Keeping the Sabbath day

[Shammu]

Some today insist that Christians must keep the Sabbath day, that those who worship on the first day of the week (Sunday) are in great error.  They reason that “Sun-day” comes from the pagan worship of the Sun god, that Jesus and Paul kept the Sabbath day as an example for us to follow, and that the Roman Catholic Church is responsible for the change in the day of worship.  Those who continue to worship on Sunday will receive the mark of the beast.

Let’s briefly look at these arguments.  First, nowhere does the Fourth Commandment say Christians are to worship on the Sabbath.   It commands that we rest on that day: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor, and do all your work:  But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work . . . 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.

Sabbath-keepers worship on Saturday.  However, the word “Satur-day” comes fromthe Latin for “Saturn’s day,” a pagan day of worship of the planet Saturn (astrology). I believe we all know what God think of astrology.

If a Christian’s salvation depends upon his keeping a certain day, surely God would have told us.  At one point, the apostles gathered specifically to discuss the relationship of believers to the Law of Moses. Acts 15:5–11, 24–29 was God’s opportunity to make His will clear to His children.  All He had to do to save millions from damnation was say, “Remember to keep the Sabbath holy,” and millions of Christ-centered, God-loving, Bible-believing Christians would have gladly kept it. Instead, the only commands the apostles gave were to “abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.”

There isn’t even one command in the New Testament for Christians to keep the Sabbath holy.  In fact, we are told not to let others judge us regarding Sabbaths Colossian 2:16, and that man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man Mark 2:27.  The Sabbath was given as a sign to Israel Exodus 31:13–17; nowhere is it given as a sign to the Church. Thousands of years after the Commandment was given we can still see the sign that separates Israel from the world—they continue to keep the Sabbath holy.

The apostles came together on the first day of the week to break bread Acts 20:7.  The collection was taken on the first day of the week 1 Corinthians 16:2.  When do Sabbath-keepers gather together to break bread or take up the collection?  It’s not on the same day as the early Church.  They tell us that the Roman Catholic Church changed their day of worship from Saturday to Sunday, but what has that got to do with the disciples keeping the first day of the week?  That was the Roman Catholic Church in the early centuries, not the Church of the Book of Acts.

Romans 14:5–10 tells us that one man esteems one day of the week above another; another esteems every day alike. Then Scripture tells us that everyone should be fully persuaded in his own mind.  We are not to judge each other regarding the day on which we worship.

Jesus did keep the Sabbath. He had to keep the whole Law to be the perfect sacrifice.  The Bible makes it clear that the Law has been satisfied in Christ.  The reason Paul went to the synagogue each Sabbath wasn’t to keep the Law; that would have been contrary to everything he taught about being saved by grace alone Ephesians 2:8,9.  It was so he could preach the gospel to the Jews, as evident in the Book of Acts. Paul had an incredible evangelistic zeal for Israel to be saved Romans 10:1.  To the Jew he became as a Jew, that he might win the Jews 1 Corinthians 9:19, 20.  That meant he went to where they gathered on the day they gathered.

If those who insist on keeping the Sabbath were as zealous about the salvation of the lost as they are about other Christians keeping the Sabbath, we would see revival.

Go in peace with God.
DW

[nChrist]

DreamWeaver Said:

If those who insist on keeping the Sabbath were as zealous about the salvation of the lost as they are about other Christians keeping the Sabbath, we would see revival.

AMEN BROTHER!!! To the entire post.

How is it that we enter into HIS REST and find PEACE WITH GOD? SALVATION - FAITH IN JESUS!

Love In Christ,
Tom

[Brother Love]

Must We Obey The Sabbath?

OLD TESTAMENT LAW

God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, one of which was instructions to keep the Sabbath.
EXODUS 20:8-11 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of the Lord your God. [In] [it] you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who [is] within your gates. 11 For [in] six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that [is] in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
EXODUS 31:16 `Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations [as] a perpetual covenant.

NEW TESTAMENT GRACE!

