A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Numbers 15 (Part 2)

Numbers 15:32-36—32 Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him. 35 Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." 36 So, as the LORD commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. The seventh-day Sabbath was a token of that Old Covenant that God had made with the people of Israel (Exodus 31:16-17—16 “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath…17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever”). Picking up sticks was considered, by God, to be doing work. This man was doing work on the Sabbath, which God had forbade when He spoke the Ten Commandments to Moses (Exodus 20:10). He proceeded to pronounce the punishment for working on the Sabbath in Exodus 31:14-15—14 “You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death” and Moses spoke to the people the punishment in Exodus 35:2—“Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death”. So this man had heard that the Sabbath was a day of rest on which no work was to be done, lest the person die. Yet he still chose to violate that sign and sin against God, for which he paid the price with his life. When God gave the people manna in Exodus 16, Moses told the people quite plainly to not go out to gather on the seventh day. And what did some of them do? You guessed it. So why did God not call for their death, but did command that this man be put to death? Because the Law had not been given yet. Would He have been right and just in putting those people to death who gathered manna on the Sabbath? Yes. But He had not yet given the commandments about the Sabbath, so while He was angry with them, He did not destroy them. 

Let’s fast forward about 1500 years. Christ is walking through fields of grain with His disciples. Mark 2:23—Now it happened that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. Did Jesus rebuke them? Did God command that they be stoned with stones? After all, they were (according to the Pharisees) doing work on the Sabbath. Mark 2:24—And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" Well, they had a point. But their zeal was misplaced. The disciples were not performing work simply for the sake of performing work. They were hungry, and did as prescribed in Leviticus 19:10, and gleaning from the corners of the field. And Jesus, God in the flesh, was there with them. He rebuked the Pharisees by calling to mind what their favorite king, the ancestor of Christ Himself, had done in 1st Samuel 21:3-6, in eating the Bread of Presence, which was only for the priests, which David was not. Now, let me clear up a difficulty with this text in Mark. In Mark 2:25-26, Jesus says 25 “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread…?” Yet the text in 1st Samuel 21 says that Ahimelech was High Priest. “See? Ha! There’s a contradiction right there!” A contradiction which, if the text was altered by “corrupt copyists” as the skeptics like to say, could have been easily been altered. But it is no contradiction. For Jesus is not saying that Abiathar was High Priest at the time, only that this incident happened in the days of Abiathar. For shortly after this, his father Ahimelech was slain by Saul at the hands of Doeg (1st Samuel 22:18). So yes, David ate the showbread in the days of Abiathar (who was more closely associated with David than was Ahimelech), but Abiathar was not yet High Priest. 

So the question remains “what does the Sabbath mean today? Are we, as grafted-in descendants of Abraham, obliged to keep the seventh-day Sabbath?” The short answer is “no”. Which begs the likewise short question “why?” Because that Sabbath, which was the sign of the Old Covenant, has been done away with (as has circumcision) along with that Old Covenant. So which day do we consecrate as our day of rest? That would be what was called the “first day of the week” in the New Testament. We see this in the Book of Acts, where the disciples met on the first day of the week. Acts 20:7—Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. They met together to break the bread which represented the body of Christ. They did this in remembrance of Him, to stir up the memory of the sacrifice of our Lord. It tells us in Colossians to not let any man hold over our heads that any day of the week is above another. Colossians 2:16-17—16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Paul says again in Romans the same thing. Romans 14:5-6—5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. Justin Martyr, in chapter LXVII of his First Apology, wrote that we should come together to remember our Lord on the first day of the week:

 

On the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given…

Ignatius in Chapter IX of his “Letter to the Magnesians”, said,

 

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death—whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master—how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead.

[…]

The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, “He will come and save us.” Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. 

