Thursday, January 7, 2016

Chapter Five LEARN TO TAKE IT EASY

Chapter Five


LEARN TO TAKE IT EASY

George Bernard Shaw[i] said, “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage—it can be delightful.” One time Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, apart from losing his pants at a seedy Memphis motel in 1986, is also famous for half-quoting Shaw when he told his constituents “Life was not meant to be easy.” Evidently, unlike George Bernard Shaw, Fraser was not offering any suggestion to the public that they might find anything in what he had to offer, delightful.

When we think about how life just happens, why should life be difficult for us?

Maldivians enjoyed a simple life on islands of paradise until they were developed as tropical resorts to cater for the affluent from other lands. Life was easy. Now there are so many problems increasing in number and magnitude that living in paradise is becoming more problematic by the day. There are major issues to do with sewage, sanitation and waste oil disposal, without mentioning coral mining, dredging and accommodating a lifestyle replete with First World pleasures that encourage the use of vehicles and amenities which tend to consume resources and destroy the environment. This has led to increased commercial traffic and population growth with associated consequences of beach erosion, coral depletion, soil degradation, and decreasing freshwater. The outcome is life in the Maldives is becoming less like living in the paradise it once was.[ii] 

The book of Genesis, chapter thirteen, records a dispute between Abraham and his cousin, Lot. Abraham appears to have had a desire to make life as easy as he could for himself. Instead of arguing with his cousin, Abraham gave Lot the choice of where he would like to live. Lot chose the rich, lush, paradise where Sodom and Gomorrah existed. Abraham decided to distance himself from lifestyle complications and chose to live a less sophisticated life where there was less likelihood of trouble. What may seem to some to be a harder way to live often turns out to be the easy way. Lot suffered much within his tormented mind because of the wickedness that prevailed in the place he had decided to rest his soul (2 Peter 2:6-8), whereas Abraham continued in the blessing and peace of God and grew strong in faith (Romans 4:20).

The Fourth Commandment
The Fourth Commandment has produced quite some controversy over the years. The fourth commandment is:
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy”—Exodus 20:8-11.
Keeping the Sabbath
This commandment has been one of the distinguishing features of the Jewish Religion. The Sabbath is meant to be about making life easy, but the Jews complicated matters by legislating what could or could not be done on the Sabbath. They created so many laws that the Sabbath became a burden to the people; rather than the blessing it was ordained to be. In modern times, Sabbath observers tend to exalt this day over and above the other commandments; consequently, it remains a burdensome and controversial issue for many people rather than a blessing.

One may wonder why the issue of keeping a day would be so controversial. There can only be one reason—pride. Pride is the curse of humankind. It causes ignorance, misunderstanding, strife, self-righteousness and wars. Pride is the very disposition that says, “I am right,” before considering what the facts might be.

Humility resides on the opposite side of the spectrum to pride. Humility says, “I will look at the facts and let them reveal the truth.”

When we first read the fourth commandment, the one fact that stands out is God saying that we shall rest one day in every seven. Not only is God saying that we should rest, but also those who provide us any comfort or service should rest, too. Nobody is to do any work; not even an ox turning a millstone or a waterwheel. This means that the day is for resting and focusing on what is important about life.

It makes sense for people to have a day of rest, just to break the monotony of doing the same thing every day. This is especially so, if we live in an agrarian economy where everyone would otherwise work. Those who are doing the cooking and housework would enjoy having a rest one day a week, where they do nothing except get out of bed and eat whatever had been prepared the day before and just relax for the day, with no cleaning up. The men and women working in the fields would enjoy the fact that they did not have to labor seven days a week. Any servants would certainly appreciate the fact that they can have a day where they can recuperate their spent energy.

The fact that we are requested to remember the Sabbath day indicates that this commandment is different to the others. This is the only commandment that uses the word “remember”. There has to be a very important reason for this word, and there is—so we should not take this lightly. When it comes to remembering something, this also implies reflection. When we remember past events, we usually reflect upon them in some way, rather than just recall a fact. Recalling past events that may not have seemed funny at the time is a common occurrence among friends but, more often than not, over time these same events take on a different light and may now even seem humorous.

To remember the Sabbath and its significance is something God encourages people to do; only we need to see this in the right light. It is notable that even though there are prohibitions within the commandment, the more important element is to remember the Sabbath and recognize that it is holy.

The word “holy” indicates that something has been set aside for God. The Sabbath, therefore, is something that needs to be remembered in this light. In fact, God has set aside the Sabbath day as a day of complete rest from laborious activity

When we read that God has set aside the Sabbath as a day of rest, it starts to become rather obvious why this day has so much controversy associated with it. Religious zealots can quickly determine whether a person is resting or working. However, there are issues that need to be addressed, which affect people’s incomes and lifestyles. What happens when property is threatened by flood or fire, or is being stolen on a Sabbath? What are people to do if an animal hurts itself and needs attention, or a wild animal attacks a herd of cattle or flock of sheep or a drove of goats? What if a harvest is being trampled down by wild animals or crops, and fruit is being eaten by birds? Jewish leaders addressed these problems by introducing laws for all these situations, which in turn created an industry for lawyers (Luke 11:45-52).

If the Sabbath day is to be honored as a holy day, because this is what the Creator God requires, then there should be no need to worry about what happens. The Sabbath is all about putting our trust in God to protect us from harm or disadvantage, which is why the Sabbath has been made for man (Mark 2:27). Unfortunately, people suffer from unbelief, and they start working out ways and means of turning something that is meant for the good of all, into a profit for the few.

