Is Jesus Christ The Messiah Of The Jews, Or The Christian Messiah Or Both?

Is Christ The Second Name For Jesus Christ? Whose Messiah Is He, The Christians Or The Jewish?

Question: Is Jesus Christ the Messiah of the Jews, or the Christian Messiah or both? Is Christ the second name for Jesus Christ?

Answer: Greetings in Jesus wonderful name!

We know that Jesus was Jewish, with all the writers of the Gospel who were practicing Jews except Luke, and thus was an exception. So what was the advantage of being a Jew in the first century over the Gentile? Why God has to choose all the Jews to execute the plan of salvation for mankind?

The advantage of being a Jew in the first century A.D was that they has the Scripture which was given to humans through Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament in their hand, this made them grow thinking in the way God wanted man to think according to His desire to reveal more of His plan to mankind (Rom 3:1-2). Jesus himself said, “Salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22), pointing to Himself as the one who is the salvation of all Gentile mankind, but having started his pilgrimage on earth as a born Jew, what Jesus said was absolutely right (Luke 2:21-24; Isa 49:6). As God promised Abraham because of his faith that through him a potential blessing for “all nations” would come (Genesis 12:1-4). As a result of his obedient faith, Abraham was chosen to produce a “seed” (offspring) who ultimately would be the key to the reception of that blessing (Gen 22:18); that seed, of course, was Jesus (Galatians 3:8, 16; cf. Acts 3:25-26), and none other. So, first the Gospel of God came to the Jews (Matt 15:21-28; 10:6-7), but when they rejected it by rejecting their suffering Messiah Jesus Christ who did not show himself as the ruling powerful messiah as they expected, God kept them aside for a while and chose a remnant of Jews who believed Jesus Christ to send through them the Gospel in to all the world of Gentiles, and thus help the Gentiles become the Sons of God to further spread the good news of the Gospel in all the world, till He could come to the earth and rule the earth again as the ruling Messiah. Though the same Jews on earth will be deceived by a false messiah who will be the Antichrist to make them accept his rulership at the end of end days (John 5:43), the Antichrist will finally want to completely annihilate the whole community of Jews because of his hatred towards their God, just moment before the eradication of all Jews, Jesus Christ will appear and rescue them from perishing and they will finally believe Him (Matt 21:42-43, 45-46; 27:39-44; Acts 1:1-2, 8, 14-15; Rom 11:11-36; Zech 12:10-14; 13:6-9; 14:3-4; Matt 24:31).

The Church is God's mysterious program that had been kept as a secret by Him that even the Jewish apostles who were chosen by God to be a pillar in the Church only later understood that it was a separate entity apart from the Jews and the nation of Israel which is supposed to continue to be God's institution of revelation to the whole world even after Jesus Christ had come, but was kept aside with a holy pause till the day they will accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah (Acts 15:6-29; Gal 2:9). Thus being a pillars of the Jewish born Church, Peter was chosen to be an apostle to the Jews, while Paul was chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles by the grace of God (Gal 2:8).

Luke was the only person who being a Gentile was born in Antioch, by profession, was a physician (Col 4:10-11, 14). He had become a disciple of the apostle Paul and later followed Paul until his [(i.e.) Paul's] martyrdom (Philemon 1:24; Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11.). He traveled and worked with Paul as recorded in the Book of Acts with the ‘we’ sections (Acts 16:10-17; 20:5-15, 21:1-18; 27:1 to 28:16). The gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles make up a two-volume work which scholars call Luke–Acts. Together they account for 27.5% of the New Testament, the largest contribution by a single author, Luke the physician.

The next earliest account of Luke (after Paul’s writings) is in the Anti-Marcionite Prologue to the Gospel of Luke: “Luke probably was originally a convert through Peter who became a disciple of Paul and followed him until Paul’s martyrdom. Then having served the Lord continuously, unmarried and without children, Luke died at the age of 84.”

When we as Christians, have our roots in so much Jewishness, then these questions are supposed to come. But as Christians we have our own identity in Christ Jesus. Today, if a Jew need to get saved, he need to come to the Church which is in our day "the pillar and ground of the truth" which holds the "mystery of godliness" which conducts itself as a trustworthy vessels holding the Glory of God in the house of God (1 Tim 2:14-16). By the way the Church is not just the space within the four walls of the building that I am speaking about, but rather the people who hold the truth in their lives by experiencing the truth of God through their life and living (1 Cor 3:16).

As the age of the Church will end with the rapture of the saints (1 Thess 4:14-18; 2 Thess 1:4-10; Rev 3:10), I conclude that Jesus Christ is the Christian Messiah primely, but the Church along with Jesus Christ as the Messiah of the Jews will come from the new heaven and new earth to rescue the remnant of Jews, in order to preserve them from the total annihilation plan of the Antichrist which he will try to execute at the end of the end of days just before the day of Armageddon (Zech 14:1-4; Rev 19:11-21), and thus will also become the Messiah of the Jews who will believe Him during his second coming to the earth (2 Pet 3:13; Rom 11:26-27). So in short, Jesus Christ is now the Christian Messiah, who will then become a Jewish Messiah at the end of the world to become their king and the Messiah of the whole world for a thousand years time of God's Kingdom on earth.

