#141 – The Sabbath Day – Are Christians to keep it?

Yesterday on The Morning Mediation, we looked at The Strife between Abram and Lot. In the believers’ life, it is always important to seek the Lord’s will in our decisions.

Today, let us put all other thoughts and worries aside as we meditate on:

THE SABBATH DAY - ARE CHRISTIANS TO KEEP IT?

Col 2:16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”

Exo. 20:11 “For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

Exo. 16:23-26 “And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.”

For a person to break the Sabbath since God made it a commandment and a part of the religious and national life of Israel, the death sentence was attached to the breaking of it. Numbers 15:32-35 says, “And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.”

The Sabbath is binding to everyone under the Law of Moses. But the Law was never for the Gentiles. It was only for Israel. No Gentile was ever stoned for picking up sticks on Saturday or even so much as criticized. Leviticus 27:34 says, “These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.”

Paul taught the church at Ephesus this same truth: Eph. 2:11-13 says, “Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”

The Gentiles in the past are said to be “strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” This simply means they were not included in the covenants and promise to Israel. It did not mean they could not be saved. God saved and revived Nineveh. They were Gentiles and God sent the Jewish prophet Jonah to bring the message of repentance to them. But Paul adds, “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” As you read chapter two of Ephesians, you will find that the middle wall of partition has been taken down that separated the Jew and Gentile. But it is not in the Jewish faith that it is taken down. It is in the Church. Eph. 2:16 says, “And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.”

So where does that leave the Church in relation to the Sabbath. If we are under the Law, we are obligated to keep the Sabbath. Colossians 2:14 says, “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;” The words “Blotting out” (exaleipho) means “to anoint or wash in every part; to obliterate, erase, wipe out, blot out.