What About The Sabbath

The Reason For My Faith ^ | 3/3/24 | Chuck Ness

[OneVike]

Throughout His ministry, Jesus never once broke the fourth commandment which required that all Jews observe the Sabbath. He was after all Jew. However, He did give us a clue that a change to the Sabbath was coming. To make my point, you must first understand that the original manuscripts of the Scriptures were not divided into verses and chapters.

The Old Testament manuscripts were written by scribes for the religious leaders to study. The New Testament manuscripts were letters originally written to be dispersed amongst the believers to read. They were like the letters you receive today. Just a document written in sentences and paragraphs with no verse or chapter numbers.

So you really had to know the transcripts well in order find any information you needed. Finally in the mid 16th century a Frenchman named, Robert Estienne (better known as Robertus Stephanus), would divide the Scriptures into chapters and verses. So today we can find passages by memorizing chapters and verses.

Now I must say, that while I do believe every Word of the Bible is the inspired Word of God, I do not believe that Stephanus's choices of where he decided to split some sentences up into different verses or chapters were inspired. I say so, because there are many instances in the Scriptures where a reader can be distracted or even misled as to what the passage is conveying.

Case in point is chapters 11 and 12 of Matthew's Gospel. I personally believe that he made a mistake by ending Matthew chapter 11 at verse 30. It's my belief that chapter 11 should have had 8 more verses for a total of 38. Thus it would end after the following statement by Jesus,

“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
(Matthew 12:8)

The following information is quite valuable in the apologetical debate on why so many are mistaken in their belief that Christians should observe Saturday as the Sabbath. Continuing on Jesus' statement in Matthew 12:8, I take you back to the end of Matthew chapter 11. Jesus had just finished telling the crowd that no one born of a woman is greater than John the Baptist, when He started telling everyone to come to Him for rest.

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)

By speaking about the concept of rest, the audience He is speaking to would automatically think of the Sabbath rest which God gave them. They were first told about this gift when Moses presented the Ten Commandments God handed to Him for the people to follow. As Moses read the tablets, he said,

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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 20:8-11)

By the time Jesus started His ministry, the Israelites had been observing the Sabbath for almost 1480 years. They understood that it was a day of rest, even for the animals. A day they were to be free from the labors of life that kept them from communing with God. So, when Jesus starts talking about rest at the end of chapter 11, he continues his thought process on through to verse 8 of chapter 12. So when He calls them to come to Him for rest, and then claims He is the Lord of the Sabbath, it goes without saying that this is all one thought process and thus chapter 11 should have ended at verse 38, with chapter 12 actually beginning at verse 9 where Matthew wrote,

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.
(Matthew 12:9)

The next 20 verses do continue the matter of a rest, but not until Jesus moved to another site. Thus it then makes sense to split the chapter after Jesus made His statement about Him being the Lord of the Sabbath, and after he had arrived at a different location.

This is important, because when Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled all the requirements of the Law, including the one that calls for us to obey the Sabbath, since as He stated, He is our Sabbath. Just as we are not bound by going through a High Priest by offering a sacrifice, we too do not need to follow the Jewish Law. We can reach God through Christ, on any day at anytime we so desire. Without going through the commandments of the law which Christ abolished.

After 1480 years, the Jews showed they could not follow the Law, and with Christ fulfilling it and the ceremonial ones, we are free from it. So with Jesus, being the Lord of the Sabbath, we are free to chose any day, and anytime to gather for communion and celebration of Him with no more legalistic requirements to follow the old obsolete law.

Any Christian following any portion of the Law, is doing what Paul preached against when he chastised the Judaizers who tried to put the Christians back into bondage to the Law. This is one of the things he wrote to the Colossians about when he said,

Let no one judge you in food or in drink,
or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths
(Colossians 2:16)

Paul also wrote that, if you observe any part of the Old Law, then you must follow it all. Does anyone truly want to be bound by the full weight of a law that God's own people could never follow? The answer is a resounding NO. Praise God, because we are free to worship HIM anywhere, on any day, at anytime by going through the One who fulfilled and abolished the law. Thus setting us free from a Law we could never dream of keeping.

