Y2K Collector's Edition
Zygote Media Networks
~~~BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND~~~
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Suriviving The Millennium 101: A Crash Course with Human Destiny
Y2K/JUBILEE/DRAGON DAY SPECIAL COLLECTORS EDITION
http://mrr2001.com (now back on-line)
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From the practical to the paranoid, the history behind the hysteria!
News U Can Use 4 this the 31st day of December 1999 A.D.
0 Days B~4 the BIG 2000!
128 Days B~4 the BIG 5/5/00!
140 Days B~4 the BIG 5/17/00!
~~~~~~~Millennium Milestones~~~~~~~
December 9931 - EXIT SABBATH YEAR (49)
December 9931 - EXIT AGE OF PISCES
December 9931 - MARS ENTERS AQUARIUS!!!
January 0001 - ENTER AGE OF AQUARIUS
January 0001 - ENTER YEAR OF THE DRAGON
January 0001 - ENTER JUBILEE (50)
January 0001 - Y2K DAY
January 0002 - 11 year solar maxim begins to peak
~~~~~~~Words of Wisdom~~~~~~~
"Enter ye in at the strait gate:for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because
strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it." ~Jesus, Matt 7:13-14
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PROPHECY WATCH 2000 - PROPHET EXPOSES FALSE CHRIST
By: Dr. Rebecca S. Harrison
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The following are the more poignant excerpts from a letter exchange with
someone claiming to be Jesus. Due to unusual circumstances of computer
shut-downs, website disruptions and take-downs, files taken from our
computers, we are attempting to get this last warning update out before the
communication "web" is completely taken away from us.
There will be many deceptions, hoaxes, frauds, panic and fear given to the
public in the year ahead. The false christ expose' that follows, will show
you how to spot frauds that will emerge as saviors, messiahs, and Christs.
The following example is possibly just a deception to take the attention
away from the real anti-christ, or for some other unknown reason. The
following letter was written by JAH to me, after an initial letter asking
him why he charged the disciples of Jesus in these end days for his message
of salvation. I hope the general public takes advantage of this, download
onto hard disk or hard copy, to have on hand for future reference in
spotting Jesus impersonators. Click below for News U Can Use Exclusive.
http://mrr2001.com/finalmessage.htm
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1999 The Year In Review
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It has taken a lot of special people to make this interactive newsletter
possible. To all who were brave enough to RIDE THE WAVE, thank U. U have
taught us a great deal about the potential of Humanity and kindled our faith
in the Human spirit. You helped turn the ripples into tsunamis and
mountains into molehills! Together we have chopped at some very large trees
in pursuit of truth. U~R activists, heroes, artists, lovers, and warriors
for truth. May love and peace follow you through Jubilee Year 2000 and
beyond. Regardless of the beginnings, in the END the TRUTH WILL WIN. R~U
ready 4 the really BIG ONE?
-------------------------------------------------
The JUBILEE PROPHECIES By )o+>
Coming soon 2 http://mrr2001.com
(if'n there's still electricity 'n stuff)
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SURVIVAL WATCH 2000 - FREE Y2K SURVIVAL DOWNLOAD
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This little pamphlet is for you. It's free, as is all Truth. Please make
copies and give to everyone you can. This is news you can use for the days
ahead. Right now, people can't conceive of what is to occur. It hasn't
happened in our lifetime, therefore we can't conceive of it, for there is
nothing to base it on, mentally. That is why this is written out for you, to
have on hand for when it does happen, after the "Web" of communication goes
down, and we become isolated one from another. At best, make as many copies
as you can before copy machines run out of electricity and compliancy. At
least, hand it to someone else that might want to read it. At the very
least, put it in your Y2K survival packs. Click below 4 full story!
http://www.ikansas.com/~sales/y2k.html
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POLICY WATCH 2000 - President's Y2K Executive Orders
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"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to
restore order;
tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told
there was an outside
threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very
existence. It is then
that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them
from this evil. The one
thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario,
individual rights will
be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to
them by their world
government." a quote from Henry Kissinger - May 21, 1992
The following Presidential "Executive Orders" have the force of law. All it
takes is an emergency, of any type, to be declared by the President to
activate these Executive Orders which were signed into law in the 1960s
under President John F. Kennedy. The United States of America has been under
a STATE OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY since 9 March 1933, under the War Powers Act.
