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The Sabbath Day
November 01, 2009
Many religions teach that Christians are to keep a Sabbath. Most of them call Sunday, the first day of the week, the Sabbath. God commanded the Israelites to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. A sabbath is a day of rest from labor. It was strictly enforced under penalty of death under the Law of Moses. Christians are not commanded to keep a Sabbath day. The writer of Hebrews indicates that we are to work in the here and now, and that our rest lies in the future.
Bernie Parsons
The Sabbath Day
by Bernie Parsons
Presented to the Globe church of Christ on November 1, 2009
Luke 14:1 “And it
came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat
bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
2
And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the
dropsy.
3 And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees,
saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4 And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and
let him go;
5 And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an
ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath
day?.”
Some say that we are to keep the ten
commandments, including keeping the Sabbath day holy. When I was growing up,
a neighbor was offended because we mowed our grass on a Sunday, complaining
that Christians ought not work on the Sabbath. We knew that Saturday
corresponds to the Biblical Sabbath, so how did our neighbor come to think
that Sunday was the Sabbath?
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.
3 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.”
The word Sabbath means “to rest, cease,
or desist”. The Law of Moses Sabbath day shows it to be more than a day off
from labor—it was a day of stopping nearly all activity.
Exodus 31:12
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
13 Speak thou also unto the children of
Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between
me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD
that doth sanctify you.
14 Ye shall
keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth
it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that
soul shall be cut off from among his people.
15 Six days may
work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD:
whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to
death.
16 Wherefore
the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
17 It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD
made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
God gave the
Israelites the seventh day of the week—Saturday— as a Sabbath. They were
preparing for a forced march through the wilderness, and needed to rest
regularly. Notice that a compulsory day of rest was not commanded from Adam
until that time. Some argue that Christians must observe that commandment
given to the Israelites. What do the scriptures say?
Galatians 3:16 “Now
to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds,
as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the
covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was
four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make
the promise of none effect.”
19 “Wherefore then serveth the
law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to
whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a
mediator“
Paul told the Galatians that the
Law of Moses was added to the offspring of Israel because of their
disobedience, 430 years after God had promised Abraham that all nations of
the earth would be blessed through his seed—Jesus. That means that for 430
years, the Sabbath may not have been observed. Or, if it was, it was done
voluntarily, and not by a commandment of God.
Romans 7:1 “Know ye
not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law
hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2 For the woman which hath an husband is
bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be
dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3 So then if, while her husband liveth,
she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her
husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress,
though she be married to another man.
4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are
become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to
another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto God”
Paul told the Roman Christians that the
Law of Moses was dead.
Colossians 2:14 “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”
Romans 8:1 “There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death”
Christ died to remove the Law of Moses.
There is no commandment for Christians to keep a Sabbath day, as in the Law
of Moses.
Numbers 15:32 “And while the
children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered
sticks upon the sabbath day.
33 And they that found him
gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the
congregation.
34 And they put him in ward,
because it was not declared what should be done to him.
35 And the LORD said unto Moses,
The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him
with stones without the camp.
36 And all the congregation
brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as
the LORD commanded Moses.”
Violating the
Sabbath under the Law of Moses was a serious offense, as seen here. However,
Jesus Christ shows a better way, a way that replaces the Law of Moses.
Hebrews 8:7 “For if that
first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for
the second.
8 For finding fault with
them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9 Not according to the
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my
covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord;
I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11 And they shall not teach
every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord:
for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful to
their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember
no more.
13 In that he saith, A new
covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old
is ready to vanish away”
And what did Jesus say about the Sabbath?
Matthew 12:10 “And,
behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him,
saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse
him.
11 And he said unto them, What
man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into
a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
12 How much then is a man better
than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
13 Then saith he to the man,
Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored
whole, like as the other.”
John 9:14 “And it
was the sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes.
15 Then again the Pharisees also
asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon
mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.
16 Therefore said some of the
Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day.
Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was
a division among them.”
John 5:16 “And therefore did the
Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these
things on the sabbath day.
17 But Jesus answered them, My
Father worketh hitherto, and I work”
Jesus stated that His Father,
whom we know to be God, works on the Sabbath, as did Jesus.
Luke 6:1 “And it came to pass on
the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields;
and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing them in
their hands.
2 And certain of the Pharisees
said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath
days?
3 And Jesus answering them said,
Have ye not read so much as this, what David did, when himself was an
hungred, and they which were with him;
4 How he went into the house of
God, and did take and eat the shewbread, and gave also to them that were
with him; which it is not lawful to eat but for the priests alone?
5 And he said unto them, That the
Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”
Jesus actually violated the Sabbath of the Law
of Moses. He was Lord of the Sabbath, and He said that it was lawful to do
good on the day of rest. The Christian’s Sabbath is in the future. We do the
good works of the Lord now to achieve a rest that we have not yet received.
Hebrews 4:9 “There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into
his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to
enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”
Sunday is often called the
Sabbath because of the Roman Catholics. Later reinforced by Protestants
(Catholic Reformers). The Bible does not call the first day of the week the
Sabbath. Christians are not to keep the Law of Moses, and the commandment to
keep the seventh day as a Sabbath, or day of rest, was to the Israelites
under the Law.
Therefore, Christians have no commandment to keep a day of rest.
