The Bible Sabbath of Jesus Christ
Ten Reasons Why the Sabbath is not Jewish
1) Adam and Eve were not Jewish.
“God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” Genesis 2:3. This was “pre-sin.” “Sanctified” means “to be set apart for holy use.” The only ones in Eden to “sanctify” the Sabbath were Adam and Eve, who were not Jewish.
2) “The Sabbath was made for man.” Mark 2:27.
Jesus said this. It was “made” in the garden of Eden before it was “written” on Mount Sinai. The Sabbath was “made” for “man,” not “just for the Jews.”
3) The other Nine are not “Just for the Jews.”
God wrote “Ten Commandments” on stone, not just nine. Deuteronomy 10:1-5. Does adultery, murder, stealing and lying apply “only to Jews”?
4) “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.”
Exodus 20:10. God calls it, “my holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. The Bible never calls it “the Sabbath of the Jews.” It is not their Sabbath. It is God's.
5) The Sabbath Commandment is for the “Stranger” too.
The Fourth Commandment itself says the “stranger” is to rest on the Sabbath. Exodus 20:10. Strangers are Gentiles. Read Isaiah 56:6.
6) Isaiah said Gentiles should keep the Sabbath.
“Also the sons of the stranger ... every one that keepeth the Sabbath ... for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.” Isaiah 56:6-7.
7) “All” mankind will keep the Sabbath in the New Earth.
In “the new earth ... from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22-23. Why not start now?
8) Gentiles kept the Sabbath in the Book of Acts.
“The Gentiles besought that these words be preached to them the next sabbath ... Paul and Barnabas ... persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.” Acts 13:42-43. Here “grace saved” Gentiles kept the Sabbath.
9) “The whole law” is for “all the world,” not just Jews.
James and Paul wrote these words. Read Romans 3:19; James 2:10-11.
10) Luke was a Gentile who kept the Sabbath.
Luke was the only Gentile writer in the New Testament. He travelled with Paul and wrote, “On the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side.” Acts 16:13. It was the Creation Sabbath. Both Luke and Paul knew it.
Can We Know What Day is the Sabbath?
1) “The seventh day is the Sabbath” Exodus 20:10
2) Jesus Christ Knew Jesus “went into the synagogue on the sabbath day.” Luke 4:16.
3) Ask any Jew Jews have been keeping the same Sabbath on Saturday for over 3000 years.
4) The Calendar The calendar was changed once, in 1582, from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian. Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday, October 15. No change has ever affected the weekly sequence. Most calendars show Saturday as the seventh day.
5) 105 Languages In over 100 languages the name for the seventh day, or Saturday, is “the Sabbath.” For example, Saturday in Spanish is “Sabado.” In Italy, “Sabbato.” In Russia, “Subbota.” In Poland, “Sobota.” Etc.
6) Webster's Dictionary “Saturday: the 7th day of the week.” “Sunday: the first day of the week.”
7) The World Book Encyclopedia “Sabbath ... It comes on Saturday, the seventh day of the week.”
8) The Biblical Sequence of the Crucifixion Weekend Jesus died on “Good Friday,” the day before the Sabbath. Luke 23:46, 54. When the sun went down, the woman rested on “the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. Jesus rose on what is called “Easter Sunday,” the “first day of the week.” Luke 24:1, 6.
Would God say “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” if it was impossible to find out what day to remember?
The Sabbath Issue in the New Testament
During the Ministry of Jesus Christ
The Sabbath was a big issue during the ministry of Jesus. The issue was not what day is the Sabbath, but rather how to keep the Sabbath. The Pharisees invented many burdensome traditions about the Sabbath which did not come from God. Jesus often rebuked them for laying these traditions on men's shoulders.” Matthew 23:4. They were continually “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9. Let's not be like them.
The Pharisees became very angry with Jesus because He did not keep the Sabbath their way. They made up a rule, “No healing on the Sabbath.” Jesus ignored their “rule.” One day, “the ruler of the synagogue” challenged Christ “because that Jesus healed on the sabbath day.” Luke 13:14. Jesus countered, “Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?” Luke 13:16. In His many Sabbath healings (John 5:1-9; Mark 1:21-27; etc.), Jesus Christ revealed His Divinity and His power over Satan For this very reason, the Jews plotted His death. “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” John 5:18. Jesus never “broke the sabbath” (see John 15:10), and He is 'equal with God.”
