By Colleen Tinker
One of Adventism’s recurring arguments for keeping the Sabbath goes something like this: “How can the Sabbath have been cancelled or ended at the cross? After all, Isaiah 66:23 says, ‘From one Sabbath to another all will come and bow before me in the new earth.’ The Bible says we’ll keep the Sabbath in heaven!”
This argument does not use Isaiah 66:23 in context. I will discuss four observations about this passage that show how Adventism misuses Isaiah’s words.
First, Isaiah 66:23 doesn’t just say “from one Sabbath to another”; it actually says, “And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
Adventists never mention the “new moon” part of this prophecy—and when they read the text, they don’t even really SEE it.
Adventists never mention the “new moon” part of this prophecy—and when they read the text, they don’t even really SEE it. But they can’t ignore the new moons if they don’t ignore the Sabbath. In fact, throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath was calculated by the new moon. Sabbath was celebrated in relationship to the new moon, and the new moon was a sacred day as well.
So, if Adventists are going to say that Sabbath wasn’t cancelled at the cross, they must also say that the new moons weren’t cancelled, either. Yet we know that Adventists say the new moon festivals were ended at the cross. This verse, however, puts them together, and it is not possible to say Sabbath continues but new moons don’t. You can’t split the two in the context of this passage.
Second, the prepositions are inclusive, not exclusive. For example, if I say I will be on vacation FROM Sunday TO Friday, you would know that I would be gone beginning on Sunday and every single day from then until Friday. So, when Isaiah prophesies that all nations would come to worship FROM one new moon and sabbath TO another, those are INCLUSIVE prepositions that say beginning on one new moon and sabbath and every single day from then on until the new new moon and Sabbath, the nations will come. It is an INCLUSIVE, not an EXCLUSIVE, statement. People will stream to worship God every single day, not just on new moons and sabbaths.
No seventh day
Third, Revelation 21:23-25 say that there will be no night in the Holy City because the Lamb will be its light. It even says there will be no need for a sun or a moon. Revelation 22:5 also says there “will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun…”
Without days and nights, there can be no seventh day. There are no passing days. There is eternal LIGHT. There cannot be a seventh-day Sabbath in heaven if there is no day nor night!
Without days and nights, there can be no seventh day. There are no passing days. There is eternal LIGHT. There cannot be a seventh-day Sabbath in heaven if there is no day nor night!
Finally, Isaiah 66:23 in context appears to be describing both the new heavens and earth and the millennial kingdom in a combined prophecy. Isaiah was speaking to Israelites who still lived under the old covenant; the fulfillment of the new covenant had not yet occurred. He spoke to them in terms that they understood—the physical symbols of the old covenant which would be revealed as being fulfilled in Jesus after He came.
Moreover, according to Revelation 20, the millennial kingdom will occur on the earth before the new heavens and earth are made. If this understanding is true, there will still be a sun and moon during the millennial kingdom. Thus, if Jesus reigns on earth before the new heavens and earth, Isaiah 66 makes sense; all nations will stream to Him to worship Him, and that worship will not be limited to one day a week but will include every day FROM one new moon and sabbath TO the next ones.
When speaking to Adventists, however, I would stress primarily the first three points above: one can’t ignore the new moons but insist that Sabbath wasn’t cancelled. If the new moons were cancelled, the sabbaths must also have been cancelled. In context, one cannot separate the new moons from sabbaths. The prepositions are INCLUSIVE of every day in a range of days, and Revelation states plainly that in the New Jerusalem there will be no night and no passing days—and that fact means there will be no seventh day to keep! †
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In the above article you mention the millennial kingdom. I would like to see some articles on that subject, if possible.
collen tinker is wrong just like all the rest of her other theories. first– the sabbath will be on the new earth. it doesnt say heaven. god is making the new earth for us to live in. second– the new moon represents the new creation–originally 28 dys. in a month. third– only the new city will not have light, not the whole earth. god presents is in the city thats why there is no need for the sun. we dont know all the mysteries of how god works so the sabbath will be kept. we just have to accept his word—good enough for me. this is why people you have to read for yourselves and stop taking other peoples word for everything. in the greek or hebrew week to week does not mean sabbath to sabbath. do your homework.
Thank you for articles and YouTubes on this topic. This was the one that kept me feeling guilty. I just kept telling Him if He really wanted that, i would in a heartbeat, but it always led me back into legalistic stranglehold thinking…and judging others. I loved sharing the day as we did at the last church, but they added EGW quote guilt trips, and i would gag and leave feeling like i was running for my life! 😄 Well, i can laugh now, thank you.
in the old testament the sabbaths and moons and whatever else they had were SACRIFICIAL ordinances. they pointed to christ death. we dont need those animal sacrifices anymore because christ paid for it. in isaiah 66: 22—god will remake a new earth and heavens. the new moon has nothing todo with sacrifice. also i believe that the months will be 28 days each. new moon at the very beginning of each month on the sabbath. adventist dont ignore the new moon mentioned in Isaiah 23— i see it when i read it. there has tobe a sabbath in the new world because god says all flesh will come every sabbath and new moon sabbath to worship him. so no night in the city is no big deal to god—he can do anything, but sin. use common sense people. read correctly.
It’s hard to find the truth when for every argument you find a refutation, then you end up more confused. It seems this article refutes what you explain Colleen.
https://adventistdefenseleague.com/2022/06/an-examination-and-refutation-of-16-propositions-against-sabbath-keeping-part-9.html
Findingver, the article you linked does not deal with Isaiah 66; it is a partial refutation of Elce Lauriston’s excellent book addressing the classic Adventist proof-texts for the Sabbath.
The article you linked is an Adventist apologetic that uses the assumptions and suppositions that I learned as an Adventist. The author’s lengthy address of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 does not simply take the words of Acts to mean what they say. Assuming, for example, that the keeping of the Ten Commandments was implied is simply not in the text. I also learned that argument, but the plain words of Scripture do not suggest that idea. Furthermore, the epistles of Galatians and Hebrews and Romans and Ephesians and Colossians negate the idea that the Ten Commandments continue in the new covenant. One cannot read ideas into Acts 15 that are not clearly stated, and when those ideas contradict the rest of the New Testament, they simply cannot be true.
Just by the way: the fact that the New Testament contains many of the same commands that were in the Ten Commandments does not mean the Ten have been brought into the new covenant. The new covenant has a new law: the Law of Christ (see 1 Cor. 9:20; Gal. 6). The fact that the two laws contain overlapping commands does not mean the Law of Christ is a continuation of the Ten.
British law contains commands against murder, treason, theft, and so on. The USA laws also contain laws against those same violations. The fact that the two laws contain similar commands does not make them the same law. If an American murders, he or she is not tried by British law but by the laws of the United States. The laws are DIFFERENT laws and pertain to DIFFERENT people. The laws of Britain have no authority over the people of the United States, and vice versa.
Similarly, the Ten Commandment have no authority over the born-again members of Christ’s body, the church. Neither did the Law of Christ pertain to Israel. In fact, the Law of Christ had not been given to Israel. The similar contents of the two laws only reveals that the Author of those laws was the same; the application and authority of the two laws, however, are different. We cannot apply the Ten to the church; the church is under a new covenant with a new law. The two are as different as are the laws of Britain and the United States (both of which were, incidentally, shaped from the same original source documents).
No, the link above does not refute the original post above.