…And on the Seventh(שְׁבִיעִי Sheviy’i- שֶׁבַעSheva’a)Day(יוֹם Yom) God (אֱלהִים Elohim – אֵל El) Accomplished(כָּלָה Kalah)His Work(מְלָאכָה Melekah)that He had Done (עָשָׂה Asah), and He Rested (שָׁבַת Shabat)on the Seventh (שְׁבִיעִי Sheviy’i – Sheva’a) Day (יוֹם Yom) from All (כֹּל Kol – כָּלַל Kalal) His Work (מְלָאכָה Melakah)Which (אֲשֶׁר Asher) He had Done (עָשָׂה Asah). Genesis 2:2
The Primitive 3-letter Hebrew Verb Root, שָׁבַת Shabat, means to Rest, Cease from Work, Desist from Exertion, Repose… Yet אֱלהִיםElohim did not Stop His Work on the 7th Day because He was tired.
שָׁבַת Shabat represents the Accomplished, Finished, or Completed, כָּלָה Kalah, Work, מְלָאכָה Melekah, which is Done, or Made, עָשָׂה Asah.
The Hebrew letter בBet/Vet is spelledבBet – י Yud – ת Tav. Pronounced בּיִת Bayeet it means House.
Originally the Picture of a TentFloor Plan, it represents what is Inside, the Home, Dwelling, Building, Temple, Family, Body, Heart, Ultimately the Eternal Kingdom. As a Prefix; In, Into, Amid, Within, At, By, On, When… #2 (Genesis 1:1 בְּIn; 6:14; 7:1; Proverbs 7:6בּיִתBayeet; )
The Hebrew Letter Tavת spelled תָ Tav – ו Vav, is the Word Tav תָו meaninga Mark, or Sign.
Originally the Picture of Crossed Sticks, it represents a Seal, Signal, Signature, Ownership, Joining, Plus, Monument, Finish, Truth, Covenant… as a Prefix; 2nd Person Future Tense, You Will… Numerical Value 400, (Ezekiel 9:4, 6; Job 31:35תָּוTav; Mark)
Shen = Devour – Bet = House – Tav = Covenant?
The Sub-root ש Shen – בַ Bet = Shuv; Return
Sub-roots and Consistent Patterns
To verify the meaning of a Word Picturewe study each letter, as most letters are a Word with meaning. Then try any combination of the 3-letter Root, שָׁבַתSHabat, to find Consistent Patterns.
Most 3-letter Verb Roots also contain 2-letter Sub-roots.
The first 2 Letters of שָׁבַ – תShab – bat are שָׁShen and בַBeit, the Primitive Verb Root, שׁוּבShub or Shuv, meaning to Turn Back, Return, or Repent.
The letter שָׁShen representsthe Teeth that Devour, or Destroy – The letterבַBeit; is the Tent, House, Body…
This Picture shows us a Picture of True Repentance. It does not Return to its Bondage, it שָׁDestroys the בַHouse; the Body that is Imprisoned to Death by its Desire for Bad.
In Context, the first time, שׁוּבShuv, is mentioned in the Bible it refers to the Curse of Death. The reason our Body will, שׁוּבShuv, Return to the Ground:
…Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you Return (שׁוּבShuv) to theGround (אֲדָמָהAdamah), for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall Return (שׁוּבShuv).” Genesis 3:18,19
The Curse of Death Contrasts the Blessing of Eternal Life. The Ultimate בBeit is the Eternal Dwelling Place; the Everlasting Kingdom of אֱלהִיםElohim.
In Contrast, the בBeit also represents our mortal Body which is likened to a Tent, or Temporary Dwelling Place:
For while we are still inthis Tent, we groan, being burdened—not wanting to be Unclothed, but to be Clothed, so that what is Mortal may be Devoured by Life. 2 Corinthians 5:4
Mortality is described as being Unclothed, or Naked. To be Clothed means that this “Body of Death” must be Devoured by Life. Romans 7:24.
Going back to the Beginning, we see that Adam and Eve knew they were Naked, after they ate from the Fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good(טוֹבTov) and Bad(רַעRa’a):
The Everlasting Word of אֱלהִיםElohim continues to give mankind Good Instructions; תּוֹרָהTorah, Pointing (יָרָה Yarah), like a Light (אוֹרOor), in the Path of Life, which is Doing Right, orRighteousness(צְדָקָהTzedaqah):
In the Path of Righteousness is Life, and in its Pathway there is No Death.Proverbs 12:28
How to be Clothed with Righteousness?
The Bible reveals Spiritual Reality with Figurative Language. Every Physical detail is a Picture of His Eternal Work. For instance, as the Bride of the Eternal Messiah we are to Clothe ourselves with Righteous Actions:
...it was granted Her(the Bride)to Clothe Herself with fine Linen, bright and pure”— for the fine Linen is the Righteous Actions of the Saints (חָסִיד CHasid). Revelation 19:8.
Moses was instructed to make physical Patterns of what he was shown on the Mountain. Their Heavenly/Spiritual Reality, including the Holy/Set-apart Linen Garments of the Priest,Exodus 25:40.
And the Priest who is Anointed and Consecrated as Priest in his Father’s place shall make Atonement, wearing the Holy/Set-apart (קֹדֶשׁ Qodesh) Linen Garments. Leviticus 16:32
Let your Priests be Clothed with Righteousness (צֶדֶקTzedeq), and let your Saints (חָסִיד CHasid) shout for Joy. Psalm 132:9
I put on Righteousness(צֶדֶקTzedeq), and it Clothed me; Justice was my Robe and my Turban. Job 29:14; Isaiah 61:10
He put on Righteousness(צְדָקָה Tzedakah) as Body Armor(שִׁרְיוֹן Shiryon) and a Helmet of Salvation on his head; he put on Garments of Vengeance for Clothing, and was Wrapped as a Cloak.Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:14
*YHVH Is Salvation; יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Yehoshua. His Spirit is the only Eternal Messiah. The only One with the Power to Swallow Up, Devour, Destroy, Consume, Death. Then our Naked, Perishable, Mortal, Bodies, or Tents, will be Clothed with the Imperishable, Immortality:
For the Perishable must be Clothed with the Imperishable, and the Mortal with Immortality…1 Corinthians 15:53,54
…Clothe yourselves with theLord JesusChrist (the Salvation of the Eternal Messiah), and make no provision for the Desires of the Flesh. Romans 13:14
Shuv = Return to the Tav; Covenant
שָׁבַ-תShab-at is the Picture of Return to the Cross
The Sub-root בַּתBat
The last 2 Letters of Shab – batשָׁ-בַת are the Hebrew Word בַּתBat , meaning Daughter. Its Word Picture shows us the Beitבַ; Tent, or what is Inside, and the Tavת; Sign, or Covenant:
I also gave them My Sabbaths (שַׁבָּת Shabbat)as a Sign (אוֹתOt) between us, so that they would know that I Am יְהוָֹה *YHVH who makes them Holy/Set-apart (קָדַשׁQadesh).Ezekiel 20:12
The Hebrew word for Sign is אוֹתOt. Its Word Picture shows us the אAleph; Ox Head; Strong:
And the Tavת; Sign, Mark, or Covenant:
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the Sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be for Signs(אוֹתOt) Seasons/Appointed Times (מוֹעֵדMoed) and Days and Years, Genesis 1:14
My Sabbaths will be a Sign between Me and you…
“Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must Keep(שָׁמַר Shamar) My Sabbaths(שַׁבָּתShabbat) for this will be a Sign (אוֹת Ot)between Me and you for the generations to come, so that you may know that I AM יְהוָֹה *YHVH who makes you Holy/Set-apart (קָדַשׁQadash), Exodus 31:13
Click Here to read Israel, the Ancient Hebrew Meaning.
Keeping the Sabbaths of *YHVH is the Sign, or Covenant, of those who Faithfully Remember to make it Holy/Set-apart:
Turn from the Curse to Enter the Blessing of the 7th Day
In conclusion, the Sabbath, שַׁבָּת Shabbat,of *YHVH is still the Sign, or Covenant, of those who Enter His Eternal Rest:
Therefore, while the Promise of entering his Rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.Hebrews 4:1.
Now we who have Believed enter that Rest. As for the others, it is just as God has said: “So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘ They shall Never Enter My Rest.’ ” And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:3; 3:11; Psalm 95:11
And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His Rest? Was it not to those who Disobeyed? Hebrews 3:18
So we see that it was because of their Unbelief that they were unable to enter. Hebrews 3:19
Since, then, it remains for some to enter His Rest, and since those who formerly heard the Good News did not enterbecause of their Disobedience, Hebrews 4:6
There remains, then, a Sabbath Rest for the people of God, Hebrews 4:9
Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that Rest, so that no one will fall by following the same pattern of Disobedience.Hebrews 4:11
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was Made for Man… Mark 2:27
*Yah is the short and undisputed pronunciation of *YHVH, as in HalleluYah!
