Devotional Commentary on Isaiah 56

 

Isaiah says that before the coming of Salvation of the Lord (v. 1c) and before His Righteousness is revealed (v. 1d) justice must be preserved and humanity must do righteousness. These are the requirements by heavenly law for perfection, the only state heavenly beings live and will live unto eternity.

 

Christ is “blessed” “Who does this” (v. 2a). Like 2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “He [the Father] made Him [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him”. Blessed is the “Son of Man Who takes hold of it” (v. 2b).

 

Taking hold of justice and doing righteousness is the keeping of the Torah including the Sabbath Command (v. 2c) since blessed is the human “who keeps from profaning the Sabbath”. Three times in this chapter this command is framed as important. Christ is the One Who “keeps his hand from doing any evil” (v. 2d).

 

Persians, Babylonians, Canaanites, Egyptians, Greeks – none of these ever thought of ‘stopping’ work (as the word means literally) one day in seven so as to give ordinary people … a complete day of rest” (G. A. F. Knight 1985, pages 4-5). However, in the Babylonian era before the Persians, there are Sabbath cuneiform texts and I have discussed them in an article K. van Wyk, “Seventh-day Cycles and Seventh-day Sabbath in Cuneiform Texts” Korean Journal of Christian Studies Vol. 84, 2012: 25-48. The scribes may have been Israelite and Hebrew bilingualists who worked for the Library of Niniveh and elsewhere. At Niniveh a bilingual dictionary K4397 (currently in British Museum) was found and the word Sabbath meant “day of rest of the heart”. Not an hour quickly in a service and then back to work. Complete rest. How many doctors are using their profession as an excuse to actually make money and although they can rest for God’s sake, they don’t?

 

The Sabbath command is pointed out by M. L. Andreasen here in 1929 in his Sabbath School Quarterly on Isaiah page 9: “This blessing is not for the Jews only, but for ‘man’ and the ‘son of man.’ Neither is the blessing for the one who only once does it, but to him who ‘layeth hold on it;’ ‘holds to it,’ as Moffatt translates the text. ‘Keepeth the Sabbath.’ How much that includes! It requires nothing less than holiness. ‘No other institution which was committed to the Jews tended so fully to distinguish them from surrounding nations as did the Sabbath. . . . To keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy. Through faith they must become partakers of the righteousness of Christ.’”— Ellen White, The Desire of Ages, p. 283.

 

About Sabbath Sanctity modern man (females included) skips this part. A few examples suffice. We know that the 1260 years started in 538 and ended in 1798. We also know that it was the period of the Antichrist abomination and persecution of the saints. Exactly in 538, Justinian the emperor was reigning. Justinian was a lawyer that loved making and breaking his own laws and changing them, a man that controlled “times” since he wanted his reign year (year XII or year 12 = 538) to be placed on coins (see recent article by a group of Adventist scholars with K. van Wyk et al. “538 A.D. and the Transition from Pagan Roman Empire to Holy Roman Empire: Justinian’s Metamorphosis from Chief of Staffs to Theologian” in International Journal of Humanities and Social Science vol. 7/1 2017: 44-85 at http://www.ijhssnet.org (online from 31st of March 2017).

 

Justinian allowed the Council of Orleans in 538 in Burgundy to conclude just the opposite of what Ellen White is saying about cooking on Sabbath:

The source is from the Diary of Hiram Edson (1847) page 26:

 “In the sixth century efforts were made to prevent this labor. The following promulgation of a synod held by command King Junthran, of Burgundy, will show the condition of things, and the means used to improve them: “We see the Christian people, in an unadvised manner, deliver to contempt the Dominical day, and, as in other days, indulge in continual labor. Therefore they determined to teach the people subject to them, to keep the dominical day, which, if not observed by the lawyer, he should irreparably lose his cause, but if a countryman or servant did not keep it, he should be beaten with heavier blows of eudgels. The council of Orleans, held 538, prohibited the country labor on Sunday, which Constantine, by his laws, permitted. This council also declared, “that to hold it unlawful to travel with horses, cattle and carriages, to prepare food, or to do anything necessary to the cleanliness and decency of houses or persons, savors more of Judaism than Christianity. In another council held at Narbonne, in France, in the seventh century, they also forbid this country work.” (Edson 26). Find the original in the James White Library Archives online at Adventist Studies. It is a PDF file. Beautiful and clear).

In Nehemiah 8:10 the verse is like a sandwich with toast, jam and toast. The first toast is that people should eat on Sabbath. The second toast is the fact that it is on a Sabbath day. The jam is special. If a guest or someone comes who did not prepare a meal “whom nothing is prepared”, then ask your neigbors or other Adventist friends to bring or give you food to give the person since you did not prepare for this person. The old idea that God will understand because nothing is available is a serious oversight of this verse’ implications.

