The Sabbath

by Tony Clark

Yes, Jesus healed on the Sabbath and He taught on the Sabbath, but He also observed the Sabbath. If He didn’t, then He didn’t keep the whole law and was a transgressor. Just because He is Lord of the Sabbath doesn’t mean that He didn’t observe the Sabbath. The Pharisees confronted Jesus’ action on the Sabbath because they had become so legalistic that in their mindset concerning the Sabbath that they lost its true meaning…? This is why in Colossians 2:16 Paul taught to not allow anyone to judge you in the practice of Sabbath because just as Jesus was judged, the Pharisees would also judge you being extremely technical and missing the point! Colossians 2:16 is not saying don’t let people judge you for not observing the Sabbath but don’t let them judge you in how you observe it. Because the version of Sabbath they are trying to get you to ascribe to is not the way that God intended. They have added laws that totally remove the spirit of the observance.

Relying on obedience to the ‘law’ delivered in Moses for justification is what severs you from the head and cuts you off from life, because they are incompatible. Because you believe that Christ is not sufficient for justification, and that obedience to a law is also required to justify. You either believe in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, or you believe that it wasn’t perfect. If it wasn’t perfect then God is still using the old system of sacrifices of animals under the law of the old covenant to make payment for sin, which I think we all know - that God has implemented a new covenant with the blood of Christ being sufficient to cleanse us of all sin.

The whole reason for the letter to the Galatians was because so soon after the change of covenants some Jews thought that they still needed to be circumcised to become one of the people of God. (The early church leaders, including Paul, had to call a council to judge whether or not it was still necessary for Gentiles becoming Christians to be circumcised.) They had a simple misunderstanding of the nature of Christ’s sacrifice being all that is needed. This is where the confusion comes when people want to observe the Sabbath. People think that we are doing it because they need to obey the law of God; I personally see it more that the law enabled us to see something that was invisible – the Sabbath – it gave it dimensions and depth, but the Sabbath always existed, from the time of creation. God demonstrated it on the 7th day, the law just taught us concerning it. So the law is great in that respect – it teaches us what is right and wrong and what God loves and hates. So I observe the Sabbath because God showed through the law how much He treasures the Sabbath in His heart, and loves it, and so I love it. I don’t observe it because I have to (Law) I observe it because I want to (Love).

All the Old Testament types are patterns and shadows do point to Christ, but that doesn’t mean that we no longer celebrate them. Funny how most Christians don’t fully understand the gospel, or their inheritance, but the Jews were TRAINED in these things through the feasts and types that God set up for them to observe. I see no problem with observing Sabbath or any of the feasts, and I think there would be great benefit from it. Just don’t put your trust in it for justification. The Jews were instructed in these things as LAW, and there were heavy penalties for failing in that law, but what was law became custom which became CULTURE, and something beautiful and precious. God established a nation in His likeness, not like any other nation, like a light on a hill, and after thousands of years, Christ came into that culture and redeemed mankind. By the time Christ came, it wasn’t just a law it was a life, because by repetition and practice the lifestyle would have become a part of them. Now after Christ died, did all those that believed say, “Well now we no longer have to celebrate the feast at Passover, nor do we need to rest on the Sabbath!”?? I don’t think so, in fact I think the Passover would have more significance and beauty in the fullness of Christ’s coming and in receiving the substance that is Christ. I don’t think the Christian Jews stopped celebrating all of the feasts and did nothing. That doesn’t make sense, and it isn’t what we see from early church history. (The book ‘The Messianic Church Arising’ by Dr Robert D Heidler covers some of this.) I don’t believe that the new Christians forsook their heritage, but I think they would have felt pretty awesome now that they have found their justification in Christ, and that they had been freed from the condemnation of the Law. Christ fulfilled the requirement of the law and by faith in Him they were made righteous! And Christ deserves our full trust in Him for that righteousness. Because what we can do for God is not good enough. If we do something for God and think that we are righteous because of it, then we are fooled, that righteousness is as filthy rages to God. Christ’s perfect righteousness has been imputed to us - we can’t get more righteous. But now with faith in Christ, because of that faith, we will do what’s right because we will have a love for what’s right -  but that’s a process, there’s still a lot of Egypt in us, thank God for His mercy and long-suffering! We know what sin is because of the law, and when we sin we feel the condemnation that the law brings, but God is faithful to forgive when we repent, and restores us.

