Dye Stained Fingers and Carved Ham – What a Day, What a Night . . . 07/16/14 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matthew 28 King James Version (KJV) 1 “In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. 9 And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him. 10 Then said Jesus unto them, Be not afraid: go tell my brethren that they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me.” ............................................... A thrilling life-changing discovery – Jesus arose before the first day of the week, not on “Easter Sunday.” Did God’s angel descend from Heaven to roll the stone from the sepulcher, setting Jesus free from His imprisonment? Was the earthquake heralding our Lord bursting from His entombment? No. He was there to show the empty tomb. The evening and the morning was the first day. Evening became morning with the dawning of the sun. The two women were coming to complete the burial of our Lord, after the Sabbath ended. The tradition of celebrating our Messiah’s resurrection on Easter Sunday throws most professing Christians into a tizzy of egg gathering, decorating and hiding colored eggs. Why? For the sheer joy of watching Easter Bunny-believing tots grab and compete? Who has the most, the prettiest – and the enviable solid chocolate bunny with the “bite me” ears? Tradition. Picture an egg-shaped water-globe atop a colorfully delightful tasting-of-Spring hand painted base. This intricate base is literally encrusted with the most adorable figures of very busy little bunnies packing beribboned wicker baskets with bejeweled eggs and sweet little toys. Ah, the rites of Spring. The glass dome, cold to the touch and incredibly smooth, shows Peter and Mrs. Cottontail working hard together to provide a wee blue nestling with a Happy Easter decoration for its pretty little birdhouse. Peter, wearing a bright red apron is perched solidly on a ladder. His beautiful missus, in bright purple dress graced with jaunty pink sash, helps to steady the ladder while balancing an exquisite basket filled with gay trinkets and spectacular eggs. This is such a breathtakingly beautiful musical, filled to overflowing with brilliant blossoms, fun and busyness. It has an eighteen-note wind-up player daintily tinkling “Here Comes Peter Cottontail.” I won this pretty marvel playing Bingo at the local community center. Usually spiritually “thumbing my nose” at Holyday gaudiness, this time I was impelled to carefully inspect it, play it, and accept the congratulations of my fellow Bingo players. Again, it is very sweet. My attention is so focused on it that I forgot what I was writing about . . . Something about Sunday, “The Lord’s Day” and who and why misconstrued the celebration of the “Paschal Lamb”, the Passover fulfillment, substituting symbols of fertility for our risen Savior. I am so happy that this wondrous passage in Matthew clears up that misconception. Jesus, having risen on God’s holy Sabbath gives me more fervent delight in keeping His Fourth Commandment, Exodus 20:8-11 KJV in honor of our glorious Creator, Who raised Jesus from the dead. Can you picture Jesus, brutally beaten and bleeding on His cross, the pounded in nails tearing his flesh, looking down to see adorable little bunnies laden with egg-filled baskets mingling among the watching crowd, distracting . . . As inappropriate as confusing Day from Night. To rephrase Cole Porter, “Night and day, Jesus - YOU are the One.” .................................................. Authors Note: Exodus 20:8-11 King James Version (KJV) 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. King James Version (KJV) by Public Domain -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- biblesabbath.org/confessions.html Alexander Campbell, The Christian Baptist, Feb. 2, 1824,vol. 1. no. 7, p. 164. But, say some, it was changed from the seventh to the first day. Where? when? and by whom? No man can tell. No; it never was changed, nor could it be, unless creation was to be gone through again: for the reason assigned must be changed before the observance, or respect to the reason, can be changed! It is all old wives fables to talk of the change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. If it be changed, it was that august personage changed it who changes times and laws ex officio - I think his name is Doctor Antichrist. Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, a paper read before a New York ministers conference, Nov. 13, 1893, reported in New York Examiner , Nov.16, 1893. There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week .... Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament absolutely not. Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history . . . . But what a pity it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of the sun god, adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 18:57:11 +0000
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