I listened to a portion of Dr. Michael Brown's Line of Fire radio program last Thursday on whether Shabbat (the Sabbath) is still binding on Christians today.  I have great respect for Dr. Brown; he has done far more of 'the hard work' than most people to 'show himself approved' (tongue-in-cheek; see 2 Tim. 2:15 KJV), earning a Ph.D. in Near Eastern languages, serving as an adjunct professor in numerous theological seminaries across the country, and dedicating the majority of his life to the proclamation and demonstration of the kingdom to the Jew first and also to the Gentile—this is a man who has a lot of intelligence and experience under his belt and has used his talents for the glory of God.  However, (we all saw the 'however' coming) while I thoroughly agree with the spirit in which Dr. Brown approaches relationship with God, and though I end up arriving at a lot of the same conclusions as Dr. Brown with regard to interpretation of the Torah (at least where priestly mitzvot are concerned), I have a fundamentally different perspective that differentiates me from both traditional Protestant Christianity and Messianic Judaism on this issue and pushes me toward the Hebrew Roots Movement (though I don't quite go that far).

The main question is really this:  do we believe there are two 'peoples' of God, or one?  Those that would say there are two separate entities of God-worshipers—national Israel and the Church—will have a totally different foundational point of reference from myself with regard to interpretation, application, and perhaps even the purpose, of the Torah.  Because of this, our journeys to the conclusions we reach are entirely disparate.  I would like Dr. Brown—and all of us—to consider the following points surrounding his program yesterday:

1.  In the general exchange of dialogue from both sides, it seemed to be forgotten that we are all one in Messiah.  In these types of conversations, it is very typical to hear the idea that God has a different standard for Jews than He does for Gentiles—that He never required Gentiles to obey the Law anyway, and so only Jews need to obey the Torah.  The standard mantra is that "Acts 15 settled the issue." Some (IMPORTANT: not ALL) Messianic Jews believe that in the Millennial Kingdom, the Jewish believers will occupy a special status and reign over Gentile Christian believers as a result of their being the 'Chosen People' of God.  Dispensational Protestants believe that the Church will have been Raptured and in heaven during the Millennial Kingdom; but that after the Tribulation, Jesus will reign along with the Jewish believers who were saved during that time and will re-institute the sacrificial system of the Torah, thus moving from 'the age of Law' to 'the age of Grace', and then back to a dispensation of Law again during the Millennial Reign.  Both ideas promote a separation between Jewish believers in Messiah and Gentile believers in Messiah.  Let's look at the background and what the Scriptures say.

Unbeknownst to most people, when the Exodus occurred, the crowd that left Egypt for the Promised Land was actually a 'mixed multitude' (Exodus 12:38).  Many Gentiles journeyed with the Israelites, identified themselves with them, and decided to essentially remain as permanent resident aliens, attaching themselves to the nation of Israel culturally and religiously.  While they remained on the outer rim of the Covenant, having no property or inheritance, and having less rights than native-born Israelites, they were afforded the opportunity—and given the responsibility—of participating in the Covenant by keeping most of the same standards in the Law (Lev. 24:22).  These people were called the ger; Ruth the Moabitess embodied their spirit when she said to her mother-in-law Naomi, "where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God."  This is contrast to the nochri, who wanted nothing to do with Israel, and were considered at best antagonistic neighbors, and at worst, enemy invaders.  When we see foreigners sharing in the Covenant, it is the ger who are participating, and when we see them excluded, it is the nochri.

An obligation, you say?  To live by the Spirit of God.  And what does this provide for us in the New Covenant?  Here we must turn back to Jeremiah 31:31-34, the foundational passage which Jesus refrerred to in the Passover when He declared the New Covenant in His blood:

3. So what about the Sabbath specifically?  The next question would be, is this part of the priestly mitzvot that have been fulfilled by the death, resurrection, and priesthood of Christ, or is the Sabbath still a mitzvot that is binding on us?  Dr. Brown conceded that the Sabbath is a gift instead of a duty, and he agreed with his callers that it was instituted before the Law of Moses (though the behaviors and punishments for disobeying these were first listed in the Law), and that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  Now, given these elements, we can come to an understanding of God's heart on this subject.  We understand that the general principles of the Sabbath are to provide rest for the physical human body, to practice corporate worship of God, and receive fellowship with the Body of Messiah in the gathering of the assembly.  These principles easily fall under the mitzvot to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself—to which we are obligated.  What has changed in the New Covenant are the commands and punishments relating to death and duty, and particularly to the rabbinic interpretations of such things.  Our LORD modeled this behavior for us when He was physically here on the earth.  So we should keep Shabbat in the way that it is intended:  if we are dinking around worrying about flipping a light switch, counting our steps to ensure we do not go beyond the prescribed distance, fearing to drive a car because it might be 'kindling a fire', thinking that somehow God will be displeased with us and strike us dead or other such things, we have missed the point of Shabbat entirely and I would even say we have violated the mitzvot to rest!  Love the LORD, enjoy His Shabbat, and fellowship with your brothers and sisters.

God instituted Shabbat on the seventh day of creation and has not moved it or annulled it in any way since that time.  He is very clear throughout the First Covenant Scriptures that Shabbat is important to Him—not as a priestly mitzvot of the Law but in principle (see especially Isaiah 58).  Despite Paul's comments in Colossians 2:16-23 (which most Christians use as a simple excuse to change the subject), there is no record of any New Covenant believer anywhere who did not celebrate Shabbat—including Paul himself.  I would contend that Paul's remarks are not about whether to celebrate the Sabbath, but with regard to how we celebrate the Feasts.  Look at the passage:  everyone stops at the first verse and moves on; but Paul condemns the priestly mitzvot as having no value—nowhwere does he say that we should not rest, gather together, or worship God on this day!