The Sabbath

At the giving of the law, God formalized to the Jews a concept that had been around since the beginning of creation, the observance of a day of rest: the Sabbath. Anyone found desecrating the Sabbath by working on that day was to be put to death! God was very clear that we had 6 days in order to get our work done, and the last day of the week was to be one of rest. One man in the Bible was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and reported to Aaron. Moses consulted the Lord, and the Lord said that he had to be stoned! Obviously, God did not take the Sabbath lightly!

(There are a lot of specific actions described as right and wrong in the law of Moses. According to the Bible, one action prevented on the Sabbath was building a fire. According to Jewish customary law, there are many, many more. The customary law was an interpretation of the Law by the leaders of Israel. It went on to specify further what things ought to be allowed and not allowed based on the philosophy behind the law. For instance, exactly when is the Sabbath? Yes, we know it’s the seventh day of the week, but when? According to the thinking of the time, days started in the evening, not the morning, as we consider it now. Thus, the Sabbath actually starts Friday evening. Aha! But when is it evening? If we’re going to be so specific about what we can do and what we cannot, we must be specific about when we can and cannot do it. The custom is that when you can see the first three stars, it has become twilight, and thus the day has ended. Such was the exact nature of the customary law. It was the onerous weight of the customary law for which Jesus derided the Jews so much.)

Perhaps it is this exacting nature of the Law and the Prophets which causes the Seventh Day Adventists to be so adamant about observing the Sabbath on Saturday. Perhaps they think that since God intended it that way, we should take Him literally. Indeed, I find myself in that category, as I try to take God literally whenever I can. Why change what God established at the very beginning? As Christians, we observe a semblance of a day of rest on Sunday. Why? Why not Saturday, as was originally intended? In fact, it’s a little odd that pastors themselves seem to work harder on Sundays than any other day of the week. Other people in the church also work hard on Sundays to make a service happen. Is this what was intended?

Jews have their worship and teaching on the Friday evening before the Sabbath commences. Now I know that historically, the early Christians gathered together to worship the Savior on Sundays, because that’s when Jesus rose from the dead. It then became a tradition to have church on that day. But, there’s nothing written in the New Testament (of which I am aware) that describes the apostles’ view on the subject of when to have worship except this:

Romans 14:5-6, “One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.”

Now understand this is given in the context of the great meat-sacrificed-to-idols discussion. There are many, many things that are very plain in the scriptures, and, where there is scripture concerning a topic, you don’t have a choice but to adopt God’s point of view about it. I think Paul is laying down a policy here that – for what isn’t covered in the Bible – we are left to our conscious about it. In it Paul points out that there are some things that we have to figure out for ourselves. Some things are left to our conscious. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think there are a lot of areas like this, but this is clearly one of them.

As far as legalism of what can be done on the Sabbath, consider this:

Mark 2:23-28, “And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”

Note that last part, “the sabbath was made for man.” See, we are indeed supposed to honor the Sabbath – a day of rest – but not if it isn’t to our health and well-being. In this example, Jesus would rather that we eat on the Sabbath than fast and not glean from the field. In that vein, consider the following:

Luke 13:10-17, “And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.”

Again we see that there is yet a higher law than that of the observance of the Sabbath, and that is that the day is supposed to be not just for rest, but also for our edification. There’s a bigger concept than just not doing something. It’s that we should allow ourselves to do things that will strengthen us mentally, spiritually, and physically, and refrain from things that would tax us and leave us – for the sum of the effort – weaker. So I don’t find any conflict with the law of the Sabbath, and the way we are doing things in the church today, as long as on the day we worship, we leave that day for worship, and not use it for working. I finish with this scripture, which seems to nullify debate in the issue:

Colossians 2:16-17, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”