The name 'Jesus' was revealed to his father Joseph before he was born on earth by the angel of the Lord from heaven which means, "He will save His people from their sins' (Matt 1:18-21). Even though Jesus "as was supposed the son of Joseph" (Luke 3:23), he was actually born of the virgin Mary but in origin was the "Son of God" who was transferred to earthly existence by the power of the Holy Spirit who kept "the Holy One" as a baby in the womb of Mary (Luke 1:35), before Joseph and Mary ever came together to know each other physically through copulation (Matt 1:24-25).

So 'Christ' is not Jesus' second name or family name, last name or surname, but rather it means 'the anointed one' who was believed to be the Messiah to come by the Jews and Christians of the first century. “Christ” comes from the Greek word 'Christos', meaning “anointed one” or “chosen one.” This is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word 'Mashiach', or “Messiah.” “Jesus” is the Lord’s human name given to Mary by the angel Gabriel (Luke 1:31). “Christ” is His title added by the writers of the New Testament, signifying Jesus was the same one promised and sent from God to be a King and Deliverer (see Daniel 9:25; Isaiah 32:1). So they called him 'Jesus Christ' which means 'Jesus the Messiah'. Thus by calling Jesus as the Christ, Christians believe Jesus as their own Messiah, who will become the Jewish Messiah foretold in both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Christ, used by Christians as both a name and a title, is synonymous with Jesus. Thus in Christianity, Christ is a title for the Savior and redeemer who would bring salvation to the Jewish people and mankind in the days to come along with the Church which is His body (Eph 5:23). Praise the Lord!

Much Blessings....

Share:

Prayer For The Family!

How To Have The Wife Co-operate In Ministry Life?

Prayer Request: Dear Pastor Praise the Lord!

I hope you are fine pastor. Kindly pray for my wife, slowly she is turning back to her old characters, especially, whenever I will get ready to go for ministry outside. Purposefully she is not cooking and if she cooks, she does it only for her and children, and she is speaking very dirty languages, yesterday she phoned her mother at night 11:30 pm and continued her talking up to 12:30 pm. Even her mother and grandmother doesn't have any sense. They will also listen her all stupid things and encouraging her to do more opposite actions against me.

But thanks for praying pastor, God has given me a patience yesterday, I didn't speak anything, today morning also she didn't cook anything, I just dropped my kids to school and I came to office.

Please pray for my wife, some time suddenly she is changing her character for silly matter.

Answer: Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus! Praise the Lord! I am fine by the grace of God! Do not worry, you are in a spiritual war against Satan and his demons in destroying his ideas and bringing people in to the light of heaven. So the best way he can attack you is through attacking the weaker vessel of the other half which is your wife (1 Pet 3:7), so apostle Peter says, "dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs." The moment we recognize that we are dealing with a weaker vessel that breaks often, we can choose positively and wisely to support them in their weakness by covering it up with the grace of God, whenever we do that, the same moment we become heirs together to continue for the Glory of God and the fulfillment of His purpose in the Kingdom of God. Remember, love for others cover multitude of sins, how much you love your wife will depend on how much you are able to cover up her faults (1 Pet 4:8).

Is it easy to forgive again and again their mistake, even for seventy times seven for a day? It is impossible without the grace of God. But God our Savior has promised to give His grace in abundance, so that empowered by it, "we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22). So strength to overcome is not in us, but our sufficiency comes from God whom we hold as a treasure in this earthen vessel of ours (2 Cor 4:7).

So I encourage you to give your burdens day to day to the Lord through prayer and expect not much change from you wife, but rather expect great change of calmness and peace in how you to respond to the weak behavior of your wife which you are dealing day by day (Php 4:6-7; Psa 46:1; Isa 26:3). Yes you are right, the key is not to open our mouth when we know that the arrows of words are sent towards us by the enemy of our soul to make us get irritated and blurt out things which we might later regret, because in anger there comes words of much sin which will give place for the devil to come and disturb the peace within us, and thus through us the whole family as the husband is the head of the home peace keeping atmosphere (Eph 4:26-27; Jam 1:19-20; Prov 29:11; Psa 37:8).

