The Shepherds Bore Witness

12.21.09
J.A. Matteson

"In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…." Luke 2:8-9

Israel had been anticipating with desperation the arrival of Messiah and by this time in her history the expectation of His advent had reached a fever pitch under the yoke of Roman occupation which was ruthless and unyielding. The writings by the ancients who prophesied of Messiah were studied endlessly by the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. Even king Herod was familiar with their content and was consumed by a paranoia fixated on identifying and extinguishing the prophesized rival to his rule. The circumstances surrounding the announcement of Messiah’s birth was not arbitrary but divinely arranged, bearing witness to His person and mission. In this regard four key considerations are striking in Luke’s narrative regarding the angel’s announcement: the recipients of the message, the content of the message, the timing of the message, and the outcome of the message.

First, take note that the divine message was not delivered to the high priest or the Sanhedrin as human reasoning might expect, but to shepherds, those individuals who by vocation commonly endured low social, political, and economic status and were frequently accused of thievery due to their migratory lifestyle, being scorned by the religious elite. How fitting that the coming Good Shepherd purposed to announce in the open air His advent to those who were a portrait of His mission of mercy, “And He will arise and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, because at that time He will be great to the ends of the earth” (Micah 5:4). These were shabbily dressed men, smelling of livestock and campfires, and not at all like those freshly bathed, well dressed, and occupying fine quarters in Jerusalem. The angel’s appearing to the shepherds bore witness to the coming Great Shepherd who in like manor would also be despised by the religious elite, those who’s hearts were filled with hypocrisy and conceit, being consumed with self-glorification and not concerned with the interests of the Lord’s flock, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes” (Isa. 40:11).

Second, the content of the message of great joy was intended for every nation, tongue and tribe on the earth, and not merely for the Jews—a shocking revelation to the misguided religious elite; the announcement fulfilled the Lord’s covenant to Abraham, "I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 26:4).

Third, it was no mere coincidence that the angelic announcement took place in the dark of night as the physical darkness was symbolic of the spiritual darkness in which the fallen human race is held captive. And it was in the midst of this great darkness that the brilliant light of the glory of the Lord shown forth, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them” (Isa. 9:2). Note also the initiative of the Lord in manifesting His glory in the darkness also bares testimony to the Lord’s initiative in salvation, for unless the Lord intervenes in the darkened heart of sinners they will remain in spiritual darkness, blind to spiritual truth, “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here am I, here am I,' to a nation which did not call on My name” (Isa. 65:1). Salvation is dependant upon divine initiative for sinners do not seek after God on their own, “The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one” (Ps. 14:2-3). In his gospel John speaks of the divine initiative of the light of the glory of the Lord reveled in Jesus Christ, “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it” (Jn. 1:5).

Lastly, in verse 11 the angel announces that the substance of the good tidings of great joy is that in Christ a Savior was born and the outcome is salvation for whosoever shall call upon His name. In speaking to Nicodemus the Lord Jesus Christ later said of Himself, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14-15). Responding to the announcement the heavenly host began praising God, exclaiming, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men of His pleasure” (Lk. 2:14).

Beloved, let us in unison join the heavenly anthem and daily give thanks to our heavenly Father for the gift of His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever..." Isa. 40:8).

The Babe in the Manger

12.14.09
J.A. Matteson

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14

The symmetry of a Christmas time snow flake; the refraction of the suns rays off an ocean breaker at sunset; the orderliness of the seasons; the wonder of life; the nurturing bond between mother and child; the transcendent innate sense of morality within the human soul of right and wrong; the beauty of mathematics seen in the irreducible complexity of creation; the enduring ache within the human heart for significance and immortality; the inner awareness of sin; the inner witness of a Creator; the foreboding awareness of the passage of time and ones mortality.

To all of these things and countless others the Word speaks, the Word knows, the Word acts, the Word precedes, the Word follows. The Word transcends all things and is before all things, ordains all things and maintains all things. The Word to the Greek philosophers was the order and logic that held the universe together, and to that extent they were correct in their understanding although incomplete in their conclusion.

By divine revelation the Apostle John borrows from the opening passage of Genesis and introduces a literary paradigm shift of understanding—he personifies the Word, offering insight into the triune Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, one God comprised of three persons. In contrast to the Greek understanding of the Word as an impersonal abstract force—atheistic in essence—the Apostle raises the understanding of his readers that the Word is in fact order and logic and that these are reflective of the personal characteristics of their Author who is a Person—the one and only true God, Yahweh.

