hands,
causing the knife handle to become slick, the disciple considers what Jesus
underwent as He was beaten to weaken Him so that He would not live long on the
cross. It is His blood that flows over our hands: invisible, silent, covering
our sins as it seeps into the earth, a small portion taken in that sip from the
cup, the sip representing the blood smeared on the entryway into Israelite
houses in Passover or simply “unleavened—•.b:T<” is a festive occasion, but there is nothing
festive about sin or the sacrifice necessary to cover the death sin requires. The Sabbath
or Passover (used in its broad context) represents liberation from sin; so no
disciple should ever return to sin, the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4),
by continuing to live as a Gentile, running with former friends, doing those
things that cause Gentiles to be recognized as the Uncircumcised, now
uncircumcised of heart. And the foremost outwardly visible thing a person can
do to mark him or herself as a Gentile is to not take the sacraments on the
night that Jesus was betrayed, the dark portion of the 14th of Abib
(Nissan). The controversy that some Sabbatarian disciples
have found between Matthew’s and Luke’s use of
“unleavened—•.b:T<” and John having Jesus crucified on the
Preparation Day for the high Sabbath, the great
day of the Sabbath, the 15th of Abib, comes from these
disciples’ inability to understand 1st-Century language use.
The day of unleavened when the
paschal was to be sacrificed, in accordance to Moses’ instructions, was
not at 3:00 pm on the afternoon of the 14th of Abib as Pharisees
were doing, but at twilight beginning the 14th … as the sun
was setting on the 13th of Abib, and as Israel was going into the 14th
day of the month, the paschal lamb’s throat was slit—and it was the
14th as the first flow of blood came forth from the lamb. Leaving sin, being forgiven for sins committed in
this world, being covered by Jesus’ righteousness in the heavenly
realm—these are festive realities that should be celebrated. Therefore,
it has been for many decades the practice and tradition of the churches of God
to observe the night of the 15th of Abib as The Night to be Much Remembered; for disciples leave sin as natural
Israelites left The practice of The
Philadelphia Church is to take the Passover sacraments of bread and wine on
the dark portion of the 14th of Abib, with this observance being a
somber occasion; then to observe The
Night to be Much Remembered the following night, the dark portion of the 15th
of Abib as a festive occasion, with Sabbath services conducted on the daylight
portion of this great day of the Sabbath. Whether God will honor Passover sacraments taken on
the 15th of Abib becomes a matter between God and the
disciple—likewise, whether God will honor the sacraments taken quarterly
or weekly or with leavened white bread and water (the practice of LDS
fellowships) is a matter between God and the person. There is, however, no
reason for a disciple to place him or herself in the position of wondering
whether God will accept what the person does. The disciple can do as Paul
commands: For I received from the Lord what I also delivered
to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread, and when
he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup,
after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this,
as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat
this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he
comes. (1 Cor 11:23-26) The Passover meal is not eaten every week, but once
a year for however many years there are until Jesus returns. The Passover meal
will be eaten even after disciples are liberated from indwelling sin and death.
But the Passover meal would never have been eaten with leavened bread, for the
entire period in * The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal. * * * * * "Scripture
quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©
2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by
permission. All rights reserved." [ Home ] [ Sabbath Readings ] |