If God says the seventh day is the Sabbath, we have to comply. That's all there is to it.

You wrote: the Holy Spirit replaces the law and becomes our guide into all truth.(Gal.5:18).

My Response: Yes, the Holy Spirit guides us into all truths? But what is truth? Thy law is truth. Psalm 119:142,151 say: Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth. (verse 142). Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth. (verse 151).

We cannot discard God's truth. The Holy Spirit guides us and helps us to understand and keep the law (God's truth). The Holy Spirit helps us to be obedient to God. We keep the inexorable eternal law of Jehovah holy through the indwelling of His Holy Spirit. His law is written in our hearts. The Holy Spirit would never replace the law. It's like saying the Holy Spirit replaces the Bible. This couldn't be. The Bible is our guidebook. The whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, but more specifically the first five books, is the book of the law--it is comprised of statutes and judgments to make the ten brief, yet broad and deep, spiritual law of Jehovah easily understood and obeyed by His error-prone people.

You wrote: There is no mention in the Bible of anyone keeping a 24 hour Sabbath until the people of Israel in Exodus.

My Response: Adam and Eve did. The law (which included the Sabbath) was in existence in Eden. How do I know? In Romans 5:13 we read: "For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law."  Obviously sin was imputed in Eden for Adam and Eve sinned. They had broken an existing moral law. Sin is the transgression of the law. 1 John 3:4. The law was not written in stone like in Exodus, but nonetheless, it existed because it's eternal, it's living, it's dynamic.

The Bible didn't specifically state that Adam and Eve kept the Sabbath. It was a given. Had they not kept the Sabbath as commanded, they would have committed sin and fallen just as surely as when they had partaken of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.

Four hundred sum years before the Mt. Sinai experience, Abraham kept the Sabbath. "Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."  And again, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Genesis 26:5; Genesis 18:19.

The giving of the manna in the Wilderness was before Mt. Sinai--before the giving of the tables of stone. In the desert, the Israelites were tested concerning the Sabbath. They were to gather only a day's supply of manna to provide for their needs that day--first day to the fifth day. If anyone gathered more than a day's supply, the extra manna stung. However, on the sixth day they were to gather two-days' supply so that they would have enough for their use on the Sabbath. The extra supply gathered for their use on the Sabbath did not sting. If any hard-headed, fool-hardy Israelite went out to gather manna on the seventh-day, he was greatly disappointed because he did not find any. What a wonderful lesson in Sabbath-keeping!

The reason we hear a lot about the law, the old covenant, etc., as pertaining to the Israelites in their Wilderness sojourn was because they had been in Egypt for so long and associating with idolatrous people, they had lost their knowledge and conception of the holiness of God and His Law. Everything seemingly had to be repeated to them (kindergarten style). When God wrote the law on tables of stones, He placed the word Remember in front of the commandment--Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy because they had forgotten it. That fact (putting the word Remember in front of the command, tells you that the Sabbath command existed previously). Not realizing their evil propensities and bent to rebelliousness, their promise to keep the law (old covenant - agreement) was like sand castles upon the shore at high tide. But the eternal Moral Law of Jehovah remained intact.

You wrote: You mentioned that we will keep the Sabbath in the New Earth (Isa. 66) At face value it looks reasonable but remember that the old covenant prophets, when describing the age to come described it through old covenant eyes.

My Response: The Apostle John had new covenant eyes when he wrote Rev. 22:14. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city."

Jesus with new covenant eyes told the rich, young ruler: If you would enter into life, keep the commandments. He told Mary Magdalene to go and quit breaking the seventh commandment. Jesus didn't tell the rich, young ruler or Mary Magdalene to just let the Holy Spirit in the heart, and that's enough. In fact the Holy Spirit was not given in its fullness until after Jesus had died and gone to Heaven. He said: I will send you another Comforter.  Jesus told the rich young ruler and Mary Magdalene to keep the law. (As I have been reiterating over and over again, to keep the law aright, the presence of the Holy Spirit must be in the heart).

I love Isaiah 58. I'm sure you do, too. The chapter starts out with these words: "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."

The prophet Isaiah was addressing this to a people who were breaking God's Ten Commandments left and right. The chapter went on to talk about the fast that the Lord desires people to do. Here's the texts:

Isaiah 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.

I find it interesting that the chapter ends with these two verses:

58:13 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:

58:14 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.

