Post by ambassador on Dec 21, 2009 22:07:24 GMT -5
Should I Observe the Sabbath Day?
[12 December 2009]
Does God demand Sabbath Day observance today? What about the “Lord’s Day?” Does it matter whether you go to church on Saturday or Sunday? In order to make sense of the Sabbath Day, we have to set aside religious tradition, and look into God’s Word for the answer. Using dispensational Bible study—“rightly dividing the word of truth” as 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV instructs—we can determine whether or not we are bound to observe the Sabbath Day.
Before we begin, let me attempt to clear up the confusion that denominationalism has created. Firstly, according to the Bible, Saturday has been and always will be the Sabbath Day. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week (Mark 16:1-2; Luke 23:54–24:1). This would make the last day of the week, Saturday, the Sabbath Day. Please understand that the Sabbath was never Sunday in the Bible!
A second point I want to clear up is in regards to Sunday. According to religious tradition, Sunday is “the Lord’s Day” and “the Christian Sabbath.” This is due to a misinterpretation of Revelation 1:10, which is actually referring to “the Day of the Lord,” the seven-year Tribulation. “The Day of the Lord” (“the Lord’s Day”) is not the Saturday Sabbath and it is not Sunday. There is no such thing as “Lord’s Day observance.”
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN TIME PAST
With that confusion sorted out, now we can look at the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament. The first reference to the Sabbath Day is Genesis 2:1-3. After the six days of creation, God rests on the seventh day and sets it apart from all the other days. Now, from this point until the Mosaic Law given 1,500 years later, there is no mention of Sabbath Day keeping. In other words, Adam, Noah, and Abraham were never told to keep the Sabbath and they never did keep the Sabbath.
After Moses leads the Nation Israel out of Egypt, the LORD brings them to Mount Sinai, where they will receive the Law (Ten Commandments). The fourth commandment given to Israel was to keep the Sabbath Day (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-16). Pay close attention to what the LORD tells Moses in Exodus 31:12-17 KJV:
“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.
18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
So, the Sabbath Day was an ordinance given to Israel. Back in Exodus 19:3-6, God tells the Jews that He has set them apart from the world. Israel will be a “kingdom of priests,” and it is through Israel that God will restore His authority on earth. The Sabbath Day was a day God told the Jews to set aside as a time to remember their purpose. (There were other “Sabbaths” beside the weekly Sabbath, but that is beyond the scope of our discussion here).
Turn to Psalm 132:13-14 KJV: “13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
Where has God chosen to dwell forever? Zion, the throne of David in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital! After the Second Coming, the Lord Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom on earth, the sabbatical rest, the seventh 1,000-year period of time. During that kingdom millennium, the curse will be removed, Satan will be bound, and Christ will be reigning on earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! This weekly Sabbath Day observance in Judaism was looking toward the day when the Nation Israel would be the chief nation in the kingdom (the sabbatical rest of creation).
In Israel, the Sabbath was so special of a day, that if someone so much as picked up a few sticks on the weekly Sabbath Day, the Lord commanded that this person be stoned to death (Numbers 15:32-36)! In Numbers 15:37-38, we see that the Lord also told Israel to fasten blue fringes on their garments to remind them of the Mosaic Law. These blue fringes helped remind Israel of their purpose in God’s plan.
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN THE BUT NOW (PRESENT-DAY)
Sabbath Day keeping was commanded in Israel. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we are not Israel. We are not under the Mosaic Law either; rather, we are under grace (Romans 6:1-2, 14-15). The Apostle Paul further tells us that the Mosaic Law—especially the Ten Commandments—was put to death with Jesus Christ on the cross (Colossians 2:14).
So, in the present-day Dispensation of Grace, we have no Sabbath Day to observe. In fact, look at Colossians 2:16-17 KJV: “16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
The Christian believers in the region of Galatia (present-day central Turkey) were being misled with the idea of Law-keeping, and Paul had to hurriedly write to them: “9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11 KJV). The Apostle was fussing these Galatian believers in love: stop Law-keeping (including the Sabbath Day-keeping) because you are under grace and you are not Israel!
In this Dispensation of Grace, we are separate from the curse of the Mosaic Law, and we are not the Nation Israel. This is why there is no need for us to observe Israel’s feast days, religious festivals, or sabbath days! We are the Body of Christ, and we have no Law-keeping. Meeting on Sunday has nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath—Sunday, the first day, was simply the day when the early Gentile churches chose to meet (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). Do not confuse today’s believers assembling on Sunday with Israel’s Sabbath Day keeping. Sunday is not the Lord’s Day, and neither is Saturday—the Lord’s Day is the Tribulation!
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN THE AGES TO COME
If you go back to Exodus 31:16-17, you read that the Sabbath Day is God’s “perpetual covenant” with Israel. When Paul writes that the Sabbath Day is a “shadow of things to come” in Colossians 2:16, what he means is that Sabbath Day-keeping in Israel will resume after the rapture. Israel will go back under Temple worship during the Tribulation, and even in the Millennial Kingdom, the Nation Israel will observe the Sabbath Day. Israel will observe the Sabbath Day forever.
