Introduction

God’s Word declares, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Ex. 20:8-11). 1

This Scripture, known as the fourth commandment, has received very little respect among professing Christians during the twentieth century. It has been misunderstood, disregarded and even maligned in many pulpits throughout the land. Dispensationalists teach that the fourth commandment (with the whole Old Testament law) has been set aside by Christ. Many others accept nine of the commandments as binding, yet reject the fourth as ceremonial in nature. They regard the Sabbath as a purely Jewish institution which is no longer binding on the New Testament church. There are others who accept the binding nature of the Sabbath yet fail to recognize Christ’s authority as Lord of the Sabbath (Mt. 12:8) to change sabbath observance from the seventh day to the first day of the week (e.g., Seventh-day Adventists). The orthodox Christian position regarding what is required in the fourth commandment is best set forth by the Westminster Larger Catechism: "The fourth commandment requireth of all men the sanctifying or keeping holy to God such set times as he hath appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven; which was the seventh from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, and the first day of the week ever since, and so to continue to the end of the world; which is the Christian sabbath, and in the New Testament called The Lord’s day." 2

Since the fourth commandment has been assaulted by modern evangelicalism to such a degree, the one seeking to restore the biblical teaching must first answer a number of questions regarding the binding nature or morality of this particular command. First, is the commandment universal or binding on all men, without regard to national distinction? Second, is the moral principle of one day of rest in seven perpetual from creation to consummation? Third, if the Sabbath is perpetual, is there scriptural warrant for changing the day from the seventh to the first day of the week? After these questions are answered, there will follow a consideration of how the Sabbath is to be observed, the time of the Sabbath, the application of the Sabbath, and the meaning of the six days of labor.

1. The Sabbath as creation ordinance

There are a number of reasons why the sabbath pattern of six days of labor and one day of rest must be considered universal and perpetually binding upon mankind. The first is that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance. Creation ordinances are ethical norms which are based upon the work of God in creation. They "depict 'the constitution of things' as they were intended to be from the Creator’s hand. They cover and regulate the whole gamut of life: bearing children, superintending the earth as a responsible steward before and under God, responsibly ruling the creatures of all creation, finding fulfillment and satisfaction in work, labor, resting on the Sabbath, and enjoying marriage as a gift from above." 3 That creation ordinances have a universal ethical obligation inherent in them is clear from Jesus' teaching on divorce (Mt. 19:4 ff.), and the reason given in the fourth commandment in Exodus for obeying the Sabbath: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (20:11).

Genesis 2:2-3 says, "And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." The fact that the Holy Spirit records that God rested from His creative labors on the seventh day, blessed it and sanctified it (i.e., set it apart from the other six days) is significant. "What could be the meaning of God’s resting the seventh day, and hallowing and blessing it, which he did, before the giving of the fourth commandment, unless he hallowed and blessed it with respect to mankind? For he did not bless and sanctify it with respect to himself, or that he within himself might observe it: as that is most absurd. And it is unreasonable to suppose that he hallowed it only with respect to the Jews, a particular nation, which rose up above two thousand years after." 4 "God’s mode of operation is the exemplar on the basis of which the sequence for man is patterned. There can be little doubt, therefore, that in Genesis 2:3 there is at least an allusion to the blessing of the seventh day in man’s week: and, when we compare it more closely with Exodus 20:11, there is strong presumption in favor of the view that it refers specifically and directly to the sabbath instituted for man." 5

"In Scripture the number seven implies perfection. It is, therefore, apt for denoting perpetuity." 6 The weekly sabbath and the seven-day week are a God-created aspect of our existence on earth. "The week is not of astronomical, astrological, numerical, historical or logical, but of divine origin, as is its sabbath demarcator, which originated not after the exile nor even at Sinai, but in Eden, when God finished and rested from His creation works and blessed and sanctified the sabbath pre-eminently to God Himself, to the land, to the animals, and possibly also to the angels." 7 God speaking in special revelation reveals to man the particular day in which he is to rest and worship.

The fact that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance proves that it applies to all mankind and not just to the Jews, for Adam was the covenant representative of the whole human race. Furthermore, every human being (except Jesus Christ) descended from Adam by natural generation. The separation of humanity into distinct language groups did not occur until long after the fall at Babel (Gen. 11). If Adam had not fallen, the sabbath ordinance would still have regulated the activities of himself and his posterity. The seventh day in which God rested was man’s first full day of existence, the first full day of unfallen communion and fellowship with God. Thus, not only was Adam to pattern himself after the divine example, but Adam’s rest was spent in celebration of God the Creator. The sabbath rest was not just the cessation of labor but a time of worship, fellowship and the celebration of God. God fully intended that unfallen man in his task of godly dominion would "need to suspend his weekly labours in order to refresh himself with the exercises of concentrated worship." 8 This fact is often overlooked because as fallen creatures we tend to view rest as an autonomous time of self-centered relaxation. Yet rest for the people of God is not just the cessation of work; it is also leaning upon the breast of Christ in worship and communion.

The fact that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance dispels another misconception: the idea that the weekly sabbath is part of the ceremonial law and thus has been abrogated by the death of Christ. 9 This assertion cannot be true because the sabbath was instituted before the fall of Adam into sin. Through types the ceremonial laws taught the people of God certain things regarding the Messiah to come, and their separation from the pagan nations around them. When God instituted the weekly sabbath, there was no sin in the world, and consequently no need of a savior. Therefore, the weekly sabbath is not, and cannot be, ceremonial. 10 The idea that the weekly sabbath was ceremonial comes from a confusing of the various Judaical ceremonial sabbaths with the weekly sabbath. The weekly sabbath is a creation ordinance which was in effect before the fall, but the various ceremonial sabbaths were instituted under Moses for the distinct purpose of pointing to Jesus Christ. Thus they are called by Paul "beggarly elements" and "shadows of things to come." 11

The three New Testament passages which have repeatedly been used by anti-sabbatarians as proof texts against the weekly Christian sabbath (Gal. 4:10, Col. 2:16, Rom. 14:5-6) actually refer to the ceremonial sabbaths of the Mosaic economy. This is clearly established in the context of each passage. "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain" (Gal. 4:9-11). Note that Paul refers to the keeping of these days as a return to "the weak and beggarly elements." He was refuting the error of the Judaizers, who believed that it was necessary for Gentile believers to keep the ceremonial laws in order to be saved. They taught that a person must first become a Jew in order to become a Christian. They also believed that law-keeping contributed to one’s salvation. Paul condemned the keeping of Mosaic ceremonial sabbath days, new moons, festival seasons and jubilee years, because they were shadows which were replaced by the reality, Jesus Christ.

