The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is the Fall Feasts.
High Sabbath Readings
For Trumpets September 23, 2006
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 services should read or assign to be read Leviticus chapter 23, verses 23 through 25, followed by Numbers chapter 29, verses 1 through 6, and Hebrews chapter 8, verses 1 through 7.
Commentary: Saying that the high Sabbaths have been fulfilled in the person of Christ Jesus, the greater Christian Church labels these annual Sabbaths as “Jewish” holy days that New Testament Christians do not need to observe despite the Apostle John saying that every disciple ought to walk as Jesus walked (1 John 2:6). This same argument is used by the greater Church to support its general lawlessness, and especially its neglect of weekly Sabbath observance. But a problem exists that is inherent to the greater Church’s argument: the house of God in the heavenly city of Jerusalem is built on the foundation the Apostle Paul laid, with the cornerstone of this foundation Christ Jesus. The house Moses built doesn’t lie under rubble upon which Paul, as a master builder, laid his foundation, but sits upon this foundation.
Disciples dwelling within the realm of unchallenged emotionalism are quick to dismiss the Law of Moses, claiming that Moses has been abolished … if Moses has been abolished, why does Moses continue to fill such a large portion of every Bible? And exactly what is the Law of Moses if not the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, containing many covenants, not all of which have been abolished? Only covenants ratified by blood [i.e., covenants made with the flesh] are temporary and subject to being abolished (Heb 9:23). The covenant made with Noah about the earth never again being covered by a flood was ratified by the rainbow and is permanent, a spiritual covenant made to endure as long as the earth endures. Likewise, the Moab covenant (Deu 29:1) made with Israel in addition to the Sinai covenant was ratified by a song. This covenant is permanent and spiritual.
Jesus told the Pharisees that none of them kept the law (John 7:19). The justification for doing so came from the Moab covenant, the house that Moses built, a house that requires exercising faith, that requires Israel when in a far land to turn to God and begin to keep the laws of God by faith (Deu 30:1-2). And this action of turning to God and beginning to live as the holy people of God—being holy is an action, not an inherited state—becomes a journey of faith akin to the journey Abraham made from Ur to Canaan. Believing God, believing that Jesus is Lord and that the Father raised Jesus from the dead now becomes belief akin to Abraham believing God that his, Abraham’s, offspring would come from his dead loins. And it was this belief of Abraham’s that was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Thus, Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of righteousness stemming from him believing God and moving when told to go—and it is Abraham’s faith that sets the benchmark for all disciples, all Israelites, all who profess to be of God. The Apostle Paul cemented Abraham’s faith into the foundation he laid (Rom chap 4), and Moses built on the sign of circumcision given as a seal of righteousness, this circumcision causing a man to appear naked before God, covered only by his obedience by faith. Yes, Moses gave to Israel a law that if pursued by faith would have led to righteousness (Rom 9:31-32), but even perfectly keeping aspects of this law through the works of the hand would not produce righteousness. Faith was required: it was the faith that would cause Israel when in a far land to turn to God, believe God, and then to begin living by all of the words of God (Matt 4:4) that would be counted as righteousness to Israel. And it will be the faith of endtime disciples that causes them to quit the lawless greater Christian Church, the faith that causes these disciples to turn to God and to finally begin to believe God, the faith that causes them to start to keep the commandments of God (all of them) and to come before God on His high Sabbaths that will be counted to them as righteousness. Any less will not be enough.
The Apostle Paul writes that if a person who is uncircumcised [every woman is] keeps the precepts of the law, will not that uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision (Rom 2:26) … the reason why there is neither Jew nor Greek, male or female, free or slave before God (Gal 3:28) is that for disciples circumcision is of the heart (Rom 2:29), what Moses promised Israel when that nation began by faith to love God and neighbor, keeping the commandments and statutes of God (Deu 30:6). The Apostle Paul labeled this turning to God when in a far land as “the righteousness based on faith” (Rom 10:6 — cf. Rom 10:6-8; Deu 30:11-14). And no one can please God without having the faith of Abraham. Again, the benchmark against which every disciple’s faith will be reckoned is that of Abraham (Rom 4:11-12).
