Worship and the Sabbath Day: The Sabbath Day by Pastor Bob Burridge ©2000 Westminster Confession of Faith 21:7
Meaning of the word "sabbath" The word sabbath in Hebrew is shabbat. It comes from the verb shavat which means "to cease," "to desist from labor," "to rest." It is related to the Assyrian verb sabatu "to cease", "to be complete" and the Assyrian noun sabattum which means "to rest". The root meaning shows that sabbath means "a day of ceasing," "a day of rest from that which is commonly done on the other days of the week with which it is contrasted in God's word." Contrary to the claims of some, it does not mean seventh. The Hebrew word for "seven" is sheva'. "Seventh" is shevi'i, and is related to the Assyrian sibi, sibittu. The roots and spellings of these words are totally different from the word used for sabbath. The modern Hebrew Shabbat is kept from sun-down on Friday to sun-down on Saturday. That delimitation seems to have been practiced all the way back to the time of Jesus. We do not know how much farther back that practice goes. Many different calendars were in use down through history as various cultures and empires influenced the way years, months and days were reckoned. The Moral Law as summarized in the Decalogue tells us to, "Remember the Sabbath day", not the "seventh day." Some absolute calendar day corresponding to a standardized way of marking off a week is not the essential moral issue as the inspired word states it. One day in seven is designated by God for Shabbat as a creation ordinance. In the time before Christ, that day is to follow six days of labor. Two Kinds of Sabbath God's work of creation established the seven-day cycle. The Sabbath Day was a memorial binding upon Adam and the whole human race descending from him. The Bible clearly teaches that this obligation is perpetual. Later, when the law was revealed to Israel by Moses, other uses of the sabbath principle were imposed to pre-figure the redemptive work of the Messiah. Therefore we ought to recognize two separate levels of law included in the Sabbath principle at the time of Christ:
1. Creation Sabbath: binding perpetually upon all humans
Before this distinction is expanded upon, the student is urged to review our studies on moral law and civil law in the first lesson of our Syllabus on Nomology The Law of God: In that section we concluded that moral law is characterized by particular properties which help us to categorize the principles revealed in Scripture such as the various levels of Sabbath law. They are as follows: 1. Since the moral principles derive from the nature of the Creator, it is not possible for these principles to be variable or optional in a creation intended to declare the Creator's glory, eternal power and divine nature. Therefore we say that the moral laws are each necessary and cannot be abrogated without confusing or denying aspects of God's nature. 2. Since the nature of God is eternal and unchangeable, so also must the moral principles of his creation be perpetually binding. 3. Since God made all of Creation to declare his glory, which includes his holiness and justice, therefore God makes known his moral principles obligating all moral creatures to obey them perfectly and personally. Considering these properties, it will become evident by the details given in God's word that the Creation Sabbath fits the category of Moral Law, and the Levitical Sabbaths do not. They fit into the category of Ceremonial Law. The Creation Sabbath is primarily related to the work of bringing the physical universe into being. Since all humans owe their existence to that event, and since this was given prior to the fall of man into sin, this day was set aside as special for all humans for all time. It has no specific redemptive element, though it lays the foundation for the means of salvation by establishing the Sovereign authority of God over all he made. But there is nothing stated in Scripture about the atoning work of Jesus that fulfills the duty of everyone to honor God as Creator. Genesis records the introduction of Sabbath to the representative head of the human race in Eden: Genesis 2:1-3
It represents God's ceasing from his work of creating all things out of nothing. The main element was not recuperative rest, since God needed none. The rest is that of ceasing from what he had been doing. Therefore the primary focus of the Creation Sabbath is ceasing from our labors and a remembering of the Sovereign Creatorship of God to whom all glory belongs. This makes it a perpetual day of worship, as long as the created heavens and earth remain. Therefore it is moral in its nature. The Levitical sabbaths were made binding upon Israel after the exodus as part of the system later abrogated by Christ. That system of symbols, ceremonies and sacrifices were instituted to reveal the redemption Messiah would accomplish and the benefits of that redemption. These Levitical sabbaths commemorated the rest granted to Israel upon its deliverance from Egypt and foreshadowed the rest promised in the land pledged to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They also marked out Israel from the nations as a covenant community by the special requirements they made upon their culture and calendar. They began in the deliverance from Egypt and were layered upon the moral principle given at creation rather than being an essential part of it. The rest promised was essentially fulfilled in the finished work of Christ. Therefor these special days, like the other special feast days established under Moses, have no place in the Messianic era that followed the ascension. Since the sabbaths of the Levitical period deal with redemption from sin, they are only moral in the sense of revealing God's grace and justice during a particular time segment of history and are therefore not moral in nature, but are better categorized as ceremonial law.
Historical Evidence 1. The Creation Sabbath in Eden prior to the fall of man The sabbath principle was established at creation. Therefore is a Creation Ordinance. Genesis 2:3 directly states this principle before the corruption of the human race through Adam. 2. The Creation Sabbath in the Pre-Mosaic period after the fall Very little is recorded of the daily lives of God's people during the earliest ages of human history. The whole period between Adam and Noah covers thousands of years, yet is summarized in only two chapters of Scripture. Obviously God did not intend to record much detail about this time other than what was important for his purpose in showing the major events of redemptive history. Yet even here we see indications that the basic creation sabbath principle was in effect.
a) A seven-day cycle was assumed.
b) The manna gathering provisions assume prior knowledge of sabbath.
