Remembering the Sabbath

Wednesday Evening Bible Study

Jim Davis

Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (NIV)

The Sabbath was a special day of rest. It was a day of rest for man and beast.

We are created such that we need rest and relaxation. This is as important as work. God's will is that there will be a period of rest set aside in our life when we are not to work, but we are to spend that time resting and worshipping.

Deuteronomy 5:14
But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. (NIV)

The Sabbath was a special time to memorialize God's deliverance. The Sabbath involved remembering how God brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. It was a time devoted to meditating upon what God had done and was doing for them.

Deuteronomy 5:15
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. (NIV)

The Sabbath was a special time to memorialize God's creative work.

Exodus 20:11
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (NIV)

The Sabbath was a special sign to Israel.

Exodus 31:16-17
The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.'" (NIV)

The fourth command also included the command to work. When God created man to till the Garden of Eden, it was his way of saying that he created us for a purpose--He created us for work. This part of this command is often overlooked. God is at work in our world working out his purposes. He expects us to accept our purpose in life so that we might be called according to his purpose.

Deuteronomy 5:13-15
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. (NIV)

Seriousness of Keeping the Sabbath

The Jews were to take the Sabbath seriously.

Exodus 35:3
Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day." (NIV)

Num 15:30-36
"'But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or alien, blasphemes the LORD, and that person must be cut off from his people. Because he has despised the LORD's word and broken his commands, that person must surely be cut off; his guilt remains on him.'" While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp." So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses. (NIV)

Observance of the Sabbath was slow in coming. Although, by the time Jesus was born the Sabbath was kept with a vengeance.

Exodus 16:22-30
On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much-- two omers for each person-- and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'" So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any." Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out." So the people rested on the seventh day. (NIV)

Nehemiah 13:14-22
Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services. In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this wicked thing you are doing-- desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath." When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. But I warned them and said, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. (NIV)

The Law permitted necessary work on the Sabbath.

Matthew 12:1-14
At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath." He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread-- which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus. (NIV)

God doesn't make arbitrary laws that disregard human need. Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27 NIV) By the time Jesus was born, Jewish legalism had turned the Sabbath into a harsh and hateful ritual. They made it a burden and its observance an object of ridicule. God intended the Sabbath as a blessing. It wasn't designed to totally disregard the needs of man or beast.

Sunday vs. Sabbath

Christians worship on the first day of the week and not the Sabbath.

Exodus 34:21-22
"Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest. "Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. (NIV)

The Feast of Weeks we read about here is the feast of Pentecost that we read of in Acts 2:1. The feast was celebrated at the end of our month of May. It was when the harvesting of the wheat was celebrated. The word Pentecost means fiftieth; it was celebrated fifty days after the Passover. It was the equivalent of seven weeks after the Passover, which places Pentecost on what we know as Sunday. Sunday is the day that Christ was raised from the dead and it was the day Christians were first added to the church (Acts 2:47).

Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week and he met with his disciples after his resurrection on the first day of the week.

John 20:19
On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (NIV)

John 20:26
A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (NIV)

Revelation 1:10
On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, (NIV)

After Pentecost Christians met regularly on the first day of the week.

Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. (NIV)

1 Corinthians 16:1-3
Now about the collection for God's people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem. (NIV)

As we consider all these verses, we realize that Christians in Jerusalem, Troas, Galatia and the city of Corinth were coming together upon the first day of the weak to break bread -- that is to observe the Lord's Supper.

There is no indication that the laws of the Sabbath governed the first day of the week. Our behavior on Sunday is not be governed by Old Testament Law. However, Sunday is a day of public worship. It is a day when Christians come together in fellowship and worship.

Romans 10:4
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes. (NIV)

We do find the apostles seeking the Jews out in their synagogues for the purpose of teaching them about Christ. However, we find them worshipping with Christians on the first day of the week.

Acts 13:14-15
From Perga they went on to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down. After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them, saying, "Brothers, if you have a message of encouragement for the people, please speak." (NIV)

Acts 13:42-44
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. (NIV)

Acts 16:13
On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. (NIV)

Acts 17:1-3
When they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. (NIV)

Acts 18:4
Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. (NIV)

A Timeless Principle Revealed

The Sabbath commandment has no New Testament equivalent, but the underlying principle for the Sabbath is timeless. The first commandment teaches us to put God first. The second commandment warns against false images of God. The third commandment teaches us to use God's name in high and holy ways. The fourth commandment set aside time to reflect upon God and what He had done for Israel. Without proper reflection upon God and his ways, the first three commandments would be impossible to keep.

This timeless principle is a real part of worshipping God on the first day of the week. It is an essential prerequisite to putting God first.