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Sabbath--The
Most Important Day
By Ray Wooten
This issue of
The Christian Beacon is primarily about the annual Festivals God has
given His people to observe. There is a complete listing of these
days in Leviticus 23:1-44. Most of the articles in this issue are
explaining, extrapolating and expounding the meaning of these days.
They are intended to show the significance of God’s Festivals to both
ancient Israel and to us who are part of Spiritual Israel today.
In this article, I want to emphasize what just may be the most important
day that our great God has given His people. It is not only for us
to observe and to rest. It is primarily for us to see and understand
God's plan of creation and salvation for His Family.
Did you know
that the day of worship, as well as many other traditions in the Christian
world today, is contrary to the teaching of God's word? Moreover,
did you know that the Bible condemns those who reject the teaching
of the Bible? It is very important that you know and understand what
God expects of you, not in order to earn or receive salvation, but
in order to obey the one who has given you salvation, free of charge.
Today, I am going to share with you a conviction to which I came over
35 years ago about the true day of worship, God's Sabbath Day. To
be sure, I understand much more about God's plan for mankind and me,
personally than I did 35 years ago. I believe one of the reasons is
because I have been willing to obey my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Why the Sabbath Is Important to God
God considers Sabbath keeping so important that he repeatedly performed
an incredible miracle every week for 40 years! Think
about it. Forty long years God miraculously fed the ancient Israelites
manna from heaven to teach them exactly which day of the week
is the true Sabbath!
Do you know why God was so careful to remind His people of the Sabbath?
It is because the Sabbath pictures such a vital part of God's plan.
And we need to understand what that is!
Jesus was very careful to keep God's Sabbath. Luke said it was His
"custom" to keep it. (Luke 4:16). God's New Testament Church,
which Christ built through His twelve apostles, also kept God's Sabbath
day!
Immediately after Christ's crucifixion, God carefully pointed out
to us that "the end of the Sabbath" dawns (gr. Epiphosko,
=draws, see Lk 23:54) "toward the first day of the week"
(Matthew 28:1). God made it clear that His Sabbath precedes
Sunday!
Sabbath Pictures Creation
God wants to
point out to us today that the seventh day of Creation Week--the Sabbath
Day--has continued from the time of creation in the same God-ordained
relationship to the other six days of the week! That
the Sabbath was, and still is the
seventh day of the Week--not Sunday, the first day.
God wants us to realize it is the seventh-day Sabbath, which He commands
all mankind to keep today!
There is a vital underlying reason why God
kept this great day identified down through the ages, and why the
people who obeyed Him have always kept the Sabbath. Let us begin to
understand.
God created the Sabbath so that on it we may rest and have personal,
positive contact with the one who is in
the process of creating us to be His Spirit-born Sons. God's very
presence is among those who keep His Sabbath--those who submit to
Him as their Creator and Ruler. No other day of the week compares
with this remarkable day. Why? Because no other Day pictures the Supreme
creative work of Almighty God!
The Sabbath pictures the pinnacle of God's creative endeavors--the
creation of His spiritual character in mortal
mankind, and our ultimate spiritual birth into God's family
as His very Sons!
Sabbath Pictures God’s State
Another, and
even more profound and important, insight about Sabbath observance
has to do with the state in which God has always existed. God is eternal,
He has always lived. Not only that, He has lived in a state of total
and complete rest, peace and harmony. There had never been any adversity,
animosity, hatred or vanity and wrongful pride in the entire universe.
This means God lived in a state of the Sabbath. Please
note: I did not say He lived in a state of idleness. He lives in a
state of peace etc. Remember, Jesus said: “My Father works and I work.
John 5:17. When the adversary, Lucifer, found himself filled with
vanity and pride, Isaiah 14:12-20, Ezek. 28:12-19, he brought a state
of unrest into God's Universe. God never lost His peace of mind but
He did experience adversity and unrest within His universe. This is
why the earth became without form and void, which you find in Genesis
1:2.
When God began re-forming and re-shaping the earth and putting into
place all the astro-bodies, Gen 1:5,8,13,19,23,31, He began making
arrangements for mankind to experience a rest and peace that was not
extant without God. He knew the best way to do this was to allow man
to live six days having to earn his living from this earth and God
provided one day of total and complete rest from all that so man could
picture and have some idea what living in the eternal state of peace,
rest and harmony, without any adversity would be. Please note: I did
not say man should be idle and doing nothing on the Sabbath. He should
be busy doing those duties and responsibilities that promote peace,
rest and happiness, etc. But he should not be involved in his activities
that have to do with earning his living, etc. This is the primary
and most important aspect of the Sabbath. No wonder God wants us to
observe His Sabbath because we are picturing and experiencing a foretaste
of, this state in which we will live, relate
to, and commune with God and each other eternally.