Numbers 15:37-41—37 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 38 "Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. 39 And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40 and that you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God." The tassels (צׅיצׅת, tzitzith) on the borders (פָנָף, kanaph) were to be made on the four corners of their garments. These were to remind the people of the commandments that God had given them that they may be set apart from their neighboring nations and be seen as holy to God. By the time Jesus came, however, those who wanted to appear more righteous that others had forgotten that principle, and made their tzitzith (κράσπεδον, kraspedon in the Greek) larger and larger so they might appear more righteous to the people. Matthew 23:5—“But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders [κράσπεδον, kraspedon or פָנָף, kanaph] of their garments.” They did not want to be seen as simply holy, they wanted to appear to be super-holy. It wasn’t that they wanted to look at their tassels, rather they wanted others to see their tassels and be impressed. 

Here is a neat little note about the borders of the garments. In Hebrew, the word “borders” (פָנָף, kanaph) can also mean “wings”. The woman with an issue of blood in Matthew 9:20, Mark 5:25 and Luke 8:43 though within herself, “If only I could touch His garment, I will be made well”. And in Matthew 9:20 we see that she did indeed touch the hem, or border, of His garment. Why is all of this so significant? In Malachi 4:2, the prophet says But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. Malachi was not talking about wings like a bird. He was talking about the פָנָף (kanaph) of the garment of the Sun of Righteousness, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. So she was really thinking, “This is the Sun of Righteousness foretold by the prophet Malachi. And in the borders (“wings”) of His garment there is healing! If I could only touch it, I will be healed of this dread condition that no physician could help me with, but this Jesus, the Great Physician, can heal me completely!” Let us all reach out to touch, not only the hem of Christ’s garment, but Christ Himself. He is our Lord and Savior, our God in the flesh, who tabernacled with man for 33 years, and who shed His blood as the sign of the New Covenant. Let us not look to a certain day of the week as our Sabbath rest, but rather to our true Sabbath rest, who has taken our burdens upon Himself and has given us His burden yoke, which are easy and are light. 

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

Ignatius on The Sabbath

"If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance22 of the Lord’s Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death — whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master — how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, being come, raised them from the dead"

"The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and Saviour, saying, “He will come and save us.” Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for “he that does not work, let him not eat.” For say the [holy] oracles, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.” But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them."

--Ignatius, "Epistle to the Magnesians", Chapter IX

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Leviticus 24-25 (Part 1)

OK, so now we come to Leviticus 24. Almost to the end of this part of the journey. Just three more chapters left after this, and then we get to Numbers.

Leviticus 24:1-9 (NASB)—1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “2 Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. 3 Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. 4 He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually. 5 Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. 6 You shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the LORD. 7 You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the LORD. 8 Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before the LORD continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel. 9 It shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the LORD's offerings by fire, his portion forever.”

The oil they were to use was to be from beaten olives—not pressed as the NKJV says, which is why I chose the NASB for this chapter (the KJV and ESV also supply the correct term). And notice who was to bring it. In verse 2, it says the people are to bring this oil, “clear oil of beaten olives.” Messrs. Spence and Exell—

“The ordinance on the lamps contained in the first three verses is repeated from Exodus 27:20. The oil to be used for the lamps was to be pure oil olive, that is, oil made of picked berries, without any intermixture of dust or twigs; and it was to be beaten instead of ‘pressed,’ because when the berries were crushed in the olive-press, small portions of them became mixed with and discoloured the oil, which was, therefore, less pure than when the fruit was simply beaten and then left to drain.”

The lampstand was to never run dry of oil; the lamp was to be burning continually.

The פָּנִים (paniym, showbread) was meant to be consumed only by those men who worked within the temple. After all, killing and slicing and butchering and burning animals for hours on end can cause a man to work up a hunger. And yet the high priest Ahimelech gave it to David his men 1st Samuel 21:1-6 (NASB)—1 Then David came to Nob to Ahimelech the priest; and Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, "Why are you alone and no one with you?" 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, "The king has commissioned me with a matter and has said to me, 'Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you and with which I have commissioned you; and I have directed the young men to a certain place.' 3 Now therefore, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever can be found." 4 The priest answered David and said, "There is no ordinary bread on hand, but there is consecrated bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women." 5 David answered the priest and said to him, "Surely women have been kept from us as previously when I set out and the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was an ordinary journey; how much more then today will their vessels be holy?" 6 So the priest gave him consecrated bread; for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence which was removed from before the LORD, in order to put hot bread in its place when it was taken away. Wasn’t this an offense to God? Shouldn’t they all have been struck down for such a rebellion against God’s commands? We would think so. And yet here, again, we see the mercy of God. Listen to what God has to say when he is walking through the grain fields with His disciples and the Pharisees in Matthew 12:3-7 (NASB)—3 But He said to them, “David…when he became hungry, he and his companions…4 entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone...7 [know] what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice'…”

