How perfect?

Today I had an opportunity to listen a bit to Ray Comfort of the "Way of the Master" fame. It was a tape from his appearance at the Strategic Prophecy Conference held recently in California. It was actually quite good. Ray has a very logical and Biblical way of pointing out that the "law of liberty", the Ten Commandments, are still in effect and are a wonderful way to point out sin and in effect, the character of God. He makes sense and uses a myriad of scriptures to show that the moral law of God is indeed "...is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD [is] sure, making wise the simple."

But there is a bit of a problem that we need to address.

On Ray's web site there is a section titled "Answers from the Evidence Bible" in which the argument is made that in reality the moral law of God isn't perfect after all, at least that's what I gather the argument is when I read articles titled, "Freedom from Sabbath Keeping."

If God's original moral law is perfect and able to convert the soul then why would it need to be changed by doing away with the Sabbath? Honestly, if something is perfect by definition (in this case God's definition), it needs nothing to be changed to make it better. If something is considered perfect it can't be made more perfect by changing something about it. Furthermore, if something is deemed to be perfect is later found to need changes then it couldn't have been perfect in the first place.

That's a question I love to have answered. How is it that something God deemed to be perfect wind up needing to be changed?

Here's a few questions asked in the article that I'll happily answer:

"First, nowhere does the Fourth Commandment say that Christians are to worship on the Sabbath."

Actually, that's a fairly untrue statement when the weight of actual Bible evidence is applied to it. First, it was a "mixed multitude" (Exodus 12:38) that came out of Egypt and enjoyed that first Sabbath in the wilderness. That should be proof alone that God didn't just command the children of Israel. But just a scant 5 verses later we read the requirements for the strangers (gentiles) that wanted to take part in the Passover (Exodus 12:43-48). Obviously taking part in the Passover meant accepting what the Passover symbolized which is the life and sacrifice that God would later provide for the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36).

This brief picture of Bible prophecy in Exodus clearly demonstrates that there would be a people outside of the original covenant that God made that would desire to be part of His covenant. What is most interesting to note is that these strangers that desired to take part in the Passover would have done this by faith, and not by any requirement of any covenant.

Second, the stranger was required to keep the Sabbath holy and to keep from profaning it. "But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:" - Exodus 20:10. Strangers in the Bible always symbolize a people outside of God's original covenant with the children of Israel.

Third, a "Holy Convocation" was called to be assembled every seventh day Sabbath. "Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day [is] the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work [therein]: it [is] the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings." - Leviticus 23:3

One can easily conclude that if a stranger was to keep the Sabbath holy by commandment of God, and a holy convocation was suggested by God, that what might be inferred was that God wanted to share with the strangers what was going on and why?Obviously in that we see this addressed by Paul when he tells us that the oracles of God were first entrusted to the children of Israel - see Romans 3:2.

Fourth, God gives us further evidence that it is the strangers, the Gentiles, that take a hold of His covenant in a most interesting, and quite enlightening manner:

"Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;" - Isaiah 56:6

Just as the the covenant was confirmed by the willingness of the children of Israel to do what was commanded in God's holy, just and perfect moral law, the Ten Commandments - see Deuteronomy 4:13; God specifically made it clear through the prophet Isaiah that the sons of the Gentiles would join themselves to God by taking a hold of His covenant and keeping His Sabbath.

Lastly, the argument that "...nowhere does the Fourth Commandment say that Christians are to worship on the Sabbath" is a bit of a red herring at best. The childish retort would simply be that nowhere does the Fourth Commandment say that Christians are not to worship on the Sabbath for that matter. But in examining and weighing the mounds of Biblical evidence and scriptures it becomes even more far-fetched to believe that Christian aren't required to keep the Sabbath. After all, if the law is indeed able to "convert the soul" are we referring only to Jewish souls?

And yet Paul recognized quite fully that even those that didn't have the law, yet did the requirements of the law, were actually those that understood the law. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:" - Romans 2:14.

It's evident, from a purely logical standpoint, that something that is perfect doesn't need to be changed. The moral law of God, written by His finger and engraved in stone, is indeed perfect, holy, just and good.

It has never changed.....and never will.