Sunset to Sunset
Why the Sabbath?
Does it matter whether we keep Sabbath or not?
Does it make any difference which day we keep?
[Updated March 25, 2012]
Why The Sabbath?
To fully appreciate the Sabbath question we need to understand its origin and the purpose why it was instituted.
Contrary to what is commonly held, the simple Bible fact is that the Sabbath did not originate with the Jews! Sabbath actually dates back to the time of the very first man – Adam. This was more than two thousand years before the first Jew would be born!
The command as enshrined in the Ten Commandments is to remember the Sabbath. That is simply because soon after it was created, Sabbath has become forgotten. God does not create anything without a purpose. He did not create Sabbath and store it in freezer, then two thousand years later pull it out for exclusive use of one nation ONLY!
That just DOES NOT make sense!
And Sabbath is the only non-perishable of the things that God made during the creation week. Can you see that?
Bible students are familiar with the creation story. In the first six days of the creation week God made the material world as we see it today. Adam and Eve themselves were created at the end of the sixth day – last of the physical creation.
It is quite obvious from the sequence of creation, that God was preparing a physical world that would support and sustain the pinnacle of His creation. But despite all the things that was made available to him, man remains incomplete. That is despite the fact that man, as God Himself said, was created “in our [God's] image, after our likeness” [Gen.1:26-27]! This phrase reveals something more than mere similarity of looks or appearance. For a breathtaking glimpse of its full implication, consider the following verses.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.
1Co 15:51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
1Co 15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1Co 15:53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
God’s ultimate aim was for man to become His literal sons and daughters – to become “like Him” as He is. Which means man was – and is – intended to inherit God’s attributes, such as immortality and power, among others!
That is why when Jesus Christ taught His disciples how to pray, He taught them to address God as their Father in heaven! It is not an empty and meaningless, highfaluting term. We are to call God Father precisely because we are His sons and daughters – and we are destined to literally become like Him!. If you are baptized according to the instruction of Christ and Peter (Mat. 28:19f, Acts 2:38, John 3:5f), you are now begotten [by the Spirit] awaiting to be born literally into God’s family!
[Read What is the Purpose of Life? for more discussion on this!]
Meanwhile man presently is a physical, mortal and corruptible being – that has but “threescore years and ten” to live [Psalms 90:10] or at best 80 or in rare cases 100 years – after which he would return to dust [Gen.3:19]. And that would be his end. That is, unless he comes into – and maintains – an intimate relationship with God.
This is where the Sabbath comes in.
The Lord of the Sabbath
After all of God’s creative works in Genesis 1, the next chapter opens as follows:
This of course is referring to the physical creation described in the previous chapter, that culminated in the creation of Adam and Eve. But after completing the material creation, God created one thing more. Notice:
Gen 2:3 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.
Notice that in resting from all His creative works, God did something – that is to bless and sanctify the seventh day. That very act created the Sabbath.
Some argue that that day that God blessed and sanctified was not Sabbath. But Jesus, the “Lord of the Sabbath” Himself [Mark 2:28] says:
This short statement packs several important facts about the Sabbath:
- Christ Himself calls the seventh day that was blessed and sanctified at creation, Sabbath
- Sabbath was made. Sabbath was made during creation week – NOT during Moses’ time.
- For man. Since Sabbath was made when man was made, Sabbath is clearly for all mankind – not for Jews only.
- “For” means “because of (that), briefly, by, for (cause) . . . fore, from, in, by occasion of, of, by reason of, for sake”. In other words, Sabbath was created for man’s sake or benefit.
What does this all mean?
Man, as we’ve seen is incomplete on his own. He needs and is made to need a relationship with God. But man is physical while God is spirit. God made available His Spirit to man, but with God’s spirit in him, man is still physical. Sabbath is a simple but perfect way for physical humans to connect to a spirit God. By its recurring nature, Sabbath keeps us humans constantly aware of WHO our true Creator [Ex.20:11] is. It gives us a weekly pause from our normal selfward, mundane routine and to focus on our Creator and Father whose nature and character we are to imbibe. ONLY by observing the Sabbath could it serve man the benefit that God created it for. To do otherwise is to ignore, forget and lose its message and benefit, altogether.
