What The Bible Says About The Sabbath

(Text: Exodus 20:8-11)
By: Barry L. Cameron


* Exodus 20:8-11 gives us the fourth of the TEN COMMANDMENTS. It is the longest of the commandments and is the final one that deals with our relationship with God.

Each of the first four commandments tells us how we are to worship God.
1. You shall have no other gods before Me. (We are to worship Him ONLY)
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol. (We are to worship Him CORRECTLY)
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. (We are to worship Him SINCERELY)
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (We are to worship Him REGULARLY)

* This is probably one of the most misunderstood commandments in the Bible.
- Some groups make this particular teaching about the Sabbath Day the cornerstone of their doctrine.
- They believe and teach we should still be worshipping on the Sabbath.

Let me be perfectly clear, at the outset, that we are not worshipping on the Sabbath Day.

* There are generally two extremes when it comes to this matter of a day of worship.
- There are some people who have historically (and even to this day) made the day of worship a day of gloom and misery.
- There are some people who interpret this commandment to mean: “You shall be miserable on the Lord’s Day.”

* On the other hand, there are people who look upon the Lord’s Day as just any other day.
- A day to sleep in. A day to go to the mall. A day to cut the grass. A day to pack out the stadium.
- Many people sacrifice the Lord’s Day on the altar of profit and personal pleasure.

* Someone said, “Our great grandfathers called it the HOLY SABBATH. Our grandfathers called it the SABBATH. Our fathers called it SUNDAY. We call it the WEEKEND and it’s getting weaker all the time.”

* Somewhere, in between those two extremes, I believe there’s a place where God can take the day of worship and make it a day of tremendous blessing and benefit in our lives.

(1) THE EXPLANATION OF THE SABBATH.
- Sabbath: comes from the Hebrew word, SHABBAT, which means REST.

* Now, if someone came up to me and said, “Pastor, do you observe the Sabbath?” I would reply, “Which Sabbath are you referring to?”

There are several:
1. The Initial Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3)
* God did two things: (Gen. 2:3) “He blessed that day and sanctified it.”
- When it says, “God rested,” it doesn’t mean He was tired or weary.
- Isaiah 40:28 says, “Our God does not become weary or tired.”
* When God rested on the seventh day it was really a celebrative commemoration of His work at Creation.

2. The Temporal Sabbath (Exodus 16:22-23; 20:8; 31:17)
* In Exodus 31:17, the Bible specifically states that the Sabbath was a sign between God and His children, Israel.
* In the New Testament, you will find each of the 10 Commandments reiterated except the fourth
commandment: “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.”

Why is that? Because the Sabbath Day was given specifically to Israel to commemorate the creative activity of God in Creation.

3. The Festival Sabbath (Leviticus 23:23-36)
* There was to be a festival Sabbath at the beginning of the feast of trumpets and again at the beginning of the feast of tabernacles. (To be observed annually)
* The first Sabbath was to be observed on the first day of the seventh month, and the second Sabbath was to be observed on the fifteenth day of the month.
* Do you realize that means that some years the festival Sabbath would not occur on a Saturday?

Which brings us to a very important point: Every Saturday is a Sabbath, but not every Sabbath is a Saturday.

4. The Agricultural Sabbath (Leviticus 25:1-8)
* God commanded the children of Israel to work the land for 6 years and then to give the land a Sabbath rest on the seventh year. (Israel didn’t keep that Agricultural Sabbath.)
* They lived in the land for 490 years.
* That means they missed that Sabbath observance 70 times. (Read that sentence again.)

* When you come to Leviticus 26:32-35, God says that if they don’t observe this Sabbath they will be held in captivity for every year they failed to observe it.

5. The Spiritual Sabbath (Hebrews 3-4)
* We’ll come back to this later.

6. The Millennial Sabbath (Isaiah 66:22-23)
* We’re told that during the Millennium, the children of Israel will once again restore the Sabbath.

7. The Eternal Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9)
* “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
* Revelation 14:13, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on! They will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

* God predicts that one day you and I will be through with all of the burdens . . . all of the battles, all of the trials . . . all of the tribulations and we will experience an eternal Sabbath in the presence of the Lord.

* So, when somebody says, “Pastor, do you observe the Sabbath?” I say, “Which Sabbath are you talking about?”

(2) THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SABBATH.
- When you come to the New Testament, you become aware that a transformation has occurred.
- As you move through the New Testament, you quickly discover that believers are worshipping on
the Lord’s Day and not on the Sabbath. (A transformation has occurred.)

* When the Lord Jesus came, the Bible says that He was born of a woman and that He was made under the Law.
- Jesus fulfilled the Law. He obeyed the Law in every detail.

* In the New Testament, we’re told that, as His custom was, Jesus went up to the synagogue on the Sabbath.
- He was always faithful to observe the Sabbath.

* When you study the gospels, you’ll notice there was an on-going battle between the Pharisees and Jesus in regard to the Sabbath.