Paul reiterates this same thought in Colossians 2:16: "So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ." Again Paul uses language that identifies these sabbaths as a shadow; therefore he is speaking of the ceremonial sabbaths. 12 "Moreover, that he intends no more than the ceremonial sabbaths, or Jewish festivals, is evident from what follows, 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink,' as well as 'in respect of an holy day'...forbidden by the ceremonial law; and he thus intimates that the distinction of meats is removed under the gospel-dispensation." 13

So once again the question must be answered: How can the creation-ordinance pattern of six days of work and one day of rest be considered ceremonial, when there was no sin and thus no need of the ceremonial types? The divine exemplar simply cannot be considered ceremonial in any way. "The etiology [of Ex. 20:11] grounds the sanctity of the sabbath in the creative act of God.... The sabbath commandment is not given to Israel for the first time at Sinai (cf. Ex 16:22 ff.), but at Sinai Israel is only exhorted to remember what had been an obligation from the beginning." 14 While it is true that certain ceremonial rituals occurred on the weekly sabbath, they were added under the Mosaic administration. The fact that sacrifices occurred on the Sabbath does not make the Sabbath itself ceremonial. The manner in which the Jews under the old covenant sanctified the day involved types and symbols that pointed to the coming Redeemer. Once Christ came, the shadow (Heb. 10:1; 8:4-5), the inferior (Heb. 9:11-15), the obsolete (Heb. 8:13), the symbolic (Heb. 9:9), and the ineffectual (Heb. 10:4) were put away. 15 But the keeping of one day in seven, being a pre-fall creation ordinance, was not put away (the change of the day from the seventh to the first day will be considered later).

The other passage used against the perpetuity of the Sabbath is Romans 14:5-6: "One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it." Is Paul saying that the keeping of one day in seven holy to the Lord is optional for Christians? Is he telling the Roman believers that Christ’s death has made the creation ordinances optional? No, not at all. Paul is dealing with a situation unique to the early church. There were Jewish believers who "regarded the holy days of the ceremonial economy as having abiding sanctity." 16 Virtually all commentators concur that the days spoken of in this passage refer specifically to the ceremonial holy days of the Levitical institution and not the Christian sabbath. Paul allows for diversity in the church over the issue of Jewish holy days (i.e., the ceremonial sabbaths) because of the unique historical circumstances. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, the ceremonial aspects of the law (e.g., animal sacrifices, Jewish holy days, circumcision) were rendered obsolete and were abrogated. Yet prior to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70, the apostles allowed certain practices by Jewish Christians, as long as no works-righteousness was attributed to these practices. In Acts 21:26 the Apostle Paul even goes to the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification. Jewish believers who were already accustomed to keeping certain holy days of the Mosaic economy were allowed to continue doing so for a time. But once the temple was destroyed, the canon of Scripture was completed, and the church had existed for a whole generation, these unique historical circumstances ceased.

The idea that Paul was teaching that obedience to the creation ordinance of six days of work and one day of rest was optional for believers cannot be true, because it would involve Paul in blatant contradiction with his own teachings. When Paul taught on the subject of the relationship between men and women in the home and in the church, he repeatedly pointed to the creation of Eve and the creation ordinance of marriage (1 Cor. 11:8-9; Eph. 5:31; 1 Tim. 2:13). Furthermore (as noted in detail below), there is abundant evidence in the New Testament that after Christ’s resurrection the church always met for public worship on the first day of the week (Ac. 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10). Thus, although the day was changed, the creation-ordinance pattern of six days of work and one day of rest was not changed. The day of rest and the day of concentrated worship have always been one and the same. Therefore, Paul could not have been arguing that some believers, if they so desire, can attend to the means of grace and sanctify the Lord’s day, while others, if they so desire, can sleep in or go to the beach. "And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:24-25).

A portion of Scripture which clearly disproves the notion that the weekly sabbath was new to the Mosaic administration—and therefore Jewish and ceremonial—is found in Exodus 16.

"And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily."... And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'"... Then Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none." Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day (Ex. 16:5, 22, 23, 25-30).

The noteworthy matter in this portion of Scripture is that the weekly sabbath institution is discussed as a binding institution before the giving of the law at Sinai. Furthermore, in this passage God was not now instituting a new ordinance. "If the sabbath had now been first instituted, how could Moses have understood what God said to him (v. 5), concerning a double portion to be gathered on the sixth day, without making any express mention of the sabbath? And how could the people so readily take the hint (v. 22), even to the surprise of the rulers, before Moses had declared that it was done with a regard to the sabbath, if they had not had some knowledge of the sabbath before?" 17 The fact that a double portion of manna was given on the sixth day (but no manna was given on the seventh day) proves that the weekly sabbath rest was already built into the created order. Thus, at this point the sabbath ordinance looks back toward Genesis 2:1-3. The Sabbath is a creational reality for all peoples and all times. If, as some assert, Exodus 16 refers to the institution of the Sabbath for the first time (and for Israel alone), then why, in the fourth commandment (Ex. 20:11), does God point Israel back to the creation week and not to the giving of the manna? Would not the explanation of the commandment read, "For in six days the Lord gave you manna in the wilderness but withheld it on the seventh day..."? "The setting apart of one day in seven for holy work, and, in order to that, for holy rest, was a divine appointment ever since God created man upon the earth, and the most ancient of positive laws. The way of sabbath-sanctification is the good old way." 18

2. The Sabbath is part of the ten commandments

The morality, universality and perpetual nature of the weekly sabbath are also demonstrated by its location in the decalogue, or ten commandments. Did God place a temporary, purely Jewish ceremonial law in the midst of the summary of His moral precepts? Absolutely not! The number ten in the holy Scriptures signifies completeness and perfection. The idea that God has really only given His people nine commandments is absurd. The fact that the fourth commandment is part of the decalogue proves that it is of the same kind or nature as the other nine precepts; that is, it is moral. As part of the ten commandments, the Sabbath received the same special, awesome introduction (Ex. 19:16 ff.), dignity and honor as the other nine commandments.

