Sabbath
There are different opinions concerning what day is the Sabbath day. I have decided to address this topic in this study. The only opinion that should stand is what the word of God states. I will begin in the beginning. There is no doubt that Sunday is not the Sabbath. This writing will teach the true Sabbath of Jesus Christ our Lord.
1. (Gen 1:5 KJV) And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:6 KJV) And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
2. (Gen 1:7 KJV) And God made the firmament, and divided the waters, which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. (Gen 1:8 KJV) And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
3. (Gen 1:9 KJV) And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. (Gen 1:10 KJV) And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:11 KJV) And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Gen 1:12 KJV) And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:13 KJV) And the evening and the morning were the third day.
4. (Gen 1:14 KJV) And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: (Gen 1:15 KJV) And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. (Gen 1:16 KJV) And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. (Gen 1:17 KJV) And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, (Gen 1:18 KJV) And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:19 KJV) And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
5. (Gen 1:20 KJV) And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (Gen 1:21 KJV) And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:22 KJV) And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. (Gen 1:23 KJV) And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
6. (Gen 1:24 KJV) And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (Gen 1:25 KJV) And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:26 KJV) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Gen 1:27 KJV) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Gen 1:28 KJV) And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:29 KJV) And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. (Gen 1:30 KJV) And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. (Gen 1:31 KJV) And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
7. (Gen 2:1 KJV) Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. (Gen 2:2 KJV) And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
In the seventh day of God and the true rest of God there is no evening, or darkness. All other days had darkness in them.
The definition of this word states a lot.
Sabbath - 7676. Sabbath, shab-bawth'; intens. from H7673; intermission, i.e. (spec.) the Sabbath:-- (+ every) sabbath. 7673. shabath, shaw-bath'; a prim. root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many impl. relations (caus., fig. or spec.):--(cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (Sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.
There is no doubt that the Sabbath means to cease from ones work and to rest.
There is something different about the seventh day in Genesis than any other day. The difference is that there is no evening and morning on the seventh day. I believe this is an important fact. God's Sabbath in the beginning was meant to be for eternity. Man in the beginning was created in the image of God without sin. Where there is no sin there is rest from our labors. When there is sin there is no rest from our labors.
Adam left God's rest when he sinned. Adam could only rest from his labors when he was in the will of God. Through Jesus Christ creation is restored back to perfection. This is the new creation or spiritual creation that comes out of the natural creation. We are a new creation born again through the pure undefiled blood of Jesus Christ. This is why Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. Jesus Christ alone gives us rest and when we enter into his rest it is an eternal rest.
In the plan or mind of God the man Jesus Christ was from the beginning. Jesus Christ was a natural man in the flesh but he was God in the spirit. The natural always comes first so Adam was created earthy or carnal. Jesus Christ was the Lord God from heaven incarnated and enrobed in the flesh of that natural man. All of the law and the commandments are fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Now the first Adam was not a tiller of the ground. God made everything to grow and watered it with dew. (Gen 2:5 KJV) And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
We know that God placed Adam as the husbandman over the garden. Adam was to dress it and to keep it. (Gen 2:15 KJV) And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
Adam never tilled the ground and no one did until Cain. Cain was the first to do so. So what did it mean that Adam was to dress it and to keep it? We know that there were no weeds, or no harmful insects. We also know that there was no labor that caused sweat.
Dress in the Hebrew means to be a husbandman. Keep in the Hebrew means to guard, protect and to preserve. We know that sin kills and because of Adam’s sin everything died. Because of Adam’s sin he felled in his preserving or the protection of everything in the garden.
Adam kept the garden from death by keeping the commandment of God not to eat of the forbidden tree. Everything in the garden was perfect. God saw that everything was good and on the seventh day God could bless it because it was good.
Adam by not sinning was in God’s rest and had no works of his own but when Adam sinned he entered into the works of the flesh. Adam had to cease from doing his father’s work or the work of God. Adam had lost his right to do the work of God. The rest, peace, and eternal life of the garden was an everlasting condition if sin was not committed.
The days lasted a thousand years because no man has lived to be a thousand years old. Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and then Adam died. God told Adam in the day that he sinned he would die. The seventh day was to be an eternal day in, which all of the other days were summed up and found good. Everything was at rest until Adam sinned. We are restored from were the first Adam fell. The Kingdom of God is a perfect place of peace and rest.