Think of the possibilities should the President ever decide to act on the
authority Congress and the Senate have already given the Chief Executive /
Commander and Chief. Click below for full story!
http://www.mrr2001.com/executiveorders.htm
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SUBSCRIBER UPDATE - )o+> ENDS 40 DAY FAST 4 HUMANITY
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Dear Subscribers,
To the thousands who have expressed gratitude and concern during the 40 day
fast of our humble publication, our love 2~U. Publishing on the web hasn't
been the easiest of tasks these days. However, all is well as we witness
Humanity pass through the birth canal of the 21st Century. The past year has
been filled with rhetoric of the left and of the right, yet nothing has
changed because the left and right remain distractions impeding the People's
right to life, liberty, and the true pursuits of happiness. It is the
challenge of this once great nation to restore true democracy and honesty in
public office. It is the challenge of the People to hold those in elected
offices accountable, but more importantly it is the challenge of the People
to remember they hold these offices in the first place. While apathy makes
victims of us all, it is our duty to ignite apathy with the passion of our
forefathers and of our ancestors to restore the freedoms guaranteed us in a
state of democracy. Divisions by gods, political parties, pigmentations,
orientations, and class keep the People distracted and successfully tricked
into eternal excile - hating and killing each other over money, resources,
and the fear of the other. The difference exists only in our perception. If
ever there was a time to unite as one mind, one People, and one voice
against the principalities of darkness, allowing for an instant moment,
one glimmer of light to shine upon the plethora of their shadows; that time
is now. Click below 4 full story!
http://mrr2001.com/forty.htm
+++++++SURVIVAL ZONE 101++++++++
PROTECT YOUR HEALTH. NEUTRALIZE EMF!
http://esona.com
DISASTER & EMERGENCY FOOD RESERVES
http://www.mrr2001.com/y2k_food_supply.html
Y2K PC FIX - FREE REPORT
http://www.websitings.com/y2k/sites/zygote.htm
EQUIPOISE - The Ergonomic Computer Chair
http://www.kneelsit.com
STAYING ALIVE - SURVIVAL TACTICS!
web site: http://www.glbworld.com or email: al...@glbworld.com
~~~~Will U Sink, Swim, or Will U Ride The Wave?~~~~~
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DuckDW
Zygote Media Networks <news...@mrr2001.com> wrote in message
news:1S0b4.623$S%2.3...@newsfeed.slurp.net...
Paul Duca
rummaging through the garbage can of his betters?
Paul
DaMao
he only mention of the Lord's Day in the New Testament is by John the
apostle in Revelation 1:10: "I
was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day." John did not specify which day of
the week is the Lord's Day. Its
identity was evidently well-known to his readers.
Strict Sabbatarians (e.g. Seventh-Day Adventists), who believe the Old
Covenant commandment
hallowing Saturday as the weekly Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-12) is yet in
effect, insist Saturday is the Lord's
Day. They also teach that faithful Christians taught the same until
Constantine, emperor of Rome,
sanctioned Sunday as a holy day early in the fifth century. They are
wrong.
In the preceding message we observed: 1. The Lord's Day is Sunday, the
first day of the week. This was
confirmed without dissent in the writings of contemporaries of the
apostles and other early church fathers,
including Barnabas (thought by many to be a companion of Paul the
apostle), Ignatius (died 98 or 117),
Justin Martyr (circa 100-165), and Chrysostom (345[?]-407). These
authorities prove Strict Sabbatarians
are wrong when they say the early church observed Saturday as the Lord's
Day until Constantine,
emperor of Rome, sanctioned Sunday as a holy day early in the fifth
century. 2. The Lord's Day is the
day established by God for commemorating His resurrection and exaltation
of Jesus Christ. It fulfills
the prophecy of Psalm 118:22-24 (cp. Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:10f; 1 Peter
2:7f): "The stone which the
builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD's
doing; it is marvelous in our
eyes. This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be
glad in it."
We now continue.
3. The Lord's Day is the day on which Christian churches assemble for
worship. We do so according
to the example of the apostles cited in the New Testament. "Now on the
first day of the week [Sunday],
... the disciples came together" (Acts 20:7).
We assemble on the Lord's Day, Sunday, the first day of the week, in
order to observe those acts
peculiar to Christian worship. We "break bread" in the observance of the
Lord's Supper and listen to the
preaching of God's Word (Acts 20:7), and express our joy for what God
has done for us through Jesus
Christ (Psalm 118:24), and collect our offerings for the Lord's work (1
Corinthians 16:2), and so forth.
