God’s Law 7: Why Keep The Sabbath Law
JESUS SAID (Mat. 5:19): DO & TEACH GOD'S LAW
Here is the 4th commandment of the Ten Commandments:
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.”
Deut. 5.12-15
Here in Deuteronomy, God says “why” to have a Sabbath day - to remember you were slaves and God set you free.
The first place the Ten Commandments was recorded was in Exodus 20. There it gives the first reason “why” to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy (Ex. 20.8-11):
“Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy… For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day He rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”
Here God says “why” to have a Sabbath day - to remember God created the world in six days and then rested, thus for us to work six days and then rest. Therefore, God tells us to work six days and rest every seventh day. This was big! What an amazing law - to imitate! What an amazing God!
Moreover, there is no historical evidence for the Sabbath prior to the Ten Commandments. A weekly day of rest was unknown to the world at that time. Much less God commanding all servants and animals to also be allowed to rest. This law, even not fully kept, has blessed a lot of the world today, even those who reject the Lord.
This Sabbath law for the nation was so serious that if it was violated by anyone it was to result in the death penalty (Ex. 31.15; 35.2). This law was extremely important for the nation to retain being one nation under God:
It was a national weekly reminder that the Lord God created them, giving them life itself.
It was a national weekly reminder that the Lord God delivered them from slavery to live in freedom.
It was therefore a national weekly reminder to remain free they must follow His Law - to be “One nation under God.”
For the same reasons this Sabbath law is necessary for us today, if we want to truly be “One nation under God.” However, after Christ came and paid the death penalty on the cross for all our sin, the death penalty for this one Sabbath law along with all the ceremonial law was lifted (Col. 2.16-17):
“So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or festivals or new moon Ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these were only temporary that ended when Christ came. They were only shadows of the real thing—of Christ himself.”
The annual Hebrew Passover Meal was to remember - that blood of a lamb had to be shed and the blood put over the door in a design depicting a cross for the Death angel to “pass-over” them and be saved.
Now when the Apostle John saw Jesus coming to be baptized He said (John 1.29):
“Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
The Apostle Paul said (1 Cor. 5.7):
“Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed for us.”
For Christians, what replaced the Passover Meal was the Lord’s Supper, to remember Christ! Taking bread and the cup to remember His body broken and blood shed for us. Also for Christians, what replaced the old Sabbath day on the last day of the week - is the new Sabbath day on the first day of the week - when Christ rose from the dead!
Furthermore, the old Sabbath day “rest” was also depicting the future redemptive spiritual rest in Christ, when He would come (Heb. 3.10; 4.3; 4.9; Mat. 12.8):
“So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter His rest… For only we who believe can enter His rest… So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath!”
Jesus said (Mark 2.27-28):
“The Sabbath was made to benefit man, and not man to benefit the Sabbath. And I, the Messiah, have authority even to decide what men can do on Sabbath days!”
The death penalty judgment is not connected to today’s new Sabbath on the first day of the week. However, all the same benefits and reasons for maintaining a national Sabbath day in keeping it holy are still critically important. And no nation will be Christian and maintain being Christian when work or other activities replace the one Lord’s day - “the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
It’s for that reason that our early Christian Americans established the Sabbath day law throughout the land. This 4th commandment was adopted into law in the early American colonies:
Virginia in 1610.
New Haven in 1653.
New Hampshire in 1680.
Pennsylvania in 1682 and 1705.
South Carolina in 1712.
North Carolina in 1741.
Connecticut in 1751.
Throughout the American Revolution George Washington demanded that all the military observe the Sabbath. For example, at Valley Forge in May 2, 1778, Washington ordered:
“The Commander and Chief directs that divine service be preformed every Sunday at 11:00 in those brigades to which there are chaplains; those which have none to attend the places of worship nearest to them. It is expected that officers of all ranks will be their attendance to set an example to their men.”
Even after the U.S. Constitution was written the States continued to reenact the Sabbath law:
Vermont in 1787.
Massachusetts in 1791.
Virginia in 1792, which was written by Thomas Jefferson.
New Jersey in 1798.
New Hampshire in 1799.
Main in 1821.
Moreover, the Sabbath day of rest has been recognized in the U.S. Constitution in Article 1, Section 7, Paragraph 2, by excluding Sundays from being a work day in not requiring Sunday to be counted in the time limit of signing bills. Also, in 1961 McGowan v. Maryland, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Sunday closing laws are Constitutional.
Any person or nation that undermines the Sabbath day in not keeping it holy will surly lose the blessings of their Creator. Jesus said:
“The Sabbath was made to benefit man.”
Mark 2.27