The Pharisees accused Jesus and His disciples of doing “that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath day.” Matthew 12:1. But Jesus said they were “guiltless,” having only done that which was “lawful ... on the sabbath.” Matthew 12:7, 12. Christ declared, “The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath day.” Mark 2:27-28. Here Jesus pointed back to the Creation. Man was made on the sixth day, and “the sabbath was made” on the seventh day to be a blessing to man. Genesis 1:27, 31; 2:1-3. Those Pharisees; had changed the order by putting the Sabbath first above the needs of man! (Is it right to change the order again by making the “first day of the week” a new Sabbath?) Jesus is “Lord also of the sabbath day.” He made the world. He “made” the Sabbath. It is “the Lord's Day.” Revelation 1:10. He knows how to keep it. It was not wrong for Him to meet needs on His Holy Day.
In the New Testament Church
The Sabbath was not an issue at all in the New Testament Church. There was no controversy over it in the book of Acts or in any of the epistles. If the Sabbath had been changed or abolished, there would have been much discussion about this by the New Testament Church. But there was none. The early church kept the Sabbath. Acts 13:12, 42-44; 16:13; etc. See “Sabbath Facts in the Book of Acts”.
How to Keep the Sabbath Holy
1) The Sabbath is a Special Day to Focus on Jesus Christ.
John was “in the spirit on the Lord's day.” Revelation 1:10. Jesus is “Lord even of the sabbath day.” Matthew 12:8. “The seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord.” Exodus 20:10. God calls it “my holy day.” Isaiah 58:13. The Sabbath .was made for man” when “God ... created all things by Jesus Christ.” Mark 2:27; Ephesians 3:9 (KJV). Jesus made the world in six days and “rested on the seventh day.” See Genesis 1; 2:2; Colossians 1:16. Thus the Sabbath is a special day to focus on the Jesus Christ as the Creator and Sustainer of all life. It is a day to come apart from the normal stresses and cares of everyday living, to be refreshed and blessed by the great Creator who loves and died for us.
2) “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.” Exodus 20:8-10.
This is the Fourth Commandment. We are to work at our normal jobs during the six working days, but from sundown Friday night until sundown Saturday night, we should “not do any work.” Late Friday afternoon, after Jesus died, “the sabbath drew on.” Luke 23:54. Then Christ's followers “rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.” Luke 23:56. Secular business should be laid aside. Shopping, laundry, homework, and housecleaning should be done during the six working days. The Bible also calls buying and selling on the Sabbath an “evil thing.” Nehemiah 13:15-22.
The Lord says, “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath [from walking on it], from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ... for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.” Isaiah 58:13-14. The Pharisees made the Sabbath a burden, but Jesus wants us to “call the sabbath a delight,” and to “delight” ourselves in Him. Sabbath-keeping is something we “grow into” as Jesus teaches us how to “keep it holy.”
3) Friday is “the preparation day.” Luke 23:54.
The “preparation day” is a good day for dusting, ironing and housecleaning. When the sun sets our minds should be free from care to focus on Jesus. In the wilderness, the Lord instructed Israel to “bake what you bake” on the day before the Sabbath. Exodus 16:23-29. Paul specifically said the history of Israel in the wilderness is “an example” for us “upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Corinthians 10:6, 11. If a special meal is planned for the Sabbath, it would be good to do as much of the cooking as possible on Friday.
4) Jesus was in “the synagogue on the sabbath day.” Luke 4:16.
Jesus worshiped with the people of God every Sabbath. Luke 4:16, 31-32. We should not “forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is.” Hebrews 10:25. In “the new earth ... from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isaiah 66:22-23. We all need the blessing of “fellowship” with other believers who love Jesus and want to keep His commandments. Exodus 20:6; John 14:15; 1 John 1:7.
5) Jesus said, “it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.” Matthew 12:12.
Jesus healed and helped many people on the Sabbath. See Mark 1:21-27; Matthew 12:10-13; Luke 13:10-17. The Sabbath is a good day to visit the sick, help someone in need, etc. Thus we can follow the example of Jesus.
6) “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth ... and rested on the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:11.
The Sabbath is a wonderful day to enjoy the beautiful things of nature. Take the children for a walk in the park. Relax under a tree. Read the Bible by a stream or lake. Enjoy special fellowship with the One would said, “Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.” Ezekiel 20:12. The Sabbath reveals the glorious truth that the One who created our entire world in six days, and rested on the seventh, is also able to re-create our hearts back into His own image. See Genesis 1:26; Psalms 51:10; Ephesians 4:21-24.
7) What if I have to work on the Sabbath?
Kindly approach your employer and say, “I can no longer work on the Sabbath. How can we work around this?” Tens of thousands have done this. Most employers will accommodate firm religious convictions. Even if you lose your job, God will help you find another one. Study Daniel 3. God blessed the three Hebrews who refused to break the Second Commandment. At the end of the chapter, they were promoted. If you stand up for Jesus, He will stand up for you. If you are the only member in your family who wants to keep the Sabbath, don't push it on them. Jesus will guide and help you step by step if you look to Him for direction and strength. See Psalms 29:11.
“Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city ... the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.” Revelation 22:14, 21 (KJV).