The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
(Galatians 5:17:18)

Thus if you are not under the law, you are not under any obligations to any of the ceremonial requirements either. Nor are you bound by the Jewish Sabbath as I pointed out above from Paul's letter to the Colossians. Anyone who feels obligated to an abolished symbolism of the Old Law is keeping themselves from truly enjoying all the freedom God offers us through His Son's death and Resurrection.

I now offer two more pieces of evidence. One comes from the mouth of our LORD Jesus Himself, when the rich young ruler asked, "what must i do to have eternal life?" Jesus replied to him;

You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
(Matthew 19:18-19)

The second one comes from Paul's letter to the Jewish Christians in Rome, we learn, not from what he wrote, but rather what he did not write when he listed the commandments we should obey. Mind you, Paul was once a Pharisee of Pharisees, a man who persecuted Jewish converts to Christianity for violating the commandments. So, let us look at what Paul left out when he wrote about the commandments we are to obey in his letter to the Romans.

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY," "YOU SHALL NOT MURDER," "YOU SHALL NOT STEAL," "YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS," "YOU SHALL NOT COVET," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
(Romans 13:8-11)

It should be enough to read what Jesus said on this matter, but we also see Paul then teach that which our LORD HIMSELF said. So I ask you, what is NOT included in this list of commandments from Jesus and then Paul about which commandments we should obey to have eternal life? It is the Sabbath. If Paul himself is not obeying the Sabbath, than why would any born again Christian want to follow a regulation from a law that is obsolete? Obsolete, because Jesus fulfilled the letter of the law and became our Sabbath rest.

So many fail to understand that as a Jew, Jesus had to fulfill both the legal laws and ceremonial laws in order to abolish them, because all the high priests and all the blood they spilled never satisfied the law completely so it was never fulfilled. Yet the nano second he died, the curtain separating the inner and outer room was torn by GOD from top to bottom. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Law. Thus the new dispensation began that set us free from the law written on stone and the ceremonial regulations. Today we are justified, "Just As If We Have Not Sinned." We are cleansed by HIS blood and freed by the atoning work on the Cross.

Thank GOD we are free, free at last. Free from observing anything the old law said we had to do. Thus our Sabbath in now in Jesus, Who allows us to come straight through HIM as our mediator to GOD. Jesus is our traveling Tabernacle who resides in us, and thus our Sabbath it eternal. Eternal in that everyday is a Sabbath for us, and at any moment we can worship HIM, because we now worship HIM in Spirit and in Truth.

Yet there is more, because when we read what the author of Hebrews wrote, which most scholars agree was an epistle specifically written to the Jewish believers who were still struggling with the confines of the Mosaic law.

In that He say,  "A NEW COVENANT, He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. 
(Hebrews 8:13)

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
(Hebrews 4:9-11)

Finally, I share with you what was in the letter from the first council ever held by the elders of the church when the question arose about whether or not Gentile believers should be circumcised. In the letter they pointed out what they should follow, and keeping the Sabbath was NOT among the things they were instructed to follow. Anyone who claims the Sabbath must be kept by Christians, I would suggest you take it up with Peter and James who oversaw the council meeting on what rules the Gentile believers should follow.

Then it pleased the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely, Judas who was also named Barsabas, and Silas, leading men among the brethren. They wrote this letter by them: The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings. Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, "You must be circumcised and keep the law"—to whom we gave no such commandment— it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.
(Acts 15:27-29)

Praise God we are free from the bondage of a system that not only whitewashed our sin until a new animal was slain for it's blood to be spilled and sprinkled upon the mercy seat inside the inner room behind a curtain, but also held us hostage to worshipping together only on the sabbath. Once that curtain in the inner room was torn from top to bottom by GOD HIMSELF, we were set free to now enter into the presence of our LORD through our LORD, and commune with our LORD at any time on any day. Thank you JESUS!