These manna provisions were explained before the ten commandments and the other Levitical laws were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Yet the manna arrangements clearly assumed that the people would understand what he meant without explanation. They must already have had some concept of the practice of keeping the Creation Sabbath of ceasing from labor.
c) The fourth commandment implies a prior knowledge and practice. Moses did not institute or begin the idea of sabbath at this time. No explanation was given, there was no implied need, to help the people to know what a Sabbath was. It should be noted also that none of the other commandments represent a new moral idea either. Moral law did not begin at Sinai. It is a serious error to limit the moral law of the Creator to the Ten Commandments. They were only a summary of moral principle for the covenant people of God.
3. The Creation Sabbath in the Mosaic / Levitical period
a) Time of the Kings and Prophets (the later Levitical period)
b) In the Life of Jesus (the end of the Levitical period)
When Jesus reproved the Pharisees for their wrong attitude toward Sabbath, and when he corrected their attempts to accuse him of breaking Sabbath, he never said that the Sabbath law didn't apply anymore. Nor did he ever say that a time would soon come when it would be eliminated as he did with the Samaritan woman concerning the place of worship (John 4). Instead Jesus used Scripture to show them where they were wrong in their understanding and application of the Sabbath law and its underlying principles. For example in Matthew 12:1-13 he used several Old Testament references to show his accusers that they should have given better heed to the law of Moses and its interpretation by David (1 Samuel 21:6). With all the man-made rabbinic regulations that Jesus corrected, it would have been so easy if He just said, "the Sabbath was for an age that is now passing." But Jesus did not take that approach. Neither did Paul in his epistles, nor did the writer of Hebrews as he detailed the changes in biblical regulations for the gospel era. Instead, Jesus took great care to correct the errors of the Jews where they had drifted from the Old Testament commandments. He constantly supported the keeping of the Sabbath while he opposed its abuses.
4. The Creation Sabbath in the Apostolic Period Note: We will take up the change from the seventh day to the first day of the week later in a later section of this study. Though the Sabbath law was not re-stated or commanded anew during the New Testament period the Creation Sabbath principle was either recognized or regulated in each socio-economic setting. There is no support in the Bible that God would have to regularly repeat himself in order to cause his laws to remain in effect. We must presume a continuation without expiration of what God commands unless he, in his word, gives us direct revelation to the contrary.
5. The Creation Sabbath in the Church possessing a complete Bible While the practices and interpretations of law have varied, the Sabbath has been honored by the church in the time of the early church fathers, the Roman Period, the time of the Reformation, the era of Puritans and Separatists in England, and all who have adhered to a complete and inerrant Scripture. Virtually every main branch of Christianity has recognized the Creation Sabbath requirements. The confessions and catechisms of the Presbyterians, Episcopalians (including the Methodists, and Anglicans), the Roman Catholic churches, the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Baptists (the London Confession of 1689 and the Philadelphia Confession of 1720) all attest to the continuing force of the Creation Sabbath along with all the other creation ordinances and moral laws. Sabbath keeping, as with all Moral Law, did not begin at Sinai. It was recognized from the time of pre-fall Eden throughout all of biblical history. To show how important it is, God, at Sinai, put the Creation Sabbath law into covenant form, and included it with his summary of the other commandments that together summarize the principles of moral law. The Sabbath commandment was present from Eden to Sinai, where it was dramatically engraved in stone by the finger of God, through the times of the prophets and into the era of Messiah and his apostolic church. Today every moral commandment is still respected by those who love and trust in the grace of God as made known in his inerrant word. Was the Creation Sabbath Abrogated in the New Testament? Fundamental to our conclusion that the Creation Sabbath was an expression of moral law rather than of ceremonial law, is the condition of its being perpetual. Some claim that the New Testament Scriptures set all of Sabbath law aside after the completion of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. If this could be supported then all other arguments must be re-evaluated in the light of that information. God alone may change his requirements of us. If he does, then we must follow the changes he institutes and confess our finite understanding as unworthy of challenging the sovereign will of our Creator. But if such an abrogation cannot be supported, then we must likewise abandon attempts to dismiss obligations previously laid upon us in the binding word of God. As each passage is considered we must keep in mind the principles we have already derived from the Bible concerning the nature of biblical law. We have previously examined Jesus interpretation of the continuing value of God's law in Matthew 5:17-20 (see our first study in this unit, The Law of God). In that text, Jesus denied that he came to abolish or to destroy any part of the law or the words of the prophets. He came instead to bring them to their full measure. As the application of that principle is seen throughout the New Testament, it becomes clear that the ceremonial law added to prefigure the coming of Jesus as the Lamb of God was completed at the cross and finished as to its purpose. A sign of something to come is no longer needed once that to which it points has arrived. But the moral principles imbedded in creation to declare the holiness and nature of God were not set aside, nor could they be without violating their purpose. In each text that speaks of Sabbath in the New Testament, we must first determine if it is speaking of the Creation Sabbath, which was prior to Moses, or of the Levitical Sabbaths added at the time of Moses to prefigure the coming of the Messiah. Colossians 2:16-17
