Worship The Beast or
Die
Study 6
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Were the Ten
Commandments Abolished?
If you ask most
Christians about the Ten
Commandments, they will agree that
nine of the ten are good. (The
implication, of course, is that one
is bad.) They will agree that it is
wrong to steal, kill another human
being, commit adultery, use
God’s name in vain or worship
idols. In fact, much of the Christian
world will tell you that nine of the
Ten Commandments benefit society.
However, when you ask questions about
the fourth commandment, you will hear
how the Ten Commandments were nailed
to the cross and are no longer
binding upon humanity. Why this
contradiction?
For centuries,
Catholic and Protestant clerics have
said the Ten Commandments were nailed
to the cross. This explains why most
Christians today see no reason to be
concerned about the demands of the
fourth commandment. If we reason from
cause to effect, we would immediately
recognize that our world finds itself
in a dismal state today singularly
due to lawlessness. Parents have not
taught their children the importance
of man’s laws, not to mention
God’s higher laws. When the
importance of law and obedience is
neglected in childhood, moral
absolutes evaporate and another law,
the law of the jungle, prevails. In
the jungle of evil, the strongest
players rule by deceit and whim
(machine guns, brute force, ect.).
The United States has incarcerated
more people than any other developed
nation. Why is this? When the beauty
and necessity of law is ignored in
childhood, lawlessness takes over.
Safety, virtue and nobility of
character disappear when lawlessness
rules. Painful suffering, broken
relationships, greed, drugs, sexual
depravity and needless deaths are
evidences of lawlessness. When the
beacon of moral law declines,
decadence, chaos and misery overtakes
society. This cause to effect
progression explains why God has had
to destroy civilizations from time to
time. When the cup of iniquity
becomes full, total destruction is
the only solution.
Law and Grace
Many people are
confused about the close harmony that
exists between God’s law and
God’s grace, even though we
routinely apply these concepts in our
lives. Law and grace are brother and
sister – they are inseparably
related. In fact, they cannot exist
without each other. We need grace
because law is present. If God had no
law, God’s grace would not be
necessary! Paul and John say that
when there is no law, there is no
sin! (See Romans 4:15 and 1 John
3:4-6.) However, grace does not
lessen the obedience that laws demand
either! (Romans 3:31)
If a judge pardons a
speeding ticket, does this act of
“grace” release the
offender from the requirement to obey
the speed limit in the future? Not at
all. In this example, the law remains
intact and grace provides forgiveness
to the offender for that one offense.
In practice, the harmony between law
and grace is easy to understand. For
example, when two people are united
in love, there are certain
nonnegotiable rules the couple must
follow if they are to maintain
fidelity within the relationship.
Faithfulness is one nonnegotiable
rule. Therefore, it is with our
Creator. If we love Him, we have to
abide by His nonnegotiable rules, not
for the purpose of salvation, but to
maintain that all-important
relationship with Him. “Can two
walk together, except they be
agreed?” (Amos 3:3, KJV) A
person cannot have a relationship
with God without obeying Him. God is
not our equal. “When Abram was
ninety-nine years old, the Lord
[Jesus] appeared to him and said,
‘I am God Almighty; walk before
me and be blameless.’”
(Genesis 17:1, insertion mine) Jesus
is Sovereign God of the Universe.
Jesus said, “If you love me, you
will obey what I command….You
are my friends if you do what I
command.” (John 14:15; 15:14)
The world will soon
hear the message that God’s Ten
Commandments are nonnegotiable.
Religious leaders have declared
God’s commandments void, and
many people, including Christians,
are ignorant of God’s laws.
However, Jesus will remove this
ignorance with a display of powerful
judgments and the preaching of the
144,000. God’s judgments are
coming on the world because a
majority of the world’s
population does not honor the other
nine commandments! God is justifiably
angry with humankind. He owns a
planet that is constantly at war.
Humankind has little love or trust
for one another. Instead, they prefer
to kill, cheat, lie, commit idolatry
and adultery, and steal from each
other. On top of this, few people on
this planet really love God enough to
do what He commands. Each sin adds to
the cup and when the cup spills over,
God acts. God’s patience with
sin has a limit.
Let me be clear,
obedience does not bring salvation,
for salvation is not based on a
perfection obtained through
obedience. Salvation is based on
faith. Faith in God is expressed by
our “willingness” to obey
Him. Obeying God’s laws are for
our benefit, not His. Think about it.
