Is the Sabbath for Today?
There are some in the church who believe that many Christians are violating the word of God by going to church on Sundays (the first day of the week) instead of going to church on Saturdays (the seventh day of the week). To justify this, they point to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), particularly the fourth commandment which says, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (vs. 8-11 NIV).
The seventh day of the week is indeed Saturday, not Sunday. However, we as Christians are no longer required to rest from our work on Saturdays. In order to justify this position, we must first take a look at the theology of Dispensationalism. The original theology of Dispensationalism was brought about in the early 1800s by Margaret McDonald of Scotland and further developed by J.N. Darby of that same time. Dispensationalism is the teaching that the work of God has been divided into seven different God-ordained time periods since the beginning of the creation of man. God established certain laws by which mankind is to live. But there are those laws that only apply during a particular dispensation and then there are those laws that apply (in a more expanded way) across all seven dispensations.
The seven dispensations in order of occurrence begin with the dispensation of innocency, which was the period of time during Adam and Eve, before they sinned. Then, the dispensation of conscious, which was the period of time after the fall of Adam and Eve when they became aware of good and evil. Next was the dispensation of human government, which was the time following the flood when Noah and his family were left to begin building anew. Following was the dispensation of promise, which was the period of time during the fulfilling of the covenant that God made to Abraham that his descendants (the Jews). God promised that they would become a great nation and inherit a certain land which is now called Israel. After that was the dispensation of the Law which was the period time that began after the Jews’ exodus out of Egypt when God established certain laws (including the Ten Commandments) through Moses. Then, the dispensation of Grace, which is the period of time that began during Christ’s ministry on earth and continued after his resurrection. This is the dispensation we are living in now. We are saved by grace and not of works [of the Law] lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:9). The final dispensation will be the dispensation of Kingdom. This will be the period of the time after the second-coming of Christ when he establishes his kingdom on earth. It is interesting to note that just as there are seven dispensations during the course of time in the history of mankind when it comes to the development of our relationship with God, there were seven days cited in biblical history when it comes to the creation and development of the earth and all things living.
As stated earlier, we are currently living in the dispensation of Grace. This means that certain Mosaic Laws, given to the Jews during the dispensation of the Law, no longer apply to us in the same way today because Jesus, by his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead fulfilled all aspects of the Law. Jesus is quoted in Matthew 5:17 as saying “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In other words, Jesus is the Law unto himself, and by believing in his deity and Lordship, we automatically abide by the Law by abiding in Christ. Righteousness is automatically attributed to us. This does not mean that as Christians we never sin (Romans 3:23), but that our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus and that if we are truly Christians are consciousnesses are seared by any sin we commit and we therefore do our best to rid ourselves of it. The NIV Study Bible puts it this way, “Jesus fulfilled the Law in the sense that he gave it its full meaning. He emphasized its deep, underlying principles and total commitment to it rather than mere external acknowledgment and obedience.”
Before getting into what the Sabbath means for this current dispensation of Grace, we should examine what it meant to follow the Sabbath during the dispensation of the Law. During the dispensation of the Law (the time of Moses), the Sabbath day was not only identified as a day of rest but also as a day of sacred assembly (Leviticus 23:3). However, it didn’t stop there. Those who desecrated the Sabbath day were to be put to death (Exodus 31:14). God’s people could not even light a fire on the Sabbath day as attested to in Exodus 35:2 where it reads, “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” Rest meant just that…rest in the most conservative sense.
Everyone was to rest from even the slightest resemblance of work. Lighting a fire was considered work. It took effort to light a fire. The prohibition to light a fire during the Sabbath day would probably translate into prohibition of household chores in today’s world. Other activities that were forbidden on the Sabbath day included carrying a load (Jeremiah 17:21-22), gathering wood (Numbers 15:32-36), selling or buying merchandise (Nehemiah 10:31), selling or buying food (Nehemiah 13:15), and cooking (Exodus 16:23-29). With this said, if we were to truly keep the Sabbath day holy according the Mosaic Law, then not only would we go to church on Saturdays instead of Sundays and not only would we stay home from our jobs on that day, but we would also have to make sure not to do any chores, not to light any fires, not to gather anything, not to carry anything, not to cook anything, not to buy anything, and not to sell anything. This means that stopping to get gas for the car would even be prohibited. If we are going to keep the Sabbath then we must keep it in its purist form. If we don’t keep it in its purist form then we are not really keeping the Sabbath. It is doubtful that those in the church today who claim to keep the Sabbath are keeping it the way God mandated that it be kept during the dispensation of the Law.
