GRANT SWART

God instituted the sabbath observance of the Old Testament for exactly the same reason he instituted the temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifices of that particular period in history. God did this to portray to man the way of salvation and life by faith in Christ. Just as a man, in keeping the sabbath, ceased from his own works, trusting God to provide everything he needed, so Christians come to Christ, ceasing from our own works, trusting Him alone for everything. Resting in Christ, we keep the sabbath of faith (Matthew 11: 28-30: Hebrews 4:7-10). Our rest is not merely on a day of the week, our rest is eternal in Christ.

However, when the Lord says the sabbath was made for man, we must never imagine, as is so often and erroneously done, that it was made for all men. The Scriptures are explicitly clear in telling us that the sabbath was made for the Jews of the Mosaic dispensation. It was never given to or required of Gentiles (Exodus 31:16,17). The word of God makes it quite clear that sabbath observance was a special sign between God and Israel, which only came about after God led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, and after Moses had received the Ten Commandments in Sinai. Between Adam and Moses there was no sabbath. Enoch walked with God, but he never kept a sabbath day. Noah was a righteous man, but he never observed a sabbath. Abraham was the friend of God, but he never kept a sabbath day.

Examination of the New Testament reveals that there is no obligation for the believer to keep the sabbath and also shows that the idea of a Sunday or Christian sabbath is unscriptural. There is one referral to the sabbath by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:16’17: “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ”. The Jewish Sabbath was abolished at the cross where Christ canceled the written code, with its regulations (Colossians 2:14).

Christ is the Lord of the sabbath. The simple, clear and obvious meaning of this is that He who is the Christ of God instituted the church, fulfilled the sabbath, dispensed with the sabbath, and abrogated the sabbath, in exactly the same way and to exactly the same degree as he did all all the other carnal ordinances, rituals, and ceremonials of the legal (Old Testament) dispensation. Therefore sabbath day observance is expressly and positively forbidden in the New Testament (Galatians 4:10, 11; Colossians 2:16, 17).

The sabbath was given to Israel, not the church. The Jewish Sabbath is still Saturday, not Sunday, and has never been changed. The sabbath is exclusively part of Old Testament law, and Christ fulfilled all the laws setting Christians free from the bondage of the law (Galatians 4:1-26; Romans 6:14). Sabbath keeping is not a Christian “duty”, neither on Saturday nor Sunday.

Those who remain of the conviction that sabbath keeping is expected of the Christian, should then surely implement the sabbath law in its complete form, rather than choosing to implement only a part of it. These days most people leave their homes to go to church, which is explicitly forbidden by the sabbath law (Exodus 16:29), neither could sabbath observers build a fire on the sabbath day (Exodus 35:3), and in South Africa and many other nations, Saturdays and Sundays are by far the most popular days of the week on which barbeques (braais) are held. Furthermore, sabbath observers could not cause anyone else to work (Deuteronomy 5:14), which would mean that there should be no municipal services, medical personnel, policemen, astronauts, pilots, television, internet service or electricity provision on sabbath.

Most alarmingly, any person breaking the sabbath laws was to be put to death (Exodus 31:15; Numbers 15: 32-35). These laws have never been changed, except that the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled them on behalf of the believer, removing the Christian from the bondage of the laws.

We are to worship God every day, not just on Saturday or Sunday. It is my strong conviction and hope to remind the reader again to test everything, including my words, in the Scriptures. Do not to allow false teachings by self-appointed legalistic and doctrinally unsound “pastors” to place you back into the bondage where lost people were before Christ became our Saviour and our sabbath, and provided for us our rest in Him, through faith.

*Much appreciated PeterDeHaan.com for the use of the attached image above

**Many thanks for the seeds which grew from Pastor Don’s printed work