the sabbath
The Sabbath
by Doug Cook
As an apostle to the body of Christ, I would like to address another one of the topics that has fractured the church into numerous pieces with every one of those different pieces having convinced themselves they are the only ones that have the truth. By default, that renders every one of these denominated sects wrong except their own and most assuredly theirs would also be questionable because of the pride and limited knowledge they are using for justification. I’m not fond of continually being the bearer of seemingly bad news, but “if any man think that he knoweth a thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” I have had to reassess my position on many doctrines many times over the decades because the more I studied the Word the more I realized I didn’t know anything as I ought to know. We would be overwhelmed if God downloaded all truth at once, so there is nothing wrong with ignorance for a season as long as we continue to pursue the Lord and swallow our pride enough to grow out of false beliefs when we are confronted with them. The problem arises when we camp out on our doctrines and refuse to budge when the Holy Spirit floods our campground with rivers of living water. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.” God will reject and destroy us since we reject knowledge and refuse to move out of the same pew we’ve been sitting in for years, not because of our ignorance of the Holy Spirit revealed truth of the Word.
The Saturday Sabbath
How many times have we heard the question in the body of Christ “Are you a Sabbath keeper?” Most of the time it is asked by someone who is endeavoring to keep a “Saturday Sabbath.” In fact there are whole denominations that pride themselves on “obeying the 4th commandment,” as they presume. The way this question is worded almost forces a yes or no answer and insinuates that if someone is not observing a Sabbath in their “Old Covenant” way (a “no” answer), they are NOT keeping “the true Sabbath” and are therefore not keeping the 4th commandment written in stone. (In their minds disobedient sinners not as holy as themselves), rendering the question to be extremely judgmental in nature. The bible plainly says in many places we are not to judge others, but the plain command of “Judge not, that ye be not judged” in Matthew 7:1 in the word of God doesn’t seem to discourage some of the self indulging “Sabbath keepers” from asking it. My typical answer to this classic prejudiced question is “Yes I do, just not the way you think!” It throws them into confusion because they don’t have an answer for this response. They can’t automatically throw me into their category of “here’s another one not obeying the 4th commandment” because I don’t mention observing a different day and I emphatically declare I am keeping the Sabbath. I have received some rather angry looks over the years which reveal a spirit of religion’s influence on these brothers and sisters. And for the record, the spirit of religion and legalism are two peas in a pod, usually working side by side whenever they are given an open door to influence believers.
We need to do a little research on the Old Testament Sabbath to see exactly what the bible says about how to properly obey the legalistic “Saturday” Sabbath:
Leviticus 23:32 “…from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.” The day is to be from evening to evening, not midnight to midnight.
Jeremiah 17:21-22 “Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.” No work of any kind was allowed in a Sabbath, including carrying anything, no matter how small out of their houses or through the city. If you carried a pitcher of tea or loaf of bread out of your house and to your neighbor next door, you were breaking the Sabbath.
Exodus 35:3 “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day.” You were not allowed to start a fire wherever you were habitating on a Sabbath. Do you have a fireplace, wood stove or heater, gas stove or central heater? Guess what? If you kindle a fire in any of these on a Sabbath you are breaking the law, and I see no exceptions in the bible for having it done automatically by a thermostat or a pre-programmed “Sabbath Cycle” on your oven. So what do the “Sabbath keepers” do for heat when it’s snowing and below freezing outside?
Exodus 16:23 “And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.” They were not allowed to cook anything on the Sabbath. Again I don’t see any exception for electronic appliances. All the food had to be cooked previously.
Exodus 16:29 “See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” They were to abide in their own homes on the Sabbath. Why is it all these so called “Sabbath keepers” thinking themselves to be oh so holy, accusing all other believers of not keeping the Sabbath, break the Sabbath themselves by leaving their homes and meeting in church buildings on the seventh day. Shouldn’t they be considered blatant connoisseurs of hypocrisy?
Exodus 35:2 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.” The punishment for not keeping the Sabbath was death by stoning. (Numbers 15:32-35) I have never seen any of these “Sabbath keepers” stoned for not keeping the full Sabbath. I guess that part of the Sabbath law is ignored by all of them because the worse that ever happens is they are excommunicated from their sect.
Keeping the Old Covenant Saturday Sabbath was a lot more involved that just not working at a job and attending church on that day. If you’re going to proudly confess you’re “keeping the true Sabbath,” then you’re going to have to follow ALL the rules involved, not just picking and choosing only the components that are convenient for you to follow. Deuteronomy 27:26 is very plain, “Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.” It says we are cursed if we don’t do ALL of the words of the law. If we neglect to do one little part of the law, we are guilty of breaking the whole law. Doing our best isn’t good enough with the law, either we do all of it or we are guilty of doing none of it. That’s why it is impossible for anyone to keep any of God’s laws in our carnal efforts.
Judging from many verses in the Word it looks like most of the “Saturday Sabbath keepers” are not keeping the full letter of the law according to the Old Covenant 4th commandment standards, In fact, I have yet to identify one person anywhere in ANY of the “seventh day” denominations who is truly obeying the 4th commandment according to biblical Old Covenant standards. Every one of them is observing it according to their own interpretation based on what’s convenient for their own lives…A “have it your way” Sabbath. If they have a flame in the heater or oven in their home they are not keeping the Sabbath. If they use a microwave, they are cooking and therefore breaking the Sabbath. And for those attending their “7th day” church meetings, they are not “abiding ye every man in his place,” consequently are again breaking the 4th commandment. If they ride in a car that is kindling a flame in each cylinder of their engine several times a second, they are breaking Sabbath. If they pick up a newspaper and bring it in the house they are breaking Sabbath. If the denomination is not stoning their members for not keeping ALL parts of the Sabbath law, the whole denomination is breaking Sabbath. This could be carried on and on legalistically as far as you want to go with it. This shows how utterly impossible it is for us today, and those back in the Old Covenant, to keep any of these laws by the power of our flesh. If none of the 7th day “Sabbath keepers” are keeping the true 4th Commandment, they have surrendered any and all rights to accuse anyone else!!!
Matthew 15:6-9 “… Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
And for those Sabbath keepers who say they only follow the first 5 books of the bible, why is it that Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and His twelve sons never kept the Sabbath? In Genesis the Lord mentions Himself creating the earth for six days and then resting on the 7th day. Yet for 2500 years after the creation of Adam, nobody in the bible kept a Sabbath day until Moses received the Ten Commandments in the wilderness. Nehemiah 9:13-14 “Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:” Nehemiah says nobody knew about the Sabbath until the Lord made it known to Moses. If it is a perpetual covenant for everyone, why wasn’t it implemented in the beginning with Adam? The righteous patriarchs of old were not following a Sabbath but, interestingly enough, they were by nature observing the other nine moral commandments long before they were ever written in stone… Love God with all your heart, don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, etc. So which part of the first five books of the bible are the “Torah following” 7th day Sabbath keepers observing, the first part, the last part or only the “have it your way” parts they chose??
The apostle Paul mentioned on several occasions he went to the synagogues and taught on the Sabbath. However, he wasn’t trying to keep the Sabbath. On his travels he usually always tried to reach the Hebrews in the cities before he went to the Gentiles (to the Jew first, and also to the Greek) and he knew he would find them all gathered on Saturdays in their synagogues, so he attended their Sabbath meetings once in a while only for the purpose of reaching the unbelieving Hebrews for Christ. So where in the bible did Paul ever tell any believers they must keep the Saturday Sabbath?
Did Jesus keep the 7th day Sabbath?
Matthew 12:1-12 “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.”
Mark 2:27-28 “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”
John 9:16 “Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.”
Even though these verses are in the New Testament, Jesus and His disciples were living under the Old Covenant law at the time. He had not died and arose from the grave so the New Covenant was yet to be in force. The disciples were harvesting corn (working, bearing burdens) and Jesus was performing many miracles on the Sabbath day. The Pharisees rightly accused the disciples of breaking the 4th commandment according to Moses law, but how did Jesus respond? Did He completely deny that they were breaking the Sabbath? No, He didn’t rebuff the accusation, but clearly admits to it, yet said they were “guiltless.” He equates His disciples with the priests who work in the temple every Sabbath yet are innocent of breaking the Sabbath law. He said the Sabbath was made for man’s benefit, not so that God could force men to keep a Sabbath law. Jesus then boldly declares He is Lord of the Sabbath, which places Him above the Sabbath laws. The Sabbath doesn’t bind Him because He has the authority over it. Should we in the New Covenant, who are called priest and kings and are “in Christ,” be bound by Old Covenant Sabbath laws if Christ’s spirit dwelling in us is not subject to them? Didn’t Christ die to redeem us from the curse of the law? (Galatians 4:5)
The Sunday Sabbath
I would venture to presume that a lot of Christians believe that the “Sabbath” was changed to Sunday in the New Covenant. I’ve heard a lot of preachers teach this over the years. Because of that kind of teaching I was exposed to before I was born again, I, too, was one of those believers that began my Christian walk observing the first day of the week and refused to work on that day. I was doing it as a commitment to the Lord and to please Him so He accepted the pledge in my ignorance because my faith was weak and it was all the knowledge I had at the time. However, I remember listening to a teacher preach on the true biblical Sabbath once and I just could not receive what he was saying at the time because of previous religious baggage I had accumulated. But God did manage to plant some seeds by that instruction that would eventually grow up and guide me to the real truth.