The ten commandments were spoken directly to the people by Jehovah Himself from the mount (Ex. 20:1, 19). They were written on tablets of stone by God Himself to signify their importance and perpetual nature (Ex. 24:12; 32:16). They were taken and placed within the ark of the covenant (Ex. 25:16). None of these "privileges were conferred upon the ceremonial law." 19 "And if these and other prerogatives did put a difference, and show a difference to be put between the other nine commands, and all other judicial or ceremonial laws, why not between them, and this also?" 20 Furthermore, the wording of the fourth commandment reveals its universal nature, because the heathen and even the animals were required to rest. "The sabbath was not only enjoined to be observed by the Israelites, who were in covenant with God, together with their servants, who were made proselytes to their religion, and were obliged to observe the ceremonial and other positive laws; but it was also to be observed by the stranger within their gates, namely, the heathen, who dwelt among them, who were not in covenant with God, and did not observe the ceremonial law." 21 "To see the convincing force of this fact the reader must contrast the jealous care with which the 'stranger,' the pagan foreigner sojourning in Jewry, was excluded from all share in the Levitical worship. No foreigner could partake of the passover; it was sacrilege. It was at the peril of his life that he presumed to enter the inner courtyard of the temple, where the bloody sacrifice was offered. Now, when this foreigner is required to keep the Sabbath along with the families of Israel, does not this prove that rest to be no ceremonial, no type like the passover and the altar, but a universal moral institution designed for all nations and times?" 22

Some have suggested that the introduction of the law ("I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage"), as well as the restatement of the fourth commandment in Deuteronomy (which discusses the Jews' deliverance from Egypt instead of God’s creation of the world), is evidence that the Sabbath was an ordinance for the Jewish nation and not New Testament believers. Such an argument falls to the ground when one considers that the preface concerns all the commandments, not just the fourth. No one would hold that lying, adultery, theft and murder were permissible outside the Jewish nation. Furthermore, the salvation of Israel from Egypt typified the salvation of believers from their slavery to sin and the world. "In Exodus, reference is made to the creative work of God undertaken in six days, after which God rested on the seventh day. The two reasons [Ex. 20:11; Dt. 5:15] complement each other and both emphasize man’s dependance on God. To rest on the sabbath day was to remember that man, as a part of God’s created order, was totally dependent on the Creator; man’s divinely appointed task to have dominion over the created order (Gen. 1:26) carried with it also the privilege of sharing in God’s rest. The Exodus, too, was a type of creation and thus forms an analogy to the creation account in Genesis. The Exodus from Egypt marks in effect the creation of God’s people as a nation, and the memory of that event was also a reminder to the Israelites of their total dependence upon God." 23

The confusion among scholars regarding the morality of the weekly sabbath is to a degree understandable, in that the moral sabbath was incorporated into the Mosaic administration in a unique way. The ceremonial sabbaths and ceremonial temple system were imposed upon the ancient moral sabbath as clothes are placed upon the body. The Sabbath was also incorporated into the judicial laws of Israel. Furthermore, the Sabbath was made a perpetual covenant and sign between Jehovah and the Jewish nation. These elements are brought out in Exodus 31:12-18:

And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'" And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

An attempt must be made to distinguish between the permanent moral sabbath and the temporary Mosaic additions to it. The ceremonial sabbaths, the ceremonies of the central sanctuary, the Sabbath as a covenant sign, and the civil death penalty provisions are additions to the moral sabbath. The priests carried on their duties about the tabernacle. The bread of the presence was to be set on the table in the holy place on the sabbath day (Lev. 24:8). A special sacrifice, in addition to the ordinary daily sacrifice, was to be offered on the sabbath day (Num. 28:9-10). The rite of circumcision was performed on the Sabbath, if it was the eighth day after the child’s birth (Lev. 12:3; Jn. 7:22). The Sabbath is listed among the sacred festivals, "the appointed feasts of the LORD" (23:1-3). It, like them, was proclaimed to be "a holy convocation" (23:3). 24 The restatement of the sabbath law at the conclusion of a whole series of laws dealing with the temple cultus, taken together with the death penalty provision and the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant, points to Israel’s close personal relationship to Jehovah, its separateness from the pagan nations, and the ceremonial cultus (the shedding of blood) which makes this covenantal relationship and separateness from the heathen possible. Jehovah is honored corporately in worship every sabbath day, yet He is approached and worshiped through propitiatory sacrifice. Since in the old covenant Christ is represented in the tabernacle with its sacrifices, the Sabbath had to be intimately connected to the ceremonies. "The law of the sabbath had been given them before any other law, by way of preparation [Ex. 16:23]; it had been inserted in the body of the moral law, in the fourth commandment; it had been annexed to the judicial law [Ex. 23:12]; and here [Ex. 31:13-17] it is added to the first part of the ceremonial law...." 25

Some have argued that the Sabbath could not be a special sign between God and Israel if it had been morally binding on all nations, because then it would have held no special significance for Israel. This argument fails to take into account that the other nations of the world did not observe the Sabbath because they were not the recipients of divine revelation; they had not been set apart, as the people of Israel had, through miraculous redemptive acts; they did not have the ceremonial system in which to approach God; and they were not a called-out theocratic nation. The Sabbath was a sign between Israel and Jehovah only because of God’s grace. While the moral foundation for the Sabbath is the creation ordinance, the knowledge of the day and the manner of keeping the day are both revealed by special revelation and special grace. "God, by sanctifying this day among them, let them know that he sanctified them, and set them apart for himself and his service; otherwise he would not have revealed to them his holy sabbaths, to be the support of religion among them.... If we sanctify God’s day, it is a sign between him and us that he has sanctified our hearts." 26 When the Jews kept the sabbath day holy, they were declaring to the world that they worshiped the true God who created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. "The general apostacy of the nations made this duty of visible Sabbath-keeping, which God enjoins on all men of all ages, a badge and mark of those who still fear him." 27

3. The Sabbath and the prophets

The prophets treated the Sabbath as a moral ordinance that was also binding on the Gentiles. In Isaiah 56 Jehovah speaks not just to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, concerning the duties which all men owe to one another and to God: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil" (vv. 1-2). Note that keeping the Sabbath is as much a duty to the Gentiles as keeping justice and not doing evil.

