Question:  Dear Greg,

            In the next to the last chapter of the book of Acts, around the next to the last verse, it says that Mary “rested the Sabbath day, according to the commandment”.  I would like your comment on that.  I would also like to ask—how can all meat be clean?  Surely rats are not clean.  And did God create the empty space (which I assume goes on forever and ever) which contains the heavens and the earth?  Oh!  And one more question: the Bible says that eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has entered into the heart of man that which God has prepared for them that love him, but has revealed it to us by his spirit.  That last part—does that mean that some Christians have known what God has prepared for them that love him?

            Thank you,

M.G.

Answer:  Dear M.G.

            I am not aware of your exact questions, but here is what I perceive to be the issues you raise:

1. The quote of Mary “resting on the Sabbath according to the commandment” is in the Gospels, not in the book of Acts.  I only have time to briefly answer these questions.

What is your concern?  That Mary kept the Jewish Sabbath?  Well, of course she did—as did Jesus and all the disciples.  What other day of worship would they have observed?  They were Jews, living under the old covenant.  They did not fully understand the impact of the cross.  In fact, Jews who became Christians had an extremely difficult time doing so—hence the books of Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, etc.

2. How can all meat be clean?  What is your Scriptural reference?  How are you using “clean” and how does the Bible use that term?  How are “clean and unclean” meats referred to in the dietary laws of the old covenant?  Are you asking if the dietary laws of the old covenant, given to the Jews, are required for Christians who are under the blood of Christ?  The answer is of course, no, they are not.

3. God created all that we see, all that we don’t see, all that we know and all that we don’t know.  What we consider to be empty space may not be empty—or may only seem empty to us.  What we know of God’s creation is no doubt extremely limited, given the fact that we are bound by time and space to one very small little speck in this universe.

4. No, Paul in Corinthians means that we cannot comprehend what God has in store for us because we are limited by the human mind.  No one, Christian or non-Christian, fully comprehends, as long as they are in this flesh.

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht