Building on the Foundation

  A few days ago, I came across an article entitled “The First Wave-Sheaf Offering” in the United Church of God newspaper, the United News . Or rather, it was brought to my attention. You can find this article on pp. 6-7 of the latest issue, the May-June 2025 issue. The article begins by analyzing Joshua 5 and asserts that Israel offered a wave sheaf on “the day after the Passover” (Josh. 5:11) before eating the produce of the land — an assertion I agree with. It then continues, based on this passage, to try to establish when we should begin our count to Pentecost. But unfortunately, the article makes several inaccurate and unproven claims, some of which beg for a response. Now, the purpose here isn’t to examine the article as a whole or even to prove when we ought to keep Pentecost, but merely to address two or three specific claims. Let’s give our attention in particular to the section “Timing of the Offering.” Here in this section, we read, It helps to more directly consider the...

  When the clock strikes midnight, one day ends and another begins. So it is in the modern world, and so it’s been throughout most of western society since the invention of mechanical clocks. But we all know this isn’t the system God established in the Bible. So when does a day begin and end, according to Scripture? It’s generally accepted that a Biblical day begins and ends at sunset. The seventh-day Sabbath, then, begins at sunset on Friday and ends at sunset on Saturday. But there are others who assert that a Biblical day begins at sunrise and ends at the next sunrise. They then assert that we ought to keep the Sabbath from sunrise on Saturday until sunrise on Sunday. Obviously, it’s important for us to know when a day begins and ends. Otherwise, we might only be keeping half of the Sabbath holy and profaning the other half! There are other variations as well, and you can probably find them all on the Internet. Afterall, if a thought has ever popped into anyone’s head at any tim...

  Quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18, Jesus Christ taught us that all of God’s laws rest upon these two: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Mat. 22:37-40). Therefore, it’s through this lens that we need to view all of God’s commandments. As we read each of God’s laws, let’s seek to understand, “How does this teach me to love God and to love my fellow man?” But God’s law also teaches us about His character and about His love for each one of us. When God says that “He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing” (Deut. 10:18), and when He commands us to do likewise, this tells us something about who He is. God gave us His laws for our good (Deut. 10:13), because H...