What is the Sabbath?

Let us discuss the Fourth Commandment, Exodus 20:8, “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” What is the Sabbath? The word, sabbath, by itself comes from the root word, שׁבת, shabat, which according to the Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon is defined as: to cease, desist, end, or rest. The word also has the following meanings: The Sabbath (a religious observance), a sabbath (any seventh day of the week—our Saturday), a day of atonement, a week (remember this!), a sabbath year (a period of seven years), a day of cessation from work, a day of rest, the seventh day of the week, and a day set apart for a specific memorial, such as the Day of Atonement or the Passover. (Though we may explore the word ‘sabbath’ much more deeply, this is a deep enough explanation for our purposes in this essay.)

The commandment itself is more specific; it mentions the Sabbath Day. God commanded that the seventh day of the week was a day when no one would work, not a man, a woman, a child, a slave, or a beast of burden. It was in commemoration of the completion of God’s creation of the universe (the heavens and the earth) and to remember that God brought them out of slavery in Egypt. God ceased from creating or rested on the seventh day and He decreed that man would commemorate that occasion weekly on successive seventh days of the week.

What occurred on the Sabbath Day in ancient Israel? Rebecca Anderson explains:

“(T)he Sabbath was explicitly codified in the Mosaic Law, even receiving a central place in the Decalogue: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.” (Ex. 20:9-10) The keeping of the Sabbath was a sacred sign between God and Israel, a day “holy to the Lord” (Ex. 31:12-17) and violation became punishable by death (Ex. 35:2). When a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath contrary to the Lord’s command, he was stoned to death by the community (Num. 15:32-36). Thus it was clear from the very beginning that this day of rest was not to be taken lightly.

“In addition to abstaining from work during the Sabbath, the Israelites were to remember their slavery in Egypt and the Lord’s deliverance (Deut. 5:15). In the Tabernacle on this day, fresh cakes of shewbread were set in order before the Lord (Lev. 24:5-8) and a burnt offering was made consisting of two year-old unblemished male lambs and a measure of fine flour mixed with oil. This was all the ritual required of the Israelites by the Torah.”

Rebecca J. Anderson, 1994,
The Sabbath in Ancient and Modern Practice,
http://www.rj-anderson.com/docs/sabbath.html

The people rested from all labor and reflected on The Creation and on the deliverance from Egypt. The sacrifices and showbread were placed by the priests in the Holy Place on each Sabbath. The people gave the animals to sacrifice and the mixtures for the showbread and incense as a weekly offering, probably brought to the priests on weekly mornings (Exo 36:3, cf. Amos 4:4).

Thus, in ancient Israel, the Sabbath was a day of rest and reflection on what God had done. By the time of Jesus, the Synagogue system of worship was in place. The synagogue system had a ritual that included prayers, singing of hymns or psalms, readings from the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, a commentary or sermon on the scriptures, a homily, fellowship, and other activities. The Sabbath Day begins at sundown at the end of the sixth day of the week (our Friday), and ends at sundown at the end of the Sabbath Day (our Saturday).

Must Christians observe the weekly Saturday Sabbath?

The Sabbath was fulfilled by Christ. The Book of Hebrews tells us that Christ is our Sabbath rest. Therefore we are not commanded to keep a specific Sabbath Day for Christ is our Sabbath every day. Paul said, in Romans chapter fourteen that some may honor one day above another, others do not. He said let us be convinced in our own hearts whether to honor a specific day or not (Rom 14:5, 6). In Colossians chapter two, Paul said we are not required to celebrate the Sabbath day, for it was a shadow of things to come (Col 2:16, 17). The point of all this is that we do not have to worship on the Saturday Sabbath. That was an ordinance that was nailed to the cross (Col 2:14).

Reasons to worship on Sunday, the First Day of the Week.

• Jesus arose on Sunday and appeared to the disciples in the upper room that very day (John 20:1, 19)

• The church began on Pentecost, which always occurred on Sunday (Lev 23:15-16; Deut 16:9-10; Acts 2:1-47).

• The disciples came together to break bread on the first day of the week. Paul preached to them on one of those Sundays (Acts 20:7).

I believe we should worship on Sunday because the early church worshipped on Sunday. By the early church, I mean the church in the first three centuries before the edict of Constantine to worship on Sunday. How do I know that? I know it because of the writings for early church fathers in the first three centuries AD. I am going to give you four examples out of many quotes of the early church fathers.

• Didache: (the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) 90 AD “But every Lord’s day do ye gather yourselves together, and break bread,”

• Epistle of Barabbas 100 AD “We keep the eighth day [Sunday] with joyfulness, the day also on which Jesus rose again from the dead”

• Justin (First Apology of) 150 AD “And 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.”