Ron's email in response to the above indicated to me that I still needed to clarify that the Old Covenant is not the Ten Commandments. He wrote that the tudor (the law or schoolmaster) had come to an end at the Cross. I already discussed that the ceremonial law of ordinances (feast days, ceremonial yearly sabbaths, etc.) were abolished at the Cross, but the Moral Law (includes the weekly seventh-day Sabbath that's different from the annual ceremonial sabbaths (Lev 23)) stands fast forever because it is eternal. Ps 111:7,8. The Moral Law is needed to bring us to Christ to see our sinfulness and our need of His cleansing blood. The various points listed here to prove that the Old Covenant was not the Ten Commandments came from a pamphlet by the late theologian and author Joe Crews of Amazing Facts.

Dear Ron,

Let me explain things a little differently regarding the Old Covenant and the Ten Commandments. The Old Covenant is not the Ten Commandments abolished at the Cross.

In Hebrews 8:6-13 (I'm including the whole texts here) we find these words: "But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

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: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away."

This description leaves no room for doubt that the Old Covenant was set aside in favor of a new one which had better promises. There are three absolute proofs that the covenant which disappeared was not the Ten Commandments. Notice that the Old Covenant had some "poor promises"  in it. The New Covenant, on the other hand, "was established upon better promises."

Has anyone ever been able to point out any poor promises in the Ten Commandments? Never. On the contrary, the Apostle Paul declares that they were very good. He said "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth." Ephesians 6:1-3.

Paul was not charging the moral law with any weak promises. The Old Covenant could never be the Ten Commandments.

The second thing wrong with the Old Covenant was that it was faulty. The Bible says, "For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second." Heb 8:7.

Has any man ever been able to find a fault or a flaw in the handwriting and utterance of God? No man. It's a perfect law as stated in James 1:25 and in the Psalm 19:7. No law could be faulty and perfect at the same time. The Old Covenant could not have been the Ten Commandments.

Finally, the Old Covenant was to be abolished. See Heb 8:13 above. Did the great moral law of Ten Commandments vanish away? Anyone who is familiar with the New Testament will say that it is not!

As mentioned in previous emails, Paul wrote in Romans 3:31 - "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."  Can something vanish away and be established at the same time? Did the same writer say opposite things about the same law? Just to be certain that Paul was not saying that the Old Covenant was the law, let us insert the words "Old Covenant" instead of the word "law" into Romans 3:31. "Do we then make void the Old Covenant through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the Old Covenant."  That doesn't sound right at all, does it?

Like I said previously, the law of the Old Covenant was perfect the same as the law of the New Covenant for it's the same law--the eternal moral law of Jehovah. The difference was the manner in which it was administered. The people promised to keep the law not realizing their weakness and inability to keep the law in their own strength. The covenant was ratified in blood. "And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words."

Under the New Covenant, God said He will write His law (Ten Commandments (which summarize the eternal principles found in the Bible)) upon the tables of the heart. Through faith the Israelites, like Abraham, could have walked in the Spirit and be in harmony with the eternal principles of His moral law under the Old Covenant, but they didn't which necessitated abolishing the Old and instituting the New with better promises.

Hope this helps.

Lydia

Dear Ron,

In an earlier email you wrote: Because Israel failed to accept the Holy Spirit to be their guide to convict them of what is right and wrong, God gave them a ten commandment code of conduct to be their guide.

My Response:  According to my humble understand of things, this statement is not true because the law of Ten Commandments didn't come around in Exodus. It is eternal as God Himself is eternal. See Ps 111:7,8.

If you do not think that God's Ten Commandments are eternal, then what are, according to the text above?

To go along with your line of reasoning, let's say that ancient Israel did not reject the Holy Spirit. They loved God with all their hearts. (You know, some of them did. Moses, Aaron, Caleb, Joshua, and others loved God with all their hearts.) Did these good people need the law? From my understanding of your email, they did not need the law to be their guide because now they had the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit or the law. One or the other, not both. Let me ask you a question. Do you use the Bible at all today? Do you read it? That's a silly question to ask, isn't it? You'd say: "Of course, I use the Bible; of course I read the Bible! Why do you even ask?"

That's the point! Ron, ancient Israel, like us, needed the book of the law to read with their own eyes, to study, to meditate upon, to let the words sink in, to memorize, and to obey. The Holy Spirit will not use osmosis to get the law into our minds from nothing. We need to first sit down and read, be taught, learn, listen and hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit, and then to be convinced/convicted by the Holy Spirit. Convicted of what? Of sin! Of breaking the Law of God! The Law that's written in your Bible that you just read!

Here's what Deut 6: 5-9 say which applied to them and apply to us as well: "And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Ron, the Holy Spirit was there, but they still needed to read, to memorize, to post it up where they could see it and be reminded of it daily. What's the purpose of all this? So that they would obey God's Law! To obey is to love God. When they obeyed God, they reaped blessings vice cursings. All through the history of God's people, when they were faithful to God's commandments, they prospered. On the other hand, when they apostatized and followed the practices and sins of the heathen nations around them, they fell by the sword--they were taken into captivity, etc.

