And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. —Genesis 17:12
Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein. 37 These are the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, and a meat offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings, every thing upon his day: 38 Beside the sabbaths of the Lord, and beside your gifts, and beside all your vows, and beside all your freewill offerings, which ye give unto the Lord. 39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. —Leviticus 23:36-39
On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein: —Numbers 29:35
And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God. —Ezekiel 43:27
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. 21 The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ: —1 Peter 3:20-21
The “eighth day” (i.e. the day after the seventh: Sunday) has theological significance for the day of worship that is overlook by most Christian teachers. Such important covenant events as:
- the beginning of a new world with eight souls from the ark (1 Peter 3:20, Which sometimes were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a-preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were save by water.),
- circumcision of male children on the eighth day (Genesis 17:12, And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed.),
- the ceremonial Sabbaths in the Old Covenant ceremonial law (i.e. the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23:36-39 and Numbers 29:35) signaling a new beginning,
- the Feast of First Fruits, and the Feast of Weeks [Pentecost] (being first day of the week events which are effectively eighth day events) and
- the renewing of the altar in the Messianic Kingdom on the eighth day (Ezekiel 43:18-27).
The Apostolic Church Fathers saw this truth; so, often Patristic writings reference Sunday as the Eighth Day.
Tertullian, when praising the Christians’ holy days above those of the heathen, writes: “for to the heathens each festive day occurs but once annually: you have a festive day every eighth day. Call out the individual solemnities of the nations, and set them out into a row, they will not be able to make up a Pentecost.” (Tertullian on Idolatry.)
Notice the pagan practice of gift giving at the days indicated and notice his contrast between these multitude of pagan festivals once a year vs. our only one, the Lord’s Day, every eighth day. When he, at the end, references Pentecost he is but referencing another Lord’s Day, albeit a high one.
Cyprian writes: “For in respect of the observance of the eighth day of the Jewish circumcision of the flesh, a sacrament was given beforehand in shadow and in usage; but when Christ came, it was fulfilled in truth. For because the eighth day, that is, the first day after the Sabbath, was to be that on which the Lord should rise again, and should quicken us, and give us circumcision of the spirit, the eighth day, that is the first day after the Sabbath, and the Lord's Day, went before in the figure; which figure ceased when by and by the truth came and spiritual circumcision was given to us” — Cyprian, Letter LVIII
The theological weight of the “eighth day” is hinted at in the very first chapter of Genesis. When Moses is reciting the establishing of each day, he stated:
“And the evening and the morning were the first day” v5
“And the evening and the morning were the second day” v8
“And the evening and the morning were the third day” v13
“And the evening and the morning were the fourth day” v19
“And the evening and the morning were the fifth day” v23
“And the evening and the morning were the sixth day” v31
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. 2:2-3
Please notice, the author does not establish the finishing for the seventh day as he did the other six. At the finishing of each of the first six days of creation the writer wrote: “And the evening and the morning were the … day.” No such concluding remark is made for the seventh day. I might suggest that this is so because the seventh day, when God “rested … from all his work which he had made,” had not yet ended. Now, mind you, Yahweh had not stopped working; Jesus stated as much in John 5:16-17. The seventh day was a time when the Almighty rested from His work of creation; but His sustaining work continued. This “rest” from the works of creation would remain in effect until the seventh day ended and the eighth day dawned; then new creation would burst forth upon a new age.
So, when would Yahweh’s sabbath rest end? Has your mind not run ahead of my words? Are you not standing, in your thoughts, already at the tomb? The Angel has come, the stone is rolled away and we look inside: the tomb is empty, the napkin that was about His head is folded and laying in a place by itself. Maran ‘athâ!
Feast of First Fruits On The Eighth Day
The Feast of First Fruits had over 1500 dress rehearsals (each on a Sunday), but in AD 30 the curtain went up on the actual event to which all previous First Fruits only pointed. The Last Adam had come to make all things NEW. The resurrection on that Sunday morning shouted that the New Creation had begun. The original Sabbath was ended—as the prophet said it would. Yahweh had arose from His creative rest and was moving upon the face of the earth once again with His Spirit, as He had done on the first day of the old creation. Once again the Spirit hovered over the earth to made it pregnant with new life. The Eighth Day had dawned.
The Jewish Sabbath ended; the Eighth Day Christian Sabbath was instituted, established and embraced in perpetuity.
The Apostle John writes: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. … 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. … 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:3, 5-7).
