The Epistle of Barnabas

And it was made manifest both that the tale of their sins should be completed in their sins, and that we through Jesus, the Lord who inherits the covenant, should receive it, for he was prepared for this purpose, that when he appeared he might redeem from darkness

For it is written that the Father enjoins on him that he should redeem us from darkness and prepare a holy people for himself.

The Prophet therefore says, I the Lord thy God did call thee in righteousness, and I will hold thy hands, and I will give thee strength, and I have given thee for a covenant of the people, for a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring forth from their fetters those that are bound and those that sit in darkness out of the prison house. We know then whence we have been redeemed.

Again the Prophet says,Lo, I have made thee a light for the Gentiles, to be for salvation unto the ends of the earth, thus saith the Lord the God who did redeem thee.

And again the Prophet saith, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the Gospel of grace to the humble, he sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim delivery to the captives, and sight to the blind, to announce a year acceptable to the Lord, and a day of recompense, to comfort all who mourn.

Furthermore it was written concerning the[*](The Sabbath) Sabbath in the ten words which he spake on Mount Sinai face to face to Moses. Sanctify also the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and a pure heart.

And in another place he says, If my

He speaks of the Sabbath at the beginning of the Creation, And God made in six days the works of his hands and on the seventh day he made an end, and rested in it and sanctified it.

Notice, children, what is the meaning of He made an end in six days ? He means this: that the Lord will make an end of everything in six thousand years, for a day with him means a thousand years. And he himself is my witness when he says, Lo, the day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years. So then, children, in six days, that is in six thousand years, everything will be completed.

And he rested on the seventh day. This means, when his Son comes he will destroy the time of the wicked one, and will judge the godless, and will change the sun and the moon and the stars, and then he will truly rest on the seventh day.

Furthermore he says, Thou shalt sanctify it with clean hands and a pure heart. If, then, anyone has at present the power to keep holy the day which God made holy, by being pure in heart, we are altogether deceived.