We must evaluate the biblical text to find out if the Word of God truly does say the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week, beginning with the one verse used by most pastors to try to establish Sundays as the commanded new Sabbath.
Acts 20:7 “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.” This verse specifically says they came together on a Sunday but, in contradiction to some pastors declarations, it does not in any way proclaim or even insinuate that the Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week, or that we are now required to meet on Sundays. That would be reading something into the scripture that is clearly not there. It simply says they met on Sunday and Paul preached to them. Paul says distinctly he had to depart on Monday, so it very easily could mean they met on that day because Paul had to leave the next day! This scripture does not go into ANY detail why they met on the first day of the week. And “breaking bread” does not necessarily mean they shared communion, it means they ate together. They may have shared communion, but it doesn’t assertively prove that hypothesis. You would have to twist this scripture like a pretzel to emphatically declare it proves they changed the Sabbath to Sunday or that Sunday meetings are now required.
1Corinthians 16:2 “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.” Here’s another verse that is sometimes used as a second witness to Acts 20:7. Paul told the church at Corinth to lay money aside on Sundays so there would not be any collections while He was there. He did not say “gather the offerings on Sundays because I know it’s the new Sabbath so every one will be in church that day.” He simply said on Sundays set aside a portion of your increase. He didn’t decisively say they would be at a gathering or fellowship. Maybe paydays were at the end of the week in their days, so he was trying to get them to set aside some income before they spent it. If the Christians in those days were like some of the ones today, by Tuesday all their money would be gone and there wouldn’t be any left for offerings. There is no way this verse proves anything about changing to a “Sunday Sabbath.”
Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, and John 20, all say that Jesus rose from the grave very early on the first day of the week. The early church did celebrate the first day of the week quite often, but they did not change this day to the “Sabbath” or require that all Christians not do any work and gather together on Sundays. They simply used this day to celebrate as a festive occasion Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Most of the early church was made up of Jews, so many of the first converts were still observing their Saturday Sabbaths. It took a few years before all the church had access to some of the revelations of the mysteries Paul was disclosing.
John 20:19-20 “Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.” Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week after His resurrection. They were assembled for “fear of the Jews,” not necessarily to have a Sabbath meeting. Nowhere does this mean they changed the Sabbath to Sundays, it’s just the day Jesus chose to present Himself. However, it could be presented as an important day to Jesus since he showed up on Sunday.
Acts 2:1-4 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Pentecost was the only one of the Lord’s holidays given to Israel that landed on the first day of the week every year. Moses’ law states it was to be celebrated on the day after the 7th Sabbath after Passover. The Old Covenant Sabbath was on the 7th day of the week so Pentecost always had to take place on the first day of the week. Therefore the Holy Spirit was given to the church on Sunday. This also gave the early church another reason to celebrate on the first day of the week. The Lord was the one who chose to use the first day of the week to have these very major events occur in creating His church, so we can’t deny it was and important day for the body of Christ. However, it is not clearly outlined or even vaguely suggested anywhere in scripture that Sunday is to be the new Sabbath day for the church. It was simply a day they used for fellow shipping together.
Did the Roman Church Change the Sabbath to Sunday?
There is a tale floating around some believers that the Roman Church changed the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. It is also said by some that all the Christians before the emperor Constantine’s creation of the Roman Church in the fourth century A.D. kept a Saturday Sabbath because the early church kept a “true” Sabbath. History does not prove either of the statements to be completely accurate.
