by R. L. Morrison

There are those religious people today who believe the Old Covenant did not do what God intended for it to do when he gave it to Israel. But, did God's plan really fail? A study of the scriptures will show that God's plan did not fail, but accomplished the purpose for which God designed it. However, many of those who claim it did fail, try to separate that covenant into two parts. They refer to the ten commandments as a covenant, and the remainder of the old law as another, or entirely different covenant. The primary reason for this, is an effort to "keep the Sabbath" binding on people today. An examination of scripture will show this to be a false doctrine, one that can be readily recognized as false.

In Genesis 2, we find the account of God finishing the work of creation in six days. On the seventh day he rested. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his works which God created and made" (Genesis 2:3). It is not said here that God commanded man to keep the Sabbath, nor is it said that Jesus Christ observed it at that time, or that Sabbath keeping was ever observed in heaven. It simply says that God had rested on that day. From that day we can pass through two thousand five hundred years of time and there is absolutely no record of a Sabbath command or Sabbath keeping.

When God, through Moses, called the descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob out of Egyptian slavery, these people were lead by Moses to Mt. Sinai. Moses was called by God, up on the mountain, where he received a system of law, a covenant, to make known to the people whom he had lead there. The record of this is found in Exodus, chapters 19-20. In chapter 20:8-10, God gave the law or commandment of the Sabbath. This is the FIRST time any such commandment was given to any man or group of people. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all they work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord our God ..." Then in the latter part of the chapter and following, Moses set forth the law that God had given Israel. The ten commandments were just the beginning of the law. There is not a single passage of scripture which teaches that the ten commandments were one covenant and the remainder of the law another. The law to Israel included ALL God revealed to them through Moses.

In Deut. 5, the commandments are repeated. In verse 27, the people said to Moses, "Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it and do it." The Israelites knew there was more to the law or covenant that God made with them than just the ten commandments! Why cannot men today recognize this?

In Exodus 31, Moses explained why the Sabbath was given to Israel. God said, "It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh, he rested and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:13-17) The Sabbath was a "sign" between God and Israel. This Sabbath sign was not made with others. If the Sabbath command was ever given to any other nation, it could not have been a sign between God and one nation, Israel. But God gave it to Israel as a special sign, in commemoration of their deliverance from Egypt.

Moses also said, the Sabbath was a covenant between God and Israel. A covenant is a contract between two parties, in this case God and Israel. God did not make this covenant with any other people, that is he did not command any people other than Israel to "remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy." The purpose of this has already been stated.

We have shown the Bible teaches the Sabbath was given only to Israel and that the ten commandments of which Sabbath keeping was a part, was the fourth commandment. We have also shown that the ten commandments were not ALL of the covenant God made and Israel accepted. ALL the commandments of God were called the law of God and sometimes also the law of Moses. This simply because God revealed it through Moses.

In Exodus 31, Moses said the Sabbath violator was to be put to death. This was the penalty God set for a violation. But do those who claim to keep the Sabbath today so punish a Sabbath violator? No, they do not. Consider an example of Sabbath violation in Israel. One is found in Numbers 15:32-36. A man gathered sticks on the Sabbath day. He was a prisoner until they inquired of the Lord what was to be done. The Lord saith unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." The people obeyed God and the Sabbath violator was slain.

In Exodus 35:2-3, "Whosoever doeth work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." There are other things set forth, which to do on the Sabbath, was a violation and the death penalty to be executed. But did God take away the penalty and leave the command? If so, where does the scripture so teach? If he did not take away the penalty, where are they who actually obey the command?

It is said that God made an eternal covenant. This covenant was made between the Father and the Son, before creation. It is also said that the terms of this covenant have never been changed or superseded. Only one scripture reference is given to sustain the assertion. "The lamb slain from the foundation of the world." "Although many other covenants have been established through the years, the simple provision of salvation through faith has remained in effect through all ages, for all mankind." The scripture referred to Revelation 13:8, makes no mention of covenant. It simply refers to God's plan of redemption for mankind. The covenant is the result of the death of Christ. It must be imagined that the covenant that is claimed to be found there includes Sabbath keeping. There is no other reason for the claim to be made. But if the Father and the Son made an agreement or covenant between themselves, it is not revealed, nor are any terms of such a covenant made known to man. The Sabbath keeper is hard pressed to make such an argument in an effort to sustain his doctrine.

God gave a law or system of worship, to Noah after the flood. It apparently revealed God's plan for man's worship. This is said because those who lived after the flood did have a system of worship or a law by which they acceptably worshipped God. Abraham is an example of one who did so. But as has been shown, God gave another system of law to the Israelites who he brought out of Egypt. And the first command to keep the Sabbath is found in that law.

In Galatians 3, Paul taught the Galatians some things regarding that old covenant. In verse 8, he states God's promise: "And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel through Abraham, saying, In thee, shall all nations be blessed." In verses 16-19, we read: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed , which is Christ. And this I say, that the covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made, and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator." The promise was made to Abraham: "In thee and thy seed shall all families be blessed." The law was added to the promise. Why? Because of transgression! But ONLY till the seed should come. Between the time that God made the promise and the time it was fulfilled, that is, when Christ made his appearance, a system of law was necessary. Man could not have been left to follow his own will or any man made system of religion (man has never been without law from God). So God gave the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob "the law". It was designed to control them, in life and worship, and keep them in subjection to God until the seed should come. To say it another way: until Christ, the promised seed should come. The law did not disannul God's promise. But the law kept Israel separate and apart from all other people. This law was given ONLY to Israel.

