June 5, 2018 Tuesday

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:12-15 NKJV)

            Some Christians claim they are New Testament Christians and do not need the Old Testament.  But why do we need Jesus to die if we do not accept the fall of humanity we see in Genesis?  How can we know Jesus combines the functions of King and Priest without the lineage from the Old Testament?  How do we know marriage is of a man and a woman without the Creation story?

            Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis says in the first 11 chapters of Genesis we find the foundation of all our basic beliefs and theology.  Throughout the Old Testament we find the meaning of what Jesus did and why. 

In Psalm 22 we can see the suffering of Jesus upon the cross in more depth and detail ever offered in the New Testament.

The book of Isaiah presents a very detailed picture of the “suffering” Messiah and all the blessings the Messiah will bring. 

Much of the Old Testament is quoted by Jesus and others.  More than 2/3’s of the Bible is the Old Testament and that is without counting the many Old Testament quotes.

            Here we see the call for us to have a Sabbath – a day of rest.  God carefully details what the Sabbath, which was held on Saturday, was to be and how it would affect our lives.  The Sabbath is a time for us to rest in God and trust God can and will take care of things so we can rest.

            Later Christians would move their Sabbath to Sunday as a celebration of Easter every week!  The Church believed the impact of Easter was too great to only celebrate once a year!

            Do you understand the purpose and meaning of the Old Testament?  Do you look to see how the Old and New Testaments work together?  Do you celebrate Easter every week?

Still feeling pretty bad.  The new sleep medicine seems to help but because of the incredible pain I still feel weary.  Bonnie and I continue our devotions and time of prayer together.  It really is a blessed time!