[Carry_Okie]

It was actually Exodus 16:23 when first mentioned. Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.' " I wasn't talking about when it was first mentioned. You are citing instructions on preparations for the Sabbath, not for the Sabbath Day itself. They do however imply attributes of the Sabbath Day, in that one should not be cooking, as that is indeed a form of work. I should have said "instructions for."

The point remains that the article says Yeshua kept the Mosaic Law, where this demonstrates that, in this important inatance, He did not (at least in terms of plain meaning). One could cite Rav Shaul's teachings about what is done in love per G-d's instructions (as opposed to rigid or self-righteous compliance), but that's dancing around the question with regard to the tenor of the article.

[OneVike]

God (Christ) calls eating unclean meat an abomination. He says to obey the dietary law that we may be holy, because He is holy

Wow, you really missed Peter vision's didn't you? Acts 10:10-20

And Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 10:23-33, where he said eat anything you desire, UNLESS it will cause a weak brother to stumble due to his weak faith.

Thus I will eat all, but if I am with you I will only eat kosher food, lest I cause you to stumble do to your weak faith

I say to you, ask Jesus to strengthen your faith, so you can be free from the condemnation of the law.

[Philsworld]

Even the Catholics know that there is not one single command in the bible or shred of evidence to keep Sunday, or any other day, other than the 7th-day Sabbath.

The bible says keep the 7th-day-Sabbath. Catholics say they changed the day to Sunday. Anyone keeping Sunday obeys the Catholic church and that is where their allegiance lays.

Rome’s Challenge: Why do Protestants keep Sunday?
https://www.romeschallenge.com/downloads/RomesChallenge.pdf

[DouglasKC]

This was under Gods orders. Of course they were blameless. There is a BIG difference in that and the preacher(or priest) that declares to the congregation "We are going to discontinue Sunday worship from now on and follow Gods Commandments. See you next Saturday." Now truthfully, how would the denomination react to that? The denomination would kick them to the curb and the church would think he's nuts and have nothing more to do with him.

That is exactly right. Most of Christinaity has been so decieved about this that they would gladly finacially execute any Sunday preacher who dared to support the Sabbath of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[Philsworld]

——>Wow, you really missed Peter vision’s didn’t you? Acts 10:10-20

What did I miss?

[OneVike]

You fail to read everything. Jesus and the disciples at the time had to follow all the laws, both ceremonial and doctrine because Jesus had not yet died and freed us from them.

His teachings though are there for us to learn from. Thorough His sacrificial death and resurrection we are free from the Law, and those teachings I shared prove it.

[BipolarBob]

In what version of the Bible??????

All versions. The Sabbath was a memorial to Creation. Genesis 2:3. So God placed Adam and Eve on this earth but gave them no instructions of diet, hygiene, worship duties and civil duties regarding theft, lying, murder or anything? Is that what you really really deep down believe? If there is no law, there is no sin. Did God owe Cain an apology for not making it clear that murdering Abel was a no-no? This defies reason and our God is a reasonable God and foresees the future before it happens. Of course there laws. Cain did not plead ignorance on this.

[metmom]

Law keeping.....

Galatians 3:1-11 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Abraham, of whom no record exists of him ever keeping the Sabbath, and who never kept the Law, since it did not exist until hundreds of years later.

[OneVike]

You totally misread that. Even Jesus pointed out that. The reason He stated it was because Jesus is the Sabbath.

Plus, again, you conflate teachings of Israelites and Jews to teachings of Christians.

The new covenant under Christ that freed us from the law and ceremononies did not start until Jesus died,

[OneVike]

Amen

[Philsworld]

——>You really despise them, don’t you?

Sure seems that way.

