Blessed weekly rest day! Almost all Christians agree that they need a weekly day for rest, worship and coming together, free from hassles of life. But, which day of the week, is the bone of contention. In this context the safest place to get the answer is the Bible, God’s Word. Bible uses the word “Sabbath” for this godly rest day. In the Old Testament times there was no confusion about this weekly day of worship and rest. They never even imagined that there will be another day other than the last day of the weekly cycle. Why? In the description about creation in Genesis 1, it is written that, after finishing creation including man in 6 days: “on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (V 2-3) We know that God being omnipotent need no rest. The man created on 6th day also need no rest. Then Why yet another day after 6 days? The week would have been wound up in 6 days without another day at all. That means God has a plan. It is written “God rested”, most surely to set an example for all the humanity. Yet another interesting thing is that “God blessed” this 7th day and “made it holy”. We know that set something as “holy” means, “separated from the rest” or “set apart for holy purpose”. Therefore God separated this 7th day from the rest of 6 days and set this day apart for holy purpose, that means worship and to be revered. This day was made for man. God knows something special about this day, which sometimes we don’t fully understand. When the Jewish leaders questioned Jesus about Sabbath keeping, Jesus emphatically said that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). In Genesis 1st chapter, we read about God doing all the creations in 6 days, and then setting apart the 7th day on which He rested. But in New Testament it is written that Christ was the Godhead, who actually did the act of creation. “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3). Also Col. 1:16 and Heb. 1:2. In Jesus time the Jews considered the Father Godhead as the Lord of the Sabbath, since in Genesis it is written God rested and blessed the day. When Jesus and his disciples were questioned for breaking the Sabbath, based on many silly restrictions, later added by the Jewish leaders to the commandment as a part of their tradition, Jesus claimed the Lordship over the Sabbath, since He was the originator of Sabbath. He said “the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8, Luke 6:5). Mark 2:28 speaks in a little different way as “even of the Sabbath”. The Jews considered Sabbath as something beyond ordinary man, immutable, which is true. Jesus being the creator, He is lord even of the Sabbath. Jesus wanted to clean the Sabbath out of all impurities, as he has cleansed the Jerusalem Temple, and return this blessed day of our Lord to its original glory, and make it a day of “delight and the LORDs holy day” (Isa. 58:13). The Gospels mention numerous miraculous healings that Jesus carried out on the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:10-12; Luke 13:15-16; John 5:16-17). It is interesting to note that, in most cases, the healing came by Jesus’ initiative, as if He purposely wanted to heal on the Sabbath, though He could have done it any other day. Jesus was trying to make a point: healing on the Sabbath was not unlawful. On the contrary, it was more lawful than what many of the Pharisees and religious leaders did on Sabbath. Although it is true that we must set aside our own interests during the Sabbath (Exod. 20:9, Isa. 58:13), it should never be considered as a period of useless idleness. In His controversies with the Pharisees, Christ clearly pointed out that it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath (Matt. 12:12). According to rabbinic traditions, a sick person could be treated on the Sabbath if the situation was life-threatening. Likewise, if a sheep or an ox fell into a pit, it was permissible to pull the animal out on the Sabbath day to save its life. Wasn’t a person’s life more valuable than an animal’s? Unfortunately, Christ’s critics showed more compassion toward their own animals than to suffering human beings. We have to remember something. During Jesus’ times the controversy was only about “the correct observance of the Sabbath”, and not about which day of the week is the Sabbath. Therefore there is no support in the Bible for the popular belief that 1st day of the week or Sunday, is the day of rest. Jesus’ life and teachings leave no doubt that the 7th day of the week or Saturday would continue as God’s day of rest, even after His death and resurrection. Many argue that weekly count of day has been lost when the calendar was changed from Julian to Gregorian, like that. One thing is sure Jesus and his disciples knew which day is the 7th day of the week. Till around the first 300 years of Christianity 7th day of the week was kept as the Sabbath day. Later only under the Roman influence slowly the day of rest was slowly changed from 7th to the 1st day. Even when the day was changed the count of weekly days were maintained by the Jews and Christians, till the Islam came around 500 AD roughly. When the Islam came, they started counting the 6th day also. Therefore the argument that count of days was lost or misplaced is not standing. Only the duration of month and duration of the year were changed. We have to remember that Jesus was a Jew first and as he said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets” (Matt. 5:17). In Luke 4:16, Luke use the word “custom”, which comes from a Greek word related to habits constant in time and practice. In other words, Jesus regularly attended synagogue every Sabbath that He could. Luke mentions Jesus’ attendance at the synagogue on different Sabbaths, four times in his Gospel (Luke 4:16, 4:31, 6:6, 13:10). Also, Luke specifically identifies the Sabbath as the seventh day of the week (Luke 23:54-24:1). One of the main reasons offered for keeping Sunday instead of Sabbath is the resurrection of Christ. Nothing in the passages on the resurrection, teaches that Sunday is to replace Sabbath. On the contrary verses in New Testament shows that Christ intended for His Sabbath to be kept even after His resurrection. Christ’s words in Matthew 24:20 show us that in A.D. 70, about forty years after His death, the Sabbath was to be considered as sacred as it had always been. The commotion, excitement, fear, and travel necessary to flee from Jerusalem would be inappropriate on the Sabbath day. Many other New Testament verses shows us that the 7th day Sabbath remained sacred even after the resurrection of Christ. For the disciples, going to the synagogue was what church attendance should be for us today: one of the best ways to observe the Sabbath. This is especially noticeable with the apostle Paul, who was present at the synagogue services on Sabbath when no Christian church was there. Although he was the apostle to the Gentiles and the champion of justification by faith, he usually went to the synagogue on Sabbath, not only to preach to the Jews but also to keep holy the Sabbath day. One Sabbath, after the synagogue service was finished, the Gentiles begged Paul to preach the gospel to them. The apostle could have invited them to hear him the next day, Sunday, but he waited one week. The next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God (Acts 13:44). These texts provide powerful evidence that the early church knew nothing of the 1st day of the week as a replacement for the 7th. Therefore let us go before God, and ask for his guidance to understand this truth about Sabbath. Let God and His Word speak to us at this closing times of the earth history. This truth about Sabbath will be a point of contention in the spiritual battle which is going to ensue. May God bless you! May God bless us so that we can have genuine love in our heart towards Jesus; surrender whole of our life to Him; obey all His commandments without exception out of love towards Him and finally love our neighbor as we love ourselves, as He has commanded.Welcome to this page for more messages https://facebook/SomeTruthsThatYouShouldNotMiss
Posted on: Sun, 07 Sep 2014 09:05:32 +0000