Jesus is our best example to follow in this regard, because God has called us to be conformed to His image (Rom 8:29-30; Eph 4:32), and the path to the glory of God is through walking through the same path of oppression and affliction that Jesus took on the way to the Cross where the Scripture foretold about it saying, "He was wounded for our [which means 'weak humans'] transgressions, He was bruised for our [ (i.e.) 'weak men & women's'] iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.... He was oppressed and He was afflicted [for us sinful humans], yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth." (Isa 53:5,7, emphasis added). In other words, Jesus opened his mouth to defend everyone except himself, by doing so he has allowed God the Father to defend him when he was accused by others through satanic influence and sin nature which operates by pride which God resists. So oppression and affliction are Satanic troubles we face, and God allows it for our own good (Rom 8:28), but when we learn the patience not to open our mouth by the power of the Holy Spirit just like Jesus did, then the glory of God comes directly upon our lives to make us a blessing to many around us (Heb 10:36; 1 Peter 2:21-23; 4:14). At the end of the ordeal God justifies us us and at the same time judges the vessels which were used by the enemy of our soul as instruments to accuse or condemn us for no reason except we walked in the will of God (Rom 15:3; Psa 55:1-23). Commit all your cases to the one who judges righteously. Very soon before other people change or not, your life will be changed in to life of blessedness for the Glory of God! Praise the Lord!

Let go of the faults of the weaker vessel and at the same time when you have to speak forth, ask the Lord for wisdom to speak the right words which ought to be spoken (Jam 1:5), in fact we also see in the life of Jesus that he spoke certain words led by the Spirit but did not open his mouth at other times out of his own desire to defend himself (Mark 14:61-62; 15:2, 34; Luke 23:34; Isa 53:7). We must ask God to help us keep our mouth shut in certain situations, at the same time we must with the help of God speak in certain other situations when we ought to speak the truth with grace (John 1:17), the most important to get from God is to ask Him the wisdom to receive it by faith and to know the difference between the two to understand within us, when to speak and when not to speak. If we have this wisdom from God, in fact we can master everything in this life through the efficient control of our tongue, and it can happen only by depending on the Holy Spirit and His wisdom all the time to pray and swim in the attitude of prayer through praying in the Holy Spirit under our breath all the time (Jam 3:2). This causes our mind and mouth to be controlled by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Having said all of the above, we must understand that we cannot control the behavior of others and that includes our wives and children. A wife is to submit herself to husband voluntarily as to the Lord she respects in her heart (Eph 5:22), and in the same way the husband is instructed to love his wife in the same way the Lord Jesus loved the church selflessly and gave Himself by sacrificing his life for the cause (Eph 5:25). Even the children are to be taught of the Lord ultimately (Isa 54:13), until then we discipline them in the Lord making sure that we do not provoke them to wrath (Eph 6:4). Only the Lord can ultimately bring peace in the heart of our children, or bring submission to our wives by His power and strength, so let go of these things that irritates you in to the hand of the Lord and expect Him to bring a change in them. Even if nothing happens, you continue to walk in the way we have discussed above, because we know, "For our wrestling match is not against persons with physical bodies, but against worldly wicked spirit rulers from various areas and descending orders of authorities which are highly organized from the realm of Satanic kingdom in the heavenly places, which we cannot see with our natural eyes as they are on their mission to influence, dominate and rule this world [in rebellion against the will of God]." (Eph 6:12, Abi's Translation). So we are working against the mission of the Satanic kingdom, so he is supposed to cause unrest to us through the person who is closest to us which is our wife, so let go and let God control your situations in your life and reap the benefit of a prosperous life within first by keeping yourself from being troubled or irritated through the sources which are trying to bring unrest. Then all storms no matter what intensity, it will fall in place very soon by the grace of God.

Especially remember, as a missionary's son, I have seen the devil bring unrest especially after a Sunday, or during a meeting or just before it to discourage the vessel of God through doubt and fear. Specifically on Monday a pastor or the five-fold minister who works for the Lord will usually face a specific battle within their homes, as a minister of God it is good if we could expect these things and wisely could pray for the grace of God and overcome these times of distress within our soul which is satanically induced due to our sin nature which the world calls it 'Monday blues' but I say it is 'satanic unrest'. Do not blame the weaker vessel with old and new character, but rather recognize it as satanic assault against you through your wife and stand in faith to overcome it (Job 2:9-10). As long as we will live on earth, all saints will struggle with the old nature against the new nature, and it is not just your wife but rather every one of us (Gal 5:17). But mostly we do not see our own old nature and are blind to it, or some times we see through the Scriptures like in a mirror but then we forget it soon (Jam 1:23-24), while we can easily see others return to the old nature because our flesh sees everyone as faulty except our-self, this is true for men as well as women (Gen 3:12, 13; Mat 7:3). So men and women of God, God has called us to judge our-self first, and then all the rest around us (1 Cor 11:31-32). In fact, when we are judging our-self, we will have no time to judge others "by what we see with our natural eyes, and will not execute justice by what we hear with our ears" (Isa 11:3), but rather will understand the satanic spiritual realities that operate behind a person, and will judge them with righteousness of the Kingdom of God which is in the Holy Spirit to show mercy to them and in turn we will also receive mercy from the Lord specially for many of our own faults which will keep us intact in the peace of the Lord without unrest, praise the Lord! (Rom 14:17; Matt 5:7; Jam 2:13).

