http://www.solidrock.net/library/anderson/sermons/christ.in.genesis/christ-our.sabbath.php
Over the past
two thousand years there has been much disagreement over the subject of the
Sabbath. During the 17th century, the Puritans sought to enforce the Sabbath by
having the civil magistrate fine offenders. The Seventh-Day Adventists have
historically taught that Sunday worship is the mark of the beast, and all who
bear that mark will be cast into the lake of fire. Today, many churches will
not fellowship with or partner in the spread of the gospel together with those
churches that don't hold their particular view of the Sabbath, although 99% of
their doctrine is identical.
There are three
major views historically held concerning it. The Seventh Day View holds that God instituted
the Sabbath on the seventh day in the Garden of Eden as a perpetual creation
ordinance that is still binding on believers today. Thus Christians are
obligated to hold Saturday as a day of rest. The Christian Sabbath View holds that Christ and His
apostles changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, and that we obey this
command by resting and worshipping on Sunday.1 The New Covenant View holds
the position that the Sabbath was abolished when the New Covenant was ratified
by the death of Christ along with all the other ceremonial laws of the Mosaic
institution.2
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1. Even though advocates
of the Christian Sabbath View believe that the Sabbath is God's unchanging
moral law, their understanding of the Sabbath involves several major changes:
the day the Sabbath is to be observed; the reason for observing it; and the
manner in which it is to be observed. The Sabbath was changed from the seventh
to the first day of the week, not because God is our Creator or Redeemer, but
because Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that day. There is no NT command to
worship on any particular day or observe Sunday as a day of rest for any
reason. The Sabbath is to be observed not only by resting from labor, but by
public and private worship observed throughout the day. However, the OT Sabbath
was to be observed by complete cessation of labor, not by acts of public and
private worship.
2. Abolished because it
was fulfilled, swallowed up in the coming of ‘faith’ and all that it implies -
Christ is our Sabbath. In Him we are
complete and at peace with God.
The Sabbath Before
the Mosaic Law
Gen.2:1-3 "Thus the heavens
and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God
completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all
His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it [set it apart], because in it He rested from all His work which God had
created and made."
Gen.2 is the only place the subject of the Sabbath is
mentioned before the institution of the Mosaic Law. The word Sabbath does not
appear in the text, however, the concept of resting on the seventh day is found
there. This passage teaches that God made all things in six days, and that He
rested on the seventh day in the enjoyment of what He had created. He rested
because His work was finished, stopped because He was done working. He had
totally accomplished what He set out to do.
Those who
hold the Seventh Day
and Christian Sabbath Views
believe that Gen2 reveals the
Sabbath to be a creation ordinance - God bound Adam and Eve to keep the
Sabbath in Gen.2, and thus the
Sabbath is perpetually binding on all mankind in the same way that all of God's
moral laws are binding on all men. However, there is no command to keep the
Sabbath and no penalties for neglecting same. Gen.2:1-3 is historical narrative of the fact that God rested on
the seventh day. Gen.2:3 says that God blessed the seventh day and sanctified
it. Proponents of the Sabbath as a creation ordinance pack all sorts of things
into the words "blessed" and "sanctified" as a day in which
all men must cease from work to emulate their Creator. They mistake the benediction for a command,3 just as the Pharisees did when testing Jesus
on the matter of divorce (Mt.19:3-12). They went to the law, but
Jesus answered by pointing out the implications of marriage stemming
from God's intent of union in making
mankind as man and woman (v.7-8) [see
God
previously gave a benediction that
many also mistakenly take as a command - Gen.1:28,
"And God blessed them…Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth,
and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth." [see Cultural Mandate http://pop.eradman.com/]
The
difference in character between these benedictions and a command is readily
apparent in Gen.2:16-17. Scripture
records the one command and penalty which served to test man's obedience, "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any
tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil you shall not eat, for [consequence
of disobedience] in the day that you eat
from it you shall surely die.'"
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3. There is no indication
that anyone ever kept the Sabbath until Israel did so in Ex.16, about 2,400
years later as part of the Mosaic Law.
4. The Sabbath
encounters Jesus has with the Pharisees (Mt.12:1-14; Mk.2:23-3:6; Lk.14:1-6)
show that the Pharisees' traditions had converted the day of blessing into a
legalistic burden. Is the Sabbath
intended to be a weekly moratorium on doing good? Is not refusing help (do good) doing evil?
