Mark of the Beast: Literal or Sunday Worship?
Jan 15, 2010 · Posted in Bible, Prophecy, SabbathWhy People Fail to Understand Revelation (or the Bible)
When I was younger, I struggled to understand the Book of Revelation. It was so fascinating and cryptic that I longed to peek behind the veil of its sealed language. But I could not and nobody could help me.
Today, I do understand it very well and I consequently know why I failed to understand before. I had not learned back then that most of the Bible is more literal than we ever imagined. To read literal passages allegorically will lead you to wrong conclusions every time.
But it gets worse. These wrong conclusions will cloud your understanding of still other passages, kind of like a spreading infection. The false views you hold constantly contradict any true interpretations you think of or come across. Because you view truths as wrong, you reject or disregard them. As a result, you are unable to truly understand any of the deeper teachings or mysteries of the Bible properly. This includes the mysterious Book of Revelation.
The Mark of Beast and the Mark of Torah
Revelation’s Mark of the Beast is a good and instructive example in this regard.
Revelation 13:16-17 (HCSB) 16 And he requires everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to be given a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, 17 so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of his name.
This seems straightforward. A mark consisting of a name or number on either your forehead or right hand. The mark will serve kind of like a credit card does today. Without it you cannot buy or sell everything you want. For example, you cannot rent a car or good hotel room without a credit card.
However, how does your view of Revelation 13′s mark change when you incorporate these verses:
Exodus 13:9 (HCSB) Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.
Deuteronomy 6:8 (HCSB) Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.
It is because of these commands that Orthodox Jews put phylacteries or little Torah scroll boxes and straps on their forehead and hands. That’s a literal interpretation. Yet, most instead see this verse as an injunction by God to make his instructions tied to your thought and your actions always.
Mark of the Beast: Spiritual Mark?
Don’t these verses sound similar to Revelation? They associate God’s commands with the forehead and hand. This can cause you to question your literal view of Revelation’s mark. Perhaps it is not a literal mark, but it is a spiritual mark. Perhaps the mark really represents obeying the commands of the Beast in place of God’s commands?
At least that’s what the Seventh Day Adventist church teaches. They consider the mark of the beast to be symbolic. The symbolic meaning to them is a law to keep Sunday, or “Sunday Law”. Of course, they are the biggest Christian group that believes we are required to keep a Saturday Sabbath. They believe keeping Sunday instead of Sabbath is a serious sin before God.
The SDA interpretation looks reasonable especially with its “let the Bible interpret the Bible” methodology. Yet we will see that it is no accident they spiritualize the mark as they do. Their Sabbath view helps them to gloss over some important differences between the marks of Revelation and Exodus.
Mark of the Beast: Literal Mark
Here’s the main problem with equating Exodus 13:9 with Revelation 13:16. Exodus is taking an abstract thing (God’s instructions) and asking them to be “frontlets”, a “sign” or a “memorial” between the eyes and the hand. The most reasonable way to view this is figuratively as a command to always think and do according to God’s instructions. It is not practical or useful to fit a tiny Torah scroll on those body parts and go around with them in the way all the time.
Revelation, on the other hand, is taking a physical thing (a mark on the skin) and specifying where it can be located on the body. Indeed, all incidences of “mark” in the contexts of Revelation treat it as a physical and visible thing that you receive from the False Prophet. Visibility is required for the mark to work in commerce. One cannot look at you and tell if you kept Sunday when deciding whether to sell you food.
Notice also that Exodus 13:9 does not says “right” hand. Exodus does not specify which hand because it would be odd to do this when either hand is associated with work or action.
Further, in Revelation the mark is always a “mark” on the skin. It is not sometimes a sign, a frontlet, or a “mark” like God’s commandments are characterized by the Torah itself. Revelation 13 even specifies the mark as the name or number of the beast. Names and numbers are commonly written down. They would even fit on a person’s forehead or skin. The definition of the mark as the name or number of the Beast hurts the SDA view. This plain explanation of the mark contradicts assigning any other explanation to it. Their case would be better if the mark was left ambiguous by Revelation. But it is not.
Thus, when we allegorize the mark as “deciding to rest on Sunday instead of Saturday”, we are choosing to ignore the most natural and reasonable interpretation of the mark of the beast. The mark is a mark on the skin consisting of the name or number of the beast.