To help us answer these questions, I want us to try to get an overview of the biblical teaching on the sabbath. Let's begin at the Ten Commandments, found in Exodus 20. The sabbath commandment is number 4 and is found in verses 8–11.
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 God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, 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.
Five Comments
At least five things in these verses need special comment.
1. Remembering
First, Israel is to remember the rest day. Sabbath means rest. "Remember the sabbath day," means, "Don't forget to take a day off."
2. Keeping It Holy
Second, "Keep it holy," means set it aside from all other days as special. Specifically, as verse 10 says, keep it "to the Lord," or "for the Lord." In other words, the rest is not to be aimless rest, but God-centered rest. Attention is to be directed to God in a way that is more concentrated and steady than on ordinary days. Keep the day holy by keeping the focus on the holy God.
3. One Out of Every Seven
Third, the holy rest day should be one out of every seven. Verse 9: "Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God." Work six, rest one. Work six, rest one. That's the pattern prescribed in the Ten Commandments. Note it does not say that the sabbath ("rest day") has to be the last day of the week or the first day of the week. The concept of weeks is not even mentioned. The command is simply work six, rest one. Every seventh day should be a sabbath.
4. No Fudging
Fourth, no fudging on the commandment by saying, "Well, I will keep it, but I will put my maid to work, or set my ox to threshing with a carrot in front of his nose at 6 PM the evening of the sabbath so that it will thresh the grain all day while I rest." God says, No. You miss the point if you try to keep the business running by using servants or animals or relatives. What point?
5. God's Rest After Creation
Fifth, verse 11 leads us to the basic point of the commandment. It is based on God's rest after creation: "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."
And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation.
God "Blessed" and "Hallowed" the Seventh Day
Both Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 20:11 say that God "blessed" and "hallowed" the rest day. What does it mean for God to bless a day? I think it means that he makes the day a time of blessing. When God blesses a man, the man becomes rich with blessings. When he blesses a land, the land becomes rich with blessings. So when he blesses a day, that day becomes rich with blessings.
And what does it mean that he hallows the day? "Hallows" is the same word as "sanctifies." It means set the day aside for special focus on what is holy, namely, God and his holy works.
Now consider the two words together. He blessed the day and he hallowed the day. How do these fit together? He made it a source of blessing, and he made it to focus on himself. Isn't it obvious that the hallowing is included in the blessing and the blessing is included in the hallowing. When you hallow God and focus your attention on him, you receive more blessing than if you keep on busying yourself seven days a week with secular affairs, thinking that professional advancement and money are the route to true happiness. And (the reverse) when you seek your blessing in God rather than in the products of human labor, you hallow him and honor his holiness as the greater wealth.
God's Rest
The reason given in both Genesis 2:3 and Exodus 20:11 why God blessed and hallowed the seventh day is that "on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation." What does it mean that God rested? It means at least that he was satisfied that his work of creation was complete and was "very good." His rest means that he wanted to now stand back as it were in leisure and savor the beauty and completeness of his creative work.
This is the real basis of his hallowing and blessing the day of rest. He is saying in effect, "Let my highest creature, the one in my image, stop every seven days and commemorate with me the fact that I am the creator who has done all this. Let him stop working and focus on me, that I am the source of all that he has. I am the fountain of blessing. I have made the very hands and mind with which he works. Let one day out of seven demonstrate that all land and all animals and all raw materials and all breath and strength and thought and emotion and everything come from me. Let man look to me in leisure one day out of seven for the blessing that is so elusive in the affairs of this world."
The beautiful thing about the sabbath is that God instituted it as a weekly reminder of two things. One is that all true blessing comes from his grace, not our labor. The other is that we hallow him and honor him and keep the day holy if we seek the fullness of his blessing by giving our special attention to him on that day.
God as the Source of Salvation
It would be a mistake to conclude from these two texts that the only blessings we should focus on during our sabbath observance were the blessings of creation. Deuteronomy 5 gives us a second version of the Ten Commandments. Here the basis of the sabbath observance is different. Verse 15:
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 outstreched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
In other words the mighty hand and the outstreched arm of God were not wearied by the work of creation. They are full of strength. God's rest was not for recuperation, but for exultation. Now the same God has shown his power not just to create but also to save. So the focus of the sabbath is on God not only as the source of creation, but also as the source of salvation. "Your God brought you up out of the land of Egypt . . . THEREFORE he commanded you to keep the sabbath day." One day of rest in every seven, kept holy to the Lord, reminds us and shows the world that GOD is our creator and our deliverer—we did not make ourselves, we cannot sustain or save ourselves without his grace. Be still and know that he is God.
The Sabbath as a Sign
What did the Lord say at the exodus from Egypt?
Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still.
Exodus 31:12–13 stresses again the truth that the sabbath signifies our utter reliance on God's grace.
And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you."
The sabbath is a sign. It points to a truth that we are never to forget. The truth is that God (and not we ourselves) has sanctified us. He has chosen us and set us apart and worked to make us distinct among the peoples of the earth.
Summary of the Sabbath Command
In summary then, Exodus 20:11 and Deuteronomy 5:15 and Exodus 31:13 teach that the sabbath is a way of remembering and expressing the truth that God is our creator and deliverer and sanctifier. We are dependent on him for all we have in the world, for our deliverance from enemies, and for our holiness. He has indeed designed that we work. But our work neither creates, nor saves, nor sanctifies. For these we depend on the blessing of God. All things are from him and through him and to him. Lest we ever forget this and begin to take our strength and thought and work too seriously, we should keep one day in seven to cease from our labors and focus on God as the source of all blessing.
Good News Not Bad News
Before we leave the Old Testament, there is one other passage that clarifies a common misunderstanding of the sabbath. It is Isaiah 58:13–14. It is a shame that for so many people sabbath keeping is thought of solely in terms of what you can't do. Its original intention was certainly intended to be good news not bad news. The sabbath command is in fact a command to experience joy.
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; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth.
God's Purpose for Us on the Sabbath
God's purpose for us on the sabbath is that we experience the highest and most intense joy that can be experienced, namely, that we "take delight in the Lord." And yet what he finds again and again is professing Christians who prefer little human-sized pleasures from things that have no close relation to God at all.
If you worked seven days a week in the hot sun to keep life and limb together, with scarcely any time for leisure and reflection, would you consider it burdensome if your God came to you with omnipotent authority and said, "I don't want you to have to work so much. I want you to have a day a week to rest and enjoy what really counts in life. I promise to meet your needs with just six days of work"? That is not a cruel command. It is a gracious gift.
Why So Many People Think of the Sabbath as a Burden
The reason that so many people feel it as a burden is partly that we have so much leisure, we don't feel the need for the sabbath rest; but more important, I think, is the fact that not many people really enjoy what God intended us to enjoy on the sabbath, namely, himself. Many professing Christians enjoy sports and television and secular books and magazines and recreation and hobbies and games far more than they enjoy direct interaction with God in his Word or in worship or in reading Christian books or in meditative strolls.
Therefore, inevitably people whose hearts are set more on the pleasures of the world than on the enjoyment of God will feel the sabbath command as a burden not a blessing. This is what John says in 1 John 5:3, "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome." The measure of your love for God is the measure of the joy you get in focusing on him on the day of rest. For most people the sabbath command is really a demand to repent. It invites us to enjoy what we don't enjoy and therefore shows us the evil of hearts, and our need to repent and be changed.
Jesus' View of the Sabbath
When we come over to the New Testament we find that in the intervening centuries the rabbis have added a lot of details to the sabbath command and have missed the spirit of it as a wonderful gift for man's good. So Jesus slams head on into these traditions with a very different view than the one shared by the Pharisees. Let's look at this in Matthew 12:1–12.
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck ears of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath." He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."
And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue. And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?" so that they might accuse him. He said to them, "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."
You Must Have a Loving Heart
What was wrong with the Pharisees? Why couldn't they see the Old Testament the way Jesus did? Why didn't they see David's eating the bread of the Presence and the priest's sabbath work in the temple as an indictment of their sabbath traditions the way Jesus did? According to Jesus the Pharisees could only condemn the innocent because they never had understood Hosea 6:6. He quotes it in verse 7: God says, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." In other words the whole law exists for the sake of mercy. All the law is summed up in this one word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The Pharisees couldn't see the true meaning of the sabbath because they didn't have hearts of love. "The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath," Jesus says in Mark 2:27. So if your heart isn't a heart for man—if it is not a heart of love—you cannot see the meaning of the sabbath. For the sabbath is a gift of love to meet man's need, not an oppressive burden to make him miserable or proud.
Jesus Didn't Abolish the Sabbath
So Jesus didn't come to abolish the sabbath but to dig it out from under the mountain of legalistic sediment, and give it to us again as a blessing rather than a burden. It is a day for showing mercy and a day for doing good (verse 12). It should not be governed rigidly by narrow definitions of what is work and what is not. It is a day to focus on the Lord. And now Jesus is the Lord of the sabbath (according to verse 8), so it is a day to focus on Jesus. And it is impossible that a day focused on Jesus should be a burden to the believing heart—"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!"