Now, the Sabbath spoke of rest in Christ, the Bible says this, in this way: I am a sinner. The law was delivered by God to reveal just how much of a sinner! I must obey the law to the letter to be justified, or I fail in the whole law. This effort to attain perfection by the law, in doing deeds required by the law is called WORK. Jesus Christ came, a sinless man, perfect in the law, righteous, God’s own Son, (type seen in God’s request to Abraham to sacrifice Isaac) and laid down His life for me. Jesus as the perfect lamb of God, a sacrifice according to the requirement and pattern of the law, and paid for the sin of mankind once, for all, it is FINISHED. Therefore, I no longer have to WORK for my righteousness in obeying the law, I now have REST in that Christ has done it for me. OH SWEET REST! Thank you JESUS! Does that mean I no longer have to work at my secular job, because Jesus has now come and died for me… no..!? Of course not. So now that Jesus has come, should I now work 7 days a week instead of 6 and resting on the 7th?? I would have to say no. Man is not for the Sabbath, the Sabbath is for man. I believe that man needs the Sabbath and that as long as there is WORK on this earth then there needs to be a REST and that is the Sabbath I observe, 6 days I am available for work, 1 day I am not and I don’t just take a day off, I observe the Sabbath of God, in honour of Him, declaring that the God who created the whole universe in 6 days and rested on the 7th day is my God.

Sabbath is rest. And it is in relation to work. 6 days man will work and then on the seventh he will rest, just like God did on the seventh day of creation. God demonstrated the Sabbath powerfully way back, before the law, on the 7th day of creation. Through the law He expounded on the concept of the Sabbath, and taught His chosen people what it was, what it was for, and how important it was to Him. I think that it was just as important to Him before the law, but it wasn’t revealed to man until the law, in Moses. God’s people were to observe the Sabbath in celebration of and as a reminder that their God was the creator of the universe, and it separated and differentiated the nation of Israel from every other nation and people on the planet, because God chose Israel to represent Him. The law is the PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS of God that was taught to the people of God through Moses. Before the law, the Israel’s didn’t know what God loved and what He hated. The perfect righteousness of God was perfectly displayed in the man Jesus Christ, not just in deed, but in thought and motive of the heart. Jesus was the perfect person to explain the true application of the law to the people of God, because He understood its true nature and the Spirit behind it. Christ demonstrated the law PERFECTLY and in doing so ‘fulfilled’ it 100% and I’m sure that God the Father said “YES! That’s what I MEANT!! Look at my SON! He’s just like ME!!.”

The Pharisees, including Paul, were BLAMELESS according to the law, but Jesus condemned them! Because they looked beautiful on the outside and on the inside they STUNK! God says if you don’t LOVE, you don’t know God! They DID NOT LOVE. In demonstrating perfect obedience to the law, Jesus demonstrated perfect obedience to the fourth commandment of the 10 commandment law of Sabbath. And because the Pharisees were so legalistic and had no idea what the Sabbath was about, judged Him.

The Unseen

by Tony Clark

Things aren’t always what they seem. Sometimes we battle from a perceived perspective but there is another reality at work - another player in the game. There are more personalities at work than just the natural human ones. God has an interest in our activities, and so does the enemy and they have means and ends. We should be true to what we know, and believe and hold on to our convictions but we must know that there is more at work than what we see. And what is unseen makes all the difference. Let it be our goal to enquire and seek out the will of The Lord and what He is doing, and be alert to what our enemy plans. This information needs to be what guides our decisions in this life. Good questions to ask yourself would be: What is God’s heart in this situation? What would He like to see? What opposition to this could possibly be at work? Knowing the character of God and the enemy will help in this situation.  As the Word says “our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” Ephesians 6:12. If we war naturally, we will spend a lot of time and energy not accomplishing much. But with the wisdom that is from above, every action will devastate the enemy’s plans and bring about the kingdom of God on earth.

