The Sabbath - The 7th Day of the Week in both the Old and New Testament's

The Sabbath – Created and Commanded

Genesis 2:1-3 – God rested on the 7^th day and he blessed the Sabbath day after it was over.

Exodus 20:8-11 – Keep the Sabbath, keep it both as an external experience and internal experience. The Sabbath is God’s sign and we should love Jesus in the heart with his Grace and have a relationship with him. The external and internal experience is two sides of the same coin.

Hebrews 4:4 – God rested on the Sabbath Day, which is the 7^th Day.

Psalm 119:160 – The entirely of your word is truth. We can trust God.

John 14:15 – If you love me keep my commandments.

1 John 5:3 – His commandments are not burdensome.

Revelation 20:13 – We are judge by works to show our faith.

Colossians 2:14 – The Sabbath was not nailed to the cross.

Matthew 5:17 – Jesus came not to do away with the law.

John 5:39-47 – If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because Moses writings were full of Me. Meaning there are only Bible Christians, not new or old testament Christians. Jesus is the same throughout the entire Bible and throughout history.

Luke 16:17 – God’s law never changes.

Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus never changes in character.

The Significance of the Sabbath

Ezekiel 20:12 – During the time when the Israelites worship idols of Egypt. The Sabbath is a sign when we keep the Sabbath we are saying that the Lord is our God and they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Exodus 31:17 – A sign between me and the children of Israel forever.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 – Give you a new heart, walk like Jesus, then you will keep my judgments. Keeping the Sabbath is a visible manifestation of the internal sanctification of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. We are saved by a faith that works.

Example: Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to wind. We can’t see the wind, but we know it’s there. The Holy Spirit is the same way….the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts is invisible. The result of that is seen in the life, the life we live. That we are the people of God. Keeping the Sabbath is the public announcement to people looking at us that God is in our hearts and we obey his commandments, and love Him enough to stand up for his laws and what the Bible teaches.

2 Thessalonians 2:13 – The Holy Spirit is the sanctification of the truth and that we believe in it.

Keeping the Sabbath isn’t the end all and you can’t be saved by just keeping the Sabbath along. Those who keep it signify that the Lord is there God, because God is the Lord of the Sabbath since he made it. It’s really a test of our loyalty to God.

External Acts: Nobody usually ever questions why we Baptize people in water instead of just saying they gave there heart to God and be done with it, or why we drink the cup and eat the bread during Holy Communion instead of just praying about it and being done with it. People just follow along at church without a second thought in most cases. These are holy rituals that symbolize different things…..but they don’t mean a thing in our hearts unless we understand the meaning behind them and why we are doing them, but isn’t it interesting that when it comes to keeping the 7^th Day Sabbath holy, people question it and don’t keep it, why? They just go along with Sunday without a second thought. Didn’t Jesus did write with his own finger that this would be the only commandment that would be forgotten through history as it’s the only one that starts with the word remember out of the 10 commandments? Something to think about isn’t it.

The Sabbath Throughout History

Acts 18:4 – Apostils, Jews, and Greeks all keep the Sabbath. It’s for everyone!

Isaiah 66:23 – The Sabbath will be kept in heaven and in the new Earth so why would you want to go to heaven if you don’t want to keep the Sabbath here on Earth now? It’s good practice to start doing it now.

Isaiah – Christians in Isaiah’s Day

·         Isaiah 1:11-14 – Jesus doesn’t want people to only be religious and not have it in the heart. You need BOTH Love and The Law together and a relationship with Jesus.

Isaiah - Christians in Jesus’s Day

·         Isaiah 29:13 – Jesus doesn’t like or want people to just have a religion of words with no meaning. It needs to be in the heart, As Christians we need to do BOTH….that’s the key!

Isaiah – Christians of Today

·         Isaiah 58: 1-7 – (Accept God’s Message) – This is talking about the Day of Atonement, which we are living in.

·         Verse 3 – We don’t need to perform good works to be saved or accepted by God. We need to do good works because we love Jesus and ARE saved. Our heart needs to be well with God. Religious people tend to mistreat people who aren’t as religious as they are.

·         Cross Reference, Matthew 25:31-46 – (Invite Jesus into the Heart) – Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats. Jesus wants us to seek his kingdom, and to help others in love, but to ALSO obey his commandments and get to know him.

·         God will hold us accountable not only for what we did wrong, but what we could have done right.

·         We need practical religion, religion of the heart (relationship), love and grace, so then and only then ALL of Jesus’s commandments have value, so we will want to keep them. The Sabbath needs to Motivate us to love Jesus and to help others. Example: Tithe – money to help bring people to God. Health Message – To give the most strength possible to help others since our bodies are the temple’s of the living God. Sabbath – We use the Sabbath to help others and spread his word like going to people’s houses, Bible study, ect. You can do good on the Sabbath like Jesus did. That’s what Jesus wants us to do because he did it when he was on earth. In all 3 of these external acts we should do them to “HELP BRING PEOPLE TO GOD AND TO HELP THERE NEEDS WHEREEVER THAT PERSON OR PERSON’S ARE AT IN LIFE AT THAT MOMENT”.

·         Isaiah 58: 8-11 – (Your light can now shine with God’s Love) – Your light will shine on others once you do.

·         Cross Reference, Revelation 18 – this is talking about the loud cry! Jesus’s final call, that calls people to resist the mark of the beast and to come out of Babalyon and to follow God and his people. It shows Jesus’s love and character.

·         Isaiah 58:12-14 – (The Sabbath Fits In) – God isn’t saying what you can’t do on the Sabbath, but he is saying what we should be doing on the Sabbath. We should show supreme love to God, keeping the Sabbath is one of those ways how we can do just that. Unless we are doing what Jesus did on the Sabbath back in his days on Earth we are breaking the Sabbath. Jesus healed the sick, free the oppressed, feed the needy, ministered to peoples needs. We need to do the same for others, show them love and help them in any way we can.                                                                                  
How To Enjoy The Sabbath

Matthew 12:11-14 – Doing good for others…it’s ok to do good on the Sabbath in total love. Meaning you don’t have to stay inside all day and just study the Bible. It’s good to do that and you should, but go out and help people as well!! Jesus did on the Sabbath all over the Bible!!

Mark 2:27-28 – The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

Luke 14:1-5 – Jesus healed on the Sabbath to help others.

When To Observe The Sabbath

Deuteronomy 4:13 – The 10 commandments were put on just 2 tablets of stone for a reason. The first 4 deal with how we should obey God, the last 6 deal with how we should obey our fellow man in a civil society.

Leviticus 23:32 – From Evening to Evening is when we observe each Sabbath day. Sunset on Friday to Sunset on Saturday evening.

John 19:31-33 – Friday is the day of preparation just before the Sabbath.

Luke 23:53-56, Luke 24:1 – Preparation Day = Friday (6^th Day), Sabbath Day = Saturday (7^th Day), Resurrection Day = Sunday (1^st Day of the Week).

Acts 17:30 – If you don’t truly know about the Sabbath, God will overlook your ignorance…but only if you were never shown or pointed out the truth before. God knows our hearts and what you truly know to be truth.

Hebrews 10:26 – It no longer remains a sacrifice for sin if we sin willfully and knowing.