(2 Pet 3:8 KJV) But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
(Gen 5:5 KJV) And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. This was the full length of time that Adam lived including the days that he was in the Garden of Eden. How many years that Adam was in the garden we do not know?
We know that these first seven days were not twenty-four hour days because there was no evening and morning to the seventh day. The seventh day is still the eternal Sabbath, which is Jesus Christ out eternal rest. The seventh day has never ceased and never will cease.
The Sabbath under the law was placed into effect until Christ Jesus would bring us back into the rest that was lost by Adam. If we are in the rest of Jesus Christ then and only then are we back in the rest of God. Verse ten of Hebrews makes this very plan.
(Heb 4:8 KJV) For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Heb 4:9 KJV) There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Heb 4:10 KJV) For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Heb 4:11 KJV) Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Gen 2:2 KJV) And on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
After the flood and the earth were purged Noah was once again in a garden as a husbandman. Then Jesus was thought to be the husbandman by Mary in the garden again after he rose from the dead. There is no doubt that Jesus Christ, the second Adam, is the husbandman and keeper of heaven, which is the garden restored. We have entered back into the eternal Sabbath of God through Jesus Christ. There is no sin in the Kingdom, Garden, Son, Bride, or body of our God Jesus Christ.
When there is no murderers, adulators, thieves, or all of the commandments have been fulfilled then the Sabbath of God is restored. This takes place only in Christ Jesus.
It is a commandment of God that we must keep the Sabbath. We all know that the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Sabbath is a commandment that man is too cease from his works on the seventh day.
We know that the seventh day was the day that God chose as the Sabbath under the law. The current Sabbath day, as a whole, today is considered to be the first day of the week, which is now called Sunday. We know that the Catholic Church implanted this Sabbath day into the Christian faith.
Facts are! No one keeps the Sabbath according to the way that God instituted it under the law.
(Deu 5:14 KJV) But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
Everyone was to cease from the works of man and to assembly themselves for a holy convocation before God. Convocation means to assemble to read or preach. The priest was to do the work that God had appointed them to do on the Sabbath. The work of the priest was considered the works of God and not the works of man. The busiest day of the week for the priest was the Sabbath but all of the work that they did was considered God’s work.
Today men buy, sell, cook, build fires, and travel for miles just to get to a church service on whatever day that they deem to be the Sabbath. This fact applies to the ones that observe Saturday or Sunday as the Sabbath.
God told Israel that he would make a new covenant with the house of Israel. The new covenant would be the writing of God’s word in their minds and upon their hearts. Jesus did not do away with the law and the prophets but Jesus came to fulfill all of it.
(Mat 5:17 KJV) Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
We are told to honour thy father and thy mother, not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness, not to covet, and etc. When God writes his word upon our hearts God removes the desire of the flesh to commit any of these sins. God also places the desire into our hearts to keep the Sabbath by entering into his rest or into his body. We are to cease from the works and the desires of the flesh and to do the works of a priest everyday. This work that we do is God's work.
Before we accepted Jesus Christ we were not kings and priests before God and we could not do the works of God our father. All of our works were of the flesh. We now enter into the presence of God or into the holiest of all through the blood of Jesus. The way into the heavenly or the holiest of all was not made until Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead.
(Heb 9:8 KJV) The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
Man could only keep the Sabbath of God through carnal ordinances, which through sacrifice had a remembrance of sin every year. Jesus Christ did away with these carnal ordinances and nailed them to the cross so that we can stand before the throne of God doing the works of God everyday.
(Col 2:14 KJV) Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
God told Israel in the Old Testament that he would cause her holy days and her Sabbaths to cease. God is talking about the carnal ordinances. God has given us another rest, which is a better rest. It is the same rest that all of creation had in the beginning.
(Hosea 2:11 KJV) I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
It plainly states that Israel’s Sabbaths will cease to exist. These Sabbaths were natural feast days and types and shadows showing that the works of the flesh would be done away with. Remember the priest did work (WORK OF GOD) but ones that were not priest did no works of the carnal flesh on Saturday.
We, being priest of God, witness, read, study, pray, and worship God everyday not just one day a week. Jesus Christ our Sabbath and our rest is in us always.