Does God need bread? Does God get hungry, does He need to eat? No. Besides, the Levites and priests had the meat and bread from the sacrifices to eat if they got hungry. But such is the short-sightedness of men when trying to understand the Law of God. Man thinks this Law is here to show him how to be righteous. And yet this Law is rather meant to show man the mercy of God. For this Law was embodied in Christ. This Christ would exposit the words of Isaiah, which the prophet spoke of Him (Isaiah 42:1-4), in Matthew 12:18-21 (NASB)—“18 ‘Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen; My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased; I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel, nor cry out; nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20 A battered reed He will not break off, and a smoldering wick He will not put out, until He leads justice to victory. 21 And in His name the Gentiles will hope.’” So then, it is not the keeping of every jot and tittle of the Law—at the expense of mercy and compassion—that God desires. But it is looking upon one another with pity, looking for ways to do good in the name of YHVH. And it is not the keeping of the showbread for the priests and Levites that God desires—but the sharing of that bread with those servants of God who do His will.

Now, the פָּנִים (paniym, showbread) was to be laid out in two rows of six—this was obviously meant to represent the twelve tribes of Israel. And where you see that “You shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to the LORD” (Leviticus 24:7 NASB), this does not mean that the incense was to be sprinkled over the bread. Rather, there were two bowls which were placed next to each row of loaves. Question: Why? What purpose did these bowls of incense serve? Well, to answer that question, we have to ask another one: What happened to the old loaves? What was done with any bread that was left over? Did they just hand it out and have a feast on it? Was it taken outside the camp and dumped? No; actually the bread that was left was burned upon the later with the incense. And this was not done in just any fashion—there was an order to it. John Gill on Leviticus 24:8—

“The priest or priests then ministering, [would] bring new cakes and place them in the above order, having removed the old ones, which was done in this manner; four priests went in, two had in their hands the two rows (of bread), and two had in their hands two cups (of frankincense); four went before these, two to take away the two rows (of the old bread), and two to take away the two cups (of frankincense); and they that carried in stood in the north, and their faces to the south and they that brought out stood in the south, and their faces to the north; these drew away (the old bread) and they put them (the new), and the hand of the one was over against the hand of the other, as it is said, "before me continually", Exodus 25:30; that is, at the same time the hands of the one were employed in taking away, the hands of the other were employed in setting on; so that there was always bread upon the table”

As Paul said, All things must be done properly and in an orderly manner (1st Corinthians 14:40 NASB).

Now, another thing—this showbread was to be brought into the Most Holy Place on the Sabbath day of every week. “But wait a minute—didn’t God say that no work was to be done on the Sabbath? Won’t we read a passage in Numbers that tells of a man being stoned for picking up a pile of sticks on the Sabbath (Numbers 15:32-36)? And wouldn’t this bringing in and taking out of bread be considered ‘work’””? Jesus Christ our Lord seemed to say as much, when He said in Matthew 12:5—“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent?” Not only did they do work in the tabernacle by bringing in the new showbread and burning the old, but they also had to kill not one, but two lambs on every Sabbath morning and two every Sabbath evening (see Numbers 28:9).

