Tract on the Sabbath Day
By Robert C. Williams, D.Min.
The subject of the Sabbath
in the Bible has raised a great deal of discussion among various groups of
Christians over the centuries, and the basic tug-of-war between the scripture
and tradition has not abated to our day.
Many become confused as to which way to go, whether to keep Sunday, the
first day of the week, as churches have done for over one thousand years, or to
return to honoring the 7th day of the week, Saturday, as the Sabbath
of the Lord. Much of this confusion can
be set aside if we, as Christians, simply let the scriptures speak for
themselves on the issue.
The opening accounts of the biblical record in
Genesis describe how God created the world and mankind in six literal days,
then rested on the seventh day. Genesis 2: 3 plainly declares that “God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which
God had created and made.”
It says that
God sanctified and blessed the seventh day.
The reference to a specific day, the seventh day of the weekly cycle,
makes it clear that God did not make this an open-ended blessing, where people
were to rest every day of the week and find the same blessing in each of
them. The seventh day appears only once
in every rotation of seven days. God
sanctified only that day. The Random
House Dictionary defines the word, sanctify as
“to set apart as holy.” The
Bible teaches us therefore that, at the very beginning of this world’s history,
one day, and only one day of the week was made for a holy purpose. That day was
the seventh day, called the Sabbath in scripture. And God rested on it as an example to mankind that they should do
the same by resting in Him.
This specific
day was to be kept as a blessing in a perfect world, even before sin blighted
it. And the Bible teaches that the
Sabbath will be kept in the world after sin has left it. "’For as the new heavens and the new
earth which I will make shall remain before Me,’ says the LORD, ‘So shall your
descendants and your name remain. And
it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one
Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the
LORD.” Isaiah 66:21,22. Thus we see that the Sabbath was set aside
for worship, a time for God to receive homage from His people and to be with
them, and it will be observed in the new earth even after all trace of sin has
been removed.
Throughout the
scripture we find reference to the seventh day as the day of worship. Numerous references in the first 39 books
make it clear that this was a practice before the cross. In fact, in Exodus 20: 8-11 the Lord
commands us to “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” The Sabbath
commandment is the fourth of the Ten Commandments (the same ten commandments that
Christians are fighting to keep displayed in our court rooms today). The Ten Commandments describe the moral duty
of mankind, prohibiting theft and duplicity and covetousness, promoting family
values and worship of the one true God on His designated day. They have never been changed in scripture,
nor can they be, for they are the express will of God.
Isaiah 58:13
and 14 call the Sabbath “His holy day” which God’s people will call a “delight,
holy of the Lord, honorable.” "If
you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My
holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD
honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own
pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself
in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and
feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has
spoken."
Jesus also
called the Sabbath day His day. “The
Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day” Mark 2:28 and Matthew 12:8. In all the scriptures, the Sabbath is the
only day God designates “My holy day.”
The Sabbath is therefore the true “Lord’s day” from Genesis to
Revelation.
Some have
suggested that the Sabbath ended at the cross as part of the old covenant, but
the scripture does not teach this. Here
are several reasons from scripture why this could not be so.
1.
Jesus denied that His coming would abolish any part of the
Law, and The Sabbath is part of that Ten Commandment Law. “Thiink not that I have come to destroy the
law of the prophets, I have not come to destroy but to fulfill.” Matthew 5:17.
2.
The disciples “rested according to the commandment” after
Jesus’ death on Calvary. Luke 23:56
3.
The scripture records over 83 Sabbaths that the Apostles
kept in the book of Acts and a careful reading shows that they did not do this
just to witness to the Jews on that day. Acts 13: 14; 13:42,44 (note: Paul
began speaking to the Jews, but when he was asked by the Gentiles to speak to
them also he waited until the next Sabbath to speak to them about the Gospel.
This shows Paul’s Sabbath keeping was not just to witness to the Jews for here
he was keeping the Sabbath with Gentiles.)