The Sabbath of Hebrews
In the Book of Hebrews, the Sabbath is brought into further focus. An interesting development is the comparison of the Sabbath rest with entering the Promised Land back in the days of Joshua. The Sabbath is declared not to be just one day out of seven, but every day, as long as it is called, “Today”. The written Word of God states:
“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation,  and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts; they have not known my ways.’  As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”“Take care, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, while it is said, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”  Who were they that heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? And with whom was he provoked forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they should never enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.  For good news came to us just as to them; but the message which they heard did not benefit them, because it did not meet with faith in the hearers. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall never enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this place he said, “They shall never enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later of another day. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 3:7-4:11 RSV).
 Effectively, the New Testament says that the Promised Land is the land of Sabbath rest. The Sabbath day is merely a sample of what God has promised for those who believe in Him, that they have nothing to worry about, because God will protect, provide and preserve life. God promises to protect us from harm. God promises to provide all our needs. God promises to preserve our lives in His fullness.

The Sabbath day was to be representative of the Sabbath rest that God is enjoying from His labors of creating the Heavens and the Earth, that is, the Universe. Evidently, creating the Universe was no small matter for God. Creating the Universe required God to exert huge amounts of energy[iii]  and this He called, “labor”. When God finished from His labors of creating the Universe, He rested, and is resting still. This is an important biblical truth, which points the way to knowing the true God and not being intimidated by the god of this world or any one of his agents. This is why the Sabbath was given to the Israelites also as a command, so they would remember not only who brought them out of Egypt but, also, Who created the Universe. The God of the Israelites is more than just a god of human imagination, or even the god of this world, for He is the God of the Universe, and the very source of life itself.

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath
Jesus declared that He Himself is the Lord of the Sabbath, and that He gives us rest for our souls. What this means is Jesus is Lord, and all who call upon His name can trust Him to do according to His word. In fact, so much of what is found in the ceremonial laws given to the Israelites points to the purpose of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that the significance of the Sabbath needs to be understood in the light of the death and resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God.

Jesus became the Passover Lamb. The Passover Lamb was killed on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan and eaten during the night. The days were counted from evening to evening. The Passover lamb was to be killed at the beginning of the Sabbath and not at the end of the Sabbath day, so it could be eaten on the Sabbath. Jesus (the Son of GodPr.30.4) identified Himself as the Passover Lamb when He told His disciples that they needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Jesus said to them,
“Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” (John 6:53-56).[iv]
 It is also significant that Jesus described Himself as the Door in the Gospel of John, chapter ten. The reference to being the door in this chapter is usually associated with a sheepfold. However, the truth is Jesus is the Door to the Sabbath rest, for no one can enter that rest except through Him (cf. John 10:9; 14:6). This is why the Israelites were to eat the Passover Lamb at the beginning of the Sabbath. Eating the Passover Lamb was a type of how we are to enter the Sabbath rest that God has made available for us today (John 6:57).

The Significance of the Feasts
Only the Passover fell on the Sabbath day, because the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. None of the other feasts fall or begin on the Sabbath. The Feast of Unleavened Bread (a time of consecration to God to acknowledge deliverance and separation from the world[v]) began on the first day of the week and went for seven days. The Feast of First Fruits (the resurrection of those in Abraham’s bosom) and the Feast of Pentecost (the beginning of the Church Age) both fell on Sunday, the first day of the week. What this means is the significance of Sunday in respect to the Church of God and the resurrection cannot be overlooked.

Note well: to distinguish the new revelation from the Law as given to the Jews (Deuteronomy. 5:1-15), the celebration of the resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ is held on a Sunday (cf. 1 Cor. 16:2; Acts 20:7) by commemorating His death and resurrection when gathering together to partake of the bread and the wine (Act 20:7; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). This has to do with the Melchizedek priesthood which, like the gospel (Gal. 3:8), came before the Mosaic Covenant and has nothing to do with the Levitical priesthood (Heb. 7:11; 5:1-6; Ps. 110:1-4; Gen. 14:18). Importantly, the Mosaic Covenant and Levitical priesthood bear witness to the gospel through the use of typology that was ordained by our Heavenly Father. These symbols that belong to the Melchizedek Covenant represent not only the death of Jesus but also His resurrection. The bread represents the body of Christ of which all who believe in His Name are partakers by means of the same Spirit (1 Cor. 10:17; 12:27; Rom. 12:5). The wine represents the blood of the Living God that Jesus shed, which  cleanses Christians from sin when they walk in the light and have fellowship with each other (1 Cor. 10:16; 1 John 1:7).

As for the other three feasts: the Feast of Trumpets falls on the first day of the month (the first day of the week); the Feast of Atonement falls on the tenth day of the seventh month; the Feast of Tabernacles begins on the fifteenth day (the first day of the week).

 The significance of these feasts is not to be understated nor overlooked if we are to understand the truths of God’s promise to Abraham. This is because the feasts point to:
  1. Jesus’s death; 
  2. His resurrection; 
  3. the separation from the world and devotion to the Lord God; 
  4. the baptism of the Holy Spirit; 
  5. the heralding of the second coming of Lord Jesus Christ; 
  6. the revealing of the completion of the work of Jesus Christ in the body of Christ via the atonement; 
  7. the final gathering together of the righteous on Earth at Jesus’ return.
A Contemporary View of the Sabbath
The Fourth Commandment was to be a day of separation from the world for the Israelites and a sign of salvation wherein no one did any work for any reason. However, certain organizations and groups of people insist that this one day of the week must be kept today as a holy day to the Lord and claim that this is an eternal covenant that is binding upon everyone—when it is not.

One incident that is very instructive about attitudes and hypocrisy concerning the keeping of the Israelite Sabbath occurred when a Sabbath keeper (Stan) was staying at a hotel, where another member of his denomination (Norm) was working on the Sabbath.

