THE HOLY SABBATH
A. The Sabbath was established during the Creation.
1. “So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all His work which He had done in creation,” (Gen 2:3).
2. God completed His creation on the sixth day. And on the seventh day, God sanctified the day as a “holy day,” i.e. a Sabbath day, and blessed the seventh day. This is the origin of the holy Sabbath (Gen 2:1-2; Ex 20:8-11).
B. God first commanded His people to observe the Sabbath after the exodus.
1. After the fall, the Bible did not mention the Sabbath again until Israel came to the wilderness of Sin. Moses said to Israel, “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord” (Ex 16:23). The Holy Sabbath was thus made known to Israel in the wilderness after the exodus. The Sabbath became a day when people and animals could rest from their labor (Ex 23:12). Thus, after God’s command, the people rested on the seventh day (Ex 16:30).
2. In the wilderness, Israel was given manna – a heavenly food. The Israelites need not worry about food – God’s wondrous provision recalls the Edenic days (Gen 2:16). However, some Israelites failed to keep the Sabbath according to the Lord's grace and provisions (Ex 16:25-30).
C. The Sabbath was included in the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.
1. Since Israel did not observe the Sabbath, God specifically included its observations in the Decalogue, which was written by God Himself (Deut 9:10). The Fourth commandment reveals the Sabbath’s significance and reads: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maid servant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it (Ex 20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15)
2. God intended Israel to remember His creation by this commandment. Thus, we can infer God also meant the Sabbath for Adam and Eve to enjoy in the wonderful garden of Eden.
3. The reiteration of the Decalogue by Moses stresses the remembrance of God’s salvation (Deut 5:15).
D. Judah’s failure to keep the Sabbath led to the Babylonian captivity.
The people of Judah profaned the holy Sabbath (Jer 17:21-23; Ezek 20:12-13). Through prophet Jeremiah, God warned His people about the consequences of failing to observe the Sabbath: “But if you do not listen to me, to keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter by the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched” (Jer 17:27).
Unfortunately, the Israelites were stiff-necked. During Zedekiah’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, burnt down the holy temple and the royal palaces. Numerous people died, and the people of Judah fell into captivity. Thus, the seventy years of Babylonian captivity finally offered the opportunity for the land to enjoy its Sabbaths (2 Chr 36:17-21).
E. Sabbath observation was enforced during and after the rebuilding of the Temple.
In order to fulfill Jeremiah’s prophecy, God moved Cyrus, king of Persia, to release God’s people at the completion of seventy years (Jer 25:11-12). Thus, the Jews returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple (2 Chr 36:22-23). At that time, however, some Jews transgressed the Sabbath. Nehemiah, their governor, rebuked them severely by saying, “What is this evil thing which you are doing, profaning the Sabbath Day? Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this evil on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath” (Neh 13:15-18). Therefore, he ordered the Levites to close the city gates on the Sabbath so as to hallow the day (Neh 13:19-22). From then on, the Jews strictly observed the Sabbath day up until the apostolic era. (Acts 15:21) However, the rules became even stricter during the Hasmonean, i.e. Maccabean era. As time went on, the prohibitions on work and other activities became more and more stringent. The rabbis of the second century imposed many additional regulations aimed at enhancing Sabbath day’s sanctity.
II. PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING THE SABBATH
The Lord Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27). The establishment of the Sabbath is not to bind people with elaborate regulations under the law, but rather it is for humanity’s benefit.
A. To remind humanity of God’s creation.
The Sabbath is a memorial day of the completion of God’s creation. As established by God, the Sabbath allows humanity to remember God is the Creator and Provider of all creation (Ex 20:8-11; Eze 20:20).
B. To allow for physical and spiritual rest.
“Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your ass may have rest, and the son of your bondmaid, and the alien, may be refreshed” (Ex 23:12).
The Bible tells us that the everlasting God, the Creator, does not faint and is not weary (Isa 40:28). God does not need to rest, but out of His love for the world He created the Sabbath in order to give a day of rest and refreshment to His creation.
Rest became necessary in Adam’s days, because Adam had to tend and keep the garden (Gen 2:15), and had dominion over the whole earth (Gen 1:28). The establishment of the Sabbath day was a provision for Adam. God blessed this day (Gen 2:3); and those who keep the Sabbath need not worry about not being able to survive (Ex 16:29) because of God’s wondrous provisions.
C. To remind humanity of God’s salvation.
“You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out thence with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut 5:15). People forget God and His grace quite easily. Therefore, God demanded the Israelites to have a holy convocation on this day in memory of His deliverance of His people from bondage (Lev 23:3; Ps 98:2- 3). In the New Testament, God’s chosen should all the more remember the Lord’s salvation and grace, since Jesus redeemed us from the bondage of sin and death. We must especially remember the Lord’s great salvation on the Sabbath (Acts 26:18; 2 Cor 5:14-15).
