SDA Open Letter - Why are Jesus and the Apostles Silent

This is part 5 of my series of questions that I posed to the SDA Leaders in Vanuatu.  On my previous post I asked why the New Testament is silent about Sabbath keeping.  So in extening that question further I then asked....

WHEN GIVEN A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY, WHY DIDN’T JESUS OR ANY OF THE APOSPLES COMMAND THE SABBATH OBSERVANCE?

Perhaps you could explain this to me.  I want you to look at two events from the bible that both provided a golden opportunity to declare mandatory Sabbath keeping by all believers, the first is the Pharisees’ challenge to Jesus and the second is the very first church council – The Council of Jerusalem

If I ask most SDAs which commandment is the greatest, most will hesitate.  Some will say, “the Sabbath Commandment,” some will say to, “Love the Lord thy God…,” but most will say “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  It pleases me when I hear SDAs say the last two because that is exactly what Jesus said.   In Matthew 22:34-40 we read the discussion Jesus had with an expert in the Law.  This expert was basically a Lawyer who was an expert in the Laws of Moses.  In this discussion, Jesus explains that the greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.”  He then added that the next greatest commandment is “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  Jesus concluded by saying a vitally important statement that often gets overlooked, 

“All of the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”  

I hope you read that last sentence slowly and let it sink in – the entirety of the Law and the Prophets (a way of saying the Old Testament which includes the  Hebrew Torah – of the 5 books of Moses) depended on those two commandments and NOT on the Sabbath. 

My question to you is; Why did Jesus not say here that you should observe the Sabbath?  He never even mentioned it!  My second question is; Why do the SDA leaders instruct their followers the absolute importance of observing the Sabbath while Jesus never did? Please answer.[ED: They never did answer.]

The second event is the Jerusalem Council.  You can read this in Acts Chapter 15.  Acts 15 is the landmark chapter identified by  SDA Theologian, C. Mervyn Maxwell as the pivotal point in history that demonstrated non-Sabbath keeping.

Present at this council were the Apostles and church elders (it does not say how many but we do know that Paul, Barnabus, Peter and John were present, so it had the main heavyweights there).  The debate was based around a group of Jewish believers who were demanding that gentile believers be circumcised in order to follow the Law of Moses (vv 1 and 5). 

Now you may be thinking I have gone off track here by introducing circumcision but I have not.  You see, Jewish custom demands that in order for a Gentile to observe the Law of Moses; he had to be circumcised followed by water baptism (by immersion – which is the baptism we both recognise as biblical).    I don’t have time to go into it, but before God’s covenant with Moses came the covenant with Abraham.  The seal of the Abrahamic covenant for Jews was circumcision.  This is why circumcision is a mandatory requirement for those who wish to practice Judaism, even today.  This is also why the Pharisees mentioned in verse 5 demanded that gentile believers be circumcised in order to observe the Law of Moses.  The Sabbath is one of the commandments in the Law of Moses as we all accept, so therefore to observe the Sabbath you must be circumcised, yes?  What I do not understand, so please explain, is why you demand your followers to observe the Sabbath without being circumcised as per Jewish custom?

Now that was a short aside.  Let’s look back at the Jerusalem Council.   The theme of the debate was whether gentiles had to observe the Law.  Peter boldly states, “So now why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?” (v10) 

Peter was saying that the Jews could not handle obedience to the Law and here were a group of people demanding that Gentiles observe the Law.  [ED: Similar in many respects to SDA leaders today]  Peter than says several interesting things.  In verse 11 we read how we get salvation.  This has been a foundational truth of all main protestant faiths – we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ (v11).  Peter explains that this applied to Jew and Gentile.  In other words, the Law does not, and cannot save.  Secondly, back in verse 8 it also says that the Gentiles received the Holy Spirit just as the Jewish believers did.  

Why I find this interesting is that your founder, Ellen G White who you claim to be a true prophet of God stated in her famous book, The Great Controversy, ”that the seal of God on believers is the Sabbath.” Yet I read in this passage that two things were common of Jewish and Gentile believers is that they were saved by grace and they both received the Holy Spirit.  In fact, Ellen White claimed many times that the seal of God is the Sabbath.  This point you push at every crusade.  Here are some examples:

EGW: In these things I saw great danger; for if the mind is filled with other things, present truth is shut out, and there is no place in our foreheads for the seal of the living God. This seal is the Sabbath. To Those who are receiving the seal of the living God. —January 31, 1849, paragraph 11.