Not only does Isaiah apply the Sabbath to the Gentiles and place it within the category of the moral law, he also applies it prophetically to the Gentiles in the gospel dispensation. "As Bickersteth points out, Is. 56:2 'must refer to the moral duties specified in the preceding verse; so that, as the passage refers to the future times of the Christian Church, it is deserving of particular notice that the Sabbath is not only spoken of as an institution still existing in that more enlarged and spiritual condition of society, but as partaking of a moral character, which, indeed, from its place in the midst of the Decalogue, it possessed from the first, and demanding a sacred observance.... This prophecy pointing to a period when the house of God was to be called an house of prayer for all people; and at that period the man who should keep the Sabbath from polluting it should inherit the blessing of God.' And commenting on Is. 56:6, Bickersteth states: 'This is a particular phase of the same prophecy containing a distinct promise of the Divine favour and acceptance being extended to Gentile converts, and in this part of it a repetition of the Sabbath, in a manner so explicit that it is scarcely possible to imagine a stronger testimony could be given to the continued observance of the Sabbath in the Christian Church.'"  28 The obvious objection of non-sabbatarians to Isaiah’s prophecy is the mention also of sacrifices, burnt offerings, the altar and the temple (i.e., "My house") in verse 7. But if the New Testament is allowed to interpret the Old, it will be evident that all these terms are symbolic of the pure New Testament worship of God. Since the New Testament clearly teaches that God’s holy sabbath continues into the gospel dispensation on the first day of the week (the Lord’s day), we know as a fact of history that this prophecy has indeed been fulfilled.

A chapter that very clearly places the Sabbath within the moral law is Isaiah 58. This chapter deals with the hypocritical worship of the house of Jacob. The Jews were trying to impress God by their fasting; yet while they did so, they were continually breaking God’s moral law. The biblical method of fasting includes true repentance, which for the Jews involved letting the oppressed go free (v. 6), sharing one’s bread with the hungry, sheltering the poor, covering the naked (v. 7), stopping wicked speech, and helping the afflicted soul (v. 10). This chapter obviously is not dealing with ceremonial infractions but ethical lapses among the people. It is in this context that Jehovah says, "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken" (vv. 13-14). The Jews in Isaiah’s day trusted in the ceremonies or rituals, yet flagrantly disregarded the duties of the moral law. Thus, "the main scope of this fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is to dissuade the Jews from a ceremonial righteousness by showing its worthlessness when unaccompanied by spiritual holiness. They are ardently urged to offer God, instead of ritual service, the duties of inward righteousness, and especially of charity. To these the blessing is promised. Now, it is in this connection that the prophet also urges a spiritual Sabbath observance, and to it he repeats the same promises. He also connects this right kind of Sabbath observance immediately with the glorious Messianic triumphs of Zion, which we know from all subsequent history, occur only under the new dispensation.... It is simply impossible for the candid reader to take in the anti-ceremonial aim of the whole passage, and to believe that Isaiah here thought of Sabbath observance as only a typical duty." 29

The Sabbath Is Binding in the New Covenant Era

Although the New Testament clearly teaches that the Sabbath is of perpetual obligation, there are certain things that must be discussed when setting out the biblical case for the Christian sabbath. The first is that in the new covenant dispensation the observance of the weekly sabbath has been changed by Jesus Christ to the first day of the week. Therefore, proving that there is biblical warrant for the change of the day from the seventh to the first day of the week is necessary and interrelated to proving the perpetuity of the weekly sabbath itself. Second, the argument for the change of the day from the seventh to the first day of the week is not based on a direct divine command but is deduced from biblical theology, analogy and historical example. Those who reject the Christian sabbath have used the fact that there is no direct command to deceive those who are untrained in theology. 30 Although there is no direct command or statement regarding the change of the day, that does not mean that there is not sufficient biblical warrant to observe the first day of the week; there is abundant evidence. Note that there are several crucial Christian doctrines that are based not on one direct statement but on a careful study of Scripture and deduction 31: the trinity, the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ, infant baptism, etc. Therefore, a doctrine that is "deduced by good and necessary consequence" from Scripture is no less true or important than a direct statement from Scripture. 32

1. The day of Christ’s resurrection victory

The central reason that Christians observe the first day of the week is the historical fact that Christ rose from the dead on that day (Mt. 28:1; Mk. 16:2, 9; Lk. 24:1; Jn. 20:1). While it is true that we do not find a specific command given to the disciples to meet for public worship on that day, such a command is clearly implied in several ways. First, Christ chose to appear repeatedly to His disciples on the first day of the week (Mt. 28:9; Lk. 24:15-31, 36; Jn. 20:19, 26). This pattern of appearance is carefully noted in the Scriptures and is obviously not arbitrary. Jesus chose the first day of the week to strengthen the apostles' faith, instruct them in doctrine, issue commands, engage in fellowship, and partake in the breaking of bread.

2. The universal practice of the New Testament church

Second, the universal practice of the apostolic church was to observe the first day of the week. The apostles met together on the first two Sundays after the resurrection (Jn. 20:19-26). The disciples also met together for public worship on Pentecost Sunday: "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place" (Ac. 2:1). "Just as the disciples had been 'gathered together' (probably in the upper room) on the first Resurrection Sunday, the next or second Sunday (John 20:26), and very probably every following Sunday as well, so too were they 'with one accord in one place'—probably also in the same 'place,' the upper room—on the eighth Sunday of Pentecost...that eighth Sunday, the Lord’s day, when the Lord’s Spirit suddenly came to His temple (His church in the upper room) and burned like an oven with tongues of fire—that too was the new Day which God would create, the Day of the Lord, the Day of the Lord God the Holy Spirit." 33 It is clear that the apostles and the very first churches founded by them sanctified the first day of the week.