Acts 16:13 (Phillippi was a Roman colony with no Jewish Synagogue. This
passage shows that even when Paul had no Jews to meet with, he and Silas still
kept the Sabbath-this time by a river where they witnessed to some women who
were probably there laundering their clothes.); Acts 18:4(this chapter records
Paul as keeping the Sabbath in Corinth for a year and a half, being present in
the Synagogue every Sabbath, speaking to both Jews and Greeks. That’s 78
recorded Sabbath events.)
4.
Aside from these direct references to Sabbath keeping, Luke
and John record some indirect ones that
indicated which day the early church was accustomed to meet on.
·
Acts 15:21 – at the Jerusalem council, the first church
council ever to meet, the meeting concludes that it is not necessary to declare
the need to keep the Law again to the churches because Moses was read regularly
in the Synagogues, indicating that the Christians of that time were regular
attendees for Sabbath services there. "For Moses has had throughout many
generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues
every Sabbath."
·
Acts 20:7ff – Here the Scriptures say Paul met with the
church for a farewell address on the evening of the first day of the week
(which to them would correspond to our Saturday night) and preached all night,
then left to continue his journey Sunday morning. “Now on the first day
of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to
depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until
midnight. There were many lamps in the
upper room where they were gathered together.”
The New English Bible does the work for you here saying “on Saturday
night, in our assembly for breaking bread.”
The question is that since Paul had been with them for about a week, did
He not do his traveling on Saturday rather than Sunday if the Sabbath was done
away at the cross. But we see him here spending the Sabbath with God the
church, planning to leave on the next morning, Sunday, showing that not only
was Sunday not the day that the early church rested, but that Sabbath was.
·
Revelation 1: 10 – John mentions the Lord’s day saying: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and
I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,” We have already established
from scripture that the day the Lord claimed as His day was the 7th
day of the week, Saturday (Mark 2:28; Matthew 12:8; Isaiah 58:13,14.) Hence,
the Sabbath day is the Lord’s Day and
it was still recognized by John to be so at the end of the first century A.D.
when he wrote the Revelation.
5.
Hebrews 4, especially verses 4,7 & 9-10 – in verse 4
Paul indicates he is speaking about the
7th day rest day or Sabbath. Verse 7 points out that the Lord is
limiting a “certain day” and vers 9-10 reaffirm what that day is: “Therefore, a
Sabbath rest still awaits the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest,
rests from his own work as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to
enter that rest, so that no one may fall by following this evil example of
unbelief.” (New English Bible).
“Sabbath rest” is the translation of the Greek word “Sabbatismos.” It is
built on the Hebrew word “Sabbath” And it counsels us to rest from our own
labors “as God did from His.” This is another clear reference to the 7th
day Sabbath inaugurated by the Lord at Creation, and that we need to keep it to
maintain our experience with Him and not fall into unbelief. The word “rest” here indicates what God’s
people are to do on the Sabbath day. They are to set aside their own works and
ways and worries and by trust everything to God and His promises, yielding all
their will to Him as Lord. This has
always been the purpose of the Sabbath day (Isaiah 58:13,14).
Some have
become confused by the question of the covenants that scripture refers to. The Old Covenant, which contained many
different types of laws for the Jewish people to follow (ceremonial laws
regarding sacrifices, the priesthood and sanctuary; the moral law of Ten
Commandments; dietary and sanitary restrictions; civil laws regarding tribal
boundaries and judicial systems, etc).
The cross fulfilled some of these, like the ceremonial laws dealing with
the worship services, holy days and yearly festivals like Passover (called
Sabbaths), the temple, the sacrifices and the priesthood; for they all pointed
forward to the coming sacrifice of Jesus Christ, “The Lamb that takes away the
sin of the world.”(John 1:29) These
ceremonial laws were the “schoolmaster laws” which prepared the Jewish minds to
look forward to their coming redeemer (Galatians 3:24,25). They were the
shadows of things to come. (Colossians 2:17)
As such they are no longer binding.
Therefore they passed away with the death of Christ and the inauguration
of a new covenant.
