You do good to seek the truth, God's says if we seek Him with all our hearts we will find Him.
Hope this helps:
SABBATH (rest). God first gave the sabbath as a duty to man in the book of Exodus. It is true that the sabbath originated at the completion of the creation (Ge. 2:1-3), but that was God's rest, not man's. There is no record in Genesis that God gave the sabbath to man, and there is no record of men keeping the sabbath before Israel in the wilderness. Ne. 9:13,14 plainly states that the sabbath was first given to Israel. Seventh-day Adventists teach that men kept the sabbath from the days of Adam onward, but this is contrary to the Bible's own record.
Ex. 31:12-18 says the sabbath was a special sign between God and Israel. If mankind in general had been given the sabbath following creation, it could not have been a sign for Israel. The fact is that the sabbath belongs to the nation Israel and not to any other people. It is also important to note that the sabbath will be an eternal possession of Israel (Ex. 31:16). This sign will never be annulled or transferred to another people. This explains why the prophets foretell that Israel will keep the sabbath even after the kingdom of Christ is established on earth (Is. 66:23). It also explains why Jesus Christ mentioned the sabbath in His prophecies of the Tribulation (Mt. 24:20). Israelites in the land of Palestine still keep the sabbath today.
In their writings to the churches, the Apostles only mentioned the sabbath three times. (1) The sabbath is a symbol of salvation rest in Christ (He. 4). (2) The N.T. believer is not bound to keep the sabbath (Col. 2:9-17). (3) The N.T. believer has liberty in the matter of holy days (Ro. 14). Those who teach that the sabbath is binding upon the Christian, are going contrary to what the Apostles taught.
Why, then, did Jesus keep the Sabbath? He kept the sabbath for the same reason He kept all the other Mosaic laws. He also observed the feasts. Jesus did these things because He was born a Jew, born under the law, that He might fulfill it and redeem His people from its penalty and bondage (Ga. 4:4; Ro. 9:5).
BigMack
Yes, but in Acts 13:42-52, the Bible tells us that Paul and Barnabas preached the gospel on the Sabbath to both Jews and Gentiles. The next Sabbath, they came back and preached again and just about the whole town turned out...and the Jews were angry about it. So it seems like they were holding services on the Sabbath.
Also, in Acts 18:4 "Every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and try to persuade both Jews and Greeks." This was talking about Paul while he was in Corinth. So Paul was once again preaching on the sabbath to both Jews and non-jews. This says to me that Paul, the Jews, the gentiles, and Greeks all kept the same Sabbath when it came to hearing the Gospel.
Also, you mentioned some other verses. I too thought that they somehow changed the Sabbath, but I can't dispute some information that I got from the United Church of God concerning those passages (believe me, I tried, but maybe I'm just not educated enough). It's a long piece, but I'll link it here
Can you please go over it and tell me what I may be missing? Thanks!
Hi again. I was doing some more Bible reading and it occurred to me that the only bondage that the Jews were in were because of the the excessive laws added to Gods commandments by the Jews. For example, Jesus apparently had no problem breaking the Sabbath as defined by the Pharisees. In Matthew 12, the disciples are picking grain out of a field and eating it as they pass by. The pharisees notice this and are pissed because they say it violates the Sabbath. Jesus (who is GOD remember) says basically "Bullcrap, that's not what we meant when we said to observe the Sabbath...you guys have added stupid crap to it and are hypocritical to boot."
I was doing some reading and I saw that the Pharisees had added all kinds of restrictive regulations and laws to the Sabbath so that it really was a burden to try and keep it.
Which brings me to another question. If God and Jesus make up the Godhead, and God himself declared that the 7th day is the Lords Day of Rest (Exodus 20:10) then Jesus (who is God) can't be keeping it because he's a Jew, he must be keeping it because he's God and that's Gods day of rest.