* The Pharisees had taken the Sabbath Day and so loaded it down with man-made additions that it became a burden to man.
- There are 39 Hebrew words in the 4th Commandment.
- They came up with 1,521 things you couldn’t do out of those 39 Hebrew words.
- They made life miserable for you.
For example:
* You couldn’t rescue a drowning man on the Sabbath.
* You couldn’t swat a flea on the Sabbath.
* You couldn’t wear false teeth on the Sabbath.

* When Jesus came, He set aside their man-made rules and regulations in regard to the Sabbath.

Here’s a brief summary of what Jesus taught regarding the Sabbath:
- He said, “The Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)
* The Pharisees made the means the end.
* What God had intended to be a blessing to man, they’d made a burden for man.
- Jesus taught that it was right to do good on the Sabbath.
- He healed people on the Sabbath. (Mark 2:1-5; Luke 13:10-17)
- He allowed His disciples to eat grains of corn on the Sabbath, when they were hungry, even though it drove the Pharisees nuts because they’d developed man-made regulations against it (Mark 2:23-24)
- Jesus taught that He is Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28)

* The New Testament clearly teaches a transformation occurs in regard to the Sabbath.

Why Do We Worship On Sunday Instead of Saturday?
1. Jesus was resurrected on the first day of the week (Mark 16:2).
2. The disciples gathered together in the upper room on the first day (Mark 16:11).
3. They met on the Lord’s Day that night (John 20:19-20).
4. The Great Commission was given on the Lord’s Day (Matthew 28:19-20).
5. Jesus ascended to the Father on the first day (John 20:19-20).
6. The birth of the church (on the day of Pentecost) occurred on the first day (Acts 2:1).
7. The Holy Spirit was sent down on the first day (Acts 2:1-4).
8. The Apostle Paul preached the Word to believers on the first day (Acts 20:7).
9. A collection was to be taken weekly in the house of God among the people of God on the first day (I Corinthians 16:2)
10. John received from the Lord, his revelation completing the canon of Scripture on the first day, and he calls it “the Lord’s Day,” in Revelation 1:10.

* So, it’s clear a transformation has occurred.

Three Things Were Transformed In The New Testament About This Day Of Worship:
1. A transformation from shadow to substance (Colossians 2:14-17)
- Everything in the Old Testament was merely a shadow announcing the arrival of Jesus.

* Today, we are living in the reality of the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ.
- When God finished His work in creation, He rested.
- When Jesus finished His work on Calvary, He rested. (“It is finished.”)

* Those who would insist that we should worship on Saturday instead of Sunday are on the wrong side of the Cross.
- We’ve got the REALITY in JESUS. Why would we want the shadow any longer?

2. A transformation from Saturday to Sunday (Romans 14:5-6a)
- What he’s saying is that the day is not important.
- We worship on Sunday because we believe we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus today.

* The point is not the particular day. The point is that you have a day when you do what God says you are to do.
- The clear picture from Scripture is that the New Testament church was doing it on Sunday.

3. A transformation from the Sabbath to the Savior (Hebrews 4:9-11)
(a) A past rest (vs. 10)
(b) A prospective rest (vs. 9)
(c) A present rest (vs. 11)
* See also Matthew 11:28-29
* The Old Testament saints made a big deal out of the Sabbath (Saturday). We make a big deal out of the Savior (Jesus).

(3) THE APPLICATION OF THE SABBATH
(a) A Personal Application
* “Six days you shall labor and do all your work.”
* “The seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.”
- We’re to work and we’re to rest.

(b) A Social Application
* You can do good on the Lord’s Day.
* You’re not restricted from serving and helping others .

(c) A Devotional Application
* There needs to be one day when we specifically focus on God.
* It does you good to be in God’s House for Bible study and worship.
* We need one day to get away from the voice of this world and draw near to the voice of God.

(c) A Devotional Application
* There needs to be one day when we specifically focus on God.
* It does you good to be in God’s House for Bible study and worship.
* We need one day to get away from the voice of this world and draw near to the voice of God.

A final observation:
* One of the regulations of the Sabbath observance, in the Old Testament, was that the Jews were not allowed to travel more than one mile from their dwelling on the Sabbath.

* The overwhelming majority of those who claim we are still under the Sabbath regulations, and should worship only on Saturday, break this regulation every time they go to worship on Saturday. Think about it. How many people could go to church on Saturday if they could only travel one mile from their dwelling. (Just a thought.)

A final quote: from the MacArthur Study Bible, notes on Acts 20:7.
“Sunday, the day the church gathered for worship, because it was the day of Christ’s resurrection. Cf. Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; I Cor. 16:2. The writings of the early church Fathers confirm that the church continued to meet on Sunday after the close of the NT period. Scripture does not require Christians to observe the Saturday Sabbath; 1) the Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 31:16,17; Neh. 9:14; Ezek. 20:12), whereas Christians are under the New Covenant (2 Cor. 3; Heb. 8); 2) there is no NT command to keep the Sabbath; 3) the first command to keep the Sabbath was not until the time of Moses (Ex. 20:8); 4) the Jerusalem Council (chap. 15) did not order Gentile believers to keep the Sabbath; 5) Paul never cautioned Christians about breaking the Sabbath; and 6) the NT explicitly teaches that Sabbath keeping was not a requirement (see notes on Rom. 14:5; Gal. 4:10,11; Col. 2:16,17).”