Remote Control

by David Robinson

It seems there is currently, an arms’ race to produce improved, even independent - ‘drone’ warplanes; rail-guns; depleted uranium ordinance; sonic cannons; brainwave interpretation research. There’s the development of (rather creepy) all-terrain, robot “mules” for logistics, Infantry Heavy Duty Exoskeletons (think the movie Avatar); and then, down the road, cognitive, but unemotional robot troop units? (It’s the unemotional bit, that is a real concern.)

All this to say - sci-fi is here, now!

The most visible manifestation of all this arms’ development, is in the area of aerial drones, either equipped with weapons or surveillance cameras. If news’ reports are to be believed, missile strikes by air-drones are used extensively in the “middle east” today. However, it’s easy to forget, with the remote drone strikes, that there are human beings (or were) at the end of it. The point of writing part of this article, was to draw attention specifically to an aspect of this “REMOTE” warfare, where the controls and execution (literally) are in the hands of a service personnel, sometimes many miles away from the “killing-zone”. It’s the potential for a culture of “sociopathic warfare” to develop in a person, that this particular way of conducting military tasks could bring; especially when they leave the service. i.e. regarding natural feelings of guilt or more worrying, having No guilt or empathy at all.

The second area for concern, is where all this new technology can affect a “national” CULTURE. Here, in the safety of our bedrooms, we can play ‘Call of Duty’ or ‘Assassin’s Creed’ on our Xbox, without the responsibility of people, in reality, dying. This whole TV/movie violence thing, is a bigger issue in itself, of course. More so, because of the coverage in the media. The gulf war in the early 1990’s, brought to the news coverage, via the nose-cam footage of smart-bombs and cruise missiles etc for the first time; and brought an illusion that this was a clinical, precise tool of war. Only the bad guys, copped it! Compared to cluster or carpet bombing, yes, that’s probably true (relatively). Initially the “Shock and Awe” of these new weapons, brought pride and confidence in our allied forces. These weapons did the job!!! However, a consensus arose that it felt like we were watching a realtime “video-game”. There then dawned a sense of, oh “someone” just got incinerated.

Prince Harry stated in a recent television documentary, whilst on tour in Afghanistan, the midi-cannon he operated, mounted on the apache attack helicopter, had a control system reminiscent of his Xbox 360 hand held controller.

In nazi Germany, the Jews were reduced to “sub-human” in the eyes on that nation. The propaganda machine, made sure that public were groomed to accept this attitude. The result was a (general) lack of empathy towards the mistreatment and then murder of the Jews in Europe. Of course not everybody in Germany, was so convinced. e.g. Bonhoeffer etc… it is a concern for human life and righteousness he had, that we need to champion!

When a group, be it identified as a “racial group” or  even socially, are marginalised and viewed as somehow “sub-human”, it puts in place a deluded precedent, for justifying all sorts of ill treatment and evil.

This is the crux of the matter with remote “tech”… that people are thought of only as a target-reticule on a computer screen, and not someone’s son or daughter… with a name. As mentioned, the caveat to this of course, is that in war, tactical decisions have to be made. I know, they would not be made lightly and that I certainly, would not like to be the one to make them! But my hope is, that care is taken, in this technology, that it does not become an “emotionally remote” thing. When someone pushes a button somewhere and a missile is launched, it’s going to take a life… take away all somebody has! I guess my heart in all this, is for the populations that governments are elected to serve. The innocent. They say, in war the first casualty IS innocence.