[12 December 2009]
Does God demand Sabbath Day observance today? What about the “Lord’s Day?” Does it matter whether you go to church on Saturday or Sunday? In order to make sense of the Sabbath Day, we have to set aside religious tradition, and look into God’s Word for the answer. Using dispensational Bible study—“rightly dividing the word of truth” as 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV instructs—we can determine whether or not we are bound to observe the Sabbath Day.
Before we begin, let me attempt to clear up the confusion that denominationalism has created. Firstly, according to the Bible, Saturday has been and always will be the Sabbath Day. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the week (Mark 16:1-2; Luke 23:54–24:1). This would make the last day of the week, Saturday, the Sabbath Day. Please understand that the Sabbath was never Sunday in the Bible!
A second point I want to clear up is in regards to Sunday. According to religious tradition, Sunday is “the Lord’s Day” and “the Christian Sabbath.” This is due to a misinterpretation of Revelation 1:10, which is actually referring to “the Day of the Lord,” the seven-year Tribulation. “The Day of the Lord” (“the Lord’s Day”) is not the Saturday Sabbath and it is not Sunday. There is no such thing as “Lord’s Day observance.”
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN TIME PAST
With that confusion sorted out, now we can look at the Sabbath Day in the Old Testament. The first reference to the Sabbath Day is Genesis 2:1-3. After the six days of creation, God rests on the seventh day and sets it apart from all the other days. Now, from this point until the Mosaic Law given 1,500 years later, there is no mention of Sabbath Day keeping. In other words, Adam, Noah, and Abraham were never told to keep the Sabbath and they never did keep the Sabbath.
After Moses leads the Nation Israel out of Egypt, the LORD brings them to Mount Sinai, where they will receive the Law (Ten Commandments). The fourth commandment given to Israel was to keep the Sabbath Day (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-16). Pay close attention to what the LORD tells Moses in Exodus 31:12-17 KJV:
“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.
18 And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.”
So, the Sabbath Day was an ordinance given to Israel. Back in Exodus 19:3-6, God tells the Jews that He has set them apart from the world. Israel will be a “kingdom of priests,” and it is through Israel that God will restore His authority on earth. The Sabbath Day was a day God told the Jews to set aside as a time to remember their purpose. (There were other “Sabbaths” beside the weekly Sabbath, but that is beyond the scope of our discussion here).
Turn to Psalm 132:13-14 KJV: “13 For the LORD hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.
Where has God chosen to dwell forever? Zion, the throne of David in Jerusalem, Israel’s capital! After the Second Coming, the Lord Jesus Christ will set up His kingdom on earth, the sabbatical rest, the seventh 1,000-year period of time. During that kingdom millennium, the curse will be removed, Satan will be bound, and Christ will be reigning on earth as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! This weekly Sabbath Day observance in Judaism was looking toward the day when the Nation Israel would be the chief nation in the kingdom (the sabbatical rest of creation).
In Israel, the Sabbath was so special of a day, that if someone so much as picked up a few sticks on the weekly Sabbath Day, the Lord commanded that this person be stoned to death (Numbers 15:32-36)! In Numbers 15:37-38, we see that the Lord also told Israel to fasten blue fringes on their garments to remind them of the Mosaic Law. These blue fringes helped remind Israel of their purpose in God’s plan.
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN THE BUT NOW (PRESENT-DAY)
Sabbath Day keeping was commanded in Israel. As members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we are not Israel. We are not under the Mosaic Law either; rather, we are under grace (Romans 6:1-2, 14-15). The Apostle Paul further tells us that the Mosaic Law—especially the Ten Commandments—was put to death with Jesus Christ on the cross (Colossians 2:14).
So, in the present-day Dispensation of Grace, we have no Sabbath Day to observe. In fact, look at Colossians 2:16-17 KJV: “16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
The Christian believers in the region of Galatia (present-day central Turkey) were being misled with the idea of Law-keeping, and Paul had to hurriedly write to them: “9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain” (Galatians 4:9-11 KJV). The Apostle was fussing these Galatian believers in love: stop Law-keeping (including the Sabbath Day-keeping) because you are under grace and you are not Israel!
In this Dispensation of Grace, we are separate from the curse of the Mosaic Law, and we are not the Nation Israel. This is why there is no need for us to observe Israel’s feast days, religious festivals, or sabbath days! We are the Body of Christ, and we have no Law-keeping. Meeting on Sunday has nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath—Sunday, the first day, was simply the day when the early Gentile churches chose to meet (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). Do not confuse today’s believers assembling on Sunday with Israel’s Sabbath Day keeping. Sunday is not the Lord’s Day, and neither is Saturday—the Lord’s Day is the Tribulation!
SABBATH DAY KEEPING IN THE AGES TO COME
If you go back to Exodus 31:16-17, you read that the Sabbath Day is God’s “perpetual covenant” with Israel. When Paul writes that the Sabbath Day is a “shadow of things to come” in Colossians 2:16, what he means is that Sabbath Day-keeping in Israel will resume after the rapture. Israel will go back under Temple worship during the Tribulation, and even in the Millennial Kingdom, the Nation Israel will observe the Sabbath Day. Israel will observe the Sabbath Day forever.