Here’s the thing—If God commands that something be done on the Sabbath, He is well within His rights to do so. After all, we see Jesus saying as much after he healed a man on the Sabbath (a different man from the one mentioned in Matthew 12). We find Him saying in John 7:22-24 (NASB)—“21 I did one deed, and you all marvel. 22 For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” If a man was born on the Sabbath, and he must be circumcised on his eight day of life—which would be the following Sabbath—then one of the two commands must be kept, and the other broken. He must either be circumcised on the Sabbath, or he must be circumcised on a day other than his eighth day of life. But because God desires mercy rather than a sacrifice (Hosea 6:6; quoted by Christ in Matthew 12:7), He will not have us to be cold and unfeeling toward others simply to keep a set of rules and ordinances. This attitude is summed up in the words of James 1:26-27 (NASB)—26 If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world. It is not the keeping of a Sabbath that shows a man to be righteous. It is not the outward, exterior things that declare a man to be righteous, but the heart of a man who looks with compassion and mercy on others is the righteous man. Granted, these things do not make the man righteous, rather, they announce to the world around him that he is righteous.

So we have light in the tabernacle, and we have bread in the tabernacle. And we also have a Lord who said of Himself, “I AM the Bread of Life” and “I AM the Light of the World” (John 6:35; John 8:12). Have I mentioned before that all the things contained in the tabernacle—including the tent itself—pointed to Christ? The lampstand was the only source of light inside of that otherwise pitch-dark tent. What—or, rather, Who—is the only light that brings life to otherwise dark, dead men? John 1:4 (NASB)—In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The showbread was the only food allowed inside the tent. What—or, rather, Who—is the only nourishment for otherwise hungry, starving souls in need of spiritual nourishment? John 6:32-35 (NASB)—“32 Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world…35 I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” Simon Peter confessed this very fact in John 6:68 (NASB)—“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”  The editors of the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary interpret Peter’s words thus—

“We cannot deny that we have been staggered as well as they, and seeing so many go away who, as we thought, might have been retained by teaching a little less hard to take in, our own endurance has been severely tried, nor have we been able to stop short of the question, Shall we follow the rest, and give it up? But when it came to this, our light returned, and our hearts were reassured. For as soon as we thought of going away, there arose upon us that awful question, ‘TO WHOM shall we go?’ To the lifeless formalism and wretched traditions of the elders? to the gods many and lords many of the heathen around us? Or to blank unbelief? Nay, Lord, we are shut up. They have none of that ‘ETERNAL LIFE’ to offer us whereof Thou hast been discoursing, in words rich and ravishing as well as in words staggering to human wisdom. That life we cannot want; that life we have learnt to crave as a necessity of the deeper nature which Thou hast awakened: ‘the words of that eternal life’ (the authority to reveal it and the power to confer it). Thou hast: Therefore will we stay with Thee - we must.”

 

Part 2 next week

Jesus Christ is Lord.

Amen.

A Survey of the Old Testament Law--Exodus

Introduction--Part 1
Introduction--Part 2
Arrival at Sinai
"You shall have no other gods before Me"
"You shall not make a graven image to bow down to it"
"I am a jealous God"
The myth of the "Generational Curse"
"You shall not take My name in vain"
Jesus as the "I AM"
Taking God's name in vain (Part 3)
Making oaths in God's name
"Remember the Sabbath" (Part 1)
"Remember the Sabbath" (Part 2)
"Honor your father and mother"
"You shall not murder"
"You shall not commit adultery"
"You shall not steal" (Part 1)
"You shall not steal" (Part 2)
"You shall not bear false witness"
"You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor's"
"God has come to test you, that you may fear Him"
Treatment of slaves
Statutes concerning murder
Statutes concerning fornication, sorcery, bestiality, and usury
Treatment of Widows and Orphans
Statutes concerning idolatry, obeying authority, perjury
"You shall keep the feast of Passover" (part 1)
"You Shall Keep the Passover" (Part 2)
"You Shall Keep the Passover" (Part 3)
Bear your neighbor's burdens; let your land lay fallow; I send My Angel before you
The First Covenant (part 1)
The First Covenant (part 2)
The First Covenant (part 3)
The Tabernacle, The Priestly Garments
Replicas of the Tabernacle and the Priestly Garments
Consecrating Aaron and His Sons (part 1)
Consecrating Aaron and His Sons (part 2)
Consecrating Aaron and His Sons (part 3)
Ransom Money, Incense, Anointing Oil
The Calling of Bezalel and Aholiab
Picturing the Tabernacle
The Sign of the Sabbath
Aaron's Golden Calf
The Golden Calf (epilogue)
Two New Stones, The Sins of the High Priest
Finishing Exodus

