Genesis 2:1-3  

"Everlasting"

(Webster's 1828 Dictionary definition)

Everlasting, a. [ever and lasting]

  Lasting or enduring for ever, eternal; existing or continuing without end; immortal.

~The everlasting God, or Jehovah.   Gen 21

~Everlasting fire; everlasting punishment.  Matt. 18:25

1) Perpetual; continuing indefinitely, or during the present state of things.

a. I will give thee, the land of Cana, for an everlasting possession.  Gen 17

2) In popular usage, endless; continual; unintermitted; as, the family is disturbed with everlasting disputes.

Everlasting, n.  Eternity, eternal duration, past and future.

~From everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.  Ps. 90

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"Eternal"

(Webster's 1828 Dictionary definition)

Eternal, a. [ L. octernus, composed of oevum and ternus, oeviternus, Barro.  The origin of the last component

part of the word is not obvious.  It occurs in diuturnus, and seems to denote continuance. ]

1) Without beginning or end of existence.

a. The eternal God is thy refuge.  Deut. 33

2) Without beginning of existence.

a. To know whether there is any real being, whose duration has been eternal.

3) Without end of existence or duration; everlasting; endless; immortal.

a. That they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.  2 Tim. 2

b. What shall I do, that I may have eternal life?  Matt. 19

c. Suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.  Jude 7

4) Perpetual; ceaseless; continual without intermission.

a. And fires eternal in thy temple shine.

5) Unchangeable; existing at all times without change; as eternal truth.

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Eternal Security

Study #1

 God Promised & God Produced Eternal life.

       John 3:14-16,  Titus 1:2,  I John 2:25

 The Believer Has Exactly What God Promised and Produced

       John 5:24,  John 3:36,  Romans 16:26

("everlasting" &"eternal" do not mean for a short duration of time, God

tells us the duration of everlasting in Romans 16:26 )

If God Himself is everlasting, then the life of the believer is everlasting.

 The Believer Will Never Perish

John 10:28

"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish,

neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

-When you look up the word "never" from John 10:28 in the Strong's

Concordance, on page 715, it comes from 4 different Greek words, which

spelled in English are: OUME (#3364) meaning, "not at all, by no means,

in no case, never."  EIS (#1519) means, "place, time, purpose." 

HO (#3588) means, "male, female, or (even) neuter." "AION (#165)

means, "perpetually, eternally."

Looking at John 10:28 with this additional light, we could write it this

way and give it the emphasis Christ did when He spoke it: "And I give

unto them eternal life; and they shall NOT AT ALL, BY ANY MEANS, IN

ANY CASE, IN ANY PLACE, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY PURPOSE,

WHETHER THEY ARE MALE OR FEMALE, PERPETUALLY AND

ETERNALLY, ever perish....."

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Eternal Security

Study #3

II. THE BELIEVER HAS EXACTLY WHAT GOD PROMISED AND PRODUCED

   Many Scriptures make it unmistakably plain that the man who is trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour has eternal life.

John 5:24 says, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath

everlasting life..."   Notice the Bible does not say, "He that believes on the Son will have..."   It says, "hath."  That

means the man who is trusting Jesus Christ completely for salvation has everlasting life now.  It is not something

that God promised him, provided he meets certain additional conditions.  It is something he has the moment he

believes on Christ.

But notice that Jesus goes a little further than saying we have everlasting life.  He makes doubly sure in John 5:24,

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,

and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."

In addition to saying that the believer has everlasting life the moment he believes, Jesus adds the promise

that he shall not come into condemnation; that is, the sentence of sin will never be put on the believer again.

The condemned criminal is the man who has been arrested, tried and had sentence passed upon him.  He is

under the sentence.  He is condemned.  The sentence for sin is death.  Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of

sin is death..."   That death is described in the Bible as the second death, the lake of fire.  Revelation 20:14:

"Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

But now Jesus says the man who believes on Christ not only has had the sentence lifted, he is not condemned;

but He further promises that "he shall not come into condemnation..."  The sentence of sin will never again be

placed on the believer. 

