The Sabbath Debate: Was the Sabbath changed? Does God require Sabbath keeping from Christians?
Today we are going to go over a certain day that has gone under some controversy and scrutiny. What I'm going to talk about today is my position on the Sabbath day, which is the day that God rested and made holy. And so when God gave the Israelites His Law, He commanded them to cease from labor on the Sabbath day. In fact, six days of work and one day of rest is what our days of the week are modeled after.
We see this command from God in Exodus 20:9-10, which reads as follows. "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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates".
Now with that said, I am aware that this was a command of God during the Old Testament, when He made his covenant with the people of Israel. So now we are going to get to the issue at hand. We know that when Christ shed His blood on the cross, a new covenant began, known as the Covenant of Grace. Under this Covenant, we are saved from sin and death as long as we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is His perfect righteousness and obedience that cleanses us and sanctifies us so that we may be in God's presence. The reason we don't do certain things that were done in the Old Testament like sacrificing animals anymore is because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. There is a common argument from homosexuals that absolutely none of the laws in the Old Testament are for today, therefore homosexuality is okay. What they are forgetting is that the laws in the Old Testament are divided into categories, which are civil, ceremonial, and moral laws. I believe that the list of sexual sins in the old testament, homosexuality being among them, are still sins today, and therefore still moral laws that passed over to the New Testament. But that's a topic for another day.
Now for my main point. Many groups of Christians say we don't need to keep the Sabbath anymore since that commandment didn't appear to carry over to the New Testament. Some go as far as saying that the Sabbath day was changed to Sunday, and that is our Christian Sabbath. There are also two extreme sects that say we must keep the Sabbath day, and that it's idolatry and blasphemy to worship the Lord on any other day other than the Sabbath. The sects I am talking about are Messianic Judaism and Seventh Day Adventists.
Here's why I disagree with the extreme position that we can only worship on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a special day, because it's the one day God rested and made holy. I'm not arguing with that. But what you are saying by believing we can only worship on the Sabbath day is that God is a big control freak that only wants His people to worship on one very specific day. But this is not the God that I know and love. Why should we only worship him one day of the week and then not worship him until the next Sabbath? It's a dangerous philosophy.
Now let's go over the position that we don't need to keep the Sabbath anymore, as well as the position that the Sabbath was changed. In support of the position of the changing of the Sabbath, I was given one proof-text. Which is Acts 20:7. "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight". However, this verse only clearly states that they got together on the first day of the week to worship, which is Sunday. We worship on Sunday because it is the day Christ was resurrected. Not because it's the new day for the Sabbath. There is no clear verse in Scripture that says the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. And I do not see why God would change a very special day of rest that He made holy.
To be honest, I believe we should keep the Sabbath as a day of rest and as a day to worship. This may sound legalistic, but let me finish my thought. I think that not only should we keep it because it's a holy day of rest, but also because we should be worshiping the Lord every single day of our lives. Not just on Saturday and not just on Sunday either. If we worship the Lord every single day, naturally that would include the Sabbath day anyways. For too often, we worship the Lord just one day of the week and then spend the rest of the week doing whatever we want to. God made the seventh day holy for a reason. He wants us to rest, and He wants us to worship in all the days of our lives. He is our Sabbath rest, and we should rest in His Grace and worship him and pray to him whenever we get a chance to. If you have time for other things, but not enough time for God, it's time to make a change to the way you live.
Thanks for reading this blog. If you would like to challenge my view, by all means leave your comments in the comments section. I don't mind listening to other views that challenge my own. I hope you enjoyed reading this. God bless everyone!
We see this command from God in Exodus 20:9-10, which reads as follows. "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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates".
Now with that said, I am aware that this was a command of God during the Old Testament, when He made his covenant with the people of Israel. So now we are going to get to the issue at hand. We know that when Christ shed His blood on the cross, a new covenant began, known as the Covenant of Grace. Under this Covenant, we are saved from sin and death as long as we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. It is His perfect righteousness and obedience that cleanses us and sanctifies us so that we may be in God's presence. The reason we don't do certain things that were done in the Old Testament like sacrificing animals anymore is because Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. There is a common argument from homosexuals that absolutely none of the laws in the Old Testament are for today, therefore homosexuality is okay. What they are forgetting is that the laws in the Old Testament are divided into categories, which are civil, ceremonial, and moral laws. I believe that the list of sexual sins in the old testament, homosexuality being among them, are still sins today, and therefore still moral laws that passed over to the New Testament. But that's a topic for another day.
Now for my main point. Many groups of Christians say we don't need to keep the Sabbath anymore since that commandment didn't appear to carry over to the New Testament. Some go as far as saying that the Sabbath day was changed to Sunday, and that is our Christian Sabbath. There are also two extreme sects that say we must keep the Sabbath day, and that it's idolatry and blasphemy to worship the Lord on any other day other than the Sabbath. The sects I am talking about are Messianic Judaism and Seventh Day Adventists.
Here's why I disagree with the extreme position that we can only worship on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a special day, because it's the one day God rested and made holy. I'm not arguing with that. But what you are saying by believing we can only worship on the Sabbath day is that God is a big control freak that only wants His people to worship on one very specific day. But this is not the God that I know and love. Why should we only worship him one day of the week and then not worship him until the next Sabbath? It's a dangerous philosophy.
Now let's go over the position that we don't need to keep the Sabbath anymore, as well as the position that the Sabbath was changed. In support of the position of the changing of the Sabbath, I was given one proof-text. Which is Acts 20:7. "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight". However, this verse only clearly states that they got together on the first day of the week to worship, which is Sunday. We worship on Sunday because it is the day Christ was resurrected. Not because it's the new day for the Sabbath. There is no clear verse in Scripture that says the Sabbath was changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. And I do not see why God would change a very special day of rest that He made holy.
To be honest, I believe we should keep the Sabbath as a day of rest and as a day to worship. This may sound legalistic, but let me finish my thought. I think that not only should we keep it because it's a holy day of rest, but also because we should be worshiping the Lord every single day of our lives. Not just on Saturday and not just on Sunday either. If we worship the Lord every single day, naturally that would include the Sabbath day anyways. For too often, we worship the Lord just one day of the week and then spend the rest of the week doing whatever we want to. God made the seventh day holy for a reason. He wants us to rest, and He wants us to worship in all the days of our lives. He is our Sabbath rest, and we should rest in His Grace and worship him and pray to him whenever we get a chance to. If you have time for other things, but not enough time for God, it's time to make a change to the way you live.
Thanks for reading this blog. If you would like to challenge my view, by all means leave your comments in the comments section. I don't mind listening to other views that challenge my own. I hope you enjoyed reading this. God bless everyone!
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