But according to too many teachers within the lawless greater Church, those things that that are of Moses no longer pertain to born anew disciples of Christ Jesus. The epistles of Paul become these teachers’ excuses for presenting their members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness. They ignore the writer of Hebrews even though they usually identify this writer as the Apostle Paul; for the writer of Hebrews labels those things of Moses as a copy and shadow (Heb 8:5) of invisible spiritual realities, thereby making the things of Moses the dark glass through which disciples view the things of God. Today, disciples do not see with their eyes Christ Jesus as their high priest, but must accept on faith that the glorified Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding on their behalf as their high priest. The only way disciples have of “observing” what Jesus does for them is through comprehending the responsibilities of His shadow, circumcised Israel’s high priest. Likewise, the only way disciples have of seeing themselves as the holy nation of God, a royal priesthood called for service (1 Pet 2:9-10), is through comprehending the responsibilities of the Levitical priesthood, which had no inheritance in Israel but relied upon the Lord.
Let us pause for a momentary reality check: are Christians not a royal priesthood, their flesh the very temple of God (1 Co 3:16-17)? If every Christian who has been born of Spirit is part of this royal priesthood, which Christian is not the spiritual equivalent of a Levite? Every Christian is not merely a spiritually circumcised Israelite, but a spiritually circumcised Levite—and the descendants of the tribe of Levi were “in the world, but not of the world,” with no inheritance in Israel except service to God in the same way that disciples are separate from the world (John 17:11, 16). Israelites paid tithes to the temple and to Levites, but Levites did not pay tithes to other Levites, and Levites only prospered as the whole nation prospered. So explain the prosperity gospel: how is it that God will prosper disciples, spiritual Levites, who have no inheritance in this world with the things of this world? As the economic tide raises all ships, disciples will prosper with the rising tide. But without an inheritance in the world, disciples cannot expect to prosper in this world over and above the general economic condition of the culture in which they dwell. Thus, the prosperity gospel is a lie, a very clever lie that appeals to the natural minds of spiritual infants, but nonetheless, a lie.
The principle responsibility of the Levitical priesthood was temple service. The other tribes of Israel brought to the temple their tithes and offerings. Levites there did the hard work of butchering animal sacrifices that were added to the Law because Israel’s sins were no longer covered by being in bondage to Pharaoh; after the Law was given at Sinai, Israel was responsible for its lawlessness (Rom 5:13-14). The perfect life of Christ Jesus would be the only acceptable sacrifice for the sins of Israel, but until this offering was made at Calvary, the lives of bulls and goats, sheep and turtledoves stood in the place of Christ Jesus’ life. And since Jesus was the last Adam, the first human being with life in the heavenly realm as well as life in this physical world, no human being had committed a sin in the heavenly realm so no sacrifice was required in that realm … herein is a deep mystery of God: every disciple born of Spirit has actual life in the heavenly realm, and is able to commit sin in this heavenly realm. Grace is Christ Jesus temporarily covering in the heavenly realm those sins or that lawlessness with His righteousness. But covering sin doesn’t pay the required death penalty for that sin.
Jesus’ death at Calvary paid for the lawlessness committed by the flesh [or in the flesh] of every Israelite—of every natural Israel who had previously lived, and of every spiritually circumcised Israelite who would be born of Spirit. His sacrifice as the Passover Lamb of God, while paying the death penalty for lawlessness in this world, served in the heavenly realm to only cover the lawlessness of Israelites in that supra-dimensional realm in a matter akin to how the sacrifice of paschal lambs served to cover the sin of Israel in Egypt, thereby causing the death angel to pass over the firstborns of Israel. Grace comes from Jesus being the Passover Lamb of God—and as the sacrifice of lambs and goats did not permanently take away the sins of ancient Israel in the world, Grace does not take away the sins of Israel in the heavenly realm, but keeps the death angel from striking dead firstborns (all of spiritually circumcised Israel are the firstfruits of God). Sins in the heavenly realm still require death in that realm.