The Greek word here is the plural, "sabbaths"(sabbaton). In itself that is not determinative. The plural in the Hebrew language, which this Greek expression represents, is often used to show majestic or high regard for something. The Creation Sabbath may be referred to in that way even though it is but one kind of Sabbath. But it is also consistent with the fact that in the Levitical set of laws there are many different Sabbaths. The term sabbaths in this verse is surrounded by other examples of ritual laws all associated with the Levitical period prior to the coming of Christ. There are the direct comments in Acts and the Epistles that the dietary regulations given to Israel in the time of Moses were temporary and did not continue to be binding after the fulfillment of the work of Christ. Therefore they are not moral in nature, but ceremonial. The Hebrew calendar was also set aside since the elements that made it up were prefigurative of the work of Christ. The day of Atonement was fulfilled in the atonement it pointed toward. Jesus was declared to be the Passover of God. All the feasts and celebrations of new moons were clearly ceremonial and not of a perpetual moral nature beginning in Eden and extending on as long as the earth and heavens persist. The following verse categorizes all the elements in the previous statement as mere shadows of what was to come, the substance belonging to Jesus Christ. The Creation Sabbath was commemorative of the completion of Creation and was revealed prior to the need for redemption. It was not a shadow of the work of Messiah. In contrast, the Levitical Sabbaths were mere shadows attached to the priestly and temple system of sacrifices. One of the problems Paul was dealing with in the early church was the influence of the Judaizers who wanted to impose all the Levitical ritual laws upon the new Gentile converts to Christ. That troubling problem at the time would account for the need for the comment made in Colossians 2:16 as well as in other similar passages. In conclusion, the context, historical setting and theological facts surrounding this verse argue strongly against it having any reference to the Creation Sabbath in this abrogatory statement. The apostles and early church clearly continued to honor the weekly Creation Sabbath which would also support the interpretation given here. If we are to conclude that God has set aside both the Levitical Sabbaths and the Creation Sabbath, we would need a far clearer revelation from God, the Lord of the Sabbath, than what this verse offers. Romans 14:5
This portion never mentions Sabbaths, so it should not be used as a direct argument by the anti-sabbatarians. But it often is. They apply the general principle that is taught here to the more specific issue of the Creation Sabbath. There is certainly a general principle being taught. The question the honest exegete of Scripture must answer is, "to what does this general principle apply?" Nothing must be excluded that God intends to include. And it must not be extended to anything that God does not intend to include. The context makes it clear that the issue here is much like that addressed to the Colossians in the previous verse. It warns that we should not make laws binding upon the conscience of men that God himself doesn't require. There were two influences in that era. The pagan Greeks had a mixed culture. Many indulged in anything they desired without any moral concern that it might be wrong. They commonly ate meat and drank wine that had been consecrated to their idols. This caused concerns for the Jews and Christian believers who felt that doing so in some way gave their consent to the idolatry behind it. Some Greek sects, like the Neo-Pythagoreans, reacted against the moral looseness and chose to abstain from many things. The Jews who still held to the Mosaic ordinances continued to follow the Levitical dietary laws, even though God's vision to Peter specially revealed that those particular laws no longer applied. That rabbis had added volumes of laws that went far beyond the regulations of Scripture. There were even some in that day who became moral vegetarians and abstained from all wine. It was in this mixed climate of conflicting rules about food, drink, holy days and rituals that the early church struggled. The word of God regarding the Levitical rituals, diets, holy days, and sacrifices was clear. The principle of fulfillment of the ceremonial law was made known in the earliest days of the post-Pentecost church. In Acts 10 God commanded Peter to "kill and eat" foods that were formerly forbidden in the Scriptures. While God never denied the former binding element of his ritual laws to Israel prior to Christ, he made it clear that this had changed with the coming of the new era. He said, "What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy." The same principle was articulated by Paul in his epistles to the churches in Corinth, Galatia, Colossae and here to the Romans. In his later Pastoral letters Paul said,
This general principle applies to all the ceremonial laws which were given only during the time of Israel under the Levitical priests. There is nothing wrong with personally and voluntarily keeping a day as holy, or choosing to limit one's diet. The problem is when we make it to be a law of God when no such requirement exists. We cannot presume such things to be binding upon the conscience of others who for their own reasons have not chosen to follow our custom. This is how Paul follows the verse we are examining.
But there is no mention in the entire context of anything on the level of moral law. The weekly Creation Sabbath falls into a different category. It was not limited in time to the nation of Israel under the Levitical priests. The Creation Sabbath is not a day merely esteemed important by men. It was God who had commanded it, not for just one era or for just one nation. Only God could declare it to be no longer binding. But the Bible does not present even one reference to the abrogation of the moral principle of Creation Sabbath. Galatians 4:9-11
Again, this portion is written to the early church struggling in a society begging them to adopt the ascetic practices of the pagan Neo-Pythagoreans, or of the Rabbinic Jews which made restrictions mandatory God never mentions in his word. Paul was concerned that this kind of superstitious practice would tempt believers away from the freedom Christ ensures to them, which frees them from the ordinances of men and even from the symbolic limits imposed before the time of Jesus' fulfillment of the Levitical practices. The days, months, seasons, and years mentioned have nothing to do with the weekly Creation Sabbath which the Apostles and early church were faithful to observe at every mention of it in the Bible.
