Haven’t you ever wondered WHY God has evidently insisted upon being called the God OF ISRAEL. Remember, He is called that one hundred and eighty-eight times in the scriptures and only calls Himself the God of the Gentiles (i.e., nations). (See Romans 3:29). Jesus, this God of Israel, declares “other sheep I have (the Gentiles), which are not of this fold (Israel), them also I must bring (to God the Father), and they shall hear my voice (so as to understand and respond), AND THERE SHALL BE ONE FOLD (SPIRITUAL ISRAEL), AND ONE SHEPHERD (JESUS CHRIST)” (See John 10:16). And that one fold is the spiritual house of Israel!!!
There are not two bodies of Christ – a Gentile fold and an Israelite, or Jewish, fold. Nor is there a Sunday keeping fold and a sabbath keeping fold. There is but ONE fold, one body of Christ – and that body of Christ is spiritual Israel. This is a basic, fundamental doctrine of scripture, and unless rightly understood literally hundreds of scriptures remain locked to the understanding of not just the world but locked to the understanding of believers – even many “preachers!”
Satan has a greater understanding of this truth than most ministers, and that is pathetic, reprehensible, tragic, but nonetheless TRUE! That is WHY Satan moved early on to divide the body of Christ into two folds – a Sabbath keeping fold and a Sunday keeping fold. Seeing his success, he then moved quickly to divide and subdivide these two bodies into scores of differing, dissenting, bickering organizations by introducing denominationalism. And his success has been staggering. Satan had a masterstroke of genius when he moved to confuse believers into thinking the terms Old Testament and Old Covenant were synonymous thereby leading some believers into thinking the Old Testament had, in a sense, been abolished or done away with – no longer used to formulate doctrine or determine God’s will in a given matter. His second masterstroke of genius was to deceive some believers, and, yes, it has proven to be the majority of believers, that God’s sacred, holy, ETERNAL Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the weekly cycle to the first day of the week, from Saturday (actually from sunset Friday till sunset Saturday) to Sunday! Many believers are convinced God authorized this change in honor of Christ’s resurrection – a belief that is without one shred of scriptural authority or proof.
The God of Israel meets in fellowship with spiritual Israel on the Sabbath – always has and always will. That is not to say we cannot have marvelous, valid fellowship with God on the other six days of the week. We can and should, but scripture plainly reveals that God “blessed and sanctified” the seventh day. (See Genesis 2:1-3). No such language is ever used of the first day of the week, Sunday. In God’s eyes Sunday is a regular work day, a day as common as any other! Paul’s writings have been perverted, distorted, misinterpreted to supposedly show that Sunday is the “Christian” Sabbath. Not so! God help you to understand.
Christ’s Faithful Servant (Galatians 1:10-12),
Donald Wiley