The Seventh-Day Sabbath and Its Redemptive Function in God's Everlasting Covenant of Grace: Expanded and Revised: Second Edition

By A. M. Simataa

This special and remarkablebook,
The Seventh-day Sabbath and
its Redemptive Function in Gods
Everlasting Covenant of Grace by A.M.
Simataa addresses topical issues in
the Bible quite pertinent to the 21st
Century Christianity.
The author takes a defensive approach
of the gospel and brings to the surface
some of the least understood teachings
of the Bible. Although written from a
Seventh-day Adventists perspective,
people of differing religious background
and persuasions will fi nd this book
very instructive.
If you have been looking for a book that
pains takingly discusses the Gospel
seriously and biblically this is the book
you have been searching for. Some of
the topics featured in the book include:
The Truth about the Bible Sabbath
The Judgment of the Living
Heavenly New Jerusalem;
The Marriage Supper of the Lamband the Rapture

The Remnant Church in the Parables
Mr A.M. Simataa teaches at a High
School in Windhoek, Namibia. He
likes sharing the Gospel with others
and spends some of his spare time
witnessing to others.
The central role of the Seventh-day
Sabbath in the Redemption of our
race is the least understood topic
in the Bible today. Most believers
have even dismissed its relevance to
todays Christianity.
However, the truth is that the Sabbath
is at the heart of Christs work to save
human beings in accordance with
Gods plan. The Sabbath is so central
to the work of atonement that Christ is
referred to in the Bible as the Lord of
the Sabbath.
The issue of the Sabbath will become
pertinent as we near the End, and
every human being will be required to
take a stand in the confl ict involving
the Sabbath question. This book will
plant your feet on a solid foundation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris UK
• Release date: May 10, 2012
• ISBN: 9781477105504

A. M. Simataa

Mr. A. M. Simataa is a dedicated Christian worker and a science schoolteacher. He is author to three other books, including The Seventh-Day Sabbath and Its Redemptive Function in God’s Everlasting Covenant of Grace. He has studied B.Ed Science at the University of Namibia. He has also studied applied physics with microelectronics at Napier University, Scotland. He is married with one child. He loves reading and sharing the Word of God.

Book preview

The

Seventh-Day Sabbath

and its

Redemptive Function

in

God’s Everlasting Covenant

of

Grace

A brief look at the Bible Testimony

about the Seventh-day Sabbath

Expanded and Revised: Second Edition

A. M. Simataa

Copyright © 2012 by A. M. Simataa.

ISBN: Softcover 978-1-4771-0549-8

Ebook 978-1-4771-0550-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

0-800-644-6988

www.xlibrispublishing.co.uk

[e-mail]

304100

Contents

Introduction

Part I. The Seventh-day Sabbath and the Atonement

1 The Beginning Of Our Physical Universe

2 Natural Worlds Testify To God’s Sovereign Power and Wisdom

3 Holy Scriptures—A Divine Revelation From God

4 The Seventh-Day Sabbath and the Everlasting Covenant

5 Finding Meaning in the Old Sanctuary Rituals

6 Did the Lord Jesus Change the Sabbath Day?

7 Did the Apostles Institute Sunday as the Lord’s Day?

8 The Writer of the Book of Hebrews on the Question of the Sabbath Rest

9 Saved By Grace Alone

10 Who Instituted Sunday Sacredness?

Part II A Personal Testimony to You

11 Does God Exist? (Part 1)

12 Does God Exist? (Part 2)

13 The Judgment Of The Living Has Already Started

14 Beyond The Year 2016

15 The Remnant Church In The Parables

16 The Seven Last Plagues (Part 1)

17 The Seven Last Plagues (Part 2)

18 The Marriage Supper of the Lamb and the Rapture

19 The Last Battle On Planet Earth

Bibliography

Endnotes

Introduction

The views in this book do not reflect the official position of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There are fundamental doctrines that we hold dear as the People of God within the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but within this doctrinal framework, there are diversities of opinions and individual beliefs on various issues. As such, the views expressed in this book reflect my personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist, and not that of the body.

This second edition of the revised and expanded edition has been updated into several new topics including a chapter on ‘The Remnant Church in Bible Prophecy’ as seen by the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels. This has resulted in shorter chapters in the current edition as opposed to the longer chapters in the first edition as the reader himself will discover. This is because for most readers, the longer chapters were difficult to handle. As such it was necessary to break some of the longer chapters down into shorter ones. However, care has been taken to ensure that there should be no loss of content or change in meaning. Furthermore, a number of topics have also been enhanced to give clarity to a number of issues that were not clearly defined or explained in the expanded edition. The reader will find this book more appealing.