EGW: “To the church of God who keeps the Sabbath—the seal of the living God.” [Used as a closing sentence.] —Ms 3, 1849, p. 2. (To Brethren and Sisters, January 18, 1849.) {5MR 200.1}

EGW: "The sign, or seal, of God is revealed in the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, the Lord's memorial of creation . . . . The mark of the beast is the opposite of this--the observance of the first day of the week." —8T 117 (1904)

EGW: “In Revelation 13 this subject is plainly presented. [Rev. 13:11-17 quoted]. This is the test that the people of God must have before they are sealed. All who prove their loyalty to God by observing His law, and refusing to accept a spurious sabbath, will rank under the banner of the Lord God Jehovah, and will receive the seal of the living God. Those who yield the truth of heavenly origin, and accept the Sunday sabbath, will receive the mark of the beast. What need will there be of the solemn warning not to receive the mark of the beast, when all the saints of God are sealed and ticketed for the New Jerusalem? "O consistency, thou art a jewel!" —Letter 11, 1890 - MR. 1140, 15.3.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he says this, 

“And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation) – when you believed in Christ – you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.” (Eph 1:13) 

And in Ephesians 4:30, 

“…do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 

So who is right?  Are we sealed with the Holy Spirit or with the Sabbath?

Perhaps you could please point out to me one verse that categorically states where the Seal is the Sabbath because I have read the bible many times and used my bible software to do a search.  I have looked up every reference to Sabbath and Seal and I cannot find anything that supports Ellen G White’s claim.  It appears to me that Ellen White is here denying the Holy Spirit.

[BONUS MATERIAL:  on reading EGWS last quote above, which forms her pivotal statement on which the SDAs base their entire anti-Sunday doctine around.  She speaks of sealing happening AFTER the fact.  While Ephesians 1:13 declares that the sealing to God (with the Holy Spirt) occurs at repentance, BEFORE a person has observed any Sabbaths or otherwise.  EGW says you WILL BE sealed by observing certain rules; God's Word says you are already sealed unconditonally.]

The other time in the New Testament that God sealed people by placing a mark on their foreheads is in Revelation.  We read where the 144,000 received this mark.  This says nothing about the Sabbath.  What we do know is that the 144,000 are Jewish (Rev 7:4) virgin men (Rev 14:4).

From what I gather from evidence it appears that the claim that the Seal is the Sabbath and that Sunday Keeping receives the mark of the Beast has no basis in scripture but I invite you to show me where this is .[ED: They didn't take up this invitation]

So returning to Acts 15, we now come to the decision of the Apostles and that was to send a letter to Gentile Christians explaining what is necessary for them to follow.  The letter is found in Acts 15:23-29.  Here is what the letter says.

​​​​​From the apostles and elders, your brothers, to the Gentile brothers and sisters in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia, greetings! 

Since we have heard that some have gone out from among us with no orders from us and have confused you, upsetting your minds by what they said, we have unanimously decided to choose men to send to you along with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul, ​​​​​​​who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas who will tell you these things themselves in person. 

For it seemed best to the Holy Spirit and to us not to place any greater burden on you than these necessary rules:  ​​​​​​​that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well.

Farewell. 

Can you please explain to me why this important letter covering the necessary rules never mentions Sabbath observance as one of them?  I read abstaining from meat sacrificed to idols, blood and what has been strangled.  Those were all things pertaining to idol or pagan worship, which lines up with the second commandment.  It is also fits in nicely with the summary by Jesus saying, “Love the Lord thy God…”  I also read that we are to remain free of sexual immorality.  This includes many things but a quick look at the 10 commandments sees that this means amongst other things like adultery, and coveting your neighbour’s wife.  In other words, this forms a part of “Love your neighbour as yourself.”  So just as Jesus left out the Sabbath requirement, so too did the Apostles.  Add to that and it appears that Jesus and the Apostles are in unison on this.  

 I would appreciate it if you could explain why Jesus and the apostles ignored instruction about the Sabbath if it is so important.

to be continued....