Iain D Campbell spoke at the second morning session. I had been thinking yesterday that may be we were not going to get vintage stuff at this conference but this powerful message on the Sabbath was quite something. We began with Genesis 2 Exodus 20 and the Shorter Catechism. Dr Campbell declared that there is a positive perpetual moral commandment binding on all men in Scripture regarding the Sabbath. He noted the huge change in the acceptance of this truth, however, in the last few years. He gave the example of the ESV Study Bible comment on Romans 14:5 saying that the Sabbath command was no longer binding for Paul as it was a ceremonial law - so not perpetual and not moral. Dr Campbell scathingly noted that the author of the note will allow us time to rest and worship however! Such an attitude in fact emasculates, enervates, enfeebles and devitalises not just the fourth command but all the commands. It denies the need to gather for the exposition of this and the other nine.
There is discontinuity, laws that are abolished, etc but not the moral principles that are to characterise the covenant people of God. It is there for the believer (Vos) “in every age of its pilgrimage”. He quoted Erskine
When by the law to grace I’m schooled;
Grace by the law will have me ruled;
Hence, if I don’t the law obey,
I cannot keep the gospel way.
The law and the gospel do sweetly comply
Having nailed his colours to the mast Dr Campbell announced his intention to use broader brush strokes in this first paper. He suggested that the Sabbath is a principle theme of biblical theology. The eschatology is in the protology. What is there at the beginning finds its flowering in the eternal sabbath. He then gave us a definition of opera - an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, etc.
He then spoke of “Sabbath the opera” an opera in seven acts. The whole story unfolds like an opera. He called on us to follow the text, hear the music, etc.
1. Before the beginning – The sabbath rest of the Trinity. It is into this glory that God proposes to call men. Sabbath before the sabbath. The rest that belongs to God before it comes to man. Everything is driven by this.
2. This God now builds the opera house in which his great acts will be performed. It is a place in which he is worshipped and that replicates to some extent the heavens. He creates a world to his own glory that will be a place for mission. Man is made in his own image. He works then rests on the seventh day. The last day of creation is the first day of man. The first sunrise was a sabbath one. God' s Day. Man is not simply married and given work but is given a holy day – it is given to man. Adam knew it. A Nigel Lee passage was quoted describing the scene. God sets the boundaries at seven days. So sadly, though, the Sabbath is lost with Paradise itself. The planet itself is cursed.
3. But God has made certain promises about the earth until the new world comes. He is upholding and preserving the opera house. God begins to call a people to himself. He gives them the book of the covenant. Having redeemed them he then gives them the law (note the order) including the provision of rest even in this world of toil. There is a day at the end of the week so they can look forward to rest.
4. This great drama continues with the bringing of this people into the Promised Land where they find rest. Exodus 30 (cf Ezekiel 20) speaks of God sanctifying them by the Sabbath. Some say bu that is Israel. It all is. It is all for our benefit. You keep the day different and I will set you apart. Christ died to set people apart to God. The multiplication of sabbaths in Israel was all about this sanctifying work of setting apart. The jubilee is the height of this. The rest is promised to the redeemed people of God. So much is it part of the biblical drama of redemption that when exile is determined it is in order to give the land its neglected sabbaths. What is the answer to man's failure?
5. The most magnificent movement in the whole opera is when the Lord himself appears on the stage. The Word made flesh dwells among us. Cf Ruth “he will not rest until he secures rest”. The restless saviour. The Lord himself comes into his own opera house. He is the Lord – and specifically the Lord of the Sabbath. If you confess him as Lord you must confess him as Lord of the Sabbath. Jeremiah asks when the sword will rest – only when Christ comes. The whole of his life is a commentary on the sabbath. He kept the Sabbath. Are we going to say not every day was holy? No, every law finds its fulfilment in him. The God of Sinai is seen in the person of Adam. Forsakenness not in the absence of God but his presence.
6. Even in death he is Lord of the Sabbath – he rests in the grave as his followers observe the Sabbath themselves. But he is going to bring a greater sabbath with him from the grave.
Attempts to distinguish Sabbath and Lord's Day make no sense. It is the first day of the new creation. Again God has said Let there be light and it has shone from the tomb. The pattern of the first day of the week is set from the beginning. Here are God's people now not looking forward to the rest at the end of the week but living their lives in the light of the rest that began it. Then came the pouring out of the Spirit. Now to the end of the world it is our privilege and our delight to lay aside our work and worship the risen Lord on the first day of the week. The songs of Zion come into their own with the rising of Christ. The law is our delight. There is a contradiction in the life of the believer though – the law of sin in us. Christ alone can deliver us to freedom. It is not just legalism,. There is a big difference between legalism and law keeping. We are saved from sin which is to be saved from law breaking. We are saved from sin to follow Christ. There are difficulties. Certainly some sabbaths have been abolished but taking the clear passages to interpret the difficult we see the Sabbath goes on.