There is a liberty in Christ The Jews were also set free from the ceremonial practices which God himself had imposed for that one segment of their history. They too not only bound their own conscience against good things, but also judged others for engaging in what God had pronounced as pure. They also condemned those who did not keep their strict calendar which no longer had meaning since what it represented had now been completed on the Cross. There is only one perpetual holy day set aside by God. The weekly Sabbath was sanctified from the time of creation. But God never promised that we would be set at liberty from his moral law. Those ordinances laid upon us at creation and which continued in every era of human history are here for a different reason. They do not foreshadow the cross. They represent the moral nature of the Creator. God would no more rescind his law against polytheism, idolatry, using his name in vain, disobeying parents, murdering, committing adultery, stealing, lying or coveting; than he would rescind the obligation of pausing after six days of labor to remember the completed work of Creation which declares his glory.
Entering the Rest of Hebrews 4 The lesson is figurative, not to be measured in hours or days. Through Christ, we enter a rest from our works and sufferings. This is clearly a redemptive promise, not one having to do with the pre-fall conditions which still obligate us to remember the completion of God's creation on a weekly day of ceasing from labor. The writer of Hebrews proves that this rest was not fulfilled in the entering of the land of Canaan promised by Moses. And he shows that there remains yet a rest for the people of God. Nothing could be more clearly redemptive. Sadly, some twist this passage around to mean that in Christ we are no longer to keep God's Creation Sabbath. They imagine that in some way we have entered into the kind of rest through Christ which causes the duty of honoring God as Creator to have expired. There are even some who say that this church age is a mere parenthesis in God's plan and not a real part of it. So, in this parenthesis age, we are suspended from the obligation to the Creation Sabbath until the resurrection when we enter a perfect Sabbath rest in glory. The root of misapplying this and similar texts is that the Levitical Sabbaths, or the use of the Sabbath principle as a redemptive figure, are blended beyond recognition with the duty of keeping the weekly Creation Sabbath. In the Hebrews passage the rest we have entered by redemption in Christ is typified by God's Sabbath rest. But it has to do with relief from temporal struggles when we find deliverance in the Savior. There awaits a yet greater deliverance in glory. But to make that to be a suspension from the moral requirement to honor God on one day each week in remembrance of Creation, violates the entire context and purpose of the passage.
Did Jesus and his disciples freely set the Creation Sabbath aside?
Jesus, following his usual custom, came to a synagogue one Sabbath Day and took part in the teaching portion of the worship.
While he was there a woman came who had a sickness for many years.
Jesus healed the woman.
The Synagogue official became upset.
The synagogue official's response has two parts. But then the official mis-applied the Creation Sabbath principle by extending it to forbid acts of mercy and necessity. God only forbids the kind of work done to secure our provisions. God specifically provides that good should be done at all times. He never said that good deeds and mercy would be among the things from which we must rest after six days of labor. Jesus answered by clarifying God's Sabbath law.
Jesus called those who believed as this synagogue leader hypocrites. They said they cared about keeping God's sabbath law, but they violated its primary purpose: the honoring of God as Creator. To allow a part of creation to suffer un-necessarily is to abdicate responsible dominion. They were desecrating the Sabbath. If they allowed animals to be helped to protect their own investment, but forbid giving help to humans (who were created in God's image) their concern was false and hypocritical. Jesus clarified the full teaching of Seventh Day Sabbath. He brought out the larger context of the law of Moses. The narrow limitations forbidding our labor was never intended to be extended to our normal duties as assigned to us at Creation. On a similar occasion Jesus used a similar example. In Matthew 12 we read,
We must be careful when we refer to exceptions to the Creation Sabbath law. Things that were never forbidden can never be called exceptions in the most normal use of the word. They actually clarify God's original intent in setting aside this one day for his own glory. There are three categories of activities that should not be considered as forbidden. They are:
There is some overlap in each of these categories. But it is clear that such things are right activities for the day designed for us to cease from our labors and remember the honor of our Creator. Having exposed the hypocrisy and error of the synagogue leader, the people present rejoiced.
The principle we must remember is to ask concerning any regulation, "What has God said?" All of his law must be kept as he gave it and no rule of man should be allowed to stand on equal ground. The same principles apply to the case of the disciples who were picking grain on the Sabbath for their own food and the other cases often cited. There is no biblical grounds for abrogating the Creation Sabbath once it is properly understood. And there is no grounds for confusing this law with the ceremonial Levitical Sabbaths which were clearly set aside along with the rest of the ritual laws when Jesus completed all they represented.
What Day of the Week is for the Sabbath? At the root of the creation ordinance of Sabbath is the duty to labor for six consecutive days, then to cease labor for a full day of remembering God's work and glory. Within the context of changing human circumstances there is an unavoidable detail that must be agreed upon. We must know which of the seven days is to mark the beginning of the work week. Before the atonement of Christ, the covenant people of God were told to keep the Sabbath on the seventh day of the labor cycle. The post-resurrection church keeps the Sabbath on the first day of the labor cycle. This is a circumstantial change only. It does not reflect a modification of the moral principle itself.
Meaning of the word "sabbath"
Did the original Sabbath fall on Saturday? In its original statement, the sabbath principle was linked with God's creative acts. God designated the seventh day to marking his ceasing from any more acts of creation, (the work he had been doing previously). When the moral law was summarized in the Ten Commandments, the reason stated for the weekly sabbath law was God's sanctification of the day following creation (Exodus 20:11). We have no idea as to how that fit into the current designation of days of the week. Curtis Clair Ewing points up some interesting problems in his work Israel's Calendar and the True Sabbath. The biblical descriptions of the special sabbaths and feasts of the Levitical period show that there were times annually when the first day of the week became a Sabbath in addition to the seventh (Leviticus 23:15,16,23). Did Israel then work six days as commanded after this 48-hour Sabbath and then rest on the next day? If so, then the seventh day after the six work days was actually what in the previous week would be the 8th day! Since the weekly cycle mandated that the next Sabbath would begin after six days of work that would mean that for the next year the Weekly Sabbath was actually kept on what had been the first day of each week. The following year it would be on the second day, and so on. There was no external week-day structure imposed on Israel to force its sabbaths to be consistently on the same calendar day each year. The Sabbath rotated year to year when superimposed on our modern calendar. (see also: R. J. Rusdoony The Institutes of Biblical Law). God's word gives no indication about an absolute solar or lunar day on which the Weekly Sabbath should fall. Its association with Saturday, or more accurately Friday evening and Saturday until sundown, is more of a circumstantial artifact of the calendars in use by the Roman Empire and the Jews of that same period, than any moral principle laid down at creation. What is clearly evident in the moral part of the law is a cycle of six work days followed by a seventh day of rest. This basic fact is undisputed. The Moral Law as summarized in the Decalogue states, "Remember the Sabbath day", it does not say "7th day." The day of the week, as our modern calendars define it, is not the essential moral issue. One day in seven is designated by God for Sabbath as a creation ordinance. Creation reveals this ceasing of creation by God and is remembered in the established 7-day cycle.
The day set aside as sabbath is not set by man. Exodus 20:11 makes it clear that the Weekly Sabbath before the cross was set to what they then understood as the seventh day after the six-day work cycle. It was tied to creation. In Deuteronomy we have the covenant form of the law. There Moses gives the deliverance from Egypt in the Exodus as a reason for Sabbath. This redemptive idea is tied to the Levitical period only, where restorative symbols abounded. The church after Pentecost (Acts 2) began to keep Sabbath on the first day of the week to commemorate Jesus' resurrection on the first day, Sunday. The day of Jesus' resurrection was very important. All four gospels record that this took place on the first day of the week (Mt 28:1, Mk 16:2, Lk 24:1, Jn 20:1, 19). His resurrection was the turning point of all history. It marked the end of the Levitical symbols of expectation, and the beginning of the era of fulfillment when the things promised became facts of history. It took an event as great as creation itself to make the circumstantial change in the day of Sabbath sanctification. We are not left without direction as to the fixing of the day in each redemptive era. Jesus commissioned his Apostles to act as agents in laying the foundation for the church of the Messianic age (Ephesians 2:20). By their example the early church was directed to begin the week with a Sabbath day and then to work six days. By our Lord's completing of the temporary redemptive laws, the old calendar set by God for the era of Mosaic practices was set aside. The variable calendar was no longer needed and the day of ceasing could for the first time since Sinai be set to a fixed rotation of days with no 48-hour Sabbath to move it each year. The references to the worship of the New Testament church show that the Apostles directed the early church to make this change from the seventh day following labor to the first day of the week tied to the new Roman calendar.
The phrase "on the Lord's Day" is based upon the idea expressed throughout the Old Testament where the Sabbath is referred to as a day belonging to the Lord. For example, in Isaiah 58:13 the Lord calls the Sabbath "My holy day". In Ezekiel 20, when the prophet warns about the neglect of Sabbath and its effects upon their children, the Lord repeatedly makes reference to "My Sabbaths."
The Practice of the Early Apostolic Church Ignatius of Antioch (known as a personal friend of the Apostles) said, Christians "no longer observing the seventh day, 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." Justin Martyr said, "on the day called Sunday is an assembly of all who live either in cities or in rural districts ... because Jesus Christ our Savior rose from the dead upon it." How are we to Keep the Sabbath Day?
Preparations for the Sabbath Day Work is honorable and was given as a duty to man before his fall into sin (Genesis 2:15). Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 said that those who will not work should not eat. A person who does not provide for his own family is said to be worse than an infidel in 1 Timothy 5:8. As noble as it is to carry out our work, if we believe we need to extend our work into the time God has set aside for himself, perhaps its because we have not been as faithful as we ought to have been in making responsible use of the other six days. Much Sabbath breaking is caused by failure to schedule wisely the six days of the week God has given us for our labor. It is our obligation to finish each week's obligations before the Lord's Day begins. God gave us an example of this principle in his provision of the manna in the wilderness. A double portion was provided on the day before the Sabbath so that the gathering would not have to be done on the Lord's special day (Exodus 16:23). Following this holy example we should make sure we have completed our weekly tasks before Sunday, work such as lawn care, house work, home work, business deals, inventories, shopping, gassing up the car, ironing our clothes, and other such chores. Most people plan, prepare and pack in advance to be ready to leave in time for vacation trips so they won't miss a minute of their time off. They plan for days off by working hard to get office work out of the way. They plan for months for weddings, babies and holidays. But do we, as God's thankful children, go through the simple preparations needed to keep the Sabbath Day holy? Do we plan how the day will be spent so that we do all God says we ought to do that day? What a wonderful tradition for our families to learn, if we would show our children a good example of Sabbath preparations. Before the Passover season God instituted preparations for families to engage in together so that all would appreciate the solemness of the occasion. Similarly, we could be sure our clothes are ready and laid out, simple meals are planned to reduce housework that day, and a Sabbath family prayer could be said to prepare our hearts for keeping the day holy. All of this should be finished in time so that all will get a good night of rest. No one should be late for Sunday classes and worship, or come unnecessarily tired and struggling to stay alert. Some scoff at such a notion. They piously excuse themselves from such preparations saying that to them every day is the Lord's. But that's not the way God sees it. While all our lives belong to him, it was our Creator, our Redeemer, who calls us to set aside one day in seven as a Sabbath Day to honor him specially. Though all is his, we demonstrate this ownership and priority by one day being sanctified for special worship and holy duties. This is not a vain tradition of men. Its the holy law of God. A law so important that it was written with the divine finger as one of the Ten Commandments engraved on the tablets of stone. It was untangled by our Lord Jesus Christ from the confusing rules added by the corrupt rabbis. It was honored by the Apostles and the early church. Its neglect was among the most repeated warnings of the ancient prophets. Its beauty was commemorated in many of the Old Testament Psalms. May our Lord forgive us for our apathy toward his special day. And may he enable us to learn to prepare for the Sabbath regularly so that we will honor it in ways that please him, lifting up our hearts in grateful praise for his glory.