Sabbath Summarizes the GOSPEL Message
Many claim that the Sabbath has nothing to do with the gospel of Christ. The fact is, the true gospel is the message of the Sabbath!
Aside from showing who our true Creator is, the Sabbath also shows WHO our Savior/Deliverer is [Deut 5:15] and it points us to the coming kingdom of God. Sabbath, as understood during the time of Moses, pictured the “entering of the promised land” [Josh 1:13-15, also compare Num 20:24 and Ps.95:8-11]. This rest is but a type of the ultimate “promised-land-rest“, the kingdom of God. Notice:
Isa 11:9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Furthermore,
Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Rev 21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away
That is certainly REAL rest.
To put it simply: Sabbath reminds us of two things — that God is our CREATOR and SAVIOR. God made man in His own image and likeness. But this creation process is somewhat “disrupted” when man sinned. So God SAVED or DELIVERED us from sin, resuming the process that He started. The consummation of this creation is our “birth” into the Kingdom of God!
That is the gospel of Jesus [Mat 4:23]! The same gospel that Paul preached [Acts 28:23, 30-31].
You may have not realized it, but the apostle Paul actually explains the details of the gospel of the kingdom in 1 Corinthians 15! Read it for yourself!
Can you see why Sabbath is so important to God?
It doesn’t take much to appreciate the importance of spending time with our loved ones [mate and children]. How about spending time with our Creator, our Father who not only gave us life, but who gave up His Son [our brother] that we may live forever? A rather little time to give up for an eternity as member of the family of God. “Give up” is even a shortsighted term to use. How we regard Sabbath reflects how we value what God is doing in [and for] us — as well as the glory that He has reserved for us.
Does it Matter Whether We Keep Sabbath or Not?
The history of the house of Judah [Jews] and the house of Israel bear witness to the consequence of disregarding the Sabbath. They both were invaded, shipped out of their countries and made slaves by the Babylonians and Assyrians, respectively [Jer.17 and Ezek.20].
Some Jews were fortunate enough to be able to return to their homeland. But their bitter experience under Babylonian slavery caused them to go to the opposite extreme of making the Sabbath a burden, by adding numerous man-made rules – which Christ had to correct when He came as a human [see Did Jesus Christ Break the Sabbath?]. But most Jews remained in dispersion and the tribes that consisted the house of Israel remained lost to mainstream history!
That’s how seriously God takes Sabbath breaking!
We today are at the threshold of the coming “rest” – the ultimate rest – which is the coming kingdom of God. Hebrews is telling us not to let the same unbelief [Greek apeitheia=disobedience] befall us:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief [disobedience], in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
But some insist that the Sabbath ended at the cross. But the Bible clearly says otherwise. Notice:
Isa 66:23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
The time setting here is “new heavens and new earth”, which is well beyond our present time. So clearly Sabbath remains in force to this day. By its very purpose, it is inconceivable that the Sabbath would be abolished – at least not until God’s purpose for man has fully materialized – and NOT until the Kingdom of God [which the Sabbath foreshadows] is established ON EARTH!
[Read also Colossians 2:14-16 - What Was Nailed to the Cross?]
Does it Make Any Difference Which Day We Keep?
If there was no God, it would not matter which day we keep. But there is a God and this God blessed and sanctified a SPECIFIC day of the week during which to rest and worship Him. He didn’t sanctify any other day nor did He authorize any changes to be made. The absence of related injunction on the Sabbath in the New Testament only proves that the old command stays. For if a change affecting Sabbath was introduced by Christ or the apostles — the Pharisees and the Jews would have violently protested, considering their temperament and the then still vivid memory of their bitter nightmare with slavery that resulted from Sabbath breaking. But we see no such disturbance in the New Testament. The controversy between Christ and the Jews has to do with the burdensome regulations that the Pharisees added to the Sabbath command.
There are a number of scriptures used to “prove” that Sabbath was changed from seventh day to first day of the week or abolished altogether. We will examine them in the next post.
[This is Part 13 of the series Did Jesus Christ Abolish the Law?]