The Practice of the Early Church
As we move on into the early church it is clear that the weekly day of rest and devotion was not rejected, but was changed from Saturday to Sunday. This is nowhere commanded. But there are two verses that suggest it happened already in the days of the apostles. One is Acts 20:7 which says, "On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and he prolonged his speech until midnight." This seems to be a formal gathering for the Lord's Supper on Sunday evening, the first day of the week. (It could have been Saturday evening since by Jewish reckoning the day begins at 6:00 PM the previous evening. But Luke probably uses the Roman way of reckoning days from midnight to midnight. Cf. 4:3; 23:31f.) So it looks as though the switch to Sunday for worship had already begun.
The other verse that points in this direction is 1 Corinthians 16:2. Paul is trying to prepare the Corinthians for a collection that he is taking up from the churches for the saints in Jerusalem: "On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come." It seems that the first day of the week is now the day when Christians are performing special religious exercises.
The First Day of the Week
Those are the only explicit references in the New Testament that seem to relate the sabbath to Sunday rather than Saturday. The real reason for why the church came to count the first day of the week as her day of rest and worship is that the Lord of the sabbath rose from the dead on the first day of the week (John 20:1). Just like the work of the first creation was finished on the seventh day of the week, the work of the new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 6:15; Ephesians 2:10) was finished on the first day of the week by the resurrection of Jesus. So from the very earliest days Christians have set aside the first day of the week as their usual day of rest and worship.
Our Saturday Evening Service
What then shall we say about our Saturday evening service?
In view of the deep significance given in the Old Testament to a day of rest holy to the Lord, I do not in the least want to detract from the value of keeping the Christian sabbath holy, namely, Sunday.
Three Ways to View It
To this end I would suggest we look at the Saturday evening service in one of the following ways. In none of them is the Saturday worship a replacement of Sunday sabbath keeping.
It can be viewed as a lengthening of the Sunday sabbath, starting five hours early at 7:00 PM instead of 12:00 AM.
We could simply adopt the biblical/Jewish way of reckoning time and say that the first day of the week begins at 6:00 PM on Saturday. In this case the Saturday service would in fact be on the first day of the week, and our sabbath could run till 6:00 PM on Sunday or be lengthened at the other end to allow a sanctified place for the Sunday evening service.
We could regard the Saturday evening service as not taking place on the first day of the Christian sabbath but as an extra service in the week to prepare us for the observance of the sabbath on Sunday. In that case the corporate sabbath worship might be what it was for the early church in Acts 20, namely, a Sunday evening service instead of a Sunday morning service.
How Can We Do This?
Where do we get the right to play fast and loose with the times of the sabbath like this? The answer is that we get it from the Jesus Christ the Lord of the sabbath. If Jesus were here today, he would say something like this: "If priests in the temple and pastors in the Christian church are permitted to work 16 hours on the usual day of rest, then the saints are permitted to worship one hour the day before. The sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath. Come, learn what it means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.'"
He would send us to consult the words of his apostle in Romans 14:5, "One man judges one day above another, while another man judges all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind." We can take this to imply that some think that all days qualify for the sabbath. Some think that only Saturday qualifies. Others only Sunday. Do not condemn one another over these disagreements. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.
Summary
In summary, these four points:
1. Accept the gift of one day's rest a week. Humble yourself to believe you need it. And be willing to admit that your wealth and your significance and your true advancement in life depend far more on God's labor than on yours.
2. Devote one day a week to focus your attention on God in a special way. Keep a holy day and devote yourself to those things that deepen your love for God.
3. Except where you think obedience to God requires otherwise, let that day of rest and Godward focus be on the first day of the week as a witness to the world that Jesus Christ is the Lord of your sabbath and of your life.
I’m not sure if you have trouble observing Sabbath in your daily life.
According to Lifeway Research, seven in 10 churchgoers take their Sabbath on Sunday. Few take it on Saturday (5 percent), Friday (1 percent) or Monday (1 percent). For 23 percent, they don’t take a day of rest. I can testify that I am one of the 23 percent who typically do not take the time to have a Sabbath day of rest. If I do take a day off from the business of the corps, I will find something else that needs to be done, anything from housework to shopping. I am good at finding something to do to keep me busy.
In this Bible study, we are going to explore what “Sabbath” really means, and by reading Scripture, we will find out why God says it is so important to practice it in our weekly routine.
READ HEBREWS 4:1, 9-11.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it…There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Sabbath is defined as being from Hebrew shavat, “to rest,” observed throughout the year on the seventh day of the week—Saturday. “According to biblical tradition, it commemorates the original seventh day on which God rested after completing the creation.”
Sabbath was introduced to us from the very beginning when God created the Earth. We read in the book of Genesis that God created the heavens and the earth in six periods of time, which he called days: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it (Gen. 2:2–3).
The thing the Sabbath was pointing to is Jesus Christ. He is our rest. It doesn’t matter whether you go to corporate worship on Saturday or on Sunday, or your choice of a day during the week, because that’s not what really matters. What really matters is that you find your rest in Christ.
We take Sabbath to acknowledge that we need God, we need time dedicated to him—a time to rest. This doesn’t mean that all we are to do on a Sabbath are pray and sleep, though prayer and rest are central and needed. It can also be time with family or hobbies. So many times, we’re burning the candle at both ends, so busy with work that we don’t stop to really appreciate God’s presence in our lives.
READ LUKE 10:38-42.
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
We read that account of Mary and Martha with Martha just going and going on her own trying to make things just right to the point of frustration. With a servant heart, it is easy to get caught up in keeping ourselves busy serving others and making sure everything is done in all our power to help and please others. Jesus reminds Martha that Mary had chosen what was right, to rest at Jesus’ feet, to bask in his presence and his love.
Sabbath is an act of humility before the Lord.
Matthew 5:3 says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Being “poor in spirit,” we are like paupers, relying on God and only God to fill us. It is a sin to think we can just keep going and going without acknowledging God and our need for his help. It’s silly for us to think we are too busy for God, the one who gives us all of our provisions in the first place.
Further, Sabbath goes beyond just one day. We need dedicated time daily to rest in him.
Even Jesus needed time with his father; who are we to act as though we don’t.
Make a plan today, put it on your calendar. Schedule time for God, and be intentional about it. Start learning to say no to others if that is your crutch to not taking time to rest in God. This is of central importance to our spiritual health. Make a date with God, pray to him, take in his Word and grow in him daily.
TAKE TIME TO REFLECT:
Am I taking a weekly Sabbath?
Am I taking time daily for the Lord?
What can I do differently in my daily/weekly schedule that will allow me to take a Sabbath?
What does God have for me in my day of Sabbath, through this day of rest?
What do I have for him in my Sabbath day, through this day of rest?
How will this be lived out with others in gratitude, joy and celebration?
REST
There are several kinds of rest referred to in Hebrews. The first rest mentioned is the “rest” the first generation of Israelites failed to enter, namely entrance into the Promised Land and rest from its enemies (Hebrews 3:11). Then there was the “rest” to which the psalmist referred in Psalm 95 that was available in his time (“today”). And there is the “rest” which was available to those whom the author of Hebrews was writing in his day:
Therefore we must be wary that, while the promise of entering his rest remains open, none of you may seem to have come short of it (Hebrews 4:1, emphasis mine).
That rest was not merely the rest of possessing the Promised Land, but a great rest, a “sabbath rest.” The source of this rest is God, who after having completed the work of creation, rested on the seventh day. This rest is the rest from our labors. It is the “rest” which is the key to the rest which is available to us today.
There is still a “rest” that is available to us “today.” I would understand this to have present and future dimensions, just as salvation has. There is surely a “salvation rest,” a resting from our works in an effort to earn God’s favor, when we come to faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary. And there is the eternal rest which all Christians will experience. But there must also be what we might call a “sanctification rest,” a rest from striving as Christians in the power of the flesh, in a futile effort to attain godliness. I believe that we see this in Romans 7 and 8. Chapter 7 is the description of a Christian trying to live up to God’s standards in the power of the flesh, and failing badly. Chapter 8 is the solution. The Christian is to live in the power of the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that raised the dead body of Jesus from the grave. By the working of His Spirit in us, we are able, to some degree, to live a godly life (see Romans 8:1-17). This is resting in Him, or we might even say, abiding in Him (see John 15:1-14). This is the key to fruitfulness.
So, having reviewed the argument of Hebrews 1-4, and having noted the terms and concepts foundational to this argument, let us briefly trace the author’s argument in the first ten verses of chapter 4.