D. To remind God’s people that God sanctifies them.
“Moreover I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I the Lord sanctify them” (Eze 20:12). The Sabbath, given by God, is a grace to those who keep it. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it in creation (Gen 2:3). Consequently, it is different from the other days of the week. God wants His people to keep the Sabbath day holy and to avoid profane activities (Neh 13:22; Isa 58:13-14). Thus, Sabbath observance generally consists of a church gathering for the following reasons: spiritual communion with God, listening to God’s word, and a striving “for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14; 1 Pet 1:15). So the Sabbath reminds God’s people that He sanctifies them (2 Thess 2:13; Heb 10:10, 14).
E. To allow the chosen people to look forward to the true rest in the Heavenly Kingdom.
The Sabbath is a present type of the coming true rest in heaven. After God’s redemptive plan is accomplished, He will let His children enter the eternal rest in the kingdom of heaven. The Bible says, “There remains a rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labors as God did from His” (Heb 4:9-10). There is no true rest in this world (Ps 90:10), except in the Lord (Mt 11:28-29). Having the promised eternal rest in the future, we should keep the Sabbath while looking forward to the Lord’s second coming. For at the second coming, Jesus will receive the saved ones into the heavenly kingdom to enjoy the true, eternal Sabbath. Thus will we leave behind the pangs and sufferings of the world (Rom 8: 22-23; Heb 4:1).
III. JESUS CHRIST AND THE SABBATH
Non-Sabbath (Sunday) observers often maintain the Lord Jesus abolished the Sabbath. Therefore, we should look into the statements and actions of Jesus on the Sabbath, since He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mt 12:8).
A. Jesus Christ observed the Sabbath.
While Jesus was in the world, “He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and He went to the synagogue, as His custom was, on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read” (Lk 4:16).
In another instance, Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught the people on the Sabbath (Lk 4:31).
As the Son of Man, Jesus Himself “ceased,” in a symbolic sense, His work on the seventh day (Jn 19:31), rested in the tomb, and resurrected on the first day of the week to continue His work of salvation (Lk 23:55-56; 24:1-2).
B. Jesus Christ instructed the disciples to keep the Sabbath.
The controversy between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees mostly concerned the legal aspect of the Sabbath (Mt 12:9-14; Mk 3:1-6). The reason was not because the Lord Jesus did not observe the Sabbath, but because the method, attitude, and perspective of Sabbath observance between the Lord Jesus and the Pharisees greatly differed (Jn 9:14-16).
During Jesus’ time, the Jews kept the Sabbath under the Mosaic law, in addition to the many traditional restrictions. According to the law, prohibitions and rules were strictly enforced, including the following:
1. No labor is allowed on the Sabbath (Ex 20:10).
2. No fire is to be kindled on this day (Ex 35:3).
3. All should rest on this day even during plowing and harvest time (Ex 34:21).
4. Any one who profanes the Sabbath shall be put to death (Ex 31:12-17; 35:2; Num 15:32-36).
The Lord Jesus – the Lord of the Sabbath – brings us abundant grace (Jn 1: 14-17). Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law (Gal 4:5). Therefore, the Lord’s Sabbath observance does not follow the fleshly ordinances of the law. Under God’s grace and favor, Jesus, observed the Sabbath as a free, joyful, and gracious blessing rather than a burden (Gen 2:3; Ex 16:23-25; Isa 58:13).
Although both kept the Sabbath, the Pharisees kept it under the law while the Lord Jesus kept it under grace. For this reason, the Lord Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for looking upon Him as a law-breaker. The Lord Jesus came to proclaim the true substance of the Sabbath. Thus Jesus set an example of Sabbath observance for the disciples, keeping the Sabbath in a gracious manner despite constant threats and persecution from others.
C. The controversies surrounding Jesus’ Sabbath Observance.
At one time, the Pharisees pointed out the “unlawful act” of the Lord’s disciples on a Sabbath day. The “unlawful act” concerned one Sabbath when the hungry disciples, following Jesus through the grainfields, plucked heads of grain to eat. Upon seeing this, the Pharisees took offense, seeing the act as a form of labor (Mt 12:1-2).
David and his followers unlawfully ate the show bread from the House of God out of hunger (Mt 12:3-4,7).
The temple typifies Jesus Christ (Jn 2:19, 21) and all the disciples are priests (Rev 5:9-10). Thus, when the disciples performed acts under the Lord’s grace, they were not guilty, even though they were working on the Sabbath (Mt 12:5-6, 8).
D. The Pharisees were opposed to Jesus’ healing of the sick on the Sabbath.
a. One Sabbath day, Jesus healed a man who had a withered hand (Mt 12:9-13). The Pharisees were offended by Jesus’ act. The Lord Jesus countered, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Mt 12:11-12).
b. On a Sabbath day, Jesus healed an invalid man who had suffered for 38 years by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem. At the hypocritical protest of the Pharisees, Jesus became furious. He answered, “If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?” (Jn 5:5-18; 7:22-23).
c. On the Sabbath the Lord cured a woman from her spirit of infirmity for 18 years. The ruler of the synagogue was indignant at the miraculous cure, saying, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger, and lead it away to water it? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Lk 13:11-16).
