The Sabbath Day

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by M Ann Brown on January 27, 2012 at 11:20pm

 

 Amanda,
    You mention as many Sunday keepers do, of some supposed significance of "the day" of the Resurrection of Christ.

   Can you please share with us some scripture where Jesus or the Disciples tell us that there is some significance to this day of the week?

   We are warned to not replace or break the commandments of God because we wish to keep the traditions of men.    Jesus Himself said that our worship is "in vain" when we do.
 
Matt. 15:9
  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 10:03pm

Mary and M.K.,

 

If Sabbath keeping is for today and one must keep it as it was given to Moses and the nation of Israel (which is not the case, but for discussion sake), what are you doing posting to the internet on the Sabbath?

 

If they were not to even light a fire in their homes, I would presume internet use would also qualify as a no-no.

 

Exo 35:1 Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, "These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do:

Exo 35:2 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.

Exo 35:3  Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day."

Permalink Reply by M Ann Brown on January 27, 2012 at 11:26pm

LT:

    Do err if you assume that being on the computer is akin to "lighting a fire" on the Sabbath. Lighting a fire in the time of Moses was hard work, which would have been forbidden.  Obviously being on the computer is not.

   In any case so was slaughtering animals in the temple, but since it was ordained by God it was permitted.

  In like manner, being on he computer for Biblical purposes, for fellow shipping, to teach, share, listen to sermons, participate in Biblical discussions is certainly not forbidden by our Creator.
    

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 11:46pm

So light work was OK? Hmmm ... intersting opinion ....

 

Do you or someone in your home cook? (Ex. 16:23-26)

Permalink Reply by M Ann Brown on January 28, 2012 at 1:19am

I don't cook on the Sabbath according to the commandment.  I prepare or purchase all meals in advance.

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 28, 2012 at 5:19am

Do you use electricity that someone works on Saturday to provide? Do you ever drive a car on the Sabbath, ride a bus or purchase any items?

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 10:18pm

From www.allaboutgod.com

 

Why do Christians worship on Sunday? Why do Christians worship on Sunday instead of the Sabbath? While some Christian traditions have denounced Sunday worship as the end time “mark of the beast,” there are good reasons why millions of Christians gather on the first day of the week for worship.
First, in remembrance of the resurrection the early Christian church changed the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday. Within weeks, thousands of Jews willingly gave up a theological tradition that had given them their national identity. God Himself had provided the early church with a new pattern of worship through Christ’s resurrection on the on the first day of the week as well as the Holy Spirit’s descent on Pentecost Sunday.

Worship on Sunday - Symbol of the Sabbath Furthermore, Scripture provides us with the emphasis for the symbol of the Sabbath. In Genesis, the Sabbath was a celebration of God’s work in creation (Genesis 2:2-3; Exodus 20:11). After the Exodus, the Sabbath expanded to a celebration of God’s deliverance from oppression in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:15).
As a result of the resurrection, the Sabbath shifted once again. It became a celebration of the “rest” we have through Christ who delivers us from sin and the grave (Hebrews 4:1-11 ). For the emerging Christian church, the most dangerous snare was a failure to recognize that Jesus was the substance that fulfilled the symbol of the Sabbath.

Worship on Sunday - Old Testament Laws Finally, if you insist on being slavishly bound to Old Testament laws you should also be forewarned that failing to keep the letter of the law might be hazardous to your health. According to the Mosaic Law, anyone who does any work on the Sabbath “must be put to death” (Exodus 35:2).
As the Apostle Paul explains, however, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13).
The Sabbath was “a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ” (Colossians 2:17). In the end, religious rites must inevitably bow to redemptive realities.
Colossians 2:16-17 says, "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.”

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 10:31pm

From Got Questions website:

 

Question: "How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest?"

Answer: The key to understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is the Hebrew word sabat, which means “to rest or stop or cease from work.” The origin of the Sabbath goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days, God “rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” (Genesis 2:2). This doesn’t mean that God was tired and needed a rest. We know that God is omnipotent, literally “all-powerful.” He has all the power in the universe, He never tires, and His most arduous expenditure of energy does not diminish His power one bit. So, what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day? Simply that He stopped what He was doing. He ceased from His labors. This is important in understanding the establishment of the Sabbath day and the role of Christ as our Sabbath rest.

