The Sabbath
There is much confusion about this holy day
Randy Blackaby

People often ask, "Don't you think that if we just keep the Ten Commandments God will be pleased?" When a Christian responds that one of the Ten Commandments has been done away with, a lively conversation often ensues.

Many folks are confused about the Sabbath Day. Some, such as Seventh Day Adventists, believe the seventh day of the week should still be the day we worship. Others believe the Sabbath has been changed to Sunday, the first day of the week. Let's see what the Bible says.

The Bible tells us the Sabbath was for the Israelites. During the Exodus from Egypt, God instituted this day. It is first mentioned in Exodus 16:23-26: "Then he said to them, this is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.' So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, Eat that 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, which is the Sabbath, there will be none." The Sabbath law was the fourth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8). The Sabbath was the seventh, or last, day of the week, the day we call Saturday.

God commanded Israel to keep this day as a way to remember that while in Egypt they had no rest, but that God delivered them and gave them a day of rest (Deuteronomy 5:15). The word Sabbath means "rest." This special day was a sign between Israel and God so they would not forget that he had delivered them and set them apart as his people. Exodus 31:13-17 says: "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, 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. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath Day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

Since, under the Old Testament law, the Jews were God's covenant people, the Sabbath had no real significance to Gentiles. But the Sabbath was the Jews' God-ordained day for worship and rest from normal secular endeavors. They were to observe it strictly.

Today's Sabbath keepers, whether they worship on Saturday or Sunday, really don't keep the Sabbath in the way God commanded the Jews to keep it.

Many years ago, this nation had "blue laws" that required nonessential businesses to close on Sunday. Gas stations, restaurants, grocers, and hardware and merchandise stores were closed. These laws were based on the idea that Sunday is the "Christian Sabbath." But neither home cooking nor traveling was forbidden. And no animal sacrifices were offered.

Scripture says absolutely nothing to suggest that God changed the Sabbath Day from the last day of the week to the first. The only real similarity is that both are days dedicated or set apart for worship.

These professed Christian Sabbath keepers also failed to recognize that if you adopt one part of the Law of Moses, you are bound to keep all of that law (Galatians 5:3). And those who try to be justified by keeping the Old Law are fallen from grace (Galatians 5:4). Sabbath law has ended.

Jesus "fulfilled" the Old Testament law. According to Matthew 5:17, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." The Law was taken out of the way at the cross: "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." (Colossians 2:14) Jesus established a new law or covenant, what we generally refer to as the New Testament, the "perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25).

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul specifically warned against trying to bind the Sabbath on Christians. He wrote: "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." (Colossians 2:16-17)

Christians do have a Sabbath to come. Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage does present a physical pattern for how God, through the sacrifice of Jesus, delivered all men from the bondage of sin. And in consideration of this figurative or comparative parallel, the Bible declares: "There remains therefore a rest (Sabbath) for the people of God." (Hebrews 4:9) But this Sabbath or rest isn't one day in a week. It alludes to heaven, the ultimate rest for God's people. That will be the time and place for Christians to rest. "Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'" (Revelation 14:13)

Brother Blackaby has done an excellent job of showing what the Scriptures teach concerning the Jewish Sabbath Day. Many of those who continue to observe the Sabbath do not keep all of the Law concerning this special day. What about the death penalty for those who broke the Sabbath Law? Do those who observe this Day today also keep that part of the Law? Of course not! Some say that part of the Sabbath Law was "set aside." The problem is that there is no Scripture passage that makes this distinction. (This is exactly the same number of Scripture passages that substantiate keeping the Sabbath Law under the Law of Christ.)

Could one keep this day as a matter of conscience without violating the Law of Christ? For example, let us say that a Jew is converted to Christ. Yet, because of a strong conscience concerning the Sabbath, he refrains from manual labor on the Sabbath and uses it as a day to prepare for the Lord's Day. This would be a manner of personal judgment that should not be bound on others. It would be acceptable to God.

Many say Christians offer "pagan worship" because they worship on the Lord's Day and break the Sabbath. The real problem-someone has failed in "rightly dividing God's Word." (KMG)


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