• Tertullian (Apology) 200 AD “We solemnize the day after Saturday in contradistinction to those who call this day their Sabbath””

Are Christians required to meet on the Saturday Sabbath? No. Christians may worship on the Saturday Sabbath, but it is not a requirement. Many will say that we must worship on the Jewish Sabbath and will tell you that the writings of the early church fathers did not indicate they worshipped on Sunday, but they must twist what was written by the early church fathers in order to claim they did not worship on Sunday.

They will also dispute that the Greek in the New Testament does not actually mean the first day of the week, but again, they must jump through hoops to arrive at these conclusions. Matthew specifically states that Mary and Mary Magdelene came to the tomb where Jesus was buried early in the morning at the end of the Sabbath, on the first day of the week (Mat 28:1). In context, this use of the word σαββατων, sabbaton, actually means the Sabbath Day on the seventh day of the week. It is therefore impossible to dispute that Mary and Mary Magdelene came to the sepulcher on Sunday. The Greek word σαββατων, sabbaton, in the context of the phrase “first day of the week” (mia [mias, mian] sabbaton) means a complete seven day week and does not mean the Sabbath Day. The first day of the week is Sunday.

These Sabatarians are just like the Judaizers of Paul’s day. They are teaching a false doctrine that we must observe the Saturday Sabbath or we are heretics not worthy of salvation. That is what the Judaizers did. They insisted that in addition to our faith in Christ we must obey all of the Jewish laws and ordinances, including circumcision, or at least the Ten Commandments in order to be saved. That is the real heresy and the Sabatarians participate in that heresy.

Conclusion: there is nothing that prohibits the church from worshipping on Sunday.

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When some evangelical churches offer an invitation at the end of the service, there are several things many do today that are incompatible with the Scriptures. The ones I wish to discuss in this post are:

The sinner’s prayer

Receiving or asking or accepting Jesus into your heart

Every head bowed and every eye closed

None of those things are Biblical. These are traditions of men that are used ostensibly to “get people saved.” Nowhere in the Scriptures are we directed to “get people saved.” That is the job of God Himself through the Holy Spirit. Only God can forgive sins and save a person. No one else can do that—not the pastor, a deacon, a Bible teacher; or any other person. Only God himself can save.

In fact, that is not the job of the church. The church is to “preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim 4:2). For, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?,” Romans 10:14, which complements the Great Commission of Mat 28:19-20, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Additionally the church is to exalt the Savior and equip the saints. Above all else, we are to exalt God before any other thing we do. Then we are to equip the saints to enable them (that is, us Christians) to go out and evangelize unbelievers.

Unfortunately we have relegated evangelizing the sinner to the Sunday Morning Worship Service. We are entreated to “invite people to come to church,” so that we can “get them saved.” The method of “saving” them is the invitation to be saved. Now, I am not opposed to inviting people to publically profess Christ as their Lord. What I am advocating is that we stop practically begging people to walk the aisle and “make a decision for Christ.”

Typically this is how the invitation goes. The pastor finishes his sermon and segues into the invitation time. So far so good. Unfortunately, many times the pastor will have the congregation bow their heads and close their eyes while giving the invitation. Does this mean that we must not look in case someone is ashamed to publicly profess Christ? When I was saved, I immediately wanted everyone to know. I was not ashamed to profess Him publicly. I could barely wait for the invitation to begin before I walked the aisle to publicly profess Christ as my Lord before the assembly of believers. I certainly did not expect everyone to close their eyes before I did so.

This is usually so the speaker can coax people into “asking Jesus into their hearts,” or to have them repeat a sinner’s prayer without them feeling “uncomfortable” that others may see them when they make a move. Did Peter have the folks at Pentecost bow their heads and close their eyes, or did Paul in Athens? No. Were the people at Pentecost subdued when Peter compelled them to repent and be baptized? No. “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).

Here are the typical ways sinners are admonished “to be saved.” They are, asking Jesus into your heart, saying a sinner’s prayer, inviting Christ into your life, accepting Jesus as Savior or something similar to these. Nowhere in the Bible are we asked to accept Jesus into our heart, invite Him into our lives, or anything akin to these.

The passage in John 1:12, “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,” is rendered by some translations thus: “But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God” (NLT). Yet this does not mean that they “accepted Jesus in their heart.” It means that they received or accepted His message of salvation and believed on Him as the Son of God and as Lord and Savior. We see that from the very next verse, John 1:13, “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” Here is the entire passage:

Joh 1:10-15 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

The pastor may pray before the invitation that if there is someone in the congregation who needs Christ or who is not saved that they will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. That is certainly an acceptable prayer. Nevertheless, then the pastor may ask that anyone seeking or thinking about seeking salvation to raise their hands. After that he may say, “pray this prayer with me.” The pastor then says something to this effect: “Pray, ‘Lord Jesus, I thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Savior and Lord. Please come into my heart. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of my life. I promise to serve you to the best of my ability. In Jesus’ name, Amen’” Then the pastor may say, “If you just prayed that prayer, you are saved. The next step is to step out of your seat and come down the aisle and profess publicly that you have asked Jesus into your heart.”