A problem becomes a problem to us, only when we consider it as a problem, but when we choose not to let ourselves be troubled by a problem knowing that even though we may have tribulations, we have peace in Jesus who is within us always, who as our forerunner has already overcome the world on behalf of us, and have told us just to sit in his promises by faith and become overcomers (John 14:1, 27; 16:33; Heb 6:19-20). Abraham as a father of our faith endured suffering patiently, and at the end of it, inherited the promise of God forever and ever which brought more and more blessing and multiplying in his life, and it is the same to us too in our lives (Heb 6:13-18). Praise the Lord!

Praying that all might go well with you, in your family and in your ministry!

You are a overcomer! Say, 'In Jesus mighty name, I AM an OVERCOMER and thus I overcome all things BY the GRACE OF GOD! I am a channel of God's mighty blessings to many now and will become A HUGE BLESSING to a multitude in the days to come! Amen.'

Much Blessings.....

Share:

The Lord Wants To Build A House For You...!

Have You Chosen God As The Builder Of Your House And Watchman Over It?

By Abraham Israel

"Unless the LORD builds the house, even if you labor hard it is in vain. Until the LORD starts to guard the city, the watchman who keeps himself awake to keep it secure is absolutely in vain." (Psa 127:1, Abi's Translation).

In the Bible there are deeper spiritual realities in the Scripture that we cannot understand unless the LORD GOD reveals the hidden mysteries that lies within. Usually the above verse is one of the most used verse in the house-warming ceremony almost all over the world. The Preacher or the Pastor will usually expound the Scripture to mean that the house that the believer has built, has actually been built by the resource that the Lord God Almighty has provided to them. And that this house will be secured by the Lord from all harm as He will watch over it and will keep guard through his angels. There is nothing wrong to preach like this, as such are the occasions which are kept to remember the goodness of God's provision to thank and praise Him for His faithfulness. And also the above truth is true and that is why we keep house-warming ceremonies, even if we have no ceremony to keep because of lack of funds, still as we are his children, God will still bless the house and keep guard over it. Or even if we and our family can only afford to stay in a rented house after rented house all the days of our life on earth as strangers and pilgrim as that is what we are actually, still be content with what you have and be thankful for all the provisions of God, God will bless you and your family supernaturally and bring heaven down to your home by His Presence and Glory. Praise the Lord!

And also this can be used to say, that unless God blesses a house with a wife and children, even if we physically build a house, it cannot be kept filled with the people of the family to guard it by staying awake to keep strangers out of it. In other words, a peaceful home cannot exist without the LORD involved in every area of its growth and preservation. This is also true, and are preached by many other preachers.

But what about the deeper meaning of it? Here it is, our body is referred to as a house we have with which we live and survive in this earth. In other words, we are essentially a spirit being with a dust body, having a soul to think on our own. A demon spirit is always seeking for a body of someone on earth to express itself, because God has decreed only those with dust body are legal heirs appointed to live and have dominion over the entire earth. A demon gets in to a human being when they give it a place through opening their lives to its influence of fear and sinful habits, so that they begin to control the house of our body which was actually built for the Lord to live and reign in the earth.

When Adam our forefather sinned in his life and rebelled against God, the clay house of the body of Adam and Eve and all his offspring which was initially made in the image of God, made with a beautiful intention of God to preside through it by residing in it, became a house den of thieves and strangers which are Satan and his demon spirits, to live within it and do what they want in rebellion towards God.

Thus after the fall of our forefather Adam, the house of our own body with which we stay on this earth have been having a marred image of the sin of the first Adam. So sin made us human beings to become a rebel against God from the day of our birth.

So having no way out of the tyranny of Satan and his demons to invade this house of our body because of the nature of sin that has become part of it, God planned a wonderful strategy to rescue us from the invasion of demons which are strangers who always try to invade and destroy the houses of our bodies. This is the good news we as Christians preach to all the world.

From the day we are born on this earth, we are a house being built by our parents who try to preserve us and bring us up to make us become adults, so that we as responsible grown up adults can take care of the houses of our own body, and then get married, to further bring a individual family of their choice or our own wise choice which will hold their name to bring glory to them and the family as a whole. This is the basic cycle that we humans continue to do on this planet earth to live in the house of our body that keeps repeating itself in generation after generation by the grace and mercy of God. Praise the Lord!

