How Should the Sabbath be Observed?
I can remember years ago when I was a kid, sitting in church on Sunday, just waiting to get out of service. As a kid, when church service ends, play time begins. I couldn’t wait to get home, take off my Sundays’ best, and begin playing with whatever toy was the featured toy of the day in the our household.
As I got older the Sunday routine really didn’t change much. In high school, after church, it was either washing my car and cruising the strip, or, deciding whose house we would go over for a pizza party. Once I was grown and on my own, the time after Sunday service was reserved for, yard work, shopping, dinner with the family, sometimes a movie, and if it was football season; THE GAME!!
To me all of these after church activities seemed fine, afterall, I was never really told how Gods’ Sabbath was to be kept. I simply followed the example of my fellow church members. All of these activities, and more, where done by everyone in my church so it never occurred to me that such things may not be acceptable Sabbath behavior.
So…..are there activities God says should be done on the Sabbath and some that should be avoided? If so, where do we find them? Well, the answer is found in the same place we are to receive ALL of our religious doctrine….the Holy scriptures. Just as God did not leave it up to man to determine what sin is, He would not give us a commandment to keep the Sabbath and then leave it up to US to determine how it should observed. To find all of how God wants us to observe His Sabbath we must do as the scripture instructs, “ For precept must be upon precept…line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”, Isaiah 28: 10. Below are scriptures telling us EXACTLY what God does and does not want us to do on His Holy Day; the 7th day; His Sabbath.
Lev 23;[3] Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the
LORD in all your dwellings.
Deut 5;[12] Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.
[14] 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
So right from the start we find that the Sabbath day is the 7th day of the week, not Sunday, and no work should be done on it by any members of the household, unless it is absolutely necessary, as we are later told by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. More importantly we learn that the Sabbath is the Lords, not the Jews.
Exod 16; [23] 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.
[26] Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
So above we can determine we are not to bake or boil (seethe) foods on the Sabbath. No cooking or heating foods on the Sabbath Day!
Neh 13;[15] In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and
all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals.
[16] There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
[17] Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?
[18] Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the
sabbath.
[19] And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that
they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
[21] Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no
more on the sabbath.
[22]And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember me, O
my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.
Here we see the prophet Nehemiah contending with the people of Jerusalem about buying and selling on the Sabbath day. So much so that in verse (21) he tells them if they continue he will lay hands on them. No buying, selling or conducting business on the Sabbath Day!
Isa 58;[13] If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable;
and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
[14] Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy
father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Finally we see that we are not to do our own pleasure on Gods’ Holy day. We are to honor him, “not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:” No engaging in our own pleasures on the Sabbath Day!
So tell me, how do you observe your Sabbath? Is it observed on the 7th day of the week as it was done throughout the entire bible? Do you spend it going out for dinner with family and friends after a good Sunday service? Do you go shopping or maybe to the movies? Or do you spend the afternoon working around the house before watching the The Big Game? Either way, does the observance of your Sabbath mirror that of the examples given to us in the bible?
Conclusion
Now let’s reason together, rightly divide the word of God and carefully go over THE TRUTHS we have just learned in the scriptures:
- We know that the only one who can make something Holy is God, and the Sabbath was made Holy by Him.
- We know that sin is breaking Gods commandments, and if you break (1), you are guilty of breaking them all.
- We know the day God set aside as His Sabbath is the 7th Day, it is the 4th Commandment and it is to be a perpetual covenant.
- We know Jesus said the commandments should be taught and keeping them brings eternal life.
- We know that the Sabbath remained the 7th day throughout the entire OT and was the same 7th day Sabbath Jesus and the disciples observed in the NT.
- We can find no place in the bible where the 1st day of the week was given any sanctified or holy status by God.
- We read that Paul continued the custom of going into the synagogue every Sabbath to read the Word of God.
- And finally we read that there are activities we can do on the Sabbath and there are activities we should avoid.
Above are the facts (The Truth) from the scriptures concerning the Sabbath Day. A day created and made holy by the only one who could do so; God Himself. God appointed the 7th day as the Sabbath and declared it would be observed forever. The Sabbath remained the 7th day after Jesus’ death and was never changed! Now if God did not change His Sabbath day….Who did? There is an answer to be found…. but the question is, are you willing to search for the truth? Is it worth your time to know if the doctrine you practice is supported by the bible, or is it a delusion? I truly hope so.
So…. Should we follow Christs’ example and keep the day God set aside as Holy; the 7th day Sabbath of the bible? Or should we continue in a different doctrine? A doctrine not found in the bible? Shall we continue in the delusion?
Which brings me to something I almost forgot ….below is the definition of a delusion;
Delusion: A false belief or opinion strongly held in spite of validating evidence. Or, falsely believing in something in spite of the overwhelming facts!
Now to my original question…do you think it is possible for you to be delusional? Think about it! Really… THINK ABOUT IT!!!