But we are no longer mandated to keep the Sabbath in the same way the early Jews were mandated to keep it because the word of God teaches us that the Sabbath of the Old Testament was a shadow of things to come. Paul supports this in his letter to the Colossians, which reads “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17). Paul brings the point home further in Romans 14:5-6a which says, “One man considers one day more sacred than another, another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” The implication here is that he who regards every day alike also does so to the Lord. The main message here is that it doesn’t matter whether or not one regards Saturday as special, it is a disputable matter and one’s take on it does not affect one’s salvation. The Christian who regards Saturday as special is allowed to do so as long as he is convinced in his own mind that it is special. And the Christian who deems every day alike and therefore does not treat Saturday any more special than any other day is allowed to do so as long as he is convinced in his own mind that every day is alike and no day is more special than the other. Either way, Paul says that one should abide by his or her conscious regarding the matter. The Sabbath is not an essential doctrine of the Christian faith, meaning a Christian is still a Christian whether or not he acknowledges Saturday as the Sabbath or not as long as he follows the tenets of Christianity that point toward salvation.
For the sake of further clarification, it must be pointed out that Jesus’ disciples “worked” on the Sabbath (they gathered grain) and Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Mark 23-28 and 3:1-6 gives us the account. The first passage reads, “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ He answered, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for the priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In saying this Jesus enhanced the meaning of the Sabbath. He made what was once unlawful, lawful. The account goes on in 3:1-6, and reads, “Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’ Then Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
The Pharisees and Herodians not only wanted to kill Jesus because he was, as far as they were concerned, breaking the rules of the Sabbath, but also because Jesus was taking on the role of God by establishing different rules for the Sabbath. Of course, he was taking on the role of God because he was God manifest in the flesh (John 1:1-14) and he is the second part of the Godhead who now sits at the right hand side of the Father (Mark 16:19). But the Pharisees, Herodians, and many of the Jews didn’t want to believe that he was/is God the Son and therefore wanted him dead.
The most decisive argument in favor of the doctrine that says that the Sabbath of the Law (the Ten Commandments) was only a shadow of the Sabbath of the dispensation of Grace (and that today’s Sabbath is the complete fulfillment of yesterday’s Sabbath) is the explanation of a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. This explanation is found Hebrews 3:16-19 and 4:1-10 and is quoted below:
“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed entered that rest, just as God as said, ‘So I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.’ And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: ‘And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.’ And again in the passage above he says, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”
The scriptures speak for themselves. “Today” is now the Sabbath, not just the seventh day (Saturday), but Today. Today is everyday because everyday is Today. Therefore the Sabbath day has expanded into everyday. As Christians, we enter into God’s rest simply by confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior and believing that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Because of this we are free to convene a sacred assembly on any day of the week because every day of the week is our Sabbath-rest. We have therefore not neglected the Sabbath by not going to church on Saturday and by not resting from our work on that day. We only neglect the Sabbath by not entering into the rest that Jesus has given us. And only those who are unsaved are not allowed to enter. Those of us who are saved rest in Jesus everyday and by doing so we fulfill the fourth commandment which is greatly enhanced by the testimony and ministry of Jesus Christ as is all of the other commandments. The church today has chosen to worship on Sunday partly because the apostles gathered together in sacred assembly on Sunday (Acts 20:7-12) and Jesus revealed himself, on a Sunday, for the first time to his disciples after his resurrection (John 20:19). Since everyday is Today and Today is the Sabbath, then there is no wrong done in assembling on Sunday instead of Saturday.
In consideration of the aforementioned, going to church on Saturday is no holier than going to church on Sunday. Those of us who attend church on Sunday instead of Saturday have not broken any commandments or desecrated a holy day. We have instead understood that the Sabbath (a shadow, sample, example of Today’s Sabbath) of the Mosaic Law was mandated by God so that Israel could enter into God’s rest at least for one day of the week but as Christians living in the dispensation of Grace our confession of faith has allowed us to enter into God’s rest automatically everyday. This is why the word of God admonishes us to be anxious for nothing (Philippians 4:6), to fear not (Isaiah 35:4), to understand that no weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and to grasp hold to the fact that everything works out for the good of them who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). It is in these assurances (and much more) that God has given us rest, along with the ultimate rest he has given us in the gift of salvation which we will completely experience when we cohabitate with him eternally during the dispensation of the kingdom, our final glorious rest. So in answer to the question of whether or not the Sabbath day is for today…the Sabbath day is Today.
The seventh day of the week is indeed Saturday, not Sunday. However, we as Christians are no longer required to rest from our work on Saturdays. In order to justify this position, we must first take a look at the theology of Dispensationalism. The original theology of Dispensationalism was brought about in the early 1800s by Margaret McDonald of Scotland and further developed by J.N. Darby of that same time. Dispensationalism is the teaching that the work of God has been divided into seven different God-ordained time periods since the beginning of the creation of man. God established certain laws by which mankind is to live. But there are those laws that only apply during a particular dispensation and then there are those laws that apply (in a more expanded way) across all seven dispensations.
