Discovering the New Covenant by Greg Taylor - exAdventist Outreach

ADVENTIST STICKING POINTS
So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be
dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to
be shut, and charged that they must not be opened 'till
after the Sabbath. Neh. 13:19
In Matthew 24 Jesus’ instruction was that the
Christians were to be ready to make their escape as soon as
they saw the Roman army pull back. This was to be their
sign to escape. The Roman army would lift siege only for a
short time. The rest of the inhabitants would be thinking
that the armies had given up and go back to business as
usual. But the Christians were to see this as their
opportunity to escape. They were to pray, however, that it
not be in winter for obvious reasons, and not on the
Sabbath, because why? Sabbath would still be a binding
institution? No! It was not considered by the Jews that
running from danger, or even fighting in self defense
during a time of war, was breaking the Sabbath command. 1
That was not the issue at all. The concern Jesus had for His
followers, was that the gates of the city would be shut for
the Sabbath and it would make the Christian escape
virtually impossible. Jesus did not want His disciples to be
trapped in the city when it was time to escape. Nehemiah's
command helped me see how this fit together. Once again,
the whole picture made perfect sense.
Another question that I wrestled with concerned the
moral requirements for Christians. It seemed to me that the
rest of the commandments in the Decalogue are still
applicable for Christians, even though Romans and
Galatians and the rest of the Epistles do teach that we are
not under Law. The New Testament does encourage
morality. Most Christians do emphasize keeping the
commandments, all except the fourth. That seemed a little
inconsistent to me. But in studying further, the answer
1 Intertestamental literature bears this out as can be seen in the
historical records of 1 Maccabees chapter 2.
125