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The Sabbath
All scripture is from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Before beginning this study, I suggest you pray and ask God to guide you through this study. I also suggest that you do your own study of this material in order to ensure its accuracy.
What is the Sabbath and should we keep it today? Is Sunday the Sabbath? This study will focus on what the Word says about the Sabbath and will answer the preceding questions.
What is the definition of the word, sabbath? This is the most thorough English definition I have available:
sab·bath \ 'sabəth \ n -s often attributive [ME sabath, sabat, from Old French sabat, sabbat & OE sabat, from Latin sabbatum, from Gk sabbaton, from Heb shabbth, from shbath to rest]
1 often cap. a (1) also sabbath day [ME sabat day, from sabat sabbath + day] : the day of rest and solemn assembly observed as sacred to God by Jews and some Christian churches on the seventh day of the week from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday <six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work -- Deut 5:13-14 (Authorized Version)> (2) : some other Scriptural period (as the sabbatical year) of solemn rest or cessation from usual activity <the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be for you ... a sabbath of solemn rest -- Lev 23:27-32 (Revised Standard Version)> <six years shall you sow in your field ... but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land -- Lev 25:3-4 (Revised Standard Version)> b also sabbath day : the day of rest and public worship observed on Sunday by most Christian churches in commemoration of the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week; specifically : the Lord's Day observed strictly as a day of solemn rest and devotion continuing the Old Testament Sabbath c : the day of the week regularly set aside by some other religion for public observances <although it was Friday, the Moslem Sabbath, people were at work -- Francis Ofner>
2 often cap. : a time of rest or repose : a cessation of effort, pain, or care
3 sometimes cap. : SABBAT
Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged
copyright © 1969 by G. & C. Merriam Co.The Hebrew is shabbath, (shah-baht') which is Strong's 7676:
Strong's:
7676. shabbath, shab-bawth'; intensive from 7673; intermission, i.e. (specifically) the Sabbath.
7673. shabath, shaw-bath'; a primary root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causatively, figuratively. or specifically).
Brown-Driver-Briggs:
7676
שׁבּת shâbbath7673
שׁבת shabâthThe Greek is sabbaton, (sahb'-bah-tahn) which is Strong's 4521:
Strong's:
4521. sabbaton, sab'-bat-on; of Hebrew or [7676]; the Sabbath (i.e. Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself); by extension a sennight [an archaic word meaning seven nights or a week], i.e. the interval between two Sabbaths; likewise the plural in all the above applications.
Thayer:
4521
1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the
Israelites were required to abstain from all work
Sabbath has many meanings. The most common meaning is the Sabbath Day, which God created when He rested (Strong's 7673) from His labors of creation. God was not tired and needing a rest. The word simply meant that God stopped or ceased from the activity of creation. The Sabbath was observed upon the seventh day of each week because God rested on the seventh day. It was simply a day of rest from labor. No labor of any kind was to be performed on the Sabbath. When in the wilderness, the people were forbidden to gather manna on the Sabbath and were to remain in their own locality on that day. There is no mention of worship on the Sabbath at that time. There is no mention of worship in the Fourth Commandment either. In fact, there is no mention of an assembly on the Sabbath until the explanation of the feast days in Leviticus 23:2-3: "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. {3} 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." Then there was a holy convocation on the Sabbath. Psalm 92 tells us that a praise service took place on the Sabbath. A holy convocation necessarily entails praise and worship.
After the Babylonian Captivity, the synagogue (meaning assembly) system came into its prime. Some say this started with Moses, but worship away from the Tabernacle was not allowed because it usually was mixed with paganism. The synagogue system began after the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians. That system changed the worship practices on the Sabbath. Worship no longer solely took place at the Temple. Worship assemblies took place on the Sabbath Day in local synagogues where the Word was read and explained, praises were conducted, and homilies were spoken—much like our church services of today.
Early Christians, especially Jewish converts, continued to meet in assemblies on the Sabbath Day. On the evening of the day of Christ's resurrection, the disciples assembled together . This was the first assembly on Sunday. They were in fear and Jesus came among them and gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:19-32). Acts 20:7 tells us that at least one Gentile church, the church at Troas (Troy) met on the first day of the week to break bread. Breaking bread means that they observed Holy Communion on that day. Paul preached to them on the first day of the week at that assembly.
Some believe that Constantine instituted Sunday worship. He did in his State Church, but as we see from scripture, at least some local assemblies met on Sunday for worship starting on the actual day that Jesus rose from the dead. The point is, even though Constantine officially establish Sunday as the Christian Sabbath, the early church met on Sundays long before Constantine's day. That is a fact established by the scripture.
We are told by John the Revelator that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Many interpret this to mean on Sunday. I do not interpret it that way at all. See Revelation Segment 2 for my take on the subject.