Why would anyone reject the idea of
having the seventh day set aside to
rest each week? Disobeying God’s
laws always reduces the quality of
life. If we live in harmony with
god’s laws, we can live life to
the fullest, as God created life to
be lived. If we ignore God’s
laws, death and misery are the
results. If we live according to
God’s laws, we can enjoy the
pursuit of happiness and the fullness
of life that He wants us to have. If
we ignore them, the consequences are
self-evident. Magazines and
newspapers print the horrible results
every day.
A Test of Faith
God has thoughtfully
designed a final exam for Earth. He
will grant Satan and his forces
complete control of the world’s
religious and political systems for a
short time. Individuals who love God
above all else will, on the pain of
imprisonment, torture and death, obey
His law! A watching universe will
clearly see who would rather die than
to obey the devil. The sheep will be
separated from the goats. Consider
the contest carefully. Circumstances
will be so desperate during the Great
Tribulation that obeying the Ten
Commandments will be impossible,
except through faith! In other words,
the only way a person will be able to
obey Jesus and keep His commandments
will be through faith in God’s
promises. This is why John identified
the remnant of God’s people as
follows: “Then the dragon [the
devil] was enraged at the woman and
went off to make war against the rest
of her offspring those who obey
God’s commandments and hold to
the testimony of Jesus.”
(Revelation 12:17)
Are There Reasons to
Worship on Sunday?
During the Great
Tribulation, the United States (and
many other nations that have a
Christian majority) will make and
enforce laws regarding the sacredness
of Sunday, even though there is not a
hint of a command in the bible to
worship God on Sunday. Sunday is not,
nor has it ever been, God’s day
of worship. Many God-fearing people
mistakenly believe that Sunday is the
Lord’s day. Eloquent scholars
have produced volumes offering
sophisticated logic to whitewash the
error, but the Bible does not
teach that Sunday replaced Sabbath as
God’s day of worship after Jesus
died on the cross. There are
eight texts in the New Testament that
mention the first day of the week.
Therefore, direct biblical support
for the sacredness of Sunday has to
come from these eight verses. Here
are the texts:
| Matthew
28:1 Mark
16:2
Mark
16:9
Luke 24:1 |
| |
| John
20:1
John
20:19
Acts
20:7
1 Corinthians 16:2 |
The texts in Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John state Jesus was
resurrected on the first day of the
week – a well accepted fact.
However, none of these texts mentions
anything about the sacredness of
Sunday. In fact, Luke 23:56 points
out that a group of women did not
prepare the Lord’s body for
burial late Friday afternoon, but
instead rested on the Sabbath
“according to the
commandment.” Their behavior
indicates that Jesus did not inform
His disciples that the fourth
commandment would be made void after
His death. Since the first six texts
say nothing about the sacredness of
Sunday, we are left with two
remaining verses:
Some people believe
Acts 20:7 offers evidence to support
Sunday worship. They use this text to
prove the apostles worshiped on
Sunday. But notice what the text
says, “On the first day of the
week we came together to break bread,
Paul spoke to the people and, because
he intended to leave the next day,
kept on talking until midnight.”
(Acts 20:7) In bible times, a day
began at sunset and ended the
following evening. Since Creation,
the rotation of the Earth has
produced this unchanging process.
(See Genesis 1:5.) The Jews in
Christ’s time regarded a day
from evening to evening, and they
observed the Sabbath from Friday
sundown to Saturday sundown. This
practice remains intact among
orthodox Jews today. (Compare Luke
23:50-56 with Leviticus 23:32.)
Therefore, the timing
described in Acts 20:7 is as follows:
Paul stayed with the believers at
Troas for seven days. (Acts 20:6) On
the evening of the first day of the
week, at suppertime, the believers
met to eat supper with Paul and to
say good-bye to their dear friend.
Remember, the first day of the week
in Paul’s time began Sabbath
evening at sundown, or what we call
Saturday evening and of course,
Saturday night followed. After
supper, Paul preached until midnight,
or Saturday midnight. A few hours
later on Sunday morning, the first
day of the week, he left Troas for
Assos. Therefore, Paul met with
believers for supper and preached
until midnight, Saturday night. Does
a farewell supper and Saturday night
meeting change or abrogate the fourth
commandment of God? No. Even if Paul
chose to hold a worship service on
Wednesday night, would his behavior
make God’s law void? No. Only
God can declare His law void.