The ancient Israelites, along with those who lived in the days of the psalmist, had the promise of rest, a rest which could only be attained by faith. Because the first generation of Israelites failed so badly to enter God’s rest – in spite of the extent of revelation from God, and miracles to confirm it – we should have a keen sense of our own fallibility, and thus the danger of a failure in our faith and walk (4:1).
We are not that different from those ancient Israelites. Just as they received the good news of a promise of entering the land of Canaan, so we have received an even greater revelation of good news, the good news of salvation by faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Just as the “good news” the ancient Israelites received did them no good because of their lack of faith, so our “good news” is only profitable through faith. It requires not only initial faith on our part, but on-going faith. This kind of faith is encouraged and stimulated by our association with others who share the same faith (4:2).
The “rest” into which we enter is God’s rest, God’s Sabbath rest, such as we find in Genesis 2:2 – the rest God entered after He had finished His work of creation. It is this rest into which the ancient Israelites failed to enter, for “My rest” is God’s rest, God’s Sabbath rest. This is the rest some failed to enter, but which remains available to us today, a rest received by faith (4:3-6).
Just as the psalmist could seize upon the term “today” and apply it to his readers, so God has fixed a “today” for us, the same “today” as was offered in the psalms. And so we need to believe God and enter this rest, rather than to refuse to believe and fail to enter, as did the ancient Israelites. This “rest” must be more than merely entering Canaan because Joshua did lead the second generation of Israelites into the Promised Land, and yet many years later the psalmist spoke of a rest that was still available, a greater rest. And that rest was God’s “Sabbath rest,” a rest still available, a rest of ceasing from futile works in an effort to earn God’s favor. The one who has entered God’s rest has set aside striving in the flesh, and has trusted in the work God has finished, in Christ (4:7-10).
Conclusion
When I think of the Old Testament law, with all of its requirements and stipulations, it makes me tired. How could one ever please God by the works of the law? No one ever could, for the purpose of the law was not to provide men with a list of works by which one could be saved. The purpose of the law was to demonstrate to men that they could never save themselves, but must be saved some other way. And that way was the promised Messiah, Jesus the Christ:
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – 22 namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 24 But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. 25 God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness, because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed. 26 This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness (Romans 3:19-26).
4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, 5 he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).
This is why our Lord could say,
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry” (Matthew 11:28-30).
How different this was from what the Jewish religious leaders did:
1 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat. 3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them” (Matthew 23:1-4).
The concept of rest is such a beautiful thing to one who is weary of striving to please God in his (or her) own strength. To trust in Jesus is to cease from one’s own labors, one’s own efforts, and receive the fruit of the work which Jesus did on the cross of Calvary. For a Hebrew Christian to entertain thoughts of retreating back to Judaism, of going back under the law, was to set aside rest for fruitless works.
Have you entered that “rest,” my friend? Have you experienced the rest which only Christ can give? Have you ceased from fruitless efforts to win God’s favor? If not, I urge you to do so “today” by acknowledging your sin and your inability to please God. And then simply trust in the only provision God has made for sinners to be forgiven and to enter into His rest. Trust in Jesus.
My Christian friend, are you resting in what Christ has done for you? Or are you striving in the power of your own flesh to please God, just as Paul describes in Romans 7:
15 For I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want – instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I do what I don’t want, I agree that the law is good. 17 But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me. 21 So, I find the law that when I want to do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God in my inner being. 23 But I see a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Romans 7:15-24)
Praise God the answer immediately follows:
25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For God achieved what the law could not do because it was weakened through the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh have their outlook shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their outlook shaped by the things of the Spirit. 6 For the outlook of the flesh is death, but the outlook of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the outlook of the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness. 11 Moreover if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you (Romans 7:25-8:11).
For the Christian, there is not only the rest of salvation, but the day-to-day rest of dependence upon God for living the Christian life. There are many things which can interfere with our “resting” in Christ. As I write this message (a little while after having preached it), the stock market has taken a serious downward turn. Do I lose my rest because of this? Do I worry and fret about the future, or do I rest in God’s promises:
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t there more to life than food and more to the body than clothing? 26 Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are? 27 And which of you by worrying can add even one hour to his life? 28 Why do you worry about clothing? Think about how the flowers of the field grow; they do not work or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these! 30 And if this is how God clothes the wild grass, which is here today and tomorrow is tossed into the fire to heat the oven, won’t he clothe you even more, you people of little faith? 31 So then, don’t worry saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the unconverted pursue these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:25-33).
Your conduct must be free from the love of money and you must be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you and I will never abandon you” (Hebrews 13:5).
Persecution is on the rise, not only in distant places, but in our own country. Are you resting in our Lord’s promises, or are you filled with doubts and worries? We need to believe in God’s Word:
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things about you falsely on account of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad because your reward is great in heaven, for they persecuted the prophets before you in the same way. 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its flavor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled on by people. 14 You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:10-16).
32 But remember the former days when you endured a harsh conflict of suffering after you were enlightened. 33 At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and afflictions, and at other times you came to share with others who were treated in that way. 34 For in fact you shared the sufferings of those in prison, and you accepted the confiscation of your belongings with joy, because you knew that you certainly had a better and lasting possession. 35 So do not throw away your confidence, because it has great reward. 36 For you need endurance in order to do God’s will and so receive what is promised. 37 For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, Itake no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls (Hebrews 10:32-39).
National elections are coming soon, and many are concerned (downright worried) about the outcome. We can and should rest in the knowledge that it is God who raises up kings and who puts them down. It is He who holds the heart of the king in His hands:
The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord like channels of water;
We can forsake our rest because of worries about our families and even about our ministries. These are areas in which God desires to lead us to rest, rather than leave us to trust in futile works of the flesh. Let us rest in Him, who has done all the work for our salvation and sanctification, and who promises to lead us to eternal rest.
2 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the NET Bible. The NEW ENGLIS
At creation, God set aside the seventh day to be a day of holy rest and worship for His image bearers. He appointed the Sabbath day to be a symbol of the promise of entering into His eternal rest in glory. Accordingly, the Sabbath command is both rooted in creation and directed to the new creation. Within the framework of God’s laws, the Sabbath command has both a moral and a ceremonial element to it. The moral part of the commandment is seen in its inclusion in the Ten Commandments. The ceremonial element appears in that it was to be observed as the seventh day of the week until the coming of Christ. After the death and resurrection of Christ, the moral principle remains, but the ceremonial principle has changed. The Christian Sabbath transitions from the seventh to the first day of the week after the resurrection of Christ.
We see one example in Acts 17:1…
Acts 17:1(NKJV) Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. 2Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and demonstrating that the Messiah had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and [saying], “This Yahushua whom I preach to you is the Messiah.” 4 And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas.
Here we see that Paul went to a Sabbath service three times, where there were both Jews and Greeks. The scripture also mentions that this was a regular custom of Paul. Was this also the custom of Yahushua the Messiah?
Luke 4:16– 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
Paul once said, “imitate me, as I imitate the Messiah” in 1 Corinthians 11, so Paul would be doing what He did, observe the sabbath on the seventh day. And we are supposed to be doing what Paul did, walking as our Savior walked (1John 2:6 – He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.)
Here we can see that in Acts 17, which is said to be 22 years after Yahushua’s death and resurrection, the disciples were attending Sabbath services with the Jewish people on the seventh day of the week.
In no place do we see Paul or any other disciple teaching them that they should come back the next day and join them for a ‘first day of the week’ service. Rather, they went to three Sabbath services where there were both Jews and Greeks present. Thus, the the doctrine that says the Jews have their day (the 7th day) and the Gentiles have their day (the 1st day) is foreign to scripture.
Some would argue that Paul was only at the synagogue because that is where he would find people to witness to, not to observe the Sabbath. But scripture itself does not say that. This is an assumption that those who refuse the simplicity of the scriptures or justify the traditions of men want to make, not one that the scriptures actually teach.
Again, the Seventh Day is called “The Sabbath day” in this passage.
So lets see where we are at now..
Seventh day – 3 First day – 0
Another example is found in Acts 13…
Acts 13:13 –Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. 14But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men [and] brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on.”
So here is another example where Paul and the other disciples came to the Synagogue in Perga to attend the Sabbath Service.
Seventh day – 4 First day – 0
A little later in the chapter, after Paul shares Yahushua with them we see that the Gentiles were quite interested.
Acts 13:42 – So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.
Now here is a perfect situation for Paul to tell these Gentiles “Hey just come back tomorrow, we keep the Sabbath on the first day now!” But we don’t see this written anywhere in scripture.
Acts 13:43 – Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of Yahweh 44 On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of Yahweh.
So here is the fifth time that the disciples attended a Sabbath service on the day that Yahweh sanctified at creation. Again, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath” in this passage.
Seventh day – 5 First day – 0
Here is another example in Acts 16…
Acts 16:11 – Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next [day] came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 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].
It was the custom of the Jews of that day for the rabbi to shut down the synagogue if there were not at least 10 men that would show up for the Sabbath meeting. This could very well be why there were women meeting by the riverside for prayer.
