THE INCREDIBLE HISTORY OF GOD’S TRUE CHURCH – (6) [Part One]
THE GREAT CONSPIRACY
IT was said of the first Christians that they were people who “turned the world upside down.” The respected Roman writer Tacitus records that within a mere thirty-three years of the execution of its founder, the new religion had spread like wildfire through much of the civilized world.
Even at Rome, the capital city of the empire, “vast multitudes” had embraced the new faith, and were even ready to die in Nero’s reign of terror rather than renounce their newly discovered Saviour.
There were several reasons for the phenomenal success of the new movement. Firstly, it offered the adherent a reason for living, beyond mere physical survival into old age. It added a new dimension in living which transcended the “bread and circuses” concept of the Roman “man in the street.”
Apart from providing practical, living principles for success in this present life, which would promote physical health and peace of mind, material prosperity and happy family relationships, the new faith offered the prospect that an individual could attain the age old goal of overcoming man’s final enemy – death, and of living forever.
It offered human beings something which no other religion had come remotely near to offering – the possibility that flesh and blood people could become children of God (Genesis 1:26; Romans 8:14-17), and that through the means of a resurrection from the dead, the human body, subject to weakness, decay and death, could be transformed into a glorified spirit body, like that of the resurrected Christ (Philippians 3:20-21).
As a member of the God Family, an actual brother of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), the “born again” Christian is given the opportunity of rulership not only on this earth (Revelation 2:26) but ultimately over a part of the vast universe (Hebrews.2:5-8).
Itis small wonder that the early Christians, faced with the prospect of such an awesome future, were more than willing to pay the price necessary to qualify; that price being their willingness to obey the laws of God and, with the assistance of His Holy Spirit, develop the very mind and character of God.
The plan of salvation which was revealed to the early church was universal in its scope and application; it was not confined to one race or religious sect or group. The plan was open to all people of all races, including all who had lived in the past, and will live in the future; although not all people were granted the opportunity to understand the plan at the same time.
In order to keep the true church constantly aware and reminded of God’s plan, the first Christian observed the Old Testament holy days or Sabbaths; but in a new spirit and with an expanded level of understanding.
Many people have assumed that the weekly and annual Sabbaths (Feast Days) of Israel were done away by Christ and perhaps “nailed to the cross,” that new days such as Sunday, Easter and Christmas were introduced to take their place.
History clearly reveals, however, that these days, classified by some as “Jewish,” were observed by the true Church of God for centuries, not only in Palestine and Asia Minor but even in remote Britain and Ireland.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, kept these days and instructed his Gentile converts to do likewise. He even refused valuable opportunities to preach the gospel at times saying that
“I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will” (Acts 18:21).
Luke speaks of sailing from Philippi “after the days of unleavened bread” (Acts 20:6), and of Paul making haste to be at Jerusalem to observe Pentecost (Acts 20:16).
Gentile Christians at Corinth were urged to
“Purge out therefore the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (I Corinthians 5:7-8).
The annual Sabbaths were not a part of the law of Moses, but were observed before the ritualistic ordinances contained in that law were given.
Formerly pagan, Christian converts at Colosse were criticized by false teachers in respect of their observance of these days (Colossians 2:16). Paul makes the point that it is
the leaders within the Church of God, not unauthorized outsiders, who should determine how these days should be kept.
There is no mention of the abolition of these days but simply guidance as to how they should be kept.
During the first three centuries of the Christian era a controversy raged, sometimes leading to bloodshed and death, over which weekly day of worship Christians should observe. Should they keep the Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) or Sunday?
There is no shred of evidence that the first century Church of God kept any other day than the Sabbath as a day for weekly church meetings. Even some leading theologians of Sunday-keeping churches have agreed that not one single verse in the entire Bible authorizes Sunday observance.
A few New Testament passages have been used as giving sanction for church services on Sunday; but an examination of the context of these passages gives an entirely different picture.