So why choose the weaker allegorized interpretation. There must be some other benefit to the weaker view in order to choose it. For SDA’s this false view supports their Sabbath-keeping doctrine. It puts some additional importance and fear behind their teaching. I can imagine them thinking that by keeping sabbath today, they are antichrist-proofing themselves.
Conclusion
Only a sabbath-keeping religion would come up with the idea that the mark of the beast will be “keeping Sunday instead of Saturday”. This interpretation presupposes that sabbath is required by God and by not keeping it you are sinning before God. However, the sabbath was part of the Old Covenant made with the nation of Ancient Israel. SDAs rip this single command out of its original national context and transplant it upon believers today scattered outside the land of the Torah. Ignoring the context of a verse is not the way to to get to “the truth no matter what it says”, as our goal should be.
This goes back to my original point. When you have even one wrong doctrine (e.g. “sabbath is required”), it will lead you to reject the true meanings of other verses (e.g. the mark is the name or number of the beast) and create even more wrong doctrines (e.g. “the mark is keeping Sunday”). And all of these errors are based on not accepting the Bible for what it plainly says (e.g. the Torah is for the nation of Israel in the land of Israel, not for Gentiles today – Acts 15).
In covering this example, I have not meant to pick on the SDAs. Other groups come up with other meanings that break the literalness of the mark of the beast, too. Indeed, we all fall into allegorizing verses that were meant literally. Hopefully, the next time you catch yourself thinking a verse does not mean what it plainly says you will stop and ask yourself two questions.
- What doctrine do I hold that is causing me to think this verse is not literal?
- Have I proven through diligent study that that doctrine itself is really correct?
See also: Can you Take the Mark of the Beast Today?
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The Sabbath is required as are ALL of the other 9 Commandments. The commandments haven’t been done away with, and they are never qualified, i.e. “10 for you Jews, 9 for you Gentiles and 7 or 8 for you Catholics.”
Jesus said “If you love me, follow my commmandments”.
John said “If you claim to know him but don’t follow his commandments, then you are a liar”.
Revelation – the last book in the bible, written about a time in the very near future – says “Blessed are the saints, who follow the commandments of God and keep the faith of Jesus”.
And I’m not SDA – I was a Catholic for 50 years and awakened to the Sabbath. I am a member of the United Church of God – An International Organization.
You’re making the common mistake of thinking God has one set of commandments for all, or universal law. This is easily debunked if you just read and see how the commands change even in the Torah from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Specific commands were given to Israel and for the foreigner living with them but are not required on the foreigner living outside Israel.
In Acts 15 Gentiles were told only four things were required. Even specifically they do not have to CIRCUMCISE or keep ANY of the yoke of Torah (Acts 21:25 KJV).
What are Jesus’ commandments? When Jesus was asked how to have eternal life, he defined his commandments. He answered with only the last six commandments. He excluded the first four commandments. This always bothered me when I thought all ten were required. Then I noticed that those first four nobody would have any way of knowing without special revelation (the Bible) and are really just matters of purity. So how could people be accountable to commands that no one can know without a prophet? The last six are ones that common senses or morality governments or your neighbor will teach you on quickly
So it would be to your benefit (Satan) That I go through life waiting for a microchip or a literal mark to be placed on me to avoid and then i will not focus on the truth of keeping Gods Commands and worship Satan on Sunday! So your telling me that its ok to not follow the commandments, so i can go and kill and steal and worship idols now that the old law is done away with? Pathetic! You will be judged on the day before your Lord! You will Bow before Christ and answer for all the souls you are directing away from Gods Law! God Bless you for you know not what you do! May God have Mercy on you! The Pope is God too right? Whatever! This site is Garbage!
You forgot to ask me “have you stopped beating your wife yet?”, too. Seriously, I don’t teach any of the words you put in my mouth. But I can see you are angry and not looking at what I say impartially without any investment over someone disagreeing with your “Sabbath is required today” view.
I don’t want anyone to do anything except not do damage to the Scripture by twisting a “mark on the skin of a name or number” into “keeping Sunday instead of Saturday”. Peace. Keeping sabbath is a great blessing. There’s no need to invent more verses to get people to do what you choose to do.