The abiding nature of the new covenant first-day observance is demonstrated by Acts 20:7: "Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight." Note that several years after the resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the practice of the New Testament church was still public worship on the first day of the week, the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10). The disciples came together to hear the preaching of the Apostle Paul and to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, which in the early church was taken together with a meal. They broke bread as a memorial to Christ’s death on the cross, and they met on the first day of the week to study, celebrate and remember Christ’s work of redemption and His glorious resurrection victory. "It should be observed that the disciples did not come together on the first day of the week simply so that Paul could preach to them before his departure, as some claim. If the sole purpose of the gathering was to hear the Apostle preach his farewell sermon to the congregation, this was something that could have been done at any time during his previous week’s sojourn there. From the Seventh-day Adventist point of view, one would expect such a sermon to have been preached to the congregation on the previous day, Saturday, and for the hastening Paul to have sailed from Troas at sunset on Saturday or dawn on Sunday. Yet there is no trace of this, nor indeed of any Saturday meeting whatsoever. Rather does the whole context teach that Paul simply and incidentally availed himself of the opportunity to preach to the congregation 'upon the first day of the week when the disciples (as usual) came together to break bread'—and not specially to hear Paul." 34

Another passage which proves that the apostolic church held public worship on the first day of the week is 1 Corinthians 16:1-2: "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come." The first thing to note regarding this passage is that Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit, insists that the charitable donations for the poor brethren in Jerusalem be collected on the first day and no other. 35 The fact that the Holy Spirit chose the first day of the week and no other day presupposes that for the Christian church there was something unique—of abiding religious significance—regarding that day. Otherwise, why would the Holy Spirit insist upon only the first day and not the seventh, or third, or fourth, etc.? Second, note that this was not just the practice of the church at Corinth but of all the churches in Galatia: "as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also." Collecting tithes for the poor on Sunday was the universal practice of the Christian church in the days of the apostles. "The only explanation for this 'catholic' [i.e., universal] injunction to all Christians everywhere to lay by for the poor saints in Jerusalem specifically on Sunday, is that all Christians everywhere were in the habit of laying by for their own local poor brethren too." 36

It is not an accident that Paul’s injunction to give to the poor brethren on the Lord’s day immediately follows chapter 15, which focuses on the significance of Christ’s resurrection. Giving is an aspect of Lord's-day public worship. We give unto God because He first gave Himself for us. "Elsewhere Paul speaks of this collection in terms that are full of theological content: 'fellowship,' 'service,' 'grace,' 'blessing,' and 'divine service.' All this together suggests that the 'collection' was not some mere matter of money, but was for Paul an active response to the grace of God that not only ministered to the needs of God’s people but also became a kind of ministry to God Himself." 37 Thus, this passage not only proves that the apostolic churches conducted their public worship services on the first day of the week, but also shows that giving to God is part of Christian worship. This is to be expected, for it was also the universal practice in the Jewish synagogues to receive tithes and offerings during their public worship services on Saturday. The New Testament church was patterned to a large extent after the Jewish synagogue.

Seventh-day Adventist apologists have attempted to circumvent the obvious implication of this passage by arguing that collections were made on Sunday, rather than on Saturday, because it would have been a violation of the Saturday sabbath to do bookkeeping, etc., on that day. Such reasoning is fallacious for three reasons: First, as already noted, the Jews collected tithes on Saturday and engaged in "bookkeeping" procedures related to charity on the Sabbath for centuries without divine disapproval. Second, Jesus Christ clearly taught that works of mercy were permissible—yes, even required—on the Sabbath (Mt. 12:12; Mk. 3:4). Third, works of mercy on the Sabbath are permitted and commended in the Old Testament as well (1 Sam. 21:6; 2 Kgs. 4:23). "If, as Seventh-day Adventists maintain, the post-resurrectional Christian Church held its weekly meetings and its sabbath on Saturday, it is more than probable that the entire collection would have been handed over to Paul on such an occasion, rather than 'on the first day of the week.'" 38

3. The Lord’s day

The sanctification of the Lord’s day (or the first day of the week) is also implied in Revelation 1:10 where the Apostle John says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day." John speaks of a day which is distinct from all other days. "Some say, how do we know that this was the first day of the week? Every day is the Lord’s day. But it is the design of John to tell us when he had those visions. And if by the Lord’s day is meant any day, how doth that inform us when that event took place?"  39 John uses an expression that Christians in his day would instantly recognize as the day of Christ’s resurrection: the first day of the week. Seventh-day Adventists argue that this refers to the Saturday, Jewish sabbath. But this assertion is clearly unscriptural. "Nowhere in God’s Word is the Saturday sabbath ever called the 'Lord’s day.'... The adjective in the expression—'kuriake (-os, -on)' [i.e., the Lord's]—occurs in only one other verse of scripture: in 1 Cor. 11:20 in the expression 'the Lord’s Supper' ('kuriakon deipnon'), which supper was usually held on the first day of the week. This very fact surely implies that the Lord’s day ('he kuriake hemera') was also then held on the first day of the week." 40 A passage of Scripture which clearly identifies the Lord’s day as the day of Christ’s resurrection is Psalm 118:22-24: "The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

The Apostle Peter, in addressing the Sanhedrin (Ac. 4:8-12), applies Psalm 118:22 directly to the exaltation of Jesus Christ, which began at His resurrection (cf. Mt. 28:18, Rom. 4:3-4). 41 Psalm 118 identifies the day of Christ’s exaltation as a day of rejoicing and gladness. Were the disciples of Jesus rejoicing on the seventh day (Saturday)? Were they glad and happy on that day? No, absolutely not. On Saturday Jesus was dead and still laid up in a tomb. On Saturday the disciples were in mourning. Their leader had been put to death as a common criminal. They were living in fear, doubt, sorrow and apparent defeat; but on Sunday, the first day of the week, Christ rose from the dead; and their tears turned to joy, their sorrow to gladness, their doubt to hope, and their defeat to victory. "This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Ps. 118:24). This is the origin of the term "the Lord’s day." It is the day on which the Christian church celebrates the victory of the Son of David. "We observe the Lord’s day as henceforth our true Sabbath, a day made and ordained of God, for the perpetual remembrance of the achievements of our Redeemer.... Entering into the midst of the church of God, and beholding the Lord Jesus as all in all in the assemblies of his people, we are bound to overflow with joy. Is it not written, 'then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord'?" 42

The historical evidence presented thus far is sufficient to prove that Jesus Christ has changed the sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week. Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week. He appeared to His disciples on the first day on more than one occasion. The disciples gathered together on resurrection Sunday, and then again at Pentecost, in order to meet with the risen Christ. The apostolic church engaged in public worship on the first day of the week. 43 This involved preaching, the sacraments and tithing. The Apostle Paul indicated that first-day public worship was universal in the churches of Galatia. The Apostle John used the phrase "the Lord’s day" as a time reference that all the churches of Asia Minor would instantly recognize: the day of Christ’s resurrection (Ps. 118:22-24), the day of joy and worship. "Must we not conclude that these inspired men regarded the authority of God as now attaching to this Lord’s day?"  44 Yes, we must. Yet the evidence thus far presented is only half the argument; God has provided theological proofs as well.

