The Doctrine of Sabbath

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This is taken directly from Genesis 25 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

The Doctrine of the Sabbath Day

1.The fourth commandment reads: (God is speaking to His people) “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 your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, 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 on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Ex. 20:8–11; ESV)

2.The Sabbath is Saturday, the 7^th day of the week. Although there were several Sabbath’s in the Law of Moses, this is the only one that God instituted a commandment for.

3.The Sabbath is not to be confused with Sunday, which is the first day of the week. Matt. 28:1 John 20:1 Acts 20:7

4.The Sabbath for the Jews commemorates creation. God created all things necessary for human life in 6 days, and then He rested on the 7^th. God did not rest because He was tired; He rested because He was finished. At that time, God blessed the 7^th day and set it apart from the other days (Gen. 2:1–3). In this way, the 7^th day represents a recognition and an appreciation for what God has done for us.

5.There is no clear observation of the Sabbath day prior to the establishment of the Mosaic Law. All we are told is, God set this day apart and sanctified it.

6.Some try to trace observance of the Sabbath back to Babylonia, because the word occurs in some Babylonian inscriptions; however it was not a seventh day observance (the Babylonians had a 5 day week); and it did not refer to a day of rest.

7.God did not stop work on the 7^th day because He was tired. He did not get up at 5 am on the 8^th day, make Himself a pot of coffee, and then go back to work on the earth and the universe. He was done on day 6; there was nothing left for Him to do (until man sinned).

8.Although the sanctifying of the 7^th day is mentioned early on, legal requirements concerning this day did not occur until Ex. 16:26, where God provided manna for the children of Israel. They were to gather manna 6 days a week, but on the 6^th, gather up a double portion to cover them for the 7^th day, when they were not supposed to go searching for manna. This is the first passage where we have the word for Sabbath (our word is a transliteration from the Hebrew word). Ex. 16:22–30

9.This was codified in the Ten Commandments, as quoted above.

10.The Sabbath was seen as a specific sign between the Jews and God. Ex. 31:12–17

11.However, even though the Sabbath day was not codified until perhaps 2000 years after creation, the 7-day week is nearly universal. There are so many reasons to prefer a 6-day or an 8-day week (or even 9-day or 10-day week). But men throughout the world mostly kept to a 7-day week. The reason for the 7-day week is the creation and restoration of the earth. People who do not believe in the Bible have decided that there are 5 visible planets, + the sun + the moon, so that makes 7, and so ancient man decided on a 7-day week for that reason. Interestingly enough, even though there are a variety of civilizations have had a week of 4–10 days, these pretty much stand out as the exceptions. The Soviets had a 7-day week, then changed it to a 5-day week (1929) and later to a 6-day week (1931); and then eventually returned to the 7-day week (1940). Although my source for this did not mention religious (or anti-religious) precepts as being the reason for these changes, I suspect that was at the heart of their thinking.

12.Keeping the Sabbath was a Law from the Ten Commandments; but it is not applicable to Christians in the Church Age. The legalistic Jews had distorted the Sabbath and had developed hundreds of regulations concerning the Sabbath. What I recall from my Jewish history course is, if you were walking along the street on the Sabbath, and a coach went by you and splashed mud on your outfit, then you were allowed to wait for the mud to dry, and then take it in your fist and squeeze it one time in order to remove the dried mud on the Sabbath. Col. 2:16

13.The Sabbath day was provided for man to lay aside the burden of his daily work and to be able to enjoy a day of worship and a day of rest. This was distorted by the rabbis over the years to an onerous burden of regulation following. Jesus called this a heavy burden.

14.The idea behind the Sabbath is grace. God has provided all that we need in 6 days; and we celebrate this and His provision by resting on the 7^th day. The Jewish religious hierarchy transformed this into legalism.

15.The rest for all people is to enter into the rest offered by Jesus, to believe in Him and take His offer of rest. Matt. 11:28–29 John 6:37 7:37

16.There is a passage in Hebrews which is misapplied by Sabbath-keeping Christians.

