It’s nice to see people come to see what the bible says about the sabbath. I hear other brothers and sister are finding the blessings that sabbath keeping brings. I’ve been a sabbath keeper for over 30 years and I do not find in the bible any reason why I should change. I agree completly on your findings about Hebrews 4.

God bless

George

Thanks for the comment, and good to talk to you again!

You said:

“I never saw the Old Testament present the Sabbath as bondage. I saw the religious leaders lead the people into bondage by adding all sorts of things to the Sabbath, but all throughout the Old Testament it was a joy, a blessing, a gift, something sacred from God to man.”

I completely agree with you. Maybe ‘bondage’ was a poor use of terms on my part. What I was trying to convey is the religious leaders adding to the Law, which made it bondage, and I also meant the punishment (death for picking up sticks) as bondage as well.

Certainly the typological nature of the punishment (physical death symbolizing spiritual death for Sabbath-breakers) remains the same, but we’re ultimately free from the temporal and eternal punishment of the Law by the merits of Christ. And that is good news, for I am far from being a perfect Sabbath-keeper! May the Lord show me grace…

SDG

just a quick note, as your article is excellent. you commented above earlier that part of the change from the Old Testament to the New Testament Sabbath is “emphasis on love and mercy instead of bondage”. Honestly I don’t see this change. I never saw the Old Testament present the Sabbath as bondage. I saw the religious leaders lead the people into bondage by adding all sorts of things to the Sabbath, but all throughout the Old Testament it was a joy, a blessing, a gift, something sacred from God to man. I’m sure you recall several years ago when I would question others in that regard in some blogs and would have that thrown at me, that Christ delivered us from bondage and I think the reason is is because we have heard such shallowness in regards to the Sabbath that all we have known is that it was “bad”. the Sabbath was never bad. It was always holy and good. Men perverted it and that is mostly what, and I speak for myself, I was taught as what the Sabbath was rather than going to the Scripture and seeing what God defined the Sabbath as:) I’m pretty sure you agree, but just in case someone might come along and understand it differently I thought I would throw that in:)

Thank you for your thoughts. I can’t say that I disagree with very much of what you said, but let me clarify a few of my points from this passage by responding to a few things you said:

You said:

“this is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came to restore that what was broken in the Garden of Eden. By Him dying on the cross, He paid for all our sins. Even the sins we are still going to do.”

I completely agree, but would see different ramifications of this than you do.

First, the passage in Hebrews 4 clearly says that “there REMAINS” a Sabbath rest “FOR the people of God”. In other words, though Christ is our Sabbath and fulfilled this Sabbath, the consummation of this Sabbath “still remains”, thus it would be dangerous/foolish for us to act like the reality is here when we still await that day.

Secondly, again as I pointed out above, we take other Eden-statements very seriously in this present day, so why don’t we the Sabbath? Is Christ our perfect Husband? Yes. Did He fulfill the ultimate end of ‘leave and cleave’ and the ‘one-flesh’ reality of the joining of man and woman? Yes. Furthermore, did Christ perfectly obey the command to not commit adultery where we didn’t and couldn’t? Yes, of course.

But just because we’re not under law doesn’t mean that we can now go out and freely and rampantly commit adultery. Just because the Eden statements/commands on marriage are ultimately fulfilled in Christ does not mean that we can now throw out any application in our lives. You see, adultery for a Christian, though not damning, is definitely a sin, and a sin that God hates.

Likewise, Sabbath-breaking for the Christian, is definitely a sin, and sin that God hates. Thankfully, because none of us are perfect at abstaining from adultery (before or after Christ), and because none of us our perfect Sabbath-keepers, we rest fully on the merits of Christ by faith, hoping in His imputed righteousness and satisfaction of our sins, and we strive to demonstrate our love towards Him by walking in His commandments.

Lastly, you quoted Romans 8:1-3, but you left out a very important conclusion to this passage:

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Justification, my friend, leads to law-keeping in those who are justified, and it is fulfilled in us when we walk by the Spirit. We add nothing to our justification, but our love for Him and His work in our hearts leads us down the path of righteousness for His glory.