The Sabbath as Law
Ex.16:22-26 "Now it came about
on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread…then he [Moses] said to them, "This
is what the LORD meant (lit. spoke): Tomorrow is a
Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and
boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until
morning." So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and it
did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it [as it would have any
other day]. And Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the
LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it,
but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."
Notice that
in this first occurrence of the word "Sabbath," the children of
Neh.9:13-14, "Then Thou didst come down on
When God came
down on
Ex.20:8-11 "Remember the
Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,5 but the
seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any
work…For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all
that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed
the Sabbath day and made it holy."
Here, the
Sabbath is codified as one of the Ten Commandments. Though it is different in
character from the other nine commandments, many see this as proof that the
Sabbath must be part of God's unchanging moral law for all people of all time -
meaning it is just as wrong to break the Sabbath as it is to commit theft,
adultery, or murder.
The Sabbath
commandment was very simple and straightforward. A man was not to work on the
seventh day. Neither this text nor any other says anything about the duty to worship
on this day. There is no command to attend public worship on the Sabbath as a
general rule.
Ex.31:12-17 "And the LORD spoke
to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying,
'You shall surely observe My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and
you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who
sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to
you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does
any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six
days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete
rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely
be put to death. So the sons of
Ez.20:12-13 "And
also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me
and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. But the
house of
By profaning
the Sabbath,
To ignore or
break a covenant sign is tantamount to breaking the whole covenant. That's why
a man was to be cut off from his people in death if he refused circumcision (Gen.17:14), so God met Moses and sought
to put him to death (Ex.4:24-26).
Although Moses was on his way to deliver
Because it
was the sign of the covenant, the Sabbath commandment was the most important of
all the Ten Commandments and had to be part of the covenant document6 of
which it was the sign. Ex.34:28 tells us that the Ten Commandments were the very words of
the covenant. "So he was there
with the Lord forty days and forty nights; but he did not eat bread or drink
water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten
Commandments." This also explains why the Sabbath commandment takes up such a central
and prominent portion in the Decalogue. Of the 144 Hebrew words detailing the
Ten Commandments in Ex.20:2-17, 55
are devoted to the Sabbath commandment. That amounts to a whopping 38%. Positionally, the commandment had to be placed in the
middle of the rest and be given most of the attention because it was the
covenant sign.
Num.15:32-36 "Now while the sons
of
The Sabbath
commandment was new revelation to the children of
Dt.5:2-3, 12-15 "The LORD our God
made a covenant with us at Horeb. The LORD did
not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of us
alive here today…'Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God
commanded you. 'Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh
day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work…And you
shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD
your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm;
therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
Since God did
not make this covenant with their forefathers, the covenant sign of the Sabbath
could not have been observed before this time.
The
significance of the Sabbath is depicted in the 10 Commandments as a reminder of
the completion of God's creative activity (Ex.20:8-11). Later,
there is a shift in emphasis. The
Sabbath is spoken of in connection with God's deliverance of
Scriptures
never tell us that God gave the Sabbath to the gentile nations. It is always
spoken of in reference to
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5. How one reads and
thinks about things matters. At first
glance it appears that the command to keep the Sabbath has 2 parts – the LABOR
for 6 day part and the PROHIBITION of labor for 1 day part. Is God really commanding that people work all
day every day for 6 straight days, or is He describing limitations?
6. The Ten Commandments
were the covenant document of the Old Covenant (Ex.34:28), which has become
obsolete with the introduction of the New Covenant (Heb.8:13) [see Chap.4,
The Sabbath and the New Covenant
Advocates of
the view that the Sabbath is one of God's moral laws perpetually binding upon
all mankind, find reinforcements for their position in the fact that Jesus
habitually worshipped in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. "And He came to
Rom.14:1-6 "Now accept the one
who is weak in faith…One man regards one day above another, another regards
every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. He who
observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the
Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not
eat, and gives thanks to God."
The
"day" referred to would most likely be Jewish holy days under the
Mosaic Law, including festivals, new moons, and Sabbath days. People turning to
Christ from a lifetime under the traditions of law required a learning and
adjustment period. To judge one another either for not being free from certain
aspects of the law or for being liberated in conscious, not bound to keep a
certain day, is wrong. Thus, we are to extend latitude to one another allowing
for each person's conscience before God
regarding such observances recognizing that we are at different places in
personal understanding. Sabbath and other observances
were no longer required.