Some theologians tell us that the Sabbath is on Saturday for the "Jews" and Sunday for Christians. The problem with theology is that it is man's study of God ("theos"-God, and "logia"-science or study) and therefore is very fallible. It is not God's study of God. The Bible is God's study of God. Theology comes from man. Theology is not taught by the Bible, but by a book on Theology. So study theology with a grain of salt. Test it against God's Word. If it passes, OK, but if it fails, discard the failed teaching. This teaching is not scriptural, but man-made. This is the so-called Sabbath that Constantine invented—the one that says Sunday is the Sabbath. Let me declare unequivocally that Sunday is NOT the Sabbath. The Word never states this and therefore I do not accept that Sunday is the Sabbath, no matter what Emperor Constantine said nor what the Roman Church says.
Let's observe the very first Sabbath in God's Word:
(Gen 2:1) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
God had just finished the six day creation.
(Gen 2:2) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
God created for six days and rested on the seventh. The word for "rested" is shabath, which means, in this case, to cease. He wasn't tired for He never tires. He is all-powerful or omnipotent. He does not need rest like we do. See Psalm 121:4.
(Gen 2:3) And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
He made the day blessed and he set it apart. Sanctified is the Hebrew word, qadash, Strong's 6942, meaning to be, cause, make, observe, or pronounce clean. It is closely related to the word qodesh, Strong's 6944, which means sanctified or holy. As an example, the Hebrew for Holy Spirit is ruach qodesh רוח קדשׁו (literally Spirit Holy).
God caused the Sabbath to be clean. He did so to commemorate His finishing the six day creation. God saw that his creation was very good so he rested from creating and sanctified the day He rested. In fact, the primary root of the word shabbath is shabat, Strong's 7673, which means cease or rest.
Now let us look at the law, specifically the fourth commandment:
(Exo 20:8) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
The spirit of this law is the remembrance of the day God ceased his creative work, which He set apart from the other six days. The spirit of the law is its most important attribute. The spirit of the law is the reason a law is passed. For example, the law requiring that children be restrained while in a car by a seatbelt or child restraint was passed because of its spirit. That spirit is to protect children in the event of a car crash. There could be several ways that law could work. One is to forbid all children from riding in a car. That is impractical. Another way could be to require that children wear a suit that would protect them from crashes. That is either impractical or impossible or both. The required way is to have them buckled up in a seatbelt or child restraint. In this case, the means to keep the spirit of the law is to keep the letter of the law. That is, the letter of the law is the requirement of the law to restrain children in seatbelts or child restraints. The letter of the law enforces the spirit of the law.
If we were to violate the letter of the law and yet keep its spirit, then the law is still kept. For example, the Federal law on Interstate Highways is that no pedestrians are allowed. The spirit of that law is to protect the lives of innocent people. Let us say that a toddler gets away from its mother and wanders out onto an Interstate Highway and a man sees the toddler on that highway. The man runs out into the highway and rescues the child. The man would have broken the letter of the law, which states the no pedestrians are allowed on the highway. But the spirit of the law, which is to protect lives, would have been maintained. The violation of the letter of the law would have been abrogated by the conformity to the spirit of the law. That is, even though the letter of the law would have been broken, there would have been no violation of the law because the spirit of the law would have been kept. Though a citation for violation of the letter of that law might be written, it would probably be thrown out of court because the spirit of the law was kept.
The spirit of the Fourth Commandment is rest or cessation from labor. The letter of the commandment is to rest on the seventh day of the week.
(Exo 20:9) Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work.
What is work? The religious leaders of Jesus' day defined many things as work and were therefore not allowed on the Sabbath. They had lists of activities they considered to be work. For example, they scolded Christ for healing on the Sabbath, and they scolded the disciples for picking a few heads of grain and eating them. The Hebrew word for work means our occupational work. The work of a potter is to pot. The work of a farmer is to farm. The work of a smith is to fabricate. The Sabbath is a day to rest from our occupations. Pharisaical rules expanded this definition to mean as simple a thing as tying one's shoe or stripping a few grains of wheat from a stalk and eating them. The Pharisees provided a long list of things considered to be work that were not work. In fact they had thirty-nine categories of work. They took God's provision for rest from labor and turned it into a laborious task of following their rules and regulations on the Sabbath. Under that system the spirit of the commandment was violated and therefore the law itself was violated.
(Exo 20:10) But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
The verse literally says, "The seventh day is the rest of Yehovah." God rested or ceased from His work on the seventh day. The Sabbath was to be observed in celebration of the completion of God's creation. No one was to conduct business on the Sabbath even including beasts of burden. Everyone was to take a break.
(Exo 20:11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
The Sabbath was also a remembrance of God's six days of Creation. Men were to rest from work on the Sabbath and reflect on God. Praise and worship are a way to reflect on God. Study of the scriptures is another way to reflect on God. The Sabbath was for rest, reflection, and worship. This was the weekly Sabbath.
There are other types of Sabbaths besides the weekly Sabbath. Let's examine a few:
(Lev 16:29-31) And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: {30} For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. {31} It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.
On the tenth of Tishri, annually, is the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur. This day, even if it falls on a day other than the seventh day, is a Sabbath. When this day fell on a weekday, there were two Sabbaths that week.