He goes even further in John 5:24 and says, "...but is passed from death unto life."  Not that he is going to

pass from death unto life.  The man who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has already passed from death

unto life.  John 3:36 says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."  Here again you have the

word "hath".  This is present tense.  The man who believes on the Son has everlasting life now.  Everlasting

life is not something God promises in the future, but it is the present possession of every believer.

Now the words "everlasting" and "eternal" do not mean a short duration.  They do not mean a life for a day,

a week, a month, a year, nor even a hundred years.  But they mean life for all time and all eternity.

The word "everlasting" in John 5:24 and John 3:36 which describes the life of the believer is the same word

"everlasting" in Romans 16:26 that describes the duration of God, "...according to the commandment of the

everlasting God."  If God Himself is everlasting, then the life of the believer is everlasting.

More than forty-five times the terms "eternal life" and "everlasting life" are used in the Bible.  If the believer

has anything, he has everlasting life; for that is precisely what God promised and God produced.

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                         Eternal Security

                 Study #4

                    III. GOD NOT ONLY GIVES ETERNAL LIFE,

                    BUT HE PROMISES THAT THE BELIEVER WILL NEVER PERISH

John 10:28 says, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man

                                                                    pluck them out of my hand."

When you look up the word "never" which occurs in John 10:28 in the Strong's Concordance, on

page 715, you find that it comes from four different Greek words, which spelled in English letters

are OUME, EIS, HO, and AION.  Looking up each of these words in turn in the Strong's Concordance

you find that OUME (#3364) means, "not at all, by no means, in no case, never."  EIS (#1519) means,

"place, time, purpose."  HO (#3588) means, "male, female, or (even) neuter."  AION (#165) means,

"perpetually, eternally."    Put the meanings of all these root words together; and you find that when

Christ said "never" here in the verse, it carries with it very powerful assurance--more than one

word "never" ordinarily carries with it in our minds.

Looking at John 10:28 with this additional light we could write it this way and give it the emphasis Christ

did  when He spoke it:  "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall NOT AT ALL, BY ANY MEANS,

IN ANY CASE, IN ANY PLACE, AT ANY TIME, FOR ANY PURPOSE, WHETHER THEY ARE MALE OR

FEMALE, PERPETUALLY AND ETERNALLY, ever perish . . ."

IV.  BELIEVERS ARE KEPT BY GOD, THEY DO NOT KEEP THEMSELVES

The Bible makes it plain again and again that the believer is kept by God.  If we had to keep ourselves,

I would admit that we could be lost again and probably would be.  In one of Spurgeon's sermons he said,

"If it should ever come to pass that sheep of God could fall away, alas my fickle, feeble soul would fall

ten thousand times a day."

No, we cannot keep ourselves.  Thank God, we are kept by God Himself!  In II Timothy 1:12 Paul said,

"For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed

unto him against that day."  Here the apostle says, "I am persuaded [that is, I am thoroughly convinced] that he

is able to keep that which I have committed unto him." 

It is my business to trust Jesus Christ as Saviour.  It is His business to keep me.  First Peter 1:3-5 says"

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath

begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance

incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power

of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

In these verses we are told that the inheritance is reserved fro us and we are reserved or kept for the

inheritance.  The Bible says, "To an inheritance incorruptible. . . ."  That means that it will not corrupt, will

not decay.  It will last.  It will be there when we get there.  Peter continues, "To an inheritance incorruptible

and undefiled, that fadeth not away. . . . "

There have been occasions on earth when men have received a great inheritance; but when the lawyers,

the courts and the state were finished, the majority of the inheritance had faded away.  But here the Bible

says our inheritance "fadeth not away."  Then continues: ". . .reserved in heaven for you."  It is reserved.

No one can take it.  It is yours if you have trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour.

But not only is the inheritance reserved in Heaven for you; but the Bible says, "Who are kept by the power

of God through faith unto salvation. . . ."  The word "salvation" here denotes our final redemption, when we

are saved from the very presence of sin, that is, when Jesus Christ comes for us and we see Him and are

made exactly like Him.