A Survey of the Old testament Law--The Sign of the Sabbath

This week we will look at the final portion of the old covenant that God spoke to Moses. The terms of the old covenant are contained in the portion of Scripture that starts at Exodus 20:1 and runs through Exodus 31:17. The final command given to the people was the sign or pledge or token of this old covenant. That sign or token or pledge was the seventh-day sabbath. If you recall way back in Exodus 24, we talked about how covenants were ratified, always by blood. But there was also always a sign or pledge that both sides would fulfill their part of the bargain. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah, that God would never again destroy all life on the planet with water. God put a rainbow in the sky as a token of His faithfulness. In the covenant that God made with Abraham, God gave the sign of circumcision. And under the covenant that He is making with the nation of Israel, God gives the sign of the seventh-day sabbath.

Exodus 31:12-17—12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'" 

Out of all of the Ten Commandments, the keeping of the sabbath is the one that is the most widely debated. Are Christians bound by the sabbath? If so, do we keep it on Saturday or on Sunday? Well, the short answer is this: the church, under the new covenant, is NOT bound by ANY sabbath—neither Saturday nor Sunday. Phrases like “Sunday Sabbath” or “Christian Sabbath” are really not appropriate. The true Sabbath is not a day of the week. The true sabbath is eternal rest in Christ.

Should we come together as a body to hear the word and to partake in the worship of God? Absolutely. Hebrews 10:24-25—24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. But keeping the sabbath on any day of the week is not part of the new covenant. And there are two very simple reasons. ONE—God says in Exodus 31:17 that the sabbath is what? “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.” This was the sign of the old covenant. God tells Israel, “Keep My sabbaths, and I shall be your God and you shall be My people.” The sabbath was not enforced on any Gentile nation. It was a sign between God and Israel. There is an interesting little passage in the book of Nehemiah chapter 10. The people have come back from the Babylonian captivity, they have rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, and the people sign a decree that they will separate themselves from the pagan nations around them. And we find the following language in this decree, in Nehemiah 10:31—If the peoples of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day. Did this decree say that the Israelites, if they found a foreigner selling grain or wares on the sabbath, would put that person to death? No. It said they would not buy from the peoples of the land on the sabbath. What does that tell us about the sabbath? It was between God and whom? It was between God and Israel. It was not binding on any Gentile nation—never was, never has been.

Another point I want to make is this: when we think of all the ordinances and rituals and offerings and sacrifices that we find throughout the old covenant, they are all, for the most part, “Work, work, work; do, do, do.” However, the commands concerning the sabbath are what? “Don’t work; don’t do.” Contrary to what many legalistic, sabbath-keeping groups demand of their followers, the commands concerning the sabbath were not meant to be a yoke upon the neck of the people. If it was, then we would not see the many confrontations between Christ and the Pharisees over sabbath-keeping. And we will see one of these confrontations if we turn to Matthew 12:1-8—1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7 But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath." 

In this passage, did Jesus encourage His disciples to sin by working on the sabbath? Well, if He did, then He was partaking in that sin--yet the Scriptures declare Christ to be sinless. So no, they were not working on the sabbath. They were picking a few heads of grain and eating them to ease their hunger—which they were allowed to do under the Law (Deuteronomy 23:24-25). But the Pharisees had turned that into work. John MacArthur—“In picking and rolling and rubbing and discarding, they had been reaping, threshing, sifting, grinding, winnowing and preparing food.” All by picking a few heads of grain and rolling them in their hands and eating them.