Nevertheless, we see that the disciples sought a place to meet for the Sabbath and they did. Again, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath Day” in this passage.
Seventh day – 6 First day – 0
Acts 18:1 –After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla (because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome); and he came to them. 3 So, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked; for by occupation they were tentmakers. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks.
So we see that he worked on the other days as a tentmaker, but on the Sabbath He was not. Does this not demonstrate that He was keeping the Sabbath, as he had done his entire life?
Here again we see that both Jews and Greeks are in the synagogue and on the Sabbath. Paul among them, attending the Sabbath services. The interesting thing about this verse is that instead of the scripture saying that they attended only one or three sabbath services, it says that he was there every Sabbath persuading both Jews and Greeks.
Again, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath” in this passage so we know that we can at least count one. Let’s do that..
Seventh day – 7 First day – 0
Now if Paul was in Corinth and was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath, all we have to do is find out how long he stayed in Corinth to discover how many Sabbaths he actually attended.
Let’s look further..
Acts 18:5 – When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia, Paul was compelled by the Spirit, and testified to the Jews [that] Yahushua [is] the Messiah. 6 But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook [his] garments and said to them, “Your blood [be] upon your [own] heads; I [am] clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain [man] named Justus, [one] who worshiped God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Then Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Master with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized. 9 Now the Master spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; 10 “for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” 11 And he continued [there] a year and six months, teaching the word of Elohim among them.
A year and six months!
Finally the ruler of the synagogue was converted to believe in Yahushua and Paul was there a year and six months! So the scripture says that Paul was there every Sabbath and that he was there for a year and six months. If we counted this by the Gregorian calendar that would give us 52 Sabbaths in a year plus 26 Sabbaths in the following six months, giving us a a total of 78 Sabbaths! Now lets add this to our present total:
Seventh Day – 85 First day – 0
So we can see that the disciples attended a Sabbath service 85 times in the book of Acts alone. Again, the seventh day is called “the Sabbath” in this passage.
First Day of the Week, “sunday”
How many times do we see them meeting together on the first day of the week, commonly called “sunday?”
Some would cite one example in Acts 20. Let’s examine the text…
Acts 20:6 – But we sailed away from Philippi after the Days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days joined them at Troas, where we stayed seven days. 7 Now on the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
Here we see an example of the disciples gathering together on the first day of the week. There is no mention of a Sabbath being observed in this verse. Nowhere is this day called “The Sabbath”. In fact, we know that Paul was ready to depart the next day. According to verse 7, Paul spoke to them a message because for this very reason.
Now some would say that coming together to ‘break bread’ constitutes a meeting that includes the observance of partaking in Yahushua’s body, commonly called the “eucharist” or “communion.” However, this is not true in light of other scripture:
Acts 2:44 – Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising Yahweh and having favor with all the people. And Yahweh added to the assembly daily those who were being saved.
According to this scripture, breaking bread was not an uncommon thing to do on a daily basis. It was one of the customs in those days to eat their ‘daily bread’. Even in Yahushua’s prayer He said “Give us this day our daily bread“.
So we cannot confirm that this scripture in Acts 20 is a Sabbath day observance. In fact, nowhere does it say that the first day of the week is the Sabbath. But the 7th day of the week is always called “the Sabbath” in the ‘new testament.’
Unless you don’t believe in the New Testament, you would have to conclude that this was not a Sabbath meeting. So what was it really?
Many may not realize that in scripture, a new day begins at sundown. This would mean that at sundown on ‘Saturday’, the first day of the week begins.
Once the Sabbath ends on “saturday night,” this would have been the appropriate time to cook food and “break bread” because cooking was not done on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:23).
Thus, it is most likely an ‘after Sabbath’ fellowship meal where Paul continued to speak until midnight because he wanted to get as much teaching in as possible before he departed the next morning.
Nevertheless, in spite of 85 other examples of where Paul and the other disciples were participating in Sabbath observance on the 7th day of the week, some will hang onto this one verse so that they may continue their tradition. I say tradition because this verse proves nothing, as it could just as easily been an after Sabbath fellowship meal.
1 Corinthians 16:1-2 – Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: 2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
Some would suggest that this was Paul instructing them to “pass the plate” during “sunday church services” so that there be no collections when he comes for the Galatian congregations.
However, since the Sabbath ends at sundown on “saturday,” if everyone was keeping the Ten Commandments as written, and properly observing the Sabbath on the 7th day, the proper time for handling monies would have been on “saturday night” when the Sabbath had ended. Thus, they would have cooked their meals and handled orders of business after Sabbath, on the first day of the week.
Nowhere in this verse does it say they were keeping the Sabbath on the first day of the week, or that the Sabbath had been changed, or they were holding services on this day. One would have to inject these thoughts into the text, based on one’s assumptions and traditions, rather than getting these thoughts the from the text itself.
If one wants to protest the 85 count tally by saying Paul was only going to the synagogue to preach, and not to keep the Sabbath, that is also an attempt to inject those thoughts into the text, based on one’s assumptions and traditions, rather than from the text itself.
The truth is, for one to remove one of the Ten Commandments from its rightful place among the Ten, there should be a very, very clear directive somewhere in scripture. The burden of proof is not on one who continues the keep the Sabbath, the burden on proof is on the one who makes the claim that the Sabbath has been changed or abolished.
There is also historical evidence that the early disciples kept the Sabbath on the true day.:
First, we must understand that the Emperor Constantine enforced keeping the Sabbath on the first day of the week, which he calls “the venerable day of the sun.” Venerable means ‘commanding respect,’ suggesting the sun deity should be respected (sadly).
The text of Constantine’s Sunday Law of 321 A.D. is:
“One the venerable day of the Sun 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 because it often happens that another day is not suitable for gain-sowing or vine planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost.”
This forced Sabbath may explain why some groups were observing both the 7th day of the week as the Sabbath, but then also meeting on the first day of the week.
“The people of Constantinople, and almost everywhere, assemble together on the Sabbath, as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or at Alexandria.”
Ecclesiastical History, vii, 19, in A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd Series, Vol. 2, p. 390 [written soon after A.D. 415].
This is interesting, in that only the Christians of Rome and Constantinople forsook the Sabbath day while other churches continued keeping it. Constantine must have had quite an influence over the Roman Christians/Catholics.
“The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;.therefore the Christians for a long time together, did keep their conventions on the Sabbath, in which some portion of the Law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council.”
The Whole Works of Jeremey Taylor, Vol. IX, p416 (R. Heber’s Edition, Vol.XII, p.416)
“The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the seventh day..It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival…Athanasius likewise tells us that they held religious assemblies on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship [Yahushua], the [Master] of the Sabbath, Epiphanius says the same.”
Antiquities of the Christian Church, Vol. II, Book XX, chap. 3, Sec. 1, 66.1137, 1138
“Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does,’
Heylyn, The History of the Sabbath, 1613
Later, those who observed the Sabbath were persecuted and killed by the Catholic church. When the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier arrived in India he immediately requested to the pope to set up the Inquisition there.
“The Jewish wickedness” of which Xavier complained was evidently the Sabbath-keeping among those native Christians as we shall see in our next quotation. When one of these Sabbath-keeping Christians was taken by the Inquisition he was accused of having *Judaized*; which means having conformed to the ceremonies of the Mosaic Law; such as not eating pork, hare, fish without scales, of having attended the solemnization of the Sabbath.”
Account of the Inquisition at Goa, Dellon, p.56. London, 1815
“Of an hundred persons condemned to be burnt as Jews, there are scarcely four who profess that faith at their death; the rest exclaiming and protesting to their last gasp that they are Christians, and have been so during their whole lives.” Ibid p.64
Today, some of the leading Baptists even have admitted that the Sunday Sabbath isn’t in the scriptures:
“There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not on Sunday…It will be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week….where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament. Of course, I quite well know that Sunday did come into use in early Christian history as a religious day, as we learn from the Christian Fathers and other sources. But what a pity that it comes branded with the mark of paganism, and christened with the name of a sun god, when adopted and sanctioned by the papal apostasy, and bequeathed as a sacred legacy to Protestantism!” Dr. Edward Hiscox, author of The Baptist Manual
God sanctified or hallowed the seventh day, the Sabbath. It takes a holy God to make holy time, and He made no time holy other than His weekly and annual Sabbaths. Though people can be made holy by God, they cannot make something holy because they do not possess a holiness that can be transferred to anything else. Since only a holy God can hallow something, any day other than what God has made holy—even though billions of people may proclaim it to be holy—cannot be holy time. It is utterly impossible. No day can be holy except the one God made holy.