(Lev 23:24) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation.
The Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah (prince of the year or New Year) is a Sabbath. It occurs on 1 Tishri, regardless of the day of the week.
(Lev 23:34-36) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, The fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the LORD. {35} On the first day shall be an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. {36} Seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a solemn assembly; and ye shall do no servile work therein.
The Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkot begins with a Sabbath and ends with one, even when they do not fall on Saturday. It runs from Tishri 15 to Tishri 21 and ends with a Sacred Assembly on Tishri 22.
(Lev 23:5-8) In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. {6} And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. {7} In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein. {8} But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation: ye shall do no servile work therein.
The fourteenth of Nissan is Passover or Pesach. From the fifteenth until the twenty-first of Nissan is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is still part of Passover. The fourteenth is a Sabbath as is the twenty-first, regardless of what day of the week they fall on. Today, Jesus is our Pesach (1 Cor. 5:7).
There are also the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee.
(Lev 25:2-5) Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto the LORD. {3} Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruit thereof; {4} But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. {5} That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.
The Sabbath Year is a period of rest for the land. No crops are planted and no husbandry is done. The fields lie fallow. No harvest is taken and no gathering of food from the fallow fields is allowed. God would provide enough grain during the six years to provide for the seventh year. Note that the Sabbath year was never observed until the Captivity. The reason the captivity lasted seventy years was to make up for the seventy Sabbath years the Israelites never observed. See Leviticus 26:35 and 2 Chronicles 36:21.
(Lev 25:10-11) And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. {11} A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
Jubilee is a transliteration of the Hebrew word (yobel) that means to blow the trumpets. Yobel itself is the old Hebrew word for shofar, the ram's horn. At the Jubilee both the silver trumpets and the ram's horns were blown continously. The priests and the people all blew ram's horns; the Tabernacle or Temple trumpeters blew the silver trumpets. Israel never fully celebrated her Jubilees nor did she observe her Sabbath Years. And she still did not allow her lands to lie fallow, even for Jubilee. Modern Israel recently celebrated her fiftieth year since she became a nation in May 1948 AD. It was her first Jubilee since her reestablishment.
Now for the most important Sabbath of them all:
(Heb 4:9-11) There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. {10} For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. {11} Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
The writer is making that point that Jesus has provided our rest. Read Hebrews 3:1 through 4:16 to get the better understanding. There is not room here to go through both chapters. The word here for rest is sabbatismos which means "sabbath-rest". Jesus Christ has provided our Sabbath rest because of the work He did on the cross. Our Sabbath rest is eternity with God. Without Jesus' work at Calvary, we would have no Sabbath rest. Therefore Jesus is our Sabbath rest.
With Jesus, the spirit of the fourth commandment is fulfilled. God provided the Sabbath so we can rest. The ultimate rest, of which the Old Covenant Sabbath is a type or shadow, is our eternity with Christ. Christ fulfilled that type. Since He fulfilled it, we only need Him. Since Jesus fulfilled it, we no longer need to observe the Sabbath as provided in the Law.
(Heb 4:14-15) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. {15} For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus is our high priest officiating over our Sabbath rest. Let us put our trust in Him and not in the Law, which is unable to save us (Romans 3:20-21).
The following scripture sums it all up for us.
(Col 2:13-15) And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; {14} Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; {15} And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Jesus has given us eternal life, forgiven our sins, and disarmed our enemies. He has blotted out the ordinances and we are no longer obligated by them. What ordinances? Any law having anything to do with works toward salvation. These include the Sabbath and all of the feasts and sabbaths associated with them such as Passover, Trumpets, Unleavened Bread, Tabernacles, Pentecost, Purim, and all of the blood ordinances.
(Col 2:16-17) Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ
Because he has forgiven our sins, given us eternal life, blotted out the ordinances, taken them out of the way, and nailed them to the cross, we are no longer obligated to observe the food laws, the feasts, the new moon celebrations, or the sabbaths.
Jesus nailed to the cross all of the food laws, holy days, new moons, and the sabbath days. The word 'days' has been added; it is not in the original. Paul used the word sabbaton, which is the Sabbath itself. We need not worry about keeping them because Jesus has become them. By our belief in Him we are observing all of these things.
4521. sabbaton, sab'-bat-on; of Heb. or [H7676]; the Sabbath (i.e. Shabbath), or day of weekly repose from secular avocations (also the observance or institution itself).
I said in the beginning that the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week has not been changed. It has not. It has been done away with. It was but a foreshadowing of Christ. Sunday is NOT the Sabbath for Christians. Jesus is the Sabbath for Christians.
Sunday is the day most churches celebrate Jesus. It is OK to worship on any day of the week and we are not limited to a specific day or number of days to assemble for worship. We may assemble and worship on any day of the week. We should not forsake this assembling together. It should be done regularly. We should still gather together for praise, worship, and Bible study, but the day is not important:
(Heb 10:24-25) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: {25} Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
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