No, the believer does not and could not keep himself.  He is kept by God.  John 10:28 says, "And I give unto

them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."  The believer

is in the hand of God.  And the Bible says that no man can pluck him out.

Several years ago I was discussing eternal security with another preacher.  In the course of the conversation

I read John 10:28,  ". . .neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."  The preacher interrupted and said,

"Yes.  But the Bible does not say that we cannot get out of His hand."   I responded, "You do not build doctrine

on what the Bible does not say."  I continued, "The Bible says, 'neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.'

You are a man, aren't you?"

"Why, yes," he said.

 "In that case, you could not pluck yourself out of His hand either because the Bible says 'any man.' "

John 6:39 says, "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose

nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day."  It is God's will that no saved person will ever be lost.  He

says He will "lose nothing."  And since we are at least something, this means that we can never be lost again.

Colossians 3:3 says, "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."  According to this verse, the believer

is under double lock and key.

I heard and old preacher illustrate this verse by saying, "Suppose you had three barrels--a big barrel, a medium-

sized barrel and a little barrel.  You take the little barrel, and put it into the medium-sized barrel, then you put

the medium-sized barrel into the big barrel.  Then in order to get to the little barrel you would have to tear open

the big barrel and the medium-sized barrel."  He continued by saying, "God is the big barrel.  Jesus is the medium-

sized barrel, and I'm the little barrel.  My life is hid with Christ in God."  And he shouted, "Before the Devil could

get to me, he would have to tear away the big barrel and the medium-sized barrel.  And before he could ever do

that, I would have already slipped away to Glory!"

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                Eternal Security

           Study #5

                                                 V.  JESUS IS THE SAVIOUR

   He is referred to as "Saviour" at least twenty-four time in the New Testament.  Titus 2:13 says, "Looking

for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."

   Now what is a Saviour?  Suppose you are drowning.  There you are in the middle of the ocean.  Suppose

someone threw you a book entitled Three Easy Lessons on How to Swim.  Would he be a saviour?  No.

Perhaps you could call him an educator, but you could not call him a saviour.

   Suppose another man came by, got out of his boat, jumped in alongside you and demonstrated various

swimming strokes, showing you exactly how to swim.  Would he be a saviour?  Of course not.  He might be

a good example, and give a good demonstration, but he is not a saviour.

   What if he lifted you into his boat, dried you off, gave you dry clothing, fed you, took you within ten miles of

the shore, and then threw you out again into the ocean?  Would he be a saviour?  Absolutely not!  A saviour

is one who takes you safely all the way to the shore.  When God says He gives you eternal life and He will

never cast you out or lose you, He means it, because He is a true Saviour.

   If you do not trust Christ as your Saviour, if you don not put your case in His hands and fully depend on Him

to get you to Heaven, then you will not go.  John 3:36 says, "And he that believeth not the Son shall not see life;

but the wrath of God abideth on him."  On the other hand, if you do trust Christ as your Saviour, Him only and

nothing else, then you will go to Heaven, because He is a Saviour.

   He is not one who teaches you how to save yourself; He is the One who saves you.  Luke 19:10, "For the Son

of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."  There is not a verse in the Bible that teaches that God

places the believer in a position to be saved provided he does other things.  No.  No.  The Bible says He saves

the believer.  Romans 10:13 says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

   Eternal security is not a totally separate doctrine from salvation.  If you are not saved, forever, then you are not

saved at all.

                                              VI.  JESUS DIED FOR ALL OUR SINS

   Many of those who belive that you can lose your salvation think that you lose it for some sin you commit after

you are saved.  Several years ago I had an experience that I don't believe I shall ever forget.  It was Thursday

night, and I was out soul winning.  I had been asked to make a visit at a certain address.

   When I knocked on the door, I was greeted by a friendly gentleman in a business suit.  When I went inside, I

saw that there were four other men present.  I had been there only a few minutes when one of the men said,

"Oh, you Baptists!  You believe once saved, always saved.  You are wrong about that,"  I knew then that the men

were preachers and that I had been invited to the home simply to argue eternal security.