Yes, life in the heavenly realm must be lost to pay for every act of lawlessness committed by disciples, and this life will not be Christ Jesus’. He will not be sacrificed again, especially not in the heavenly realm. Therefore, Israel’s sacrificing of Passover lambs becomes a shadow and copy of Christ Jesus temporarily covering the sins of spiritually circumcised Israel in the heavenly realm. But Israel routinely sacrificed livestock to temporarily cover its transgression of the law in this physical realm—and these sacrifices also form a shadow and copy of Grace, for Jesus is the reality of all of ancient Israel’s sacrifices. However, as the lives of bulls and goats could not truly pay the price of lawlessness in this world, Grace doesn’t pay the price of lawlessness in the heavenly realm. Eventually, Satan will die to pay the price for all lawlessness in heaven, just as Jesus died in this physical realm to pay for all lawlessness of the flesh. However, Satan will not die until after the thousand years when he is loosed for a short while—and Christ will not cover spiritually circumcised Israel’s lawlessness after the Son of Man is revealed. Grace ends when the Son of Man is revealed (Luke 17:30). So for 1007+ years here on earth, a situation in the timeless heavenly realm will exist that is directly analogous to when natural Israel was liberated from bondage to Pharaoh.
Living disciples will be empowered or filled by the Holy Spirit so that no sin or death dwells within their fleshly members at the beginning of the seven endtime years of tribulation; they will be liberated from bondage to sin and death as Israel was liberated from physical bondage at the first Passover. Because sin will no longer dwell in the disciples members, disciples will die from causes outside of themselves. They will be as Christ Jesus was if they do not take sin back into themselves. They will truly be living sacrifices, acceptable to God. And martyrdom will return in unprecedented numbers.
Except for a remnant akin to the animals that entered Noah’s ark, all of the Christian Church that begins the seven endtime years will die physically or spiritually during the first three and a half years. They will die as living sacrifices either in this world (those who lose their physical lives but save their spiritual lives) as the Body of the Lamb of God, or they will die in the heavenly realm (those who seek to save their physical lives by taking sin back inside themselves), slain as spiritual bulls and goats in the resurrection at Christ’s return.
Again, as King of kings and Lord of lords the glorified Jesus will not bear any sins during His Millennium reign, the reason animal sacrifices return during the thousand years. All of humankind will have been born of Spirit, and will have been born empowered by the Holy Spirit. Christ Jesus will then be the prince of the power of the air. So every person will have the mind and nature of Christ. Nevertheless, Satan will be loosed for a short while after the thousand years, so knowledge of sin and knowledge of its consequences is retained through the animal sacrifices. But during these years between when Jesus doesn’t bear the sins of disciples who have come before Him in the first resurrection and when Satan ultimately pays with his life for the lawlessness of these same disciples in the heavenly realm, other lives in the heavenly realm must be given to cover glorified disciples. These other lives are disciples who were created as vessels for dishonorable usage, as vessels of wrath to be sons of destruction. And what should frighten every disciple is that these vessels of wrath believe that they will be in heaven with Jesus regardless of what they do here on earth; they believe that if they say the sinners’ prayer they are saved.
The kindest thing that can be said for those who say the sinners’ prayer then go about living their lives as they always have is that they were never called by God; that they are not born of Spirit; that salvation remains ahead of them either in the Tribulation or in the great White Throne Judgment. If, however, they have been born of Spirit, then a fearful death awaits them as they blithely go on their way as a dumb lamb lead to the altar. And if they have chosen death on the day of their salvation, nothing can really be done for them. They are already shaped into being a vessel of wrath. They will not hear warnings about repenting from their lawlessness. They will not keep the commandments by faith. After all, they have said the sinners’ prayer, and that is enough for them.
The Apostle Paul suggests that the person who today cleanses him or herself from what is dishonorable will become a vessel for honored usage in the house of God (2 Tim 2:21) … if it remains possible for the person to repent of his or her lawlessness, the person should immediately do so while the promise of entering into God’s rest still remains (Heb 4:1); for this promise of entering will close and be no more forever to the person. Then no amount of knocking will get the person through that door (Matt 25:10-13) leading into God’s rest. The disciple will not enter into life, but will die as a spiritual bull or goat, permanently sacrificed to temporarily cover sin.