The Apostle Paul taught that the observance of the Sabbath and other special days of the Jews was not necessary in the new Dispensation of Grace.
ROMANS 14:5-6 One person esteems [one] day above another; another esteems every day [alike]. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes [it] to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe [it]. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
COLOSSIANS 2:16-17 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.
GALATIANS 4:4-11 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. 8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how [is] [it] [that] you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. 11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.

<))><

[nChrist]

AMEN BROTHER LOVE!!!

Jesus Christ is our rest, peace, and JOY - not Moses.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[MalkyEL]

Kewl!  

I like this thread!!!!  Jesus said He was Lord of the Sabbath and Hebrews 4 talks about entering His Rest [I love that chapter  ].  I also agree that there is no set day - He is the Sabbath.

* we are the temple of the Holy Spirit

* we offer the sacrifice of our lips, our bodies, for His will at all times, not just on a sabbath day

*  Jesus did the exact same thing on the Shabbat [7th day] as He did the other 6 days - which was: teaching, healing the sick, doing miracles, blessing people, showing mercy and compassion.

* if Jesus is truly our Rest and Peace - it is a heart matter, not a day matter - and we do 7 days, just like Jesus did - whatever God asks of us - to be "mercy-minded" towards the lost, the hopeless, the sick, the helpless, the imprisoned.

Matt 25:31 ¶ But when the Son of man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He shall sit on the throne of His glory.
32 And all nations shall be gathered before Him. And He shall separate them from one another, as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats.
33 And indeed He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats off the left.
34 Then the King shall say to those on His right hand , Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
35 For I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in;
36 I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.
37 Then the righteous shall answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry, and fed You ? Or thirsty, and gave You drink?
38 When did we see You a stranger, and took You in? Or naked, and clothed You ?
39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and came to You?
40 And the King shall answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you have done it to Me.
[MKJV]

Shalom, Nana

[Chesed]

Shabbat Shalom, Nana!

~Chesed

[Ambassador4Christ]

Shabbat Shalom, Nana!

~Chesed

sweet

[Chesed]

Nana -

I'm sorry, I hope you don't think I was being sarcastic by saying "Shabbat Shalom" to you. I actually misread your post, and thought you were saying exactly the opposite.

I disagree with you that there is no set day. God did set a day, the 7th one. 6 days shall you labor and the 7th is a rest. It's a very practical command, really. God knows that we all need a physical rest from work. I do agree with many of you that there is a Spiritual rest in Messiah as well. Like we see with so many other things, there is a spiritual reality and a physical counterpart that is connected to the spiritual (i.e. a physical Temple and a spiritual one, a physical baptism and a spiritual one, a physical circumcision and a spiritual one.)

This pattern of 6 days and 7th day as a Sabbath follows another pattern as well. We know that there are 6 thousand years on this earth and the 7th thousandth is the Millenial reign of the Messiah. On the Sabbath we are remembering and looking forward to the time when our rest will truly be 24/7, and our Messiah will reign on this earth. This really puts what Jesus said in perspective when He said, "I am the Lord of the Sabbath." He was affirming that He would be the One to reign in the Millenium.

The Sabbath was entrusted to the Israelites after the Exodus from Egypt. The Israelites were enslaved to Pharaoh. God saved them from Egypt and they became God's servants. What does God do with Israel as His servants? He commands them to rest! What a loving Master He is! I believe Sabbath keeping for us is a way to submit to God, to trust Him to provide for us even though we are missing a whole day where we could be earning money. Think of it as a "tithe of time." Jesus says in Luke 16:13 "You can't be a slave to both God and money." We are trusting God to meet our needs because we don't work on that day; and that's how we rest in Him.

I have some things to say about Hebrews 3 & 4, but I will post on that later - I need my Sabbath rest now  

Blessings and Peace -
Chesed

[nChrist]

AMEN SISTER NANCY (MALKYEL)!!

The rest and peace IN JESUS is beyond all imagination. I would be very sad if that was only one day a week.

Love In Christ,
Tom

[Shammu]