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SUBJECT: Sabbath
QUESTION: What is the impact of the International
Date Line on one keeping the Sabbath?
ANSWER:
God does not render the Sabbath by hours but by sunsets.
Though the International Date Line is quite accurate and not
based on human whim but in response to Godly creation, it is
rather moot as all you have to know is what day it is
today. If it is Friday, then the Sabbath begins at sunset
where you are. It leads us to the question, "Has Time Been
Lost?”
Following is an excerpt from the booklet by that title.
What is a Day?
The correct Bible definition of a "DAY" is not 24 hours of a
man-made watch, but that period of time from sunset to
sunset. A day is not measured by the journey of the earth
PLUS our journey ON the earth.
The Sabbath is to be observed "from even unto even"
(Leviticus 23:32). A day ENDS, and another begins, when the
sun sets. (see Mark 1:32;
Luke 4:40.) See any encyclopedia. History shows
that it was always custom to end and begin days at sunset
until a few hundred years after Christ.
We live on a round earth. A day is measured by the
revolution of the earth on its axis, in relation to the sun.
Since the Sabbath day begins and ends at SUNSET, We observe
it here when the sun sets HERE. But the sun sets three hours
earlier in New York than on the Pacific Coast, hence
Sabbath- keepers there begin their Sabbath three hours
earlier than we on the Coast. In London the Sabbath begins
nine hours earlier than on the Pacific Coast, if kept
according to God's directions.
The answer to it all is, WE KEEP THE DAY WHEN THE DAY COMES
TO US. Jerusalem is God's headquarters for the earth. That
is where Jesus kept the Sabbath, and we know HE had it
right! Authorities believe it was by God's guidance that men
were caused to set the international "date line" (where,
because of a round earth turning on its axis a day must be
dropped or added IN COMPUTATION), in the middle
of the Pacific where it affects virtually nobody and almost
exactly OPPOSITE from Jerusalem.
As time is now computed, Sabbath-keepers the world over keep
the SAME SABBATH, when it comes to them, that is and always
has been the seventh day of the week AT JERUSALEM. But, for
the simple reason that the Bible tells us to begin our
Sabbath at SUNSET, and the sun does not set at the same time
in various parts of the earth, the holy hours of the Sabbath
begin, in China, several hours earlier than in
Jerusalem--and likewise, in America several hours LATER than
in Jerusalem. But, beginning in the middle of the Pacific,
halfway around the earth from Jerusalem, ALL EVERYWHERE ON
EARTH KEEP THE SAME DAY, as that day comes to them, THAT IS
KEPT AT JERUSALEM. Sunday observers have no trouble figuring
when their Sunday comes to them, anywhere on the earth. We
cannot run away from this truth on a boat.
The entire booklet is located on the Internet at:
http://home.sprynet.com/~pabco/timelost.htm
Having said all this, the keeping of the Sabbath is a
personal faith issue, that is, it is a part of the
individual Salvation Process to anyone called of God to be a
firstfruit prior to the return of Christ. The Sabbath is
NOT presently for those without the Holy Spirit. Read 1
Corinthians 2:14 for confirmation of this fact. Without the
Holy Spirit, the Sabbath is foolishness to them. Everyone
who has ever lived will, however, have an opportunity to
know all truth, have access to the Holy Spirit and enter
into the Kingdom of God with eternal life. Clearly, when
they are called to this truth, they will know all about the
Sabbath and will keep it. |