Rapid advances in technology, in a civilian context, are a concern also!!!
Why? Well, we can delete a “Friend” from our Facebook, with the click of a mouse. Virtual relationships. You upset me there - goodbye, click. It is so easy to play god on the internet. Some young people have committed suicide after becoming the victim of cyber-bullying. But to the bully, it was an offhand swipe of the heart and a click of the mouse. Jesus said when you “hate” someone, you’ve murdered them in your heart. That’s an everyday thing we all have to guard against, but technology makes “dismissing people”, slander, gossip and “detached sniping” much easier. When we send that text or post a comment on (Two) Facebook, is that click of the mouse button like a pilot sending a missile on it’s way? There’s somebody’s daughter or son on the other end of that… please be careful and let God’s love bring wisdom and His Spirit develop the fruit of “self-control”.

Also, market forces pushing these advances, via the sale of the latest gadgets, could see a race into what is essentially trans-humanism.
An example of this change in culture is with the smartphone advances in the last few years… every five minutes a new feature is integrated (driven by the need to make money); and it is bought by the public (driven by the urge to have the latest advantage now!)

In a few years, will the advantage in life, (for those that can afford it), be to those that get themselves “upgraded”. The whole issue of trans-humanism is a potential article in itself. Nano “creatures” and cyber implants, silicon tattoos, GM virus/vectors in our blood, designed to repair us from within. Will such “trans-humans” think of the rest of us as lesser? The same temptation is there in the area of consulting dark occult forces too of course.

The heart of this article is about, how we as Men and Women - God’s creation! could loose ourselves and our compassion for others. Without receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, individuals are lost anyway. However, some of the technology used for our “defence” and some we may selfishly and ambitiously “integrate” physically or genetically, could result in the mutilation of our bodies and conscience before The Lord God, Creator of all.

Remember Eden… do not be overly impressed with this availability and acceleration in knowledge. Aw, that won’t happen to me? No? Got the latest SmartPhone, yet? Do you feel disadvantaged, if you haven’t? What if in a few years they can feed the screen directly into your mind? What if those with upgrades get the job, you want. What if… you need a mark on your right hand or forehead to do any trading. What if? What if? The nations are being groomed into a culture of coveting right now. The motive is selfish advantage. The next “must have” is just around the corner!

I’m not against technology, by the way, but let us NOT loose ourselves or sight of others (also fearfully and wonderfully made), because of it. Please pray for your government regarding the motives for producing technology.

Pray for your news media. Let us not loose ourselves as a nation, by becoming sociopathic* to the suffering of others, because we think “they deserve it”.
*If we do… what exactly is it, we are fighting to defend anyway?

Embrace - Take Hold Of !!!

by Glenice Mills

Every year, at the New Year’s Eve fireworks on Sydney Harbour, they have a word or statement for the year. Over the years there have been ones such as hope, love, eternity, and ‘awaken the spirit.’ So it was that I waited with anticipation to see what the word was for this year.
The Lord speaks to me about the word because it is a prophetic sign, a prophetic declaration over Australia for the year.
This year’s word is EMBRACE. When I first saw and heard the word I immediately thought of loving, hugging one another. I thought ‘oh that is a nice word, loving one another.’ However that is only one aspect of this word. As I have quietly sought the Lord and searched out the meanings, I realised there was so much more in this little word.

So what does embrace mean and what does Scripture say about this word?
Embrace means to hold closely in the arms, especially as a sign of affection.
It also means to accept, and adopt an idea or belief willingly.
Most people would take this word at a superficial level - that is to love and receive one another. However, I believe the Lord is wanting us as Christians to examine what He is saying through this word. There is a depth of truth that is very important for us to ‘get’ at this time. It is actually a wake up call and warning to us all in Australia.

We are at a crucial time in the history of this nation, a time when the Lord is sounding a call to embrace - to take hold of truth, and to be willing to receive new truth.
The Holy Spirit leads us into ALL truth and it must always be based on the Word of God. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. In this season there is a choice: to embrace His truth at a deeper level, and to be willing to embrace new revelation also.
As the Lord was speaking to me about embrace He said, ‘it was an external response from an internal acknowledging and willingness - it is a heart issue.’
Just as when we physically embrace someone, it requires us to have a heart of love and affection. We then hold our arms out, to give and to receive love from one another. This paints a prophetic picture of embrace.