Some Bible students
claim that the term ‘breaking of
bread” indicates Paul’s
visit was a communion or worship
service. This is not true. In Luke
24:13-31 Jesus “broke
bread” at supper time with His
disciples after walking more than
seven miles to Emmaus with them on
the first day of the week. The
breaking of bread, even to this day,
remains a Middle Eastern custom since
bread is often baked so firm that it
has to be literally broken in order
to be eaten. We know that Jesus
“broke bread” on Thursday
night with His disciples at Passover
and the road to Emmaus experience
happened Sunday evening just as
Monday was beginning. Why would Jesus
conduct a worship service at sundown
in Emmaus, as the second day of the
week was beginning? Even if it was a
worship service, where is God’s
command to make void His fourth
commandment? Certainly not in Acts
20:7.
Paul did not conduct a
Sunday worship service in Troas
because the day of worship had been
changed. Actually, Paul held a
farewell meeting on Saturday night
– the first part of the first
day of the week – after resting
on the Sabbath. This story confuses
many people today, because we reckon
a day from midnight to midnight.
Therefore, if Christians want to
follow Paul’s example as to
“when” they should worship,
they need to worship on Saturday
night (sundown to midnight). The
question remains – where is the
authority in this text for Sunday
observance?
1 Corinthians 16:2
Some Christians argue
that Paul insisted on taking an
offering for the poor on the first
day of the week. Notice: “Now
about the collection for God’s
people: Do what I told the Galatian
churches to do. On the first day of
every week, each one of you should
set aside a sum of money in keeping
with his income, saving it up, so
that when I come no collections will
have to be made. Then, when I arrive,
I will give letters of introduction
to the men you approve and send them
with your gift to Jerusalem.” (1
Corinthians 16:1-3)
In Paul’s day,
money as a medium of exchange was not
as common as it is today. Instead,
trading was done through a barter
system. For example, a person might
trade a chicken or some item for
cloth or pottery. Therefore, Paul
instructed the church in Corinth to
start early – begin the week
with an attempt to exchange items for
currency since it might take six days
to do so. Paul wanted to carry money
with him to help persecuted believers
in Jerusalem. Paul did not want to
travel with rooster, goats, pottery
and other things of value, so he
asked that they take care of this
matter, “first thing after the
Sabbath.” (Compare with Nehemiah
13:15.) Again the question has to
raised, does Paul’s instruction
change or make void the fourth
commandment of God? The answer is
“No.”
Thought on Romans 6
Many Christians,
without offering any biblical
support, claim that Sunday worship is
God’s will because Jesus arose
from the dead on Sunday morning, the
first day of the week. Yes, Jesus,
rose from the dead on Sunday and the
resurrection is very important, but
the Bible provides a celebration of
the resurrection and it is not Sunday
worship! It is baptism. Notice what
Paul says, “What shall we say,
then? Shall we go on sinning so that
grace may increase? By no means! We
died to sin; that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into his death? We were
therefore buried with him through
baptism into death in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the
dead through the glory of the Father,
we too may live a new life.”
(Romans 6:1-4) Paul makes a beautiful
analogy of baptism by comparing the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead
with the experience of being
resurrected from the deadness of sin
through being born again! Baptism is
a public statement that life in
Christ has begun. Still we have to
ask, does baptism change or abrogate
the fourth commandment? Not at all.
In fact, not one of the eight texts
in the New Testament says that the
holiness of the seventh day was
transferred to Sunday! There is no
text in the bible indicating that
Sunday is a scared day! In fact, the
fourth commandment says Sunday is a
workday!
Herein lies a big part
of the coming controversy over
worship, Satan has duped the
religions of the world on the subject
of worship and when god’s truth
shines upon humanity, reinforced by
overwhelming destruction everywhere,
what will people do? The current mind
set goes like this: If the Ten
Commandments were nailed to the
cross, and there is no command from
God in the New Testament to worship
God at any particular time, then God
cannot be offended by man’s
diversity in worship. This mind set
will be reversed when God’s
wrath spills over.