Some highlights of Ellen White on Sabbath Sanctity. No cooking should be done on that day (Manuscript Release 13:293.3). Ellen White points out in the next quotation that food may be warmed on Sabbath but not prepared (Manuscript Release 8:376.4). Ellen White said that God’s restrictions are not meant to be disregarded. He means that Friday should be used to prepare food for Sabbath (Manuscript Release 13:294). Ellen White do not suggest that we do the dishes on Sabbath (Selected Messages 3:258). Jesus counseled his disciples that long after He will be gone, the should still keep the Sabbath and also keep its sanctity the way He embedded it in the commandments (Matthew 24:20). The Sabbath is “My Sabbath” and does not belong to us. Sunday is our day and does not belong to the Lord. Ascribing a day to the Lord comes from the earth to heaven, like Sunday-observance. Sabbath comes from heaven to the earth. That is why Saturday Sabbath is His sign not ours (Leviticus 26:2). Now Jesus stands next to Martha in the Kitchen while she is standing with a pan in the hand and He said to her the following: Exodus 16:23-24 “And he said to them: this is that which the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord, bake that which you will bake today and prepare that which you want to prepare, and that which remains over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning [the next day].”

It is probably the best to give my full analysis of Hiram Edson’s Scrap-Book on the Sanctity of Sabbath.

 

Sabbath Sanctity and the Scrapbook of Hiram Edson

Hiram Edson’s Scrapbook dates to 1847 in Adventism and is a witness how the pioneers kept the Sabbath.

Not to make clothes and garments on Sabbath or to do needlework

In the scrapbook of Hiram Edson he cited Jerome [396 CE] talking on the funeral of a certain lady Paula saying: “She, with all her virgins and widows who lived at Bethlehem in a cloister with her, upon the Lord’s day, repaired duly to the church, or house of God, which was nigh to her cell; and after her return from thence to her own lodgings, she herself and all her company fell to work, and every one performed (Edson 25) their task, which was the making of clothes and garments for themselves and for others, as they were appointed” (Hiram Edson Manuscript 1847, Ed 7, page 26).

 

Churchfather Chrysostom suggested people to listen to the sermon and return to work

St. Chrysostom, patriarch of Constantinople, ‘recommended to his audience, after impressing upon themselves and their families what they had heard on the Lord’s day, to return to their daily employment.” (Edson 26).

 

For 600 years after Christ the Catholic Church permitted their members to work on the Lord’s Day (= their Sunday thinking)

Dr. Francis White, Lord Bishop of Ely, speaking on this matter, says, “The Catholic Church for more than six hundred years after Christ, permitted labor, and gave license to many Christian people to work upon the Lord’s Day at such hours as they were not commanded to be present at the public service by the precepts of the church” (Edson 26).

 

538 CE forbidden to work on Sunday although Constantine permitted it

In the sixth century efforts were made to prevent this labor. The following promulgation of a synod held by command King Junthran, of Burgundy, will show the condition of things, and the means used to improve them: “We see the Christian people, in an unadvised manner, deliver to contempt the Dominical day, and, as in other days, indulge in continual labor. Therefore they determined to teach the people subject to them, to keep the dominical day, which, if not observed by the lawyer, he should irreparably lose his cause, but if a countryman or servant did not keep it, he should be beaten with heavier blows of eudgels. The council of Orleans, held 538, prohibited the country labor on Sunday, which Constantine, by his laws, permitted. This council also declared, “that to hold it unlawful to travel with horses, cattle and carriages, to prepare food, or to do anything necessary to the cleanliness and decency of houses or persons, savors more of Judaism than Christianity. In another council held at Narbonne, in France, in the seventh century, they also forbid this country work.” (Edson 26).

 

Pope Gregory in 603CE calls anyone who do not work on Saturday or do not bath on Sunday, ‘preachers of the Antichrist’

Early in the 7th century, in the time of Pope Gregory I, the subject of the Sabbath attracted considerable attention. There was one class of persons who declared, “that it was not lawful to do any manner of work upon the Saturday, or the old Sabbath; another that no man ought to bathe himself on the Lord’s day, or their new Sabbath.” Against both of these doctrines Pope Gregory wrote a letter to the Roman citizens. Baronius in his Councils, says, ‘This year (603) at Rome, St. Gregory the Pope, corrected that error which some preached, by Jewish superstition, or the Grecian custom, that it was a duty to worship on the Sabbath, as likewise upon the dominical days; and he calls such preachers the preachers of the Antichrist.” (Edson 27).

 

The following is not from Hiram Edson’s Scrapbook.

Sabbath keepers called Antichrist by Pope Gregory I (590-604)

Historically, the Catholic Church sees Pope Gregory as the one who established the papal empire that was to dominate the scene until 1798.

"Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to his most beloved sons the Roman citizens. It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers of Antichrist, who, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord’s day to be kept free from all work. For, because he pretends to die and rise again, he wishes the Lord’s day to be had in reverence; and, because he compels the people to Judaize that he may bring back the outward rite of the law, and subject the perfidy of the Jews to himself, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed. - Source: Gregory I (Pope, 590–604), Selected Epistles, bk. 13, Epistle 1, trans. in NPNF, 2d series, Vol. 13, pp. 92, 93.