Stan sees Norm cleaning a mess that had just been made by one of the hotel guests during lunch. Stan immediately goes over to Norm and condemns him for working on the Sabbath. Then Stan goes to his table to be waited upon. Norm finishes cleaning up the mess and then approaches Stan as he was being served and told him, in no uncertain terms, that he was being very hypocritical to condemn another church member for working on the Sabbath when he himself was being served on the Sabbath by a waiter, when this is also prohibited by the Sabbath law. The arrogant, conceited, Stan simply replied, “I get hungry on the Sabbath, and I have to eat. Don’t I?”

Norm did quite a bit of reflection upon this incident and what it implied. He concluded that it was impossible for any Sabbath-keeper to literally keep the Sabbath if they used any lighting, gas, water, public transport, vehicle or anything that involved another person providing any form of service or amenity directly or indirectly during the Sabbath hours, as the Mosaic commandment forbids anybody doing any work, even animals for the benefit of Sabbath-keepers.

There is clear evidence in the New Testament that the Mosaic Covenant has been replaced by the Kingdom of God. Christians, who are born of God, need not subject themselves to the Old Covenant with its observances of days, making animal sacrifices and bringing burnt offerings before the Lord. All these sacrifices and burnt offerings pointed to the death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary. Jesus has become the Lamb of the Passover. Now people can be free to rest and worship God during the ensuing Sabbath, of which Jesus is Lord—every day of the week, not one day of the week only.

Christ has set us free so that we no longer need to subject ourselves to the elemental spirits that try to control the universe with regulations governing observances of days, months, years, foods, or anything else that speaks of man-made religion (cf. Galatians 5:1; 4:8-10). This freedom does not mean that we are to abound in sinful actions, but to delight in the joy of our salvation found in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, having found rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-30).

 Still, many people cannot cope with the idea that they are can be free to worship God in spirit and truth. These proud people need to have a particular day which forms a sacrificial offering that gives them a sense of devotion to God. Those who believe keeping a twenty-four-hour Sabbath Day is an eternal covenant and the Ten Commandments—in the Mosaic form incorporating the Levitical priesthood—apply to everyone outside of the Israelite nation have yet to read their Bible with eyes that are enlightened by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:18).

The Mosaic Covenant was made only with the people who were at Mount Sinai and their biological descendants. None of the Ten Commandments were given to the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) as a covenant, and, likewise, they do not apply in the Mosaic form to anybody else.[vi]  The first six verses of Deuteronomy chapter five are very clear that the Mosaic Covenant was made only with the Israelites who came out of Egypt:
‘‘And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: ‘Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. The Lord your God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said: ‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.You shall have no other gods before Me’“.....‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deut 5:1-7; 12-15 NKJV [vii]).
Since the Ten Commandments were not given to Abraham, and in the New Testament he is called the father of all who believe and are saved, the argument for keeping the Sabbath Day as a religious observance today goes out the door.

 One Seventh-Day Adventist pastor, who was trying to convert me to his way of thinking, abandoned his effort after I pointed out to him the above passage of Scripture from Deuteronomy, when he had just admitted “the fathers” were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Another Seventh-Day Adventist pastor (twelve months before he resigned from the organization) told me I would lose my salvation if I did not keep Saturday as the Sabbath Day and pointed out the following Scripture:.
“ And the LORD said to Moses,  ”Say to the people of Israel, ‘You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.  You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; every one who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.  Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant.  It is a sign for ever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed”[viii]  (Exodus 31:12-17 RSV).
Sabbath Day Observance: No Longer Binding 
The argument that the Sabbath is an eternal covenant is based on this passage from Exodus, chapter thirty-one. However, this is part of an everlasting or (probably better understood as) a perpetual[ix] covenant between God and the Israelites, who were brought out of Egypt under the Mosaic Covenant (Deuteronomy 5:1-33), and their descendants according to physical descent. Since the Mosaic Covenant has been done away with, this is no longer binding, even upon the Israelites. The Mosaic Covenant was brought into existence to act as a means of instruction until the new covenant age of the Spirit, which was ushered into existence on the Day of Pentecost, after the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. The Mosaic Covenant is no longer binding as the acceptable way to worship the Heavenly Father, even though it is still instructive in the ways of God (cf. Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor.10:11; 2 Tim. 3:15-17;  John 5:46-47).

The Sabbath has a Wider Application
The Ten Commandments are very instructive. Nevertheless, they have to be understood, firstly, as being specific to the Israelites, who were brought out of Egypt (the reason why there is a second version that clearly points to the Sabbath as being the identifying characteristic of the nation), and then, secondly, recognized as containing eternal truths for humanity.

As explained in chapter two, typologically, the Land of Egypt represents the Earth. The house of bondage, lorded over by Pharaoh, represents being in bondage to sin and death within the domain of the Devil. Once we understand, the First Commandment has a universal application; it becomes easier to appreciate that the Fourth Commandment has a wider application than just observing one day out of every seven days as the sign of a covenant between God and man, as was required of the nation Israel.

Sunday Is Not a Sabbath Day
Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on a Sunday and congregate to partake of the bread and the wine and have fellowship with each other around the Word of God. They do so because they acknowledge the new covenant is now in effect. This new covenant has been bequeathed to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Mosaic covenant, on the other hand, was meant to demonstrate how a nation could live within the world and find God’s favor, even though it could never bring about the true reality of entering the Kingdom of God. The symbolism is now that of the Melchezidek Order: the celebration of the resurrection through the bread and the wine.

 However, the coming together on the first day of the week (Sunday) is not an observance of the Lord’s day, nor a day of rest, as some like to think, and who treat it as a substitute Sabbath. When people come together on a Sunday to observe the rite of partaking of the bread and the wine, the enlightened do this to bear witness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).