We build a house of our own when we become adults, but according to the verse we read above, God challenges us that even if we build a house of our own by laboring through our earthly efforts of being a responsible father or a mother or a grandfather or a grandmother, it is all in vain. Why? Because soon we will be dying, after that what? That is where the human family has a limitation and where all the efforts we put in to our family becomes a vain because we will leave our own body let alone our family members on earth. Yes we guard the house we build after becoming adults, we try to preserve our own health through good exercise and nutrition to keep ourselves youthful and vibrant. But for how long? The question is not whether we will die, but it is when we will die that haunts humanity and even our self. In short, it is only a matter of time before we will leave this house of our body in which we have lived for seven or eight decades or more which then becomes desolate forever and ever to be buried or thrown back in to dust from which we have been made by God. Yes when we leave this house of the body which we have inherited from our parents, we also leave whatever riches we have inherited from our parents or what ever we have labored and treasured for ourselves and our children and grandchildren.

So for those of us who have believed Jesus by accepting ourselves as sinners in need of the Savior to God, have become God's children. We are the only ones in the whole world that is promised by God who created us as human houses, that though we might die like any other sinner in this world to leave the house of this body in which we live, but very soon those of us who have died in Christ Jesus through believing Him and becoming as saints from then on wards, are given hope that Jesus Christ will come with a trumpet sound of the angels, to raise us up in a new resurrection body of our own house that will live forever and ever in this old as well as the new heaven and new earth in which only those who are saved from sin could live and serve God forever and ever. This new house of our body is already being built in the heavens for all His children who live in Christ and for Christ.

The main message for Christians from God, is to look forward to inherit this house of a new body which the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY has promised to all who obey and live for Him who died for them. So I hope you understood the hidden message of God in this Scripture, "Unless the LORD builds the house, even if you labor hard it is in vain. Until the LORD starts to guard the city from [(i.e.) satanic intrusion], the watchman who keeps himself awake to keep it secure is absolutely in vain" which is being revealed to us all.

Above all, God has not only promised a eternal house of our own body to live in it forever in the new heaven and new earth, but also preserve it from the invasion of all evil spirits and satanic sorrows by guarding it from the city of New Jerusalem which will be placed in the midst of the new earth in which He will live along with all redeemed humans. The most exciting life that you can ever live is not something you have lived, but the one you are looking forward to experience out of this world will be by far the most exciting because God will live with you forever and ever in your own house for eternity ahead and there will be no more death at all which will brings sorrows along with it. Truly the best is yet to come because the best of life is kept as the end of all the greatest surprises and blessedness from God! GLORY TO GOD!

"One of the greatest gifts we can give our children and grandchildren is to teach them the doctrines of the resurrection and the new earth. They need to know they are made for a person and a place. Jesus is the person. Heaven is the place — not a ghostly place but God’s central dwelling place, which he promises to relocate to the new earth." — C.S. Lewis

Share:

What Does Shabbat Mean?

We As Christians Keep The Sabbath On Sunday, But Jesus Our Lord Kept It On Saturday? Whom Should We Follow?

Question: Can I say 'Shabbath Shalom!' to my friends on Sunday as a Christian? What does 'Shabbat' mean? We as Christians keep the Sabbath on Sunday, but Jesus our Lord kept it on Saturday? Whom should we follow?

Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!

Shabbat is the original Hebrew word for our English word sabbath. It comes from the root Shin-Beit-Tav and means “to cease, to end, to rest.” The word is invariably linked to the seventh day after the six days of creation, and that is how we see it used in the Old Testament. Shalom (Hebrew: "שָׁלוֹם"‬ shalom; also spelled as sholom, sholem, sholoim, shulem) is a Hebrew word meaning peace, harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility and can be used idiomatically to mean both hello and goodbye.

In Hebrew, words are built on "roots", generally of three consonants. When the root consonants appear with various vowels and additional letters, a variety of words, often with some relation in meaning, can be formed from a single root. Thus from the root sh-l-m come the words shalom ("peace, well-being"), hishtalem ("it was worth it"), shulam ("was paid for"), meshulam ("paid for in advance"), mushlam ("perfect"), and shalem ("whole").

Biblically, shalom is seen in reference to the well-being of others (Genesis 43:27, Exodus 4:18), to treaties (I Kings 5:12), and in prayer for the well being of cities or nations (Psalm 122:6, Jeremiah 29:7).

Shabbat is the most important holy day on the Jewish calendar, though it is kept every week by observant Jews and some others as it begins at nightfall on Friday and lasts until nightfall on Saturday, the non-observant Jew does celebrate it in the new year once a year or occasionally with their family. God put great emphasis on the Sabbath, as it is referenced in Scripture numerous times, such as in Exodus 20:8–9—“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work” (see also Exodus 23:12 and Leviticus 26:2). Shabbat was so important that God imposed the death penalty on those who refused to observe it, and we have two examples of people stoned to death for the violation of the law of God, one for Blasphemy and the other for breaking of Sabbath during the days of Moses (Lev 24:10-16; Num 15:32-36; Exodus 31:15).