Emperor Constantine, who was a sun god worshiper, made the first Sun-god-day (Sunday) keeping law on March 7, A.D. 321. The law stated: “On the venerable Day of the Sun (Sunday) let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits” (Codex Justinianus 3.12.3, trans, Phillip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 5th ed. (New York, 1902), 3:380, note 1.) This law applied to all the Roman citizens, not just the Christians. And if you will notice it didn’t apply to agriculture workers. It didn’t say anything about changing a Saturday Sabbath to Sunday. He just created a day of rest for the entire empire on the sun god’s day.
Constantine’s Sunday law was officially confirmed by the Roman Papacy. The Council of Laodicea in A.D. 364 stated, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s Day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ” (Strand, op.cit., citing Charles J. Hefele, A Hisory of the Councils of the Church, 2[Edinburgh,1876] 316). The Romans in this day were still having trouble with rebellious Jews. This edict was very anti-Semitic in its nature. It was an effort by the Roman Church to prevent Christians from being anything like Jews. They even went so far as to expel you from “Christ” if you worshipped on Saturday (as if they could do that). They weren’t trying to change the Sabbath day, they were trying to eliminate all forms of Judaism in “their” church. However, it did initiate a legalistic Sunday worship into the Roman Church (not the church as a whole), and the Roman Church has used this over the centuries to declare they utilized their self appointed authority to change the Sabbath to Sunday. Here are some examples:
The early church did not move the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Instead “the Sabbath which represented the completion of the first creation has been replaced by Sunday, which recalls the new creation inaugurated by the Resurrection of Christ” (Catechism of the Catholic Church – CCC2190).
Cardinal Gibbons, in Faith of our Fathers, 92nd ed., p.89, freely admits, “You may read the Bible form Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we (the Roman Church) never sanctify.”
“Of course the Catholic Church claims that the change [Saturday Sabbath to Sunday] was her act… And the act is a mark of her ecclesiastical authority in religious thing” (H.F. Thomas, Chancellor of Cardinal Gibbons).
Sunday is a mark of authority… the church is above the Bible, and this transference of Sabbath observance is proof of that fact” (Catholic Record of London, Ontario Sept 1, 1923).
“Protestants do not realize that by observing Sunday, they accept the authority of the spokesperson of the Church, the Pope: (Our Sunday Visitor, February 5, 1950).
Can you believe the pompous arrogance of leaders in Constantine’s Roman Church and the egotism of the papacy to esteem their authority to be superior to God’s Holy Word!!! My God forgive them for they know not what they do!
Even though some in the Roman Church claimed credit and authority for changing the “Sabbath.” There is much evidence from historic writers that many in the Church from before A.D.100 were already gathering on Sundays not as a replacement for the Sabbath, but as the “Lord’s Day,” as they referred to it, for a time of fellowship and celebrations because it was the day of Christ’s resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Most of the Church had already left off any type of Saturday worship at least two centuries before the Roman Church ever existed.
The Epistle of Ignatius A.D. 107 says”… no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death.”
The Epistle of Barnabus in A.D.120 says, “Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose from the dead.”
Justin Martyr A.D. 145-150 says, “And on the day called Sunday all who live in cities or in the country gather together in one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read… But Sunday is the day on which we all hold a common assembly, because the first day of the week on which God… made the world; and Jesus Christ our savior on the same day rose from the dead.”
Irenaeus A.D. 155-202 Says, “The Mystery of the Lord’s resurrection may not be celebrated on any other day than the Lord’s Day, and on this alone should we observe the breaking of the Paschal Feast.” (Notice how legalism is beginning to work its way into the Sunday worship gatherings).
Apostolic Constitutions: Church life in the 2nd Century says, “On the resurrection day of the Lord – that is, the Lord’s day – assemble yourself together without fail, giving thanks to God and praising Him for those mercies God has bestowed upon you through Christ.”
As we can observe by multiple historic texts, Sunday worship was very well engrained in the Church of Jesus centuries before the Roman Church was established. So observing the legalistic Saturday Sabbath was phased out of the church early on in its existence. It probably began with the original apostles meeting and sharing meals celebrating Christ’s resurrection. However, it is never mentioned in any of these texts as a change of the Sabbath from Saturday, it was only referred to as the Lord’s Day and used as a day of festive fellowship. The legalistic rule of not working on a Sunday was implemented by the Roman Church in the 4th century and was beginning to influence a few leaders outside the Roman Church as a required day of worship in the Church of Jesus Christ.