This means that the Sabbath is worthy of respect, deference, and even devotion that cannot be given to other periods of time. It is set apart for sacred use because it is derived directly from Him and made holy at creation. Because of God's assignment of the word “holy” to the Sabbath, this day is changed into something special. Even though it is a part of the cycle of the week, the Sabbath is separate from the other six days. It is different from the common or ordinary. The other six days are common, given for the pursuit of the ordinary things of life. The seventh-day Sabbath is a day God has reserved for man's benefit for special things, different things—spiritual things.
The Sabbath is not holy merely because God assigned it as such, though by itself, if we truly fear Him, that should be enough. How do things become holy, even things like the soil of the ground, or in this case, time? The Bible shows they become holy because He puts His presence in them. By the fact of His presence, they become a spiritual creation. God's presence is in the weekly Sabbath as well as in the annual Sabbaths, which He also created and made holy for the spiritual guidance of those He has a relationship with.
Luke writes, “So [Jesus] 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). Jesus kept the weekly Sabbath as well as the annual Sabbaths (see John 7:2, 10). The book of Acts reports the apostle Paul and the New Testament church keeping the weekly and annual Sabbaths, even Gentiles.
Nothing in the Bible changes the day God set aside and made holy at creation. The Catholic Church publicly lays claim to changing the day of worship to Sunday and charges the Protestant churches with following their lead. Can the Catholic Church make anything holy?
Everything that truly matters reveals the Edenic Covenant to be universal in application. This means that, along with everything else in that covenant God charged us to submit to, the Sabbath is still in effect. Nothing holy has been created to replace the Sabbath God created in the first week.
Can anything be more paradoxical than professing Christians not following the words of the One they claim as their Savior? But such is the sad state of affairs in this Western civilization that, we are often told, was built upon a "Judean-Christian ethic." In a 2001 study by the Barna Research Group, 60% of all American adults agreed that, "the Bible is totally accurate in all its teachings"—45% agreed strongly, and the remaining 15% agreed somewhat. Yet, if the 45% strongly believed rather than just strongly agreed, the face of this nation would be radically different. Millions of people profess to know and to follow God, but when it comes down to believing Him enough to follow His instructions and examples, they deny Him (Titus 1:16).
Although it would be rare to find it officially stated, there is an understated and understood idea in Protestantism that Jesus Christ's death is more important than His life, either before or after His crucifixion. Protestant theologians focus on Christ's death because of what it accomplished—forgiveness of sin and justification. But by taking this one event out of context and allowing it to overshadow both His earthly ministry and His service to us now as High Priest, Mediator, and Intercessor, the result is a great deal of intellectual agreement—and very little true belief.
This disproportion is often revealed in topics such as Christian obligation, works, God's law, and especially the seventh-day Sabbath. Protestant theologians put a dividing line at Christ's death to determine what instructions are still binding. But in doing so, they essentially throw Christ's life and teachings right out of the picture. It matters not a whit to them that Jesus kept the Sabbath (Luke 4:16) and said that it was made on account of mankind (Mark 2:27); Protestants protest that, after His death, there is not a direct command that Christians should keep the Sabbath day.
Never mind that Jesus states that He did not come to destroy the law (Matthew 5:17-19), that He will reject and destroy those who practice lawlessness (Matthew 7:23; 13:41-42), that keeping His commandments is a requirement (though not the means) of entering into life (Matthew 19:17), and that loving God and keeping His commandments are inextricably bound (Matthew 24:12; John 14:15, 21, 23-24; 15:10; I John 5:2-3; II John 6). These and many other teachings are still somehow considered to be "Old Testament." Appeals instead are made to the writings of Paul, as if his word—often misunderstood at that (see II Peter 3:15-16)—somehow trumps the Word.
The practice of putting a line of demarcation at Christ's death essentially invalidates everything He said and did—except dying for our sins. It is as if His example and teaching were only relevant for 3½ years, and now we are saved by Paul. The truth, though, as trite as it sounds, is that true followers of Christ will follow Christ! And they will follow Paul as he followed Christ (I Corinthians 11:1)!
Several times, James states emphatically that faith—belief—without works is dead. A system of belief that does not produce corresponding and fitting behavior has no life in it. Belief produces obedience; disbelief produces disobedience. It is easily seen that anyone who rejects the example and teaching of Jesus Christ disbelieves Him. They are willing to accept His perfect sacrifice but unwilling to accept the life of obedience that follows.
The bottom line is that carnal man believes what he wants to believe, or what he has grown up believing, rather than what God says directly through Jesus or through the inspired writings of His apostles—which do not contradict Him. There is a large measure of fear involved in changing one's ways and submitting to God's Word—fear either of what it may cost the individual or what others may think. This is why Jesus says, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; emphasis ours). It takes personal sacrifice to worship God "in spirit and in truth," and many simply disbelieve the One they claim to follow—and much of the rest Bible—because of what it would cost.
Jesus Christ Kept the Sabbath While He Was on Earth
It is undisputed among Bible scholars that Jesus observed the Sabbath on the seventh day. Even those who believe that the Sabbath should not be kept in the way described by the Ten Commandments understand that Jesus did, in fact, keep it in that way. It might be claimed by those who believe that Sunday is now the correct day for “rest” that He only kept the Sabbath because it was His tradition, because He was a Jew, or because He had not been resurrected yet. Let’s examine what Jesus, the perfect example for mankind, did and said about the Sabbath.
We see that He observed the Sabbath as part of the way He lived His life, both as a young boy and in His ministry. He both observed the Sabbath Himself and preached 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…. Then He went down to Capernaum… and was teaching them on the Sabbaths” (Luke 4:16, 31). Though He observed and preached on the Sabbath, He also taught that the Sabbath was not to be a burden the way the Pharisees wrongly kept it, and He condemned them for the strict, unbiblical prohibitions they had added, which made it a burden.
For example, when the Pharisees condemned Jesus for healing on the Sabbath, He rebuked them and said, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12). When the Pharisees rebuked Him for allowing His disciples to pick a handful of grain on the Sabbath, He condemned the burdensome, unscriptural prohibitions the Pharisees had added—which were never approved by God—and told them that they were missing the whole point of the Sabbath (Mark 2:23–27). He told them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (v. 27). In other words, the Sabbath was made as a gift for mankind, not a burden. Jesus Christ showed and taught how to keep the Sabbath properly. He even called Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (v. 28). Jesus gave no indication of abolishing the Sabbath, but rather set the perfect example of how to keep it—an example His Church followed—and spent part of His ministry on teaching how to keep it correctly.
Does the New Testament Teach Sunday Observance?
Many teach that after Jesus’ resurrection the Church began keeping Sunday, the first day, instead of the seventh-day Sabbath. Does the Bible prove this? There are a total of eight scriptural passages that refer to the “first day of the week.” Let’s take a look at them.
Six of those scriptural passages simply describe what happened the day after Jesus’ was resurrected as the disciples discovered His empty tomb in the early dark hours of the first day of the week (He was in the grave three days and three nights, from early Wednesday evening to the beginning of Saturday evening). None of them speak of a new day of worship being set aside for the Church.
One of those passages, John 20:19, is treated by a few as a “first Sunday observance.” But is it? The verse reads, “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, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’” The meaning here is obvious and explicitly says they “were assembled, for fear of the Jews”—not instantly doing away with one of the very Commandments of God and defying everything Jesus had taught them as “Lord of the Sabbath.” Rather, they were hiding and afraid, because Jesus was not in His tomb and they were being accused of stealing His body (Matthew 28:13–15). This gathering was no more a church or worship service than when they met in the same way on a Monday only eight days later (John 20:26).
And the remaining two passages in no way set the first day of the week apart as the day to rest, worship, and keep holy instead of the seventh day. They are simply descriptions of events.
Acts 20:7–12 is one such reference. Some have claimed that it describes a Sunday worship service—however, if we read carefully, we see that “the disciples came together to break bread” (v. 7). In other words, the purpose of their gathering was to eat a meal together, which is what “to break bread” meant in the first century (e.g., Acts 27:33–35), just as it does today. During and after the meal, Paul spoke to them until midnight. The context reveals that this was after the Sabbath, on Saturday night—by biblical reckoning, the first day of the week—and Paul was going to be leaving first thing in the morning. Many seventh-day Sabbath keepers in the Living Church of God experience this same scenario even today, enjoying dinner together on a Saturday night and continuing their fellowship late into the evening. This was not depicting the first-century Church doing away with the seventh-day Sabbath and keeping Sunday.
The last verse used by many Sunday-keeping churches in an effort to alter the Sabbath command is 1 Corinthians 16:2. The Living Church of God publication Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? contains the following insight:
In 1 Corinthians 16:2, the Apostle Paul requested, “On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.” This is no endorsement at all of Sunday worship. Notice that the practice was meant to stop when Paul came to Corinth! And notice that these verses say nothing about gathering for a weekly worship service to do this collecting. This was not a collection of money, but of food to assist the poor in Jerusalem suffering from drought and famine (cf. Romans 15:25–28). Until Paul’s arrival, each individual was asked to “store up” his contributions—surely in his home. Paul knew that the collection would be bulky enough that it would take several people to transport it to Jerusalem (1 Corinthians 16:4)—not what one would expect if money were collected.