Two most important reason that the Lord refers to, to remember and keep the Sabbath is,

1) It is a commemoration or remembrance of God’s six-day creation of the universe, in order to celebrate and make a ceremonial thanksgiving and praise to God for it with gratitude in our heart for all His goodness and mercies that He has continued to show to us humans since the first Sabbath (Exodus 20:8–11).

2) The Israelites for being led out of Egyptian captivity (Deuteronomy 5:15).

So for a Sabbath observing Jew, 'Shabbat' is a time to stop working, where the week long work ceases so that the devotee can concentrate solely on the spiritual aspects of life.

Jewish law prohibits doing any form of 'melakhah' which means 'work or deliberate activity' on Shabbat, with some exceptions. Any activities that contribute to personal profit or gain are forbidden. Jewish rabbinical tradition lists 39 categories of acts forbidden on Shabbat: plowing earth, sowing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking, shearing wool, washing wool, beating wool, dyeing wool, spinning, weaving, making two loops, weaving two threads, separating two threads, tying, untying, sewing stitches, tearing, trapping, slaughtering, flaying, tanning, scraping hide, marking hide, cutting hide to shape, writing two or more letters, erasing two or more letters, building, demolishing, extinguishing a fire, kindling a fire, putting the finishing touch on an object, and transporting an object (between private and public domains, or over four cubits within public domain).

The first question you asked was, 'Can I say 'shabbath shalom!' to my friends on Sunday as a Christian?'

To answer it, first I have to make sure you understand which is the Sabbath Day for a Christian? I mean, Is Sunday the Sabbath day for Christians like Saturday is for the Jews?

First of all as you said, Jesus Christ our Lord kept the Sabbath on Saturday because He was a Jew who in His own words have come to fulfill the law and thus he did not even break the least of the commandments of the Old Testament Scripture (Matt 5:17). But 'melakhah' which as we have seen means work or deliberate activity and the lists of 39 categories of acts forbidden on Shabbat, were not written in Scripture but rather is a tradition of men that Jesus did not respect and spoke against it by daring to do certain things of mercy and compassion on Sabbath day which were forbidden by the law keepers to be done on Sabbath day (Mark 7:9, 13). The law-keeping Jews kept it according to the letter of the law of Moses, but not according to the Spirit which was demanded by God, and thus God pronounced death upon all who kept it incompletely by their own strength reading Moses law and comparing their own life as a worthy righteous life accordingly (Luke 18:9-14), and for those who kept God's law through the Spirit He gave heaven's life freely as a gift, to all those who depended upon God's strength the Spirit of God to keep the law which He writes upon the hearts of men (2 Cor 3:4, 5-6, 2-3; Rom 2:12, 14-15, 13; Jam 1:21-27; 2:10, 12-13).

The seven perfect miracles of Jesus that broke the tradition of law keeping of the Jews are as follows, Jesus healed a lame man by the pool of Bethesda on Sabbath day (John 5:1-18), Jesus drove a demon out of a man on Sabbath (Mark 1:21-28), Jesus healed Peter's Mother-in-law on Sabbath (Mark 1:29-31), Jesus healed a man with a deformed hand on Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6), Jesus healed a man born blind on Sabbath day (John 9:1-16), Jesus healed a crippled woman on Sabbath (Luke 13:10-17) and finally we see Jesus heal a man with dropsy on Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6). Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and that makes the Sabbath the true "Lord’s Day.’ In performing these seven Sabbath miracles, Jesus is showing us and to the Jews how to keep the Sabbath. He emphasized the human element of faith, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness by healing and "doing good" on the Sabbath (Matt 23:23, 26-27). God wants not a external holiness of just a good behavior, but rather a cleansing of heart within by faith which brings internal cleanliness that keeps us holy unto the Lord and keeps our behavior acceptable to God and humans around us (Acts 15:9). He showed us that we are not to be "hard hearted" as the law keeping Pharisees were who kept it by the letter and not the Spirit when it comes to the keeping the Sabbath (Matt 5:17-20). We need to keep the Sabbath as Jesus did by worshiping God and "doing good and healing" the hurt, broken and needy! (Acts 10:38; Jam 1:27). God does not want us to have a religion that worships God with our lips, but makes us keep our hearts far away from God, but rather he wants us to develop a heart to heart relationship with God (Matt 15:8; Mark 7:6; Isa 29:13).

Thus Jesus was proving to all human that man is not made for Sabbath keeping, but rather Sabbath is made for man to have fellowship and rest with God and think about the eternal things that await before him, and get ready for it by and by, as we get closer and closer towards the day of death which has been appointed by God (Mark 2:27; Heb 9:27; Rom 13:11; Isa 48:16; Matt 6:19-21). Jesus is the LORD GOD of the Old Testament and is the Lord and Master of the Sabbath, which means we have salvation only through believing Him (Acts 4:12), as all things are created by Him and for Him, and therefore He is before all things and in Him all things are composed of to be made according to His purpose and plan, all thing consist and hold together and exist without shattering in to chaos because of Him (Mark 2:28; Col 1:14-17).