A disciple should not look to the lawless greater Church for spiritual instruction unless the disciple desires to be a spiritual bull or goat, sacrificed upon the Lord’s return. If this is what the person desires, sobeit—there is nothing that can be done for the person, who on the day of his or her salvation had the choice of life or death, of beginning to keep the precepts of the law by faith or of believing lying ministers that the law had been abolished. Those disciples who chose death will have to live in this life by that choice and die in the heavenly realm because of that choice. Not much can be done for them other than to preach the good news in season and out, praying that perhaps they struggle against what they have become and turn away from what is dishonorable, come under Grace and live. Great will be the rejoicing in heaven if that were to happen, for rare is that happening. Rare is the person who leaves the lawless Church to begin keeping the weekly Sabbaths, let alone the annual high days.
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The practice of the churches of God has been to take up an offering on the high Sabbaths. If an offering is to be taken up, now is the time to do so, reminding those assembled together that God loves a cheerful giver, reading here 2 Corinthians chapter 9.
If there is to be offertory music, the person conducting the services should introduce it.
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After the offering has been collected, the reader should read 1 Corinthians chapters 2 and 3.
Commentary: Paul came among Hellenist Gentiles in Corinth and preached Christ Jesus, not with mere words or with human wisdom, what Greeks valued almost as much as life itself, but by demonstrations of the Spirit and of the power of God. He performed miracles, which are not for the mature in faith but for the immature, for spiritual babes. Among the mature, he did impart wisdom, but not wisdom like that of Plato which later entered the Church because Hellenists so revered Plato’s apparent wisdom. Rather, Paul imparted to those who were mature in faith the secret and hidden wisdom of God, wisdom from which all in Asia turned away while Paul still lived (2 Tim 1:15). In fact, before Paul died the churches Paul began had collectively forsaken the things of God, exchanging knowledge that is eternal for the wisdom of this world that is passing away. So it is no marvel that today’s lawless Christian Church consists of the spiritual livestock to be sacrificed when the temple of God is dedicated in the heavenly city.
It would be nice to say it isn’t so, to say that today’s Christians will be with Christ Jesus forever, to say that a disciple can live as a Gentile and still enter into God’s rest, to say that the laws of God have been abolished. But these laws haven’t been abolished. They have been written on the hearts and placed in the minds of born of Spirit disciples, who will either live by these laws or erase them from their hearts and minds. And once erased, the disciple will live comfortably as a spiritual bull or goat, singing praises to Jesus, praying to the Breath of God, believing a prosperity gospel or that the mother of God is the queen of heaven or that the disciple has an immortal soul. This person who has erased the laws of God from his or her heart and mind will condemn as heresy all teachings about living as Jesus lived, keeping the laws of God, observing the Sabbaths of God and doing those things that cause a person to be holy before God. In actual practice, the person who has erased the laws of God will blaspheme disciples who live by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4)—and in doing so, the one who has erased the laws will die in the heavenly realm, for this person has committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, calling the words that have proceeded from the mouth of the Most High by His Breath lies and falsehoods. This person will not be forgiven for this person is a vessel of wrath, created for destruction, and this person and millions like him or her today fill the pews of Christian churches every Sunday. The slaughter of spiritual bulls and goats upon Christ Jesus’ return will exceed anything that can be uttered by a human being.
No eye has seen nor ear heard nor heart imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him. Likewise, no eye has seen nor ear heard nor heart imagined what God has prepared for those who are vessels of wrath to be endured for a season.