Sunday worship never was considered a replacement of the Saturday Sabbath or the “New Covenant Sabbath” by the early church, Neither does any scripture anywhere in the Bible suggest it replaced the Old Covenant Sabbath. Anyone preaching it is a replacement is in gross doctrinal error, like the Roman Church religion. If you think you are fulfilling the 4th commandment by going to church on Sundays you have been deceived by the church system and ignorant pastors. It is not a requirement for a Christian to worship on Sundays, neither is it forbidden by the Lord to work on a Sunday. It is simply a day chosen by the early believers to fellowship together with other believers and share meals and/or communion. It does not now nor has it ever qualified as “keeping the Sabbath.”
Are we supposed to keep the Sabbath?
Some great questions are: Where in the New Covenant was the keeping of the Sabbath required or even discussed? Where did Peter, Paul, or any of the apostles tell the gentiles (who were completely unfamiliar with the Hebrew customs and laws) they had to keep a Saturday Sabbath? Search as hard as you may, but you won’t find any Saturday or Sunday Sabbath rule or law ever suggested or even mentioned anywhere in the New Covenant to the gentiles being gathered into the church. Why isn’t failure to keep a Sabbath day condemned as a sin anywhere in the New Covenant? Why didn’t Jesus keep the Old Covenant letter of the law Sabbath or even mention “Sabbath keeping” in His sermon on the mount? The apostles met in the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:20 to discuss what guidelines the gentile believers were to be held accountable for in the church. Why was Sabbath keeping not ever mentioned as a suggestion or requirement at this council?
Romans 14:1-12 “Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
To begin with, we need to be very careful we don’t judge anyone by our own religious standards. All of us are in different positions in our walk with the Lord. As I stated at the beginning of this exposition, early in my walk I esteemed Sunday above other days, but I was “weak in faith.” Now with my increased knowledge I “regardeth not the day.” I was challenged early on by a teacher with truth I didn’t understand yet, but I had to be “fully persuaded in my own mind.” We will all stand before God and give an account of our own relationship with Him. As that teacher did with me, we can and should judge the doctrine if we have received the revelation of the truth from in depth study, but we should never judge the person. This Romans passage says that some regard specific Sabbath days and some don’t. It’s up to each one to find the truth. If we ask a question like “Are you a Sabbath keeper?” we are being very judgmental in the process of showing our own selves to be “weak in faith.” We will all give an account of our decision to try to keep a specific Sabbath day or not.
Galatians 3:11-13 “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:”
Galatians 4:9-11 “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”
Galatians 5:4 “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”
Galatians 5:18 “But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”
Galatians is packed with admonitions from Paul to refrain from trying to follow any laws by our flesh, which includes the Sabbath. If we truly believe that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the laws, then should we have to observe specific “days, months, times and years?” If we do, he says he is afraid for us. He is very specific here. If we try to justify our faith by observing a specific day as a Sabbath, “we are fallen from grace.” This is a dangerous place for a believer to be operating in because anything done by “the law is not of faith.” And “without faith it is impossible to please Him.”
Matthew 5:18-19 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
I know there are those out there that say I am contradicting this Matthew 5 passage by telling people we no longer have to keep the Ten Commandments. That is not what the Galatians passage is saying. The underlying meaning is that the only way we can obey these laws is by faith believing the Spirit of Christ in us is fulfilling these laws through us. But if we try to keep any of the laws by our own efforts, we have fallen from grace and will fail miserably because our labor will be in vain.
Matthew 5:21-22 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Jesus expands on one of the commandments that says “Thou shalt not kill” and says you may not kill a brother physically, but if you are simply angry with your brother, you would be just as guilty of breaking the law as if you did kill him. In the New Covenant He expanded the Laws to include the heart motivation behind the act. If you remember He said that if you lust after a woman in your mind, you are just as guilty of breaking the “thou shalt not covet” commandment as if you actually committed the act.
The reason that Jesus expanded the commandments to include the heart motivation is, by faith, we must believe that the Spirit of Christ in us not only prevents us from outwardly breaking the commandments, but He does this by changing our inward fleshly desires to rebel which is the root cause of our breaking the commandments. So we no longer have to worry about outwardly breaking commandments if we believe He changed us from the inside and eliminated our inward desires to sin that every one of us inherited from Adam’s fall.
If Jesus expanded the commandments to include not just our outward obedience to the commands but also the inward heart motivation to follow the commandments, do you think He may have also expanded the Sabbath to include dealing with our heart’s desire to rest?