 

Council of Laodicea (343-381 CE) decrees Saturday work but Sunday no work

"Can. 16. “On Saturday [Greek sabbaton, “the Sabbath”] the Gospels and other portions of the Scripture shall be read aloud.” …

Can. 29. “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out [Greek anathema] from Christ.” …

Can. 49. “During Lent, the bread shall not be offered, except on Saturday and Sunday.” …

Can. 51. “During Lent, no feast of the martyrs shall be celebrated, but the holy martyrs shall be commemorated on the Saturdays and Sundays of Lent.” - Source: Charles Joseph Hefele, A History of the Christian Councils, Vol. 2, trans. and ed. by H. N. Oxenham (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1896), pp. 310, 316, 320.

 

Council of Macon 585 CE forbade any business on Sunday

The Lord’s Day (= their thinking Sunday) ‘is the day of perpetual rest, which is suggested to us by the type of the seventh day in the law and the prophets,’ and ordered a complete cessation of all kinds of business.”- Source: M. G. Glazebrook, “Sunday,” in James Hastings, ed., Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (New York: Scribner, 1928), Vol. 12, pp. 105, 106.

 

Jews use to prepare their food before Sabbath in the days of Churchfather Ignatius

"Let us no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish [Nasarene] manner . . . and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks." Pseudo Ignatius, Epistle Magnesians

 

Source:

http://www.essene.com/Church/Sunday.htm

Hiram Edson’s Scrapbook is available at the Andrews Library Adventist Resources Archives site. The Photos are very clear. It is in PDF format.

 

There are not two remnants, one for ethnic Jews and one for foreigners. Isaiah says the foreigner who joins himself/herself to the Lord (v. 3a) should not say “the Lord will surely separate me from His people” since there are not two groups at the end-time as Isaiah 52:10 also emphasized “in the sight of all the nations that all the ends of the earth may see the salvation of our God”. Parachute movements are not the remnant unless they join the main remnant. Halfway through the flight, some members request a parachute since they rather would jump to their own destination. They believe no longer in a Trinity, as the Old [Isaiah 48:16] and New Testaments indicate but rather in a binity: just the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit only an energy from one of the two. This has never been Adventists’ view and one can see it in the Sabbath School Quarterlies on the Holy Spirit: A. T. Robinson 1934; W. H. Branson 1952; A. V. Wallenkampf 1978; A. V. Wallenkampf 2006; Frank Hasel 2017.

 

The eunuchs should not lament that they are “dry trees” for if they keep the Sabbaths of the Lord, the seventh day Sabbath, and choose what pleases the Lord and not themselves or any human per se, their name will be written “which will not be cut off” (v. 5c).

 

The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord to minister, to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, and to “keep from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant (v. 6a-d).

 

These are the people who will be brought to “My Holy Mountain” which is heavenly Zion and to “My house of prayer” which is the sanctuary of the Lord in Heaven. “It will be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (v. 7d).

 

The process of gathering will work this way, says the Lord, those that will be gathered later during the Latter Rain will be added to those gathered through the generations past “the Lord God Who gathers the dispersed of [spiritual] Israel declares yet I will gather to them to those gathered” (v. 8a-b).

 

Addressing then the problem through the ages since Isaiah, God said that humans are like beasts of the field which are in the forest. They are invited to “come to eat” (v. 9c).

 

Humanity’s watchmen are “blind” (v. 10a); “all of them know nothing” (v. 10b); “all of them are dumb dogs unable to bark” (v. 10c); “dreamers lying down who love to slumber” (v. 10d). It is the problem of the church of Laodicea shortly before the Time of Trouble. The dogs are “greedy” (v. 11a) and their shepherds have “no understanding” (v. 11b). They have all turned their own ways each one to his unjust gain” (v. 11c-d).

 

The attitude of these outsiders of the remnant is that they say to themselves in hedonistic terms that they should get wine and drink heavily for tomorrow will be like today, only more so (v. 12). As was said in Isaiah 55, a typical Aristotle attitude in The school of Athens painting by Raphael, Aristotle pointing with his hand down to show that reality is not like Plato in heaven but on earth, so this saying is theirs. The blind watchmen of Laodicea wants to cancel the Bible as cultural and society guide (from heaven to below) and wants to replace it with the Aristotelian culture guide (reality only here), even if it is against the Bible [Woman Ordination and LGBTQH in our times].

 

Dear God

It is evident that you want from us to keep the sanctity of the Seventh Day Sabbath,. You call it your Sabbath as opposed to Moses’ Sabbath during ceremonial feasts. Also we want to be included in this obedient following of your will as requested here relying on the perfection of Righteous doing of Christ who kept the Law perfect for us on our behalf. Amen.