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Must We Keep the Sabbath
Stacy Dean Crim
Introduction: There is much religious confusion today regarding the day identified in Scripture as the Sabbath Day. “Are we commanded to keep the Sabbath Day today?,” is a good question, and one worthy of our asking. Let us seek to answer this question from the Word of God alone.
In the Beginning
We want to start with Genesis 2:1-3 because those who believe we are to keep the Sabbath today begin at the very book of beginning to say that we must.
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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." (Genesis 2:1-3)
Note what the text says:
1. The Lord Rested on the 7th Day.
2. God blessed and sanctified the 7th day. He consecrated it as holy.
3. The word rested in this passage is ‘shabath.’ God ended His work and He rested.
Note what the text DOES NOT SAY:
1. Man is to keep the Sabbath.
In fact nothing more is said in Scripture about God’s sanctification of this day until the book of Exodus. The Scriptures do NOT tell us that Adam and Eve were instructed to rest on the 7th day. Noah is not instructed to keep the Sabbath Day as a holy day. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are not instructed to observe a Sabbath, nor do we read where any of these people were at any time keeping the Sabbath day as a holy day.
This point is important because we have to look to another period of time in Bible history to learn God’s instructions given regarding the Sabbath and it’s keeping. At this juncture we must respect God’s Silence on this subject.
The command to Keep the Sabbath was made known unto the children of Israel
Nehemiah 9:12-14 “made known unto them Thy Holy Sabbath” We learn here that the Sabbath was made known unto the children of Israel. The Sabbath was not made known to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or even Adam & Eve but to Israel. The Jews who returned to the promise land having been held captive in Babylon and Assyria knew and understood after all these years of Jewish history, that God had made the Sabbath known unto the children of Jacob; Israel.
In Exodus 16:2-26 it is recorded that Moses tells the Israelites that tomorrow is a “Holy Sabbath unto the Lord” Six days they could gather manna and on the sixth day they were to gather two portions one to be eaten on the Sabbath a day when no manna would be given by God.
The 4th commandment of the 10 given to the children of Israel is, “"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.," Exodus 20:8. We must ask ourselves, “who is God speaking to?’
Who is God speaking to regarding the keeping of the Sabbath?
Exodus 31:12-18
v Verse 13 “children of Israel”
v Verse 13 “you shall keep”
v Verse 14 “sign between me and You” (the children of Israel)
v Verse 14 “throughout your generations”
v Verse 14 “You may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you”
v Verse 15 “you shall keep the sabbath therefore”
v Verse 16 “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath”
v Verse 16 “throughout their generations”
v Verse 16 “for a never ending covenant”
v Verse 17 “a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.”
Clearly this passage teaches God’s revealed will for the children of Israel to keep the Sabbath Day holy.
What about “for a never ending covenant,” found here in Exodus 31:16?
The same command is given to Israel regarding the perpetual burning of incense in Exodus 30:8 "And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations." Should there be a never ending burning of incense today? If so where is the never ending burning of incense? Notice the perpetual incense to be burned, “throughout your generations.”
The same is said of continual animal sacrifices being offered by Israel in Numbers 28:6 Numbers 28:10 says, "This is the burnt offering of every sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering, and his drink offering." Every Sabbath is “every Sabbath.” If this was required on every Sabbath, then these burnt offerings need to be offered today because every week has a 7th day Sabbath and the offering of animal sacrifices practice is to be practiced yet today. Otherwise God is a liar and we simply know this CANNOT BE. Hebrews 6:18
Clearly the command to keep the Sabbath Day was given specifically to Israel. Clearly they were to keep the Sabbath throughout all THEIR generations.
You can see how these passages wreak havoc for those who would bind a keeping of the Sabbath today. They would need to burn incense continually and offer animal sacrifices on a continual basis. Their solution is that there are two laws. A moral law (10 commandments) and a ceremonial law (sacrifices etc.)
Does the Word of God declare there to be two laws?
Consider the following Scripture.
Joshua 1:8 Joshua 8:32 “law of Moses” “There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not”
The Scriptures handle all that Moses commanded of the Lord as a unit.
John 1:17 “the law was given by Moses”
Civil Law John 8:17 included under “your law”
"And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:" (Nehemiah 9:14)
Clearly the Law of Moses was a single structure comprised of all of God’s commands, statues, ordinances and precepts, including the 10 commandment laws.
If it can be proved in Scripture that the law of Moses (which includes the 10 commandments) has vanished away, then we must seek a new law to establish what is binding for us today.
Has the law of Moses, in it’s whole, vanished away?
v
Ephesians 2:13-16 “having abolished in His flesh the enmity even the law of commands contained in ordinances . . .”v
Romans 7:1-11 “discharged from the law”v
What law is under consideration?v
“Thou shalt not covet” (verse 7)v
“oldness of the letter” (verse 6)v
Colossians 2:13-17 “nailing it to His cross”v
Hebrews 8:3-7 “for if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second” (7)v
Hebrews 9:13-18 “new testament” (15)We live under a New Testament today. We live under the Testament of Christ and not under the first law given to the children of Israel.
What was the purpose of the Sabbath?
Colossians 2:13-17
We are not to let one judge us of a Sabbath which was merely a shadow of something greater to come. (verse 17)
The New American Standard says, "things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ." Colossians 2:17
So much of the Old Law was a shadow of greater things yet to come in Christ Jesus. In fact the apostle Paul says the old law was our schoolmaster or tutor to bring us to Christ. See Galatians 3:23-29
The substance was found in Christ and not in the shadow, i.e. the Sabbath.
The law of Moses having vanished away, and the Sabbath a mere shadow of what was to come one must seek in the new testament of Christ, God’s will for a Sabbath keeping today.
In the New Testament we do not read of a command for Christians to keep the Sabbath Day holy. What we do learn however is that the early Christians were meeting on the “first day of the week,” Acts 20:7 The disciples (followers of Christ) came together (assembled) to break bread, to partake of the Lord’s Supper. The fact that the Christians were meeting on the first day of the week for worship is also strengthened by Paul’s command to the Corinthian church to lay by in store upon the first day of the week. I Corinthians 16:1-5 One can only conclude that the disciples were meeting on the first day of every week to break bread and to lay by in store.
Conclusion: Where in the law of Christ (the new testament) are we commanded to observe the Sabbath and keep it holy?
No where!
The shadow of the Sabbath, the other nine commandments and all the various laws statues and precepts are only a segue to the true worship found in Christ. (John 4:23-24)
&
GOD’S PLAN TO SAVE MAN THROUGH CHRIST JESUS
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2:8)
"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17)
"He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." (Mark 16:16)
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 10:8-10
"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 3:21)
See also: (Romans 6:1-7, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:26-28, II Corinthians 5:17)