Subject: Are we supposed to observe the Sabbath? |
Bible Note: Greetings Kathy, The almost universal observance of a seven-day "week" is one of those habits so ingrained in man that most of us don't stop to realize how remarkable it is. The month and the year have an obvious basis, in astronomy, but this is not true of the week. The seven-day week was not simply adopted in the Western world because of the Christian Scriptures, as is obvious from the fact that the days of the week all have pagan names. Although not all nations have observed a seven-day week, the practice existed long before the Jewish nation was formed and the Ten Commandments were given. The only really satisfactory explanation for this very ancient and almost worldwide custom is found in Genesis 2:1-3. God Himself established the sabbath as a rest day commemorating creation! "Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." [KJV] God ordained in the beginning that one day out of seven should be observed as a day of rest and worship. When God established Israel as a covenant nation, and gave the Ten Commandments, the fourth of those divine laws was: "Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: ... For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8-11, KJV). Therefore, from the very beginning the seventh day was set aside by God as a day of commemorating the completed creation, and of fellowship with its Creator. If people needed such a day in the Garden of Eden, we certainly need it much more now in our fallen condition. As Jesus said: "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" (Mark 2:27, KJV). Observance of the sabbath day was especially important for the people of Israel, so important, in fact, that breaking this law was punishable by death (note Numbers 15:32-35). Later, as Israel fell into deep apostasy, their desecration of the sabbath was a basic cause of God's judgment upon the nation: "If ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, ... then will I kindle a fire in the gates hereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched" (Jeremiah 17:27). "What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?" Nehemiah said to those that had returned to Jerusalem from their exile: "Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath" (Nehemiah 13:17,18). Although the sabbath was a day of rest, it was not intended as a day of lethargy, but rather of worship and study of the Scriptures. A time of such spiritual refreshment is really the most satisfying and fruitful way to rest from one's daily labor. Christians today are no different in this respect. In fact, human nature is such that we need the sabbath day. It was made for man. He must spend at least one day in seven in rest from his job and in spiritual renewal, or he will inevitably deteriorate both spiritually and physically, sooner or later. It is significant that every one of the Ten Commandments is repeated at one place or another in the New Testament and is stressed as applicable in the Christian's life. Christ has fulfilled the Law and redeemed us from its curse (Galatians 3:13), but it is still "holy, and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). The sabbath and its fulfillment in Christ is discussed in Hebrews 4:1-10, and it specifically says "there remaineth therefore a rest (literally 'keeping of a sabbath') to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9). The new sabbath of which the Scripture speaks here is a more meaningful sabbath than that of the Jews, because now it commemorates not only the completion of God's work in creation but also the completion of His work of salvation! The Christian's sabbath, therefore, is pre-eminently a time of rejoicing in the work of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is still a rest day, but it also is the Lord's Day! (continued) - Makarios |