Hi Tim, I wrote a comment yesterday but I think I messed up again and it got erased! I severly detest my computer and am praying for patience! I am learning truth since discovering your site (I am SO glad I did) I am still a bit confused about keeping the Sabbath! Did Jesus mean that for non Jews as well (Keep the Sabbath)? Jesus said you would be blessed for keeping the Sabbath! I might have totally missed your point earlier but anyhow…..
Friday evening, I forgot it was the start of the Sabbath and only remembered it on Sat morn. I guess I still kept it for the most part and will remember to keep it from now on as to be Blessed! OK, that being said, I am a Christian of a certain number of years who knows Jesus personally as Lord and Savior. If one forgets to observe the Sabbath, does one ask for forgiveness or what? Also, not to be rude but is it something that I should continue to observe. I was raised a Catholic and got out back in 1993. Now I am studying in-depth to I guess become a better person in Him and learn His true purpose in my life. I have been recently called back to Him after hearing His voice several times and not listening to it! Lets just say that I back slid ALOT! As a Christian and not a Jew….Tim, do you as a Christian observe the Sabbath and when do you observe it?(From when till when?)
Thanx for your insights again!
Dear Tim,
Really liked your book.
I grew up Catholic and was rebirthed by water and the Spirit some 20+ years ago. I’ve never been inside an SDA church or any other Sabbath church except once with a group of Messianic Jews.
The web address above is not mine but one I reference at the end of this note.
I am glad this Sabbath thing came up. Funny how we have been lied to all these years- How many jokers believe that there are 3 days from Friday to Sunday. You would never buy a vacation that said 3 days in paradise- your plane leaves on Friday at sunset and returns on Sunday at sunrise. Does that sound like a three day vacation to you? Only if you are a Laodicean.
My best advice is: don’t (any longer) fall into the trap of being a Sunday Christian. (Laodicean)
That is one who believes Jesus was crucified on Friday and raised on Sunday. This is a lie; a Muslim confronted me with this lie about “my religion”. First he asked me about the sign of Jonah, as a trap. Luckily I had done my homework and was able to explain to him that the “Sabbath” on that Passover was not a Friday-Saturday Sabbath, it was a Passover-Feast Sabbath. So Jesus was crucified on a Wednesday and raised after sundown on SATURDAY (it is still Saturday after sundown, but if you were a Hebrew it was the first day of the week). I can guarantee that He did not sit in there and wait for Sunday at midnight once the sun was set! His 3 days and 3 nights were done!
So that throws all the “Sunday is the Lord’s day” garbage right out the window where it belongs. See the web address above and below for a better explanation. -No relation to me at all.
No mystery that the Council of Laodicea (who would have guessed) changed the observance of the 7th Day Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday in 336 AD. (So they break the fourth commandment-and maintain that anyone who follows along with this thinking is under the Popes authority.) If the Catholic Church is the mother of harlots- then who are the daughters?
The Sabbath is certainly nothing more than an act of will on the part of a believer- a seal between you and God. It is certainly the “least of these commandments”. I have to say I hope that you are no longer willing to be called “least in the kingdom of God” – Mat 5.
19″Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least (X)in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is LORD of the Sabbath, What an honor to be in charge of the day that many of the people called by His name IGNORE.
After you wrote about Jesus returning in a Sabbath Year I thought you totally “got it”. Evidently not, not yet anyway. Nothing wrong with going to church on Sunday of course, it just is not the Sabbath-never was and never will be. If you are going to second guess what Jesus said about “His commandments”…you are stepping out on some very thin ice.
One more thing:
The Sabbath starts in Genesis- is it chapter 3. Then the thousand years in the Book of Revelation is the Sabbath Millennium. This Sabbath theme goes all the way through the Bible-so don’t blow it off, it is important.- Rom. 3:31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
And now a note from the Catholics…
From: http://godkind.org/sunday-2.html
Convert’s Catechism
“Ques. – Which is the Sabbath day?
“Ans. – Saturday is the Sabbath day.
“Ques. – Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
“Ans. – We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church, in the Council of Laodicea (A.D. 336), transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.”
Source: The Convert’s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, written by Reverend Peter Geiermann, C.S.R., and blessed by Pope Pius X on the 25th of January 1910, Second edition, page 50.
Remember- 3 things
-The 10 commandments tablets were/are kept inside the Arc of the Covenant, the Mosaic law never was inside the Arc.
Rom. 3:31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law. (Not the mosaic law-don’t be confused.)
