Spring Warrior Church of Christ

7432 S. Red Padgett Road

Perry, FL 32348
584-5176

Prove All Things Vol. 1 No. 36

“Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21

What About the Sabbath by Jeff Himmel, jshimmel@perry.gulfnet.com [10/10/01]

Does God require Christians to observe a Sabbath day C a day of rest? If so, what
day C Saturday or Sunday? Some religious groups say one thing, some another. What
does the Bible say?

Old Testament Sabbaths

The word Sabbath is from a root meaning Ato rest, to cease from labor.@ The
Bible tells us that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh (Genesis
2:2). “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from
all His work which He had done” (verse 3).

When God made His covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai, He commanded them:
“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 . . . 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). The seventh day of the week was thus ordained as
the Sabbath, set aside for worship and reflection on God=s word.

God also decreed that the Israelites should observe every seventh year as a
Sabbath. In that year they were not to plant or harvest crops, in order to provide a
Sabbath (rest) for the land (Leviticus 25:1-7). God further ordained that after every
seventh Sabbath year (i.e., every 49th year) be followed by a year of jubilee (Leviticus
25:10-13). In that year, houses and lands were to be returned to their original owners
and the debt erased (verses 23-34; cf. 27:24). Also, any Jew who through poverty had
become the hired servant of another Jew was to be released (verses 39-41).

It=s clear, then, that Sabbath wasn't just a day, but a principle. All of these
statutes served both to honor God=s rest from creation and to promote the welfare and

Bibleweb.com, Copyright © 2001 Jeff Himmel All Rights Reserved

Page 1 of 2
well-being of all the people of Israel. As Jesus would later comment, “The Sabbath was
made for man=s sake, and not man for the Sabbath=s sake” (Mark 2:27).

A New Covenant

But remember, all these Sabbath commands were part of the Law of Moses, the
Old Covenant of God with Israel. When Jesus died on the cross, that covenant was
fulfilled, taken away, and replaced with His New Covenant for all men. Note the
following passages:

“For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle
wall of division between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the Law
of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man
from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one
body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity” (Ephesians 2:14-16).

“And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having
wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary
to us, and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross” (Colossians
2:13-14).

“But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith
which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to
Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer
under a tutor” (Galatians 3:23-25).

The Sabbath was a fundamental part of the Mosaic Law. But the Mosaic Law was
taken away when Jesus died on the cross. The whole book of Hebrews shows how the
New Covenant in Christ is superior to the Old Covenant through Moses. After quoting
God=s ancient promise to establish a new covenant (see Jeremiah 31), the writer of
Hebrews adds, “In that He says, ‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first one obsolete.
Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews
8:13). Jesus is the mediator of that New Covenant; He died to bring it into force
(Hebrews 9:13-17). He Himself called it “the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians
11:25).

We live under God=s new covenant through Christ. The Old Testament is very
valuable, written for our learning (Romans 15:4). But it is no longer in force as God=s
law. We must look to the New Testament as our source of Divine law now. What does
the New Testament say about the Sabbath? We'll examine that next week.

Bibleweb.com, Copyright © 2001 Jeff Himmel All Rights Reserved

Page 2 of 2