Reply to Isaiah on the topic of the Sabbath (part 1)

I have just finished this article on the Christian Sabbath as it is based on the Fourth Commandment in the Decalogue. I am neither a Dispensationalist nor a New Covenantal Theologian but a Covenantal Theologian, so the issue of the Law must be faced head-on instead of just dismissing it as being of no consequence like most modern Christians nowadays who superficially and derisively claim that "we are under Grace, not Law".

This was done mainly as a partial answer to my brother-in-Christ Isaiah who is grappling with the issue due to hearing messages from the Seventh-Day Adventists, the most prominent cult today which practices Saturday Sabbath, of which the most recent one can be seen here. His blog is more well-read than mine, and as such, like it or not, he has more responsibility for whatever he blogs than me since more people will be influenced by whatever he says, and therefore I have felt a burdern to proclaim the Word of God on this matter. This matter is not in fact just a preference issue, but has become something of an obedience issue, and may probably degenerate into a test of orthopraxy (right living) just like adultery. It therefore has serious ramifications when taken to its logical conclusions, of which the Seventh Day Adventists have done so already.

As Paul addresses the Galatian Christians two millenia ago, I hope to address Isaiah and his friends: Not out of condemnation (that is reserved for those who are attempting to lead them astray), but out of love for them As Paul states in his epistle to the Galatian Christians:

Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise. Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written,

“Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear; break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.”

Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now. But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.” So, brothers, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman.

(Gal. 4:21-31. Bold added)

This is part one of my reply to the issue of Sabbatarianism, and more specifically the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath as a requirement of the Law of God. I will be posting the second reply which will be a rebuttal of Walter Veith's message on the Sabbath, based upon the foundation of the true doctrine of the Law as I have exposited from Scripture.

[Just FYI, there will be no Weekly Meditations this week due to the intensive effort required to fight this fire. Sorry. Hey, at least I get to re-read through Deuteronomy, Romans, Galatians and Hebrews and parts of Leviticus, and that consecutively while seeking understanding of the Law.]