-The law will not pass way until we are all judged (and probably found guilty) by it (Mat 5 again), THEN the Book of Life is opened.
My best to you,
SR Harris
With all due respect, I perceive you to be confusing two separate arguments as one and the same. One you have correct, the “literal” mark of Revelation, the other I must advise you to reconsider, the importance of observing the Seventh-Day Sabbath. Brian had many good and valid points which you dismissed by confusing ceremonial law (circumcision) for God’s Commandments, which if a man shall keep, he shall surely live. Maybe we should check in with Isaiah, who was echoed & validated by Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 58:13-14
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
As I stated, I agree that the mark of the beast reeferred to in Revelation is a literal mark, that will be openly accepted by many Sunday-worshipping, so-called christians who forgot the Greatest Commandment as proclaimed by Jesus Christ Himself:
Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength
If you say that you do, but you do not honor and respect the day HE set apart, then what does that make you?
3 commandments has God given us that we might show our Love for Him in truth – NOT bowing to idols, NOT using His name in vain, and keeping His Sabbath Holy. The rest we show by how much we love our “neighbors”.
Puffin, thanks for trying to help but unfortunately you are confused as to why I dismissed Brian’s points (and why I must now dismiss yours). You keep speaking as if God gave the sabbath command to all mankind. He never did. Ancient Israel is the one he made aware of this sabbath requirement through the miracle of the manna. Then he made them aware of the rest of his covenant requirements for them through giving the written law or Torah. But mankind is not aware of this rest-day requirement. It was never given to them. Those few who do read the Bible today rightly conclude that it was given to the Jews and not required on Gentiles as Acts 15 makes pretty plain.
So you, like Brian, are making the classic exegetical mistake in forgetting who the audience is and then carelessly try to apply what was meant for another audience to people today living in a different time, culture and land.
Another mistake is you seem to imagine that everyone has a Bible and reads it and understands it and is therefore accountable to do things in it. Nobody knows about sabbath, idols, or his name without revelation and a leader or prophet reminding them of it, like Israel had. We don’t have that today. Even Israel does not have that today. God is not judging people for things he never made them accountable to know. And Israel is not being punished for breaking Torah as they do now and did back in the First Century because they are no longer accountable for it being unable to do it without prophets, priests, judges, altars, temples, red heifers, etc. To say God is makes God very unjust. That is not the God I worship. Think it through.
I am disappointed. Wondering, is this just proding us to better understand, study? Surely you do not think James, Peter or Paul teach that the two houses are lawful and lawless? Why did James say Since the Law of Moses is taught in every City? I think that it acknowledges that the Gentiles would learn the laws of the Government of God even if they were not bound to Ritual observances, not that they did not have to obey God.
Anyway I have learned much from you and will not criticize you, just questioning this article.
Thank you and God Bless
Robert, please do question, I prefer that to judgment =).
If “For Moses is taught…” meant “follow Moses” then that would contradict all the preceding negative comments about keeping circumcision/Moses/Law that fill Acts 15. Acts 15 is pretty plainly against adding the yoke that our fathers could not bear on gentiles. So if you really want to know what the best answer in context for “for Moses is taught” read this: http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/acts/decree1.htm Hint: What wrong conclusion do many Christians fall into who finally bother to read “Moses” (the OT) when they see phrases like “throughout your generations forever” and “the same law for the alien who lives among you”? This is what happens when Moses is read to the novice.
Perhaps it is just my current perspective on this issue. I am preparing a writing on the Torah which will not be completed anytime soon.
My perspective is to look at what God expects of all believers. The Books of Moses was the legal system for the Israelites coming out of Egypt, where the only law they knew was Pagan, Egyptian or Babylonian if you will.
God Himself gave the law to Moses. This law existed from the time of Adam. It was given in such great detail because of all the wrong practices that they were used to. Jesus simplified it by stating the two categories that encompased the whole law in both intent and practicality that is, love the lord you God and love your neighbor as yourself.
I look at the systems of Government of this Earth and say, Do we not need to be corrected and maybe incorporate some of these God given directions into our lives. Not to be saved but to sanctify our selves to God?
I agree that God’s ways in the OT sanctify us. It is good to adopt what you can today that make sense. They are called good and wisdom by the Bible. However, they are not required for salvation or required for any reason. The Bible teaches they are wisdom, but not required. When people say they are required they do not realize they are making themselves accountable to do the whole Torah which is not possible today or in other words cursed sinners (Gal 5:3; Jas 2:10).
