Return to Index.

The New Commandment
March 30, 2013

It was during his final 24 hours alive as a man that Jesus broke bread with his disciples the final time, introduced the symbols of the bread and the wine, and gave his disciples a new commandment. So important was this new commandment that the Gospel of John shows that Jesus gave this new commandment three times that fateful evening. It was during this introduction of this new commandment that Jesus showed how he demonstrated love to God by obeying the commandments of God. Maybe it was by design that Jesus used this example in an effort to show the importance of this new commandment he had given his disciples. Ironically, those with Sabbitarian roots tend to focus on only the example given by Jesus showing how he demonstrates love towards God, so let's start there.

John 14:15-24
If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

These verses are used to show the need to obey the commandments of God. Often overlooked in the discussion of how to obey God is the new commandment given by Jesus. Our ability to obey this command given by Jesus is what sets us apart in the eyes of this world as the children of God, and without obedience to this new commandment, we cannot honestly think we are fully obeying God. This point was so well impressed on James, the author of a book that appears near the end of the New Testament yet chronologically, was the first to be written in the church era, that James records an important consideration for us to take to heart.

James 2:10
For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

For those of us who are Sabbitarians for years and years and years, we know how to obey God. We understand His Holy Days, His plan of salvation, and His expectations for how we should live our lives. Yet in the modern era of the church, one in which congregations are fragmented and splintered, where egos abound at the expense of the individual, we overlook this new commandment, perhaps because to some of us it is too Protestant, but when it comes to this new commandment perhaps we need to examine ourselves and realize that it is the Protestants who have a deeper understanding of this new commandment, and what I am offering is that those who are Sabbitarian Christians ought to embrace this new commandment as we embrace all the commandments of God, because there is this curse given in the book of Malachi, and the way to avoid this curse is to fulfill this new commandment. When we ignore this new commandment, the verse from James shows we are guilty of breaking all commandments. The way to defragment the Sabbitarian Apostolic First Century Church is to embrace this new commandment. Without obedience to this new commandment we condemn ourselves and this world to a predetermined fate mentioned in the book of Malachi. So what is this new commandment that was so important that Jesus referenced it three times during his final 24 hours on earth?

John 13:31-35
Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The new commandment given to his disciples with his own death imminent was to love one another, that this would be a sign to all men of who his church was. Notice he did not mention the Sabbath or Holy Days as the sign of his church for all men, though these are to be kept. The sign to mankind that would set us apart for all to know would be that we would have love for one another. So how are we doing? When mankind thinks of the church do they really think of one of our Sabbitarian Apostolic First Century Churches or do they think of another church? We have ourselves to blame and we can do better. We will explore what it means to love one another and how this may be done. I believe that prophet Malachi gives us a responsibility to avoid the curse described near the end of the Old Testament, and we must step up to the challenge or forever be swallowed by our own inaction, because when we love one another we are able to celebrate what is good, embrace what is good, and do what is good.

All verses are from the King James Version.
This site provided by Tom Laign. To all who may believe differently, I also extend peace and love.
Copyright and Legal Information
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information