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

(Matthew 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11)

1And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. 6And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

[Zuriel]

If one does not cross the ‘Red Sea’, then nothing else matters one way or the other.

[dfwgator]

Sundays are now associated with NFL Football. But there was a time when Sunday sports was a no-no in this country.

The Battle for Sunday Baseball
https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/the-battle-for-sunday-baseball

[BipolarBob]

Wow, you really missed Peter vision's didn't you? Acts 10:10-20

Hoo boy. Here we go again. Was Peters vision about food OR about what we consider to be unclean which God has declared clean? In this case Gentiles. Scum of the earth with no pathway to Heaven or so thought strict Jews. God is telling Peter that Gentiles have a place in Gods Heaven too. He needed it because it was ingrained since childhood that Gentiles (incl. Samaritans) were inferior.
So you are the one that really missed the deeper message of Peters vision. The mote in your eye obscured it no doubt.

[OneVike]

Sadly yes, but what would you expect from the secular World.

That being said, I am free to worship God any day of the week. I can do it on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday if I wish.

Thanks to Jesus, I am not forced to do it on any special day.

Heck, I spend 2 to 3 hours 7 day a week early in the morning before the world has a chance to get in my head so I can read the Bible and worship God.

[metmom]

Sabbath keeping is only ONE of the Ten Commandments.

Those who demand Sabbath keeping as required for salvation because it's part of the Ten Commandments, seem to forget that they are 9 other Commandments that people constantly break as well. And they are ALL important to God.

James 2:10-11 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

If someone is to be condemned for not keeping the Sabbath because it's part of the Ten Commandments, they need to keep in mind that they stand condemned for not keeping the rest of them.

And good luck with #1 and #2......

Then there's *Do not steal*, *Do not lie*, *Honor your father and mother*, *Do not covet......*.

Ooops.......

[Philsworld]

——>The new covenant under Christ that freed us from the law and ceremonies did not start until Jesus died.

Freed us from ceremonies yes, the law, no. Why would Luke write this 50-60 years after the fact if what you are saying is true about the law/commandments? Christ was dead, the new covenant now applied, yet the women kept the Sabbath ACCORDING TO THE COMMANDMENT.

Luke 23:55The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how His body was placed. 56Then they returned to prepare spices and perfumes. And they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.

[OneVike]

I knew that would get you.

So you don’t eat everything like Paul did?

Paul even chastised Peter for separating himself from the Gentile believers, and acts 15.

You sure are determined to be a Jew ain’t you?

I bet you sneak off an spend Saturdays in a synagogue to worshipper, don’t you?

Remember, follow one law you better follow them all.

Not my words, Paul’s in Galatians. You being like the foolish Galatians.

Paul asks you too, “Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— “

I ask, because you are so wanting to follow the Mosaic Laws.

[Big Red Badger]

I agree with you on the Sabbath...
Every day is a Sabbath to me.
.
Should have a hundred posts today.
It’s a bit of a controversial subject.

[DouglasKC]

You totally misread that. Even Jesus pointed out that. The reason He stated it was because Jesus is the Sabbath.

That wasn't a teaching or an understanding of the people in the bible. It came hundreds of years later.

Plus, again, you conflate teachings of Israelites and Jews to teachings of Christians.

I don't think I am. I think you're following a belief system that has made the word of God to no effect.

The new covenant under Christ that freed us from the law and ceremononies did not start until Jesus died,

What was changed under the new covenant is VERY specifically defined especially in the book of Hebrews...the priesthood is changed, animals sacrifices are no longer needed because the death of Christ covered that. But no mention of the Sabbath being substituted or done away with. In fact the actions of Paul and the first chrisitians gathering together on the Sabbath is refutation of that Satanic lie. And the Sabbath is not just a ceremony. And though it can and is included in covenants it clearly was created long BEFORE it was incorporated into any covenant. It exists OUTSIDE of any covenant.

Someone has convinced you that a commandment of God is an optional ceremony. You need to go by the bible and not tradition.