This gathering is not because God has rested from His labors in forming the Universe, but because those coming together are celebrating the salvation that has been made available through Jesus Christ and the hope of His Second Coming. For the saints of the New Testament, the new covenant has nothing to do with observing a day, even though many people in their ignorance want to make an issue of it. Coming together on the first day of the week is about the fact that JESUS is ALIVE and He is coming back again to rule planet Earth in righteousness.

Matters of Chronological Significance
As for the fact that God has rested on the Seventh Day of Creation, and the Fourth Commandment is a sign for all generations until the doing away of the ceremonial laws, some significant chronological matters regarding the Creation Week need to be understood.

Literal Six Day Creationists Take Note
Firstly, take note that in the Creation account within the first chapter of the book of Genesis, the first day does not open with a morning, and the seventh day does not close with an evening—which implies no beginning and no ending. What we will find is the term evening and morning, as in evening and morning the first day; evening and morning, the second day; evening and morning, the third day; evening and morning, the fourth day; evening and morning, the fifth day; evening and morning, the sixth day; but we will not find evening and morning, the seventh day.

The Twenty-four-Hour Day Hypothesis Failure
If these periods of time were to be literal twenty-four-hour days, the Sun, the Moon and the Earth needed to have been created on the first day—at the very least. This is because without the Sun there could not be a day as we know it. Moreover, to be definite that these days were twenty-four-hour periods, God would have created the Earth, the Sun, the Moon and the stars before the first day. Then the first day would begin with a morning—which it does not—and the seventh day would have to have an evening—which it has not. The pattern in Genesis, chapter one, is evening and morning (one day). The pattern is not morning and evening (one day).

 The truth is there are only six evenings—not seven evenings—mentioned and six days (as in, evening and morning, the first day has finished and the second day has begun). In order to have seven complete days begin and then finalized, the account would have to provide eight evenings and mornings (i.e. evening and morning, end of the previous week…evening and morning, beginning of the next week). However, since there are only six evenings and mornings mentioned, and the seventh day had a morning, but no evening, we can be sure that the Sabbath rest that God has taken at the end of His labors, when laboring over Creation, has not ended. This means God is still resting from His labors of Creation. This is the case, even though God is working during His Sabbath rest (John 5:17); only His works are not laboring; they are similar to watering the garden—more therapeutic than laborious.[x]

Strive Only To Rest
The book of Hebrews tells us quite clearly that God is resting from His labors of Creation, and we are invited to enter His rest. When we do this, we cease from our own labors as God did from His. This is the message of salvation for all humankind. We do not have to strive to do anything in life, apart from entering God’s rest. The only thing we need to strive for is to enter God’s rest and, once we have entered, then we have no need to be anxious about anything anymore (cf. Matthew 6:26-35). God has become the Lord of our lives, and we have found rest for our souls in His presence at the present time. Those who have not found rest or have not learnt to rest in God’s Sabbath, and have not learnt to put their trust completely in the Lord God are still striving to obtain something other than entering God’s rest and learning self-acceptance.

The Sabbath in the Gospel of Matthew
Jesus said that all who labor and are heavy laden, are to come to him, for He will give us rest for our souls. This Jesus could say because He is Lord of the Sabbath. This is found in Matthew, chapters eleven and twelve. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath because He is God and the One through Whom all things have been created. The Bible is very clear about this. Jesus reigns in the Sabbath of Creation because He has demonstrated that He alone has been able to keep the Ten Commandments and not break one. Consequently, Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He is also Lord of the Sabbath because He rose from the dead, after having taken upon Himself the sin of the world. Even though Jesus did not sin, He became sin, on our behalf, so we would have a means to escape the effects of sin; that is, death and its consequences (cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 8:10).

The Incarnate Christ
The reason why the Only Begotten Son of God became flesh and took on human form, to die on our behalf, was to prove that God Himself is righteous. We did not ask to be born—I certainly do not recall making any request to be born into this world. Only the pre-existent Son of God had a say in being born into this world. He chose to be born as Jesus of Nazareth.

The Jews knew that God had a Son, because it is recorded in the book of Proverbs. They were also aware that He was going to appear in human form as a descendant of David (cf. Is 9:6-7; 11:1-5; John 7:31).

When the Word of God, who happens to be the Son of God, was revealed in human form, everything had to be just right for His entering the world, so he could live a life without sin, even though He would be tempted in every respect to sin—just like us. Jesus did not succumb to any desire to sin. Jesus did not give in to temptation. Instead, Jesus, the man, was able to rest in the knowledge that God was His Father and would not allow Him to be tempted beyond His ability to resist (cf. 1 Corinthians. 10:13). Upon Jesus rested the Spirit of the Fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2). Jesus feared what sin would do if he were to sin; He hated evil (Proverbs 8:13).  Consequently, Jesus simply chose not to sin.

We are not born with the indestructible Spirit of God residing in us; therefore, we are inclined to succumb to the ways of the world. Hence, God has decided to give us the opportunity to extend Him mercy—yes, you read right. God wants us to extend mercy to Him rather than judge Him because we did not ask to be born into this world of sin and death. If everybody did, the world would be a better place.

The Truth about Mercy 
Read this very carefully, as too many people are unable to understand or even comprehend justice, mercy and faith, which Jesus said are the weightier matters of the Law. People wrongfully charge God with evil, instead of righteousness, because of their lack of understanding about why we are on Earth and why we are born into sin, only to be confronted with suffering and death. The Evil One does not want you to understand the truth about justice, judgment, mercy, faith and that we are created in the image of God and therefore are gods, not biological creatures such as dogs that only possess a soul but not a spirit (if you have not grasped this, read the previous chapters). This is very central to understanding the Sabbath and Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. This is also essential for us to understand if we want to participate in the freedom that is rightfully ours as children of God, the glorious liberty that the Creation is waiting upon to take place (Romans 8:21). Jesus is coming back but not for people who play religious games, only for those who are ready, waiting and resting in His LOVE (Heb 4:11; Rom 5:5; Matt 25:1-13).

