| Author | Message | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 1076 Registered: 5-2007 |
One of the themes I have noticed being mentioned here on the forum is pointing out that Christ is The reality, that the Sabbath was a shadow of things to come. Was this fortold in these terms in the old testament? That the Sabbath would be fullfilled , that is was to be temporary in it's nature? Did any of the prophets understand this concept? Was the Sabbath explained or portrayed as a symbolic rest in God (Christ) in the OT setting? I am trying to discover the essence of fullfillment in light of how it was given to the Jews. Jim | ||
| Raven Registered user Username: Raven Post Number: 1167 Registered: 7-2004  |
It's not really an issue of figuring out which parts of the Old Testament were meant to be fulfilled and which parts weren't. The Old Testament prophets didn't even have a complete understanding of what the Old Testament actually meant.
All of the Old Testament pointed to Jesus and met its fulfillment in Jesus. Basically, none of it was explained from a post-cross perspective in the Old Testament. Although in general, Jeremiah foretold a day was coming when the New Covenant would replace the Old. There is so much information in the New Testament, but particularly in Hebrews, explaining the details of how the New replaced the Old. These are the contrasts I find in Hebrews: Shadows: 1) Revelation of God through prophets 2) Levitical priest system 3) Seventh day Sabbath 4) Old Covenant – unable to save 5) Blood of bulls and goats – many sacrifices Fulfillment 1) Jesus is exact representation of God 2) Jesus is our High Priest 3) Today Sabbath as Believer’s Rest in Jesus 4) New Covenant – Jesus saves, guaranteed 5) Blood of Jesus – once for all Sacrifice The Old Testament with all its shadows clearly point to Jesus, and the New Testament explains that fulfillment. | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 1680 Registered: 7-2007 |
Here's those verses in Jeremiah 31:31-32... "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD." | ||
| Michaelmiller Registered user Username: Michaelmiller Post Number: 229 Registered: 7-2010  |
You can find the fulfillment of Asurprise's quote of Jeremiah 31 in Hebrews 8. | ||
| Jim02 Registered user Username: Jim02 Post Number: 1077 Registered: 5-2007 |
I try again and again to fathom why or what is causing my hestitation in letting go of the law in it's written form. The Tablets of the covenant. I read over and over the passages that speak of 'The promise' (and faith) vs 'the law' and works. The slave and the one set free. That the law was a tutor, a condemer, to point out and increase (the perception or realization of) universal sin among mankind. But then I move towards an attempt to understand the Law of Christ. The inworking power of God's Holy Spirit. Is it written beyond the heart in some way? Does it corelate in part or in a new pretense to the preexisting tablets or similar format, or is it totally new alltogether? Before the fall, it appears that Adam & Eve had but one rule. One law. Don't touch this tree. Sin entered the world. Sin was in the world before Sinai spelled it out. We are not without law even today. This is clear. But our law is of faith and not of the flesh. Gal:3 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. J: I am trying to say, I am aware of these precepts, yet in my inner thoughts, I still experience misgivings about Sabbath days. I want to be free from that yoke of legal bondage to sabbath keeping in the flesh, those endless lists. But at the same time, what do I do with the concept of the Sabbath. Am I free to dismiss it as "a special day" and "treat everyday alike" ? Does it please God to ignore the day now in the new covenant. Seeing that I now make everyday a Sabbath Rest in Christ? This is the suggestion I see recurring. But how do I confirm that license? God said two things regarding the Sabbath. It was a memorial to being taken from the bondage of Egypt and it was a Memorial to creation and God had blessed it and made it Holy. The latter trips me up. Does the creation Sabbath have no further memorial of sanctity? God said to remember the Sabbath day to keep it Holy. Why? Why remember, Why was it Holy? I admit, my thinking path may be out of context in today's Christian dispensation. But my dilema remains, what would God have us do with regard to the Sabbath? We transfer or reeinstate all the other precepts of the 10 laws of God except the one. How did we do that? Why did we do that? Which is why either I keep the whole ten in written expression or none at all. You simply cannot blend the two systems. So then , what is the Law of Christ. Perhaps I know the answer intuitively, (Spiritually hopefully), but why the anxiety that does not resolve itself? Why did God leave this somewhat vague? One may say it is false guilt, or lack of faith, or even I am resisting the truth. Whatever the label, it does not answer the question. What are we to do with the law, and especially the sabbath? My greatest fear I suppose is making assumptions that lead to protracted error. The whole world is full of that. Look at all the faith systems. It is not rebellion, not intentionally. I am not saying God must answer my questions before I move forward. No not at all. It is about being set free from a sense of sin and guilt when no matter which way I go, I do not know if it pleases God. No doubt some of this angst comes from the assorted warning of EGW regarding believing lies, a supposed hope and nothing more will prove their ruin and passages such as "whatever is not of conviction is sin", or "that they should believe a lie because they loved darkness rather than light" I would like to think I am making progress. Precept upon precept. Learning a new relationship basis in Christ alone. Jim | ||
| Asurprise Registered user Username: Asurprise Post Number: 1686 Registered: 7-2007 |
Jim; the "memorial of creation" part is an Adventist concept. Where does it say in Genesis 2:2,3 that people are to keep all the anniversaries of that day? It doesn't. Besides which, God is still resting and invites us to enter His rest - Hebrews 3 & 4. Notice WHEN and to WHOM the Sabbath was commanded. It was commanded only weeks before God gave them the law from Mount Sinai. That's why God said "remember" when He gave the law to Israel. Exodus 16 says when He gave Israel the Sabbath and Exodus 19 says when He gave them the rest of the law. Exodus 31:13-18 says it's a sign of the covenant between God and Israel. Adventists err in their thinking that the covenant didn't have a beginning and an end and they also err in substituting Adventists in the place of Israel. They say that since Israel failed, that now "modern Israel" are the Adventists. Ezekiel 36-39 is an example of an UNCONDITIONAL promise to Israel that God would bring them back into their land in the end time. Check out Ezekiel 36:20-25 where it clearly says that God is bringing them back for His holy name's sake. God says in verse 22: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake." Read the context and you'll see. Anyway, Galatians 3:17 & 19 says that the law came 430 years AFTER Abraham and was to go until Christ. Deuteronomy 4:13 specifically identifies the Ten Commandments as the covenant between God and Israel. Deuteronomy 5:2,3 says that that covenant was given to Israel - not the people who lived beforehand. Hebrews 8:13 says that covenant is obsolete. 2 Corinthians 3:7,8 compares the "ministry of death written and engraved on stones" to the "ministry of the Spirit" that we have today! |
