the Scared Scriptures holds the answer as to the why's and wherefore's
of Sabbath observance... not the Sabbatarians
in Ex. 20:8-10 we read "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is
a sabbath of the LORD your God; [in it] you shall not do any work, you
or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your
cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. " NASB
what was it that the Israelites were to " Remember " ?
Ex. 20:8-10 refers back to Ex.16... they were to " Remember " that it
was " the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of bondage " ...
Ex. 20:8-10 refers back to some previous time... because the Sabbath
was instituted before the Ten Commandments were given...
in Ex. 16:29 we read as Moses explains :
"See, the LORD has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread
for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no
man go out of his place on the seventh day."
this all had to do with grace. at this time manna from heaven was
first given by God. as chapter 16 explains, the Israelites were to
gather a double portion of manna so as to be eaten on the day before
the Sabbath as well as on the Sabbath to which they were not to
gather... because every blessing of God is by grace.
Jesus Himself makes mention of this that He is " the bread of life "
Joh. 6:31-63 and " he who eats this bread will live forever." v 58
just as the Israelites were saved from the Egyptian house of bondage
by the grace of God, so too are the children of God saved from the
house of bondage of Satan, sin and death... which the deliverance from
Egyptian bondage typifies.
just as the Israelites were feed the bread of Christ on the Sabbath by
grace alone apart from works, so too are the elect of God feed by the
Bread of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ... we are feed daily... even as
we pray " and give us this day our daily Bread. " which is
reminiscent of Ex. 16
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" Remembering " the Sabbath is recounting the grace of God through the
Bread of Life, Jesus Christ, who brought us out of the house of
bondage to Satan, sin and death. ( we are not dealing with Pharaoh; we
are dealing with Satan )
the facts in keeping the Sabbath holy are :
1. " Remember " ... that the Lord brought us out of the house of
bondage to Satan, sin and death... by typifying such as the Israelites
bondage to Pharaoh ... see Deut. 5:12-15
Deut. 5:15 " 'And you shall remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a
mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God
commanded you to observe the sabbath day. "
2. " Six days you shall labor and do all your work... that you may
rest " Deut. 5:13,14
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with " remembering " and " resting " being spoken of so prominently in
Ex. 16, Ex. 20, and Duet. 5:12-15 it remains therefore to be seen how
this equates to Sundays.
it's not at all surprising that the Sabbatarians should associate
Sunday with pagan sun worship as a charge of infidelity towards a
Sunday Christian.
Sunday Christian gatherings to worship have absolutely nothing to do
with pagan sun worship. such a charge is said out of contempt and is
to be disregarded outright... " some of the Pharisees were saying,
"This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath."
Joh. 9:16
Jesus created light on the first day of the week, Sunday. Jesus
Christ is the Light of the world. ( Joh. 8:12 ) His hand is in
creating light in the physical realm and as well as being " the true
Light which lighteth every man "... ( Joh. 1:9 ) in the spiritual
realm.
not surprisingly, Jesus is called " the Sun of Righteousness "
Mal. 4:2
the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead on Sunday... the most
important event in all of history. the eternal salvation of every one
who has been given the faith of Jesus is secure by this single event.
God could have ordained all of history to coincide the resurrection of
Jesus on some other day, but He didn't. He ordained Sunday, the first
day / the eight day, as the day the Lord Jesus would be raised from
the dead.
Sunday was the day the Lord God chose for the following
special events besides the resurrection of Jesus Christ :
The Feast of Pentecost : Sunday's
- Held fiftieth day after offering first sheaf of barley
harvest
Le 23:15,16; De 16:9
- CALLED THE :
Feast of harvest... Ex 23:16
Feast of weeks... Ex 34:22; De 16:10
Day of the first fruits... Nu 28:26
Day of Pentecost... Ac 2:1
- To be perpetually observed... Le 23:21
- All males to attend... Ex 23:16,17; De 16:16
- A holy convocation... Le 23:21; Nu 28:26
- A time of holy rejoicing... De 16:11,12
- The first fruits of bread presented at... Le 23:17; De 16:10
- Sacrifices at... Le 23:18,19; Nu 28:27-31
- The Law given from Mount Sinai upon... Ex 12:6,12; 19:1,11
- The Holy Spirit given to apostles at... Ac 2:1-3
- Observed by the church ... Ac 20:16; 1Co 16:8
the flood of Noah ended after the forty days, on a Sunday... the
tops of the mountains became dry he noticed on a Sunday... he sent out
the raven and the dove on a Sunday.
Jesus was likely born on a Sunday, though difficult to say for sure...
on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles for " the Word became
flesh, and ' Tabernacled ' among us " Joh. 1:14... made His tent
among our tents... the only date which merges with the account of His
birth in the Gospels and the feasts of the Old Testament... the First
Day, Sunday, which merges with " Let there be Light " and the flood of
Noah, and manna by grace and so on....
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the Sabbatarians are nothing more than Millerites by a different name.
these have bizarre interpretations of Scripture based on imagined
words of God apart from Holy Scripture. they think they are modern day
prophets and prophetesses and only they know the truth... this they
openly admit.
they simply have not entered His ' rest ' as in Hebrews Chapter 4 so
they invented a man made rest for Saturday's... " the Sabbath was made
for man " ...
if the early church was doing something wrong by coming together on
Sundays the Apostles sent by God to form the church would have
corrected them and spoke directly in Letters to them and us concerning
such. which they did not.
the Apostles knew and taught the Lord's Day, Sunday, perfectly matched
all of the Old Testament holy days as well as the only two of the most
holy days of the New Testament.. the Lord's resurrection and the day
the church was established... Pentecost... and the Bible word ' church
' is the same root word in Greek translated ' elect '.
the Sabbatarians will have nothing to do with looking like the Bible
meaning of the church because they are not the elect... they are not
the church.
the words of Jesus are appropriate here... when explaining to the His
elect that Christianity and Legalism don't mix He says... " "They
will make you outcasts from the synagogue... " ( Joh. 16:2 ) so too,
are elect Christians are rejected by Legalist's, who attend assemblies
on Saturdays.
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it's always interesting to note the motivation behind someone
commanding the Ten Commandments are necessary to salvation... the Ten
Commandments were given on a Sunday, by the way...
in the first place, being called an " infidel " by someone claiming to
be Christian is certainly bearing false witness against his neighbor.
much worse is someone presumptuously perverting Sacred Scripture to
their own ends of Sabbatarianism... which is justification by works...
which of course is blasphemy and bearing false witness against God.
anytime someone takes a verse out of context on a pretext, false
witnessing of Bible truth is taking place, knowingly.
there are many, many more commandments given by God then the Ten
Commandments. the ' why ' behind someone insisting that observing the
Ten Commandments are greater than all other commandments given by God
is to redirect the reader to Saturday Sabbath keeping... to proselyte
someone for Legalism... which counters salvation by grace alone.
there is always a boast in doing good deeds as if to say... " look at
me... God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers,
unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a
week; I pay tithes of all that I get. " Lk. 18:10-14
" by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for
through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin. " Ro. 3:20
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