How are we to keep the Sabbath Day Holy?
The basic moral principle of Sabbath keeping was clearly established even before the entry of sin into the human race. It was part of how the created world was to show forth the glory of its Creator. Since the work God did was that of creating, and it was that work that ceased on the sabbath, we must infer that man, the only creature made morally able to obey this sanctifying of the day, was to also cease from the work he was assigned. Later, as God shows us in his word how to apply the sabbath principle, we see that this is exactly how he meant it. Man's work was that of labor, the exercise of dominion over the rest of creation under the ultimate dominion of God, man's Creator and Lord. Therefore man's dominion is derived and administrative, not original and arbitrary (Genesis 1:27-30). All his labor in bringing forth his provisions responsibly is to be done in just six of the days in each seven day week. It is not up to us to decide what is or is not proper activity for the Sabbath. God alone may specify how this day is to differ from the others. It is our duty to discover from Scripture what limits God has set. He has revealed these boundaries both by direct commands, and through his application of the creation principles to the human experience. Once we understand how this principle ought to apply, then we may move most freely within those boundaries.
On the Sabbath we are to observe a holy rest The key idea of the word used is cessation. In musical notation we often come across a symbol which is called a rest. It means that the instrument or voice is to stop for a moment and cease making the sound it had been making. It doesn't mean the musician is to close his eyes, take a nap or recuperate in any other way. We are to cease from the works, words and thoughts related to our worldly employments. The chores we cease from are those that have to do with maintaining the world we live in, with exercising our dominion over our areas or responsibility in bringing forth our provisions from the earth. This is to be done for a whole twenty-four hour day. God didn't set aside a Sabbath Hour or a Sabbath Morning. He calls us to sanctify one entire day, one just as long as each of the six days when we work. This is why many churches have worship not only on the Sabbath morning, but also at a later time in the day. It helps the Christian community to remember that after lunch the Sabbath does not deteriorate into a day of personal recreation, entertainment and sleep. Its nothing special to cease from sinful works, words and thoughts on Sundays. Things offensive to God should not be done on any day of the week. Those who presume to honor God by ceasing from lusts, drunkenness, wild parties or other worldly habits on the Sabbath only make themselves out to be hypocrites. We do not honor God by masking our normal indulgences one day a week as if that means that we own him as our Creator and Redeemer. God doesn't call us to be good one day a week. Holy living is our duty all the time. He calls us to specially consecrate this one day to his worship in ways he has specified, and to cease from things that are perfectly proper and holy on the other six days. There are always jobs that need to be done in our sin effected world. God ordains six days for this. The day that separates each group of our six days of labor is his. On it we must cease from all matters directly related to our regular bringing forth of our daily provisions. All week long we struggle in our labor against the "thorns and thistles" imposed upon our work by God's curse as we maintain our homes, our jobs, and our investments. But on the Sabbath, we set all those aside in honor of the one who made us, and who in Christ redeems us from the struggles attached to our creaturely duties.
On sabbath we are to cease from our recreations Some historical background is needed so that we can appreciate what was intended by this sentence. One of the issues at the time the confession was written was the abuse by the Church of England in its imposition of the Book of Sports which demanded attendance at state sponsored events which encroached upon keeping the Sabbath Day holy and sacred. It was aimed at pastors who added Bible lessons and unauthorized sermons to the Sunday schedule beyond what the King approved. Later, after a time when submission to the Book of Sports had been rescinded, King Charles the First proclaimed that again, the pastors must all read an edict commanding all citizens to engage in the state sponsored Sunday activities. Most Bible believing English clergymen refused to read the King's decree in the Sunday worship service. Ben Franklin tells about an English clergyman who, to his congregation's horror and amazement, agreed to read the royal edict in his church service. But that's not all this clergyman did. He followed the reading of the King's order with the words of the Fourth Commandment, "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy." Then he added this challenge, "Brethren, I have laid before you the commandment of your king, and the Commandment of your God. I leave it to you to judge which of the two ought rather to be observed." Today there is no king or dictator commanding that we violate God's law. Its only the dictatorships of financial greed, selfish indulgence in comfort, and a willful ignorance of God's law, that calls us to lay aside one of the Ten Commandments written in stone by the finger of God. Understanding this historical context, we see that the use of the term recreations in the confession means that we must cease from our own activities as they interfere with all our proper Sabbath activities, and may be opposed to the principles of our Creator. The primary text cited by the Westminster Assembly in support of the wording they chose is from the prophetic warning of the Prophet Isaiah.