Matthew chapter twelve, verses seven and eight read:
“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.”
The idea that God invites us to extend mercy to Him is foreign to most people’s thinking. The reason for this being difficult for us to grasp is we are always trying to justify ourselves as being better than other people in some way. In our personal sense of being right, we tend to think our guess is better than the next person’s guess, or our opinion is better than the other person’s opinion—but then an opinion is really a guess based on insufficient facts. And how often have we believed our own opinion was right, only to find it was incorrect because we did not have the correct facts in the first place.

The truth is Jesus said that we "need" to learn what it means to show Him mercy and not sacrifice.  When Jesus says, “I;” He means Himself;  He does not mean someone else. He does not mean us.
“Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).
The phrase to “learn what this means” indicates that this is a foreign concept to our sense of self before God. [Note well.] We do not need to learn that which we know the meaning of already. We only need to learn something if we do not know what it means. This idea really requires us to humble ourselves before God, put our complete trust in Lord Jesus Christ, and allow Him to raise us above our egotistical sense of self. Essentially, this is what Job had to learn—but his experience is not something we would seek. However, we may have to undergo our own Job-like experiences if we want to know the truth about what it means not to judge God and give Him the opportunity to prove Himself in our lives.

Our nature is bent on sacrificing something to demonstrate to other people that we are better than they are; or if not better, just as good as them. Often people make sacrifices as a show of their humility, which they can later crow about in their pride; just as a hen cackles when it lays an egg—we humans cannot keep our mouths shut about what we have done. We all like to think we are as good or even better than others.

True humility is found in genuine meekness, not affected meekness; as when people claim they are so humbled to receive some award or honor that is bestowed upon them. It is like telling people, the more we have learned, the more humble we have become—just to let people know that we might be erudite. Yet when one asks a trader on the share market how he is humbled, he will tell you about his losses, not about how he is honored or how much he has learnt.

The reality is knowledge tends to puff one up, especially when it is false. It is a different story when God is our teacher. Truth brings us right down to Earth. This is because truth is about getting the logs out of our eyes; so we can learn to see with them as God sees, with spiritual eyes of purity (cf. Matt. 5:8; Eph. 1.18; 2 Cor. 5:16-17).  This is why only the meek will inherit the Earth.  In order to find out how humble and meek we might be, the question we need to ask ourselves: Are we inheriting the Earth?

Job received his inheritance from God. But look at what he had to go through, and consider the losses he suffered. Resisting the Devil is no summer vacation, but we can do it. God is always available to help us.


God wants us to show Him mercy and not sacrifice because we did not ask to be born into this world, which is controlled by a being that is intent on wreaking havoc and mayhem everywhere. We are born into an imperfect world, one that is governed by death, and before we die, we have to suffer illness or pain or some other unpleasant experience. Since we did not request to come into this world, in order for the Lord God Creator of Heaven and Earth to prove Himself righteous and loving, He has to make amends. God is just—not unrighteous; as many make Him out to be. God's justice is seen in His proving Himself to us (John 3:16; 1 John 2:1-2, 12; 4:9-10; Rom 3:25-26).

The fact that God Himself had to prove Himself righteous is not grasped nor comprehended by most people (even theologians) because of their own perceptions and the fact true knowledge of God is imparted to us experientially by the Holy Spirit, which many people refer to as revelation knowledge. Yet reason tells us that justice is required if people did not ask to be born and their temporal lives are subjected to the futility of suffering and death. However, more than this, the Bible informs us that Jesus’ death was a ransom that was required to show God is righteous. Jesus’ death was to prove that the Creator Himself was righteous and this ransom of His life was required to establish the Holy One’s righteousness for His Own sake. This is what we read in the Bible:
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12 KJV)
Our sins would not have to be forgiven for His Name’s sake if God held no responsibility for our being born into sin. But, unlike Adam, who was not born into sin, we are born into sin, therefore God is responsible to see to it that we can get out of sin. Since we did not ask to be born, and we find ourselves subjected to a world of sin and death, God has to make a way out for us, which He has through the death of His Son (Romans 3:20-30; 5:6-10). Otherwise the Lord God Himself is to be held accountable as being unrighteous, unjust and evil. God does not create us to punish us forever as some people claim, who are really speaking on the behalf of the Father of Lies. Yet we can be assured that we have been provided with the ability to think and make decisions and form our own judgments, having been created in the image of God. If we are merciless and not prepared to give our Heavenly Father an opportunity to prove Himself in our lives, we are judging Him as unrighteous and unjust.

Many people with whom I have spoken question why God made the world with all its misery and mayhem. Many have judged God in their own hearts and told me that they do not want to know Him because of the pain they have had to experience. One woman I heard about has been through great emotional pain through divorce and broken relationships. She is tormented in her soul frequently and curses God for taking from her, in a car accident, a talented bright-eyed young daughter, who had a promising future as a lawyer; but leaving her with a daughter who is a drug addict and a prostitute and does nothing but causes her heartache. If only she would stop judging God; show Him some mercy, and give Jesus a chance to prove Himself in her life.

The book of James says,
“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
This angry woman did not ask to be born. Now she judges God for her pain and anguish. She shows no mercy. If only she understood the truth about judgment and mercy. Instead, she claims God needs to right the wrongs—which, when we think about it, is only right. Fortunately, God is righteous. He has made a way for us to escape our misery—if we are prepared to wait on Him (cf. Is. 40:31; 25:9; Lam. 3:26; Ps. 37:9).

It is easy to understand why people want to blame God for the ill fortune that befalls them in this world. There are so many stories of bitter experiences.

