What I will do here is layout various verses that discuss the Sabbath, provide some very layman like commentary and then you decide. As with anything you read in my blogs, always read the scripture yourself. God’s word is not infallible but I am – often.
Genesis 2:2-3
From the beginning God set aside a day for rest. On day seven after six days of creation, God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
Exodus 16:23-29
When I search for “Sabbath” in WORDsearch the first instance I find is God telling the Israelites that the seventh day is a holy day of rest and they are not to gather manna on that day. He will provide enough manna on day six for two days.
Exodus 20:8-11
The Sabbath was important enough to God for him to write it on stone tablets. This was a holy day for God and he wanted the Israelites to honor it.
Deuteronomy 5:12-15
Moses is again writing about the Ten Commandments. However in this passage he includes additional information about the observance of the Sabbath. He tells the Israelites to remember that the Lord brought them out of the land of Egypt where they were slaves; therefore the Lord commands them to keep the Sabbath day.
So far it is evident that the Sabbath day was given to the Israelites along with all the other laws that God gave them, from the Ten Commandments and from the other laws in the books from Moses.
Do these laws apply to Christians today, and specifically, the law to observe the Sabbath?
It appears from scripture and certainly from the earliest church tradition that the first century Christians met on Sundays (see Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor. 16:1-2). The first day of the week became known as the Lord’s Day (Rev 1:10). However, the Bible does not say that these churches did not meet on Saturday as well. We know that Paul often started his preaching in new cities in the Synagogues on the Sabbath.
The Bible never mentions that anyone other than Israel should observe the Sabbath. In fact, Paul goes out of his way to insist that we are free from the law given to Israel (Romans 7 and Gal. 3:24 – 4:11) and he specifically mentions the Sabbath in Colossians 2:16.
If we are not bound to the Sabbath, what about the rest of the law, including the other nine commandments?
With Christ the whole law is now fulfilled and no longer binds us. Does this mean we are free to sin as we please? “By no means!” (Romans 6)
The bible is clear that I am raised with Christ and no longer under the bondage of the law. While we are not under the law as Christians, all scripture is God breathed and profitable for teaching, reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16)
God’s word teaches us that God set aside a day of rest for himself and that he instructed the Israelites to do the same so that they would remember who God is and what he has done for them (Exodus and Deuteronomy references above).
Isaiah tells Israel to return to the Sabbath, do it to honor God, do it because it is a delight, and that he will bless them for it (Isa 58:13-14).
Hebrews tells us not to neglect meeting together as is the habit of some (Heb 10:25).
It is clear that God set aside a day of rest as a holy day. It is clear that God wants us to meet together and honor him and to delight in doing so, putting honoring God above our own pleasures and business. This is not a “law” that brings salvation but an act of obedience as we live and walk in the Spirit and seek those things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God (Gal 5:16-25, Col 3:1-11)
If your church meets on Saturday, then set aside your busy life (rest) that day as your holy day to honor God and if on Sunday then set aside your busy life on Sunday to be your holy day to honor God. The point is - put aside your busy life to honor God, delight in this day and delight in the Lord.
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