The Apostle Paul states the following concerning the Eighth Day new creation: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17) When he says “old things are passed away” he speaks of ordinances of sabbaths and new moons in particular. It is of these “old things” that
Yahweh, speaking in the prophetic present, says: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).
The LORD God continues: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17). For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Because of the Eighth Day Sabbath of the Feast of First Fruits and Jesus’ fulfillment of it, all citizens of the New Creation have the sure promise of the physical resurrection, when our bodies will be redeemed from the grave. Pagan philosophy had imagined the immortality of the soul, but never in their most lucid moments did they dream the body would get up and join it. In the New Creation, that is more that a dream, Christ proved its reality by becoming the First Fruits of those that sleep in the grave. To the Romans, Paul declares: “… the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” —Romans 8:21-23
There is a proclamation made by every believer that takes himself, or herself, to the assembly of believers each Lord’s Day. That proclamation is: “On this day I was resurrected with Christ in the New Creation, and my soul, spirit and body is redeemed in the Beloved.”
Circumcision on the Eighth Day
Paul identified Christian water baptism as the fulfillment of the Eighth Day Circumcision when he wrote to the church at Colossae, “And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2:10-12). In his disputation with Faustus, Augustine explained the change of signs from circumcision to baptism (Colossians 2:11-12), and the change of the Sabbath day from the seventh to the eighth (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2), by suggesting that the “eighth day” in the Old Testament carried with it the idea of new creation and resurrection. He wrote:
“[Christ] suffered voluntarily, and so could choose His own time for suffering and for resurrection, He brought it about that His body rested from all its works on Sabbath in the tomb, and that His resurrection on the third day, which we call the Lord’s day, the day after the Sabbath, and therefore the eighth, proved the circumcision of the eighth day to be also prophetical of Him. For what does circumcision mean, but the eradication of the mortality which comes from our carnal generation? So, the apostle says: “Putting off from Himself His flesh, He made a show of principalities and powers, triumphing over them in Himself.” The flesh here said to be put off is that mortality of flesh on account of which the body is properly called flesh. The flesh is the mortality, for in the immortality of the resurrection there will be no flesh; as it is written, “Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God”.
The theology of the Eighth Day Circumcision fulfilled in Christian water baptism is seen everywhere in Paul’s epistles. To the Galatians he writes: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:” (Galatians 2:20). In the Apostle’s understanding, at the close of the old Sabbath, when Christ was crucified, so was he; and by extrapolation, so too were all Christians who would ever believe on the Messiah. Paul’s theology went further to state that, since he died when Christ died, so, too, did he resurrect when Christ resurrected on the Eighth Day. He wrote concerning that resurrection in this manner: “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). This made Paul a new creation at the very dawning of the Eighth Day: the day of the New Creation. Now since it was Paul who died on the cross with Christ, it was no longer Paul who was living, post resurrection, but Christ instead. Again, by extrapolation, so, too, all believers: “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus…” (Ephesians 2:10). All believers, then, are urged to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:24), and who is “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:” (Colossians 3:10). Now, since this has happen to all who have believed, who are believing, and who will ever believe on Christ, on the selfsame day, i.e. the Eighth Day of the New Creation, it is proper to observe the Eighth Day (Sunday) as the kernel of all things New, and the Sabbath of the New Creation.
While these truths certainly have implication for the theological shift from the bloody seal of circumcision to the un-bloody seal of baptism, and from the seventh day to the first day (eighth day) for the Sabbath, they teach us much about the fulfillment of all things in the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The storyline of the Scriptures is the story of the New Creation through the death and resurrection of Christ. By His death on the cross, Jesus brought about the New Creation.
A deeper dimension in understanding of the phrase “the circumcision of Christ” from Colossians 2:11 is in order here. It is proper to regard the statement as denoting the circumcision that Christ underwent, that is, His crucifixion, of which His literal circumcision was at best a token by way of anticipation (cf. Bruce, 234). His death was a bloody circumcision that brought about the circumcision (made without hands) in the hearts of His people. When he was cut off in bloody judgment under the wrath of God, He was providing all that was necessary for the cutting away of the guilt, corruption and power of our sin. By His resurrection, Jesus ushered in the New Creation, by both raising His people up to newness of life now as well as by securing our bodily resurrection and the New Heavens and New Earth wherein righteousness will dwell at the restitution of all things.
The “Eighth Day” is pregnant with ceremonial significance in both redemptive history and promise. As with all the types and shadows ordained by God, it was invested with theological significance to serve the redemptive historical purposes of God.
