The essence of Christianity is people being brought
into right relationship with God. In fact, God created humans, as male and
female, in order to enjoy a loving relationship with Him. God created people (Genesis
1:27) and then
created the Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-4) as that period of time in which God could have
our undivided attention. The Sabbath is God's gift of time for the benefit of
humankind.
God created the heavens and the earth. Though the
creation of the heavens and earth was complete on the sixth day of creation,
there was one thing yet to be created, the Sabbath.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and
all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the
seventh day and made it holy, because in it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done (Genesis 2:1-3).
The story of God's creation of the Sabbath (Genesis
2:2-3) tells us
three things that God did with the seventh day, Sabbath. (Though the word
"Sabbath" does not appear in the creation story in Genesis, it is
clear that the Sabbath was established.
1. God rested on the seventh day, Sabbath.
2. God blessed the seventh day, Sabbath.
3. God sanctified or made holy the seventh day, Sabbath.
2. God blessed the seventh day, Sabbath.
3. God sanctified or made holy the seventh day, Sabbath.
God did more than merely rest on that first
Sabbath. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Genesis
2:3). This was
God's final act in His creation week. He took the last day (seventh day) of the
creation week and set it apart as a special day by blessing it. The Sabbath is
a part of the creation order, and it has its origins there. In the beginning,
God created the heavens, the earth, man, and the seventh day Sabbath.
Creation and
the Law
God so desired that His people know Him that He
revealed to them part of His character, known as the Law or Ten Commandments.
These ten words of law were God's desire for the Children of Israel and for all
humankind.
The fourth of these Commandments points back to
creation as the origin of the Sabbath. God commands people to keep the Sabbath
because He, Himself kept the Sabbath at creation. God blessed the Sabbath and
made it holy by setting the example for all mankind to rest on that day.
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping 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" (Exodus
20:8-11).
God's prescription regarding the Sabbath is rather
specific. God said that we should rest and remember - not one day a week - but
a specific day of the week, the seventh day. God specifically said that the
"seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord thy God" (Exodus
20:10). The seventh
day Sabbath belongs to God. People can do what they wish on the first day of
the week (Sunday) but it is the seventh day Sabbath which is the Lord's day
according to Exodus 20:10.
We see from Exodus 20:11 that the foundation of the fourth commandment
is God's act of creation, "in the beginning." The Sabbath is not
based merely on God's relationship to the Jews, but it is based on His
relationship to all of creation. There are five things to emphasize in the
Fourth Commandment.
1. God tells us that the seventh day is the
Sabbath. 2. God commands us to remember the Sabbath day. 3. God commands us to
keep the Sabbath holy. 4. God commands us to rest on the Sabbath. 5.
"Sabbath to the Lord" is a day dedicated to Him.
Why are we to keep the Sabbath holy? The Fourth Commandment goes on to tell us why.
Why are we to keep the Sabbath holy? The Fourth Commandment goes on to tell us why.
"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." (Exodus
20:11)
We are to keep the Sabbath holy and rest, because
God kept the Sabbath holy and rested on that day. The Sabbath is holy because
God "made it holy" at creation. We are to rest on the Sabbath because
God set the example for Sabbath rest at creation.
Jesus and the
Sabbath
The Ten Commandments are an expression of Godís
very nature and will, which is unchangeable. Jesus Christ did not come to
change even the smallest portion of the moral law (Matthew
5:17-18). Some say
that Christ changed the Sabbath from the seventh day of the week to the first
day of the week. That would require a change in the law. The moral law says
that "the seventh day is the Sabbath" and not the first day of the
week. In no place does the Bible tell us of this change in the law from the
seventh to the first day of the week.
The Sabbath was the commandment most corrupted by
the Pharisees. So, it is not surprising that it was over Sabbath-keeping that
Jesus would have most of his conflict with the Pharisees. The Sabbath issue
between Christ and the Pharisees is never over which day to worship or over
whether the Sabbath was still part of God's desire for man. The issue for
Christ was the way in which the Sabbath was being kept and the Phariseesí
attitude toward the Sabbath.
The most powerful statement regarding Christ's
commitment to the Sabbath is found in Mark 2:27 and28. "And he was saying to them, The Sabbath was
made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is Lord even
of the Sabbath.'" The climax of Jesus' statement comes when he says that
he is Lord of the Sabbath day. This means that Jesus has the authority over all
the circumstances regarding the Sabbath. Christians should be taught that Jesus
Christ can arrange circumstances in order to provide for people the opportunity
to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. God wants our undivided attention on the
seventh day Sabbath, and He will use the resources of His kingdom to make this
possible.
The story of creation in Genesis gives the origin
of the Sabbath but it does not give the reason for God's creation of the
Sabbath. However, a clue to the purpose of the Sabbath is given in the fact
that the Sabbath was created right after man's creation. Perhaps the Sabbath
was created by God with man in mind.
The fact that the Sabbath was made for man is
stated clearly by Jesus Christ, the Creator of the Sabbath. "The Sabbath
was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). Here Jesus is addressing the Pharisees who are
condemning Him for breaking the Pharisaic rules regarding the Sabbath. There
are four things which can be learned from this message from the mouth of our
Lord, Jesus Christ.
First, the Sabbath was made. This is a clear
reference back to Genesis 2 showing that the Sabbath was a part of the
perfect creation order. The Sabbath existed from the very beginning as the
final part of God's creation. This reference would also serve as a reminder to
the Pharisees that the Sabbath was created by God and not by them.