   I said, "Now, men, I do not use the expression 'once saved, always saved.'  But I do believe in the eternal

security of the born-again believer, that is, the man who trusted Jesus Christ as Saviour is secure.  He can

never lose his salvation."  "Oh," they argued, "yes he could."  I quoted a number of verses, and they quoted

verses back to me.

   After sometime I asked, "Well, if a man could be lost after he is saved, what would he have to do to be lost?

Immediately on of them responded, "Get out into sin."  And the others agreed.  I said, "All right.  You are saying

that if a man goes back into sin after he is saved, then he is lost."  "Yes. That is right," was their quick reply.

   "All right.  Answer several questions for me.  First, you did invite me here tonight to argue about eternal

security, didn't you?"  "Yes.  That's right."  "You knew that Thursday night is the night I always to soul winning,

didn't you?"  "Yes, we did."

   "Don't you think it would be a good thing if you had let me go should winning tonight instead of inviting me here

for the sake of arguing about eternal security?"  They agreed it would.  I continued, "You men are preachers.

Don't you think it would have been good if you had gone soul winning instead of setting up this meeting with me?"

They agreed it would have been good.

   I opened my Bible to James 4:17 and read, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to

him it is ____________."  And I asked them to read the last word.  They stuttered a moment and quoted other

verses.  I said, "No.  No.  I want you to tell me what James 4:17 says, 'To him that knoweth to do good, and

doeth it not, to him it is ___________'  What?"  Finally one of them said, "Sin."

   "Then according to this verse, you are sinning right now.  Because you know it would have been good if

you had gone soul winning and if you had allowed me to go ahead with my soul-winning visits tonight.

According to this verse you are all sinning; and according to your teaching, you are all lost."

"Oh, no," they said, "No."

"But you have admitted that you are sinning."

"Oh, we know it.  But,"  said one of them, "we have not sinned enough yet."

   I smiled and said, "Take this Bible and show me where it teaches how much sin you have to commit to be lost."

Of course they could not find such a verse.  The truth of the matter is, Jesus Christ died for all our sins.

First Peter 2:24 says, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree..."  Isaiah 53:6 says, "The

Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."  And II Corinthians 5:21 says, "For he hath made him to be sin for us,

who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

   Every sin that I have ever committed or ever will commit was laid on Jesus two thousand years ago, and He

died on the cross to pay my sin debt and to suffer for my sins.  I told a lady that once, and she said, "I can

understand how He died for my past sins, but I cannot understand how He died for my future sins that I have not

even committed yet."

   I smiled and said, "Lady, when Jesus Christ died, all your sins were future.  You were not even born yet."

"I guess you are right, " she said.

I said, "I know I am right, unless you are a very old lady."

   She laughed and said, "Well, I am not that old."

   God Almighty dealt with me as a sinner two thousand years ago when He poured His wrath out on Jesus

Christ, as Jesus bore my sins in His own body on the tree.  After you trust Jesus Christ as Saviour, God will

never again deal with you as a sinner.  All His dealing from that point on will be as with a son.

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Eternal Security

Study #6

VII.  GOD CHASTISES THE BELIEVER WHO SINS

Look at Hebrews 12:6-8

   "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourageth every son whom he receiveth.  If ye

endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth

not?But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons."

   Notice in these verses the words "son" and "sons."  Notice the expressions,  "God dealeth with

you as with sons." 

   From the moment you trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour, God will never again deal with you as a

sinner.  From that moment on He will deal with you as a son.  And the Bible plainly says, "He

chasteneth every son whom he receiveth."  If the believer sins after he is saved, God will chastise him.

   Sometimes this chastening takes the form of sickness or even death, as in the case of I Corinthians

11:30:  "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep."  Not all sickness is

chastening.  But in many cases it is.  God's chastening takes various forms which I will not have

space to discuss in this article.  But I want to make this point: Chastisement is never payment for sin.

Chastisement is child-training.  God may chastise you.  But Jesus Christ paid for your sins at

Calvary two thousand years ago.

   Let me give you an illustration.

   Suppose I say to my son, "Now, Son, don't play ball in the front yard.  You may break the big

window in the front of the house."

   While I am away in the revival meeting, my son disobeys me, plays ball in the front yard and

breaks the window.  When I get home I ask, "Son, did you break that window?"

   "Yes, Dad, I did."

   "All right.  Did I tell you I would spank you if you broke it?"

   "Yes, Sir, you did."

   "Then I will have to do what I told you.  Now you come with me."

   I take my son into the back room and give him a good spanking.  Does the spanking pay for

the window?  Absolutely not.  I don't care how much I spank the boy, it will never pay for the

window.  When I finish chastising him, I will have to reach into my pocket, take out the money,

and pay the man to replace the window.  I chastised my boy, but I paid for the window.

   If the believer sins after he is saved, God will chastise him.  But the chastisement is not payment

for sin.  Jesus Christ paid for our sins two thousand years ago when He died on the cross.

   There is no end to hypothetical questions.  I've been asked over and over again, "But what if...?"

"What if...?"   A man asked me one day, "What if a man gets out into open, known sin, and then on

the way home runs his car into a telephone pole and is killed before he has time to confess his sin

and get right with God?  Do you mean to tell me that man is saved?"  I said, "Yes, if he had trusted

Jesus Christ as his Saviour, he is saved.  He many have gone to Heaven with a red face, but he was

saved."  I must say what the Bible says, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life."

   The man continued, "But he didn't have time to get right with God, and God didn't have time to

chastise him."  I said, "What do you mean, 'God didn't have time to chastise him'?  He killed him!"

   First Corinthians 5:5 says, "To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that

the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus."  The premature death of a believer is the ultimate

in Christian chastisement.

TRUST JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR TODAY

   If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, let me plead with you to

trust Him today.  Realizing that you are a sinner and accept the clear teaching of the Bible that

Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay your sin debt.  Then trust Him completely for your salvation.

   The Bible says in John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. . . "  And again,

look at John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned. . ."  The word "believe" means to

trust, to depend on, to rely on.  Will you completely trust Jesus Christ as your Saviour?  If so, pray

this simple prayer:   "Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner.  I do believe that You died for me, and

the best I know how, I do trust You as my Saviour.  From this minute on, I'm depending on You to get me to

 Heaven.  Now help me live for You and be a good Christian.  Amen"

   If you prayed that simple prayer, then I can promise you, on the authority of God's Word, that you have

everlasting life.  "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. . ."

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Sunday or Sabbath, Which Should Christians Observe?     Back

Study #1

1. A Bible Answer to Honest Seventh Day Adventists

       Many honest people are greatly confused about the Sabbath question.  The trouble here, as in the case of other doctrines, is because many follow human leadership and tradition instead of the Word of God.  Seventh Day Adventists say that the Sabbath is the seventh day and that all Christian people ought to keep the seventh day as a day of rest and worship.  Some even go so far as to say that salvation depends upon the Old Testament Sabbath and that "the mark of the beast" mentioned in Revelation is keeping Sunday instead of Saturday as a day of rest and worship!  Another group of men answer back that since the resurrection of Christ, the Sabbath is changed from the seventh day to the first day and that now all Christians ought to observe Sunday as a day of rest and worship.  These call Sunday "the Christian Sabbath," call Sunday School "the Sabbath School", and believe that all the commands in the Old Testament about the Sabbath, or Saturday, the seventh day of the week, ought to be applied to Sunday, the first day of the week.

     BOTH ARE MISTAKEN as you will soon see from the Scripture.  We may be sure that the Bible has a very clear teaching on this subject and that when we are willing to search the Word of God and take God at His word we can know without a doubt God's will for us concerning this and other necessary matters of Bible doctrine and Christian life.  The Bible does not say that Christians should observe the Sabbath today.  The Bible says nothing about "the mark of the beast" being the observation of Sunday.  On the other hand, the Bible certainly does not call Sunday "the Christian Sabbath" nor any other kind of Sabbath.

2. The Old Testament Sabbath Is the Seventh Day

     Exodus 20:10 plainly says, "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God."  Concerning this there can be no differences of opinion.  In some languages the word for Sabbath means seventh.  The Sabbath of rest followed six days of labor and was counted the last day of the week.  Saturday is the Old Testament Sabbath.

3. The Sabbath Is an Old Testament and Not a New Testament Command

     The average Bible student has strangely missed this fact: the Sabbath is a part of the Mosaic Law and was never given to anybody but Jews under the law.  Many preachers who would not think of urging Gentile congregations to observe the command about circumcision or to refrain from pork and catfish, yet sincerely preach to them, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."

     Such preachers mean, "Remember Sunday to keep it holy" and call Sunday the Sabbath.  However, there is no more command for Christians to keep the Sabbath than there is for Christians to avoid pork or catfish or to be circumcised.  Read very carefully the scriptural proof which I will now give you and get the matter settled in your heart.

     First, in the entire New Testament there is not a single command to observe the Sabbath!  Every other one of the Ten Commandments is repeated in the New Testament (some many times), with the exception of the Sabbath.  Of all the sins mentioned in the New Testament, Sabbath-breaking is never once mentioned as a sin!  Jesus did not command His disciples to keep the Sabbath.  He was repeatedly called into question on this matter of the Sabbath and never once asked the public to observe the Sabbath. In fact, we are told in John 5:18 that the Jews, rigorous Sabbath-keepers that they were, sought to kill Jesus---

     "Because he not only HAD BROKEN THE SABBATH, but said also that God was His Father, making himself equal with God."

     Jews hated Jesus because He Himself did not keep the Jewish Sabbath.  In rebuking them for their criticism when the disciples gathered grain to eat on the Sabbath (Matt 12:1-8), Jesus referred them to the Scripture, "I desired mercy, and not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6), and said that if they had understood that Scripture, they would not have condemned the guiltless.  Jesus clearly meant that the Sabbath was a part of the ceremonial law, like the sacrifices, which was fulfilled in Jesus.

     Jesus did not teach anybody to keep the Sabbath.  This fact cannot be denied!  The apostles did not teach the New Testament churches to observe the Sabbath.  The council at Jerusalem, sending word to the Gentile converts as to what they should do, did not even mention the Sabbath (Acts 15:19-24).  The books of Hebrews and James, written to dispersed Israel, do not even refer to the Sabbath as a day to be kept; and Paul in all his epistles to the churches never once intimated that Christians are to observe the Sabbath!  The Sabbath is Old Testament.  Make sure of this before you go any further.

4. The Sabbath Is Mosaic Law, Given to Israel Under the Law

     As remarkable as is the absence of the Sabbath command in the New Testament, is its absence before Mount Sinai in the Old Testament.  Genesis 2:1-3 teaches that when God had finished creation he rested on the seventh day and blessed that day and sanctified it.  But no command is given to man concerning that day either in the Garden of  Eden or afterward until Mount Sinai.  There is no record that God ever spoke to Adam or Enoch or Noah or Abraham about the Sabbath, nor that any of them ever observed it or ever heard of it!  Remember that this passage here in Genesis 2:1-3 was not written until Moses wrote these first five books of the Bible under divine inspiration in the wilderness, after Mount Sinai.  The first time the word Sabbath is used in the Bible is in Exodus 16:23-36, it is quite clear that it was a strange new teaching to the people of Israel and that they never observed it before.

     Now we turn to Nehemiah 9:13,14 which says:

     "Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandest them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant."

     After recounting the oppression in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea, the Scriptures tell us that God came down upon Mount Sinai and "made known" to the people His holy Sabbath.  The Sabbath, then, was a part of the Mosaic Law.  It was not a previous command incorporated in the Mosaic Law, like marriage, the tithe, or even circumcision.  No, the Sabbath was given to Israel as a part of the ceremonial law.  It was "made known" on Mount Sinai!  No man on earth ever heard of it before then.

     This same teaching, that the Sabbath was first given or made known at Mount Sinai, is taught again in Ezekiel 20:10-12.

     "Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.  And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.  Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them."

     Notice carefully that the Lord Himself says concerning Israel at Mount Sinai; "I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them."  No man ever heard of the Sabbath before it was given to Israel as recorded in Exodus 16:23-36.