What Was Nailed to the Cross
Many Christians argue
that the Ten Commandments were nailed
to the cross. Yet, this argument does
not solve the problem. Whatever
happens to the fourth commandment
happens to the other nine! If
we do away with the fourth
commandment that declares the seventh
day to be a holy day, we must also do
away with the commandment that says
adultery is wrong. About 30 years
after Jesus ascended, Paul wrote,
“What shall we say, then? Is the
law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I
would not have known what sin was
except through the law. For I would
not have known what coveting really
was if the law had not said, ‘Do
not covet.’” (Romans 7:7)
To what is Paul referring when he
says, “ if not the Ten
Commandments?
So, what was nailed to
the cross? When Jesus died, the
Levitical system ended. The
ceremonial system was terminated.
Many Christians do not realize the
ceremonies under the Levitical system
were a shadow or illustration
revealing the plan of salvation. The
key word is shadow. These
shadow services pointed toward
realities! (Hebrew 7 and 8) Paul
writes, “For in Christ all the
fullness of the Deity lives in bodily
form, and you have been given
fullness in Christ, who is the head
over every power and authority.
…When you were dead in your sin
and in the uncircumcision of the
sinful nature, God made you alive
with Christ. He forgave us all our
sins, having canceled the written
code, with all its regulations, that
was against us and that stood opposed
to us; he took it away, nailing it to
the cross….Therefore do not let
anyone judge you by what you eat and
drink, or with regard to a religious
festival, a New Moon celebration or a
Sabbath day [feast]. These are a
shadow of the things that were to
come; the reality, however, is found
in Christ. Do not let anyone who
delights in false humility and the
worship of angels disqualify you for
the prize….” (Colossians
2:9-18, insertion and italics mine)
If you look at these
verses carefully, you can see that
Paul is discussing things that were shadows
of things to come. Of all the
concepts taught in the Bible, the
services in God’s temple are
among the most profound, intricate
and beautiful. A proper understanding
of these services ties all Bible
themes together, they provide a
backdrop against which all
conclusions about God’s will,
and ways can be tested and verified.
This is a crucial point. God
commanded Moses to set up a careful
parallel or shadow of the plan of
salvation so human beings could
study, test and validate the shadow.
God warned Moses to follow the
pattern that God gave him. This makes
sense because if the model were
flawed, our study of Heaven’s
temple would also be flawed. Notice
this verse: “They [the priests]
serve at a sanctuary that is a copy
and shadow of what is in
heaven. This is why Moses was warned
when he was about to build the
tabernacle: ‘See to it that you
make everything according to the
pattern shown you on the
mountain.’” (Hebrew 8:5,
insertion and italics mine)
New Moon observances
and Sabbath day feasts were shadows
required under the Levitical system.
The “Sabbath day” that Paul
is referring to is not the seventh
day Sabbath of the fourth
commandment. Rather, the term
“Sabbath days” applies of
feast days, such as the Passover,
Pentecost or the Day of Atonement.
(Leviticus 16:30-31) Certain feat
days fell on different days of the
week (like our birthday) because they
occurred on the same date each
year. These feast days were
considered special Sabbaths of rest
(or Sabbath days) that pointed
forward to different aspects of the
plan of salvation. For example, the
Passover not only reminded the Jews
of deliverance from Egypt, it also
pointed forward to the time when the
Passover Lamb – Jesus Christ
– would die on the cross so the
blood of God’s firstborn Son
could be applied to the doorposts of
our hearts.
The Jews confused the
Ten Commandments law of God with the
laws of Moses much like Christians to
today. The Jews did not understand
the vibrant relationship between the
covenant (written by God’s
finger) and the ceremonial laws
(written by Moses’ hand). One
law was permanent, and the other
temporary. The greater law, the
covenant or Ten Commandments written
by Jesus Himself, was kept inside the
ark. (Hebrews 9:4) This is why the
ark was called the ark of the
“covenant.” The lesser law
of Moses, containing the shadow
rules, was kept in a pocket on the
outside of the ark. (See Deuteronomy
10:1,2; 31:26.) When Jesus died, the
ceremonial rules, which were shadows
of realities from their inception,
ended. The relationship between the
Ten Commandments and the laws written
by Moses can be compared to the
lesser/ greater relationship that
exists between state and federal laws
in the United States. A state law
will eventually terminate a state
law. This feature is necessary to
preserve the union of the state.
