Sabbath Issues

Dr. Sidney Davis

According to many Bible chronologists the year 2000 marks the dawn of the seventh millennium of this world's history. The apostle Peter describes time in God's reality in terms of "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," (2 Pet. 3:8). This idea, when associated with the template of time, established with the week or the seven days of creation, has evoked the universal idea in Christianity of the world's history of sin lasting 6000 years, culminating in the thousand years of universal "Shabbat shalom" or restful peace. The year 2000 is regarded by Christian pundits as a significant time post that will usher in this seventh thousandth year called "the millennium."

We see that the "rest" and "peace" that is associated with the idea of the seventh millennium is emphasized with another sabbatical idea of the "jubilee." The jubilee is based upon the "heptad" (meaning group of seven) cycle of yearly Sabbaths, or a Sabbath year every seventh year. The heptad cycle is based on the week. The week, as the template of time, cannot be over emphasized.

The festival interval marked by the counting of Sabbaths from the Passover to Pentecost (Lev. 23:15,16) is in miniature the template for the counting of heptads making the Jubilee cycle. The weekly counting of the omer from the morrow after the Shabbat until seven Shabbats were complete to the feasts of Shabbats, or "the feast of weeks," is imposed upon the counting of the heptad cycle of the week of years, the year after seventh of which was a called a "Jubilee" (see Lev. 25:4-10). So whether a week of days, weeks of weeks or weeks of weeks of years, the idea of holiness associated with "seven" and "Sabbath" is clearly established from the creation template of time, punctuated by the heptad cycle or the sanctification of "seven" or Sabbath.

The jubilee is the sabbatical year when debts owed are forgiven, prisoners are let free and the land is restored to its original owner, which then enters into a state of rest or restoration. Such is the hope and promise that the year 2000 holds for the state of "unrest" and war with many people and debtor nations. This year holds great promise for the many nations and peoples who champion the pope's declaration of the Y2K Jubilee and the release of the national debts of debtor nations to the industrial nations and the release of captives (commuting of sentences) on death row and freeing political prisoners by his peace brokering initiatives. Christians from all nations and denominations are joining the swelling crescendo of the jubilee declaration by the papacy.

Both these ideas, of the seven thousand years and jubilee- both point to the seventh day, the Sabbath, as their origin. That Christians can evoke these ideas of Y2K and jubilee, while denying the very word of God that says, "... but the seventh day is the Sabbath ...," upon which these ideas are based, should not go by unnoticed or unannounced. We should be spiritually wise and doctrinally enabled to show our brethren the origins of these positions and the inconsistency of theological dogmas, that at the same time deny them.

These were some of the points that I discussed with Jack Lowndes, Executive Director of the Lord's Day Alliance (LDA) of the United States, when I paid him a courtesy visit while in Atlanta, Georgia last December. The strength of the presentations made to him on these points drew from him the surprising and astounding acknowledgment that he knows and understands that the seventh day is the Sabbath! The position of Jack Lowndes is not that Sunday is the Sabbath at all! The designation of "Sabbath" he says "belongs to the seventh day" (Saturday) not Sunday. Sunday he maintains is "not the Christian Sabbath" but rather it is specially designated as "the Lord's day." While admitting that the position on the Sabbath, as taken by the majority of Christians may be wrong, it is a wrong, that he says, the blood of Jesus covers.

The basic challenge, which is represented by the position of Jack Lowndes, in the Sabbath versus Sunday question, is not one that calls into question the continuity and relevancy of the Sabbath in the Christian church, but rather the fundamental place of the law in the gospel of Christ. Substantiating the fundamental place of the law of God in the gospel of Christ (on which the theology of the Sabbath rests) is the challenge that faces us in the next millennium- as the great controversy between Christ and Satan is being waged over God's law. In actuality, the Sabbath is THE "touchstone" of truth showing where the believer stands on the question of the law.

Being spiritually wise and doctrinally enabled to defend the Sabbath truth does not mean a dogmatic resuscitation of age-old proof texts that have been traditionally used by Sabbatarians for hundreds of years. Such methodology can no longer stand in the face of highly developed theological arguments substantiating the doctrine of "Sunday sacredness" and the tradition of "the Lord's day."