7. The curtain is not yet fallen. We await the last part of the performance when the Lord of the Sabbath will return to bring his people into the great sabbath rest. Then we will be perfectly holy and there will be no sunrise and sunset, Christ himself will be its light. We will be forever with the Lord. Let's labour then to enter into his rest. Let's keep the Sabbath. What do we gain by not seeking to keep it? So little. The Bride misses out if she doesn't spend special time with the Bridegroom. They are altogether. On the Sabbath we say let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, etc.
Great stuff!
There is discontinuity, laws that are abolished, etc but not the moral principles that are to characterise the covenant people of God. It is there for the believer (Vos) “in every age of its pilgrimage”. He quoted Erskine
When by the law to grace I’m schooled;
Grace by the law will have me ruled;
Hence, if I don’t the law obey,
I cannot keep the gospel way.
The law and the gospel do sweetly comply
Having nailed his colours to the mast Dr Campbell announced his intention to use broader brush strokes in this first paper. He suggested that the Sabbath is a principle theme of biblical theology. The eschatology is in the protology. What is there at the beginning finds its flowering in the eternal sabbath. He then gave us a definition of opera - an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text (called a libretto) and musical score, etc.
He then spoke of “Sabbath the opera” an opera in seven acts. The whole story unfolds like an opera. He called on us to follow the text, hear the music, etc.
1. Before the beginning – The sabbath rest of the Trinity. It is into this glory that God proposes to call men. Sabbath before the sabbath. The rest that belongs to God before it comes to man. Everything is driven by this.
2. This God now builds the opera house in which his great acts will be performed. It is a place in which he is worshipped and that replicates to some extent the heavens. He creates a world to his own glory that will be a place for mission. Man is made in his own image. He works then rests on the seventh day. The last day of creation is the first day of man. The first sunrise was a sabbath one. God' s Day. Man is not simply married and given work but is given a holy day – it is given to man. Adam knew it. A Nigel Lee passage was quoted describing the scene. God sets the boundaries at seven days. So sadly, though, the Sabbath is lost with Paradise itself. The planet itself is cursed.
3. But God has made certain promises about the earth until the new world comes. He is upholding and preserving the opera house. God begins to call a people to himself. He gives them the book of the covenant. Having redeemed them he then gives them the law (note the order) including the provision of rest even in this world of toil. There is a day at the end of the week so they can look forward to rest.
4. This great drama continues with the bringing of this people into the Promised Land where they find rest. Exodus 30 (cf Ezekiel 20) speaks of God sanctifying them by the Sabbath. Some say bu that is Israel. It all is. It is all for our benefit. You keep the day different and I will set you apart. Christ died to set people apart to God. The multiplication of sabbaths in Israel was all about this sanctifying work of setting apart. The jubilee is the height of this. The rest is promised to the redeemed people of God. So much is it part of the biblical drama of redemption that when exile is determined it is in order to give the land its neglected sabbaths. What is the answer to man's failure?
5. The most magnificent movement in the whole opera is when the Lord himself appears on the stage. The Word made flesh dwells among us. Cf Ruth “he will not rest until he secures rest”. The restless saviour. The Lord himself comes into his own opera house. He is the Lord – and specifically the Lord of the Sabbath. If you confess him as Lord you must confess him as Lord of the Sabbath. Jeremiah asks when the sword will rest – only when Christ comes. The whole of his life is a commentary on the sabbath. He kept the Sabbath. Are we going to say not every day was holy? No, every law finds its fulfilment in him. The God of Sinai is seen in the person of Adam. Forsakenness not in the absence of God but his presence.
6. Even in death he is Lord of the Sabbath – he rests in the grave as his followers observe the Sabbath themselves. But he is going to bring a greater sabbath with him from the grave.
Attempts to distinguish Sabbath and Lord's Day make no sense. It is the first day of the new creation. Again God has said Let there be light and it has shone from the tomb. The pattern of the first day of the week is set from the beginning. Here are God's people now not looking forward to the rest at the end of the week but living their lives in the light of the rest that began it. Then came the pouring out of the Spirit. Now to the end of the world it is our privilege and our delight to lay aside our work and worship the risen Lord on the first day of the week. The songs of Zion come into their own with the rising of Christ. The law is our delight. There is a contradiction in the life of the believer though – the law of sin in us. Christ alone can deliver us to freedom. It is not just legalism,. There is a big difference between legalism and law keeping. We are saved from sin which is to be saved from law breaking. We are saved from sin to follow Christ. There are difficulties. Certainly some sabbaths have been abolished but taking the clear passages to interpret the difficult we see the Sabbath goes on.
7. The curtain is not yet fallen. We await the last part of the performance when the Lord of the Sabbath will return to bring his people into the great sabbath rest. Then we will be perfectly holy and there will be no sunrise and sunset, Christ himself will be its light. We will be forever with the Lord. Let's labour then to enter into his rest. Let's keep the Sabbath. What do we gain by not seeking to keep it? So little. The Bride misses out if she doesn't spend special time with the Bridegroom. They are altogether. On the Sabbath we say let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, etc.
Great stuff!
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