We assemble on the Lord's Day, Sunday, the first day of the week, in the
same attitude of John the
apostle when he said "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day" (Revelation
1:10). To be "in the Spirit" is to
worship under the influence of the Holy Spirit, being filled and led and
taught by Him, and enabled by
Him to worship and adore Jesus Christ. And to be "in the Spirit" is to
worship in a state of elevated
spiritual devotion and religious enjoyment.
4. The Lord's Day is not a Christian Sabbath. Semi-Sabbatarians agree
with Strict Sabbatarians
regarding the present-day obligation to obey the Old Covenant
commandment hallowing a weekly
Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-12). But Semi-Sabbatarians differ in teaching that
the weekly Sabbath has been
moved from Saturday to Sunday, thereby establishing Sunday as the
Christian Sabbath.
They have no scintilla of Scriptural evidence. Nowhere does the Bible
intimate such a changing of days,
nor that Sunday is a Sabbath, nor that the apostles observed it as such.
Indeed, the New Testament emphatically teaches otherwise. Sabbath days
belonged to Old Covenant
times. That covenant has been abrogated and superseded by the New
Covenant (Hebrews 8:6-13).
Consequently, the Sabbaths of the Old Covenant are to be ignored in
these New Covenant times
(Colossians 2:16f). And God approves the Christian who "esteems every
day alike" (Romans 14:5).
Rather, the Christian Sabbath is that rest which is found by faith in
Jesus Christ (Hebrews 3:7-4:11). It is
not a rest from physical labors for one day. It is rather a perpetual
rest from spiritual labors (Matthew
11:28). Have you entered into it?
DaMao
PAUL'S CUSTOM REGARDING THE SABBATH
Strict Sabbatarians believe the Old Covenant commandment hallowing
Saturday as the weekly Sabbath
(Exodus 20:8-12) is yet in effect. The most prominent Strict
Sabbatarians today are Jews who reject
Jesus as Messiah, and Seventh-Day Adventists.
The latter insist Christians today must observe the custom of Paul the
apostle stated in Acts 17:2
regarding worshipping on the weekly Sabbath, Saturday.
They are correct, but not in the manner they suppose.
Paul did indeed customarily attend Sabbath worship services. According
to The Acts of the Apostles,
he did so in Perga (13:14ff), Iconium (14:1ff), Thessalonica (17:1ff),
Berea (17:10ff), Athens (17:16f),
Corinth (18:1,4ff), and Ephesus (19:1,8ff).
But Paul attended Sabbath worship services in order to preach the gospel
to unbelievers. This fact is
either conveniently overlooked or willfully disregarded by those who
read Acts 17:2 apart from its
context. We read in this context, Acts 17:1-3, that Paul "came to
Thessalonica, where there was a
synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them,
and for three Sabbaths reasoned
with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the
Christ had to suffer and rise again
from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the
Christ.'"
Note well that on the Sabbath Paul was found in a "synagogue of the
Jews," not a church of Jesus Christ.
Churches of Christ met not on the Jewish Sabbath, but "on the first day
of the week," Sunday, the Lord's
Day (Acts 20:7). (For proofs that Sunday, not Saturday, is the Lord's
Day see messages #148-149.)
Note also that on the Sabbath Paul was preaching "Jesus ... is the
Christ" to those who did not believe so,
not to Christians who did.
Note furthermore the response of those who heard Paul preaching the
gospel on the Sabbath. Unlike the
Christians who rejoiced in Paul's gospel in their Lord's Day services,
those to whom he preached on the
Sabbath with but few exceptions despised his Christ and his gospel. In
Perga "they opposed the things
spoken by Paul" (Acts 13:45). In Iconium "the unbelieving Jews stirred
up the Gentiles and poisoned their
minds against the brethren [i.e. believers]" (Acts 14:2). In
Thessalonica "the Jews who were not
persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the
marketplace, and gathering a mob, set
all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason [a believer]"
(Acts 17:5). When many Bereans
believed Paul's gospel and his Christ, "the Jews from Thessalonica ...
came there also and stirred up the
crowds" (Acts 17:13). In Corinth "they opposed him and blasphemed" (Acts
18:6). In Ephesus "some
were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way [i.e. of
Jesus Christ (John 14:6)]" (Acts
19:9). On one occasion those to whom Paul the apostle preached on the
Sabbath despised the gospel of
Christ which he preached so much that they stoned him and left him for
dead (Acts 14:19f).
But Paul did not observe the Sabbath as the law of Moses required (see
Galatians 4:9f; Romans 14:5;
Colossians 2:16f). (This point will be expanded in subsequent messages,
D.V.)