The seven dispensations in order of occurrence begin with the dispensation of innocency, which was the period of time during Adam and Eve, before they sinned. Then, the dispensation of conscious, which was the period of time after the fall of Adam and Eve when they became aware of good and evil. Next was the dispensation of human government, which was the time following the flood when Noah and his family were left to begin building anew. Following was the dispensation of promise, which was the period of time during the fulfilling of the covenant that God made to Abraham that his descendants (the Jews). God promised that they would become a great nation and inherit a certain land which is now called Israel. After that was the dispensation of the Law which was the period time that began after the Jews’ exodus out of Egypt when God established certain laws (including the Ten Commandments) through Moses. Then, the dispensation of Grace, which is the period of time that began during Christ’s ministry on earth and continued after his resurrection. This is the dispensation we are living in now. We are saved by grace and not of works [of the Law] lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:9). The final dispensation will be the dispensation of Kingdom. This will be the period of the time after the second-coming of Christ when he establishes his kingdom on earth. It is interesting to note that just as there are seven dispensations during the course of time in the history of mankind when it comes to the development of our relationship with God, there were seven days cited in biblical history when it comes to the creation and development of the earth and all things living.
As stated earlier, we are currently living in the dispensation of Grace. This means that certain Mosaic Laws, given to the Jews during the dispensation of the Law, no longer apply to us in the same way today because Jesus, by his sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead fulfilled all aspects of the Law. Jesus is quoted in Matthew 5:17 as saying “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” In other words, Jesus is the Law unto himself, and by believing in his deity and Lordship, we automatically abide by the Law by abiding in Christ. Righteousness is automatically attributed to us. This does not mean that as Christians we never sin (Romans 3:23), but that our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus and that if we are truly Christians are consciousnesses are seared by any sin we commit and we therefore do our best to rid ourselves of it. The NIV Study Bible puts it this way, “Jesus fulfilled the Law in the sense that he gave it its full meaning. He emphasized its deep, underlying principles and total commitment to it rather than mere external acknowledgment and obedience.”
Before getting into what the Sabbath means for this current dispensation of Grace, we should examine what it meant to follow the Sabbath during the dispensation of the Law. During the dispensation of the Law (the time of Moses), the Sabbath day was not only identified as a day of rest but also as a day of sacred assembly (Leviticus 23:3). However, it didn’t stop there. Those who desecrated the Sabbath day were to be put to death (Exodus 31:14). God’s people could not even light a fire on the Sabbath day as attested to in Exodus 35:2 where it reads, “For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” Rest meant just that…rest in the most conservative sense.
Everyone was to rest from even the slightest resemblance of work. Lighting a fire was considered work. It took effort to light a fire. The prohibition to light a fire during the Sabbath day would probably translate into prohibition of household chores in today’s world. Other activities that were forbidden on the Sabbath day included carrying a load (Jeremiah 17:21-22), gathering wood (Numbers 15:32-36), selling or buying merchandise (Nehemiah 10:31), selling or buying food (Nehemiah 13:15), and cooking (Exodus 16:23-29). With this said, if we were to truly keep the Sabbath day holy according the Mosaic Law, then not only would we go to church on Saturdays instead of Sundays and not only would we stay home from our jobs on that day, but we would also have to make sure not to do any chores, not to light any fires, not to gather anything, not to carry anything, not to cook anything, not to buy anything, and not to sell anything. This means that stopping to get gas for the car would even be prohibited. If we are going to keep the Sabbath then we must keep it in its purist form. If we don’t keep it in its purist form then we are not really keeping the Sabbath. It is doubtful that those in the church today who claim to keep the Sabbath are keeping it the way God mandated that it be kept during the dispensation of the Law.
But we are no longer mandated to keep the Sabbath in the same way the early Jews were mandated to keep it because the word of God teaches us that the Sabbath of the Old Testament was a shadow of things to come. Paul supports this in his letter to the Colossians, which reads “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17). Paul brings the point home further in Romans 14:5-6a which says, “One man considers one day more sacred than another, another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord.” The implication here is that he who regards every day alike also does so to the Lord. The main message here is that it doesn’t matter whether or not one regards Saturday as special, it is a disputable matter and one’s take on it does not affect one’s salvation. The Christian who regards Saturday as special is allowed to do so as long as he is convinced in his own mind that it is special. And the Christian who deems every day alike and therefore does not treat Saturday any more special than any other day is allowed to do so as long as he is convinced in his own mind that every day is alike and no day is more special than the other. Either way, Paul says that one should abide by his or her conscious regarding the matter. The Sabbath is not an essential doctrine of the Christian faith, meaning a Christian is still a Christian whether or not he acknowledges Saturday as the Sabbath or not as long as he follows the tenets of Christianity that point toward salvation.