Here we are warned to honor and delight in the Sabbath by turning our feet away from doing our own pleasures on his holy day. We must desist from our own ways, from seeking our own pleasures, and from speaking our own words on this day. These concerns are contrasted with calling the Sabbath a delight, holy and honorable. The point is clearly that we are forbidden to despise what God has commanded and to replace those things with our own desires. When the Sabbath is thought of as a chore that interferes with our own agenda we sin and take from God a day that does not belong to us. This verse does not teach that all enjoyment and pleasure should be avoided on the Lord's Day. Just the opposite is commanded. We need to find our pleasure in appreciating the glory of our Creator and Redeemer. The evil is in putting our ways over the ways of the Lord. As long as our Sunday activities keep God's glory central in our thought, and as long as they don't keep us from the things commanded for the Sabbath, then we are not violating this part of the moral principle. Its interesting to note that Calvin, Charles Hodge, Gesenius and many others in their exposition of this passage show that Isaiah is making reference to the era of the New Testament church. Today we might use the term recreation for taking a walk along a beach or nature trail. If such activities turn our thoughts to God and do not hinder our faithful attendance at worship, engagement in good works and fellowship with God's people, they are fine things to do.
Our Obligations To Encourage Sabbath Keeping As we have shown in our previous studies concerning the nature of God's Law, the Ten Commandments are a summary of moral princples showing how they apply in the most general sense. These form an ethic which is binding upon all who are created in the image of God. In each statement of the Sabbath commandment, there is a stated obligation to encourage others to keep the Sabbath holy. This includes visitors to our homes and those who do work for us, even though they may not be covenant people.
Our first obligation is obviously to honor the Sabbath personally. But there is also a stated obligation toward others over whom we have an influence in bearing the authority God grants to us in our leadership roles on earth. Parents have a duty to see that their covenant children, their sons and daughters, keep the Sabbath holy and pure. They need to teach and train them, both by word and example, to honor all of God's holy law. If parents enable their children to neglect their Sabbath duties, either by apathy or active disobedience, they have broken this part of the commandment. Those who stay in our homes as guests come under the covenant of God during their time with us. There are great blessings in being a guest in a covenant home. Even unbelievers can enjoy the influence of the pervasive peace of Christ, the hope of the gospel, the humble desire to obey God's law, and the quick willingness to admit to wrongs done and to confess them thankfully through the Savior. Though no home is perfect, every covenant home ought to strive to provide this testimony to all who live there and to all who visit. Our hospitality should be far more than mere food and a place to sleep. But while others are under our hospitality and care God also obligates us to encourage them to keep the Sabbath holy. Its not always a thing guests appreciate. But if done in love and as humble servants of the Lord your guests will be blessed in keeping Sabbath with you. Sadly many homes go in the opposite direction and allow unbelieving guests to keep the covenant family from honoring the Sabbath as God requires of us for the whole day. Its interesting to see that the text also commands us to impose the Sabbath rest from labor upon our animals. The ones listed here are used to help us bring forth our provisions from the earth. They are parts of God's creation which we use in our labor. They were not to be employed in doing work on the Sabbath. Our dominion duty is to impose the day of ceasing upon creation around us to the best of our ability. The principle might well be extended today to our machines and instruments which we use to do the things that ought to be done on the other six days. Labor saving devices can become a way of mechanizing the breaking of the Sabbath by automated manufacturing or maintenance that we would cease from on the Lord's Day if we had to do them ourselves. Cultural changes have transformed labor and servanthood. The male and female servants mentioned would have included all those employed to do our work for us. Today they would include employees we hire to help us in a business we might own or manage. They would also include those we pay to mow our lawns, baby-sit, serve us in restaurants, wait on us in stores or entertain us in professional sports. This commandment makes it our duty to keep such people from breaking the Sabbath. The most evident way to do that is not to be one of those who supports them. Some have criticized Jews who were said to have hired Gentiles to light fires for them on Sabbath. How are we any less hypocritical if we, knowing that we shouldn't be working on Sabbath, pay and encourage others to do these things for us for our pleasure and comfort in our homes, restaurants, malls and professional sports arenas.
What Does God Prescribe for Sabbath Activities? This is the positive side of the Fourth Commandment. Sometimes people pay more attention to debates about what we should not do on Sundays, than about what should be taking up our time and occupying our thoughts on that day. There are things we should not neglect to do on every Sabbath Day so that we will honor it in the way prescribed in Scripture. These activities are sometimes called exceptions to the Sabbath commandment. In reality they are not exceptions to the prohibitions. They are the reason why there are prohibitions. They are the things commanded which are undermined if we engage in the duties that ought to belong to the other six days. We cease from our labor only so that we might, by our ceasing, enter into the joy of the completed work our God had done. Its important that we declare what Sabbath is, rather than define it only by saying what it is not. In an earlier section of this chapter we saw that there are three general areas of proper Sabbath activity which clarify what this principle is about.
