God’s Law Changed
The Bible prophesied a power would arise that would attempt to change God’s law. Has this happened?
Where is truth found?
Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Truth is revealed in the Bible, the Word of God (see “Can I Trust the Bible?).
What advice does the Bible give regarding truth?
Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Some are willing to sacrifice everything for the truth they find in God’s Word, but could personal gain, convenience, or even persecution cause others to sell the truth?
Does Jesus change?
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
What were the Ten Commandments written on?
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.
God wrote the Ten Commandments Himself on tablets of stone to illustrate their unchanging, eternal nature.
What did Jesus say about the law?
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Because Jesus cannot change, His law cannot change either since it is a reflection of His character (see “God’s Law of Love”).
What’s part of the law? When was it established?
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Part of the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai was the fourth commandment regarding the seventh day Sabbath, but the Sabbath was actually established at the end of the very first week of creation. It was to be a monument of time, a weekly reminder to the human race of their Creator God and a weekly testimony of their allegiance to Him. Unlike a physical monument, this was a universally accessible one that any person could honor, regardless of his or her location.
Did Jesus keep it? Was it kept after His ascension?
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
In the Biblical context the Sabbath is always used in reference to the seventh day. God defined it as the seventh day Sabbath when He first instituted it, and it has been so since. Jesus kept it, His followers kept it, and it continued to be kept by the believers after His ascension.
What warning did Paul give?
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.
Paul warned that people would arise within the church, meaning they would profess to be believers, speaking perverse things and drawing other believers away after themselves.
Was this prophesied in advance?
And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered.
Daniel prophesied a power would arise that would magnify itself even against God Himself to the point of trampling on the truth of the Bible, and it would be successful in doing these things.
Does Daniel have additional details?
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
This is an echo of Paul’s warning about men arising “speaking perverse things.” Again, here’s a power that would challenge God’s authority, persecute His followers, and change times and laws. There is only one commandment that is both a time and a law: the fourth one. The first seeds for its change were planted during Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 A.D. when he passed a law declaring Sunday, which was the pagan day of sun worship, as the day of rest across the Roman Empire. That seed took root in 363 A.D. when the Council of Laodicea urged Christians to keep Sunday as their rest day, while prohibiting them from resting on Saturday, the seventh day Sabbath, and the rest is history.
Did Jesus warn about this?
Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
The elevation of human-made commandments and tradition above the truth of the Bible was already a problem in Jesus’ time, and He warned against such hypocrisy.
What role will the law play in the last days?
And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.
In the last days there will be a sealing of God’s people in their foreheads, and Isaiah says it’s the law that’s sealed among His people. The sealing of the law in the forehead is God’s people making an unwavering decision in their mind to honor the authority of God’s law in their life as supreme and above the laws of men, no matter the cost.
What is said about the saints?
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. ... Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
There will be a call in the last days to worship God, the Creator of the universe, which implies there will be another power vying to be worshiped as well. This call is a reference to the last part of the fourth commandment where keeping the Sabbath is identified as a sign and an acknowledgment that God is the Creator of all. Could the worship of God by keeping His seventh day Sabbath constitute the seal of God in the last days? Verse 12 leaves no room for doubt when it says the saints will be keeping the faith of Jesus, who kept the seventh day Sabbath, and the commandments of God, which include the fourth. May we be found faithful in our stand for Jesus.