For the sake of further clarification, it must be pointed out that Jesus’ disciples “worked” on the Sabbath (they gathered grain) and Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Mark 23-28 and 3:1-6 gives us the account. The first passage reads, “One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?’ He answered, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need? In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for the priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In saying this Jesus enhanced the meaning of the Sabbath. He made what was once unlawful, lawful. The account goes on in 3:1-6, and reads, “Another time he went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, ‘Stand up in front of everyone.’ Then Jesus asked them, ‘Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
The Pharisees and Herodians not only wanted to kill Jesus because he was, as far as they were concerned, breaking the rules of the Sabbath, but also because Jesus was taking on the role of God by establishing different rules for the Sabbath. Of course, he was taking on the role of God because he was God manifest in the flesh (John 1:1-14) and he is the second part of the Godhead who now sits at the right hand side of the Father (Mark 16:19). But the Pharisees, Herodians, and many of the Jews didn’t want to believe that he was/is God the Son and therefore wanted him dead.
The most decisive argument in favor of the doctrine that says that the Sabbath of the Law (the Ten Commandments) was only a shadow of the Sabbath of the dispensation of Grace (and that today’s Sabbath is the complete fulfillment of yesterday’s Sabbath) is the explanation of a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. This explanation is found Hebrews 3:16-19 and 4:1-10 and is quoted below:
“Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed entered that rest, just as God as said, ‘So I declared on oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest.’ And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: ‘And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.’ And again in the passage above he says, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”
The scriptures speak for themselves. “Today” is now the Sabbath, not just the seventh day (Saturday), but Today. Today is everyday because everyday is Today. Therefore the Sabbath day has expanded into everyday. As Christians, we enter into God’s rest simply by confessing that Jesus is Lord and Savior and believing that God raised him from the dead (Romans 10:9). Because of this we are free to convene a sacred assembly on any day of the week because every day of the week is our Sabbath-rest. We have therefore not neglected the Sabbath by not going to church on Saturday and by not resting from our work on that day. We only neglect the Sabbath by not entering into the rest that Jesus has given us. And only those who are unsaved are not allowed to enter. Those of us who are saved rest in Jesus everyday and by doing so we fulfill the fourth commandment which is greatly enhanced by the testimony and ministry of Jesus Christ as is all of the other commandments. The church today has chosen to worship on Sunday partly because the apostles gathered together in sacred assembly on Sunday (Acts 20:7-12) and Jesus revealed himself, on a Sunday, for the first time to his disciples after his resurrection (John 20:19). Since everyday is Today and Today is the Sabbath, then there is no wrong done in assembling on Sunday instead of Saturday.
In consideration of the aforementioned, going to church on Saturday is no holier than going to church on Sunday. Those of us who attend church on Sunday instead of Saturday have not broken any commandments or desecrated a holy day. We have instead understood that the Sabbath (a shadow, sample, example of Today’s Sabbath) of the Mosaic Law was mandated by God so that Israel could enter into God’s rest at least for one day of the week but as Christians living in the dispensation of Grace our confession of faith has allowed us to enter into God’s rest automatically everyday. This is why the word of God admonishes us to be anxious for nothing (Philippians 4:6), to fear not (Isaiah 35:4), to understand that no weapon formed against us shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17) and to grasp hold to the fact that everything works out for the good of them who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). It is in these assurances (and much more) that God has given us rest, along with the ultimate rest he has given us in the gift of salvation which we will completely experience when we cohabitate with him eternally during the dispensation of the kingdom, our final glorious rest. So in answer to the question of whether or not the Sabbath day is for today…the Sabbath day is Today.
posted by Elreta Dodds at 3:12 AM
2 Comments:
Bravo, bravo, bravo! You tell it like it is. I'm reminded of what I ran across on the web. To see it, hit on Google and then put in "Pretrib Rapture Diehards" to find out the long hidden facts about the famous pretrib rapture promoted and exploited by Falwell, Lindsey, LaHaye and many others. I think it is safer to be prepared for anything than not to be prepared. At least that's what all Christians taught for 1800 years before the strange birth of the pretrib rapture theory. Lord bless.
To Anonymous: I am not exactly sure how you have correlated the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture with the doctrine of the Sabbath, but for the record; I believe that the doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture is biblical and I support it.
Post a Comment
<< Home