What To Do With “Jesus Is Lord Of the Sabbath”?
First of all, I want to say, thank you for sharing God’s words and history through the podcast. Every Tuesday I look forward to listening and learning.
My husband and I walked away from Adventism two-and-a-half years ago. It was the best decision we ever made.
The texts that my husband wrestled with are found in Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28 and Luke 6:5 where Jesus refers to Himself as “Lord of the Sabbath”. My husband mentioned, shouldn’t we keep the Sabbath?
We have discussions, and somehow he is still baffled by those texts.
I shared that Jesus created the Sabbath for Israel, the leaders made it burdensome, and the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer binding for Christians. Jesus is our rest. We can rest in His mercy and grace.
Are there any texts I can share with my husband so he can comfortably say, “I now understand”?
Thank you so much for reading and replying.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: Thank you for writing! Praise God for His work in your lives!
The issue of Sabbath really is resolved by understanding the biblical covenants. I’m going to give you a few links. The first is a video from a recent FAF conference where we discussed this very phrase, the Lord of the Sabbath: Why Is Jesus the Lord of the Sabbath?
Here is a conference video on “The Covenant of the Pure Gospel”
Here is a link to Chris Lee’s A Study of the Covenants.
You may also enjoy our other online resources:
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What About Jewelry and EGWs Correct Visions?
I’m an Adventist from [a South African country]. I’ve had so many questions for a long time, and I’ve been deemed controversial and immature in the faith. My husband is an Adventist pastor, and he loves the church dearly, so I can’t ask him my questions. I have listened to a number of your podcasts and have been enlightened on a number of issues, especially the Sabbath. My only issue now is the wearing of jewelry. What does the Bible say about it, and how are we to approach the issue as Christians?
I do have two other questions. How do we explain the prophecies of Ellen White that were actually correct?
The second one is kind of trivial, but I would like to understand, was wine really just grape juice in the Bible?
—VIA EMAIL
Response: The issue of jewelry is interesting because the Adventist position on it doesn’t come from Scripture directly but from EGW and from the 19th century tradition, among behavior-driven religious groups, of not wearing jewelry in order not to look worldly.
The primary verse Adventists use to bolster EGWs position is 1 Peter 3:3. Here it is in the NASB95 version of the Bible:
Your adornment must not be [merely] external–braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but [let it be] the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God (1Pe 3:3-4).
The context of the Greek does not say that one’s adornment must not be external, but the context says it must not be MERELY external. In other words, there is no prohibition for wearing jewelry. What the passage does suggest, however, is that a godly woman (and we have to understand this to mean a truly born-again person, not one who is merely trying to perfect behavior in order to prove one is godly) is to live with trust in God that causes her not to be self-absorbed and eager to impress people with her grooming and expensive clothes. Rather, she is to shine with God’s love, with a peace and with the internal rest that comes from knowing the Lord Jesus and causes her to be patient and loving, not promoting herself.
God describes the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, as being “made ready as a bride ADORNED for her husband” (Rev. 21:2).
Isaiah describes the people God has saved this way:
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels (Isa 61:10).
And in this passage, Isaiah describes God considering His people coming to Him as jewels:
“Lift up your eyes and look around; All of them gather together, they come to you. As I live,” declares the LORD, “You will surely put on all of them as jewels and bind them on as a bride” (Isa 49:18).
In other words, jewelry is not forbidden in Scripture but is often used to describe a much-loved bride, or God’s love for His people.
EGW “made” jewelry a sin. But neither the law nor the New Testament ever forbids jewelry. What is commanded is what Peter said in the quote above, that godly women must have the internal quietness and beauty of a spirit made alive by the life of Jesus, having placed her faith and trust in His finished work—and then she can learn to be respectful and honoring of her husband and in her responses to those around her, displaying the beauty of Christ instead of gathering attention by outdoing other women with her adornment.
The irony of Adventism’s rules against jewelry is that they have substituted expensive clothes, accessories, watches, scarves, hairdos, and hats for jewelry. What is the difference? Pride can be displayed just as easily through flaunting wealth and fancy clothes and cars as through jewelry.
As far as Ellen White’s correct prophecies go, here is my reaction: if she had any prophecies that are correct (and frankly I’m not thinking of any right now), that doesn’t mean she got her good luck from God. The world has had many false “prophets” over the years who seemed to make accurate predictions part of the time: Jean Dixon, Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, and many others. The key to understanding EGW is that she was wrong about the nature of God, the nature of Christ, the nature of man, the nature of sin, and the nature of salvation.
Paul said in Galatians 1 and in 1 Corinthians 11 that even if an angel of light should come and preach a different gospel from the one he preached, that messenger should be accursed. No one who is a true prophet of God will speak wrongly of Jesus and His nature and atonement. They would tell the truth; their messages would agree with the biblical revelation. EGWs descriptions and statements about all the essentials of our own nature, of Jesus, and of His atonement were unbiblical.
As for wine—here is a link to an article from last week’s Proclamation! Magazine: Stephen Pitcher’s chapter on The Clear Word on Grape Juice. I believe your question will be thoroughly answered!
I suggest that you get a notebook and begin copying Scripture, just learning what God has said to us. Ask Him to teach you what He knows He wants you to know, and begin copying, a little every day, from the book of Galatians, then Hebrews, John, Ephesians, Colossians—you get the idea! The more you read Scripture in context, the clearer all of these issue will become! Praise God for His work in your life! †
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