In Acts 20:7 we read:
“And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight. “
Some have imagined this to have been a Sunday morning communion service, but it was no such thing. At the time that this was written, each day was counted from sunset to sunset. A meeting which ended at midnight on the first day of the week must have started Saturday evening. The first day of the week ended at sunset on Sunday. This was a Saturday evening meeting. On the Sunday morning Paul set off to walk to Assos, where a ship was waiting for him.
A second important point regarding this verse is that the term “break bread” is used here to denote the taking of a communal meal, not the Sunday communion service. The New Testament church observed the Passover or “Lord’s Supper” once a year, not every week on Sunday morning. Verse six of this passage plainly states that this service had already been held about two weeks earlier.
I Corinthians 16:2 is also sometimes used as an example of a Sunday service. It reads:
“Upon the first day of the week let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. “
Even a casual reading of the earlier verses of this chapter indicates that this instruction, given by Paul, has nothing whatever to do with church services, but rather a gathering of farm produce and other foodstuffs, which was to be sent to the church members at Jerusalem who were suffering from a severe food shortage.
The Weymouth translation adds the important point that this collection of food, which certainly was to take place on a Sunday, was to be done by each individual Christian “at his home.” These people were not meeting together for a church service on this day but rather gathering food in their own individual homes.
A reference in Revelation 1:10 to “the Lord’s day” is also taken to promote Sunday observance. At least one translation renders this “the day of the Lord,” and as the entire context of the book of Revelation is one of revealing future world events, including the prophesied “day of the Lord” (the time of God’s direct intervention in world affairs), this is clearly the true meaning of the verse. Yet again we find that this has nothing to do with religious services on a Sunday.
Jesus Christ, the ultimate authority on which day is the true “Lord’s day,” made the revealing statement that “the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28).
Quite late in the New Testament period when the book of Hebrews was written, the entire Church of God was still observing the seventh day Sabbath: “Therefore
a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God” (Heb.
4:9).
From a very early date it was claimed by some that Sunday observance was introduced in recognition of the resurrection of Christ, which they said took place on a Sunday. But is this really correct?
In John 19:31 we read that
“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day” obtained permission from Pilate to hasten the deaths of the two men who were crucified with Jesus.
It would seem from the first part of this verse that Christ really did die on “Good Friday.” John, however, adds vital additional information which proves that the “Sabbath” following the crucifixion was not the weekly Sabbath (Saturday) but an annual holy day Sabbath, (“for that Sabbath was a high day”).
This particular high day Sabbath was called by the Jews “the great Sabbath” and is also known as the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread in which a “holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:7) was held.
Eusebius relates that Polycarp, a leader of the true Church of God in Asia Minor, was taken for trial and execution on a great Sabbath day. The marginal notes explain that “The great Sabbath was the feast of unleavened bread ….” 1
The fourteenth verse of John nineteen explains that the crucifixion took place on a “preparation” day. Not the preparation for the weekly Sabbath, but “the preparation for the Passover.”
The Jews always killed the Passover lambs on the day before “the great Sabbath.” This was the very day on which Christ was crucified. Jesus Christ, “the lamb of God,” was sacrificed as “our Passover … sacrificed for us,” as Paul puts it, at about the time that the Jews killed the physical larnbs.
In A. D. 31, the year of the crucifiction, this day fell on a Wednesday, not a Friday.
The only sign that Jesus ever gave of His Messiahship was that He would be in the grave for “three days and three nights” (Matthew12:39-40). He died shortly after “the ninth hour” (Luke 23:44) between 3 p.m. and sunset. The resurrection took place at the same time of day, three days later. This brings us to a Saturday afternoon.
Mark records that at about dawn on the following Sunday, the next morning, the angel informed the women who had come to the sepulchre that “he is risen.” He did not say, “he is rising.” The resurrection took place at the same time of the day as the death – the late aftemoon. This is why at dawn the next day (Sunday) He was already risen.
The resurrection took place on the Sabbath – not Sunday. There were two Sabbaths in the week that Christ died. The annual holy day Sabbath on the Thursday and the weekly Sabbath on the Saturday; the women purchased and prepared their spices on the day between, the Friday.