Second, the Sabbath was made for man. Right after
the creation of man, God made the Sabbath. (See Genesis 1 and 2.) Jesus,
the Creator of the Sabbath, says that the Sabbath was created with all mankind
in mind. The Sabbath does not have its origins in the Law. Its origins go back
to creation. The Sabbath was not a Jewish Sabbath alone, because "the
Sabbath was made for man" and not for just the Jews. When the Sabbath was
created in the beginning there were no Jews. This is the clear message of Jesus
in this New Testament text.
Third, "the Sabbath was made for man, not man
for the Sabbath." At the time of Jesus, the Pharisees had lost the meaning
of the Sabbath. God had created the Sabbath for man's benefit, but the
Pharisees had reversed the meaning. For the Pharisees, the Sabbath was more
important than man, and they believed that God had created man to keep the
Sabbath.
Fourth, "the Son of man is Lord even of the
Sabbath," means that Jesus Christ was and is the one who is in authority
over the Sabbath. There would be no need for him to declare his Lordship if he
planned to abolish it in the near future with his death. But because he is Lord
of the Sabbath, he can and will bring all of his resourses to bear to empower
us and to work our circumstances so that we can keep his day holy.
The Sabbath was created for our benefit. Jesus'
life, death, and ministry did not change the original meaning and purpose of
the Sabbath. But Jesus did attack the Pharisees for the way they had changed
the original meaning and purpose of God's holy day.
Jesus Christ
Kept the Sabbath
In every area of life, we look to Christ as our
supreme example. We believe in baptism because of the example of Christ and the
apostles and the command of God. And so it is with the Sabbath. We have the
example of Christ and the apostles and the Ten Commandments of God written on
the tables of stone and on our hearts. And yet, the majority of Christianity
has chosen the tradition of man.
"He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had
been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his
custom. And he stood up to read" (Luke 4:16). The word of God tells that Jesus was a
Sabbathkeeper. It was the Son of God who blessed and sanctified the Sabbath at
creation by resting. This rest was the first example that Adam and Eve had in
the Garden. When the Son of God became flesh, he once again set the example for
Sabbathkeeping.
Luke, Paul, and
the Sabbath
Luke's gospel was written to a gentile (Theophilus)
no earlier than 60 AD, which is many years after the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. In Luke 23:56, we read that the women "...prepared spices
and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the
commandment."
Some would say that the women simply had not yet
been told by Jesus that the Sabbath was abolished. But remember, Luke is
writing this several decades after the death and resurrection of Christ. He in
no way qualifies the fourth commandment being kept by the women as something
that was "done away with" or something that is "Jewish" or
"passed away." Luke simply describes their Sabbathkeeping as
something "in obedience to the commandment." Apparently Luke, the
writer of the gospel, felt that the Sabbath was still one of the commandments
of God at the time he wrote it.
The Book of Acts, also written by Luke, is a
history of the early church right after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There
is no mention of a change in the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day
of the week. In fact, throughout the Book of Acts the seventh day of the week
is given the title of "Sabbath." If the first day of the week was
changed to the "Lord's Day," why is the title "Lord's Day"
not mentioned in this earliest history of the church?
When the Apostle Paul was in Corinth he went to the
synagogue every Sabbath. This was in spite of the fact that he was trying to
reach both Jews and Greeks. "Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue,
trying to persuade Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4). We have set before us the clear example of
Christ and the example of Paul.
Salvation is by
Grace Through Faith
Seventh Day Baptists believe that the Sabbath is
important to God and to people. However, we also believe that we are not saved
by observing the Sabbath. In fact, we are not saved by keeping any of the Ten
Commandments. The Apostle Paul says, "no one will be declared righteous in
his sight by observing the law" (Romans 3:20).
Seventh Day Baptists believe that we are saved
because "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son"
(John 3:16). Jesus Christ came to earth to die and shed His
blood so that people could be saved. Only those who surrender their lives to
Jesus Christ will be saved.
Love is the
Reason to Observe the Sabbath
Though we are not saved by observing the Sabbath,
we keep the Sabbath because we love the Lord. Jesus said, "If you love me,
keep my commandments" (John 14:15). Love is the reason we keep the Sabbath holy and
obey all of the Ten Commandments. We also keep the Sabbath holy because we
believe Jesus when He tells us that "the Sabbath was made for man."
We believe that the Sabbath was given for man's benefit. The Sabbath truly is a
gift of time for our benefit.
Our Freedom in
Christ
"It is for freedom that Christ set us
free" (Galatians 5:1). The Sabbath is designed as a day of freedom.
Jesus is in the business of setting people free from anything that is a barrier
to intimate fellowship with Him. If God commanded us to keep the Sabbath day
holy by resting, He would have to be in charge of all the circumstances that
could keep us from obeying His command. That is why God has set his Son in
charge of the Sabbath as "Lord of the Sabbath." Now we can be set
free from all the labor and work of the Sabbath and be able to give God our
undivided attention on His day.
It is on the Sabbath that we are set free from work
and the guilt of spending twenty-four hours in rest and service. Could this be
possible on any other day? Perhaps, but God has not committed Himself and all
the resources of the Kingdom to setting us free from work on any day but the
seventh day Sabbath. It is only by faith that we can accept these resources
which set us free from Sabbath work. This faith can only be built upon a
relationship with the Son of Man, who is Lord even of the Sabbath day. God
provides all of these resources to set us free to give Him our undivided
attention for twenty-four hours a week. Of course, God wants our attention
every day of the week. But because God wants our undivided attention on the
seventh day Sabbath, He sets us free from the work of the world. God does all
this for us because He loves us and He knows that we need it. And we keep His
Sabbath holy by spending time with Him because we love Him.