Tim, I have also read your book and it has helped me to have a better understanding of prophecy, so thanks for writing it!
My recent understanding of this is that the fourth commandment was NOT a part of the ceremonial laws that was nailed to the cross. The Sabbaths that were part of the ceremonial laws that were done away with are separate from God’s Sabbath. The ceremonial sabbaths, such as Passover and Yom Kippur were finished at the cross, but God’s Sabbath existed at the very beginning of creation, even before there was sin. God’s Sabbath is a part of The Law – The Ten Commandments.
When Jesus simplified the commandments, he said “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang All the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22: 37-40 note that these two commandments of love sum up “all the law.” All Ten Commandments hang on these two principles of love just as they did in the Old Testament. Notice Jesus did not say “On these two commandments hang all the law EXCEPT the 4th commandment.”
Matthew 5:18 says “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” This includes the 4th commandment.
Isaiah 66:22-23 also corroborates this stating, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.”
And don’t forget – Exodus 31:16-17 “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL covenant. 17 It is a SIGN between me and the children of Israel FOR EVER: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
Forever is forever. Today, we ARE Israel.
And, if the Sabbath was no big deal today, why does Matthew 24:20 say “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:” If we no longer needed to keep the Sabbath, why would Jesus warn us to pray that our flight would not occur on the Sabbath day?
BTW, I am not an SDA.
Jesus fulfilled the law. The ten commandments accompany the other 600+ of the mosaic law. Waht about the Roman Centurion or the man next to Christ on the Cross? They were counted worhty because of faith and belief – it had nothing to do with what day they worshipped.
To say that the mark of the beast is Sunday worship means that God knew the Catholic Church would arise and mislead many and that the sabbath was the key to the kingdon. Simply not true.
Read John 3:16 about 1000 times…so that everyone BELIEVING IN HIM, may have hope.
For the record, I did not say that the mark of the beast is Sunday worship. I don’t know what the mark of the beast is or will be! I was just trying to explain my understanding of the Sabbath law.
So Dennis, are you saying that we no longer need to follow the Ten Commandments, and that all we need to do is believe in Him and we will be saved? That just sounds too easy. What about repentance? If there are no commandments to be broken, then there cannot be be sin, so there would be no need for repentance.
Romans 6:14-15 says, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” If the man on the cross next to Christ had survived and lived, would it have been okay for him to continue to sin, as long as he had faith and believed in God? According the the scripture above, no! Romans 3:31 says “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Paul asks if the law is nullified for us just because we have had faith in Christ’s saving grace. His answer is that the law is established and reinforced in the life of a grace saved Christian.
If we truly have faith and believe in God, we would naturally want to follow God’s commandments, including keeping His Sabbath day holy. Most do not seem to understand that God’s grace is His unmerited, undeserved favour that is preceded by the act of genuine repentance when we do sin. If there was no law, there would actually be no need for God’s grace.
When Jesus fulfilled the law, he did not abolish it. Matthew 5:17-18 says, “17Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 18For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
As far as I’m concerned, heaven and earth have not passed since we are all still here, and until then, not a single thing from God’s Law (NOT including the temporary ceremonial laws) shall be changed or removed.
Greetings to all you Sabbath observers and non Sabbath observers alike.
In everything you do give honour and praise to God in heaven.
Let no one pass judgement on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a sabbath… These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgences of the flesh. Colossians 2:16,23.
Know this, that on the day when Jesus returns to earth to establish the Kingdom of God and many are knocking for the door to open, Jesus will be asking the really big questions. How did you treat your neighbour? When he/she was hungry and cold ….did you give them food and clothes…a drink of cold water if they were thirsty?
The many ‘great’ works you did in his name like casting out demons, abstaining from forbidden food and keeping sabbaths and new moons will count for nothing as Jesus will be looking for the fruit that you have produced….the fruits of the spirit.
Look beyond the elemental spirits of the universe, human precepts and doctrines… instead seek after compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience, forgiving each other, as the Lord has forgiven you. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
I think we can all agree that the time is getting short. Let us tend our garden, water our trees and plants, allow them to be pruned now and again and even a little fertilizer to be added along the way, so that we will have good fruit to produce on the day.
