SABBATH KEEPING

Exodus 20:8 to 11 reads, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." (NKJV)

Should we be keeping a weekly Sabbath? The debate has raged for years and has a variety of interpretations. One camp is the Sabbatarians or Sabbath Keepers. These include groups in many denominations who strictly observe a time of little or no work and their time of corporate worship from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday. Another camp believes that for Christians Sunday should be treated as the Sabbath. This idea has no particular adherents, but there are some areas where this is even officially mandated. Some communities restrict local businesses from operating on Sunday. This included service stations, convenience stores, grocery stores, and other retailers. However, in some of these communities special allowances have been made for major national chains such as Wal-Mart, McDonalds, etc. A third group says the Sabbath died with the Old Testament or Levitical Law. Saturday or Sunday are treated as no different from the other 5 days. What then should be our attitude toward the Sabbath.

Sabbath is defined as, "to rest from labor, a day of rest'. It is a time where no work should be planned. Its a time to rest and recharge. We see the first reference to Sabbath in Genesis 2:3 and 3. These verse read, " And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (NKJV). God set apart the seventh day as something significant and special. There are other command passages in the Old testament concerning the seventh day. Exodus 16:21 to 23 says, "So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, "This is what the Lord has said: `Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.' '' The seventh day was to be a day of rest, and God made provision for Israel by giving them a double portion of manna on the sixth day. Later in the same chapter it is revealed that God is trying to teach His children to discipline themselves. The fourth commandment list in Exodus 20 calls for a cessation of work on the seventh day. It is sanctified, set apart by God. Other OT reference build on these commands.

In the New Testament most references were confrontations over Sabbath Keeping. Matthew 12:9 to 14 is one such confrontation. These verses read, "Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'' that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then 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.'' And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and took counsel against Him, how they might destroy Him." (NKJV) Jesus is responding to how far afield the Jews had gotten in observing the law. They had interpreted and manipulated the law. For instance, they had a Sabbath Days Journey which was approximately 2000 paces. It was unlawful to travel any further than that on the Sabbath. To accommodate longer trips shelters were set up where the traveler could stop briefly and then go another 2000 paces. The Jews also said it was unlawful to wear sandals that had been tacked together with nails, but you could wear ones that had been sewn together. Carrying the weight of the tacks constituted work. Jesus was urging a return to the Spirit of the Sabbath Law; a day of planned rest, a day of planned holiness, but not so strict as to prevent meeting needs and showing kindness.

What then is the purpose of a Sabbath? It has a practical purpose; God knows His creation (Man) has limitations. On the maiden voyage of the Titanic, one of its designers was on board. When the accident occurred, he knew how much his ship could withstand, and recognized that the damages exceeded the design limits. With this fourth commandment God is making provision for the limitations His creation has - Man needs rest. there is a Spiritual purpose for the Sabbath. God desires a close intimate relationship with His creation (man). In the Garden God came to spend time with Adam and Eve in a sweet communion. With the Sabbath God is making provision for man to have a time of unobstructed communion with him once again.

How does this apply to us? Should we return to observing a Saturday Sabbath? Should we recognize Sunday as our sabbath and honor it as the law describes? Let's consider the3e New Testament evidence.

Is the Lord's Day, Sunday, the First Day, the NT equivalent to the OT Sabbath? Remember, the Sabbath had been perverted by the legalism of the Jewish leaders' interpretations. Galatians 4: 9 and 01 read, "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years." (NKJV). Paul is condemning the legalism with which the Sabbath had been subjected. Colossi ans 2:16 and 17 read, "Therefore let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." (NKJV). Here Paul is telling us Sabbath Keeping, as well as other legalistic acts, was not to be used as a basis for judging any individuals righteousness. No where in Scripture is the Lord's day (Sunday) referred to as the Sabbath and for good reason. When it comes to significance and impact, the Lord's day blows the sabbath out of the water.

The Lord's Day is significant due to the fact that Christ arose on the first day. His resurrection is the key to our own resurrection. I Corinthians 15:20 to 23 read, "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming." (NKJV). But even with its significance, there is no command to observe the Lord's Day as the Sabbath. However, there is evidence that it was set aside as a special day, but it was so as a matter of willingness rather than obedience. Acts 20:6 and 7 say, "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. 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." (NKJV). This simply an account of the believers meeting on the first day, but it is in no way a command to do so. I Corinthians 16: 2 says, " 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." (NKJV). Paul is recognizing and using a day that the people were already using for their meetings. Again, in no way is it a command. Hebrews 10:24 and 25 say, "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (NKJV). Here there is no specific day mentioned at all.

How does this effect us? There is no law, of God or man, that says we have to meet on Sunday. But we are encouraged to fellowship with one another, and for most the day we choose that is Sunday. we also need to take into account the practical nature of the Sabbath. We need a time of rest, as our creator made provision for.

Dr. O