Some say that to please God one must believe in Jesus, renounce and repent of
all your sins, AND keep the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath.
This is what we will look into in this article.
There are only two instances in Scripture where God spoke
audibly to all who were present. One
was at the baptism of Jesus (Matt.
3:16
-17) and the other when God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites,
shortly after they left
Egypt
. Below is a quote from one of
these two instances.
“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.
‘For in six days the LORD
made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on
the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11
Here God told the Israelites not to work on the sabbath,
or seventh day of each week, but to rest: even as God rested after creating
the heavens and the earth – including its plants, trees, animals and birds
– in only six days.
So the first question we ask of Sabbath keepers is this: Do you believe God
created the heavens and the earth in only six literal days?
If not then why take the seventh day seriously -- if you don’t believe
what it is supposed to be a reminder of the God who said that He made
everything in only six
days: and then rested? And according to Scripture: He made man, animals,
and birds -- not one from one another -- but independently from the ground:
meaning that there is NO LOGICAL REASON (for men) to add "millions of
years" to what God says He did in Six literal days. For more on
this subject see Gen. 2:7, Genesis
2:19, Psalm
33:6-10, 148:5, Mark 10:6 and Hebrews 11:3.
Another Scripture that talks about fasting and living to
please God and that also mentions the Sabbath is in Isaiah 58.
We start from verse five.
“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble
himself?
Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed, and for spreading out
sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will
you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD?
6) “Is this not the fast which I
chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke,
and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? 7) “Is it not to divide your bread
with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when
you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own
flesh? 8)“Then your light will
break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and
your righteousness will go before you; the
glory of the LORD
will be your rear guard. 9) “Then
you will call, and the LORD
will answer; you will cry, and He will say,
‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your
midst, the pointing of the finger,
and speaking wickedness, 10)“And
if you give yourself to the
hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light
will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. 11) “And
the LORD
will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places,
and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and
like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. 12)“And those from
among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the
repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell. 13)“If
because of the sabbath, you turn
your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the
sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD
honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from
seeking your own pleasure, and
speaking your own word, 14)
“Then you will take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed
you with the heritage of Jacob your father, For the mouth of the LORD
has spoken.”
Isaiah 58:5-14
And in the next chapter of Isaiah, their shortcomings are
elaborated on, but the sabbath was not mentioned: perhaps because it was less
(or much less) important to God than the various evil things they were doing
(?). In other words, from the
passage above it appears that one could serve God and help others on the
Sabbath, and that God was quite concerned about their doing just that: as
opposed to stealing, telling lies, conceiving mischief, or seeking out, and/or
serving other (false) gods. See also Isaiah 1:10-23, and note that God
was a LOT MORE interested in His people observing justice and looking after
the poor, than He was in their mockery of failing to do so, yet observation
of the sabbath days and festivals.
Consider also what this prophet said in chapter one of
the same book -- even comparing Israel's leaders of that day to Sodom and
Gomorrah:
"Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; Give
ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What
are your multiplied sacrifices to Me? says the LORD ... bring
your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me.
New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure
iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals
and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me.
... So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My
eyes from you, Yes even though you multiply prayers, I will
not listen. ... (because) Your hands are covered with blood. Wash
yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds
from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek
justice, Reprove the ruthless; Defend the fatherless, plead
for the widow. ... (for) Your rulers are rebels, and companions
of thieves ... (who) love bribes and chase after
rewards. They Do not defend the fatherless, nor does the widow's
plea come before them." Isa. 1:10-11, 13-17, 21-23
Jesus
and the Sabbath: In Matt. 12:1-8 we are told that:
“At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grain fields, and His
disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2) But
when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, ‘Behold,
Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.’
3) But He said to them, ‘Have
you not read what David did, when he
became hungry, he and his companions; 4)
how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was
not lawful for him to eat, nor those with him, but for the priests alone?’
5) ‘Or … that on the Sabbath
the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent?
6) But I say to you, that something
greater than the temple is here. 7)
‘But if you had known what this
means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have
condemned the innocent. 8) For
the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.’
God wants you --
including your time, talents, money, and everything you own. Consider
the following and their implications.
1)
The rich man who came to Jesus claimed that he had kept the Ten
Commandments, yet when he asked the Lord what else he was ‘still
lacking,’ to inherit eternal life he was told: ‘If
you wish to be complete, go
and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have
treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.’
Matt. 19:16-24
2)
With regard to tithing (in Malachi
3:10
), we again have reason to think that God is even more interested in your
heart than your pocketbook. We say
this because we are told only eight verses later (in Malachi
3:18
) that God makes a distinction between “the
one who serves God” vs. “the
one who do not serve Him.”
3)
Jesus said of that the
apostle Paul that he was “…
a chosen instrument of Mine.” Acts
9:15
. This is significant in light of
some things that he said; for example as quoted below.
4)
With regard to food and the Sabbath and judging others, the
apostle Paul said:
“One man has faith that he may eat all
things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only.
Let not him who eats regard with
contempt him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who
eats, for God has accepted him.
Who are you to judge the
servant of another? To his
own master he stands of falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make
him stand. One
man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.
Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind. … For
not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies
for himself;
for if we live,
we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore
whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For to this end Christ died and lived again, the He might be Lord both
of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother?
Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?
For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
Rom. 14:2-5, 6-10
“Therefore let no one act as your
judge in regard to food or drink or in respect
to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day – things
which are a mere shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to
Christ.” Col. 1:16-17
So we see here that those who feel that they should keep the Sabbath to
please God are free to do so, but NOT to look down on their brothers and
sisters who are not compelled to do so.
5)
The purpose of the Old Testament Law was to point people to
Christ and a one-on-one relationship with God the Father and His Son: and to
realize that God wants more than a ritual-type relationship. “For
Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes: Rom.
10:4. See Prov. 3:3; Isa. 57:15;
58:6-14; Jer.
21:12
;
22:15
-17. Hos. 2:18-23; 12:6; Joel
3:13; Mal. 3:18; John 10:14-27; 12:26; 14:21-23; 17:3; Rom. 3:20-23; Gal.
3:17-29; 2:15-21.
6)
When the early Church met together to discuss the newly
converted Gentile believers and whether
or not they needed to keep the Old Testament Laws, their decision was as
follows:
“The apostles and the brethren who are
elders, to the brethren in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia who are from the
Gentiles, greetings. Since we have
heard that some of our number to
whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words,
unsettling your souls, it seemed good to us, having become of one mind,
to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabus and Paul, men who have
risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will also report
the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no
greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed
to idols and from blood and from
things strangled and from fornication;
if you keep yourself free from
such things, you will do well.”
Acts 15:23-29
Note that circumcision nor Sabbath observance are not on the list; however,
other obvious sins are spoken clearly against, such as lying, sorcery (or
taking drugs), homosexuality, murder, kidnapping, etc. : I Cor. 6;9-11 and
Rev. 21:8.
7)
Out with old and in with the New, “for
the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
2 Cor. 3:6. “
“Behold,
Days are coming, says the
LORD, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers on the
day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt; For they did not
continue in my covenant, and I did not care for them, says the LORD.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel
after those days, says the LORD: I will
put My laws into their minds, and
I will write them upon their hearts. And
I will be their God, and they will be My people. … When He said,
‘A new covenant,’ He has made the first obsolete.
But whatever is becoming obsolete and
growing old is ready to disappear.”
Hebr. 8:8-10, 13
8)
And looking around He said ‘Behold My mother and My brother, for whoever does the will of God, he is My mother and sister and brother.”
Mark 3;34-35 See also Mark
8:34-38, 14;23, and 18;28-30.