Gen 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he rested from all his work which God created and made. Also, Exo 31:17 tells us that “for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” Man needs a day of refreshment. Because the Jews disobeyed this commandment they became slaves in Egypt and ended up working 7 days a week.

Note:
1) Why is that particular day blessed and sanctified = because He/God himself rested on that specific day
2) Which day was blessed and sanctified = the seventh day

If you study the number 7 throughout the Bible you will find some interesting facts with that number. It denotes COMPLETENESS or PERFECTION. Just google it and you will find out many facts.

God never changes Heb 13:8 tells us that Jesus Christ the same YESTERDAY, and to day, and for ever. This means that what he blessed and sanctified in the OT is blessed and sanctified in the NT.

Jesus also tells us that Mark 2:27 27 And he said unto them, The SABBATH was made for man, and not man for the SABBATH:

Next, this is one of the ten commandments. Man seems to respect all of the other 9 commandments no questions asked but the 4th commandment tends to cause division. Notice how it is written in Exodus 20:8 REMEMBER the sabbath day, to keep it holy. I wonder if God used the word REMEMBER because he knew that man would forget. We must always remember that what God commands for us to do is always for our own good. God loves us.

God takes the sabbath seriously because he says: Exo 35:2 whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. We must trust God when he tries to tell us how serious it is and we should do our utmost best to listen to him. If we really want to know the truth, he will give it to us but we must believe us and then really on his grace for the help we need. He really does know what is best. God goes on to tell us that there are many blessings and cursings for those who keep his commandments or those who choose to disobey them.
Study Lev 26:2-12, Num 15:39-40, Deut 6:6-25, Deut 7:11-21, Deut 28:1-13 (blessings) Deut 28:15-45 (curses)…

Lastly, the commandment has not changed in the NT. Notice that Jesus himself went to the synagogue on the sabbath day. Mark 1:21 There are many references to this. One point I’d like to make for those who have changed the Saturday sabbath to Sunday because of Christ’s resurrection is this. Have you noticed that when Jesus was resurrected (people say it’s on the first day of the week – Is it really?) Take a good look and notice that when the women went to the sepulchre Jesus was already gone. When did he leave? Reflect carefully on Matt 28:1 In the end of the sabbath (Saturday), AS IT BEGAN TO DAWN TOWARD the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. But Jesus was ALREADY GONE/RISEN. When did he leave or when was he really resurrected. Do we know for sure?

There are many, many, many other scriptures, but it is also important to note that even Paul waited until the next sabbath day to preach.
Acts 13:42 And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next SABBATH.
44 And the next SABBATH day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

In order to honor our LORD’s command, we must walk against the whole world but I guess the one thing that I have noticed is that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways and that this world truly does everything in it’s power to walk contrary to his word. Jesus however says that if we love him we will obey his commandments and that his commandments are not grievous.

God Bless!

“Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand. One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord…”

Or, for that matter, and at risk of creating a Bible study, Colossians 2:8-17, where the sabbath is equated with types and shadows fulfilled in Christ and the Colossians are told not to allow anyone to judge them as regarding the Sabbath.

In other words, Paul is warning that we should not worry about who esteems what days holy… we are in a new era, according to him, where these symbols and types have indeed been fulfilled.

So… there is my two cents worth, at any rate…

JS

Thanks, and God bless.
- Josh S.

ANYWAY, my main search recently has been trying to figure out when the Israelites went from hearing the commandment to rest and honor the sabbath to attending synagogue every sabbath. And no matter what we ‘think’ might be the deeper meaning in the commandment… it does NOT say to attend synagogue on the sabbath. In fact, no where in the Torah does it say this at all. In fact, I’m actually having trouble finding out where the Jews came up with the idea. They were such sticklers about following the written law and yet it is no where in the texts but thousands of years people have attended some kind of worship on the sabbath.

All I know is that God will hold me accountable to his Word… and His Word says to honor the sabbath and keep it holy and to not do any work.

Hmmmm… so I guess this might be considered work!

(And Josh, I’d love it if you’d email me if you have any insight into the beginnings of the sabbath church tradition)