The format of the book is till the same as in the first version of the expanded edition. There are two main divisions to the publication: Part I and Part II. Part I discusses the subject of the Sabbath from a biblical perspective and in the context of the atonement. The subject of the Cross and of God’s love for mankind has been my favorite theme ever since I became a Christian. Even though the Sabbath truth is one of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith, I have not, prior to my writing the first edition of this book, made the issue of the Sabbath a subject of special interest. However, one central issue in the Final Crisis just before the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ that will seal the destiny of the world is the question of the Sabbath. Many other things will come into play, but central to all of these will be the searching question of the Commandments of God, especially the Sabbath Question, verses the commandments of men. When men’s laws will be preferred above the holy commandments of God, the final straw that broke the camel’s back will have been flung. The end will come suddenly and unexpectedly. To prepare interested readers for this coming Conflict I have undertaken to write this book. I have had no other object. The subject as I have presented it is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient enough to shed light on what the Bible has to say about the holy Sabbath.

Part II of this book is a personal testimony and comes to the reader both as a warning, as well as an appeal, to consider carefully the claims of the Bible and what it has to say to us about God and the destiny of this world. We are on a threshold of a crucial and most stupendous period in the earth’s history. The stakes are high and soon, individually and collectively as a people, we shall be confronted by events both fearful and decisive. Unless one should build his house on the concrete truth of God’s Word, he would surely be blown away by the coming earth-shaking stormy winds.

It may appear to some readers that this book actually attacks their faith or beliefs. If this is the case, it is very unfortunate, because it was not the intention of the author. It is the nature of the topic itself that required this form of exposition or approach. In the same way, to declare that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is the Remnant Church or the true Church does not necessarily mean that its members are better Christians than others. This also is not the intention or the understanding of the author. The book, however, discusses the basic teachings of the Gospel as seen by a typical Seventh-day Adventist. It is left to the reader himself to form his or her personal views on the subject matter.

That the writings of this book will strengthen someone’s faith in the Word of God is the earnest prayer of the writer.

Author,

A. M. Simataa.

Part I.

The Seventh-day Sabbath and the Atonement

1

The Beginning Of Our Physical Universe

The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress

(Job.37:23).

Before we discuss the subject of this book, which is the truth about the Bible Sabbath and its redemptive role in the Covenant of Grace, it would be more appropriate to begin our discussion first with the Lord of the Sabbath Himself. Undue regard for the Sabbath day led the Jewish people to respect it more highly than the Creator himself. This was probably the most significant reason why they would not accept Christ as the Promised One of Israel. There is a danger today that the Church might do the same. On the other hand, God’s law is a transcript of His character. His government in heaven and on earth is based on the great principles of His Law. God and His holy law, as such, are inseparable. Even more important is God’s relation to the Fourth Commandment. It is therefore essential that we state from the out set the Lord Jesus Christ’s position in relation to the Sabbath.

One Sabbath afternoon, as Jesus and His disciples were passing through corn fields and His disciples were plucking the ears of the corn, His relationship to the Sabbath was brought into question by the Pharisees. When criticisms which concerned His relationship with His Father’s law were brought to bear against Him, He could not ignore them. He knew that back of them was the chief accuser himself. So He set out to correct their misconceptions about His relation to His Father’s Law and said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath (Mk.2:28 KJV). By declaring Himself Lord . . . of the Sabbath the Lord Jesus Christ explained to the Jewish authorities of His day that He was not only greater than Moses, but that He was, indeed, the One who founded and instituted the Sabbath Rest itself. At another occasion when a similar charge was brought against Him, He answered, My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I, too, am working (Jn.5:17). It is evident from His answers to His critics that Christ claimed Oneness with His Father. The Jewish authorities understood Jesus’ words very clearly. They remarked indignantly He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God (verse 18). They plainly understood that if His claim of Oneness with God was true, then by implication He was much greater than Moses, and as such, they were obliged to acknowledge Him as the promised Messiah, even as John the Baptist had pointed out to them (Lk.3:15-17). They saw that if Christ was the Son of God as He claimed, then His claim of Lordship over the Sabbath could not be challenged. Indeed, it is clear from the Holy Scriptures that Christ was not only the Son of the Most High God, He was also God’s Agent of creation (Col.1:16; Heb.1:3). It was He Himself who had formed the earth and everything in it. His participation in creation, as such, validates His claim of Lordship over the holy Sabbath, and demonstrates that He had always existed as God before the creation of this world (Mic.5:2; Jn.1:1-3; 8:58; 17:3; Col.1:15). Further more, the Lord Jesus’ claim that He is Lord even of the Sabbath denotes the inseparable attachment He holds in regard to the Sabbath day. As we shall see in the next chapter, His work of Redemption is so connected to the Sabbath that He is fitly and rightly to be called The Lord of the Sabbath. It is His appointed day for saving sinful human beings.