God used the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God gave the Israelites the fourth of His Ten Commandments. They were to “remember” the Sabbath day and “keep it holy.” One day out of every seven, they were to rest from their labors and give the same day of rest to their servants and animals. This was not just a physical rest, but a cessation of laboring. Whatever work they were engaged in was to stop for a full day each week. (Please read our other articles on the Sabbath day, Saturday vs. Sunday and Sabbath keeping to explore this issue further.) The Sabbath day was established so the people would rest from their labors, only to begin again after a one-day rest.

The various elements of the Sabbath symbolized the coming of the Messiah, who would provide a permanent rest for His people. Once again the example of resting from our labors comes into play. With the establishment of the Old Testament Law, the Jews were constantly “laboring” to make themselves acceptable to God. Their labors included trying to obey a myriad of do’s and don’ts of the ceremonial law, the Temple law, the civil law, etc. Of course they couldn’t possibly keep all those laws, so God provided an array of sin offerings and sacrifices so they could come to Him for forgiveness and restore fellowship with Him, but only temporarily. Just as they began their physical labors after a one-day rest, so, too, did they have to continue to offer sacrifices. Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the law “can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship.” But these sacrifices were offered in anticipation of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who ”after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God” (Hebrews 10:12). Just as He rested after performing the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and rested—ceased from His labor of atonement because there was nothing more to be done, ever. Because of what He did, we no longer have to “labor” in law-keeping in order to be justified in the sight of God. Jesus was sent so that we might rest in God and in what He has provided.

Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.

Jesus can be our Sabbath rest in part because He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they, sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3,27) and enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins, He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. By saying, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever.

Hebrews 4 is the definitive passage regarding Jesus as our Sabbath rest. The writer to the Hebrews exhorts his readers to “enter in” to the Sabbath rest provided by Christ. After three chapters of telling them that Jesus is superior to the angels and that He is our Apostle and High Priest, he pleads with them to not harden their hearts against Him, as their fathers hardened their hearts against Jehovah in the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, God denied that generation access to the holy land, saying, “They shall not enter into My rest” (Hebrews 3:11). In the same way, the writer to the Hebrews begs them—and us—not to make the same mistake by rejecting God’s Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ. “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” (Hebrews 4:9-11).

There is no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan for us to cease from the labor of our own works. We dare not reject this one-and-only Way of salvation (John 14:6). God’s reaction to those who choose to reject His plan is seen in Numbers 15. A man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, in spite of God’s plain commandment to cease from all labor on the Sabbath. This transgression was a known and willful sin, done with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority. “And Jehovah said to Moses, ‘The man shall surely be put to death’” (v. 35). So it will be to all who reject God’s provision for our Sabbath rest in Christ. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 27, 2012 at 10:34pm

More from the Got Questions website:

 

Question: "Does God require Sabbath-keeping of Christians?"

Answer: In Colossians 2:16-17, the apostle Paul declares, “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.” Similarly, Romans 14:5 states, “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.” These Scriptures make it clear that, for the Christian, Sabbath-keeping is a matter of spiritual freedom, not a command from God. Sabbath-keeping is an issue on which God’s Word instructs us not to judge each other. Sabbath-keeping is a matter about which each Christian needs to be fully convinced in his/her own mind.

In the early chapters of the book of Acts, the first Christians were predominantly Jews. When Gentiles began to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, the Jewish Christians had a dilemma. What aspects of the Mosaic Law and Jewish tradition should Gentile Christians be instructed to obey? The apostles met and discussed the issue in the Jerusalem council (Acts 15). The decision was, “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (Acts 15:19-20). Sabbath-keeping was not one of the commands the apostles felt was necessary to force on Gentile believers. It is inconceivable that the apostles would neglect to include Sabbath-keeping if it was God’s command for Christians to observe the Sabbath day.