No wonder God ordained this day to be outstanding above all others.
No other day even remotely represents such tremendous heights of achievement!
Therefore, God set aside one-seventh of
man's time to be a reminder of God, our Creator and His great purpose
for mankind! And for each of us personally.
Genesis 2:3.
Notice the words, " sanctified it: because that in it he had
rested". This special seventh day which God created by resting,
and set apart and made Holy, and put his blessing upon, is the one
and only day out of each seven day week God commands mankind to keep
Holy!
God’s Servants Observed His Sabbath
Those who have
really known the true God and His plan down through the ages have
always kept His commanded Sabbath. Yes, they kept the seventh Day--commonly
called Saturday! They did not observe any other day of the week such
as Sunday! Let us begin to learn about these men of God who zealously
kept his Sabbath Day. Let us see how their Sabbath keeping is an example
for us today!
Abraham, who is called a friend of God's, because he obeyed God, kept
God's Sabbath. Genesis 26:5. This proves Abraham was not confused
about which day of the week is the true Sabbath. Luke 13:28 shows
that Abraham will inherit the kingdom of God. Romans 4:16, calls Abraham
the Father of the faithful.
The Israelites, who were physical descendants of Abraham, certainly
were given knowledge of the Sabbath. In Exodus 20: 8,
we find God telling them which was the Sabbath day and explaining
to them that they should observe it. And of course, nobody who knows
anything about the Bible would argue that they did not keep the seventh
day Sabbath.
Leviticus 23:1-3, “And the LORD spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning
the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to
be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.
Six days shall
work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy
convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the Sabbath of the
LORD in all your dwellings.”
This scripture shows that God’s Sabbath was commanded for His people
as part of His Festival observances.
Jesus Christ, the messenger of the New Covenant, came with the power
of the Holy Spirit--power which all of us may share. And by that power
Jesus kept the Sabbath commandment as it was intended to be kept!
By keeping the Sabbath, Jesus also became our living flesh and blood
example to show us how to keep it. Yes, Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath,
and so did all those who followed Him. And their examples are recorded
in the Bible for us to follow today!
Christ, As God, Created the Sabbath
Jesus as the
Word, (Greek “Logos”), was the Creator or God of the Old Testament.
John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made
that was made.”
This means He is the one who created the Sabbath, as well as all of
the creation as we know it; therefore, it would be ludicrous to think
that He came later only to do away with the creation that He, Himself,
had created. This, coupled with the wonderful reality of peace, rest
and comfort that the Sabbath depicts, should give us ample reason
to know without doubt that the Sabbath is still in effect. It has
not been changed!
Nowhere in the Bible will you find a
command to observe Sunday! And
no hint anywhere that the Sabbath has been done away. God has been careful to see that the Sabbath remained identified
down through the centuries for us today.
We can see the Bible clearly tells us the Sabbath is the seventh day
of the week. And following the Sabbath is the first day of the Week--which
we know as Sunday. The word "Sunday" does not appear anywhere
in the Bible. But the phrase "First day of the Week" is
found eight times. If God's true day of rest was changed by Bible
authority--the only authority, which is from God, Himself--we must
find that authority in one of these eight texts, or not at all!
The eight places where the phrase "First day of the Week"
appears are: Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2 and 16:9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1
and 20:19. These scriptures are
all referring to the time of Christ’s resurrection, not a Sabbath
observance.
Acts 20:7. It is a real stretch to construe this as a Sabbath observance.
If you will notice v. 11, it says "So when he had gone back up,
and had broken the bread and eaten, he talked with them a long while,
until day break, and so departed”. This shows that he had eaten a
meal; it had nothing to do with observing the Sabbath.
1 Corinthians 16:2. Also has nothing to do with Sabbath observance.
You will not find in any one of these texts authority for changing
the seventh day Sabbath to Sunday--the first day of the Week.
What you will find in the scriptures is that, Jesus and His disciples
observed the Sabbath. You will also find that His apostles, after
His death, and after the day of Pentecost when they received the Holy
Spirit, continued to observe the Sabbath as an example for the church
of all ages to follow.
If you want to experience a relationship with God, our Father and
His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, as well as experience a greater insight
into the purpose of your personal existence, simply follow the command
that God has given us in Exodus 20:8. "Remember
the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy". Your mind will
be opened to a wonderful understanding of the state of rest, peace
and comfort in which you will live eternally.
Taken from The Christian Beacon