The sophistication and scholarship of evangelical Christianity concerning the theology of the Sabbath, with which Sabbatarians must now contend, will in itself bring the "crisis of conscience" that all Christians -- especially Sabbatarian Christians -- must face concerning our understanding of the law in the gospel. We as Sabbatarians must honestly face the theological consequences of what Sabbath observance means in relationship to our theology on the law and the gospel, if we are going to have a credible witness to our faith that will stand the test and scrutiny of great minds. This is a question that must be addressed if we ever hope to confront why ever-increasing numbers of Sabbatarians, of all denominations, are following the lead of the Worldwide Church of God (formerly the second largest Christian Sabbatarian church) in giving up Sabbath observance.

We will see the rhetoric of Sabbatarian apologetics making tremendous changes in the months ahead -- as we deal with the issues of the sanctification of time. The "Christianizing" of the "Jewish" Sabbath, which allows the declaration of a millennial Sabbath era and a Jubilee Sabbath year, while denying the very foundation and premise of these inherently Sabbatarian institutions -- points to a fundamental aspect of Christian theology that basically assumes that the law is to be understood in principle only and not by precept. It is my view that the impotency of the theological arguments, which have been used to traditionally advocate and defend the Sabbath, is due to the inability to acknowledge or recognize that the origin of the attacks against the Sabbath and the law is founded upon an anti-Semitic/Judaeophobic theology of the medieval theologians- or the Biblical scholarship of the "middle ages."

When we, as Sabbatarian Christians, begin to understand that our relationship to the Sabbath cannot be separated from our relationship to biblical Judaism and the Jewishness of our Christian roots (see Romans 11:18), then we will begin to break the "grace vs. law" paradigm that has defined our traditional understanding of the law upon which our views of the Sabbath are based, and which at the same time justifies the majority's (of the Christian world) profanation of the holy day. Despite our Sabbatarian professions, we as Sabbatarians have inherited a medieval view of the law that is both contrary and contradictory to the law and the prophets (John 1:45). The inability of Sabbatarians to intelligently expound a sound theology on the law that can withstand hermeneutical and exegetical cross examination is seriously threatening the Sabbath truth and is fast becoming one the greatest Sabbath issues that we will have to face. Our traditional "Christian" views on the law has not only handicapped the effectiveness of our Sabbath witness but has also made us vulnerable to the attacks being made against the Sabbath under the guise of the so-called "new covenant theology."

The Bible Sabbath Association stands for the Bible Sabbath of the Seventh day. While the BSA stands, we from various Sabbatarian traditions teach and share, from different perspectives, that on which we commonly agree. While we thus maintain our distinctiveness in our approach to Sabbath observance and Sabbatarian (as well as other) doctrines, we must recognize that there can only be one answer to the concerted attack being made against the Sabbath truth. That answer must be biblically and theologically consistent and one that recommends itself to the enlightened Christian intelligentsia of bible students and scholarship.

We must, under the supernatural guidance that comes from the Holy Spirit, be able to put forth an exegetically and hermeneutically sound theology of the law that will answer the allegations of the new covenant theologians and the arguments that they present against the Sabbath truth. I would like to propose to our membership and supporters that the BSA sponsor in different cities "Sabbath Conferences" which will focus and bring attention to these issues. To do this, we need for our membership to take the initiative and actively participate in helping to organize such conferences. We need an energetic support base that is committed to increasing the awareness of the BSA, its goals and its mission through such conferences. In such a venue we can fully address the Sabbath issues that beg for attention.

We invite articles that address these relevant Sabbath issues and we also invite your questions that will help to stimulate thinking and dialog. The BSA will endeavor to act as the catalyst that will bring about intra-Sabbatarian dialog as well as inter-denominational dialog, as represented in my meeting with the LAD. This is an idea whose time and chance has arrived as we endeavor to come to grips with Sabbath issues such as the law of God in the Gospel, the so-called new covenant theology, and the inherent anti-Semitism that gave birth to Sunday sacredness.

I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to the participants who attended our recent Board of Director's conference held in St. Louis in January. The reports indicate that there was a spectrum of Sabbath observant brethren in attendance: Former Worldwide Church of God, Seventh Day Adventist's, Seventh Day Baptist's, Church Of God Seventh Day and representatives of independent fellowships. Such a show of support for the BSA after such short notice holds promise and requests for more conferences of this type. With your continued support and prayers we can look forward to just that. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I want to thank our members and supporting friends for the opportunity to serve and represent the interest of all Sabbatarians.

TSS

January - February 2000 The Sabbath Sentinel