Embrace speaks of choices - to choose good or evil, obedience or disobedience.
It is so interesting to see and hear how this word suddenly has a higher profile - it is being used often by many in leadership positions. It is like the new ‘buzz word.’
The problem is: we have to be very careful what we embrace. When we embrace anything that is ungodly, we actually open doors for the enemy to have a foothold.
The sad fact is, if we hear something said often enough, we will come to believe it,  then the next step comes, and we subtly embrace it. That is how the media, politicians, and the advertising industry seduce the people, until they fully accept something, embracing it and believing it as truth. This is a very dangerous thing, it is manipulative in nature. It will darken a person’s thinking until a spiritual blindness comes. There is a warning in this.
So what are you embracing? What are you taking hold of? Is it grounded in truth or on a lie?
If we come back to Scripture, there are keys revealed when the word embrace is used - for good or for evil.
Embrace is used in reference to wisdom as found in Scriptures in Proverbs.

Proverbs 3:13,18
Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding.
She (wisdom) is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who retain her.

We need the Lord’s wisdom like no other time in history. Many things assail us in the world today as evil increases and pressures of society come to try and rob us of our peace.
Seductive influences and manipulation come at us in many guises, even in church, so much so, that we need to draw on the Lord’s wisdom like never before. It is a fine line between being the ‘fool’ as found in Proverbs, and choosing wisdom in our day to day decisions. The enemy is prowling devouring who he so wills. We must be on guard in this hour.

 Proverbs 4:7,8
Wisdom is the principal thing;
Therefore get wisdom.
And in all your getting, get understanding.
Exalt her, and she will promote you;
She will bring you honour, when you embrace her.

There is something powerful about embracing wisdom and understanding. It is our protection from all that would try and take us off course. When we are told to embrace and take hold of something, it is a pro-active willingness to make a choice, to follow the Lord and what He wants for our lives. It kills all unbelief as we choose the Lord and His ways. To embrace is to be fully convinced. Keeping our feet in two camps brings compromise. It may appear safe, however no faith is involved, and in fact it holds us back and keeps us in immaturity.
We see in the following verses an example of where there is a consequence to embracing the worship of other gods.

1 Kings 9:8,9
And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’
Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshipped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this calamity on them.’

So what are you embracing? Are you embracing truth or lies? It is a time to examine ourselves and check we are walking in the Lord’s truth.

Poem - Hope For The Down Trodden

by Tony Clark

This is a poem I wrote before the many years of healing that I have experienced
in relationship with Jesus Christ, and the family that He has placed around me.

I’d like…
To feel again, to smile and mean it.
To cry, aloud, but to feel no pain.
To love, unconditionally, not just on the inside where people can’t see.
To look in the mirror, and like what I see.

To go to work cause I want to, not because I have to.
To wake up in the morning with a reason to get out of bed.
To feel like I matter, special, not just different.
To feel wanted, not in the way.
To be a friend to an enemy.

To go to bed content for once, to dream like I wanted to.
To know what it’s like to feel no shame, accepted, not to blame.
To say what I mean, and mean what I say,
To sing, cause I want to, not to fit in.
To be able to say hello to a stranger I’m drawn to, without insecurity.

To look to God and find Him looking back.
To know what’s going on in life, certainly.
To be myself, as I am, when no one’s watching.
To have a real friend.
To be picked first instead of last, to fit in, if only a little bit.

To know it’s gonna be OK, no matter what.
To be able to listen, without butting in.
To be where I’m needed, instead of where I’m wanted.
To live like I love.

To know my Father’s voice, to feel His love and believe what He says to me.
To be holy, outwardly.
To fear men less, and love them more.
To say what I feel, not just what I think.
To be whole again.

Many years on, and I can honestly say that the majority of these things have been established in my life.
There IS hope for the broken hearted.