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Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight! by Dr. David Bird. This book is
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Please click on the Question below to read the answer as found in the book. Material presented here from Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight! can be copied and transmitted on the condition that the following sentence is clearly mentioned: "From Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight!, Copyright, David Bird, 2003, available at www.xulonpress.com ISBN no. 1-591606-03-09. Please include this sentence if quoting."
The contents of the book Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight! are listed below.
Headings in CAPITALS indicate links to the full text for that section.
Headings that are in lower case indicate sections of the book where the text is not available on the web.
If you also want the free supplementary material for Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight! (about the prophecies of Daniel, 1844, the pre-advent judgment, Babylon etc.) please click here.
Chapter One: Matters relating to Time
1. Which day is the seventh day of the week?
2. Is there any proof that Saturday was the exact day of the week upon which God rested at the end of Creation Week (Genesis 2:3)?
3. Have calendar alterations confused the weekly cycle so that we can no longer guarantee which day of the week was the original seventh day?
5. How can people who live near the poles know which day is the Biblical Sabbath when at certain times of the year the sun never sets?
6. Is it true that the Bible describes sabbath observance as occurring on a variety of days (e.g. first, seventh and "eighth") and for different lengths of time (e.g. one day, two days, one year, seventy years and for eternity)?
7. Was not the seventh-day Sabbath of Israel a changing Sabbath, being observed on two different days of the week each year because of an additional Sabbath being observed at Pentecost?
Chapter Two: The Seventh-day Sabbath and Israel
8. IS SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH OBSERVANCE FOR ISRAEL ONLY?
9. Why should the church observe the old Jewish Sabbath if it is just a memorial of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt?
Chapter Three: The Seventh-day Sabbath and the Book of Genesis
10. How could Adam and Eve's first Sabbath have been the same day God rested when they were only created the day before God's Sabbath? Adam and Eve had worked no more than one day and are not six days of work required before a Sabbath?
11. How can it be said that Sabbath observance has been required from man’s beginning when, on account of Adam’s almost immediate sin, God Himself stopped observing the Sabbath shortly after the creation of the world in order to begin the work of redemption?
12. How can it be said that Sabbath observance has been required from man’s beginning when it was thousands of years after creation before we hear anything about God commanding people to observe a certain day in commemoration of His work?
Chapter Four: Faith, Law and Grace
13. WHY CANNOT WE JUST REST ON ANY DAY, WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE WEEK?
14. IS SABBATH-KEEPING LEGALISM? HAVE SABBATH-KEEPERS "FALLEN FROM GRACE"?
15. Some claim that the New Testament apostles did not require Law and Sabbath-keeping. Is this claim true?
16. Was not Israel obliged to commemorate freedom from bondage by observing a yoke of bondage while, in contrast, Christians are free to commemorate their freedom on any day that they choose?
17. Would not observing the Sabbath be going "under the law" and obligate Christians to keep the whole law of Moses?
18. Since it is not the day that makes an act sinful but the act itself, regardless of the day on which it is committed, why should the seventh day be considered more sacred than any other day?
19. Was not the Jewish Sabbath a part of the Mosaic Law, which was abolished and done away with?
Chapter Five: The New and Old Covenants
20. HAS NOT THE NEW COVENANT DONE AWAY WITH SABBATH OBSERVANCE?
21. Are not Christians free from "bondages" of the old covenant like the sentence of death for cooking, making fires or performing other duties on a Sabbath?
22. Does Acts chapter 15 prove that the Sabbath was left out of the new covenant?
Chapter Six: Christ’s Teachings and Practices
23. Did Jesus and His disciples disregard the traditional Jewish idea of the Sabbath and therefore show that there was no longer any obligation to keep it?
24. HOW DID CHRIST RELATE TO THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH?
25. Did Christ abolish the seventh-day Sabbath?
26. Did Christ or any apostle give recognition to the seventh-day Sabbath after the resurrection?
Chapter Seven: The New Testament Church’s Teachings and Practices
27. Does the New Testament ever record a distinctive gathering of Christians on the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath?
29. It is claimed by some that the seventh-day Sabbath is not important because, of the 60 times the word "Sabbath" is found in the New Testament, it is used 50 times before the establishment of the new covenant and, of the remaining 10 times, none support its ongoing observance. Is this true?
30. Does the Bible command Gentiles or the New Testament church to keep any particular day as the Sabbath, or to respect one day as being more holy than another?
31. Why should we respect the seventh-day Sabbath when observance of days is rebuked by Paul in Galatians chapter 4?
32. Why should we respect the seventh-day Sabbath when it is not named among the necessary requirements of the gospel in Acts chapter 15?
33. Why should we respect the seventh-day Sabbath when real and eternal rest is found in Christ and not in some mere "holy day"?
Chapter Eight: The First Day of the Week versus the Seventh
34. Does not rest and worship on Sunday serve the same purpose as on the Sabbath?
36. Does Sunday have pre-eminence because Christ's post-resurrection appearances were on the first day of the week?
37. Does Sunday have pre-eminence over the Sabbath because the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was on the first day of the week?
38. Should we observe Sunday because this was the day when the first gospel sermon after Christ's ascension was preached and when the first conversions took place?
39. Should we observe Sunday rather than the Sabbath because God honored the first day of the week by giving the Ten Commandments on that day?
40. Does Sunday have pre-eminence over the Sabbath because God honored the first day of the week by giving the book of Revelation on that day?
41. Did not the "church fathers" denounce the seventh-day Sabbath and reverence Sunday, holding this day up as being the true Christian Sabbath?
Chapter Nine: Issues of Allegiance
42. First Timothy 5:8 says that if we do not provide for our own family we are "worse than an infidel". But if we start observing the seventh-day Sabbath many of us will lose our jobs. How can God want us to keep the Sabbath and yet forfeit our livelihoods?
43. Why and how has the day of worship been changed from the seventh-day Sabbath to Sunday?
44. Is there a relationship between the seventh-day Sabbath and the seal of God mentioned in Revelation?
45. If we say that the seventh-day Sabbath should be kept by Christians as a sign of allegiance to God, are we not going against Colossians 2:14-17 which says that it is wrong to judge people in regard to sabbaths?
46. Is Sunday-keeping sinful or "the mark of the beast"?
Chapter Ten: The Seventh-day Sabbath in Practice
48. Does the Fourth Commandment require us to work the first six days in every week in order to keep the Sabbath properly?
49. HOW SHOULD THE SEVENTH-DAY SABBATH BE OBSERVED?
Appendices
Appendix One: The Plucking up of the Three Horns
Appendix Two: The Day-for-a-year Principle.
Appendix Three: The Horn with Eyes and a Mouth Fulfils Prophecies of Daniel Chapter Seven.
Appendix Four: The Land-beast and the Image to the Beast of Revelation 13
Appendix Five: What Happens When We Die?
Appendix Six: Thirty-seven Accomplishments of Christ’s Death and Resurrection
If you also want the free supplementary material for Sabbath Challenge, Sabbath Delight! (about the prophecies of Daniel, 1844, the pre-advent judgment, Babylon etc.) please click here.