The Lord Jesus Christ’s declaration that He was the Son of God was not a new concept to the Jewish mind. The Old Testament Scriptures refer to the promised Messiah—the Son of David—as God’s very own Son: The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against His Anointed One . . . I will proclaim the decree of the LORD. He said to me, You are my Son, today I have become Your Father . . . Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest He be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for His wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him (Ps.2:2, 7, 10-12). The New Testament also speaks of the promised ‘Anointed One’ as God’s Son: But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Gal.4:4, 5). At a holy mountain where Christ was transfigured God’s voice was heard declaring

Darwinism and Intelligent Design Contrasted

Darwinism would have perpetrated the atheistic deception, were it not for the protest of the Word of God, and for the advent of modern technology, that human beings were a product of chance. We know from statistical Probability that this is an impossible event. Is it scientifically possible that a camel can pass through the eye of a needle? "Impossible," you say. But that is exactly what Darwinism has been trying to say to us over these years that the massive cosmic universe came into being by an act of accident. We know from our experience that things don’t just happen. Ripples in a pond don’t just occur by accident. Behind every ripple that can be witnessed in a pond, there is a dynamic energy source that puts those wavelets into endless motion. Think then of the cosmic explosion that gave birth to our physical universe. That required a disturbance on the order of a cosmic scale! But that doesn’t prove that God was behind the disturbance that led to the Big Bang. However, an event such as the Big Bang on the order of a galactic scale, whose parameters were so controlled that it led to the appearance of life in the universe and successfully sustained it, could not just have happened by chance. An extraordinary deliberate event is required to have triggered a controlled explosion of this magnitude!

It is a well known fact that controlled events are a characteristic product, and, in most cases, bear the marks, of intelligent design. And this is exactly what we observe in the natural world. Simply put then, the theory of the Big Bang is consistent with the Genesis account of Intelligent Design. So an Intelligent Designer or a conscious entity is needed to have caused a controlled and successful event such as the Big Bang.

Similarly, an extraordinary event is necessary for a camel to be able to pass through the eye of a needle, an event which, as we all know today, is outside scientific investigation. Things of this nature happen only in the realm of faith! Therefore, we must have faith as our basis, not scientific fact, to believe that according to Darwinism, atoms could organize themselves (without external influence) to create intelligent beings with moral values such as humans have! However, this is blind faith. Our faith in the atoms would not energize those atoms to accomplish what we would want them to do for us. It would simply not work.

Faith must be based on evidence (Heb.11:1-3). Control over the reactant materials leading to the creation and development of the structure of a human being is a fundamental necessary requirement. To reach a desired target product such as a human heart an exceptional controlled reaction path is necessary. All these things require planning, and hence the necessity of a designer. Faith in God, as such, demands that He be able to display all these characteristic requirements. Ii is because God is able to do all these things that people can have faith in Him. So a belief in God requires substantial and verifiable evidence. Creationism is based on credible, factual evidence—man’s encounter in history with angels and with God Himself. God himself is the primary information source upon which Creationism bases its faith.

concerning him, This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him! (Mat.17:5).

Although Christ assumed the nature and form of a Son, yet He was, nevertheless, truly God. Speaking to the Lord Jesus Christ as the LORD’s Anointed One just before He became human, God Almighty addressed Him as ‘God’: Your throne, O God, will last forever. And righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom. You loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, Your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands (Heb.1:8-10).

It is evident from the text in Hebrews that if the heavens and the earth are the works of His hands, then the Sabbath day is also a result of the work of His hands, because through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made(Jn.1:3). It was Christ Himself who had founded and instituted the holy Sabbath in Eden. He is truly Lord over, and of, the Sabbath day. Clearly, then, the pre-incarnate Messiah was, in every respect, God.