1. Time ought to be spent in Worship on the Sabbath Some have criticized Pastors for telling others not to work on the Sabbath when its the day when their own work is most visible to the congregation as a whole. Most often the comment is an attempt at humor. But when it is made as a serious excuse for violating of God's law, it exposes a tragic misunderstanding of the Sabbath principle and of the nature of the ministry of the word. The work associated with public worship on the Sabbath was never forbidden in God's word. It is enjoined upon us. To cease from the work of worship, or to make our Sunday worship no different than that of any other day, violates the commandment's central moral principle. Many times Jesus taught that a plain, un-biased reading of the law should not lead to a complex, inconsistent and prohibitive system like that of the Pharisees. He said, "have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent?" (Matthew 12:5). He obviously didn't mean that it was all right that the priests were violating God's commandment. But since God appointed their Sabbath duties in his word, it showed that some of the criticisms brought against the Christians were unfounded. They were inconsistent with the good things God's law required on Sabbath, such as those related to the worship of the Creator. In our era there is much work done to support worship and the study of God's word on the Sabbath by Pastors, elders, deacons, organists, custodians, Sunday School teachers and others in the church. Of course the work they do should only be that which is necessary for the proper Sabbath activities of the church and which could not be done on the other six days. There is no excuse for doing routine office work, lesson planning and other things on the Sabbath if they could be done on another day. In our study of worship we showed the necessity of the gathering of God's people in holy convocations under the leadership of called men of God for regular Sabbath worship. One biblical example that shows the importance of this principle is stated in Leviticus 23.
The words translated holy convocation in this passage are the Hebrew words miqra'ey qodesh. The root word miqra' come from the verb qara' which is a common word for calling out or shouting out. When made into a substantive and combined with the word for holy (something weighty) it means a solemn assembly called together. The call is issued by the elders, those God has called to shepherd his people. Its the responsibility of the people of the congregation to respond obediently and joyfully to every call of the elders for Sabbath worship (Hebrews 13:17). It is sinful to avoid a called gathering unless God prevents it providentially.
This assembly is not just any gathering of the saints with the intent of prayer, singing, the study of the word and the other elements of worship. Some who wish to minimize the authority of the elders and the biblical structure of the church are quick to quote Matthew 18:20 "where two or three have gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst." They intend this to be proof that when any two or more believers gather in the name of Christ, he is there in their midst to sanctify the gathering as proper corporate worship. Quite simply this is a gross misuse of the verse. An examination of the context shows that its not about God's people gathering for worship (on their own or otherwise). The verse describes the end of the discipline process (Matthew 18:15-20) when personal admonitions fail and the matter is brought before the church for its final judgment. When the elders meet and agree on the judgment, Christ is there in their midst to bless the delegated authority he has vested in his ordained leaders. This is the kind of distorted understanding of God's word that often emerges when those not studied in biblical interpretation attempt to create a theology of church government. Since gathering for the corporate worship of the church is of such high importance in God's word, we must not let vacation plans, travel plans, special sports events, television shows, or visitors in our home keep us from gathering together when the elders call the congregation to worship on the Lord's Day. The worship of the congregation on the weekly Sabbath provides a time for the administration of sacraments which are a sign and seal of the covenant of grace.
In Acts 2:42 the gathering of the body of the church included: teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. 1 Corinthians 11:20,33 instructs us to partake of the Lord's Supper when we come together as a congregation. This is why we never celebrate the sacraments in private but in the Sabbath worship time, the holy convocation issued by the elders to the body of believers covenanted together as a local spiritual family. The holy convocation on the Sabbath is the primary time and place were the church is taught and instructed in God's word. It was in the Synagogue on the Sabbath that the law and prophets was read and the people were exhorted.
The Sabbath should include worship as individuals and in the home as Christian families. This was specially the time of instruction for our covenant children. When the children of God's people rebelled against the Lord, one cause the prophets gave was that they had not been well instructed or trained about the Sabbath. (Ezekiel 20:20-25). Sabbath provides the proper time for the collecting of God's tithe and our offerings (1 Corinthians 16:2). Clearly, one practice that should not be neglected on God's holy Sabbath is convocational worship, and the private reading, conversing and thinking on the things God has made known about himself and his works.
2. Duties of necessity should not be neglected on the Sabbath In Matthew 12:1-4 Jesus and his disciples were picking grain to eat for themselves on the Sabbath as they passed through a field. His answer to the Pharisees, who found fault in this, was not to attack the Sabbath principle, or to imply that it was but a temporal ordinance soon to be done away with, but to explain that the law never forbade such things. Rather he showed from the word itself that the law provided that it is right to prepare food and take care of our other necessities on that day. Similarly the vigilance of armies and of public law enforcement agencies is not to be suspended on Sabbath. But they should only continue such duties as are necessary to preserve life and property, duties that could not be done on the other six days.
3. Time should be spent in works of mercy on the Sabbath
Charity and care for the poor and needy are not among the activities of labor that are forbidden on Sabbath. Hospitality was also to be shown on Sabbath (Mark 3:4). It is also a good time to give help to the needy (Luke 6:6,10). These are all good Sabbath activities that have their foundation in the creation principles. They are clearly articulated in the Levitical laws and affirmed by Jesus to be very proper for the Lord's Day. The labor performed by doctors, nurses, fire-fighters, paramedics and other such mercy and safety occupations, is not forbidden on the Sabbath based upon this principle. Yet these kinds of labor may only involve the actual work that is necessary to extend merciful care. Routine administrative duties that could be done on other days ought to be avoided on the Lord's Sabbath. return to the top of this page |