I just don't get it, that is, all the fuss about the irrelevancy of the Law of God when from the beginning of the Bible to the end, it was all about obedience to law or disobedience to law. Obedience brought blessings; disobedience brought cursings. Read your Bible from beginning to the end and this is what you'd discover. Maybe, then, you wouldn't be too quick to toss the Law of God out the window.

You wrote: Your church and Ellen G. White teach that the Sabbath alone is the seal of God but you tell me the law (including the Sabbath) is the seal of God. This answer is contrary to the SDA meaning of the seal of God. There is obvious confusion. You are in a trap with this doctrine and you don't even know this. All Christians will be sealed with the Holy Spirit Himself.

My Response:  There is no confusion. The Sabbath is the sign between God and His people that they know Him and that He is their Sanctifier. Eze 20:12; Eze 20:20. God's seal is placed upon our foreheads indicating that it's through the mind that we know God and His will for us. God's will is expressed in His law.

Read the whole chapter of Ezekiel 9. Those who are sealed are those who sigh and cry for all the abominations that are going on.

Eze 9:4 "And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof."

We are spiritual Israel and this command applies to us today. God's people are being sealed because they abhor sin--the breaking of God's commandments by those who claim to be Christians. Therefore, they sigh and cry.

In Eze 9 the man in linen with a writer's inkhorn is synonymous with the sealing angel of Revelation 7. Yet God is depicted in 2 Cor 1:21,22 as the one who establishes, anoints, and seals His people. See also Eph 1:13;4:30.

You wrote: The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit Himself is God's Seal that is put upon you...It goes on to say that, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our Spirit that we are God's children."

My Response:  The Holy Spirit seals God's people. With what? Notice this next text.

Isaiah 8:16 - "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." The Sabbath is part of the Law of God and is situated in the heart of the Law. As already mentioned, it is a sign between God and His people that they know God and that He is their Sanctifier. So, the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath, instead of being opposed to God's saving grace, is actually a sign of His saving grace and sanctifying power.

On a notary's seal you will find three things: his name, his title as notary, and the territory where he is empowered to take acknowledgments. The Fourth Commandment is the only one of the Ten Commandments which contains these three things in reference to God. In the Sabbath commandment we find: 1) God's name--"Lord"; 2) His distinguishing title as the only true God--the "Lord" that made the heaven and the earth, the Creator; 3) the territory over which He rules--the heaven and the earth.

THE SABBATH IS THE SIGN OF GOD; IT IS THE SEAL OF HIS LAW. ISA. 8:16. IT IS THE TOKEN OF HIS AUTHORITY AND POWER.

2 Tim 2:19 - "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."

From all this, we see that the Sabbath which is part of the Moral Law of God is God's seal.

Yes, the Spirit testifies with our Spirit that we are the children of God. The children of God are obedient. The children of disobedience are the children of the Wicked One. Eph 5:3-6; Matt 13:38.

You wrote: The real Sabbath (Christ) is for all mankind but the 24 hour partial rest (the Fourth Commandment) was the Jewish Sabbath and this is what you are trapped into with its many strange doctrines built by Ellen White.

There is no such thing as a Jewish Sabbath. The Sabbath was given to Adam and Eve in the beginning. There was no Jewish person alive. Mark 2:27 says the Sabbath was made for MAN. The Sabbath will continue to be observed in Heaven and the New Earth.

You wrote: and if I could show you that the apostles in the book of Acts did not go to the gatherings on the Sabbath to share the Sabbath, but to go for the sole purpose to preach the risen Christ to those who were still gathering on the sabbath under the veil of the law.

My Response:  There was no need for Paul to discuss the Sabbath and the need to keep it because ALL were keeping the Sabbath. They had never heard of worshipping God on the first day of the week, a pagan day--the venerable day of the sun, a practice that came about around the third or fourth century. Today, however, is different. Today, people have digressed from God's expresssed Commandments written with His own fingers to remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

There is a need today to uplift God's downtrodden law. And He has a people doing just that. They are called the repairers of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. They build the old waste places and raise up the foundations of many generations. Isa 58:12.

Just before Jesus returns to this earth, all the divine institutions that He established in Eden will be restored by His people to the way they were--marriage, the sabbath, diet, etc. etc.

Acts 3:19-21 - "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

Jer 6:16 - "Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein."

You wrote: The Law of Ten Commandments is not the "Royal Law" or the "Law of Christ".

My Response:  James, the brother of Jesus, disagreed with you. If you had read further down in James 2 verses 8 through 12, you would have corrected your erroneous statement that the Law of Ten Commandments is not the "Royal Law" or the "Law of Christ". James enumerated a good part of the Ten Commandments and stated that this law is the royal law or the law of Christ--the law of liberty.

