Truth Of Sabbath (1)

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to share:

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honourable, And shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord ; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

Why do we need to keep the Sabbath? Because Jesus tells us:

And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the

Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

1. God made the Sabbath, not man.

(1) There was the Sabbath in the garden of Eden before man sinned. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the world calendar, which is Saturday.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)

(2) Under the law of Moses the Sabbath was to be kept.

God issued the ten commandments through Moses. And the fourth commandment is to keep the Sabbath of rest.

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: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 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 Sabbath is a day of special blessing from God. Not every day is blessed by God, but only Sabbath day is blessed by God. Some people think that God's grace come to us and be with us every day since we believe in God, therefore, every day is a Sabbath as long as we believe in God. This is wrong. Bible never tells us that every day is a Sabbath. Instead, it tells us that there is an everlasting Sabbath in heaven, and we shall pursue it.

Again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:7-11)

So it's not saying that we enter that rest as soon as we believe the Lord, nor do we have Sabbath every day. The true eternal rest is in heaven, and we are now striving to enter the rest which God has promised us.

The Sabbath on earth is also in reference to the rest in heaven after that. We should keep the Sabbath on earth, and then we can enter the rest in heaven. But if we don't keep the Sabbath on earth, then we can't enter the rest in heaven after that.

(3) In the old testament, the elect of God kept the Sabbath.

In the old testament, the Israelites walked in the desert. How did they know which day was Sabbath?

God gave manna every day, requiring the Israelites to collect twice as much on the sixth day (Friday) as they did daily because God didn’t rain manna on the seventh day (Saturday), which was the Sabbath. However, some of the Israelites did not listen to Moses and they saved the manna which they gathered that day until the next morning. Then it brought forth worms and went bad. Nevertheless, the manna which was collected on the sixth day and remained on the seventh day didn’t stink or grow worms.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.” (Exodus 16:4-5)

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” (Exodus 16:26)

The Israelites keep the Sabbath until today. Our brothers and sisters who are baptized to the Lord are spiritual Israelites, and should follow the commandments of God.

(4) The Lord Jesus kept the Sabbath, he went to the synagogue to preach every Sabbath.

The custom of the Lord Jesus is going to the synagogue to read the Bible and teach the people on the Sabbath.

So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. (Luke 4:16)

Then He went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths. (Luke 4:31)

(5) The apostles kept the Sabbath and went to the synagogue on the Sabbath to preach.

But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. (Acts 13:14)

On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. (Acts 13:44)

And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. (Acts 16:13)

Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.” (Acts 17:2-3)

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 18:4)

(6) Those who follow Jesus kept the Sabbath.

Jesus died on the cross. His body was taken from the cross and placed in a tomb. Those women who had come with Jesus from Galilee prepared spices. But they rested on the Sabbath first (which is Saturday) and went back to deal with the body of Jesus in the next day (the first day of the week), because it was more important for them to keep God's commandments.

And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. (Luke 23:55-56)

Now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they, and certain other women with them, came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. (Luke 24:1)

Keep Sabbath is one of the ten commandments which God require us to follow. In the new testament, the Lord Jesus tells us that the commandments have not been taken away, and that he who keeps it and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:18-19)

(7) In the new heaven and new earth, we shall still keep the Sabbath.

We will enter a new heaven and a new earth, the holy city which is new Jerusalem.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:1-2)

“For as the new heavens and the new earth Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the Lord , “So shall your descendants and your name remain. And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord . “And they shall go forth and look Upon the corpses of the men Who have transgressed against Me. For their worm does not die, And their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.” (Isaiah 66:22-24)

(8) There remains a rest for the people of God.

For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Hebrews 4:2-3)

Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, (Hebrews 4:6)

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:9-13)

We cannot enter His rest If we do not obey God and do not believe in the gospel. Only can we enjoy true rest in God by receiving the Word of God in faith, and keeping the covenant of Sabbath in faith. Many Jews now hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, but they do not obey and do not believe. Although they now keep the Sabbath, according to what Hebrews tells us, they cannot enter the rest of God.

There is no true rest in earth, the true rest is in heaven. There is no true rest in the world, the true rest is in Jesus Christ.

(9) Obeying the Holy Day of Sabbath is evidence that God has made us holy, and is a sign of God's children.

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 20:11)

“Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. (Exodus 31:13)

“Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the Lord , to serve Him, And to love the name of the Lord , to be His servants— Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant— Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:6-7)

It’s a sign of God's children is to keep the Sabbath. For example, The Constitution is written by people and the whole country must abide by it. The commandments are written by God, the children of God shall follow them.

Let us look at the commandment of the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments that God proclaimed through Moses:

“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: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 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)