SABBATH TODAY?

Many people teach that Sabbath keeping is still in force for Christians today. Others are convinced of the necessity of keeping the Sabbath, only they say it is not yet time for them to start.

Someone may ask, "what day is the Sabbath day?" Sabbath day, according to the Bible, is the 7th day, and, as everyone knows, the 7th day is Saturday. It was this day that God told the nation of Israel to observe.

God created the world and all things therein in six days. On the seventh day God our Maker rested. If God rested on the seventh day and through Moses He gave the Sabbath keeping as a law to the nation of Israel, does that mean all those people who lived before Moses observed the Sabbath keeping? Moses has the answer: "Moses called all Israel, and said, Hear, 0 Israel the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb (Mt. Sinai). The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day." (Deut. 5:1-3.) From the foregoing text we could see that Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Abraham, etc. did not observe the Sabbath--Moses said, "not with our fathers, but...us here alive this day."

So Sabbath keeping was given to the nation of Israel through Moses. It was in force during the ministry of Christ Jesus. When Jesus came He instituted a new order of service to God---a new type of worship, a new day of worship, a new method and a new place of worship. However, during His lifetime He observed the law and instructed others to do so. This was true "for where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth." (Heb. 9:16-17.) Yet, while Christ was on earth He gave instructions regarding the New Order of Service. Christianity began after the death of Christ according to Heb. 9:16-17---for when Christ was alive His testament was of no force. So Christ Jesus' law (New Testament) became effective after His death and the New Type, New Day, New Method, and New Place of Worship began to be observed after His death.

But Matt. 5:17-18 says Jesus did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. "Why do you say He brought a new law?" someone may ask. "Till all be fulfilled" in this passage means "after it is complete in purpose." So Jesus did not take the law out of the way until after it was complete in purpose. Dr. Luke said, concerning the fulfillment of the old law in Luke 24:44, "And Jesus said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets and in the Psalms, concerning me (Jesus)." Do you know of any words concerning Jesus which were written in the law of Moses, in the Prophets and in the Psalms which are not fulfilled? What Matthew 5.17-18 was saying is that when all be fulfilled it would be destroyed so a new one could take its place. (Heb. 8:8-13.) Jesus fulfilled the law "for Christ is the end of the law." (Rom. 10:4.) "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Gal. 4:4-5.)

Sabbath means rest and those who kept it rested on that day. God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. The nation of Israel was to rest on the seventh day, no work was permitted, no smoke was to be seen in their houses and their animals were to be kept indoors. Who observes the Sabbath today? I don't know any. Yes, they profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him. (Titus 1:16.)

Christianity does not have or observe any Sabbath. There is no day in the Bible on which Christians are commanded to rest. No day. The day Christians meet for worship is not a Sabbath day; it's a day for worship as recorded in the Bible. (I Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7.) So, there is nothing like changing the Sabbath day to Sunday. Remember Christ has redeemed us (bought us back) from the law and has adopted us as sons of God and has given us a day to worship God to work and not to rest. Sabbath keeping today is no longer a part of God's plan!!!