The Sabbath

Thoughts On The Sabbath

Dr. Pastor Ronnie Wolfe -- October 24, 2017

You might want to copy, paste and print this. It is long.

It is important that we as believers know why we worship on Sunday. Although Sunday is not the Jewish Sabbath, the book of Hebrews tells us that there remaineth a rest (a Sabbath-keeping) for the children of God. This, I believe, is our Sunday, the first day of the week, observed for rest and worship by the apostles and the first church in Jerusalem and believers and other churches thereafter. Here are some interesting things about the Sabbath and the use of Sunday as our Lord's Day today.

I. FIRST SABBATH MEANING AS A DAY OF REST

Genesis 2:2 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. 

So a Sabbath to the whole world was given as the seventh day for people to rest and to worship the Lord, because God rested on the seventh day.

II. SECOND MEANING AS CELEBRATING EXODUS FROM EGYPT

The Sabbath was to continue to be kept by Israel after Israel was called out of Egypt, for Exodus 20:8 says, Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. They were already observing the Sabbath, so they are to remember the Sabbath, or continue to observe it.

However, the reason for keeping the Sabbath changed. To see this, we must read from Deuteronomy:

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

III. THE MEANING CHANGES AGAIN AFTER THE EXILE

We see the same Sabbath continuing to be observed, but the meaning changes again after Israel returns to their land after their captivity in Babylon:

Jeremiah 16:14-15 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; (and Israel kept the Sabbath for this reason) 15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

In our previous point, Israel observed the Sabbath because of their exodus from Egypt. That is mentioned again here to show that now they will observe the Sabbath for their deliverance from Babylon.

IV. NEW TESTAMENT SABBATH

In the New Testament the Jews continued to observe the Sabbath because of their deliverance from Babylon. Jesus kept the Sabbath because he was a Jew and under the law, but he also went into the synagogues to preach the gospel to the Jews. The seventh-day Sabbath was a Jewish day. Gentiles were never required to keep this day.

Paul kept the law, so he also kept the Sabbath in New Testament times; but, after the Lord resurrected, believers did not meet on the seventh day, nor did they observe a Sabbath for being delivered from Babylon. Believers observed another day, and that day was the first day of the week. You may look up that phrase in your Bible and see that they worshiped on the first day, not the seventh day, and that because Jesus resurrected from the dead on the first day of the week. See 1 Cor. 16:2.

Also, we learn that the Jewish Saturday Sabbath was abolished as a shadow of things to come: Colossians 2:14-17 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Hebrews 4:8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. We believe this other day is the first day of the week, or The Lord's Day. But bear with me for one more important point.

Hebrews 4:9 continues this thought:  9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. The word REST here literally is a sabbath-keeping. Our Sabbath is not a Jewish day but a day for Jews and Gentiles alike. It is a day to rest from our work and to give worship to God because of his death, burial, and resurrection. We do not call it a sabbath-keeping, because that would connect it too closely with the Jewish Sabbath. We call it the Lord's day with John, who wrote the book of Revelation.

Now we are left with one more reference from Hebrews, which encourages us to meet together on the Lord's day for rest and worship: Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Even if this rest in Hebrews is taken as our spiritual rest in Christ, we still have enough Scriptural proof that today we are not to keep the Saturday Sabbath but to assemble on the first day of the week because of Christ's resurrection.

• All ten commandments are reiterated in the New Testament except for "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
• So, no commandment is given to Christians to keep it.
• The Saturday Sabbath is a Jewish day and does not apply to Gentiles.
• There is no warning in the New Testament for not keeping the Sabbath as there is in the Old Testament.