Hidden Treasure – A Deeper Understanding

This is the Day…

Seventh-day Adventists believe that end time events will centre around the keeping of the correct day. They have believed that for generations. They are waiting for Sunday laws to be declared. This, they believe will be the sign that the end is near.

They profess to be people of the Book and make much of extolling the 10 commandment law and the ‘true’ Sabbath.
What do the Scriptures really say? All Scripture should be read in context to see what it is really saying. Mention is made of Rev. 1:10 which speaks of “the Lord’s Day”.(I was in the spirit on the LORD’s day), It is said that this must refer to the 7th day Sabbath because of the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 12. I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.” Matt. 12:6-8
Comparing Rev.1:10 with Matt. 12:8 is seen as using Scripture to translate Scripture. Matthew 12:8 is Jesus telling us that there is a wider spiritual dimension to the law other than the narrow legalistic interpretation of the Pharisees. In the book ‘Desire of Ages’ we read: “Jesus then crowned His argument by declaring Himself the ‘Lord of the Sabbath’ – One above all question and above all law.” p.285
This appears to be the main thrust of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 12. He is bringing out the real principle behind the law which is love to God and love to our fellow man. It would seem contradictory if His words here were used to substantiate the letter of the law.
We can and should use the same principle to understand what John is saying in Rev. 1:10. Revelation chapter 1 is not talking about the law. It is talking of the New Covenant brought about through the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. In fact in the first 3 chapters of Revelation, in the messages to the 7 churches, the law is not mentioned.
So a more appropriate interpretation of Rev. 1:10 would be to go to a portion of Scripture where, “the day that the LORD has made” is mentioned in the context of the New Covenant, not the law. The book of Psalms speaks of this time where we read: The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. Ps.118:22-24
Now it is recognized that this passage is not talking about a specific day as in Saturday or Sunday. It is talking about a whole new era as in the New Covenant.

This is the very passage that is quoted in the book of Acts in the context of the resurrection.
…let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders;
it has become the cornerstone.’ Acts 4:10,11

The Lord’s day as given in Rev. 1:10 is given in the context of the resurrection. (Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, …Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; Rev.1:5,17,18) There is no mention of the law in this chapter.
Likewise, “the day that the LORD has made” passage, when quoted in the New Testament is quoted in the context of the resurrection, never of the law. (Read all Acts 4) This ‘new day’ that the Lord would make is always quoted in the context of the resurrection.
The law, of which the Sabbath is a specific part, has been nailed to the cross. (erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. Col. 2:14) That is why Paul could be so non-specific and casual about keeping a certain day. Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Rom.14:5

It seems more than likely that the Lord’s day in Revelation 1 is talking about the resurrection rather than talking about the law which is not mentioned in this chapter. The footnote to the “Lord’s Day” in Rev. 1:10 in the Amplified Bible reads: “The early church used this term to refer to Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection. The term Kyriake is also the regular word for Sunday in modern Greek.”
Does this prove that the day referred to here is Sunday rather than Saturday? Not necessarily. We don’t prove things from Scripture. We look at the evidence. There will be some who see this from the Sunday side and those who’ll see it from the Saturday side.

The risen Saviour would be the catalyst of a new era of complete rest.
The apostle Paul invites us to enter into “that rest”. Heb.4:11

So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of
God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, Heb.4:9-11

There is a clear distinction between the “ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets” (2 Cor.3:7) and the ministry of the risen Saviour.
Indeed, as Paul says, These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Col.2:17

and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stone tablets, came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; 2 Cor. 3:3-10

This being the case then what of the end time teaching about the right or the wrong day, namely Saturday or Sunday? If what is being spoken of here is the true Sabbath rest that Paul talks about in Hebrews 4, then last day events will consequently revolve around those who have a living relationship with Jesus Christ, as opposed to the vast majority who have put their trust in humanity. Not in keeping a particular day but in experiencing the true Sabbath rest every day.
End time events may well involve human laws such as Sunday laws. But it would have to go deeper than that. For there are many honest hearted, Sunday keeping Christians who look at the evidence of Scripture and see Sunday as the Lord’s day.
Christians should have no problem with human laws which are designed for the betterment and protection of humanity.
The only way the Sabbath could be significant in a New Covenant sense would be for it to represent Christians who have died to the law and are resting in Christ. In the same way, my friends, you have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God. Rom.7:4

The Mark of the Beast then would be, not Sunday laws, but a reliance on human wisdom. That can take many forms today: substituting the theory of evolution for the Living God, spiritualism, left-wing Godless politics, causing or allowing unborn babies or the elderly to die. These are just a few of the beliefs and practices of modern society that come directly from the realm of darkness. We would expect the Mark of the Beast to have the stamp of humanity. Modern society epitomizes the pride of life. for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches – comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:16
The Mark of the Beast will contain many of these elements although garbed in a cloak of respectability. We need to be careful that, in looking for outward prophetic fulfillments, we overlook the deeper spiritual fulfillment.
We would do well to remember the words of Jesus: “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth. Matt. 12:39,40

We are warned here of the danger of falling into perceived expectations.
Those who receive the living seal of God through the invisible Holy Spirit and those who receive the Mark of the Beast through falling into step with the ways of the world will not be obvious to the casual eye.

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that
rest, just as God has said, So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs. Heb.4:1-3; 9-11

The Sabbath rest is important in end time events. Although not in the tradition of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Not in the sense of religiously going to church on a certain day but in the sense of having a ‘daily’ walk with God through a living relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.   Psalm 118:24 KJV

Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest.

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All Bible quotes are from the New Revised Standard Version.