Now, we find a dire warning for those who break the Sabbath, we find it in Exodus 31:14—“Everyone who profanes [the sabbath] shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it…shall be cut off.” How does Jesus describe what the priests did in the temple on the sabbath? Matthew 12:5—“On the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless.” The priests in the temple “profane the sabbath.” Then look at what He says in Matthew 12:7-8—“But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” First, He refers to the actions of His disciples as ‘guiltless.’ But He also explains, from the prophet Hosea, that it is not the keeping of the strictest letter of the Law that God desires, but for men to know God, and that God is a merciful God. A little later on He gets into a discussion about how these men would pull out their neighbor’s goat out if it fell into a pit on the Sabbath. He also reminds them that, in order that the Law not be broken, they would circumcise their male children on a Sabbath if must needs be.

Now, let's remember one thing: when Jesus walked the earth, were the Israelites still under the old covenant? Yes. Were animals still being killed, cut up and burned, their blood being poured out around the altar and sprinkled and smeared all over the temple? Yes. Was the Torah still being taught? Yes. Were the people of Israel still being commanded to keep the sabbath? Yes. BUT here’s the thing, and the second main point I want to make—the Pharisees had taken the sabbath and changed it from a day of rest to a day of work. What I mean is this: it was harder for people to keep the sabbath than it was to not keep the sabbath. They had to spend all day, every waking moment of every sabbath day (keep in mind, they did not refer to it as “Saturday”) worrying about whether or not they were breaking the sabbath! “Oh no! I picked up my mixing bowl up off the floor! Did I just break the sabbath?” There were literally hundreds of volumes of books being written by the rabbis about what counted as ‘work.’

In fact, according to one book I found, even today many “traditional” Jews will not drive a car on the sabbath. Want to know why? Spark plugs. “Turning a key in a car sets the ignition on—which creates a spark—a fire. Not the kind of fire of banging two stones together, but a fire nevertheless—a human being creating when God commands that he rest from all creative acts. Granted, some of these (forbidden activities) are so routine and ordinary, with no ‘work’ involved, and don’t seem to involve any genuine creative efforts, but that is the challenge of observing the Shabbat to the letter of the Law.” (From a discussion at AskMoses.com, quoted in Brown, Michael L., 60 Questions Christians Ask About Jewish Beliefs and Practices, ch. 15). In fact, this is a misapplication of Exodus 35:4—“You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” So unless they're firing up their Buick in their living room, they're OK. Now we read that and we say “Oh, how silly!” But it’s really not any sillier than people who want to teach that the sabbath is still binding on the church under the new covenant. Because it’s not. Especially the “Saturday” sabbath, which is a misnomer because the Jews don’t use the term “Saturday.” They call it “Shabbat.” 

The point is this—when Jesus refers to Himself as “Lord of the sabbath,” He is telling these Jews, who are still teaching the Law, still keeping the sabbath, that HE is the one to whom the seventh day was dedicated. HE is the one who says what can and what can't be done on the sabbath. To them, that was blasphemy. In a parallel passage to this, He says in Mark 2:27-28—27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." The Pharisees had gotten it all backwards. They were teaching that man was the servant of the sabbath, when the truth was that the sabbath was the servant of man. Just like Paul said in Galatians 3:24-25—24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. The law was a servant to point the way to Christ. But now that Christ has come, that servant has been fired (so to speak).

The sabbath was not meant to stir people up to anxiety—it was meant to give them rest. From the first day through the sixth day (which was how they refer to what we call “Sunday through Friday”), it was “work, work, work; do, do, do.” But the seventh day was “stop working and stop doing.” Exodus 31:15—“Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD.” Remember that phrase “Sabbath of rest.” It’s going to be very important. Because now we are going to see the next reason why the sabbath is not binding on the church—that is, that Christ is our sabbath; He is our rest. Hebrews 4:1-3—1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. First, let’s put this in context. The book of Hebrews is a commentary on the Law. Is all Scripture given by God? Yes. So, not only is the book of Hebrews a commentary on the Law, it is, in all actuality, GOD’S commentary on HIS OWN Law. It was written by a Hebrew to Hebrews. The people he was writing to would have had a pretty good knowledge of the Old Testament. Now when we read Hebrews 4:3—For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,'" we see the word ‘rest’ used twice, and having two very different meanings. What is the first ‘rest’ he is talking about? Resting in Christ. Matthew 11:28—“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” What is the second ‘rest’? When Joshua led the people of Israel into the land of Canaan—the “Promised Land,” the ‘rest’ the Israelites were looking forward to. Now, who was it that would not enter into that ‘rest’? It was all those who rebelled in the wilderness (see Numbers 14:1-35), because of whom the people had to wander the desert for 40 years. Those who rebelled did not enter into the ‘rest’ they were looking to. 