Other Objections
Some Christians use
Romans 14 to prove that it does not
matter which day of the week we use
to worship God. Notice the text:
“Accept him whose faith is weak,
without passing judgment on
disputable matters. One man’s
faith allows him to eat everything,
but another man, whose faith is weak,
eats only vegetables. The man who
eats everything must not look down on
him who does not, and the man who
does eat everything must not condemn
the man who does, for God as accepted
him. Who are you to judge someone
else’s servant? To his own
master he stands or falls. And he
will stand, for the Lord is able to
make him stand. One man considers one
day more sacred than another; another
man considers every day alike. Each
one should be fully convinced in his
own mind. He who regards one day as
special, does so to the Lord. He who
eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he
gives thanks to God; and he who
abstains, does so to the Lord and
gives thanks to God. For none of us
lives to himself alone and none of us
dies to himself alone. If we live, we
live to the Lord; and if we die, we
die to the Lord. So, whether we live
or die, we belong to the Lord. For
this very reason, Christ died and
returned to life so that we might be
with the Lord of both the dead and
the living. You, then, why do you
judge your brother? For we will all
stand before God’s judgment
seat.” (Romans 14: 1-10)
These verses do not
imply that we can worship God
whenever we want. No, this text
addresses a specific problem that
early Roman Christians had to deal
with; namely, the religious customs
of newly converted Jews. In other
words, if a new believer in Jesus
felt he needed to continue to observe
Passover, Paul did not condemn the
new believer except to say that his
faith was weak. In addition, if the
new believer could not consciously
eat meat purchased in the marketplace
for fear it had not been killed
correctly or that it had been offered
before idols, Paul’s counsel was
to leave him alone! (The Jews could
not purchase nor eat meat unless it
was killed according to Mosaic code.
Leviticus 19:26) Today, many
Christians use this text to support
Sunday worship, although it says
nothing about Sunday! I seriously
doubt religious leaders will offer
the freedom mentioned in these verses
when they seek the exaltation of law
during the Great Tribulation.
Sabbath Restated In
New Testament
Some Christians claim
that nine of the Ten Commandments are
mentioned in the New Testament, but
the fourth commandment is not
restated. Therefore, because the
fourth commandment was not mentioned
in the New Testament, it proves
the Sabbath commandment was voided
when Jesus died on the cross. This
statement is blatantly false because
the fourth commandment is clearly
affirmed in the New Testament! Paul
wrote, “There remains then, a
Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
for anyone who enters God’s rest
also rests from his own work, just as
God did from his.” (Hebrews
4:9,10) Believers in Christ will rest
from their works “just as God
did.” When did God rest from His
labors? Genesis 2:1-3 says He rested
on the seventh day. Can the
obligation of the seventh day Sabbath
in the New Testament be any clearer?
Paul faithfully observed the seventh
day Sabbath during his lifetime. (See
Acts 13:44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4,11.)
Even more, Jesus Himself, called
attention to the fact that the
seventh day Sabbath would remain
sacred long after His ascension!
(Matthew 24:20)
God’s Law
The apostle Paul knew
the Ten Commandments were intact
after the cross. He said, “For I
would not have known what it was to
covet if the law had not said,
‘Do not covet.’”
(Romans 7:7) Likewise, James knew the
Ten Commandments were intact after
the cross. He wrote, “If you
really keep the royal law found in
Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor
as yourself,’ you are doing
right! But if you show favoritism,
you sin and are convicted by the law
as lawbreakers. For whoever keeps the
whole law and yet stumbles at just
one point is guilty of breaking all
of it. For he who said, ‘Do not
commit adultery, ‘ also said,
‘Do not murder.’ If you do
not commit adultery but commit
murder, you have become a
lawbreaker.” (James 2:8-11) If
the royal law includes “Do not
commit adultery” and “Do
not commit murder,” the royal
law has to include “Remember to
keep the Sabbath holy.” James
highlights an important point about
God’s law we have to understand.
James says that we are guilty of
breaking all of the Ten Commandments.
If we break one, we are guilty of
breaking them all because the
King’s law is fulfilled through total
submission to a God of love. Our love
for God must be unlimited – with
all our heart, mind and soul and love
our neighbor should be equal to the
love we have for ourselves. Jesus
said, “If you love me, you will
obey what I command.” (John
14:15)
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