Should We Observe The Sabbath?

Introduction

Greetings…

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What Was The Sabbath?

Defining The Word

The Hebrew word “שַׁבַּת” or “shabbat” literally means “rest or cessation.”

It comes from the root Hebrew word “shavat” which means “to rest or to cease.”

We find this root word in Genesis 2:2.

Genesis 2:2 ESV

2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.

Now God, who knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), then uses what takes place here in Genesis 2:2 to…

Establish The Sabbath Day

While the Israelites were in the wilderness they began to grumble about being hungry in Exodus 16.

As we all know, God showed them mercy and sent down to them bread, i.e., the manna (Exodus 16:12-14).

It is during this time we first find God mentioning this “Sabbath Day” and we find two important things established by God.

First we see that God considered that particular day “holy” in comparison to the other days of the week.

Exodus 16:23 ESV

23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ”

Second, we find God desiring that man was not to “work” on this day and instead “rest.”

Exodus 16:25–26 ESV

25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

Exodus 16:30 ESV

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Now once Israel gets to Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 we find God bringing Moses up on the mountain to give him the law.

This “Law of Moses”, as it would later be known as (Joshua 8:31), began with the Ten Commandments as seen in Exodus 20.

One of those ten commandments, as found in Exodus 20:8 reads…

Exodus 20:8 ESV

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

It is here then that God establishes what is commonly called the “Sabbath Day.”

God goes on in the next few verses explaining what he means by “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”

Exodus 20:9–11 ESV

9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and 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.

So, what do we learn from this?

This day was considered holy to God because it represented his completion of the creation of the universe.

To honor this day, man was to “rest” from his work, so that he could spend his time focusing on God.

Deuteronomy 5:15 ESV

15 You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Summary

So there is no doubt that God established for the Israelites the necessity to keep the Sabbath day holy or “seventh day” holy.

Yet, most in Christendom do not strive to keep the seventh day holy rather they, at least attempt, to keep the “first day of the week holy” instead.

But some have argued this should not be the case and rather all those claiming to be Christians should “Keep the Sabbath Today.”

Ellen G. White, the co-founder of the Seventh-Day Adventist wrote in her book “The Great Controversy” in 1888…

“The Sabbath will be the great test of loyalty, for it is the point of truth especially controverted. When the final test shall be brought to bear upon men, then the line of distinction will be drawn between those who serve God and those who serve Him not. While the observance of the false sabbath in compliance with the law of the state, contrary to the fourth commandment, will be an avowal of allegiance to a power that is in opposition to God, the keeping of the true Sabbath, in obedience to God’s law, is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator.”

Is Ellen G. White correct?

Is true Christianity or loyalty to the Creator found in keeping the “true Sabbath” today?

Let’s take a look at this.

The Sabbath Today

Establishing Some Biblical Facts

Before we can dive into this, we must first establish a few things that are beneficially necessary to determine if we are to keep the Sabbath, as God prescribed it in the Old Testament today.

First, we are no longer under the Law of Moses, we are under the Law of Christ.

God made this very clear through the apostle Paul.

Galatians 6:2 ESV

2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

1 Corinthians 9:21 ESV

21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.

How, did this transition between laws take place, by Jesus dying on the cross?

Colossians 2:14 NKJV

14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Hebrews 9:15–16 ESV

15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. 16 For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established.

Why, did this transition take place, because the Law of Moses had to die in order for the Law of Christ to be established.

Romans 7:1–3 ESV

1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

Romans 7:4–6 ESV

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Secondly, the Sabbath day or Sabbath rest, under the Law of Christ changed from what it was under the Law of Moses.

Why, because the Israelites continually “put God to the test” and “hardened their hearts against God.

Hebrews 3:9–11 ESV

9 where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”

Today, that rest offered to the Israelites, has been given to Christians today, but not in the form of a “day of rest” but rather an eternity of rest.

Hebrews 4:6–7 ESV

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

Hebrews 4:8–10 ESV

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

Hebrews 4:11 ESV

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The Sabbath rest for Christians is the “eternal rest” from our labors.

Revelation 14:13 ESV

13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

So if this is the case…

Why Do People Worship On Sunday Today?

The main argument given today for worshiping on Saturday instead of Sunday is…

“The Ten Commandments were not apart of the Old Law and as such we are still required to follow them.”

Is this the case?

Look with me to Romans 7 again, and remember there in Romans 7:1-6 God establishes that the old law, i.e., the Law of Moses had to die in order for the Law of Christ to be established, but then notice what God inspires Paul to right in the following verses.

Romans 7:7–8 ESV

7 What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead.

Did you catch that, the ten commandments are the Law of Moses, just as much as any other part of the old law.

Summary

The only case for keeping the Sabbath today, is that of the Ten Commandments being required still today.

This is because there is zero evidence of any Christian “keeping the Sabbath holy”, because instead they were under the “Law of Christ” which keeps the “first day of the week holy.”

Acts 20:7 ESV

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

Conclusion

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Invitation

Isaiah 59:1–2 ESV

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; 2 but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.

Philippians 2:6–7 ESV

6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

Romans 10:17 ESV

17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Hebrews 11:6 ESV

6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Acts 17:30 ESV

30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent

Luke 14:33 ESV

33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:32–33 NKJV

32 Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 ESV

8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:1–4 ESV

1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures

Romans 6:3–5 ESV

3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

1 John 1:7 ESV

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

James 1:12 ESV

12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.