Unfortunately, that is not what the Bible says about salvation. The clearest statement of the process of salvation is explained by Paul in Romans 10:9-11, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” We must also hear the words of the Lord Himself:

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”.

Additionally, we must add what the book of Acts says:

Act_2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

 Act_3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord;

Therefore, this is the biblical process of salvation: Believe (or have faith) in Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, Repent, believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised from the dead, confess Jesus as Lord, and seek baptism. Yes, one can be saved without being baptized. The main Biblical witness of this is the malefactor on the cross in Luke 23:39-43. He believed in Christ as we can see from Luke 23:41-42 where he acknowledged the sinless Jesus who was to be a King and come into His kingdom after His death. He went to heaven without baptism because there was no possibility of his being baptized. Yet baptism is a part of the salvation process. If someone claims to have repented and believed on Christ as his Savior, and then refuses baptism, I question his belief.

Again, if someone becomes a believer in Christ on his deathbed and is physically unable to be baptized, he is still going to heaven. However, I question the belief of someone who claims to believe in Christ and professes Christ as Lord yet refuses to be baptized. Therefore I link baptism with salvation. The only exceptions to this would be a believer who is physically unable to be baptized, or a believer who dies before he can be baptized. Other than those situations, baptism is a necessary part of the salvation process.

It is also true that a person can be baptized and not be a real believer. However that is because he or she never believed in Christ as the Son of God or that he was raised from the dead. They were never believers in the first place; this would be a person who made a false profession.

Calling someone to repent of his sins and believe in Jesus Christ is certainly Biblical. We are to compel sinners to come in (Luke 14:23). It is the other things added to this such as asking Jesus into your heart, or praying a sinner’s prayer that are not Biblical.

There is nothing wrong a new believer praying and thanking God for His forgiveness. However, it is wrong to lead a person in the belief that a prayer saved Him. No, it is by grace that we are saved through faith; it is the gift of God and not the works or prayers or asking Jesus not your heart that a man or woman does. That puts the responsibility on men instead of God. It is God who saves us and not we ourselves. Therefore our deciding to “accept” Christ is incorrect; it is Christ who saves us. It is to our prayer that saves us; it is Christ who saves us.

Some claim that Revelation 3:20 is the scriptural reference that endorses accepting Jesus. We need to understand the context of the verse: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Jesus is talking to the church at Laodicea. Jesus said they were lukewarm—neither hot nor cold. He also told them that in spite of their worldly riches they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. He told them to buy from Him gold that was tried in the fire, which indicated righteousness and spiritual riches, white clothing, which indicated holiness, and eye slave that would allow their spiritual eyes to be opened. He admonished them to be zealous and repent of their being lukewarm. That is when He said that He stood at the door and knocked, offering the people at the church of Laodicea to stop being lukewarm, to return fully to Him, and He would again commune with them. This is not about a sinner “asking Jesus into his heart” or “accepting Jesus into her heart.” This was written to the church, to people who were already saved but had grown lukewarm in their faith; it was not written to sinners or unbelievers.

As a pastor, now retired, I always invited people to put their faith in Christ and to profess Him publicly (Mat 10:32, Luk 12:8) after my sermon. However, I did not ask the congregation to close their eyes or bow their heads during the invitation. I did not ask for a show of hands of people considering a “decision for Christ.” I did not ask anyone to repeat a sinner’s prayer. I simply presented the Gospel as succinctly as I could and people did respond. Many of them had already been witnessed to by a member of the congregation. People responded to a simple presentation of the Gospel. There was no need for coaxing or prolonging the invitation just in case someone might make a “decision for Christ.” I did not prolong the invitation. If no one responded after a couple of verses of the hymn, then I closed the invitation. People will respond to the Gospel. They do not need to be coaxed to come forward or to raise their hands or to be prodded into “accepting Christ as their Savior” or “inviting Jesus into their lives.”

The invitation does not need to be prolonged just in case someone might respond. That sort of invitation is simply a call for numbers. It seems that many evangelical churches are in competition to see how many they can baptize whether they are saved or not. I read a statistic that in some denominations, 80% of those who were baptized eventually fall away from the faith. A large percentage of these just accepted Jesus into their hearts or said a sinner’s prayer. They did not truly repent, believe, and make Christ Lord of their lives.

When people truly respond to the Gospel it is because the Holy Spirit is at work in their lives. They are already prepared by Him. When a man, woman, or child truly responds to the Gospel that is a divine appointment. They are in the right place at the right time to respond to the Gospel because God arranged for that to happen.

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