But not all
laws pass away. As Jesus said, he did
not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17) The weekly Sabbath
(as opposed to the several yearly sabbaths like the passover or the day of
atonement or tabernacles) was not one of these. It was made a part of the Ten
Commandments moral law by the hand of God, and its function is not to point us
forward, as a shadow does, to a coming event, but to remind us of a past event,
the creation of the world, and of the God who made us all. As such, the Sabbath and the ten commandment
moral law become a part of all covenants.
The scripture
indicates that the covenant contains laws, but that the laws alone do not make
up the covenant. The old covenant or
deal was for Israel to live in a certain place, worship in a certain way,
sacrifice certain things, keep to certain principles of behavior, and so forth. Because of the sacrifice of Christ fulfilled
certain prophetic worship styles in the ceremonial parts of that covenant, His
death necessitated a change of covenants, but not all laws would be
effected. Many would simply transfer
into the new covenant and become a part of the Christian life style in a new
and more powerful way. You see, the old
covenant was written on parchment and stone. These things are external to the
human nature. The human heart is too
rebellious to follow them (Romans 7:14-19). What is needed (and was always
needed) is a change of heart.
The new
covenant provides for this change of heart, making it God’s work to bring His
people into harmony with His will or law.
The old covenant written outside of us was therefore set aside so that a
new covenant could take place where God would write His Laws on our hearts and
in our minds. That’s what Hebrews
proclaims: "For this is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their
mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they
shall be My people.” (Hebrews 8:10 and 10:16)
This transcription of the new covenant makes it plain that the Laws of
God not effected by the sacrifice of Calvary continue on unabated in the new,
but now made doable by the power of God through Jesus Christ in that God
promises to write them into the very hearts and minds of His people, if they
will yield to Him and not rebel. This
is the work of the Holy Spirit. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit by whom you are
sealed.” (Ephesians 4:30) And this is
why the Sabbath day is so important for us to consider today.
The above
scriptures make it plain that God only chose one day out of seven for us to
honor as a special day of worship and rest.
That day is the 7th day Sabbath, Saturday on our
calendars. This was a sovereign choice
of our eternal Lord and master. It is
not open for human tampering. It is
like the fruit on the tree of good and evil in the garden of Eden. We show our faith by how we relate to
it.
Eve listened to
one who said the fruit on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil did not
matter. She was lead to consider that
God had not really set it apart from the other fruit in the garden and so she
fell, and Adam with her, into denying the sovereignty of their creator God by
choosing to make their own choices. They became their own gods, determining for
themselves what was good and evil.(Genesis 3:22) That mind set has plagued the human race from that day to this.
Those who honor
the Sabbath day of God’s choosing reject Adam and Eve’s decision in the garden
to determine their own ways in the world and accept God’s sovereignty over
them. They do not argue about whether
they have to keep this or that day but rejoice in following the word of God in
setting it apart for rest and worship.
The Sabbath day becomes a sign of the inner working of the Holy Spirit
in their hearts and minds, for wherever
the Spirit is, there will God’s rest be found also.
If you, dear friend, are truly
God’s child, the Holy Spirit will be working in you “to will and to do His good
pleasure.”(Philippians 2:13) He will be
writing God’s laws in your heart and mind (Hebrews 8:10; 10:18). And since the Sabbath day is one of those
laws, sooner or later it will appear in your life and behavior, for you will
not deny God His sovereign right to control over your life. If you are truly Christ’s, you will love His
laws and desire to follow them whatever the cost because you love Him. As John wrote: “For this is the love of God,
that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3) Therefore the Sabbath has always been a sign
between God and His people, that they are living by faith in Him and that He
has set them apart from the world as His own. It is written, “Hallow My Sabbaths,
and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am
the LORD your God.” “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” (Ezekiel 20:20 and Revelation 14:12)
I appeal to you to step out
on faith. Begin keeping God’s holy day and not man’s substitute for it. Trust the sovereignty of God in your life
and you will be blessed.
Further
information can be gained concerning the Sabbath and many other Biblical teachings
by contacting your local Seventh-day Adventist Church or visiting pastor
Williams through his web site at www.drbobwilliams.info