The attempt to use these three verses to support Sunday observance is nothing more than an effort to justify a practice that was instituted by men in the centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, if we honestly examine the Bible’s approximately 170 references to God’s Sabbaths, we can understand His perspective on the subject.
The First-Century Church Observed the Sabbath
The reality is that the book of Acts, the inspired, primary record of the first-century Church, shows clearly that Christ’s followers continued to systematically keep the seventh-day Sabbath—never Sunday. For instance, Acts 13 says that Paul “went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down…. Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand” he began to preach the Gospel to them (vv. 13–16). But notice what happened next. “When the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). So, what did he do? Did he take this perfect opportunity to set the record straight and proclaim that the Church of God now keeps Sunday and they could hear him again the very next day? No. Rather, it is recorded, “On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God” (v. 44).
We see this over and over again. When Paul started the Gentile church at Thessalonica, “as his custom was, [he] went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). Then, in the Greek city of Corinth, “he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Paul, Silas, and Timothy baptized people on the Sabbath day (Acts 16:13–15). Thankfully, we also have some of Paul’s teaching about the Sabbath recorded in Hebrews 4. The record shows that the first-century Church continued to observe and actively teach the seventh-day Sabbath, even to new Gentile, non-Jewish converts.
Sunday Was Ordained by Men to Replace the Sabbath—Not by God
So, why do most Christians today observe Sunday? The primary reason is that it was forced on Christianity by the church at Rome in an effort to accomodate pagan practices and bring more pagans into the fold. The church at Rome believed that if it observed Sunday instead of the “Jewish” Sabbath, more of the pagans who already observed Sunday would be willing to convert to Christianity. History shows that this was done centuries after Jesus and the Apostles died.
Research for this is highlighted in Which Day Is the Christian Sabbath? Here is an excerpt:
Renowned historian Will Durant writes, “The serious temper of the Jewish Sabbath was transferred to the Christian Sunday that replaced it in the second century” (The Story of Civilization, vol. 3, p. 599, 1972).
How did this happen? A Roman Catholic study course tells us that “The [Catholic] Church simply transferred the obligation from Saturday to Sunday” (“Session 19,” Father Smith Instructs Jackson). The Catholic Mirror agrees: “The Catholic Church... by virtue of her Divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday” (September 23, 1893). In fact, the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome publishes a book by Dr. Samuele Bacchiocchi, a non-Catholic scholar, which proves this very fact! Its preface is written by Vincenzo Monachino, chairman of the university’s Church History department. He writes, “We [the Roman Catholic Church] gladly mention the thesis that Bacchiocchi defends regarding the birth-place of Sunday worship: for him this arose most probably not in the primitive Church of Jerusalem, wellknown for its profound attachment to Jewish religious traditions, but rather in the Church of Rome. The abandonment of the Sabbath and the adoption of Sunday as the Lord’s Day, are the result of an interplay of Christian, Jewish and pagan-religious factors” (From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity, pp. 5–6, 1999, emphasis added).
Richard Ames writes the following in “Who Changed the Sabbath to Sunday?,” appearing in the July–August 2020 Tomorrow’s World Magazine:
The first-century Christian Church worshipped on the seventh day of the week, which we now call Saturday. But when Roman Emperor Constantine, a pagan sun-worshipper, enforced his own version of Christianity in his empire, he mandated Sunday worship. He gave the following edict in 321 AD: “Let all magistrates and people of the city… rest on the venerable day of the Sun” (The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, “Roman Legislation for Sunday,” vol. XI, p. 147).
Just a few years later, the Roman church also passed a startling decree in the Council of Laodicea, declaring, “Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honour, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing [keeping the seventh-day Sabbath], they shall be shut out from Christ” (A History of the Councils of the Church, vol. 2, p. 316). In other words, Christian Sabbath-keepers were declared heretics.
In short, the Sabbath commandment was never changed by God, and it is to be kept by His Church. In fact, according to the Bible, the Sabbath is one of the very signs of God’s people.
The Sabbath Is a Sign Between God and His People
God places great value on remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy. He has built it into His perfect “law of liberty” and emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath throughout Scripture. God calls the Sabbath, ordained at creation, a sign of His people.
God says in Exodus 31:13, “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.” He continues in verses 16–17, “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.”
But that is not the only place where He calls the Sabbath a sign. Through the prophet Ezekiel, God says, “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them…. ‘I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 19–20).
These promises were not limited to the people of Israel. God extends the same blessing of recognition to Gentiles and those excluded from Israel when they “keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me” (Isaiah 56:1–8).
The Sabbath was observed by the Church that Jesus began in the first century, and while many have made attempts to change it or abolish it (Daniel 7:25), the Church of God has continued and will continue to observe it, even in the face of persecution. The Sabbath day was set apart as holy at creation (Genesis 2:1–3). Its observance is commanded as one of the Ten Commandments. It was observed by Jesus, His apostles, and the Church of God found in Scripture. And we see from the above passages in Exodus and Ezekiel that it is the seventh-day Sabbath, not Sunday, that sets God’s people apart.
The commanded biblical festivals are:
The Passover (v. 5)
The Days of Unleavened Bread (vv. 6–8)
The Feast of Weeks, called the Day of Pentecost in the New Testament (vv. 15–22)
The Feast of Trumpets (vv. 23–25)
The Day of Atonement (vv. 26–32)
The Feast of Tabernacles (vv. 33–39)
The Eighth Day Feast, called the Last Great Day in the New Testament (v. 39)
But these days weren’t only to be kept by ancient Israel or the Jews—all of God’s people throughout history were to keep them. He states in Leviticus 23:21, “It shall be a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.” These days are to be observed by all who worship the true God. That is why Jesus Christ observed them.
Jesus Christ and the Early Church Observed the Seven Annual Holy Days
It is not disputed among those who know their Bible that Jesus kept the biblical Festivals described in Leviticus. The record shows that He kept these days from an early age. “His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast” (Luke 2:41–42). Of course, He not only observed the Passover with His family in His youth; He continued to keep it until His death, even teaching His disciples to observe it with new symbols (John 13:1–7; Luke 22:14–23). It is also recorded that they observed the Days of Unleavened Bread (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:1, 12; Luke 22:1, 7), the Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:1–24), and the Last Great Day (John 7:37–39). But observance of these Feasts did not stop when Jesus died.
Act 2 records the first Day of Pentecost after Jesus died. Here we see Peter, after receiving the Holy Spirit, giving a message on the meaning of that day (Acts 2:1–39), causing many to come to repentance, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit. While this was only a few weeks after Jesus died, we also see that Paul was still talking about and observing Pentecost—even among Gentile congregations—more than 25 years later (Acts 20:16; 1 Corinthians 16:8). We see a reference to the Day of Atonement (Acts 27:9). Finally, we read Paul’s words in Acts 18:21, “I must by all means keep this coming feast in Jerusalem….” The biblical record is clear: The biblical Feasts were still kept by the Church of God well after Jesus died and were an active part of the Church’s culture, for both Jews and Gentiles.
It is also revealing that the Bible shows that the Holy Days will be observed during the future millennial reign of Jesus Christ. “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up… they shall have no rain…. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles” (Zechariah 14:16–19).
It is clear that the Bible shows that these days are to be kept—but what do they mean?
The Holy Days Reveal God’s Incredible Plan for Mankind
While these days were kept by ancient Israel and the Jews, for millennia their meaning was not fully revealed until Jesus Christ Himself preached on these days and the Holy Spirit was given to those in His Church on the Day of Pentecost in 31 AD. Here is a very brief overview of the meaning of each of these Festivals and some associated passages, of which Jesus Christ is the focal point. Together, they illustrate, in order, the steps in God’s plan of salvation for humanity.
The Days of Unleavened Bread point to removing sin and pride from our lives and taking on the obedience and mind of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 5:6–8; John 6:4, 31–58).
The Day of Pentecost points to the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Church of God (Acts 2).
The Feast of Trumpets points to the Day of the Lord described in the book of Revelation—the year preceding the return of Jesus Christ, during which the seventh seal will be opened and the seven trumpets of God will be blown (Revelation 6:17; 8:1–13; 9:1–21; 11:15; Isaiah 34:8; 63:4).
The Day of Atonement points to the day when Satan the devil will be imprisoned for 1,000 years and no longer able to influence mankind (Leviticus 16:6–10, 21–26; Revelation 20:1–3).
The Last Great Day pictures the Great White Throne Judgment that will occur after the Millennium, when all of those who have ever lived and died without knowing the truth will be given their first genuine opportunity to know Him and practice His way of life (John 7:37–39; Revelation 20:11–13; Matthew 11:21–24; 12:41–42).