Hebrews 4:4-5 hold the key to this whole issue of the sabbath. Hebrews 4:4-5—4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest." Many times when you read the book of Hebrews you will find passages that say something along the lines of “God has said in a certain place [this], and in another place, [this], and again He says [that].” He does that all through the entire first chapter (Hebrews 1:1-14). And what he’s doing is stringing passages of Scripture together to make a single point. And the point he is making here is that both of these ‘rests’—God resting on the seventh day (the basis for the seventh-day sabbath) and the people resting when they entered Canaan—these were both simply types and shadows of the rest that Christ would bring. God rested on the seventh day, but did He stop working altogether? No. John 5:16-17—16 The Jews…sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." So even after God rested on the seventh day, He did not stop working. He was working even while Jesus walked the earth; He is still working now! The people of Israel looked forward to that day when they would enter Canaan as their promised rest. But did they really ever rest? No. They were always fighting pagan nations and even amongst themselves. Obtaining a piece of land did not give them rest.

BUT—the rest that we have in Christ is the true sabbath, and we see that in Hebrews 4:8-10—8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. If you have a KJV, verse 8 is not correctly translated. It should say If Joshua had given them rest, not If Jesus had given them rest. Through the first eight verses, the Greek word translated ‘rest’ has been the generic Greek word for ‘rest.’ BUT! There is another Greek word that literally means ‘sabbath.’ That is the word σάββατον (sabbaton). And in Hebrews 4:9, where it says There remains therefore a rest for the people of God, the word translated ‘rest’ is the Greek word σάββατισμός (sabbatismos). There remains a σάββατισμός (sabbatismos) for the people of God. That word literally means “a keeping of the sabbath.” What does that mean for us? It means we don’t look at one day out of the week as our sabbath—we look to Heaven as our sabbath.

True rest comes on that day when Christ Jesus welcomes us into His kingdom. Revelation 14:13—13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them." So if we are looking to Heaven and the rest that Christ has promised us, guess what we do every single day of the week? We keep the sabbath! By doing that, we remember the Sabbath and keep it holy! Keep in mind, the point the writer keeps making throughout the entire book of Hebrews is how Christ is so much greater than the Law. And if Christ is greater than the Law, then the rest He gives is far greater than a day of the week. That is why Paul tells us in Colossians 2:16-17—16 Let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. The seventh-day sabbath was a shadow of the true ‘rest’, the true sabbath that we look forward to by faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I really think one reason God took the sabbath so seriously is because it was a gift He gave them. In Exodus 16 we see God giving the people manna. The command was that on the sixth day they were to gather up enough for two days because He would not give them any on the seventh. Exodus 16:27-29—27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." In verse 29 God says “The LORD has given you the sabbath.” What happened to those who rejected the gift of the sabbath? They found no food. What happened to them under the Law? They died. Christ is our sabbath; He is our rest from our own works. What happens to those who reject the gift of rest that is found in Christ? Eternal death. Those who rejected the gift of the sabbath under the old covenant were cut off physically; those who reject the gift of the sabbath that is Christ under the new covenant are cut off spiritually, eternally. Hmmm…I think there is a parallel there.

We could go on, literally for months. But the fact is simple—the church, under the new covenant, is not bound by a Sabbath. Saturday, Sunday, doesn’t matter. Should we take one day and rest, and be refreshed, and come together as a body to worship God together? Absolutely. But there is no such thing as a “Christian Sabbath.” Christ is the fulfillment of the command concerning the Sabbath. And we are to remember Him and keep Him sanctified in our hearts, and be looking forward to our eternal Sabbath rest which comes from Him.

Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.