From the above passages, the contention between the Lord Jesus and the Jews was not focused on the Sabbath day itself, since the Lord did not mean to change the day at all. Rather, the emphasis is on the manner and attitude of keeping the Sabbath. The Pharisees kept the Sabbath according to the Mosaic law and the rabbinical tradition, but the Lord Jesus kept it under the Lord’s grace since He Himself is the Lord of the Sabbath.
The instructions of the Lord can be summarized as follows:
1. It is lawful to do the service of God on the Sabbath (Mt 12:5; Jn 7:23).
2. It is lawful to do good work on the Sabbath (Mt 12:12; Mk 3:4).
As the Lord’s disciples, we should follow Jesus’ example – putting aside all secular activities on God’s designated Sabbath. What we should do on the Sabbath is: to remember God’s grace, to worship Him, and to perform good deeds that glorify His name (Gen 2:3).
IV. THE APOSTLES OBSERVED THE SABBATH
Many Christian churches are inclined to lay the abolition of the Sabbath on the Lord and the Apostles. There is no scriptural evidence to support either the Lord Jesus or the apostles abolished the seventh-day Sabbath. On the contrary, we see that Paul and the other Apostles of the Lord kept the Sabbath, which was their custom (Acts 17:1-2).
A. Paul and Barnabas at Antioch
“But they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the `law and the prophets…” (Acts 13:14-15). “The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44).
B. Paul and Silas at Philippi
“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place for prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together” (Acts 16:13).
C. Paul and Silas at Thessalonica
Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and for three Sabbaths he argued with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:1-2).
D. Paul at Corinth
“And he argued in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuade Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4).
E. James at the Jerusalem Council
James testified at the council, “For from early generations Moses has had in every city those who preach him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues” (Acts 15:21).
V. WHO CHANGED THE SABBATH DAY FROM SATURDAY TO SUNDAY?
If the Lord and the disciples did not abolish the Sabbath, who did? How did Sunday, often called “The Lord’s Day”, come to replace the seventh-day Sabbath?
A. According to the Catholic Church, “The Church of God (i.e. the Catholic Church) has in her wisdom ordained that the celebration of the Sabbath should be transferred to the Lord’s Day” (Catechism of the Council of Trent, Donovan translation, 1829, p.267).
B. “It was the Catholic Church which claimed that she had to transfer this rest to Sunday in remembrance of the resurrection of our Lord.” Thus the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a homage they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the “Catholic Church” (Mgr. Segur, Plain Talk about the Protestanism of today, p.213).
C. “It (the Roman Catholic Church) has reversed the fourth commandment, doing away with the Sabbath, and instituting Sunday, as a holy day” (N. Summerbell, History of the Christians, p. 418).
D. Church history gives ample evidence of the origin of Sunday observance, “a venerated day of the sun,” which has pagan rather than biblical origins. The Catholic Church abolished the Sabbath, an act that she has triumphantly declared to the world. Therefore, Christians should not assume Jesus and His disciples substituted the first day of the week (Sunday) for the seventh day (Saturday) just because it is a long-standing tradition. Rather, Christians must return to the truth and observe the true Sabbath under the Lord’s grace (Mt 15:9; Rev 22:18-19).
VI. HOW DO WE KEEP THE SABBATH?
So far, we have examined how the Sabbath was established by God at creation; how it was made known to Israel before the giving of the law; how it was included in the Ten Commandments, how it was related to the severe legalistic rules of the Old Testament, and how it was given new significance by the Lord Jesus, whose observation practices were handed down to the apostles. Let us now look into the Scriptures on how we should observe the Sabbath:
A. Put aside all secular activities.
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly…” (Isa 58:13).
B. Attend church services/gatherings.
“Six days shall work be done; but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no work on it; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings” Lev 23:3)
“And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and He went to the synagogue, as His custom was, on the Sabbath day. And He stood up to read…” (Lk 4:16).
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God” (Acts 13:44).
C. Perform Evangelical and Charitable Works.
“And they went into Capernaum; and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught” (Mk 1:21).
“And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together” (Acts 16:13). “So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Mt 12:11-12; Mk 3:4-5).
As for the time calculation of the Sabbath day, it is to be kept “from evening to evening” (Lev 23:32, Mk 1:21, 32). That is, from Friday evening to Saturday evening.
At first glance, it may seem difficult to reconcile the different time zones around the globe. However, all we need to do is honor and keep the Sabbath according to the time and dates of the local area. Therefore, regardless of the country where a true believer dwells, he or she can keep the Sabbath according to God’s commandment, and enjoy the abundant spiritual blessings.