Theological Reasons for First Day Observance

1. Re-creation

A primary reason for the observance of the first day instead of the seventh is that Christ’s redemptive work is presented in Scripture (in a spiritual sense) as the creation of a new world. By His redemptive work, Jesus Christ (who is the second Adam, Rom. 5:12-21) created a new order, a new covenant, a new dispensation. His sinless life, atonement and victorious resurrection are the foundation of the regeneration of all things (Rom. 8:18-23). Christ’s work is presented in such dramatic cosmic terms because the Bible teaches that sin and the curse have permeated the old creation, reducing it to chaos. In poetic language Jeremiah describes the old creation as rendered dark and chaotic because of sin: "I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; and the heavens, they had no light" (4:23). Looking to the future, the prophets described Christ’s redemptive work of restoration as a creation of a new heaven and a new earth: "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind" (Isa. 65:17). "I have put My words in your mouth; I have covered you with the shadow of My hand, that I may plant the heavens, lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, 'You are My people'" (Isa. 51:16).

The re-creation was typified in Noah and the ark. Noah and his family (eight persons in all) were saved from the flood and the destruction of the whole world and brought into newness of life by entering the ark. The flood of judgment destroyed the old order, and out of the ark came the new humanity: a redeemed race. It is significant that God redeemed only eight persons out of the race of prediluvian mankind, for the number eight "has the same meaning of newness, redemption, sanctification, and rest which is characteristic of the number one, and to which the number eight itself is indeed equivalent as the first day in the second cycle of seven days." 45

The change of the weekly sabbath from the seventh day to the first day or eighth day was anticipated throughout the Old Testament. 46 Note that circumcision, which was instituted under the Abrahamic covenant, and which represented the new birth or regeneration (re-creation), took place on the eighth day (or the first day of the second week of the newborn baby’s life). The resurrection of Christ (which is the beginning of the new creation or regeneration of the world) also takes place on the eighth day. The eighth day was the day of dedication of the firstborn son. Jesus Christ is the firstborn or firstfruits of all who believe. "But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Cor. 15:20). Paul calls Christ "the firstborn among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). The author of Hebrews calls the people of God "the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Heb. 12:23). The eighth day was the day of cleansing from defilement (Lev. 14:10; 15:14, 29). The Apostle Paul points to the believer’s union with Christ in His resurrection (which took place on the eighth day) as a major reason that Christians are no longer under the power of sin (Rom. 6:4-5). There are simply too many parallels between the Old Testament types and Christ’s resurrection on the eighth day, or first day of the week, to ignore. The numbers eight and one in Scripture point to a new beginning: Christ’s redemptive re-creation. "The number 'one' is always the beginning of something, just as the number 'seven' continually terminates a period. For this reason, the number 'eight' as well as the number 'one' both occupy the place of a new beginning in the Scriptures. For 'eight' is, after all, also 'one' after 'seven' again and consequently the beginning of a new period." 47

That Christ has accomplished a re-creation is even more clearly taught in the New Testament. Christ reveals Himself to the Apostle John as "the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God" (Rev. 3:14). The Apostle Paul clearly parallels the first creation (of which the preincarnate Son was the Mediator) and the second creation (accomplished by the divine-human Mediator). "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence" (Col. 1:15-18). Calvin writes, "he is the beginning, because he is the first-born from the dead; for in the resurrection there is a restoration of all things, and in this manner the commencement of the second and new creation, for the former had fallen to pieces in the ruin of the first man." 48 "God instituted both the Edenic sabbath and the New Testament sabbath for man at the time of creation and re-creation respectively, by His own specific example." 49

The resurrection of Jesus Christ ushered in a new creation "wherein old things are passed away, and all things become new: we are said to be created unto Christ Jesus unto good works: all things are restored and reconciled whether in heaven or in earth, and God hath caused light to shine out of darkness, as he did at the beginning; and the dissolution of the Jewish state was often spoken of in the Old Testament as the end of the world. But we who belong to the gospel-church belong to the new creation; and therefore there seems to be at least as much reason, that we should commemorate the work of this creation, as that the members of the ancient Jewish church should commemorate the work of the old creation." 50

Now that it has been established beyond doubt that the inspired apostles taught that Christ’s redemptive work was a re-creation every bit as significant and important as the first creation, a question must be answered: When did Christ, the creator of a new heavens and earth, rest from His work of re-creation? Did He rest on Saturday? No, for His body was still in the tomb under the power of death, subject to a state of degradation and humiliation. 51 Christ entered His rest on Sunday, the first day of the week. Thus, the day of rest and worship is no longer the seventh day which looked back to the rest of the first creation, but it is the first day which looks back to the rest of the new creation in Christ. This makes sense in light of the fact that the first day is the day of victory over the world, sin and the devil. It is the day that Christ’s kingdom was established with power. It is the day of Jesus' enthronement at the right hand of God, and the day that our Lord chose to baptize His church (Pentecost Sunday).

2. Deuteronomy 5:15 and the new covenant Lord’s day

The change of the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day of the week is also clearly seen in comparing the old covenant sabbath and its relation to redemption from bondage in Egypt to the new covenant Lord’s day and redemption in Christ. God commanded, "Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day" (Dt. 5:15). Every Sabbath, the Jews were to remember God’s grace, mercy and glorious work of redemption in bringing them out of Egypt, in addition to His work in creation.