For the purpose of saving mankind from the power and rule of death, God’s own unique Son, the Messiah, although essentially divine, was predestined to become human and was, at the proper time, born of King David’s family line. Regarding this mystery of God’s condescension to become part of the human family, Isaiah wrote, For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this (Is.9:6, 7). This prophetic revelation of Christ’s coming into the world was like a deafening explosion to all of Satan’s kingdoms through out the earth. Satan and his host trembled that one equal with God was to appear in human form and challenge his claim to Lordship over the whole earth. The darkness that had shadowed the whole Gentile world through which Satan had exercised his bewitching power over them was now to be dispelled (Is.9:1, 2).

The angel Gabriel, when announcing the mystery of Messiah’s incarnation into the human family, referred Mary to Isaiah’s prophecy:

You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name JESUS. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end (Lk1:31-33).

Paul, exclaiming in wonder at the mystery of the manifestation of the Son of God as a human being, writes in 1 Timothy 3:16, Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He [God] appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by the angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory. That the invisible God appeared in a human body and became subject to death for man’s rebellion was a mystery which still excites the wonder and deep contemplation of the angelic host (1Pet.1:10-12; Dan.8:13). Thus for Paul, the message of the Cross is one without parallel—the message that would remain, for all eternity, unexplainable.

Undoubtedly, Holy Scriptures, both Old and New, clearly show that the coming of the promised Messiah into the world was in reality God Himself appearing as a man and becoming part of the human family, not only for a brief moment, but for all time to come. The most wonderful truth, which is the central theme of the Gospel, is that the Messiah himself has already appeared among men as Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives the forgiveness of sins (Act.10:43). So in effect, when Jesus Christ declared Himself Lord even of the Sabbath, He was actually telling the Jewish authorities of His day, and indeed all of humankind, that He was the very God who, in the beginning, created everything else there was in the universe. He not only created all things, He is also the One who sustains and upholds them (Heb.1:3). His relation to the Sabbath is thus a unique one.

As a matter of fact, when we discuss the subject of the Sabbath day, or of the origin of our species in this book, or at other instances, we bring at the same time the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth into focus. We cannot isolate or divorce Him from the discussion that concerns the origins of the universe. He holds pre-eminence over the whole physical universe. He should therefore become central to everything we study and/or say.

Everything Has its Beginning in God.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen.1:1). In these introductory words of Holy Scripture, we find the most significant and real meaning of our existence and descent as human beings. We are not on this planet by accident. In the introductory words of Genesis chapter one, we find that our existence, as human beings on this planet, has a purpose. It is seen that we owe our very existence to the Living God Himself. We are here by design!

His Name Shall Be Called JESUS!

The name, Jesus is the English rendering of the Greek word Iēsous [Strong, 2424] which is the equivalent form of the Jewish name, Yeshu’ah or Yahushua as some put it, which means Jehovah saves. In this name, JESUS [Yahushua], every knee bows down, and every tongue confesses in heaven and on earth, and under the earth. We are here reminded of the Third Commandment in the Decalogue, "You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuse his name" (Ex.20:7). The name ‘JESUS’ is sacred and it is above all other names, for God was in Yahushuah reconciling the world to himself…, not counting men’s sins against them (2 Cor.5:19). So when we say, Jesus with our mouth, we are, in effect, solemnly calling on Jehovah to save us! Whenever you are in trouble, call on that name.

When the first edition of my book ‘The Sabbath Truth in the Bible and its Central Role in the Atonement, which is actually a precursor to the present volume, came out, a group of learners from the High School where I teach came to see me. They had heard from those who have read the book what I have written. Like the Pharisee in the Bible, an expert in the Law of Moses who came to Jesus to test Him, they asked me: We don’t believe God exists. If He exists and created everything in the universe, who created God Himself? What you are saying is, you want to know whether God has a Beginning? I asked. Yes, we want to know. they answered. Although the learners asked the question out of curiosity rather than from a conviction of unbelief in the existence of God, I could see how the question of the origins or beginning of everything in the universe continues to haunt and intrigue us. No wonder that the first words in the Holy Bible begins first with the words, In the beginning God . . . A.S.Hornby (Hornby, 2010) defines the word, ‘beginning’ as The time when something starts. The Genesis story takes us to that moment when time first begun. When time first begun, God was . . . (Jn.1:1-3). In other words God was already in existence when time first started. Heavenly beings often refer to God as He who was and is and is to come (Rev.4:8; see also 11:17). That means that there was not an instance, even before time itself began, when it could be said God ‘was not.’ So it could never be said, At the beginning of God . . . because He has always existed from eternity to eternity. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Ps.90:2). So begins the inspired Holy Bible with the words, In the beginning God . . ."