Christians today should of course follow the custom of Paul regarding
the Sabbath. If a congregation
of Sabbath-keepers permits a disciple of Jesus Christ to address them,
he should with all faithfulness
"reason with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that
the Christ had to suffer and rise
again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the
Christ.'" This is the message
Sabbath-keepers need to hear, and the only message gospel preachers
should give to them.
He should also hope to find among them Bereans (Acts 17:11): "These were
more fair-minded than those
in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and
searched the Scriptures daily to find
out whether these things were so."
But sadly, most Sabbath-keepers today will despise the gospel of Jesus
Christ as much as did
Sabbath-keepers in Paul's day.
DaMao
WHAT IS IT?
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews declared "There remains
therefore a rest for the people of God.
For he who has entered His [i.e. God's] rest has himself also ceased
from his works as God did from His"
(4:9).
This epistle was written in the Greek language. The Greek word
translated "rest" in verse 9 is
sabbatismos, "keeping of sabbath." (This is the only appearance of this
Greek word in Scriptures.) This
Sabbath is identified as God's Sabbath, "His rest," in verse 10. And we
are exhorted in both verses 9-11
to enter it.
We will in this message answer "What is this Sabbath?" We will in the
subsequent message ask, "Have
you entered into it?"
This Sabbath is God's personal Sabbath (v.10): it is "His rest." It is
not a Sabbath which God required
only of mankind, such the weekly Sabbath required of Israel in former
days in the fourth of the Ten
Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11). The writer of this epistle identifies it
thusly because God Himself has
elsewhere in Scriptures called it "My rest" (vv.3,5, quoting Psalm
95:11).
God has observed such a Sabbath after performing each of His two great
works: creation and redemption.
Therefore, the writer of this epistle expounds the fact that ...
1.) God has entered into the Sabbath of creation (4:4): "... 'And God
rested on the seventh day from
all His works'" (quoting Genesis 2:2). This Sabbath was observed by
God on the seventh day of the
first week, during which He completed the work of creating the
universe.
2.) God has entered into the Sabbath of redemption (4:14): "... we
have a great High Priest who has
passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God ...." This Sabbath
was observed by God the Son
after completing the work of redemption through His own death,
having cried as He died "It is
finished!" (John 19:30).
This Sabbath is God's everlasting Sabbath (4:10): God has "ceased from
His works." Again this Sabbath
is contrasted to that of the Ten Commandments, which was for one day
only, after which Israel was to
return to work until the next weekly Sabbath. When God entered into His
Sabbath, He did so
once-for-all, having "ceased from His works." Therefore, God, having
completed the works of creation
and redemption, will never return to them.
This Sabbath is God's shared Sabbath (4:10): "For he who has entered His
[i.e. God's] rest has himself
also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be
diligent to enter that rest, lest
anyone fall ... [through] disobedience." This text teaches us two
truths:
1.) God has already entered into this Sabbath. This Sabbath is
especially that of God the Son in
redemption, as the present text is an introduction to His work as
the great High Priest in the
redemption of His people (4:14-10:25). This divine High Priest has
accomplished what no mortal
High Priest before Him had ever done. It was impossible for their
many repeated sacrifices to pay
the price of redemption for God's people, "For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and goats
could take away sins" (10:1-4). The purpose of those mortal High
Priests was to serve as types and
figures of the divine High Priest who was to succeed them (9:1-10).
He with one offering, His own
blood, has "obtained eternal redemption" (9:11f; cp. 10:14,18).
Having completed His work of
redemption, He has "passed through the heavens" (4:14) and "sat
down [the position of resting] at
the right hand of God" (10:12). The Son of God has entered into His
Sabbath!
2.) God exhorts us to join Him in this Sabbath. He has made it
possible for us to enter into His
Sabbath/rest with Him, and to thereby enjoy the cessation of all
our works intended to result in our
salvation. We may find rest from our works by trusting and resting
only in Jesus Christ and His
redeeming work.
"Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall ...
[through] disobedience" (4:11).
DaMao
Paul the apostle has a special warning to Christians who are observing
the Sabbaths of the Old Covenant
(Galatians 4:9-11): "But now after you have known God, or rather are
known by God, how is it that you
turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again
to be in bondage? You observe
days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have
labored for you in vain."