The deliverance from Egypt was the great redemptive act of the Old Testament; it serves as the great type of the perfect redemption accomplished by Christ. Since the command to remember His redemption is not to Israel alone, but also applies to Christ’s church, Christians have the same responsibility to remember the Lord’s day. "The redemption from Egypt cannot be properly viewed except as the anticipation of the greater redemption wrought in the fullness of the time. Hence, if redemption from Egypt accorded sanction to the sabbath institution and provided reason for its observance, the same must apply to the greater redemption and apply in a way commensurate with the greater fullness and dimensions of redemption secured by the death and resurrection of Christ. In other words, it is the fullness and richness of the new covenant that so accord to the sabbath ordinance increased relevance, sanction, and blessing." 52 If the type or shadow is significant enough in God’s eyes to warrant a special remembrance under the old covenant, then certainly the anti-type (the substance and the perfect redemption wrought by Christ, which encompasses the whole earth instead of one small nation) warrants the same special remembrance. Comparing the redemption from Egypt to redemption in Christ, Jonathan Edwards writes, "And it was but a shadow, the work in itself was nothing in comparison with the work of [Christ's] redemption. What is a petty redemption of one nation from a temporal bondage, to the eternal salvation of the whole church, of the elect in all ages and nations, from eternal damnation, and the introduction of them, not into a temporal Canaan, but into heaven, into eternal glory and blessedness." 53 Thus is it not fitting for the new covenant church to sanctify the first day, the day of total victory and perfect redemption for the elect of all nations and all times? "This is the rationale for regarding the Lord’s day as the Christian Sabbath. It follows the line of thought which the Old Testament itself prescribes for us when it appeals to redemption as the reason for sabbath observance. The principle enunciated in Deuteronomy 5:15 receives its verification and application in the new covenant in the memorial of finalized redemption, the Lord’s day." 54 Those who cling to the old seventh-day sabbath fail to understand the principle set forth in Deuteronomy 5:15 as it applies to new covenant believers, and thus dishonor the Lord’s day.

3. Hebrews 4:9-10 and the Sabbath

A passage of Scripture that is important in the debate regarding the perpetuity of the weekly sabbath is Hebrews 4:9-10: "There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His." This passage has been interpreted three different ways. Some interpreters use this passage as a proof text against the perpetuity of the Sabbath. They argue that when a person believes in Christ, he then ceases from his evil works, and his whole life as a Christian is one long sabbath rest. Thus they argue that the weekly sabbath was but a type of the Christian’s rest in Christ and is no longer binding on the church. Gary North writes, "Calvin followed the tradition laid by Irenaeus and Augustine, interpreting the sabbath as an allegory of the believer’s rest in Christ from the bondage of sin, a rest to be made perfect in eternity. This, of course, was simply the teaching of Hebrews 4, and Calvin was unwilling to break from its perspective. He went lawn bowling after church on Sunday, a fact which later sabbatarians have chosen to ignore." 55 This interpretation, as shall be shown, is not correct. An examination of the context (3:7-4:11; cf. 9:11) proves that the sabbath rest spoken of throughout chapters 3 and 4 is the unending rest in the consummate new heavens and new earth. Therefore, this passage cannot be used as a proof text against the weekly sabbath, because the looking toward the great eschatological sabbath when believers enter their perfect rest with God applied to Adam, Moses, David, and believers of every age. If the Sabbath as the perfect future rest did not abrogate the keeping of one day under the old covenant, there is no reason for it to abrogate the new covenant Lord’s day, for the eschatological meaning is the same in both dispensations. 56

A second interpretation common among strict sabbatarians is that Hebrews 4:9 is actually a statement regarding the weekly sabbath and not the future eternal sabbath. The author of Hebrews discusses the eternal future rest in chapters three and four, but in 4:9 he argues for a remaining weekly sabbath. Since new covenant believers have the same hope of eternal rest as old covenant believers, the weekly sabbath remains to foreshadow that future rest. In his examination of chapter 4, R.L. Dabney argues: "That God has an eternal spiritual rest; that he invited Old Testament believers to share it; that it is something higher than Israel’s home in Canaan, because after Joshua had fully installed Israel in that rest, God’s rest is still held up as something future. The seventh day (verse 4) was the memorial of God’s rest, and was thus connected with it. It was under the old dispensation, as under the new, a spiritual faith which introduced into God’s rest, and it was unbelief which excluded from it. But as God’s rest was something higher than a home in Canaan, and was still offered in the ninety-fifth Psalm long after Joshua settled Israel in that rest, it follows (verse 9) that there still remains a sabbatism, or Sabbath-keeping, for God’s people under the new dispensation; and hence (verse 11) we ought to seek to enter into that spiritual rest of God, which is by faith." 57

A strong support for this interpretation is the fact that the word used to describe God’s rest throughout both chapters (3-4) is a different word then the one used in verse 9. In 3:11, 18, and 4:1, 3, 5, 10, and 11, the Greek word katapausis is used. But in 4:9 sabbatismos is used. 58 Although it is true that both words can be translated as rest, why use a different word only once, a word usually translated as sabbath? Lee writes, "'Katapausis' and 'katapauo' in the LXX are used in respect of the (uninterrupted and therefore unrepeatable) rest of God in Gen. 2:2-3 and Ps. 95:11, but 'sabbatizo' and 'sabbatismos' are used in Ex. 16:30 and II Chr. 36:21 to indicate the (intermittent and therefore repeatable) keeping of a sabbath at regular intervals. Conclusion: the 'sabbatismos' of Heb. 4:9, which the (saved) people of God must keep, is the intermittent and repeatable Sabbath at regular (weekly) intervals." 59 According to this interpretation the passage should be translated: "There remains therefore a sabbath for the people of God" (v. 9).

This interpretation is supported by other aspects of the book of Hebrews. The book was written to Jews who no doubt needed reassurance, given the fact that they had (from an unconverted Jewish standpoint) turned their backs on their nation when they followed Christ. They also needed to be warned that the only way really to remain the people of God and enter God’s eternal rest was by faith. Since Christ’s work of redemption and first-day resurrection gave the new covenant people a new day of rest and worship (a day obviously not recognized by their unbelieving brethren), they also needed reassurance regarding sabbath-keeping on the new day. The reasons for keeping a sabbath were no less relevant for Christians as for old covenant saints. Both looked back to the creation and redemption and both looked forward to the eternal sabbath. Pink concurs: "'There remaineth therefore a sabbath-keeping for the people of God.' The reference is not to something future, but to what is present. 60 The Greek verb (in its passive form) is never rendered by any other English equivalent than 'remaineth.' It occurs again in Heb. 10:26. The word 'remain' signifies 'to be left after others have withdrawn, to continue unchanged.' Here then is a plain, positive, unequivocal declaration by the Spirit of God: 'There remaineth therefore a sabbath-keeping.' Nothing could be simpler, nothing less ambiguous. The striking thing is that this statement occurs in the very epistle whose theme is the superiority of Christianity over Judaism; written to those addressed as 'holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.' Therefore, it cannot be gainsaid [i.e., denied] that Heb. 4:9 refers directly to the Christian Sabbath. Hence we solemnly and emphatically declare that any man who says there is no Christian Sabbath takes direct issue with the N.T. scriptures." 61