Christmas bares witness to and celebrates the incarnation of the Word in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus (Yahweh is salvation) Christ (the Anointed One/Messiah/Savior) is the second Person of the singular Godhead, fully God, fully man; born of a woman, Mary, by the incorruptible divine seed of His Father; sinless, performing the Law of God perfectly and as such worthy as the spotless Lamb of God to atone for the sins of the world, and as noted by the Apostle, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form…” and “For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him” (Col. 2:9; 1:19).

To this great mystery believers through the ages have marveled, pausing in awe at the miracle of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The babe in the manger being fully God while being fully human did not cease to exercise His divine prerogative as Creator for, “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities -all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). The condescension of Divinity into humanity has been and will continue to be the most marvelous and joyous event in human history for by it God supplied expression of His heart to redeem His people from their sin through the substitutionary death, burial, and resurrection of His Son.

In contrast to all other religious teachers Jesus Christ is unique, for He alone made claims to deity, validating them by the witness of prophetic Scripture, attesting miracles, and the resurrection; He alone is able to forgive sin as that is a divine prerogative; He alone has been appointed as Judge and will come again as He left—in bodily form. All other religious leaders were mere mortal men, sinners, and the scant remains of their bodies remain decayed in the ground. Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, Lao Tsu, the Caesar’s, Joseph Smith (Mormons), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah’s Witnesses), L. Ron Hubbard (Scientology), and Mary Baker Eddy (Christian Science) are all dead. Only Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, came into the world by means of a miraculous virgin birth, was resurrected from the dead, and ascended out of the world, remaining seated at the right hand of the Father as a testimony that His atoning work is complete.

Let us therefore hold the significance of Christmas near and dear to our hearts throughout the year, giving thanks to the Father for sending His only begotten Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And let us share the Father’s gift of His Son to all near and far as the Holy Spirit gives opportunity.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever...." Isa. 40:8).

The Child Mary Delivered

12.10.09
J.A. Matteson

"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus." Luke 1:31

The earthy life and ministry of Jesus Christ was bookended by two remarkable pronouncements; the initial being to Mary, “And behold, you will conceive….” and the final being “It is finished!” The full weight of the first pronouncement was to give fulfillment to the last declaration uttered by our Lord as He hung on the cross. The miracle of the incarnation defies comprehension; not that it is unintelligible, but that understanding it escapes the human capacity to fully grasp its spender, for as the Apostle discloses, “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16). And in regard to this statement consider this: the eternal God of glory condescend into the likeness man, walking among those He created, conversing, sleeping, and eating with them.

The Ancient of Days who set in the heavens the Pleiades, Orion’s Belt, and the Milky Way, and Who set the foundations of the earth, governing over all that dwell upon it and upholding it by the power of His Word, Who knows the essence and design of the subatomic molecule, Who drafted the chemist’s periodic table of natural elements, Who designed the laws of physics responsible for bringing to earth the leaf from an oak tree in Autumn, Who is the Author of light and life and all knowledge, things of the natural and spiritual order, He possess a perfect knowledge of all things past in what is called history, Who knows perfectly the present and is intimately acquainted with the heart of man, familiar with all his ways; Who knows the future plainly and His knowledge of all things exceeds merely what has been, is, or will be, but includes every possible combination of things that might have been, or could be in the present but will not be, and future things that could be but by His decree will not come to pass. He is also completely familiar with all secondary causes, maintaining governance over their effects to the satisfaction of His eternal decrees. And so as mother and father gazed into the face of the little babe lying in the feed trough intended for beasts they unwittingly peered directly into the eyes of the unfathomable depths of eternity Himself, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Ps. 90:2).

In our day some champion the naturalist position which rejects the virgin birth out of hand, suggesting it is a mere human contrivance, a biological impossibility and, thus, an absurdity. These voices of what is called “reason” deny the supernatural, eliminating the possibility of miracles. These same opponents, however, are often quick to acknowledge that science is correct in noting that the universe is not an eternal system, and in fact has been shown to have a beginning. The irony is that the opponents to the virgin birth appear to have no problem accepting the proposition that all the matter which makes up the universe came into being from a predicate state of nothingness, yet they insist on a natural first cause, denying a supernatural one, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). A state of nothing is impossible for the human mind to grasp because whenever our minds think of nothing we by nature think of something, such as an empty space of total blackness which is not nothing but something, because it has been described, for nothing to truly be nothing it must be indescribable, there being nothing to describe. There exists therefore an philosophical inconsistency by the opponents of the virgin birth who hold to the birth of the universe from nothing and who deny the birth of the Lord of glory in the womb of a virgin, to this end the Scripture is explicit, “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Lk. 1:37).