(Mat 11:28 KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
God fulfilled the law and now our rest is in him everyday. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath or rest. We as priest enter into the Sabbath and keep it through Christ Jesus living in us. We as the body or Son of God do the works of our heavenly father.
(Heb 4:3 KJV) For we, which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
The question that must be answered is what rest do we, as believers, enter into? Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world and these works were finished through him. Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end.
(Rev 13:8 KJV) And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
We know that the word of God states that it is not we that live but it is Jesus Christ that lives within us. Jesus within us does the work of the father through us. Jesus Christ in us is the Lord of the Sabbath and the Sabbath is fulfilled.
(Mat 12:8 KJV) For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath day.
If any man esteems any day above another do not judge him. It does not offend me if a man esteems Saturday or Sunday above the other. No one sins when they do these things unto God almighty. I esteem everyday the same. Paul would not have made the following statement if we were to still keep the carnal ordinances of the law.
(Rom 14:5 KJV) One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. (Rom 14:6 KJV) He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. (Rom 14:7 KJV) For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. (Rom 14:8 KJV) For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. (Rom 14:9 KJV) For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. (Rom 14:10 KJV) But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
In Hebrews Paul speaks of another day of rest. Here Paul is talking about another Sabbath that was not of carnal ordinances.
(Heb 4:8 KJV) For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Heb 4:9 KJV) There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Heb 4:10 KJV) For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
It cannot be made any plainer that if we have entered into the rest of Jesus Christ that we have ceased from our own works and are resting as God did. When we enter into the body of the High Priest we cease from our works, do the works of our heavenly father, and keep the true Sabbath of the new covenant. This takes place continually when we enter into the body and rest of Jesus Christ.
(Mat 11:28 KJV) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
The other day, Sabbath, or rest of God is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath and our rest. Only the ones that are in Christ Jesus keep the Holy Sabbath of God. This is only made possible through the blood of the new covenant.
We must cease from the works of the flesh and do the works of our heavenly father everyday. People must understand that it is not by our works but it is through the works of God in us that are honored by God. This is why the old man must be crucified with Christ Jesus.
People who are sinners always want peace and rest. They are tossed to and fro never finding deliverance from the cares and troubles of the world. True Christians find peace and rest through the word of God being written upon our hearts. We dwell in Christ Jesus for in him we live and we move and we have our being.
There are no carnal ordinances to be done. The whole Levitical priesthood was carnal and this priesthood had to be change into a spiritual priesthood, which Jesus Christ was made the high priest of.
(Heb 7:16 KJV) Who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. (Heb 7:17 KJV) For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (Heb 7:18 KJV) For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. (Heb 7:19 KJV) For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. (Heb 7:20 KJV) And inasmuch as not without an oath he was made priest:
Every sacrifice brought forth a remembrance of sin. With the death of Jesus we do not have a remembrance of sin every week. We know that we are made perfect through the one blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
(John 17:23 KJV) I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
(Heb 12:23 KJV) To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
We do not have to present sacrifices every week for our sins. Under the law there had to be sacrifices presented for the forgiveness of sins. It was absolutely necessary to have days set aside to perform the carnal ordinances. Yet we know that the blood of animals could never take away sin.
(Heb 10:4 KJV) For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
What sacrifices do you offer today? Does anyone need any particular day to offer sacrifice or do you need to perform any ceremonial ordinances? This is the overall problem with churches of today. It seems that they all have a holy building, a holy piece of ground, a holy day, a particular dress, a weekly order of worship, and some even have holy water. Most religions of today have returned to the laws of ordinances and ceremonies.
Today we know that we are the temple of God and that the holiest of all dwells within us. We also know that the sacrifice that we are to offer unto the Lord is our body.
(1 Cor 3:16 KJV) Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
(Rom 12:1 KJV) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Do we present our body as a living sacrifice on a daily bases or once a week on an esteemed day? We all know we live holy everyday before God, we read, we pray, and we worship the Lord daily.
We can assemble anytime and when we do it is a holy convocation. This does not require a large assembly.
(Mat 18:20 KJV) For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I have died in the Lord Jesus unto this world. I have been born again and raised to walk in newness of life. What truly would I do without the peace and the rest of my Lord? All of the ones that have died in the Lord Jesus have entered into his rest.
(Rev 14:13 KJV) And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