What have we as Christians have learned from the above exposition?

1) Should we keep the Sabbath Law according to the Letter of the Law of Moses?

Here is what the Great apostle Paul who wrote nearly one third of the entire New Testament under the inspiration of the Spirit says, "5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord." (Rom 14:5-8).

We see in the above verses Paul saying, let each believer decide when to keep the Sabbath or observance of any other law, as it is a personal relationship between the believer and the Lord who has purchased Him through His life blood. Therefore the main point apostle Paul wants us to understand is that we are Lord's property and not our own, so we live to please Him and die to please Him as believers in Him, and therefore it is not how we keep the law that pleases Jesus Christ but how we believe Him as our Lord and Savior that pleases Him and changes us to be transformed in to His image (1 Cor 6:19-20; 2 Cor 3:18; Rom 12:2; 8:29).

Paul further specifically speaks regarding Sabbath in another place saying, "16 So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. 17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ Himself is that reality." (Col 2:16-17, NLT), which clearly reveals that all Christians are not to live by law of which the wages are not counted according to grace, but according to debt towards God (Rom 4:4). Rather we should live by faith in God that justifies us before God and makes us live in the liberty of the Spirit, whose guidance become the law to us as Christians (Rom 8:2), which does not go together with written law of Moses always because law is not of faith. He who works the law and expects to please God shall live by law which condemn a sinner with the resulting curse of the law clouding over his life over and over whenever he breaks the least of the law (Gal 3:12; Rom 3:23; 6:23; Gal 3:10).

WE NEED NOT AND SHOULD NOT KEEP THE SABBATH LAW OF MOSES BY THE LETTER, BUT SHOULD KEEP IT BY THE SPIRIT which we have read about it so clearly.

2) Can I say 'shabbath shalom!' to my friends on Sunday as a Christian?

Yes you can, not because you keep the law like a Jew, but because you want to bless your friend with a blessing of rest that is provided by Christ internally in the soul and life which has got the potential to bless them in all areas of their lives (Heb 4:1, 4; Matt 11:28-30; 6:33-34).

3) So which is the Sabbath Day for Christians?

We know that the apostles gathered the assembly of saints on Sundays during the Roman empire period because it was the day in which Christ rose from the dead which is the central theme of our faith, and also all had leave from their regular work routine to rest and have fellowship with one another and God (1 Cor 15:12, 14, 17-18; Rev 1:10; 1 Cor 14:23; 16:2, 9; Acts 20:7; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19-23; Mark 16:1-11). The first day of the week is Sunday and the last day of the week is Sabbath day which is Saturday for the Jews (Matt 28:1-8, 9-10).

So a new day of faith has dawn upon the Christians, so that day of Sabbath rest and fellowship with God can be a Sunday or any other day according to the available day of rest given in the country where the Christian lives , for example a Christian who lives in Israel, Saturday can be a ideal Sabbath to gather together as one assembly, for those Christians who live in the Moslem countries, Friday can be the ideal day for Sabbath gathering of the assembly to gather together and worship the Lord in the beauty of His holiness (Psa 96:9). And all Christians who live in the western countries like Europe or North and South America or Australia, or in the eastern countries like India or China, or in northern country like Russia, or in southern countries like Africa can keep the Sabbath on Sunday as these countries keep the same old Roman System of leave on Sunday right from the day of Christ even until our 21'st century present generation. So the crux of the matter is, Sabbath is more of an internal 24/7/365 days perpetual rest and fellowship and intimacy with God to a Christian, rather than just a single day of rest and fellowship, be it Sunday or Friday or Saturday or any other day of the week (Heb 4:7, 9-10, 11). Those Christians who have entered in to this internal Sabbath will cease from their works to get saved or please God, because their work cannot save them forever, (i.e.) even in a million years that person cannot get qualified to enter the Kingdom of God except through having faith within them which gives them a righteous standing before God like it did to our Father Abraham who founded this faith of Christianity and brought it to the whole world through Jesus Christ his son (Heb 11:6, 1; Rom 10:16-17; 4:5-8, 2-4; Gal 3:1-9).

Which is the day of Sabbath for Christians? Sunday is one of the answer because from the day of apostles, it has continued to be the Sabbath day for us Christians. But that is not the full truth, because Sabbath was the one law which none of the apostles ever repeated it from the Old Testament in spite of repeating many verses from the OT Bible, or have never told the Christian followers to keep, and instead the World Apostolic Council which gathered together in the first century around A.D. 50 wrote a edict for all the Churches to keep, but Sabbath was never even mentioned in it as it was drafted to the Church under the direction of the Holy Spirit and sent through the foremost apostles like Paul who was himself a Jew who became a Christian (Acts 15:10, 8-9, 11, 22-29). This shows clearly that Sabbath has become a internal keeping of fellowship and intimacy with God perpetually rather than a single day of rest and fellowship with God externally by keeping of the law and rules.