And the angel announced to Mary that His name would be Jesus, which means Yahweh is salvation. The eternal plan of salvation initiated in the Garden of Eden through the declaration of the Lord to the serpent found its fulfillment on a roman cross when the Son of God declared emphatically to the whole of creation, “It is finished!”, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ bore witness to the Father’s acceptance of the atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son. It was into this Face—the very face of God—that Mary and Joseph gazed. The child Mary delivered would not only deliver her from the bondage and penalty of sin, but also all who might call upon His name by faith.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).

Feeding Sheep or Amusing Goats?

by C.H. Spurgeon
1834–1892

An evil is in the professed camp of the Lord, so gross in its impudence, that the most short-sighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate, even for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them. From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses.

My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it? ‘Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.’ That is clear enough. So it would have been if he had added, ‘and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel.’ No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to him. Then again, ‘He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry.’ Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them. Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll.

Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all his apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? ‘Ye are the salt,’ not the sugar candy—something the world will spit out, not swallow. Short and sharp was the utterance, ‘Let the dead bury their dead.’ He was in awful earnestness!

Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into his mission, he would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of his teaching. I do not hear him say, ‘Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!’ Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them. In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel of amusement. Their message is, ‘Come out, keep out, keep clean out!’ Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence. They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, ‘Lord, grant unto thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are.’ If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. ‘They turned the world upside down’. That is the only difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.

Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts. Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them half-way, speak and testify. Let the heavy laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment had been God’s link in the chain of their conversion, stand up! There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts. The need of the hour for today’s ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.

Whosoever Thirsts

12.07.09
J.A. Matteson

"Now godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

A delightful aspect of grace in a believer’s life is the transformation of the desires of the heart. King David observed the miracle of grace in his own life, “How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures” (Ps. 36:7-8). By contract the natural man attempts to quell the unrest in his soul though an assortment of temporal alternatives, some of which may actually provide a deceitful form of solace, but like external anesthetic to the skin their effect is brief and soon the empty soul once again scourers the landscape of worldly balms to a ease the nagging discontentment within.

Intrinsic to the worlds understanding of gain is the presumption of an improvement to ones lot. The natural man, blind to the working of providence and spiritual light, finds the desired gain of inner contentment allusive because every object of his hoped relief is temporal and jaded by the fall. Within the fallen creation is the natural order of all things seen and unseen, physical and spiritual. The fallen world system affords many false allurements to the weary soul, pandering to the insatiable thirst for the gain of contentment. The Apostle prior to conversion sought contentment though the natural means of worldly power, position, prosperity, and popularity. Grace unto salvation taught him that real contentment is the fruit of justification and abiding in the true Vine, for genuine lasting contentment cannot be found apart from grace—it is a gift of God—and the sons of men living life under the sun are consigned to the drudgery of chasing a mirage through the desert sands of discontentment; Solomon under inspiration by the Holy Spirit observed, “For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God. This also is vanity and grasping for the wind” (Eccl. 2:26).

Godly contentment influences all areas of life, health, possessions, relationships, and position by infusing grace within the heart, yielding a perspective of wellbeing irrespective of circumstances which may be perceived as contrary, undergirded with a childlike trust in the goodness of the Father, receiving providential realities as gifts from the Lord for sanctification which will culminate in glorification.

Contentment is evidenced by an attitude of gratitude; discontentment is known by complaining. Contentment has as its focus the excellencies of knowing Christ Jesus; discontentment is focused on self exaltation. Contentment is the fruit of intimacy with Christ—as the pilgrim draws closer to Christ, He draws closer to him and His presence yields a supernatural contentment; discontentment reveals a heart distanced from the nourishment which the Vine supplies. Contentment considers each day a gift and seeks to share the gift of Christ; discontentment is obsessed with the future attainment and utilization of worldly amusements. Contentment receives providence with the assurance that good is resulting; discontentment is anxious and preoccupied with dread. Contentment acknowledges the mysteries of the Lord, that His wisdom and ways are supreme; discontentment applies human reasoning of divine prerogatives. Contentment interprets unexpected providences against the backdrop of Calvary, not questioning the love of the Savior for His sheep; discontentment questions the wisdom and love of God. Contentment finds the pursuits of worldly gain boring and tarnished, unworthy of time and energy as contrasted to the surpassing riches of Christ.

If godly contentment is elusive to you it is because you are drinking from the wrong well, Jesus Christ alone is the source of eternal contentment, He calls now to whosoever thirsts, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).