A woman I knew spent five years as a concubine for a number of German officers. As a nineteen year old, she was forced into a situation where she had to sacrifice her own body to prevent her parents and siblings being tortured. When the Second World War had finished, after she was married, she saw her husband blown to pieces when he stepped on a German land mine. This woman judged God and did not want to give Him any chance of proving Himself to her. She became hardened and very cynical about life. (Would you blame God, if that happened to you? Or would you forgive God and show Him some mercy by giving Him a chance to prove Himself to you?)

It can be hard for us to imagine how God can right the wrongs in these people’s lives. Yet this is what God wants to do, and begins by asking us to show Him mercy and give Him a chance to prove Himself in our own lives.

Janet is a woman who came to me and declared that it was an offence to say to God that we did not ask to be born therefore He has to rectify the problem. She claimed every person is fearfully and wonderfully made and quoted Scripture (Psalm 139:14). Sometime later she came to me and asked why God gave her a child that suffered from a congenital defect and was unable to walk or talk but was close to being a vegetable from birth, when she herself had done nothing wrong to deserve such a child.

Worshiping God is neither about sacrifices nor about not doing anything wrong. People always want to point to what they have done for God or how good they have been. Too many people call themselves Christians and are striving to demonstrate that they are worthy of God. Then they call these sacrifices, “acts of worship”. They are acts of worship, if they are done out of praise and thanksgiving, but not if they are done out of a heart that records the hours and counts the worth, then expects a badge of honor. Worshiping the Lord God Almighty is not about effort and merit. The only sacrifice God seeks from us is a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15). This is why Christians, who encounter Jesus, celebrate the bread and the wine with joy and thanksgiving, not as an observance to gain some points of merit or a medal of honor.

Truly, worshiping God is about allowing Him to prove Himself to us, and then giving Him the praise for what He has done. If we are genuine, we will give Almighty God a chance to prove Himself, and in doing this, we need to acknowledge our Heavenly Father for Who He really is. God wants to be our deliverer.  God wants to be our provider. God wants to be our healer. God wants to be our sanctifier. God wants to be our righteousness. God wants to be our Shepherd. God wants to give rest to our souls. Only God wants us to let Him. God wants our permission to take action in our lives. God wants us to enter His Sabbath, for this is where we encounter Jesus as Lord (Matthew 12:7-8).

Evolution vs Creation
 The evolution versus Creation debate has raged since Charles Darwin published his theory of survival by the fittest via natural selection. The main problem is not so much that God may have used evolutionary means to create life on Earth, rather that evolutionists tend to reject the Creator. Nevertheless, people claiming to be Christians accept that God created the world and appears to have used evolutionary principles. The principal reason for this assertion is they believe scientific evidence supports this. But does the scientific evidence really support the evolutionary theory?

Micro-evolution vs Macro-evolution
Image result for tallest dog in the worldTeacup Chihuahua Micro-evolution is a term which refers to the adaptability of a species to its immediate surrounds. This can be demonstrated by the fact there are many different types of dogs that exist. Some are extremely small like the miniature (6 inch) "Teacup" Chihuahua (picture to the right) that weighs thirty ounces, and some are huge like the (300 pound) English Mastiff, and some are very tall like the (44 inch) Great Dane (in picture to the left standing 7ft 3in tall), and some have no hair and others seem to be nothing but hair.

 However, no dog has evolved into a cat and they all come from the Wolf, possess the same ancestral mother and father, and belong to the same family—just like humans. This is micro-evolution, not macro-evolution. Macro-evolution is where amphibians become birds, and birds become apes that become human—or cats become dogs.

Creationists believe God created everything within a limited framework with a generic propensity to have variable expressions of form and ability. This enables an organism (i.e. whale, elephant, human, microbe) to have a range of varying shapes and sizes; a range of abilities to survive under different conditions (water, underground, heat, cold, daylight, darkness) and fly, swim, change color and metamorphose, etc. The restrictive ability to metamorphose is the telltale sign of the limitation of evolution and the signature of the Creator, because frogs remain frogs, butterflies remain butterflies, and peppered moths remain peppered moths, regardless of how much they change in color and appearance. If macroevolution were something that was evident today, butterflies would become birds or frogs would become dinosaurs, or, at least, there would be evidence of this happening around us regularly, or once in a century, if not in a decade—except, there is none. Scientists have done everything possible to encourage fruit flies to change into something else, but they just keep on being fruit flies, even when deformed by genetic mutations. However, as in the case of the peppered moth, from the likes of which evolutionists extrapolate their theory—even to the point that atheists say this proves there is no need for a Creator—there is much evidence of micro-evolution.

Just a quick look at the scientific argument for evolution suggests the reasoning for the theory is flawed and not very convincing.  A more detailed look at scientific data truly brings the evolutionist theory undone, which is probably why Thomas Hunt, who started the “Fly Lab” at Columbia University in 1904, decided to become a geneticist after having no success as an experimental evolutionist studying fruit flies. Geneticists have discovered that every living thing contains the gene EEF1 ALPHA1 that instructs all the other genes of an organism, and this confirms life has an Author. However, this is not what our discussion is about. We are not talking about the difficulties in trying to prove the theory of evolution. We are looking at the Sabbath issue and seeking to establish whether there is support for the argument for the theory of evolution from a biblical basis that can justify Christians being evolutionists.

Creator(s) at Work
Firstly, we have to say that the Bible states God created the world. There is no doubt that this is the absolute truth. The Bible opens with the words: “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth.” Therefore, no person claiming to be a Christian can support any evolutionary viewpoint except one that states God is the Creator; and not only God, but, also, Jesus Christ; for without Him, there was not anything made that was made (John 1:3).

