Reference: Exodus 20:8-11
If someone were to ask me who God wasspeaking to in the above verse of scriptures, I would say he wasn't speaking tome simply because I was not there and did not live in that dispensation oftime. God was of course speaking to the children of Israel through the prophetMoses. Now we know for a fact that Almighty God explicitly commanded thechildren of Israel to remember the sabbath day and to keep it holy.
This sabbath day was of course the seventhday of the week. This commandment of keeping the seventh or the sabbath dayholy was of course not the only command that the children of Israel had tokeep. There are ten commands in the law of the Decologue better known as theTen Commandments.
There was of course many other laws andordinances that God gave to Moses so that he in turn could teach them to thechildren Israel. Now we know that the people who lived under the law in Moses'stime lived in a different era of time and were to be subject to the law thatGod gave to him. The Bible tells us in John1:17 that the law was given by Moses,but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. There is great controversy in theworld today on the subject of the laws of the Ten Commandments as to whetherthey are to be obeyed or not. Now we know that the old testament worshippersabsolutely had to keep and obey the laws of the commandments, but many peopleare in doubt about them in this era of time since Christ brought grace andtruth.
There are many in the land today sayingthat the coming of Christ abolished the laws of the commandments saying thatthey don't have to be obeyed. In one sense they are right, but they are totallyvoid of the truth as to what part these laws play in the life of the born againchristian in the day and age we live since the coming of Christ. Christabsolutely did not come to do away with the law meaning that a person did nothave to keep them. What the coming of Christ meant, as far as the law isconcerned, is that he came and revealed a way of life that would far surpassthe life that law keeping would achieve.
When Christ came to this earth he came forthe sole purpose of bringing in a better hope as stated in Hebrews 7:19. In this verseof scripture we are told that the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing inof a better hope did. This better hope referred to here is the new covenantthat Christ brought. There is a great difference between the old testament andthe new testament. In the old testament the laws of the ten commandments had tobe obeyed, but in this dispensation of time since Christ came and revealedgrace and truth, the laws of the ten commandments are not obeyed in the sameway that the children of Israel obeyed them.
Please notice that I did not say that thelaws of the commandments will not be obeyed, but rather I said they would notbe obeyed in the same way that Israel obeyed them. Israel obeyed the laws ofthe commandments by observing them in a conscientious way meaning that theylived by those laws using them as a schoolmaster and a guide. To observe thelaw in this manner is not living by faith as the new testament saintsabsolutely must do. The apostle Paul tells us that the just shall live byfaith. There is a great difference in living by faith and living by the law. Tolive by the law means that one will observe the law using it as their guide. Tolive by faith means to live a life that is free from being governed by naturallaws such as the laws of the ten commandments.
The laws of the commandments are notspiritual laws in the sense of saying that the Holy Spirit teaches them to aperson. The ten commandment laws can be attempted to be obeyed without a personbeing a spiritual person or a christian. This is exactly the condition of theold testament believers. They were not called christians simply because Christhad not been revealed and crucified on the cross. Paul tells us in Hebrews chapter tenthat the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image ofthe things can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by yearcontinually make the comers thereunto perfect.
No matter how close the law was observedthe worshippers could not be made perfect as pertaining to the conscience. Theconscience could not be purged through the sacrifice that the law contained.Only the blood of Christ can purge the conscience making the believer perfect.The blood of Christ can and does purge the conscience, because it was his bloodthat put into effect a perfect plan or way of doing this very thing. Christshed his blood for the New Testament, which is the new covenant that God hasmade with mankind.
The new covenant, which is also called thegospel, is the power of God unto salvation meaning that the gospel will makeand transform a person to the image of Jesus Christ. All true believers arecreated in righteousness and true holiness through and by the power of therevealed truth of the gospel. The gospel, which Christ brought to earth, is thelaw of the Spirit that Paul speaks of in Romans8:2. Obedience to this law willfulfill the righteousness of the law of God's commandments within us. This lawof the Spirit can also be called the doctrine that is obeyed from the heart andwill set us free from sin as spoken of by Paul in Romans 6:17-18.
This form of doctrine that we must obeyfrom the heart is the revealed truth of the gospel. As we are obedient to thisform of doctrine we are told that we must not live in and commit sin. Sin isthe transgression of the law. A christian is under grace meaning they are beingled of the Spirit and not under the power of the law. The true child of Godwill not go back under what the law says and do what it says not to do, butthey are not being obedient to this law by their observation of those laws. Ifa person lives by those laws this means they will stress all emphesis on thoselaws making it their doctrine and way of life.
As for the sabbath day law, if a christianobeys that law in accord with the precepts that governs that law, which isstated in the old testament, then that person is a law keeper and not living byfaith of the gospel of Christ. The rest that the christian enters into asspoken of in Hebrews 4:1-9 is not the rest of a sabbath day but rather it is the restthat Christ speaks of in Isaiah 28:12.
The sabbath day rest was only a day of theweek, but the sabbath rest of the christian today is an eternal rest and weenter into this rest by believing and walking in the truth of the gospel ofChrist. We are warned about not being able to enter into this rest by ourunbelief. The keeping of a day as Israel did is not entering into God's restthat he entered into after he created all things. The sabbath day rest was forthe children of Israel and was a shadow of what was to come in our time. We aretold to labour to enter into this rest. We must strive to enter life...