Thanksgiving Day

By Catherine Millard

Many Americans think of Thanksgiving as a wonderful time to celebrate getting out of school for a long weekend, and eating a great dinner. Or, maybe they think it is the start of the Christmas holiday season. What is the real meaning behind Thanksgiving? Catherine Millard writes:

We can trace this historic American Christian tradition to the year 1623. After the harvest crops were gathered in November 1623, Governor William Bradford of the 1620 Pilgrim Colony, “Plymouth Plantation” in Plymouth, Massachusetts proclaimed:

"All ye Pilgrims with your wives and little ones, do gather at the Meeting House, on the hill… there to listen to the pastor, and render Thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings."

This is the origin of our annual Thanksgiving Day celebration. Congress of the United States has proclaimed National Days of Thanksgiving to Almighty God many times throughout the following years. On November 1, 1777, by order of Congress, the first National Thanksgiving Proclamation was proclaimed, and signed by Henry Laurens, President of Continental Congress. The third Thursday of December, 1777 was thus officially set aside:

"…for solemn thanksgiving and praise. That with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts, and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor;… and their humble and earnest supplication that it may please God, through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them (their manifold sins) out of remembrance… That it may please Him… to take schools and seminaries of education, so necessary for cultivating the principles of true liberty, virtue and piety under His nurturing hand, and to prosper the means of religion for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth of 'righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost'…"

Then again, on January 1, 1795, our first United States President, George Washington, wrote his famed National Thanksgiving Proclamation, in which he says that it is…

"…our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue is… our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced…"

Thursday, the 19th day of February, 1795 was thus set aside by George Washington as a National Day of Thanksgiving. Many years later, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed, by Act of Congress, an annual National Day of Thanksgiving "on the last Thursday of November, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." In this Thanksgiving proclamation, our 16th President says that it is…

"…announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord… But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, by the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people…"

So it is that on Thanksgiving Day each year, Americans give thanks to Almighty God for all His blessings and mercies toward us throughout the year.

Sabbath for the Christian

11.24.09
J.A. Matteson

"Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you." Deuteronomy 5:12

The spiritual significance of Sabbath for the Christian is summed up in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The origin of the Hebrew word Sabbath is sabbat from the toot bat which means to cease or to rest. At Mt. Sinai the Lord delivered His covenant to Israel and codified the idea of Sabbath introduced earlier, “Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning" (Ex. 16:22).

At this time Israel understood the Sabbath as integral to the Lords act of creation where on the seventh day of creation He rested, and the imago dei in man required His people to rest as He rested as a perpetual reminder of His governance and provision, “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11). In this passage from Deuteronomy Moses restates the covenant to Israel given by the Lord at Mt. Sinai, but this time in the broader context he mentions Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage as the basis for the Sabbath observance, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).

For the nation of Israel they understood Sabbath as the perpetual reminder of the Lord’s act of creation of the heavens and the earth and His delivering them from Egyptian bondage. The early church began meeting on the first day of the week, Sunday, rather than the last day of the week, Saturday, which had been the traditional day of Sabbath observance for the Jews in accordance to the Decalogue and the reason for this change is wrapped up in the theological significance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of the Son of God signified that His atoning work on the cross was acceptable to the Father to save His people from their bondage to sin, being new creations in Christ Jesus to the glory of the Father. The description of Christians as those who are “in Christ” is a summary statement of their redemption whereby they are elected in Christ, “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4), justified, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1), sanctified, “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ….” (1 Cor. 1:2), and glorified, “and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).

The tie for the believer between the Lord’s Day of resurrection (Sunday) and the Sabbath is two fold: first, the believer is a new creation in Christ Jesus, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17); second, the believer as a new creation has been set free from the bondage of sin and death, “…and having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Rom. 6:18). The old covenant understanding of Sabbath anchored in the six days of creation and deliverance from Egyptian bondage foreshadowed the atoning work of Jesus Christ. The resurrection speaks to both the Father’s approval of the Son’s atoning death for His people and to the reality of their spiritual resurrection/creation to new life in Christ Jesus.

With the resurrection the old covenant of the Law became obsolete, giving way to a new covenant—a better covenant (Heb. 7:22)--of grace with the Law of God written on the heart. The early church established the pattern of meeting for worship and Sabbath rest on the Lord’s Day in commemoration of His completed work of atonement, recognizing that in Christ they were literally new creations, set free from bondage to sin and death.

Copyright (c) 2009 Immutable Word Ministries ("...the word of our God stands forever." Isa. 40:8).