Secondly, we need to know how long God took to create the Universe and life on Earth. There is no actual clear statement that categorically states the length of time the days of Creation were. Instead, the Bible states that God created the Earth on the third day of Creation and the rest of the Universe the following day. These days could not have been twenty-four-hour periods because the means that determines this time frame was not created until the fourth day. This creates an issue regarding being specific about the length of the days of Creation, since there were six days in all. From this alone, we can assume that what is referred to as a day in the Creation record extends beyond twenty-four hours; unless it was a matter of minutes, and everything was actually created in six minutes—this may be painful to admit for people who have a different view, but the truth is the concept of a day is a memory device to be used for teaching purposes. This will become evident as we progress in our discussion of the matter.

There are a number of issues with the idea that God simply spoke the Universe into being as quickly as auctioneers rattle off bids at a cattle auction (and they are fast).

One is God would not have needed to labor. The Bible teaches that God labored in bringing forth the Creation and rested on the seventh day.

Another issue is pointed to in Proverbs chapter eight, where we read these words, which refer to the pre-existent Son of God:
“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water…When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep [N.B. Genesis 1:6-7]…when he marked out the foundations of the earth…then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always” (Proverbs 8:22-30).

In this passage, we learn that the Son of God existed before the Heavens and Earth were formed. We also learn the Son and the Father worked together. However, in particular, we learn that the Son was daily the Father’s delight, which implies more than one day—in fact many days—that is, a significant period of time was taken to create the Heavens and the Earth.

The Truth about “Yom”  
As for the Bible supporting the theory of evolution, there does not appear to be support, except maybe for the Hebrew word “yom”. This word is used also to support the twenty-four-hour day hypothesis, with a bit of Scripture-twisting and omission. However, many Creationists do not believe that the days of Creation were twenty-four-hour days, because of this word “yom”—as well as the fact that the Sun, which produces the twenty-four-hour cycle, did not exist until the fourth day. Disregarding this fact creates a problem for consistency of interpretation of the Scriptures; especially, when people claim the Bible to be inerrant.

 The arguments for the word “yom” being used solely for twenty-four-day periods are not conclusive because the very same word is used for longer periods, and this is where Christian evolutionists believe they can justify their position.  In fact, it is used to express that God created the Heavens and Earth, and all that is in them on a single “yom” in the book of Genesis:
“This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day [yom—that is in the one day] that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens” (Genesis 2:4).
(The truth is always there to be found—if we want it.)

God created the Universe in a single day or epoch, that is, the period of time it took to start and finish His labor of Creation. These have been divided into stages, which have been called days. However, there is nothing to say what length of time the days of Creation might have been. If we take the verse that says a day to the Lord is a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8), then we could say that the seven periods of the Creation, that is, the single “yom” of Creation was a thousand years.


The only difficulty with this theory is the seventh day, so far, from the creation of Adam until now is around six thousand years, because God is still resting from His labors of Creation.

The day that God created the Heavens and the Earth and everything in the Universe, was not the day He rested. How long were the six days of Creation? To insist that they were each a definite period such as twenty-four hours or one thousand years is outside of what the Bible teaches, and to suggest that six days constitute one thousand years does not compute correctly either. This is because the day as we know it was not created until the fourth day.

However, to suggest that there is a figurative element in the Jubilee template, which makes it look as if the days are seven thousand year periods, for the sake of prophetic purposes and instruction about the salvation of humankind, does have some merit. 

God has seen fit to scatter various truths within the Bible to see who diligently seeks to understand the truth (cf. Deut. 4:29; Jer. 29:13). The picture of salvation truth is like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle with a little here and a little there (cf. Isaiah 28:9-10). If the piece fits the puzzle and helps complete the picture, put it in. We can always take it out later if it fits elsewhere, and we discover there were two pieces cut out the same size and shape—Jesus wants us to make life easy, not hard for ourselves.

If the days of Creation are seven thousand year periods, and there is nothing to say that they are not, but if they were, Earth would be a relatively young planet, having been created no more than forty-two thousand years ago and possibly only thirty-four thousand years ago.

There is no reason why the days of Creation should be, or need to be, the same length, except if we want to fit it into our pet theory. However, if all the days of Creation were to be the same length, then as humans being genuinely scientific in our search for the truth, the only day by which we could possibly measure the other days of Creation has to be the seventh day—the Sabbath day of God. Since this is looking like it is about seven thousand years, according to the Bible, we would have to say that the other days of Creation would be seven thousand years each; or at least be representative of this, because the means for measuring years as we know them was not created until the fourth day.

The Jubilee template does have some significance in that the seven days of seven thousand years (7x7000) would bring us to the forty-nine thousandth (49,000) year. Within the Mosaic covenant, there is what is known as the forty-ninth year of rest for the land; that is, a Sabbath rest. The reason we can attach significance to this is Moses was shown what God had decreed in Heaven and was told to faithfully represent what he saw. Everything Moses instructed the Israelites to do was a copy of what God has decreed in Heaven (Hebrews. 8:5; 9:24) and embodied the truth.

 The interesting thing about the idea that the Creation could be entering its forty-ninth thousandth year of Sabbath rest is this would correspond with the thousand years of peace that is to exist on Earth during the reign of Christ (Revelation 20:1-7). If this is to be true, this century, the twenty-first century will be ushering in this thousand-year period. This means Jesus Christ’s return is very close!

The Significance of the Jubilee Year
What is even more intriguing is the concept of Jubilee. The Jubilee Year is the fiftieth year (Leviticus 25:8-10). When we put this template of seven lots of seven over the seven days of Creation, with the last six thousand years being part of the seventh day,[xi] we are presented with the prospect of the Jubilee Year beginning at the end of the millennium of Jesus Christ’s reign here on Earth. This is when the Great White Throne judgment will take place. When all those who are to be judged at that time will have to give account of themselves and, if their names are not found in the book of life, they will be thrown into the lake of fire, which has been prepared for the Devil (Lucifer) and his angels.