Consider:
Sabbath-keeping is bondage. Paul here addresses those who "observe days
and months and seasons and
years." A most prominent aspect of these events was Sabbath-keeping. The
"days" were the weekly
Sabbaths, the seventh day of every week, Saturday, which God in Old
Covenant times required Israel to
hallow (Exodus 20:8-11). The "months" were the first days or "New Moons"
of the months of Israel's
lunar calendar. The observance of these days was closely related to the
Sabbaths (Numbers 28:9-15;
Isaiah 1:13; 66:23). The "seasons" were the three annual festivals every
Israelite male was required to
attend in Jerusalem (Exodus 23:14-17): Unleavened Bread (Passover),
Harvest (Pentecost), and
Ingathering (Tabernacles). These involved convocational Sabbaths
(Leviticus 23:7f,21,35f). The "years"
were the Sabbath-years: every seventh year and Jubilee, the fiftieth
year (Exodus 25:1-22).
Paul declares that all who obligate themselves to observe these Sabbaths
of the Old Covenant are "in
bondage" to "weak and beggarly elements." Sabbath-keeping is "weak and
beggarly" because it is
incapable of saving anyone or giving rest to the soul. Sabbath-keeping
is "bondage" because those who
are most ardent in it will become more enslaved by it, eventually
believing that man was made for the
Sabbath and refusing to find liberation in the Lord of the Sabbath,
Jesus Christ (Mark 2:23-28). Such
persons are accused of plotting the destruction of Jesus Christ and His
gospel (e.g. Mark 3:1-6).
Jesus Christ has liberated believers from this bondage. This freedom is
experienced "after you have
known God, or rather are known by God." Paul testifies to believers that
Jesus Christ has redeemed them
from the bondage of the Law of Moses and its Sabbaths, resulting in
these slaves to the Law being
transformed into sons of God and heirs with Jesus Christ (Galatians
4:3-7). Believers call this "our liberty
which we have in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 2:4).
Every believer in Jesus Christ is therefore approved by God if he
"esteems every day alike" (Romans
14:5). And he is required by God to "let no one judge you ... regarding
a festival or a new moon or
sabbaths" (Colossians 2:16). He is not under the bondage which
characterized Old Covenant
Sabbath-keeping: being forbidden on Sabbaths to perform any work, or to
enjoy any recreation, or to
cook a meal, or to take a trip, and so forth.
The believer who obligates himself to Sabbath-keeping has denied his
liberty and reverted to
bondage. Paul therefore asks such persons "how is it that you turn again
to the weak and beggarly
elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage. You observe days
and months and seasons and
years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain."
These professors of faith in Jesus Christ were being led astray by
"false brethren secretly brought in (who
came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,
that they might bring us into
bondage)" (Galatians 2:4). Such false brethren are found today among
Sabbatarians (e.g. Seventh-Day
Adventists) who instruct believers, "It is good that you have trusted in
Jesus Christ. But faith in Christ is
not enough for pleasing God. You must also observe Sabbath-keeping."
Paul refers to such persons as
those "to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the
truth of the gospel might continue
with you" (Galatians 2:5). Peter rebuked such persons with "Now
therefore, why do you test God by
putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers
nor we were able to bear" (Acts
15:10).
Have you trusted Christ and forsaken Sabbath-keeping?
DaMao
Everything our Savior did as a man he did "according to the law." When
the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save His people from their
sins, he willingly put Himself under the law and became voluntarily
subject to the law in all things as a man. He did so because God cannot
justify the guilty except upon the grounds of strict justice.
Righteousness must be maintained and justice must be satisfied in the
exercise of mercy, love, and grace. He who is our God and Savior is "a
just God and a Savior" (Isa. 45:20). "By mercy and truth iniquity is
purged" (Prov. 16:6).
Made Under The Law
Therefore, "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his
Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under
the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Gal. 4:4-5). Now,
since his work is finished, since he has brought in an everlasting
righteousness and made an end of sin for his elect, Isaiah's prophecy is
fulfilled. "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake," to
justify us and forgive our sins. Our Redeemer has magnified the law and
made it honorable (Isaiah 42:21). Though the yoke of the law was a heavy
yoke, and only a shadow of good things to come, if we would have those
good things, Christ must bear the law's heavy yoke for us. And he did it
as our willing Substitute and Surety. Though the carnal ordinances of
the law were what the Holy Spirit calls, "weak and beggarly elements,"
and but the "rudiments of the world," our Lord Jesus Christ submitted to
all the ordinances and institutions of the law as a man, that he might
fulfil the law for us and bring it to an honorable end.
