Isn’t the Sabbath for the Jews only, and didn’t God introduce the Sabbath to the Jews for the first time in Exodus 16?

It is not correct that the Sabbath is mentioned for the first time in Exodus 16, or that God introduced the Sabbath to the people at that time. The Sabbath is mentioned in the very second chapter of the Bible, where God set it aside as HOLY, to be USED by man for a HOLY purpose.

God created the Sabbath at the time when He created man. We read in Genesis 2:2, “He RESTED on the seventh day from all His work…Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.” The word for “rested,” in the Hebrew, is “shabath,” and it means, according to Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, “to cease, rest, keep Sabbath.” God created the Sabbath at the time of the creation of man, by RESTING or ceasing from His work, and He “sanctified” that day, that is, He “set it aside for a holy purpose.”

Later, we read, in Exodus 20:11 that God had “rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the SABBATH day and hallowed it.”

Also, we read that God made the Sabbath for MAN — not only for the Jews or the Israelites (Mark 2:27).

The reason that God had to re-introduce the Sabbath to the people in Exodus 16, is that they had come out of slavery in Egypt, where they had FORGOTTEN to keep the Sabbath. They were under hard bondage and forced to work every day, and they were obviously not allowed to keep the Sabbath. So, in time, they got used to not keeping it. Note what God said to Moses, after they had, for the first time, gone out on the Sabbath to gather manna: “HOW LONG do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath…” (Exodus 16:28-29). The people had not kept God’s Sabbath for a very LONG time — that’s why God is asking, “HOW LONG do you refuse” to keep it holy?

Can you please explain how the term “Apostle” should be used today in light of its usage in the New Testament?

Jesus Christ is the only individual who is referred to in Scripture as “the” Apostle (Hebrews 3:1). Paul and Peter refer to themselves as “an” apostle,” or, as “an apostle of Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:1; 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; 12:12; Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1; 1 Timothy 1:1; 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:1; 1:11; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1).

The Authorized Version translates Romans 11:13 this way, “I [Paul] am the apostle of the Gentiles.” However, in the Greek, there is no definite article (“the”) in front of the word, “apostle.” By contrast, in Hebrews 3:1, in reference to Jesus Christ, there is a definite article (“the”) in the Greek in front of the word, “Apostle.” Many translations, including the New King James Bible, or the Revised Standard Version, translate Romans 11:13, in this way, “I am an apostle to the Gentiles.”

When referred to apostles as a collective group, we find many times the expression, “the apostles.” (Matthew 10:2; Mark 6:30; Luke 9:10; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10; Acts 1:2, 26; 2:37, 42, 43; 4:33, etc.). The designation as “the apostles,” when referring to more than one individual, does include apostles in addition to the original twelve (Acts 14:14, “…when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this…”).

The designation as “apostle” is derived from “the” Apostle, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God (Luke 6:13; Revelation 21:14).

Since the designation of “the Apostle” is scripturally reserved for Jesus Christ only, we should not refer, then, to any individual or particular apostle as “the” apostle. Rather, following Scripture, an individual (as distinguished from a group) may and should be referred to as “an” apostle.

Editors’ Note:

We received last week an interesting question regarding our use of the word “Lucifer.” We are sharing our response with you:

In the Hebrew, the word translated as “Lucifer” in the King James Bible and many other translations, is “helel,” or “heylel,” and means, according to Strong’s, Young’s, and other commentaries, “lightbringer,” “shining one,” “morning star”,” or “shining star of the dawn.”

The word “Lucifer” is the Latin translation of the Hebrew word, “helel,” or “heylel,” conveying exactly the same meaning. So it is appropriate to use this word, describing the cherub who later became “Satan.” God uses many times names to describe the character of an individual. “Satan,” by the way, is the English translation of the Hebrew word, “sawtwan.”

Most words in the English language, designating names, are TRANSLATIONS from the Hebrew and the Greek — they are NOT the original words. Even “Christ” is a translation of the Greek word, “khristos.” It means, “the Anointed One.”

Also, the expressions are still different, when looking at other languages. In German, for instance, the word for “khristos,” is “Christus.” The Germans pray to the “Vater,” English-speaking people pray to the “Father,” but in the Greek language, the word is, “pater” (spelled “pat-ayr.”). Jesus and Paul, by the way, used the Aramaic expression, “abba”, many times.

Editor’s Note: We are receiving interesting questions from new people in response to our advertisement campaigns. We recently answered one question regarding the biblical teaching that Lucifer and his angels occupied the earth prior to man. We are sharing our response with you:

When Adam and Eve were created and placed in the Garden of Eden, the serpent was already there, in order to deceive Eve. The serpent is later identified as Satan the devil (Rev. 12:9). But Satan was not always Satan.

We understand from the bible that Satan was originally the archangel and cherub Lucifer (which name means light-bringer), but that he became Satan when he sinned against God (Is. 14:12-15; Ez. 28:11-17). Lucifer wanted to “ascend to heaven” to dethrone God (Is. 14:13) – he wanted to “ascend above the heights of the clouds” (Is. 14:14). This shows, then, that he was here on this earth, as he wanted to ascend above the clouds to go to heaven. When he sinned, and was thrown back to this earth (Is. 14:12), he became Satan, which means enemy or adversary. Lucifer or Satan was already here on earth, when Adam and Eve were created. Since he appeared to them as the deceiver, he must have lived here on earth prior to man as Lucifer, when he was not yet the deceiver – before he began to “ascend to heaven.”

Actually, Lucifer had been trained in heaven, before the very throne of God, before he was sent to earth, with his angels under his command. We read in Ez. 28:14 that he was the anointed cherub who covers (With their wings, the cherubs covered the throne of God, when God appeared to Moses in the Tabernacle). We also read in Ez. 28:14 that he was on the holy mountain of God (in heaven, cp. Hebrews 12:22). But, when he sinned, by trying to ascend from this earth to heaven to replace God, he was cast out of the mountain of God (same verse) – Christ later said that He saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18).

Lucifer was not alone, when he rebelled against God. His angels accompanied him and became demons in the process. A reference to that rebellion is made in Rev. 12:4 – one third of the angels followed Satan and became demons – which means that the other two third of the angels stayed loyal to God. Another attempt by Satan and his angels to fight against God – just prior to the return of Christ – is described in Rev. 12:7-9. This is not the same event as described in Rev. 12:4 – but it shows the pattern – in both cases, Satan and his angels are thrown back to earth.

Also, we read in Jude 6 about angels who did not keep their own domain (the earth), but left their own abode (to go to heaven to dethrone God). They are now reserved in everlasting chains under darkness – that is, they are the angels of darkness, still ruling on this earth, who are “chained” or held captive by their own spiritual perversion – as Satan, the prince of darkness, is still ruling on this earth (Rev. 2:13; compare Luke 4:6), holding the people of this world captive to do his will (2 Tim. 2:26).