Feast of Tabernacles’ Eighth Day Sabbath
Note especially how the Lord prescribed a first and eighth day Sabbath during the Feast of Tabernacles: Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath. —Leviticus 23:39.
This declaration shouts to the heavens the truth of the first and eighth days having oneness in their theological significance. That oneness being two days of creation: namely, the Old Creation (on the first day) and the New Creation (on the eighth day).
Then in Numbers 29:35 we read again of the Feast of Tabernacles: “On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein.” The Feast of Tabernacles was a reminder to the Israelites of God coming and dwelling with them in the wilderness. Israel lived in tents; so, in His redeeming mercy, God graciously came and dwelt with His people in the Tabernacle (tent) of Moses. In doing so, He became like His people. The Israelites lived in tents—so God lived in a Tent.
This was all a presaging of the Incarnation. The Apostle John tells us, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14). The purpose of the Incarnation was to restore the lost presence of God to His people. In order for this to occur, the Incarnation was necessary; but/and this should be carefully noted—reconciliation was only possible through the sin-removing, substitutionary death of Jesus. In order for God to dwell with His people their sins must be atoned and His wrath must be propitiated. This is what Christ accomplished in His death. The Incarnation (tabernacling) made this possible. Interestingly, Jesus finished this necessary work and then rested in the tomb on the Old Covenant sabbath. Then, on the First Day of the Week (i.e. the Eighth Day), He arose and His presence was forever guaranteed to believers. The restored presence of God is seen in the manifestation of the two angels, sitting one at the head and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus lay, just as the two Cherubim sat over the Ark of the Covenant where the presence of God appeared when the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled on the mercy seat. As the Ark of the Covenant was the throne of God in the earth for the Old Covenant, Jesus is the throne of God in the earth for the New Covenant.
John records for us the event of Christ’s presence at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem and how He (Jesus) identified with it:
Now on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. v38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. v39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) —John 7:37-39
The Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days, but had a holy convocation on the eighth day. This eighth day was called ‘the Great Day’ of the feast. It is of this eighth day (the Great Day) that John is telling us. During the Feast of Tabernacles (some scholars say only on the seven days of the actual feast, some scholars say only on the Great Day) the priests went in procession to the pool of Siloam. There they filled a golden pitcher with water and brought it into the temple court, ceremoniously they poured it out while chanting Isaiah 12:2-3, i.e. “With joy shall ye drew waters out of the wells of salvation.” Whether it was in the midst of this ceremonial pouring of the waters, or in lieu of it, (the intended effect is the same) Jesus (Who is the well of salvation [see John chapter 4], His very name means “Yahweh Is Salvation”) stands, arresting the attention of all, and cries: “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” Thereby, showing himself to be the fulfillment (even the embodiment) of the Feast of Tabernacles. Tabernacles had had over 500 dress rehearsals; this day it had fully come!
The Living Waters (of John 7:38) are to be understood as coming from Jesus. On one hand this is a continuation of the Moses motif and Jesus being the fulfillment of the water from the rock. But on a higher level Jesus is establishing an identification with Ezekiel 41:1-12 which shows “Living Water” coming from beneath the altar of the temple and giving life to all the land. In this sense Jesus shows Himself to be the fulfillment of the very temple itself. But not only that: Jesus identifies with the River that issues forth from beneath the altar.. Ezeliel’s prophecy, here, is for the time of Messianic blessings (as is that prophet’s vision of the 8th day altar, that we will discuss just ahead). Jesus is dating that Messianic Kingdom as beginning with Himself.
In verse 39 John gives us a commentary on verse 38, “But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive … .” Here, the evangelist lets us know that the “Living Water” is the Holy Spirit that was poured out on the Day of Pentecost, AD 30. Thus, this Great Day (the 8th day) feast inaugurated the Messianic kingdom with its 8th day Sabbath.
In the resurrection of Jesus on the first day (i.e. the eighth day), the glory of God’s presence is made manifest to His people. Jesus brings about the New Creation through His Incarnation, death, resurrection and infilling of His Spirit—the ultimate incarnation. By so doing, He fulfills the Feast of Tabernacles. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth the old Sabbath of the Old Covenant was fulfilled and the new Sabbath of the Eighth Day is established. It is proper, then, to reference The First Day of the Week as the Christian Sabbath.