The question then: Did the law, the old covenant, fail to do what God purposed and planned for it to do? Not at all. It was fulfilled. It did accomplish its purpose. "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which should afterward be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school master" (Galatians 3:22-25). Paul said, we, the Israelites, were kept under the law, which was their tutor or school master, to bring them to Christ. But he says; after the promise had been fulfilled, that is after Christ had come, they were no longer under the law.

However, Sabbath keepers today, apparently do not believe what Paul said. They insist that the law, written on tables of stone, was NOT done away, but that it continues to be binding on men today. It, they say, is God's great moral law, which has always been binding and always will be. We have shown however, that the Sabbath was neither given nor observed before God gave the law to Israel. But Paul also teaches that the law written on tables of stone was done away. Hear him: "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stone, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; WHICH GLORY WAS TO BE DONE AWAY: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?" (2 Cor. 3:7-8). That this which was to be done away was the ten commandments cannot be successfully denied. Paul identifies it as the time when Moses put a veil over his face. In Exodus 34:29-30, we find when it occurred. "And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai, with the two tables of testimony in his hand, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with them. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. Then verse 33 says, "He put a veil on his face." There can be no doubt or mistake about which covenant was meant. The ten commandments were the only covenant written on tables of stone. Four times in 2 Cor. 3, Paul says that covenant was done away. Verses 7, 11, 13, 14, are those that say so. Yet many continue to teach that the ten commandments are yet bound on men.

It is asserted that the New Covenant law written on the heart is exactly the same law that was engraven on stone. It is ONLY asserted. No proof from the scriptures is offered, for the simple reason there is none. The old law served its purpose. It was taken out of the way, including Sabbath keeping.

It is also stated that there can be no changes in the New covenant after the death of Christ. It is true that a man's will cannot be changed after his death. But his will is not revealed until it is probated, or the content of the will is made known. This same principle is true of the will of Christ. He did not reveal His will before his death. He selected twelve men, the apostles, to reveal his will to mankind. He sent the Holy Spirit to them to guide them or lead them into the revelation of all truth. These men spoke as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance, the Spirit selecting the very words the apostles used in revealing the New Covenant (1 Cor 2:12-13). Jesus did not reveal all his will while living. The fact that his will was revealed after his death, does not mean that it is contrary to what he taught. The apostles spake or revealed the will of Christ as the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.

But this argument is made concerning Sabbath keeping. Jesus kept the Sabbath. Nowhere, before his death, was God worshipped on the first day of the week. Therefore "Sunday-keeping" is contrary to the law of Christ. Even if such had started on the day of the resurrection, it would have been three days too late to have been included in the New Covenant. But, if this be true, the commands of Jesus to the apostles, as given in Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-47, would be too late to be included in the New Testament, for they were spoken after his resurrection from the dead. The same is true of the remainder of the New Testament. It was all revealed or written after the ascension of Christ. He did not reveal it while living, it was revealed by the apostles as they "probated' it. And what they revealed does not contain one command regarding keeping the Sabbath day holy.

Jesus certainly kept the Sabbath. He was born under the law that required Sabbath keeping. He did not violate that law. It also required the observance of Passover and other feasts and periods of time. If we are required to keep the Sabbath today because Jesus did, should we not also observe the Passover because Jesus did? The truth of the matter is that the law which was in effect when he was born and under which he died, was taken out of the way, abolished, nailed to the cross, for Jesus fulfilled the law. Paul wrote, "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4).

It is said; "Millions of modern church members regard Sunday as a sacred day." Perhaps they do. They who do so are as lacking in scriptural authority as they who try to keep the Sabbath. The New Testament teaches contrary to both. Hear Paul: "Ye observe days and months and times and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain" (Galatians 4:10-11). Following the example of the inspired apostles and the early Christians, God's people today worship God, or observe His command to worship on the first day of the week. This does NOT mean it is a holy day, but rather the time of the week to observe the worship. Paul rebuked these people for observing days, the Sabbath included.

Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit inspired apostles, assembled on the first day of the week, as stated above, for worship, Acts 20:7; "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them" 1 Cor. 16:2; "Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." The birthday of the church revealed in the New Testament was on the first day of the week, Pentecost, for every Pentecost fell on the first day of the week. Hebrews 10:25: "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is ...", The command is to assemble. The apostles and early disciples assembled on the first day of the week, not the Sabbath. In fact, not even Israel, assembled on the Sabbath to worship. Their travel on the Sabbath was severely restricted. They observed the DAY by doing nothing, no work, no worship of any kind. They worshipped in the tabernacle or the temple, depending upon what was available to them.

Jesus, before his death, gave no commandment regarding worship on any day. The apostles revealed his will, of course, after his death. What they revealed is God's law for all mankind today. God took away the first covenant, the old law, that the New Covenant might be established. It was necessary that this be done. (Hebrews 10:9).

Christ, the son became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him. (Hebrews 5:8-9). His perfect law of liberty does not include the keeping of the Sabbath, regardless of who or how many claim otherwise.

In conclusion: No! The old law did not fail. It accomplished every thing God purposed or planned for it to do. When Christ, the seed of Abraham, came into the world, he fulfilled that law. That means it was completed. Its work was done. Christ nailed it to his cross and we now have the New Covenant ratified by his blood. This New Covenant is the standard by which we shall be judged in the last day. It is the power of God to save us now, but in judgment, it can be the power that condemns. It all depends on our attitude toward it now ... whether we disregard it or choose to obey it. Each one chooses for himself!

How do you choose???