You wrote: James 2:8 reads, "If you really fulfill the Royal Law you shall love your neighbor as yourself." How do you fulfill the Royal Law, Lydia?

First, let's agree on one thing--that according to James 2:8-12, the Moral Law of Ten Commandments is the Royal Law or Law of Christ. Please look up James 2:8-12 and read it in context. James enumerated enough of the precepts so there would be no question which Law he was referring to. How do I fulfil the royal law of Christ? Through Christ's indwelling Spirit, I choose to obey God and keep His commandments--all ten of them, including the Sabbath. As long as Christ abides in the heart through His Holy Spirit, we are enabled to keep His Law.

You wrote: Lydia, His commandment is found one verse before this in 1 John 3:23 that you believe in Him by faith and that you love one and others. This is the "Law of Christ or the Royal Law". This is the Law that people who profess Christ will be judged by.

My Response:  Absolutely. We need to be obedient to 1 John 3:23-24. We need to believe and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This text is about loving one another, isn't it? God's Moral Law is about our duty to love God and our fellowmen. The text in 1 John 3:23-24 does not specify or identify it as the Royal Law of Christ. The text in James does.

Ron, the Royal Law of liberty that's going to judge us is none other than the Moral Law of Ten Commandments that you are working so hard to discredit and say that it is no longer applicable or binding.

This is what Jesus said in Matt 15:3-6 "But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, (how strong a language was that? God commanded! Notice Jesus was pointing out a precept from the Ten Commandments) saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition." "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Matt 15:9.

That sounds familiar, doesn't it? The Apostle Paul taught the same thing in Eph 6:1-2 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise."

If Jesus Christ and the Apostle Paul upheld the Moral Law of Ten Commandments, who are we puny 21st century Christians to say that we don't need it anymore--that all we need is the Holy Spirit?

You wrote: Again I say that the Royal Law or Law of Christ is not the Ten Commandments. You are twisting scriptures, Lydia.

My Response: I am not twisting scriptures, Ron. All I gave you were scriptures taken right out of their setting in James; a child without any preconceived ideas would understand them perfectly. I'm reminded of the following texts:

2 Thes 2:10-11 "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie..."

Isa 6:9-10 "And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."

You wrote: You also see all the mentioning of keeping the commandments to be referring to the law of Ten Commandments as something you must do. You're not doing anything, Lydia, the Holy Spirit is.

If I do not yield my WILL and surrender to the Holy Spirit, there's nothing He could do for me. The Holy Spirit will not coerce me to do anything I don't want. All Heaven is interested in my salvation and all the heavenly agencies are at work to aid me, but if I don't surrender to the wooing of the Holy Spirit, He would not and could not do anything for me. If I am joined to my idols, the Holy Spirit would LEAVE ME ALONE. Do you see the part that MAN has and the part that GOD has in man's salvation? We definitely have a part--to turn our will over to the Lord Jesus Christ and be obedient. And He which hath begun a good work in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Phil 1:6.

You wrote: Biblically, the New Covenant "Law of Christ" (Gal.6:2) or the "Royal Law of Libery"(James 2:8) is directed toward your neighbor. Gal.5:13 goes on to say, "For you brethern have been called to Liberty. It goes on to say, "But through love, serve one and other."

My Response:  The first four of the Ten Commandments involve our love to God and the last six involve our love to our fellowmen.

You wrote: The Law has never made a person better, they restrict a person from what they shouldn't do.

On the contrary, Ron, it made a prostitute better and a candidate for Heaven. Mary Magdalene came to Christ and complied with Jesus' command when He said: Go and sin no more. Mary Magdalene obeyed the command and she became a better person.

There are many modern day examples I could give you where people have turned from their lives of debauchery and sin and come to Jesus Christ and now are living their lives in harmony with His Law and are happy in the Lord. Their countenances which once were etched with evil are now beaming with the radiance of Christ's righteousness. The gamblers quit gambling, the alcoholics quit their filthy habits, the shop lifters quit stealing, etc.

You wrote: I do not worry about law if I have the Holy Spirit as my guide convicting my conscience.

My Response:  How do you know you have the right spirit? The Bible says there are MANY spirits out there. 1 John 4:1 - "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world." Have you tried the spirits?

John 7:17 - "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself."

The will of God is expressed in His Law. Only if we are obedient to His Law will we have the right Spirit who will let us know of the doctrine that comes from the Throne of God.

1 John 3:24 - "And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us." Keeping the commandments and having Jesus abide in us through His Holy Spirit go hand in hand.

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