The Sabbath – A shadow of things to come
Colossians 2:16-17 “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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”
Hebrews 10:1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
Paul is very direct here in that we as believers are not to judge any fellow believer for respecting a Sabbath day or any kind of holy day we are observing or not observing. Please note that Colossians and Hebrews both say that all the Old Covenant laws are a “shadow” of things to come. This means keeping the Sabbath was a shadow of something much better to come. If something is a shadow it is hidden from exposure to light so we are unable to see “the very image of the thing.” When it is exposed to the light (Christ), truth is revealed about that something and we are now able to see the “very image” of what it was meant to be. So now that we have the light of Christ available to us, what is the “very image” of the good things about the Sabbath we now have access to?
First we need to understand the meaning of the Hebrew word “shabbat,” which is to “cease, to rest, to cause to desist from labor.” When we get to the root meaning of the Sabbath it is simply a rest from our works. Paul does a great job of explaining the “very image of” this rest as exposed through the light of Christ. And who does he explain it to? The Hebrews, of course… The very ones who have been trying to keep the shadow Sabbath all of their lives. However, we will need to go through a couple of chapters to fully cover the revelation. Remember, he is directing his instruction to believers who are descendants of Israel here, who would have a full understanding of the Old Covenant Sabbath laws. Yet the instruction is for Jew and Greek alike as we are all one in the body of Christ.
And for those who are still deceived and “weak in faith” and say Paul only wrote Hebrews to the Jews and it doesn’t apply to Gentile believers, obviously they have yet to fully comprehend Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” Hebrews applies to every believer in the body of Christ, just like every other word throughout the Old and New Testaments. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” He wrote it to the Hebrews because they would be the ones having the most difficulty breaking from their old 7th day Sabbath keeping traditions.
Hebrews 3:5-11 “And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)”
Please notice as we go through this passage, every time the word “Today” is used the “T” is capitalized (if you have a KJV bible). There is a reason for this as he wants to strongly emphasize this word as he proceeds through his discourse. I will explain “Today” later in this section. As Moses was faithful in his house, even more is Christ in His house which we are a part of IF (conditional) we keep confidence and hope to the end, which Israel did not do in the wilderness for forty years. After all the miracles they saw God do, they still complained how God was treating them because they were not resting or trusting that He had already taken care of ALL their needs. Remember how they complained about not having any meat, so God sent them so many quail they had it coming out their noses. God was so grieved with their rebellion He swore they would not enter into His REST! Yet these people were regularly observing the legalistic Saturday Sabbath established by Moses.
Hebrews 3:12-15 “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”
Note the word “Today” capitalized again. The bible says “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) Paul warns us against “an evil heart of unbelief” (sin) that can harden our hearts. Unbelief (lack of faith) is equated with sin throughout this passage. This means we are no longer resting in Christ’s work on the cross because we are operating in unbelief… The same thing the Israelites were doing in the wilderness, so God never let most of them into the Promised Land (His rest) because they were always provoking Him by not trusting in His provision.
Hebrews 3:16-19 “For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
Not everyone that came out of Egypt provoked God and died in the wilderness. If you remember, only those who were older than twenty years old died in the wilderness with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. Most of them never made it into the land of promise (God’s rest) because of their unbelief (lack of resting in God’s provision). And remember, these people were keeping a legalistic 7th day Sabbath law after Moses gave it to them, yet they never truly learned how to enter in to God’s Sabbath rest by believing in His provision.
Hebrews 4:1-2 “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
Paul is telling all of us to be afraid that we might fall short of entering in to the Sabbath rest of Christ’s completed works on the cross. It says here the Israelite’s were preached the gospel in the wilderness just like we are but they didn’t profit from it because they didn’t receive it by faith. They had access to a literal river of living water flowing from the split rock that was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4). They didn’t have to dig any wells because their provision was already available from the Lord, yet most of them through murmuring and complaining didn’t have the faith to rest in that provision. Paul warns us to fear lest all of us fall short of resting in the provision Christ has already given us as well.
Hebrews 4:3-5 “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.”
