Tackling the Sabbath Question: Old Covenant, Blended To New, But Not Fully, Yet Forever?

No topic has caused more debate in the Churches of God than the Sabbath and Holy Day Question. 

HWA Said concerning the Sabbath in the Bulletin, 1/13/76: 

Here's the Ratification of the Old Covenant as recorded in Exodus 24:

Exodus 24 (Biblegateway)
3 When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”
4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.
6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.
7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up
10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky.
11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.
14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,
16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.
17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Here's the Sabbath placed into Law in Exodus 31. 

The Sabbath Covenant, Exodus 31:(Biblegateway)

The Sabbath

12 Then the Lord said to Moses, 13 “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
14 “‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

Herbert said "Forever" has not ended?

Some obvious errors.

"For example, in the Old Testament the old covenant of the law is referred to as the "everlasting covenant" (Lev.24:8) implying that it was to endure for eternity. Yet the New Testament records that the first covenant was "done away" and "abolished" 2Cor.3:11,13. God "has made the first old" Heb.8:13. Either God is confused, or else translators have rendered the text inaccurately. Since the former cannot be true, it is incumbent upon us to search out the exact meanings of words and to find the answers to such discrepancies.

The Aaronic priesthood is spoken of as "an everlasting priesthood" Ex. 40:15. If "everlasting" means "eternal," then the direct descendants of Aaron and only they, would be allowed to function as priests, and this for all time. Yet Heb.7:14-18 declares an end to the Aaronic priesthood and a new priesthood after the order of Melchizedek. Peter describes the church as "a spiritual house, an holy priesthood" (1Ptr.2:5), a statement which John confirms when he writes that by Jesus' blood the church has been cleansed from sin and made "kings and priests unto God" Rev.1:6. Thus in the above Exodus reference, "ever-lasting" cannot possibly mean "everlasting."

The children of Israel were to "observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant" Ex.31:16. Yet Paul states there remains "another day" of Sabbath rest for people of God" Heb.4:8,9. Though translators may have used the word "perpetual," the Holy Spirit disproves this choice of words, exposing it as incorrect.

The misuse of words expressing "unlimited duration" when specific time periods were intended is most obvious in the following cases. Jonah was not in the fish's belly "forever" Jon.2:6. A bondslave could not possibly serve his master "forever" Ex.21:6. God did not dwell in Solomon's temple "forever" 1Kg.8:13.

The Hebrew word from which the aforementioned "everlasting," "perpetual" and "forever" were translated, is "olam." Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies by William Wilson, gives the meaning of "olam" as "duration of time which is concealed or hidden." In other words, an unknown length of time. Though it may have been a very long or even indeterminable period of time, the sense that it would come to an end was always there. This concurs with our New Testament texts which confirm that indeed these established practices were abolished and replaced with something better. The King James translators would have been more accurate to record that the old covenant and its priesthood were for an "age of time.""

(http://www.auburn.edu/~allenkc/eternityexplained.html)

Now back to HWA's reasoning: January 13, 1976, Bulletin: 

Is it possible that Herbert's lack of understanding and training of the understanding of Old Testament linguistics may have enabled him to come up with the interpretation concerning the Sabbath he came up with? 

submitted by SHT

C WAYNE COLE: A Prophecy Of The Future For The Church

BULLETIN: 06/13/76

clipping courtesy of SHT

C Wayne Cole had no idea that what he predicted above would happen to every single splinter group of the Church of God.  Not a single COG has a "mass impact" in this nation.  No one knows who they are. Even the groups that claim they are God's current mouthpiece are insignificant and nothing. All of the silly little men who self-appointed themselves have proven to be shallow and impotent.

This is what we paid for: The Herbert Armstrong Accomplishment Traveling Autobiography Lecture

PGR - Nov 20, 1974

Quotes from an HWA Head of State Meeting in a Cairo Testimonial Dinner 

Times Jesus Christ mentioned? 

None

Times the Gospel of Jesus Christ mentioned? 

None

Times the Accomplishments of HWA mentioned? 

MANY

"Quite often I cross paths with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, but he works in an official capacity. I work in an unofficial capacity." 

"I'm glad you're going to get to see a little something of Prince Mikasaa. He's a very close friend of mine." 

"When King Leopold was visiting me in my home in Pasadena - and we were having quite a group in my home for dinner one evening" 

"He said he wanted to award that fourth watch to me"  

"Back in 1914, I pioneered in making a survey of business and social conditions in a little town of Kentucky in the United States.It was published in a national magazine." 

"In my early business life, I was thrown constantly in contact with successful men. I mean presidents and board chairman of our largest industrial corporations in the United States and the largest banks in New York and Chicago." 

"Well, I have solved a lot of these things" 

"I have solved the missing dimension" 

"Someday all of humanity is going to wake up to it." 

"I found the answer to many of them" 

"Get and give" 

"I've attended many businessman conventions" 

"I've found that two banks will look at each other with jealous eyes" 

"There was a great teacher who said it's more blessed to give than to receive."  

"I began to put that principle into practice 40 years ago. I've been giving ever since. I've been on the giving side and not the getting side. I have built three colleges and they're based on that principle, and we try to base all life on that principle."  

"Just recently Ambassador College won an award for the most beautiful, best landscaped, and best maintained campus of any college or university of the United States. And I think you'll pardon me if I'm just a little bit proud of that." 

"We have no friction between students and faculty or faculty and administration - nothing but cooperation." 

"There was one very wise man who wrote that everything is vanity anyway."
"Give or get." 

"But for 40 years now, I have been sharing the things that I have discovered and that I know... knowledge that religion has never given us... it's outside the scope of religion." 

"I've discussed these conditions with heads of state all over the world and I get quite a bit of input from them to add to this knowledge. It's cumulative."

This was no "Gospel of the Kingdom of God." This was the Herbert Armstrong Accomplishment Traveling Autobiography Lecture - on Giving, Getting, and The Missing Dimension in Education. He gave God NO Credit in his lectures for anything he learned at all. It was all Herbert. All the time. The Apostle Paul preached Christ and Him Crucified. Herbert Armstrong lectured heads of state on his accomplishments and what he learned - without substance, with much pride and boasting.

This is what we paid for.

submitted by...SHT