After God finished His work on the 7th day (Gen 2:3) , He seized from it. If you go check out original scripture its not rest as in chilling, but stop doing something. So God stopped creating, for it was very good and He was happy with it. Creation was fulfilled. God even blessed it. Everything that was created was in that fulfilled mode. Creation was the reflection of God’s perfection. Adam and Eve was also living in that perfection. They were in God’s rest 7 days a week. God also blew His Spirit (pneuma = Breath of God) into Adam, which made man alive, immortal and in God’s likeness and image. Adam and Eve had the Spirit of God (mind of God = knowledge of the spirit) inside of them.

What went wrong is that man failed God (sin) and desired knowledge of good and evil above knowledge of Spirit. SO man lost the Spirit and with that God’s likeness and image and immortality. Subject to death and no more rest in God. Man now had to work under a curse (we all know story). Since that day life has been a struggle. From the woman who gives birth in pain to the last breath man gives out and return as dust to the earth.

Since that day man has tried to win favor with God so God will bless man. To cut it really short, man found a recipe how to “become righteous”. The Law. So if you stick to it, you will be blessed, happy and live forever. Only one problem. No one has the capability to keep it. Its just not humanly possible, for no human can do it without being God (or have the Spirit of God that changes man in image and likeness of God)

Don’t worry. Will come to Sabbath now. So Jesus comes in form of man. After receiving the Spirit at His baptism, He starts doing miracles and teaching awesome things. (He even became immortal. 40 days in desert without food or water. When people tried to kill and stone Him, he walked right trough them, and he lost so much blood and so much torture on cross but only died after He gave up the Spirit). Jesus became God in Human form. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father”. Now check this out: Mark 2:27. “ The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. God’s original plan of Sabbath was for man to live in the constant state of perfection as He is and as He created the Sabbath. That’s why Jesus did miracles on Sabbath. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath by doing miracles. As it is in Heaven, let it also be on earth (Jesus’ prayer).

Now this is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came to restore that what was broken in the Garden of Eden. By Him dying on the cross, He paid for all our sins. Even the sins we are still going to do. Col 2:10 We became complete in Him. Circumcised in Him, Buried with Him, Risen with Him. This is all possible by His spirit. For the same Spirit that was in Jesus and that made Jesus “the Christ” (anointed) is now in us.

My conclusion: Gal 3:2 Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? In the beginning , Man only Had the Spirit, not the Law. If you have the Spirit, and listen to it, you have the capability in you to fulfill the Law as Jesus did, for it’s the same Spirit that was in Jesus.

Rom 8:1-3There is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the SPIRIT. For the LAW of the SPIRIT of LIFE in CHRIST JESUS hath made me FREE from the LAW of sin and death. For what the LAW could not do, in that it was weak through the FLESH, GOD sending his own SON in the likeness of sinful FLESH, and FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN in the FLESH.

Through the Spirit of Christ Jesus, you are in the Rest of God. You are in the FINISHED WORK of CHRIST. Jesus said it on the cross with His last words: IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!

Johan – Cape Town, South Africa

Good stuff, Maynard

Have you ever considered the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day Sabbath? Even though the former has been taken away, there is still a song to be sung in the latter.

BTW, I see you’re reading Brooks’ “Picture” book. Most excellent. It was my initial forray into the Puritans and it completely demolished the stereotype for me. What struck me was how intimate, warm, and pastoral it was.

Among that ’shift’, I believe that the Jewish Sabbath has been replaced with what theologians call the Christian Sabbath. In other words, emphasis on love and mercy instead of bondage, and of course Sunday as the Sabbath (Christ’s resurrection) instead of the the Jewish Saturday. I’ve written much about this and defended these things here if you’d like to read more.

Furthermore, I do hold to Covenant Theology, which would certainly have disagreements with what is now called ‘Messianic’ or ‘Jewish Messianic’ Christianity. In fact, you can probably see how Covenant Theology also affects my view on how the Jewish Sabbath turned into the Christian Sabbath and observing Christ’s resurrection as ONE people of God (no longer Jew or Greek).

But I certainly don’t desire to get into all that now, and I DO appreciate your comments here. I just felt I need to clarify that in case there is any confusion for others who stumble upon this.

Grace and peace,
Nathan