Over and over again through this passage we continue seeing the same pattern where Paul equates belief and rest as one in the same. Where one is the other is always present. We also continuously see unbelief and not entering into rest in harmony with each other. He is evidently trying to drive this point home because most of the Israelite’s missed it during their forty years in the wilderness and since “there is nothing new under the sun,” it’s a good chance most of the believers today will never enter into their rest. Looking at the church of today, I completely understand and agree with his concerns. He points out here that God’s works were finished from the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1 says that He chose us to rest in Him before the foundations of the world. Then Paul ties this into the 7th day rest of God that they were keeping as a “shadow” of every week, but not understanding. “And in this place again (This opportunity is repeatedly presenting itself again to we who are now in Christ) If they shall enter into my rest (into ALL of Christ’s completed works on the cross – our promised land).”
Hebrews 4:6-8 “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.”
He says some of us must enter into this rest, even though there will be many that won’t because of unbelief. Then Paul uses a key phrase “he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today.” The reason he emphasizes the word Today throughout this passage is spelled out in this sentence. Remember earlier on that it said even “the Holy Ghost saith Today?” The day we are to observe this rest, as in David’s day, and in the days in the wilderness is TODAY. NOT Saturday, NOT Sunday, but TODAY. We need to “hear His voice,” not “harden our hearts,” and enter into our complete rest in Christ TODAY! I may not be explaining this well enough, but we must understand what Paul is saying here. If we are asked on a Tuesday or a Thursday or any other day of the week what day we observe our Sabbath, our answer should always be TODAY! If we legalistically set aside one day a week to worship, then we will have a natural tendency to not truly rest in Christ’s provision the other days. If we sincerely believe every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, we should be worshiping and resting in His completed works on the cross every single day – not one specific day of the week. This is a major point throughout this passage and is why the word “Today” is capitalized all the way through this discourse. We are only given TODAY, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow, For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away.” We need to rest in Christ TODAY because we might not be here tomorrow. And for those that think Sunday is the New Covenant Sabbath, his last sentence in verse 8, “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day,” is ideal evidence that Sunday was never meant to be a Sabbath replacement for Saturday, because as “Lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus never spoke about observing “another day.” And God doesn’t say anywhere in scripture “unless the Roman Church and the papacy decree otherwise.”
Hebrews 4:9 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
The word “rest” used throughout this passage is the Greek Word “katapausis,” which simply means “a resting place.” However, this is one of the most important verses in this passage because the word “rest” here uses a completely different Greek word “Sabbatismos.” This is the only place in the Bible this Greek word for Sabbath is used. Thayer’s Greek lexicon definition is “1) a keeping Sabbath 2) the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by true worshipers of God and true Christians.” The Greek word “Sabbaton” is used 68 times throughout the New Testament and is a specific reference to the 7th day of the week, but that word is not used in this verse or in this passage anywhere, so it is a distinctly different expanded Sabbath that is being referenced here. Paul is saying “there remaineth therefore” a new “image” of a Sabbath rest, brought out of the shadows and into the light of Christ that is available to any true Believer. He used this Sabbatismos word right after he defined the day we are to keep this rest… TODAY. And the way you keep this Sabbath is by believing/resting/trusting in the Lord’s completed works every single day of our lives. If (after we become aware and gain knowledge of this Sabbatismos) any believer attempts to keep it by observing a specific day of the week, like the Israelites were doing, they have “an evil heart of unbelief,” “we are fallen from grace,” are in sin, which will harden our hearts and keep us from entering into this true Sabbath rest with God. I didn’t say this, nor am I judging anyone, the apostle Paul is the one making these statements by the Holy Spirit speaking through him. Re-read this whole passage numerous times if need be to devour the revelation of the “very image” of this Sabbath rest. It took me several years to fully understand this rest after I heard this truth from the teacher early on in my walk. So for some believers it may not come easy, but a majority of Christians will, in all probability, never enter into it, just like most the Israelite’s in the wilderness.
Brothers and sisters there is a rhema Sabbatismos that is available to every believer, and like Paul in his day, I am afraid for you that most may fall way short of ever obtaining it because of unbelief. His “yoke is easy, and His burdens light.” The only way to reside in this easy yoke is to, by faith, rest in the Lord’s completed works TODAY and every single day of our lives. The only “works” we have to do is make a deliberate choice to rest and believe TODAY. Otherwise, you get to continue carrying the heavy burden of unbelief, never enter in, and your carcass will fall in the spiritual wilderness.
One last question if I may. If we are keeping Jesus’ expanded Sabbatismos TODAY and every single day, aren’t we observing the “very image” of the 4th commandment???
“He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Your servant in Christ.