The above passages are just a small handful of many, many more that expound in incredible detail the meaning of these days. God not only provided His word to mankind; He also provided these annual Festivals, which are meant to remind His Church, each and every year, of His plan—the big picture from His perspective.
The Record and Meaning of Traditional Holidays
Simply put, most of the traditional holidays we’re familiar with, such Christmas, Lent, and Easter, are not in the Bible. These holidays can’t be found in the Bible (besides one mistranslation in the King James Version using the word “Easter,” which scholars recognize should have been “Passover” as shown in other translations). Additionally, it is not a secret that these days have never been rooted in Scripture. Rather, they are rooted in pagan customs and the worship of pagan gods. You can prove this with your Bible, and our publications Is Christmas Christian? and Easter: The Untold Story can help with that.
Professing Christians began keeping these holidays instead of God’s Holy Days because they were instituted by the Roman church, often hundreds of years after Jesus established His Church. This was done in an effort to make it easier for pagan worshipers to “come into the fold,” since it did not require them to change their ways of worship—only the name of the god. In other words, God’s form of worship was abolished, while pagan worship was adopted and called “Christian.”
The meanings of the traditional holidays are deceptive. They do sound good, because they claim to be about our Savior. It is claimed that Christmas is about His birth and Easter is about His resurrection. However, the reality is that these ancient days of worship were originally designated for the sun god, in the case of Christmas, and the ancient fertility goddess called Ishtar, in the case of Easter. Any apparent “Christian” meaning exists only because the leaders of the Roman church attached the name of Jesus Christ to these pagan days, long after the record given in the book of Acts.
What Does This Mean for the Church of God?
Many ministers and churches will argue that holidays originating in paganism are okay “because now we do it to worship Jesus.” They can believe that—but we’ll believe the warning God gave to His people when they came out of Egypt and were about to take over the Promised Land: “Do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way…. Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it: you shall not add to it nor take away from it” (Deuteronomy 12:30–32). Later, the prophet Jeremiah warned, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not learn the way of the Gentile’” (Jeremiah 10:2). Additionally, Jesus said, “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:6-8). The true Church of God, founded by Jesus Christ, has continued and will continue to obey the God of Heaven and worship Him the way He prescribed, as is recorded in the book of Acts and the entire New Testament.
In fact, as we learned in the article about the Sabbath, both the weekly Sabbath and the annual Holy Days are a sign between God and His people. “I also gave them My Sabbaths [plural], to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them… hallow My Sabbaths [plural], and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God” (Ezekiel 20:12, 20). In other words, observance of the weekly Sabbath and annual Holy Days is one of the signs of God’s true Church, which genuinely seeks to obey Him.
8. But wasn’t the Sabbath changed to Sunday?
Answer: No. There is no suggestion anywhere in the Scriptures that Jesus, His Father, or the apostles ever—at any time, under any circumstance—changed the holy seventh-day Sabbath to any other day. Indeed, the Bible teaches the opposite. Consider the evidence for yourself:
A. God blessed the Sabbath.
"The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:11).
"God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:3).
B. Christ expected His people to be still keeping the Sabbath in A.D. 70 when Jerusalem was destroyed.
Knowing full well that Jerusalem would be destroyed by Rome in A.D. 70, Jesus warned His followers of that time, saying, "But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." (Matthew 24:20, emphasis added). Jesus made it clear that His people would be keeping the Sabbath even 40 years after His resurrection.
C. The women who came to anoint Christ’s dead body kept the Sabbath. " (Mark 15:37, 42), which is now called Good Friday.
Jesus died on "the day before the Sabbath" (Mark 15:37, 42), which is often called "Good Friday." The women prepared spices and ointments to anoint His body, then "rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment" (Luke 23:56). Only "when the Sabbath was past" (Mark 16:1) did the women come "on the first day of the week" (Mark 16:2) to continue their sad work. They then found Jesus "rose early on the first day of the week" (verse 9), commonly called "Easter Sunday." Please note that the Sabbath "according to the commandment" was the day preceding Easter Sunday, which we now call Saturday.
D. Luke, the author of Acts, doesn’t refer to any change of the day of worship.
There’s no biblical record of a change. In the book of Acts, Luke says that he wrote his Gospel (the book of Luke) about "all" of Jesus’ teachings (Acts 1:1–3). But he never wrote about a change of the Sabbath.
9. Some people say the Sabbath will be kept in God’s new earth. Is this correct?
Everybody in God's eternal kingdom will keep the Sabbath holy.
" ‘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" (Isaiah 66:22, 23).
Answer: Yes. The Bible says the saved people of all ages will keep the Sabbath in the new earth.
10. But isn’t Sunday the Lord’s Day?
"Call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord" (Isaiah 58:13).
"The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8).
Answer: The Bible speaks of the "Lord’s Day" in Revelation 1:10, so the Lord does have a special day. But no verse of Scripture refers to Sunday as the Lord’s Day. Rather, the Bible plainly identifies the seventh-day Sabbath as the Lord’s Day. The only day the Lord has ever blessed and claimed as His own is the seventh-day Sabbath.
11. Shouldn’t we keep Sunday holy in honor of Christ’s resurrection?
Jesus instituted baptism--not Sunday keeping--in honor of His resurrection.
"Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Romans 6:3–6).
Answer: No! The Bible never suggests keeping Sunday holy in honor of the resurrection or for any other reason. We honor Christ by obeying His direct commandments (John 14:15)—not by substituting man-made traditions in place of His eternal law.
12. Well, if Sunday-keeping isn’t in the Bible, whose idea was it?
"He … shall intend to change times and law" (Daniel 7:25). "You have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. … And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:6, 9). "Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things. … Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar … saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord had not spoken" (Ezekiel 22:26, 28).
Answer: About 300 years after Jesus’ resurrection, partly because of hatred against the Jews, misguided men suggested that God’s holy day of worship be changed from Saturday to Sunday. God predicted it would happen, and it did. This error was passed on to our unsuspecting generation as fact. However, Sunday-keeping is a tradition of mere men and breaks God’s law, which commands Sabbath-keeping. Only God can make a day holy. God blessed the Sabbath, and when God blesses, no man can "reverse it" (Numbers 23:20).
13. But isn’t it dangerous to tamper with God’s law?
"You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you" (Deuteronomy 4:2). "Every word of God is pure. … Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar" (Proverbs 30:5, 6).
Answer: God has forbidden people to change His law, either by deletions or additions. Tampering with God’s law is one of the most dangerous things a person can do, because God’s law is perfect and is designed to protect us from evil.
14. Why did God make the Sabbath anyway?
A. Sign of Creation.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. … 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).
B. Sign of redemption and sanctification.
"I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them" (Ezekiel 20:12).
Answer: God gave the Sabbath as a twofold sign: (1) It is a sign that He created the world in six literal days, and (2) it is also a sign of God’s mighty power to redeem and sanctify people. It is a natural response for the Christian to love the seventh-day Sabbath as God’s precious sign of Creation and redemption (Exodus 31:13, 16, 17; Ezekiel 20:20). It is very disrespectful to trample upon God’s Sabbath. In Isaiah 58:13, 14, God says all who would be blessed must get their feet off His holy day.
15. How important is keeping the Sabbath holy?
"Sin is lawlessness [transgression of the law]" (1 John 3:4).
"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
"Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all" (James 2:10).
"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21).
"He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him" (Hebrews 5:9).
Answer: It is a matter of life and death. The Sabbath is protected and upheld by the fourth commandment of God’s law. The deliberate breaking of any one of the Ten Commandments is sin. Christians will gladly follow Christ’s example of Sabbath keeping.
16. How does God feel about religious leaders ignoring the Sabbath?
"Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy … and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. … Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them" (Ezekiel 22:26, 31).
Answer: While there are some religious leaders who keep Sunday sacred because they don’t know any better, those who deliberately do so profane what God has called holy. In hiding their eyes from God’s true Sabbath, many religious leaders have caused others to profane it. Millions have been misled on this matter. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for pretending to love God while making void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition (Mark 7:7–13).
17. Does Sabbath keeping really affect people personally?
"If you love Me, keep My commandments" (John 14:15).
"To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
"He [Jesus] said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath’ " (Mark 2:27).
Answer: Yes! The Sabbath is a gift from God, who made it for you as a respite from the world! It’s natural that the people who love Him would want to keep His Sabbath commandment. Indeed, love without commandment-keeping is really not love at all (1 John 2:4). It’s a decision we all must make, and we cannot avoid it. The good news is that choosing to keep the Sabbath will bless you profoundly!
On the Sabbath, you can feel free to cease—guilt-free!—your regular daily activities, such as work and shopping, and, instead, spend time with the Creator of the universe. Worshiping God with other believers, spending time with family, walking in nature, reading spiritually uplifting materials, and even visiting and encouraging the sick are all good ways to keep the Sabbath holy. After the stress of six days of work, God has given you the gift of the Sabbath to rest from your labors and to feed your soul. You can trust that He knows what’s best for you!
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