Gal.4:8-11 "However at that
time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are
no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things,
to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months
and seasons and years. I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in
vain."
"Days"
probably refer to the Sabbath days; "months" to the new moons;
"seasons" to the Jewish feasts (Passover, Unleavened Bread, First
Fruits, Pentecost); and "years" to sabbatical years and the year of
jubilee. Judaizers had been teaching the Galatian
believers that circumcision, as well as observance of the Jewish holy days was
a necessary part of salvation. In contrast, Paul expects believers to grow in
understanding, out of their infancy and susceptibility to such erroneous
teaching.
Col.2:16-17 "Therefore let no
one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or
a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a mere shadow of what is to
come; but the substance belongs to Christ."
"Therefore"
is drawing a conclusion based on the previous discussion - "having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of
decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the
way, having nailed it to the cross" (v.14). What are these hostile
decrees? Christ
"abolished in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of
commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two
into one new man, thus establishing peace" (Eph.2:15). The decrees detrimental to us are
commandments, statutes and ordinances of the Mosaic Law. The keeping of this
Law (which condemned us for disobedience) was removed as a requirement for
approaching God. Therefore, since believers are not bound under by the New
Covenant to observe Old Covenant law,7
they are not to allow anyone to manipulate them in regard to things like food,
drink, or special observances. Christians have been released from them, because
those decrees were fulfilled by Christ and His record of perfect obedience is
imputed to all who are in Him. They were, after all, only shadows pointing to
Him.
Heb.4:10-11 "There remains
therefore a Sabbath rest [keeping] for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has
himself also rested from his works, as God did from His."
In Heb.3:7-4:11, the author compares the
Hebrew believers he is writing to, to
God rested
from His work at creation. Christ rested from His work of redemption when He
sat down at God's right hand in heaven. Jesus pointed to Himself as our Sabbath
rest - "Come to Me, all who are weary
and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn
from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you
shall find rest for your souls" (Mt.11:28-29).
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7. The New Testament
never lists the Sabbath as a command believers living under the New Covenant
must keep. In Rom.1:29-32 twenty-two sins are listed. However, Sabbath-breaking
is conspicuous by its absence. The immediate context describes the worship the
gentiles should have offered to God (Rom.1:18-23). Surely, if the Sabbath was
still binding upon all men, Paul would have written of it in this place. In
Gal.5:19-21 seventeen sins are listed, however
Sabbath-breaking is not one of them. Why this notable absence? Sabbath-keeping
is not carried over from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. It was a shadow
pointing men to the true substance, which is Christ - a ceremonial law
directing men to their true rest, the Lord Jesus.
A House of Prayer for All People by John A. Looper
http://www.restorationfoundation.org/volume_1/1240.htm
"Thus says the Lord, keep judgment, and do justice: for
my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is
the man that doeth this, and the son of man that lays hold on it; that keeps
the Sabbath from polluting it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Neither
let the son of the stranger, that has joined himself to the Lord, speak saying,
The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say,
Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my
Sabbaths, and choose the things that
please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in
mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and
daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Also the sons of the stranger,
that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the
Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it,
and takes hold of my covenant. Even
them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of
prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my
altar: for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people"
(Isa.56:1-7).
Speaking of God's house
of prayer for all people, King David prophesied in Ps.87 that the day would come when the Egyptian, the Babylonian,
the Philistine, the Tyrenian, and the Ethiopian would
be born in
Isaiah foresaw through
the Spirit the restoration of God's house or temple, not just the historical
return of Israel from seventy years of Babylonian captivity and the building of
Zerubbabel's temple, but an even greater miracle, the
restoration in the last days of both Jews (v.4
-"eunuchs") and Gentiles (v.6
-"strangers") to God and to His eternal system of praise, worship,
and service.
The two peoples that were
to be reconciled into one temple by the cross of Christ were first to take hold
of the Sabbath-not just the day, but the grace which is the true rest through
Christ our Sabbath. Secondly, they would take hold of the Sabbaths (plural, v.4), which are God's holidays - not
just for commemoration, but as principles of revelation concerning God's will
to man. But the final, climactic point in this passage is God's statement that
his house will be a house of prayer for all people. This was not
intended to be the official name of God's house, but rather its reputation among all people.