A common error in the Sabbath-keeping debate is the concept that the Sabbath was the day of worship. Groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists hold that God requires the church service to be held on Saturday, the Sabbath day. That is not what the Sabbath command was. The Sabbath command was to do no work on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). Nowhere in Scripture is the Sabbath day commanded to be the day of worship. Yes, Jews in Old Testament, New Testament, and modern times use Saturday as the day of worship, but that is not the essence of the Sabbath command. In the book of Acts, whenever a meeting is said to be on the Sabbath, it is a meeting of Jews, not Christians.

When did the early Christians meet? Acts 2:46-47 gives us the answer, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” If there was a day that Christians met regularly, it was the first day of the week (our Sunday), not the Sabbath day (our Saturday) (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). In honor of Christ’s resurrection on Sunday, the early Christians observed Sunday not as the “Christian Sabbath” but as a day to especially worship Jesus Christ.

Is there anything wrong with worshipping on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath? Absolutely not! We should worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday! Many churches today have both Saturday and Sunday services. There is freedom in Christ (Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1). Should a Christian practice Sabbath-keeping, that is, not working on Saturdays? If a Christian feels led to do so, absolutely, yes (Romans 14:5). However, those who choose to practice Sabbath-keeping should not judge those who do not keep the Sabbath (Colossians 2:16). Further, those who do not keep the Sabbath should avoid being a stumbling block (1 Corinthians 8:9) to those who do keep the Sabbath. Galatians 5:13-15 sums up the whole issue: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”

Permalink Reply by M Ann Brown on January 28, 2012 at 12:05am

What About Colossians 2:16-17?

The most common portion of the Bible that I have heard cited as "proof" that the sabbath and the biblical holy days are done away with is Colossians 2:16-17. So, let's examine one slight mistranslation of it:

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ (Col 2:16-17,KJV).

The above translation is close, however, it added a word that is not in the original Greek.

The word added is "is". Truly literal translation leave it out as it is not in there. Notice the Strong's words for verse 17:

3739. 2076 4639... 3588....... 3195...... 3588 1161 4983 9999 3588 5547
Which are a shadow of things to come; the.. but.. body ....is.... of... Christ.
(Interlinear Transliterated Bible. Copyright (c) 1994 by Biblesoft).

It should be noted that 9999 means that there was no word in the biblical text. It should also be noted that #3588 is often translated as "the"other.

Because the same three Strong's words (#4983, 3588, & 5547) are used four other times in the New Testament and in those times the KJV translates it as "body of Christ" (Romans 7:4; 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 4:12)--as does the NKJV.

Therefore, if all the translators were simply consistent with themselves, they would have translated Colossians 2:16-17 to state:

16 Therefore let no man judge YOU in eating and drinking or in respect of a festival or of an observance of the new moon or of a sabbath; 17 for those things are a shadow (4639, Sketch ) of the things to come, but the body of Christ.

These things are PROPHETIC, sketches of "things to come."

Permalink Reply by M Ann Brown on January 28, 2012 at 12:28am

 
LT:
   Acts 13, provide the proof that Paul and Barnabas were teaching Gentiles to keep the 7th day Sabbath:


Acts 13:

42 As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath.

43 When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 

~~~~~~~
 Apostles Paul and Barnabas OBVIOUSLY weren't teaching the Gentiles to "keep Sunday" rather than sabbath, otherwise they would have told the Gentiles that they didn't have to wait a whole week and come back the "next Sabbath" but they would have been instructed to come back the very next day SUNDAY!!!

So LT, explain why you insist that Sunday keeping was the norm, in the book of Acts, when this text this example PROVES SABBATH KEEPING, rather than Sunday keeping, by the Apostles and the Gentiles.

Permalink Reply by Leonard T on January 28, 2012 at 4:54am

It proves they were in the synagogue reaching out to people in that region. Do you know why many Messianic Jews meet on Saturday? It is to reach the Jews ......

 

You proved nothing .... nice try, but .....

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next ›
• Page