The true church continued to observe the Passover on the 14th day of the first month (Nisan) as a memorial of the death of Christ for several centuries. The church historian, Bede, records that Christians in Scotland were still keeping the Passover as late as the 7th century A.D.
This day pictures the shedding of Christ’s blood, the Lamb of God without spot or blemish, to pay the penalty for human sins. He who never sinned was able, as God in human form, to fully pay the price of all human sins, and to take the death penalty which we have incurred upon Himself. This sacriflce wipes the slate clean and gives those who repent of sin and wish to accept His sacrifice access to God.
The seven days of unleavened bread which follow the Passover picture the newly converted Christian coming out of sin (leaven is used as a type of sin), as the Israelites, in the Exodus, came out of Egypt, immediately after the first Passover. The Christian, like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, has to learn how to keep the Commandments of God. Sin, the thing which he has to come out of, is defined as the breaking or transgression of those very same laws (I John 3:4).
The next holy day, Pentecost, symbolizes the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), which gives a fleshly human being the spiritual power to keep a spiritual law – the law of God. It pictures the flrstfruits, a small called-out body of Christians, called to do the work of preaching the gospel to the world as a witness (Matthew 24:14), and to qualify as individuals by overcoming “the world, the flesh and the devil” in order to have a part in the world-ruling Kingdom of God, to be set up at the return of Christ.
This group of holy days, kept during the early part of the year, portrays the calling and training of the “Firstfruits” of God’s Plan of Salvation. The true Church of God, called by Christ a “little flock,” is called to an understanding of God’s plan in advance of the broad majority of the earth’s population, in order to prepare to assist Christ in the administration of God’s government on earth (Revelation 2:26).
The later group of festivals held in the autumn (fall) of the year picture God’s dealings with the world as a whole.
The first festival in this second group is the “Feast ofTrumpets” defined as “a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation” (Leviticus 23:23-25).
It pictures the historical event, yet future, of the return of Christ to earth as a King and Ruler, to take over the government of the entire world, and set up the Kingdom of God on earth (Revelation11:15).
It is the time when true Christians who died in the past will be resurrected to glorified spirit life, and those still living at that time will be changed or transformed into the same form (I Corinthians 15:51-52).
The next holy day, the Day of Atonement, is observed as a day of fasting. It looks forward to the time when Satan, the devil “which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9) is bound and imprisoned for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3). As the live goat in the Old Testament observance of this festival, in a symbolic sense, took the sins of the Israelites into the wilderness (Leviticus 16:20-26), so Satan will carry away with him his part in all human sins (Christ has already paid the penalty for our part in our sins when we repent).
With our human sins now paid for and forgiven, and Satan no longer able to deceive human beings, those who desire God’s salvation are now At-one with God. Atonement means At-one-ment – human beings finally “at one” with God.
Christians were still keeping this festival in A.D. 58 when Paul took his sea voyage to Rome. In Acts 27:9 it is recorded that “when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past …. “ The “fast” mentioned here was the Day of Atonement.
Shortly after this festival, Christians observed the seven day long Feast of Tabernacles. This pictures the thousand year reign of Christ on earth, also known as the Millennium. This doctrine of the Millennium was believed, as looking forward to a literal thousand year reign of Christ on earth, for centuries.
During the second century Papias of Hierapolis stated that “There will be a period of some thousand years after the first resurrection of the dead, and the kingdom of Christ will be set up in material form on this very earth.”
Other “church fathers” of the second and third centuries such as Iranaeus and Tertullian held similar views relating to this doctrine.
This amazing and yet future period of human history will be the time when “all Israel shall be saved” (Romans11:26). At this time spiritual understanding will be available to all, and human beings, no longer having their minds confused by Satan’s deceptions, will become converted in large numbers. It will also be a time of great material prosperity and abundance.
A prophecy relating to a time, after the second coming of Christ, gives clear evidence that the observance of this Festival was not something which was “nailed to the cross” and done away with.