The first words of Genesis introduce God to us as a Personal Being, as well as the Creator of the universe and everything in it. They reveal Him as one who has a personal attachment to everything in the universe. They show that God is personally involved in the affairs of everything that exist.

As already shown in the preceding passages above, God created the universe and everything in it through His Son, who appeared in human form as Jesus of Nazareth, the Anointed One: By him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him (Col.1:16). So, Holy Scriptures consistently affirm that the universe did not come into being accidentally. It did not, by itself, originate its existence and set laws to govern its operation and working. On the contrary, according to Holy Scriptures, the universe had come into being by God’s purposeful act of creation (Rev.4:11). In other words, the universe and everything in it has its beginning in God Himself. God, according to the Genesis account, was that First Cause that set off the Big Bang in a controlled gargantuan explosion which Science today is hopelessly attempting to explain to us.

The Genesis story—a trusted and true account!

The Genesis story in the Holy Bible is a trusted and true account. Christ Himself affirmed its authenticity and genuineness when He, in His discourses with the people, quoted from it (Mt.19:4-6). The author of Genesis wrote down what he had learned firsthand from a personal encounter with God Himself. Moses, who is the writer of the Book of Genesis, had an insightful encounter with God though out his life. Holy Scriptures tell us that he spoke with God face to face (Num.12:7, 8). Because of the extraordinary experiences Moses had had with the God of heaven, his countenance was radiant with the glory of the LORD (Ex.34:29-35). It was from this personal open conversation with the Creator of the universe that Moses obtained the information that we read in the Genesis account. Having learned everything from the Almighty God Himself, including our origins, Moses then corroborated his evidence with what others before him had encountered with God. His account in Genesis is thus a reliable one.

We also learn from the Bible that Jacob talked with God, at least more than once, face to face (Gen.32:29, 30; 35:9-13). Therefore, Jacob must have handed down the truth about God, and about our origins as well, to his sons. We know this because when God told Moses to go back to Egypt to tell the Israelites that God had sent him to them and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, he objected and said, Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them? It is clear from his answer that Moses knew the Israelites who lived in Egypt during his time possessed the knowledge about God and of the origin of the universe. He knew that they would never accept him if his message to them was different from the truth they had had from their ancestors.

Was the Earth Once Inhabited by Satan?

Genesis 1: 2 reads, "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Gen.1:2 NIV).

The Hebrew word tōhu [Strong, 8414] translated formless here is used in Jeremiah 4:23 to describe the formless and desolate condition of the earth it will come to after God’s divine judgment at the Second Advent. It is usually assumed from this that Genesis 1:2 describes the earth that was once inhabited by beings that were greater and more powerful than human beings. Since Satan is the originator of evil, it is normally assumed that this pre-Adamic earth was once ruled by Satan and that he led its inhabitants in rebellion against God. As a result the once fair and beautiful earth was reduced to a formless and chaotic earth of Gen.1:2 after suffering divine judgment.

While the pre-Adamic view of the earth is plausible, it produces theological difficulties. It assumes that the Genesis account is a recreation of the worlds that were depopulated in the eternity past. The logical conclusion is that God’s plan to save the inhabitants of that pre-Adamic world was a failure since we have no record of any beings that were redeemed from that cataclysmic destruction of the pre-Adamic universe. If this was the case, how can we be sure that God’s plan for the salvation of the present earth will succeed? It is clear that Satan has already led Adam and Eve in rebellion against God and that he is the ruler of the present world. Is it not possible that the present universe will face the same fate? The theory appears to give Satan more glory than the Creator!

Secondly, the Genesis account that God created the heavens and the earth in six literal days is brought into question (see Ex.20:8-11). It argues that the universe as we know it did not come into existence during the six literal days of creation. What God accomplished in the six literal days was to bring form and shape only to what was already there. The pre-Adamic view actually accedes to the Evolutionary theory that it required God million of years to bring order to a formless and chaotic universe. This makes keeping the seventh day holy immaterial since the six days of creation could have been long ages of development.

If, however, we imagine that the universe in its initial stages was essentially gaseous, it is not difficult to see why the writer of Genesis could describe it as ‘formless’ and ‘void’. We know that liquids and gases have no form or shape. A billowing smoke or colliding cumulus clouds have a changing shape and are certainly chaotic in nature. A gaseous world or