Sabbath and Feast Keeping: A Letter to a Former Sabbath Keeper
A Letter to a Former Sabbath Keeper.
By
Stephen W. Kraner
A Letter to a Former Sabbath Keeper.
By
Stephen W. Kraner
Dear _________,
It was with disbelief and shock that I read your letter. I couldn’t believe my eyes! You, who
know that in all the whole world “Sunday” had no significance until Constantine made a law
about 321 A.D. to lift it up, even among the pagans! -you, who have known the scriptures about
our Savior: “Before Abraham, I am,” (John 8:58); Who is the very same Christ Who was in the
cloud with ancient Israel and was the Rock from which poured fourth water that followed them
around the wilderness:
- “1. Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea; - 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
- 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
- 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ.” 1Corinthians 10:1-4.
“Yahushua ha’Messhiach, the same yesterday, and today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8); and, “I
change not” (Mal. 3:6) -How could you turn from the very Torah (including the seventh-day
Sabbath) that Yahuwah spoke from Sinai, which spoken Word was made flesh (John 1:14)?!!!
Since our Savior was the Creator, how could you turn from Him Who made the Sabbath for man,
to fellowship with those who honor Sunday, which day was lifted up by the pagan emperor,
Constantine?
The New Covenant promise in Jeremiah 31:31-33 (quoted in Hebrews 8:8-12) specifically states
that YHWH would put His Torah in our inward parts and write it upon our hearts. The WHOLE
TORAH!!! This includes the Ten Commandments with the Seventh-day Sabbath! Where is your
mind? How can you disregard the parallel between Heb. 8:8-12 and Jer. 31:31-33? How can you
disregard the witness that the whole Torah is to be written upon our hearts?
In your letter you stated:
- “The way I see it now is that the Ten Commandments are the 10 words of the covenant. (The Old Covenant).
The Old Covenant is replaced by the indwelling Spirit 2Cor. 3.”
Take a little closer look at 2Corinthians 3:3. But, first take note of the following parallel:
Luke 11:20. “20 But if I with the finger of G-d cast out devils, no | Matthew 12:28. “28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of G-d, then the |
Please note that the “finger of G-d” is the same as the “Spirit of G-d.”
Now, take a look at Exodus 31:18:
- “18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two
tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.” Exodus 31:18.
So, Who wrote the Ten Commandments? Answer: The “Finger of G-d,” the Holy Spirit!
Now, take a closer look at 2Corinthians 3:
- “3 [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. ” 2Corinthians
3:3.
“Ink” was never used to write the Ten Commandments. “Ink” was used to write the Torah
upon the skins of sacrificial animals. Remember, Jeremiah 31:33 said:
- “33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith YHWH,
I will put My law [Strong’s H8451, TORAH] in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be
their G-d, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33.
And, Ezekiel 36:26, 27 says:
- “26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. - 27 And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My
judgments, and do [them].” Ezekiel 36:26, 27.
It was the same Holy Spirit Who engraved the Ten Commandments upon the Tables of Stone,
under the Old Covenant, Who now writes not only the same Ten Words upon the hearts of the
New Covenant believer, but also the whole Torah.
Do you even remember Sidney Davis’ lecture explaining that Jerome, when translating the
Scriptures into Latin, translated the Hebrew word, “chuq” or, “chuqqim,” as
“ceremonae”!!!???(1) Didn’t it ever dawn upon you that Ezekiel 36:26, 27 (alluded to in Hebrew
10:22) promises that under the New Covenant, with the gift of YHWH’s Spirit, the we would be
caused to walk in the “ceremonae” (ceremonial) laws, the statutes of YHWH?
You ask me whether I have received the Holy Spirit. (I have received an “earnest” of the Spirit.)
I ask you, which spirit have you received, the spirit of obedience or, the spirit of disobedience?
The Spirit of Obedience. “2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, | The Spirit of Disobedience. “2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course |
Are you born of the Spirit? Where is the evidence that you are a “son of the Most High”?
- “50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister,
and mother.” Matthew 12:50. - “2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments.
- 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not
grievous.” 1John 5:2, 3.
Where is the Scripture that states that Elohim’s Torah is a yoke of bondage? Answer: Nowhere.
James speaks of the Torah as the “law of liberty.” It was the “law of sin in our members,”
(Romans 7:23) our flesh, that was the “yoke of bondage.”
- “33 They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye
shall be made free? - 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.”
John 8:33, 34.
In your letter, you point out that the Sabbath was the “sign” of the Old Covenant. You fail to
recall what Romans says was the problem with the law of the Old Covenant: the weakness of the
flesh:
- “3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: - 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
Romans 7:3, 4.
Under the Old Covenant, Israel said, “All that YHWH has said we will do” (while yet in their
fallen flesh). Under the New Covenant, YHWH says, “All that I have said, I will cause you to
do.” Take note of the parallel between the Old and New Covenants:
Old Covenant. | New Covenant. |
Israel was delivered from slavery to Egypt. | Born-again Israel is delivered from slavery to the law of |
The Passover lamb was slaughtered on the 14th of | “Christ, our Passover” was “sacrificed for us” on the 14th |
Literal Israel was “born” as a nation of firstfruits upon its | Messiah (and we who believe on Him, and are hid in Him) |
In Deut. 5:15 (as well as Ex. 20:1, 8-11), Israel is told that | According to Hebrews 4:9, 10, since Israel had failed to |
- “8 For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he [YHWH through David] not afterward have
spoken of another day. - 9 There remaineth therefore a rest [Strong’s G4520 sabbatismos, a keeping sabbath] to the people of G-d.
- 10 For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as G-d [did] from His.
- 11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Hebrews 4:9, 10.
Keeping Sunday is Constantine’s works. Keeping (or attempting to keep) Sabbath without faith
in Yahushua and the New Covenant promises is your own works. But, keeping Sabbath in
faith in Yahushua ha’Messhiach and the New Covenant promises is resting in Yahushua’s
re-creative rest. The Sabbath is the sign of our deliverance from slavery to sin and from our sinful
nature.
I am including a paper that I have written titled, The Truth About the Torah Relative to the New
Covenant. Please read it carefully. While a couple statements from Ellen White occur prior to
the body of the study, and, several additional statements occur after the body of the study, the
study itself stands solely upon Scripture. I pray that the eyes of your understanding might be re-opened.
Sincerely,
Stephen W. Kraner
1. While speaking at a Sabbath More Fully Conference in Michigan in June of 2000, Dr. Sidney Davis, in his lecture titled, How Did We Get Into All This Mess?,
explained that the Hebrew word for “statute,” “chuq,” was translated as “ceremonae” by Jerome. Then St. Thomas Aquinas, in part, correctly showed the divisions
of the Torah (as well as the “ten words,” Ten Commandments) into (1) commandments (mitsvot); (2) statutes (chuqqim); and (3) judgments (mishpatim). From
this foundation has come the doctrine that the Sabbath belongs to the “Ceremonial Law.” This is a truth. The Sabbath of the Fourth Commandment does belong to
the “chuqqim.” But, though the appointed times for worship, as well as the ritual animal sacrifices and the associated blood ritual are all “chuqqim,” the
“ordinances of the altar” and the laws pertaining to that which was “heaved” before YHWH are separately distinguished in Scripture. See Zeph. 3:18 were the
mo’edim (the feasts) are incorrectly equated to heave oblations.