Moreover, the prophet Zachariah foretells of the time in the Messianic Kingdom (i.e. the Church) when the characterizing feast will be the Feast of Tabernacles. In this time the nations of the earth will be required to come to Jerusalem (i.e. the Church) and keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This Feast, that represents God dwelling among His people, not only presaged the Incarnation, but also (and just as importantly) the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, i.e. the Church. In the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles proper, all feasts of old Israel were fulfilled, in that the harvests of the year were complete—having begun at Passover. In the Eighth Day Feast (which the Bible calls The Great Day) the New Creation of the Israel of God (the Church) is presaged. Through the redemptive work of Christ the Church entered into an eternal day of rest (see Hebrews 4:1-11 cf Colossians 2:16-17 [NKJV] “substance is of Christ”), for which all that has gone before has been but a schoolmaster. So, then, the Spirit filled Body of Christ is the realized Feast of Tabernacles. This Feast introduced and established the Eighth Day Sabbath Rest. Amen!
Ezekiel’s Eschatological Temple’s Eighth Day Perpetual Offering
Significance of the eighth day in the prophecy of Ezekiel’s Eschatological Temple can be found in Ezekiel 43:27,
And when these days are expired, it shall be, that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your burnt offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God.
This is a prefiguring of the Messianic Kingdom, which, like Zachariah’s Feast of Tabernacles, speaks to the age of the Church of Jesus Christ. Here, where Ezekiel writes “that upon the eighth day, and so forward, the priests shall make your … offerings upon the altar, and your peace offerings; and I will accept you, saith the Lord God” we should think of the holy Eucharist on each Lord’s Day (Acts 20:7) and a definite connection between this and Malachi’s Eucharistic Prophecy:
“For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 1:11).
In Ezekiel’s reordering of the festival calendar, time itself is brought under the discipline of the new age, and he goes on to apply this to Christian worship. And although he does not explicitly speak of the Sabbath factor in Christian worship, that is surely one of the main lines along which Ezekiel’s vision takes us: to the realization that just as Jesus is our sacrifice and Prince, and just as we are a spiritual temple in Him, so He has given us a new sacred ‘time,’ a new Sabbath, a Sabbath of the eighth day (cf. 43:27), our Lord’s Day Sabbath.
Apostolically Speaking,
☩☩ Jerry L. Hayes
Read more essays from the Bishop on Christian Sacred Days at the links provide here:
Christians and the 7th Day Sabbath
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/christianitys-association-with-seventh.html
First Day of the Week (Sunday) Worship
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/first-day-of-week-worship.html
Apologia is a polemical work in the defense of Christian sacred days. Our focus is Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas. Since the rise of the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century a 7th day sabbath element has existed in the Christian faith. There has been little written in the line of a strong apologia for the observance to the traditional times. Bishop Hayes offers his work "Apologia, A Defense of Christian Sacred Days" to meet that need. This book establishes why Christians have observed Sunday as their primary day of worship right out of the gate. Also, within the pages of "Apologia" the reader will discover the true meaning of the terms 'Easter" and "Christmas". Bishop Jerry L Hayes comes to the defense of historical Christianity in this work that is destined to become a classic.
Order your personal copy of "Apologia" today at the link provided here:
https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bishop+Jerry+Hayes%2C+Apologia&qid=1572982116&s=books&sr=1-1
Christians and the 7th Day Sabbath
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/christianitys-association-with-seventh.html
First Day of the Week (Sunday) Worship
http://bishopjerrylhayes.blogspot.com/2019/11/first-day-of-week-worship.html
Apologia is a polemical work in the defense of Christian sacred days. Our focus is Sunday worship, Easter and Christmas. Since the rise of the Anabaptist movement of the 16th century a 7th day sabbath element has existed in the Christian faith. There has been little written in the line of a strong apologia for the observance to the traditional times. Bishop Hayes offers his work "Apologia, A Defense of Christian Sacred Days" to meet that need. This book establishes why Christians have observed Sunday as their primary day of worship right out of the gate. Also, within the pages of "Apologia" the reader will discover the true meaning of the terms 'Easter" and "Christmas". Bishop Jerry L Hayes comes to the defense of historical Christianity in this work that is destined to become a classic.
https://www.amazon.com/Apologia-Defense-Christian-Sacred-Days/dp/1099666589/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Bishop+Jerry+Hayes%2C+Apologia&qid=1572982116&s=books&sr=1-1
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT BY PURCHASING MY BOOKS FOR YOUR LIBRARY -JLH
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