Keep up the good work Tim.
Wow!
I like what I’m reading! I know that the Sabbath was in effect before Moses was given them.
I am old enough to know that when they (the commandments) were taken out of our schools and government (a mural of moses crossing the reed Sea was on the walls of both houses of congress and the Supreme Court)how rapidly American culture disintegrated.
Thanks Tim
Thanks. I used to believe the Sabbath began before Moses. Then when I looked for any solid proof of this I came up with none. I even asked Nehemia Gordon, sabbath keeper and Biblical Hebrew scholar who worked on the Dead Sea Scrolls translation project if he believed this idea that Sabbath was required before Exodus 16 and that say Abraham kept Sabbath and he said absolutely not. The evidence for this idea is not much better than the evidence for for a lunar sabbath.
Dear Tim,
You have done a wonderful job. It is a blessing to have learned so much today reading through some of your articles.
I hope the following scriptures and comments may also be helpful, and have been shared with kindness and respect.
It appears YHWH Elohim desired to include all of us in His Wisdom and Teachings that He revealed in His Torah (i.e., Torah=God’s Teaching and Instructions, not “law”).
The NT teaches us Y’shua HaMoshiach/Jesus Christ is the Torah-giver. These are His commandments that over and over He said if you love me, keep them.
We become His manifest sons by manifesting His image. His image is revealed in His Torah.
By obeying Him to keep His commandments we show Him we do believe Him and every word He said, we show Him we truly love Him; and we avoid calling Him a liar.
And, He said His teachings are not a heavy burden or grievous.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Note: “Yoke” is a Hebrew idiom for His Torah. The Yoke that was impossible was that of the Rabbis or Sadducees who added or took away from God’s word as forbidden in Deut 4:2, Deut 12:32, Prov 30:5-6, Rev 22:18.
1Jn 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
I was surprised to learn in studying His word that His teachings and instructions are all-inclusive, for everyone (whosoever)…Not just for Israelites.
Here are two areas where He made this clear in His Teachings and Instructions.
Deu 29:14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;
Deu 29:15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:
(This means ALL of us)
Exo 12:49 One law (i.e., Torah) shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Once we’re in Messiah Y’shua we’re no longer under the condemnation of the Torah. However, we are to walk as Y’shua walked. And we know He kept His Torah or He could not have been the Messiah.
Please notice 1 John 2:6 after the intro:
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
1Jn 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
1Jn 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.
I hope none of us want to come before Him as liars as mentioned above in 1Jn2:4. Because we know He has warned us in many places of the destiny of liars, such as in Rev 21:8:
Rev 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.)
If we are in Messiah, we are to not sin. Where does the bible define sin?
1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law (i.e., Torah/God’s Teachings and Instructions).
Of Messiah, King David was inspired to reveal…
Psa 40:7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psa 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law (i.e., Torah) is within my heart.
(I.e., Y’shua kept His own Torah. And of course, couldn’t be our Messiah unless He kept it perfectly.)
Psa 40:9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.
Psa 40:10 I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.
Without any unkindness toward Nehemia Gordon. He is a very kind and humble Israelite who, although extremely knowledgeable in scripture and in numerous Ancient languages, and is like David having a heart after God, Nehemia has personally and clearly stated in writing in books he has written that you can research for yourself at his site, as well as in comments on the Internet that he does NOT accept Y’shua HaMoshiach/Jesus Christ as the Messiah. Without Messiah/Christ, who must also be spiritually discerned, at this time Nehemia is still slightly blinded and needs our earnest prayers.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I appreciate much I have learned from Nehemia. And, appreciate it was the Masoretic Karaite scribes who, over the centuries, provided an incredible scribal protection system for the scriptures in the TaNaK (i.e., Old Testament) as used in the KJV bible, et al.
As you teach and admonish throughout all your writings, we need to “literally” understand and obey scriptures. Messiah taught us both in Deut 8:3; and again in Matt 4:4
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
What is the New Covenant?
Hebrews 8:8 reconfirms what the New Covenant is as defined and revealed in Jeremiah 31:31-33. Hebrew 8:8 also states the New Covenant is ONLY for Israel and Judah; and that it is specifically God’s Torah written on our hearts and minds by God.