The End Of The Law
Having fulfilled all the law in the room and stead of his people,
"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth" (Rom. 10:4). He is the end of the law in every sense of the
word. He is the end of the law as its object. The law was given to point
us to Christ, to shut us up to Christ. Now that Christ has come, the law
has no other purpose. He fulfilled it. Christ is the end of the law's
curse. The curse of the law was spent on our Substitute. Therefore,
those who are redeemed by his blood have no fear of being cursed by the
law (Gal. 3:13). Our Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law's power.
Having slain our Substitute, all who are in him representatively are now
dead to the law (Rom. 7:4). He is also the end
of the law's rule. Being made free from sin in Christ, all believer's
are free from the law's rule. We are now ruled, motivated, and governed
by the grace of God in Christ, not the law of God (Rom. 6:14-15).
The Law Established By Faith
God's holy law requires from all men perfect righteousness and complete
satisfaction. It will not bend. It will not accept sincerity,
repentance, or the greatest, most costly sacrifices men can make. How,
then, can fallen, guilty, depraved sinners meet the law's demands? How
can we escape the wrath of God? There is only one way. - "Believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Our faith in Christ does
not satisfy the law's demands; but Christ, the Object of our faith,
does. Thus, when sinners, who can never meet the law's demands, believe
on Christ, "we establish the law" (Rom. 3:31).
DaMao
HAVE YOU ENTERED INTO IT?
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews declared "There remains
therefore a rest for the people of God.
For he who has entered His [i.e. God's] rest has himself also ceased
from his works as God did from His"
(4:9).
This epistle was written in the Greek language. The Greek word
translated "rest" in verse 9 is
sabbatismos, "keeping of sabbath." (This is the only appearance of this
Greek word in Scriptures.) This
Sabbath is identified as God's Sabbath, "His rest," in verse 10. We are
exhorted in both verses 9 and 11
to enter it.
In the preceding message the question "What is this Sabbath?" It is the
Sabbath of
redemption observed by God the Son after completing His work as the
great High Priest of His people.
Having shouted in victory as He died "It is finished!" (John 19:30), and
having "obtained eternal
redemption" for them (Hebrews 9:11), He "passed through the heavens"
(Hebrews 4:14) and "sat down
[the position of resting] at the right hand of God" (Hebrews 10:12). God
now exhorts us to join Christ in
His rest.
I will answer in this message "How may we enter into this Sabbath?"
You will not enter this Sabbath through observing Sabbath-days. The
recipients of this epistle were
devout Hebrews, and therefore ardent Sabbath-day keepers. They enjoyed
the rests which God had
provided them in their weekly Sabbaths, but they were nevertheless told
of a better Sabbath, God's
Sabbath, into which they should endeavor to enter. "There remains
therefore a rest for the people of
God" (4:9). "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest,
lest us fear lest any of you seem to
have come short of it" (4:1). "Let us therefore be diligent to enter
that rest" (4:11).
And let us not forget that the most ardent enemies of Jesus Christ were
also the most ardent Sabbath-day
keepers (e.g. Mark 2:23-3:6). Surely no such unrepentant person has
entered God's Sabbath.
You will enter this Sabbath only through obeying God by believing the
gospel of Jesus Christ. "For
we who have believed do enter that rest" (4:3).
The writer of this epistle illustrates this truth by describing the
unbelieving Israelites during their forty
years of wandering from Egypt to the promised land (3:7-19). They heard
the gospel of God, but they
hardened their hearts against Him and refused to believe Him (vv.7-9).
He therefore expressed His
vehement anger against them: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not
enter My rest'" (vv.10f). The
writer adds, "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His
rest, but to those who did not
believe? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief"
(vv.18).
The writer then concludes, "Therefore, since a promise remains of
entering His rest, let us fear lest any of
you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to
us as well as to them; but the
word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in
those who heard it. For we who
have believed do enter that rest, ... and those to whom it was first
preached did not enter because of
disobedience .... Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest
anyone fall after the same example of
disobedience" (4:1-3,6,11).
What is it to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? 1) Acknowledge that He
has fulfilled His ministry as the
great High Priest of God's people.
2) Acknowledge that He has therefore completed His work for their
redemption and consequently entered into an everlasting Sabbath.
3) Obey His exhortation to join Him in His Sabbath by ceasing all works
of self-righteousness designed to merit salvation, and rest in His
redeeming merits alone.
Have you through faith in Jesus Christ entered God's Sabbath? Are you
resting your soul in Christ alone?