Philosophers and philosophizing clergymen have not understood what it means to have the laws of God written on hearts and placed in minds; for spiritual truths are only discernable by those who are spiritual, and being spiritual or spiritually minded will cause the disciple to live by every word that has come from God. Therefore, the one who, for sake of argument, refuses to keep the Sabbath commandment, thereby transgressing the laws of God and sinning against the Most High, cannot understand spiritual truth and is only able to understand human wisdom. Now, looking out over Christendom, a disciple will see very few Christians observing this weekly Sabbath, and even fewer observing the annual Sabbath—and all who are not observing the Sabbaths of God transgress the laws of God and are absolutely unable to comprehend spiritual truths. Thus, when all ten precepts of the law are used in the same way that the Sabbath commandment is used to winnow away the chaff imbedded in Christendom, what a disciple will find is that the teachers sent by God are extremely few in number. Most of those teaching are ministers of Satan (2 Co 11:13-15). And to test this observation, do not pay those who teach. Let them serve as Paul served at Corinth. If they will do so, then perhaps they should be listened to if they teach Israel to keep the commandments, living by every word that has come from God.
The person who has not been born of Spirit will not and cannot accept the things of God. This person has no spiritual discernment, and doesn’t even understand what it is that he or she cannot perceive. Hence, those things of God that are precious to disciples are utterly meaningless to the naturally minded person—and Paul could not address the disciples at Corinth as spiritual people. Understand this! What Paul delivered verbally to converts at Corinth was milk, the sustenance of infants. What Paul writes to these same disciples is also spiritual milk. In fact all of sola scriptura is milk for suckling babes; it is the foundation laid by Paul upon which the house that Moses built stands as the inside walls of the heavenly temple.
Again, understand: Moses wrote of Jesus (John 5:45-47). Moses was the voice of YHWH as Aaron was the voice of Moses—and Moses, in proclaiming the name of YHWH, ascribes greatness to God in the song that ratifies the second covenant, made on the plains of Moab with a mixed circumcised and uncircumcised nation of Israel [those Israelites born in Egypt who were too young to be counted in the census were circumcised whereas those born in the wilderness were uncircumcised]. It is a heavenly or spiritual covenant, for it is not ratified by blood as are those covenants made with the flesh.
Today, the fleshly bodies of disciples are the temple of God (1 Co 3:16-17), but in the future, the glorified bodies of chosen disciples will form the living stones of which the heavenly temple is composed, with no tears heard on the heavenly construction site as no iron tools were to be heard where Solomon’s temple was constructed. That which is flesh will become spirit when glorified, when that which is mortal puts on immortality. Thus, collectively, the fleshly tabernacles in which spiritually circumcised new creatures, born from above as sons of God, dwell is the temple of God the Father here on earth. Again, the collective bodies of disciples form, in the same way that off-site shaped stones formed the temple Solomon constructed, the yet unassembled temple of the Most High. Disciples are now the living stones designated to be part of the house of God; therefore, disciples are being shaped and sculpted with hard tools in anticipation of when they will be assembled without the sound of iron on stone being heard. And those disciples who are of Philadelphia will be pillars (Rev 3:12) in this house of God, with the forming of them into pillars being accomplished prior to their resurrection or change.
The two stone tablets upon which the commandments of God were written by the finger of Yah were not first housed in a stone temple, but in a perishable tent of fabric. King David desired to build the Lord a permanent house, and he received permission to assemble materials, metals, and moneys, but not permission to build—David’s reign began with him seeking God and bringing again the ark of the covenant to Israel (1 Chron 13:3), but David was a bloody man, expanding Israel’s geographical borders to their greatest size with the sword as he also expanded Israel’s knowledge of God to its greatest extent through his poetry. Under David, Israel’s geography reflected [or revealed] Israel’s knowledge of God—the physical and spiritual attributes of Israel were aligned so that endtime disciples can begin to appreciate why David was called a man after God’s heart: David had a level of understanding that was not again attained until the time of the end when Philadelphians use his key to reveal the hidden things of God.
