Remember the Sabbath Day
By Jim Murriner
Ex 20:8-11
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
We now come to the one of the ten commandments, which most who call themselves Christians seem to totally ignore. Yet there are some children of God, who sincerely believe that they and we are to keep the Sabbath day.
The view most commonly help today by Christians is that we are indeed to keep the Sabbath, but that somewhere it has been changed from Saturday to Sunday.
As we look at this portion of God's Word, we want to present two questions for you to ponder.
First: If we are no longer to remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy, where in the Word of God are we released from the keeping of the Sabbath day?
Second: If the Sabbath day has been changed from Saturday to Sunday, then where in the Word of God do we find this change?
Before we answer either of these questions, lets note that the portion of scripture before us does indeed command us to keep the Sabbath.
Because God spake all of these words, and because of who God is the Israelites as well as we today who are Children of God, are never to get anything between our face and His face. We must do all that we do in a religious sense, because God is watching, and not because we wish to impress anyone. Because His face is always to be clear in front of us, we are not to try to represent Him in physical terms, not by a picture, not by a carving, not by a building, or alter or cross, or by an angel, or anything that we might make to represent God. Any thing that we might build or draw in our efforts to describe God, would not even begin to come close to being a true representation of Him.
Because of Who He is and all that He is we must be extremely careful how we use His name, so that we do not use it in alight or worthless way.
Now because of all of this we must remember to keep the Sabbath day. More space in God's Word is given to this commandment than any of the other commandments.
We need to note here that the word "Sabbath" means "cessation" "Intermission" "rest"; however it does not mean seven.
Although the seventh day was always a Sabbath day, seven is not the meaning of the word. The seventh day was not the only day that Israel was to observe as the Sabbath. Israel was to keep the Sabbath, or rest day many times. Every seventh year was a whole year of rest. In this seventh year they were to let the land rest.
Notice our text verses again, they speak of rest. Verse ten, tells us that in the Sabbath day, there is to be no work done. If there is to be no work, then there is to be rest. Just as we who trust Jesus Christ as our Saviour, rest in Him, and do not do any works that we might present to God for our salvation, these were not to do anything on the Sabbath day except rest.
Verse nine tells us that we are to do all our work in the first six days of each week that the Lord gives us. Everything which we do to be gainfully employed, is to take place during the first six days of the week.
The rest day is not to be used for ourselves nor for others. It is a rest day.
To the Old Testament Jew the keeping of the Sabbath day was very important indeed.
Ex 31:15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
As Israel journeyed from Egypt to the land of promise, they found a man in their midst who was violating this commandment in what we would call a small way, and they put him to death.
We find this recorded in Numbers 15:32-36
Nu 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.
33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.
36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
From this we can see that God did not and does not take the breaking of the Sabbath day as a light thing.
Many pastors and churches teach that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.
If Sunday is indeed the Christian Sabbath, Who changed the Sabbath?
Over and over again as we have stated earlier the Bible tells us that the Sabbath day is a rest day.
Exodus 34:21 tells us that no matter how busy we get, it is still a rest day.
"Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest."
Ex 35:2 also tells us that it is important that we do no work in the Sabbath day.
"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death."
The Sabbath day was not a day set aside to worship God, but was a day given for a day of rest for man.
Mark 2:27 reminds us of this.
"And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:"
In Exodus 23:10-11 we read of a Sabbath year, in which the land was to rest for a whole year".
"And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:
"But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard."
The Sabbath was a time of rest, whether a year or a day.
If you today seek to keep the Sabbath day, whether on the first day of the week, or the seventh day, you have taken upon yourself a monumental task.
Exodus 35:3 tells us that even light work is forbidden on the Sabbath day.
"Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day."
If we are trying to keep the Sabbath, most of us could not even attend church services, because it would be to far for us to travel upon the Sabbath day.
Acts 1:12 reveals unto us how far one could travel upon the Sabbath.
"Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey."
The distance from the mount called Olivet, unto Jerusalem, being about 1/2 mile, was the farthest that one could travel upon the Sabbath day.
Men often claim to keep God's commandments perfectly, whether it be this commandment, concerning the Sabbath day, or any other commandment, but we must not try to set our own standards concerning the keeping of a commandment, but we must go by God's standards.
Matt. 5:48 tells us that our idea of perfection must be as God's perfection, and not according to our standards.
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
It is obvious that we cannot keep the Old Testament Sabbath in the way that God tells us to, without changing our complete life style.
The Sabbath day is a day of complete rest. If you would be a keeper of the Sabbath regardless of which day you try to keep it on, you must observe it not by much ceremony, but by a day of complete rest. There is to be no traveling over 1/2 mile, no cooking, no cleaning, no gathering sticks, no work at all, no matter how light and insignificant.
We consider the other nine of the ten commandments to apply to us today, how can we apply this one to our lives today? And as we try to answer this question, we do not want to forget our original question, "Who changed the Sabbath?
The Old Testament Jew Who had been saved by the grace of God, as he observed the Sabbath rest looked forward to another rest. The Sabbath day is a type ,or picture, of the rest which we have in Jesus Christ, when we depend upon Him totally to get us to heaven.
In Matt.11:28 Jesus invites all who are weary to come and find rest in Him.
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
Isaiah 28:12 looks forward to this rest which we who have been given salvation, have.
"To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear."
We find this rest mentioned again in Hebrews 4:3.
"For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world."
When God gives you repentance and extends His grace unto you and gives you faith to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal saviour, you then enter into His rest. Yet these works that you trust in, are the works which Christ did upon the cross, and these were finished before the foundation of the world."
Eph. 1:4 shows us that they were indeed finished before the foundation of the world.
"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:"
God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit chose before God made the world that Jesus would come and die for particular peoples sins, therefore the work in the mind of God was already finished, but in reality you entered into His rest the moment that you were quickened and made alive. That was also the moment in which you were given repentance from your dead works, and given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4L4-6 shows us that this rest is what the Sabbath day is all about.
"For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works."
"And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest."
"Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:"
Then in verse eight we see that this rest was not just simply the rest that Israel had when they entered into their own land.
Heb 4:8 "For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day."
Here in this verse the word "Jesus" is referring to "Joshua. Joshua brought them into the land but did not give them the rest of which the Sabbath day was a figure.
Verse nine reminds us that there remains a rest for the people of God.
Heb 4:9 "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."
Hebrews 4:10 makes it very clear that this speaks of our resting in Jesus Christ for salvation.
"For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
For you to become a Christian today you must cease from any or all of your works and efforts to save yourself, and simply rest in Christ for salvation.
Romans 10:1-4 shows us the folly of depending or trusting in our own efforts for salvation.
Ro 10:1 "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved."
2 "For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge."
3 "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."
4 "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
We who trust Christ as our saviour are then resting in His finished work to get us to heaven.
The Old Testament Sabbath day was a picture of that rest that believers have in the Lord Jesus Christ. We no longer keep a Sabbaath day, but Christ is our Sabbath.
Who then changed the Sabbath?
No one ever changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, Christ by dying for our sins established that all along He was what the Sabbath represented.
Why then do we attend church services on Sunday?
Most Churches celebrate the resurrection of our Lord once a year on what we know as Easter Sunday; however the church in the New Testament celebrated His resurrection not just once a year, but each first day of the week, or each Sunday morning.
If we would be like the Church in the New Testament we then would make no pretence of keeping the Sabbath, but would have Christ to be our Sabbath, and would meet each Lord's day morning to celebrate His resurection.
