When I first gained access in the early 2000’s to software that would allow me to search the Bible for key words or concepts, I quickly became hooked on examining biblical themes. Soon I found myself experiencing one paradigm shift after another.
Like most Christians, I grew up being taught that God’s law had been “nailed to the cross;” but, due to events that God orchestrated in my life, I found myself “hungering and thirsting after righteousness” (Mat. 5:6). You can read a bit of my journey here.
One of my first searches was “Sabbath” and “seventh day.” By doing this, I discovered some 200 verses that refer to it. The overwhelming injunction regarding God’s “holy day” is that it shall be kept “forever.” Even more disconcerting was what I DIDN’T find. A search from Gen. 1:1 to Rev. 22:21 revealed that nowhere was it foretold that the Sabbath would be one day for Jews and another holy day for Christians. To the contrary, I found another principle: “One law shall there be for the native and for the stranger that dwells among you.” (Ex. 12:49, Num. 15:16,19, see also Isaiah 56:1-8, and Eph. 4:5).
Considering that the world currently has a couple of billion people who consider Sunday the “Christian Sabbath,” Yeshua’s admonishment became my guide: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” (Mat. 7:13). I made up my mind to find the “narrow way.” The words of Amos also found their way into my wrestling heart, “the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”(Amos 3:7)
After I searched the scriptures, I found myself at a crossroads between “the way of the LORD” and the “traditions of men.” A verse from Genesis helped me to make up my mind. Concerning Abraham, the Scripture declares, “…Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” (Gen. 26:5). Wow! If the law of God was not given until Mount Sinai, how did Abraham know how to keep it? That sent me on another search and the rest is history.
I cannot thank God enough for E-Sword, a free software program available on the Internet. When I began writing articles to share what I have learned, this software became invaluable for chasing down every comment from Genesis to Revelation related to words, phrases, individuals, places, and events. It is even possible to search by the numbers assigned the King James Version in Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Wilderness Report 