Therefore, for us to be able to appropriate all that Messiah did for us, we must be “grafted” (or KJV “graffed”) into Israel, the scriptures reveals is the Olive Tree. As gentiles, before being grafted in, we are called the “wild branches.
Then once grafted into the Olive Tree/Israel, we are no longer viewed by God as gentiles. We have been adopted fully by God, just as Jacob/Israel fully adopted Ephraim and Menashe, the sons of Joseph, with full rights into the commonwealth of Israel.
If we are adopted in and grafted in, and now fully Israel and heirs to the promises, then, we need to receive the gift of the LORD/YHWH/God writing His Torah on our hearts. Not reject it and say it’s been done away with; and inadvertently calling Him a liar.
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
We see in Heb 8:12-13 an understanding that as the Torah is written on our mind and hearts by the Spirit of God, the old written Torah will pass away, as it has been replaced. We will be blessed to have the living water alive within us.
Also, be sure to extensively research the “Marcion Heresy” to understand the damage done to the writings of Paul in the NT when the heretic Marcion decided on what would be in the NT and is responsible for first ordering the NT biblical canon.
I think you will find Marcion wanted the writings of Paul to be preeminent above the other NT content; and that Marcion was very anti-Jewish. And we know God has warned us in His word in the Abrahamic Covenant:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
And if we are in Messiah, and the seed of Abraham by faith by grace, we are grafted into Abraham, Isaac and Israel. We certainly don’t want to be cursing ourselves.
Additionally, the NT had NO formal and orderly scribal protection system to guard and protect the NT from changes.
In contrast, the Tanach (i.e., Old Testament) was guarded by a very orderly and intensive scribal protection system (thanks to many Masoretic Karaites) over the centuries as revealed by the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Additionally, God never breaks covenants. He is not a covenant breaker. We break them.
Praise be to YHWH Elohim (God) that He provided a remedy for this through Messiah Y’shua.
Think it through…Do you still see rainbows after a rain shower? That is evidence that the Noahic covenant is still in force. God is faithful.
Do we still have a King on the throne in Heaven forever? Then we see the Davidic covenant is still in force. God is faithful.
And this goes for all God’s covenants. God builds them one on top of another. They bless us concurrently.
Although there’s so much more to share, the Spirit of YHWH Elohim says this is good for now.
Thank you for your love of Messiah, your diligence in all your research, your generousity in sharing all you have, and for your awesome hunger and thirst after righteousness.
Very appreciative of all you researched and shared.
I’m overwhelmed at the dialogue. My very simplistic question is this: does it matter if a person worships the
messiah on Sunday? To me, He is worthy of worship everyday. Seriously, am I wrong–am I not a child of the King because I worship on Sunday? I read the scripture and pray on Saturday (everyday of the week, too). Are my wife and two children, each of whom believe in Christ Jesus, going to hell because they enjoy going to worship on Sundays? I’m completely frustrated by this topic–it’s a real wrestling match for me. (I guess I had more than one question)
Just Struggling,
No, you are not in trouble with God. The proof is as simple as the fact that you are worried about being so. You clearly want to please God and you confess confusion on this Sabbath issue. No loving and merciful God would condemn you for that. He will not condemn us for not doing anything we are unclear on or for doing anything we are deceived about (as long as we sincerely are seeking to serve and please him, of course). I’m sure that’s what you intend to do judging by your fear, so you cannot be judged on a debatable command in a hard to understand book that the Bible is. The Bible shows that when God wants someone to do something it is clear and if it is not they are allowed to ask for confirmation or clarification and he’s happy to give that. If they don’t have that, they are not required to do anything on penalty of anything. The Bible is seldom clear, and must be translated and interpreted to transmit the meaning from its original language, culture and historical context. It is not enough to obligate us to sabbath even after we read it.
As for the sabbath command, as I teach in my book, that’s part of the Torah which the Old Covenant required Ancient Israel alone to keep. It’s a mistake to take that from its original audience and obligate people today with it. It’s taking the command out of its context. When he told that audience he wanted them to do it, he did not give the society a book which they could easily ignore as Christians do (only 5% read the Bible). Instead he put certifiable representatives of his in place to teach and lead them in his ways along with a penalty for disobedience which both He and his prophets duly executed.
If you still have doubts that the sabbath might be required on you, read what the apostles ruled on another Torah issue in Acts 15: http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/acts/decree1.htm