 The year of Jubilee is about giving people their rightful inheritance and letting them return to the land that God said they could have. In the case of the Great White Throne Judgment, all those appearing before the judgment seat will be judged according to what they have done on Earth, with the final judicial factor being whether their name is in the book of life. If their name is not in the book of life, then this means they have rejected God’s purpose for eternity and have chosen evil rather than face the truth about life and themselves. Their eternal habitation will be separation from the presence of God by being cast into the Lake of Fire. It just might be that this will take one thousand years to complete all the judging of the people. This being the case, it would make sense that the days of Creation are seven thousand year periods—it could even be possible the Great White Throne Judgment will be conducted on planet Earth,[xii] but this does not seem to be the case according to the book of Revelation, chapter twenty, verse eleven. 

The Purpose of the Sabbath
The Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath. God created the Heavens and the Earth, and then He created the Sabbath, which according to Jesus, was created for us. The reason God created a Sabbath when He rested from His labors of Creation, could only be so He would be able to enjoy His relationship with Adam and Eve and their offspring; that is, us—we are more important to God than the observance of the Sabbath. Unfortunately, the archangel Lucifer became jealous of his preeminence and decided to entice Adam and Eve into breaking faith with God. Not only did Adam break faith with God by doing what Eve did, contrary to God’s command, but he handed his authority to reign on Earth over to Lucifer. Consequently, God has had to implement a righteous plan to redeem Adam and Eve, and also us, who took no part in their sin. Fortunately, God’s plan is available to us all, and it is possible for everyone to enter into God’s rest from His labors (Hebrews 4:9-11).

 The Fourth Commandment is not just about resting our body and soul once a week and having fellowship with our family and friends around the Word of God, but about salvation and the purpose of God.

Never Ending Rest
The observance of the Sabbath day (known as Saturday) every seven days is not an eternal commandment that was given to all men and woman to keep once a week in order to obtain salvation; rather it was a perpetual covenant specifically given to the Israelites who came out of Egypt led by Moses as a sign of the salvation of God. This was to be kept until the death of Jesus Christ.  For at the death of Jesus a will was made that has annulled the Mosaic Covenant and provided an inheritance to all of eternal rest that begins now. We read the following in the Book of Hebrews:
Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. (Hebrews 9:15-17)
The Fourth Commandment has the distinction of being the only one of the Ten Commandments to begin with the word “remember”, indicating that the Sabbath day of God’s Creation was something that the Israelites needed to reflect and meditate upon, because it contained an essential truth of never-ending rest for their souls.


The Fourth Commandment does offer instruction for all of us in that it signifies there is a Sabbath rest for us who choose to seek out the true God and the Passover Lamb. The Passover Lamb was to be eaten at the beginning of the Sabbath. The significance of this for salvation is so important that we cannot afford to overlook it. The fact that the Passover Lamb was to be eaten at the beginning of the Sabbath just happens to represent the beginning of entering the eternal Sabbath rest through honoring Jesus Christ as Lord and becoming a member of His body. It also points to the significance of the other feasts and patterns that God may have put in place concerning the Sabbath years. However, the keeping of the Sabbath day as a day of observance is not required, because those who have entered God’s Sabbath rest have a seven-day Sabbath, and have ceased from their labors just as God has from His.

As Jesus said,:
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:25-30).

This Sabbath rest for our souls is available today. This rest never ends. This is the eternal inheritance that is ours which is outlined in the Will of Jesus that He left us at His death. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath.

Shalom!

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[i] George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist. 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature, 1856-1950).
[ii] Paper 8: Environmental Changes in the Maldives: Current Issues for Management - By Mohamed Khaleel and Simad Saeed, Workshop on Integrated Reef Resources Management in the Maldives - Bay of Bengal Programme. Madras, India, 1997.
[iii] Based on Genesis, chapter one, many believe God simply spoke the word and everything appeared. But God says he labored, and labor means exertion. When we consider the amounts of energy that exist in the Universe and its vastness, the creation of the Universe was no small matter. The energy of the sun is beyond our comprehension, and astronomers and astrophysicists say that it only emits a small amount of energy compared to other stars, of which there are millions, judging by the night sky. For us the creation would have been impossible, for God it required a little labor.
[iv] This sounds like cannibalism but is a reference to partaking in the life of the Holy Spirit and being cleansed from sin by the eternal blood of Jesus.
[v] Many people are puzzled by the fact Jesus would not allow Mary to touch Him (John 20:17), yet invited Thomas to do so (John 20:27). The reason for this was Jesus was fulfilling the requirements for the Feast of the Unleavened Bread. John 20:26 tells us eight days had passed, which indicates that the Feast was over.
[vi] Even though the Mosaic covenantal form of the Ten Commandments do not apply to anyone else except the Israelites who were delivered from Egypt and their descendants, this does not void the fact that they still have currency and are applicable to everyone in their expanded form, as it evidenced in this treatise. 
[vii] New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
[viii] For God to be refreshed, this suggests the some effort was involved in creating the Universe. But it does not suggest that God has begun laboring again.
[ix] Continuing or lasting for an indefinitely long time
[x] And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:13-17).
[xi] 7,000yrs x 6 days of creation = 42,000yrs + 6,000yrs = 48,000yrs + 1,000yr of Jesus reign on Earth = 49,000yrs + 1,000yrs Jubilee = 50,000 yrs. The fiftieth 1000 yr period is probably the Great White Throne Judgment.
[xii] In all probability this will be outside of time and unable to be measured by the twenty-four-hour periods that govern time on this planet.

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