have been "abolished" or "cancelled". The law is holy and spiritual (Rom. 7:12, 14). That surely means that it is permanent.

What law then has been changed according to Heb. 7:12? To us the answer is clearly the law of worship generally called the ceremonial law.

Not the moral law, but priesthood and worship is the subject of the 7th chapter of Hebrews. But what of the 4th commandment which says "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy"? It is still the word of God to His people and has not been "abolished" or "cancelled," but it certainly has been "changed."

Christians now do not have to go to the book of Exodus for instructions for worship, and it must be admitted that the law of worship has been changed in at least three ways.

First, as to place. Under the old covenant the place of worship was at Jerusalem. But the Lord said to the woman of Samaria, "The hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." The place to worship now is anywhere on earth where believers can gather together in Christ's Name.

Second, the manner of worship has been changed. No longer is temple, altar or sacrifice needed, but they that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:23)

Third, the law of worship has been changed as to time. And this is the point that calls for special attention. It is easily seen that the place and manner of worship has been changed, but it is when one tries to examine the fourth commandment and time of worship that controversy begins.

But we affirm that the moral law has not been changed except in the sense that it has been placed on a higher and better level as seen by the way our Lord used two of them in His "Sermon on the mount." (See Matt. 5:21, 22, 27, 28).

It is important clearly to understand that the fourth commandment is the only one of ten that gives instructions for rest and worship, and thereby causes it to become an important part of the Levitical order of worship which has been done away for ever, as clearly shown in the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Christians are in a new and better covenant, and are a new creation standing on resurrection ground, able to worship a risen Saviour on the first day of the week — the resurrection day according to Acts 20:7, etc.

Seeing that those first disciples were converts from Judaism surely they would never have gathered together to break bread as they did on the first day of the week if the Lord had not told them to do so.

We believe therefore that He who is both Lord of the sabbath and Mediator of the new covenant, taught His disciples to observe the first day of the week instead of the seventh for the worship because of the resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit on that day.

There is no record in the New Testament of the disciples ever gathering for worship on the 7th day, after the day of Pentecost. They did go into the Jewish synagogues on that day to preach the Gospel to unbelievers.

But that is not worship for it would have been the very thing the Apostle warned against when he said — "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers."

It should be clearly understood that the old covenant with its "ordinances of divine service" under the "order of Aaron" included the 7th day sabbath — the only one of the ten commandments that gives instructions for worship, and also the only one that is not enjoined upon Christians in the New Testament as the other nine are.

 

Is not this weighty proof that the sabbath has been changed, and also that the moral law has not been "cancelled" as stated by some teachers today?

It was the law of priesthood and worship, not the moral law, that was only a "shadow" of good things to come. (Heb. 8:5; 10:1; Col. 2:16, 17)

Those "good things" have now come, and God has a perfect Priest whose priesthood is "unchangeable." Therefore there can be no going back again at any time in the future to that old system of worship.

"Last of all He sent unto them His Son." And the kingdom that the Son of God established on earth nearly 2,000 years ago is the last and best and only kingdom He has or ever will have on this sin-cursed earth. I can see no indication of the "curse" being removed until we get to the last chapter of the Bible (Rev. 22:3).

Lawlessness abounds today, and it is easy to understand God's holy law being "against" the lawbreakers, but for any law-abiding Christian to think of any one of the ten commandments as being "against us" is something which I feel to be a very serious mistake, and which makes one wonder how much of the present lawless spirit could be the result of false teaching concerning the law of Moses and the sermon on the mount.

We are aware that "grace and truth came by Jesus Christ," and that we are justified freely by His grace without the deeds of the law. But that does not make us lawless," yea, we establish the law" instead of making it void. (Rom. 3:31)

To say that the sermon on the mount is "not grace," and that it gives "neither the privilege nor the duty of the Church," as stated by Dr. Scofield in his reference Bible is, we believe, extremely false and dangerous teaching, and a plain contradiction of John 1:17.

I am convinced that the real cause of nearly all the confusion upon this important matter is wrong views about the kingdom of God, and so long as dispensational teachers believe that at our Lord's second coming He intends to set up an earthly millennial kingdom in this sinful world, so long will such confusion exist.

My Bible teaches that the second Advent will see the end of this world.

T.H.S.

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