Even the Church or family gathering together as a assembly was emphasized only once by the writer to the Hebrews where he says not to forsake the assembling together of saints as a corporate Church, as some in his times were walking as lone rangers in faith which is not the New Testament pattern of fellowship and growth in faith unlike in the Old Testament times where great men of faith were alone and secluded because of faith (Matt 3:1-3; 10:11-13; Luke 10:1; Matt 16:18; 18:17, 20), further the apostolic writer says not to forsake it in order to encourage one another to grow and stay strong in faith, as each one sees the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ draw nearer and nearer than ever before (Heb 10:25). Remember, one can drive out a thousand, two ten thousand to flight (Deut 32:30). One cannot keep themselves warm, but two even if sleeping together spiritually can still keep themselves warn (Eccl 4:11; Matt 25:2, 5-6). A person standing alone to fight against sin can be attacked and defeated by the evil one, world and their own sinful self, but two as husband and wife in a family can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better because God is the one who keeps the glue of the Spirit to keep the husband and wife stay together as One in Him, in real life too a triple-braided cord is not easily broken apart (Eccl 4:12). So a family is the first Church God has in his mind to establish on earth and spread the Kingdom of God (Gen 12:1-3).

4) We as Christians keep the Sabbath on Sunday, but Jesus our Lord kept it on Saturday? Whom should we follow?

So from the exposition clearly revealed above, we can understand that Jesus kept the law as a Jew to fulfill it and bring freedom from the law to make us walk in the Spirit and help us overcome the lust of the flesh (Matt 5:17; Gal 5:16-18). Until we are led by the Spirit, sin will overcome us because of lack of the empowerment of grace (Rom 6:14). We have come to understand that no human on earth from the first Adam born, could honestly keep the law without breaking it because they were all born in sin with a sin nature, which makes them live and breathe sin internally (Psa 51:5; 58:3; Eph 2:3; Eccl 7:20). But Jesus Christ being born through the virgin Mary without a earthly Father's seed, he was without sin nature of the first Adam, and was able to keep the law of God and the demands of it for the first time in the history of humanity before two thousand years (Matt 3:15-17; John 8:46). So the law of Moses was given as a restrainment from sin for the Jews until Jesus as their Messiah could come to fulfill God's righteousness for them (Gal 3:19, 21, 22, 23-24), and it was not given to keep them to fulfill righteousness, and if it has achieved righteousness before God without faith there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to come to earth to fulfill it and die for the sins of the whole humanity (Matt 3:15). Now that, faith has come, we are no more under the tutor which is the law that makes us realize we are sinners to guide us to Christ to receive the righteousness of God that justifies us and makes us cleansed by His blood to become as righteous as God is (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:25; Heb 9:14; 1 John 1:7, 9; Eph 2:10).

As Jesus kept the law to fulfill, we do not keep the law of Moses but the law of the Spirit as Christians, so we need not keep Sabbath on Saturday or Sunday or in any specific day to fulfill the law, but we can have a sabbath fellowship as a collective assembly to encourage each other and grow in faith ourselves and others. Further we can separate ourselves to have special time of communion with God in a set apart way on any of a particular day kept as a Sabbath of rest.

And further as Christians, we can commemorate or remember God’s six-day creation of the universe to be thankful with a heart of gratitude and praise Him for creating us and bringing us at such a time as this to fulfill God's purpose for this end time generation (Est 4:14; Acts 13:36). In the same way like the Israelites were led out of Egyptian captivity with Moses as their leader, we as Christians have been saved from sin and have been led out of the captivity of the slavery of sin through the grace and truth Jesus gave to us in our knowledge of Him as our leader the Messiah (Deuteronomy 5:15; John 1:14, 16-17, 18). So the observance of Shabbat can be honoring to God and beneficial to His children if it was done for growing in faith and fellowship with God and other fellow brethren, but it is not a requirement for those Christians who are in Christ.

Above all, we should remember to keep the Sabbath internally with experiencing the rest that Jesus gives by obeying him who speaks to us through His Spirit and walking in humility to be yoked with him, and to carry our cross to forsake our self and all, to be a disciple of Him for the rest of our lives having been saved and qualified freely for heaven (Matt 11:28-30; Luke 9:23; 14:26-27, 33). Praise the Lord!

We should follow Jesus not in following the law like Him who kept it to fulfill the law for us, but we should follow Jesus in loving Him through living a overcoming life over sin in faith, so that through the fruit of good character we bear, we will show to the world the greatness of our Father in heaven, who will be glorified only through our love for God and love for one another (Matt 22:36-40; John 17:23, 26; 13:34-35).

Much Blessings....

Share: