I was browsing some of my Seventh Day Adventist library resources today and I came across this quote that I am sharing here.
Thoughts on the quote - The comment that this will happen is interjecting a futuristic understanding while neglecting the present rest that is available. Over and over in chapter 3 which starts the thought of rest says "today"
Getting into chapter 4 we see the present tense used. The only time the future tense is used is when the old testament is quoted to point to the present fulfillment. I have attached a picture that highlights the present tense words in pink.
Why would the author try to forward this passage to a different dispensation? Would it change an entire church if they viewed this as a present tense in which it was written?
Toward the end, the author pointed to the different ways the early church dealt with the sabbath. Some would stay at home and do nothing. This behavior does not overrule the understanding that Christ is our rest/sabbath but it makes me wonder why those in the Adventist movement would promote people going to church on Saturday. So why do they?
Here is the short article for those interested
"Finally, I will note that the Epistle to the Hebrews begins by exhorting the believers to keep going so as to be able to enter God’s rest (4:1, 10–11). This will happen when God shakes this current world and replaces it with the hypostatic world of perpetual Sabbath celebrations (12:26–28), in which God dwells and has been enjoying a Sabbatical celebration (sabbatismos) ever since he finished the work of creation (4:9). This understanding of the Sabbath has significant affinities with the view expressed in the Epistle of Barnabas, a second-century document among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. According to Barnabas, it is not necessary—in fact, it is impossible—to observe the Sabbath in the Present Age. Its observance will be possible in the eschatological seventh millennium after the sixth millennium of earthly life ends, according to a chiliastic allegory of the creation week (Barnabas 15:1–8).
The evidence for the different ways in which early Christians viewed the Sabbath, and the disputes they caused, is impressive and worth deeper consideration.2 Those who canonize one Old Testament view of the Sabbath overlook the evidence of how Christians of the first century reflected on and disputed about the Sabbath."
2 For a more detailed analysis of the evidence, see Herold Weiss, A Day of Gladness: The Sabbath Among Jews and Christians in Antiquity (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2003).
Weiss, Herold. “What the Sabbath Meant to First-Century Christians.” Adventist Today 2017 : 5. Print.
- If this is still a "live" discussion I would very much enjoy entering into it. Hopefully over the years we have learnt much about this subject. All Praise and Honor to Him Who invited us to enter His Rest!
- We were in a 'situation' for around 10 years of 'observing' Sabbath and the moedim / Appointed Times / "Feasts of the Lord." We experienced good times, and bad. Friendships would end based upon missing a date by one day. I bring my heart to this discussion, not just an academic head full of knowledge. My agenda, if any, is to see His People come to a more complete, and mature understanding of Him. Israel saw His acts, Moses knew His Ways. If this is acceptable, I shall continue with Je 1:10, Ep 4:8-25, and Jude 3-4 in mind. It is time to take serious: do not ADD, do not subtract to The Word. I am interested in what I call "Covenant Continuum," "Promise Process," "Oath Operation," and the True Whole Counsel of (God) YHWH through Yeshua Jesus Messiah Christ. What others do, or fail to do, I shall do, by his mercy and grace, what He has called me to do! Is anyone else interested in forsaking / coming out of Babylon - doctrines of demons and churchanity? If so: count me in.