Heb. 4:1 Therefore, let us fear lest perhaps a promise having been left to enter into His rest, that any of you may seem to come short.

There are three rests which a person can enter into. (1) A person can believe in Jesus, entering into the rest of salvation. (2) The believer can enter into faith-rest, where they claim promises and principles of grace in time. (3) In death, the believer enters into an eternal rest.

Heb. 4:2 For, indeed, we have had the gospel preached to us, even as they also; but the Word did not profit those hearing it, not having been mixed with faith in the ones who heard.

The key is hearing the word of truth and then believing it. There are those who have heard the word of truth, but did not mix that truth with faith. Academic knowledge about the Bible is not enough.

Heb. 4:3 For we, the ones believing, enter into the rest, even as He said, "As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest," though the works had come into being from the foundation of the world. LXX-Psalm 94:11; MT-Psalm 95:11

The Exodus generation (specifically, Gen X) heard the words of truth, and yet rejected them time and time again, so that they never entered into the rest God had promised them. Although the Exodus generation believed in the Revealed Lord, they did not enter into the life of faith-rest after their salvation.

Heb. 4:4 For He has spoken somewhere about the seventh day this way, "And God rested from all His works in the seventh day." Gen. 2:2

For salvation, we are to enter into a rest analogous to the rest which God entered into. We stop all of our striving and believe in Him Who died for us. We rest from our own works, because salvation is not based upon our works.

Heb. 4:5 And in this again, "They shall not enter into My rest." MT-Psalm 95:11

Although Gen X did believe in the Revealed Lord, they did not exercise faith in God’s direction for them after that. Because they did not exercise faith in God’s leading, they did not enter into His rest (which would have been illustrated by entering into the Land of Promise).

Heb. 4:6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter into it [the rest], and those who formerly had the gospel preached did not enter in on account of disobedience,

Some have had the gospel (good news) proclaimed to them, but they did not obey the mandate (believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved).

Heb. 4:7 He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today (after so long a time, according as He has said), "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." MT-Psalm 95:7, 8

When you hear the word of truth, do not reject it. Do not harden your hearts against the truth.

When it comes to faith in the truth, this is, for the unbeliever, salvation; and for the believer, the spiritual life.

Heb. 4:8 For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day.

Joshua brought the people into the land, but this is not the final rest. Entering into the Land of Promise was illustrative of the rest provided by God.

Heb. 4:9 So, then, there remains a sabbath rest to the people of God.

There is a sabbath rest for believers in the Church Age. That is, there is both faith-rest after salvation and the eternal rest at the end of life. Salvation is not the be-all, end-all. In time, we need to enter into God’s rest, which is His plan for our lives.

Heb. 4:10 For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psalm 95:11; Gen. 2:2

In salvation we rest from our works and in the Christian life, we rest from our works as well. Only divine good is important in the Christian life. No amount of human good leads us into salvation; and no amount of human good does anything for us as believers in Jesus.

Heb. 4:11 Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience. (Green’s literal translation throughout, a few notes added; and emphasis mine)

Since Hebrews was written mostly to Hebrews (believers and unbelievers both), this message is both evangelistic and an encouragement to the faith-rest life. See the Doctrine of Faith-rest. (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). This is also found in Genesis 12 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD).

17.Believers will observe the Sabbath in the Millennium. Isa. 66:22–23

18.Closing summary points on the Sabbath for believers in the Church Age:

1)Observance of the Sabbath was abolished at the death and resurrection of Christ.

2)The church has never been under the Sabbath.

3)We can help ourselves and others to understand the purpose of the Sabbath in Bible history.

4)We have a spiritual rest, or spiritual Sabbath, when we believe God's promises to us; and to trust in the principles of the Word of God in time.

See also:

The Westbank Bible Church Doctrine of the Sabbath.

Tod Kennedy’s Sabbath Summary Doctrine.

Cherreguine Bible Doctrine Ministries Lessons from The Sabbath.

Some points were taken directly from these studies.

The Abbreviated Doctrine of

Bibliography