David’s son Solomon was a man of peace, and the man to whom YHWH gave rest (1 Chron 22:9). Solomon inherited the geography increased by David; thus, he began his reign with knowledge, to which God added wisdom … Solomon’s reign over Israel foreshadows, or serves as a copy and shadow of the Millennium. The sins of Solomon will be the sins of Israel during the thousand years: as Solomon married foreign women to cement political alliances and to satisfy his lusts, during the thousand years Israel will join with Egypt and Assyria [sin and death] (Isa 19:24-25) so that when Satan is loosed for a short while he will deceive nations and again bring destruction on the earth (Rev 20:7-10). Foreign women are a shadow of foreign theologies. And while those empowered Israelites who begin the thousand years will have the knowledge of God that comes with the restoration of all things [knowledge equivalent to and greater than what David had], millennial Israel will be as Solomon was, acquiring wisdom while retaining knowledge. But possessing knowledge and wisdom without faith will not produce righteousness. Solomon assembled and dedicated the house of God for which David gave moneys and materials, but then Solomon built for himself a grander house that overlooked the house of God. Solomon would have had the moon shine brighter than the sun if that were possible, for Solomon lacked the humility that comes with faith.
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The reader should read 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 1 through 8.
Commentary: The rejected living stone upon which the temple of God is built is Christ Jesus, but each disciple is also a living stone comprising the spiritual temple. As the stone temple built by Solomon housed the two stone tablets upon which the finger of YHWH had written the commandments of God, the living temple of flesh houses the two tablets of flesh (i.e., the hearts and minds of disciples) upon which the laws of God are today written. And after mortality has put on immortality, the glorified temple of spirit will be the house God, the house in which God actually dwells, for each stone will be a son.
Under the second covenant, the laws of God move from stone to flesh, from hand to heart, from body to mind, from outside physically circumcised Israelites to inside spiritually circumcised disciples. And the shaping of rough living stone began four days after Calvary when Jesus breathed on ten of His disciples.
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The reader should read Matthew chapter 5, verses 17 through 30.
Commentary: The lawless Church teaches that Jesus abolished the law, but that isn’t what Jesus taught. Rather, He taught that murder, conducted with the hand, becomes or equates to anger, a production of the heart, that under the spiritual covenant, what was outside a person—a physically circumcised Israelite was “under” an outside law—moves inside the person. Hence, Jesus taught that the inside of the cup should be cleaned, and the whole cup would be clean.
Adultery, committed with the body, under the spiritual covenant equates to lust, committed with the mind. And so it is with all of the laws of God. Breaking the Sabbath through doing work with the hands moves to breaking the Sabbath through the desires of the hearts and the thoughts of the mind being on subjects other than loving God and loving neighbor. The Sabbath doesn’t go away, nor does it change from the seventh day to the eighth day. Likewise, the annual Sabbaths do not dissolve into nothingness with the passing from the physical covenant governing the physically circumcised nation to the spiritual covenant governing a spiritually circumcised nation. The movement of the law from two stone tablets in a stone temple to two tablets of flesh in a temple of flesh doesn’t abolish the law. Jesus confirmed this: Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets (v. 17). Thus, if a person will not hear the words of Moses, the person will not hear Jesus (John 5:47).
Once the fellowships in Asia left Paul, twisting his teachings into lawlessness, accepting instead the wisdom of men, especially that of Plato, these fellowships formed a countering force to the circumcision faction, headquartered in Jerusalem. Unfortunately, these Asia Minor fellowships exceeded even the circumcision faction in error. So as decades and generations passed, it isn’t to the early churches in Asia that endtime disciples can look for guidance in understanding.
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The reader should read John chapter 5.
Commentary: Jesus healing on the Sabbath was Him delivering the speech acts of His Father—Jesus’ healing of the man afflicted for 38 years [the man was there when Jesus was 12] was a “sermon” uttered by the Father, not in human words but through human healing. The speech acts of the Father in the timeless heavenly realm, where there is no day one, two, three, four, five, six, or seven, disclosed the essence of what it means to enter into God’s rest. The Father through Jesus gave the man rest from his affliction in the flesh. Entering heaven will give glorified human beings rest from the afflictions of their flesh. Thus, the recorded healings Jesus administered on the Sabbath were visualized sermons about the Sabbath, and about what its means to enter into God’s rest.
God the Father preached the Sabbath, and Sabbath observance through His spokesman, Christ Jesus. From the perspective of the heavenly realm, the speech acts of the Father could have been delivered on any day of the week, for the single unchanging moment that defines heaven and its timelessness transcends every moment in this physical realm. Thus, the Father, in having Jesus deliver His speech acts on the Sabbath, made a statement that confirmed New Testament Sabbath observance; of entering into God’s rest on the Sabbath (Heb 4:9). Literally, the Father was then working in heaven as He had been, was, and would be throughout the duration of one everlasting moment that bridges time from its beginning to its end. In whatever portion of this single moment that He desired, the Father can reach across the dimensions to make His will known. Therefore, reaching across on the Sabbath is a deliberate act by the Father: it is an act He could have made on any day of the week or at anytime during the history of the universe. So His decision to reach across on a feast day that was also the Sabbath, such as today is a feast day and the Sabbath, can only be deemed coincidental or deliberate. No other category pertains. There can be no other marking for the healing.
If the healing was coincidental, meaning that it was merely happenstance that Jesus went up to Jerusalem on this feast day that was also a Sabbath, and that it was merely happenstance that the Father, working through Jesus, healed the man unable to enter the pool, and that it was merely happenstance that the Jews begin persecuting Jesus because the healing occurred on the Sabbath, then it was equally happenstance that Jesus entered Jerusalem that last week of His life on the 10th of Abib, that Jesus was crucified on the 14th, dying between the evenings [as Pharisees then reckoned when to killed Passover lambs], that he lay in the heart of the earth three days and three nights [the 15th, 16th, 17th] and was resurrected and ascended to the Father when the Wave Sheaf Offerings was being waved [by Sadducees] on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath during Unleavened Bread. Jesus was the First of the firstfruits as the Waved Sheaf was the first sheaf of barley harvested. So if it is coincidental that Jesus went to Jerusalem on a feast and healed on the Sabbath, then it can be reasonably assumed that everything else that Jesus did exactly on a special day was also coincidental even though disciples have reinforcing Scripture that asserts otherwise.
If the healing was deliberately made on the Sabbath, then the Father through His speech act that is manifested as a healing confirms that the Sabbath equates to entering into His rest—and the disciple who will not keep the feasts or the Sabbath does not hear either the Father or the Son, but listens instead to the Adversary.
The Sabbaths, weekly and annual, represent diminutive rests of God into which disciples enter when disciples rest from their physical labors on these days. There is no physical work performed in heaven, where nothing physical can enter. Thus, in God’s rest all physical work ends but all activity doesn’t end so doing those things that pertain to the spiritual realm are, indeed, appropriate Sabbath activities, for these are the things that will be done when disciples are glorified.
Because the physically circumcised nation never understood the things of God—and because that nation serves as the actual shadow of the greater Church, meaning that the greater Church likewise doesn’t understand the mystery of God—Israel made the Sabbaths of God burdens that must be borne in sin. The greater Church has made the Sabbath a day of lawlessness, the principle shopping day of the week. The greater Church has, therefore, burdened the spiritual nation of Israel with sin in a similar manner to how Pharaoh placed the physically circumcised nation under physical bondage.
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The reader shall now read Nehemiah chapter 7, verse 73, though chapter 8, verse 12.
Commentary: When the remnant of Israel that left Babylon to rebuild the house of God in physical Jerusalem finished the city wall and the house of God, the people gathered on the first day of the seventh month—on this day, Trumpets—and heard the Law read and expounded. This remnant of Israel worshiped God, whereas the remainder of Israel that had stayed in Babylon, enjoying the prosperity of the city, were not assembling before God, worshipping Him, praising Him, weeping because of their previous lawlessness. Likewise, the remnant of spiritually circumcised Israel that left spiritual Babylon nearly five centuries ago are gathered before God on this High Sabbath day to hear the Law read and expounded, whereas the remainder of spiritual Israel—that portion of the Church still in spiritual Babylon as disclosed by the day on which this lawless portion attempts to enter into God’s rest—are seeking the prosperity of the Adversary’s kingdom, working and shopping on this High Sabbath, ignoring the things of God and pursuing the pleasures of sin for a season … may all who will not assemble before God on this High day repent of their lawlessness while, perchance, the promise of entering into God’s rest still stands for them (Heb 4:1).
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"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."