The third view (the majority view) holds that verse 9 refers to the believer’s future everlasting sabbath in heaven. Thus, the verse does not teach an explicit sabbatarianism but an implicit. "This verse indirectly establishes the obligation of the Sabbath still; for the type continues until the antitype supersedes it: so legal sacrifices continued till the great antitypical Sacrifice superseded it. As then the antitypical heavenly Sabbath rest will not be till Christ comes, our Gospel Joshua, to usher us into it, the typical earthly Sabbath must continue till then." 62 The Christian Sabbath should focus the believer’s attention on the past, the present, and the future. The worshiper must look at God’s rest from His creative labors and remember that, had Adam obeyed the covenant of works, he would have participated in God’s rest. In the present, Christians celebrate an accomplished redemption and resurrection joy. Believers are to look to the future and the eternal sabbath rest in the presence of Christ. "The purpose of the Sabbath from the first was eschatological; it was a sign of the end, not only of creation but re-creation. The Sabbath in history took its pattern from the creation week of Genesis, but its time and date on the calendar from the day of salvation. Thus, in the Old Testament, the Sabbath celebrated and commemorated the passover, Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Since Christ, the Sabbath is dated from the day of resurrection. In both cases, it is future-oriented, looking forward to the great restoration of all things." 63 The second and third views are acceptable interpretations compatible with the thesis of this book.

Christ’s Teaching on the Sabbath

Those who reject the binding nature of the sabbath ordinance for New Testament believers also appeal to the teachings of Jesus on the subject in support of their thesis. They argue that Christ relaxed or repealed the sabbath law because He regarded it as merely a ceremonial ordinance. But an examination of the relevant Scripture will prove that the anti-sabbatarian interpretation of Christ’s teaching is misguided and unscriptural. The most important passage in the debate over the perpetuity of the Sabbath is recorded in Matthew 12:1-8.

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" But He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

This encounter with the Pharisees is also recorded by Mark (2:23-28) and Luke (6:1-5). The only significant statement omitted from Matthew’s account is Christ’s statement that "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27).

Those who believe that Christ is here relaxing the sabbath law for new covenant believers completely miss the point of this passage. Christ is not discussing how the sabbath ordinance is changed for the new dispensation; He is expounding how the Sabbath is to be observed by the Jews under the Mosaic law. The Mosaic administration (including the observance of the ceremonial laws) was in full force until the death of Christ; Jesus obeyed the Mosaic laws perfectly from His birth to His death. The idea that He permitted His disciples to violate the law of Moses before the types were fulfilled in His death is absurd. Christ was not relaxing the Sabbath but explaining its proper observance to the Pharisees who had perverted it with their legalistic additions. "The Jewish teachers had corrupted many of the commandments, by interpreting them more loosely than they were intended; a mistake which Christ discovered and rectified...in his sermon on the mount: but concerning the fourth commandment, they had erred in the other extreme, and interpreted it too strictly. Note, it is common for men of corrupt minds, by their zeal in rituals, and the external services of religion, to think to atone for the looseness of their morals." 64

How do we know that Christ was explaining the proper observance of the Sabbath, rather than relaxing the sabbath law? First, if Christ was relaxing the old covenant sabbath ordinance, as some suppose, one would expect Christ to admit that His disciples had in fact transgressed the Sabbath. Then He would explain why it was now permissible to ignore its demands. But when confronted by the Pharisees, Christ argued that His disciples were completely innocent of any wrongdoing. Our Lord could argue that His disciples were innocent if they were only guilty of breaking the man-made additions, and not God’s law itself. Second, if Christ was instituting new, more lax sabbath regulations, then the illustrations that He used to argue for His disciples' innocence would be of absolutely no use at all. Why? Because David and the Levitical priest were without question under the full authority of the fourth commandment as enunciated in the law of Moses. Christ’s historical examples are only of use if He is explicating the fourth commandment of the decalogue and not some supposedly more lax new covenant version of it. Would anyone argue that King David and the Levitical priests were new covenant Christians ten centuries before the birth of Christ? If the Savior was arguing for the annulment of the fourth commandment, He would have been teaching that the fourth commandment did not even apply to the Old Testament believers. Such a notion is ludicrous.

In order to prove further that Christ was not modifying or lessening the existing sabbath law, a brief exposition of the passage is in order. The Pharisees were the enemies of Christ; thus they were continually looking for a reason to accuse, condemn, and destroy Him. They seized the opportunity when they observed His disciples walking through a grain field, plucking the heads of grain and rubbing off the chaff between their palms to eat. Suddenly they confronted Christ, accusing Him of allowing His disciples to break the Sabbath. How were they breaking it? According to rabbinical tradition, their innocent activity was defined as reaping and threshing grain! "According to the Mishna that man is guilty of sabbath desecration who on that day 'takes ears of grain equal to a lamb’s mouthful.'" 65 "They based their whole case against the Lord and His disciples on the fact that He was allowing His disciples to transgress some of the merely traditional and anti-Scriptural thirty-nine 'Azoth' by 'reaping' (plucking the ears) and 'threshing' (rubbing them in their hands) on the sabbath day." 66 In the face of this false accusation based on the false legalism of the Pharisaical oral traditions, Christ set forth the true meaning of the Sabbath. His explanation of the Sabbath is an implicit condemnation of the Pharisees' interpretation of the fourth commandment and an explicit justification of His disciples' behavior. "Over against their restrictive traditions, He posited the perfect freedom of the authoritative Word of God." 67

1. Acts of necessity

If one includes a statement made by Christ which is not recorded by Matthew but by Mark (2:27), then Christ gives four reasons why He and His disciples were innocent. First, Christ argues that acts of necessity do not violate the sabbath law. The disciples were hungry and needed to eat. "Works necessary either for the upholding of our lives, or fitting us for sabbath services, are lawful upon the sabbath day." 68 He appeals to the historical example of David, who when fleeing for his life from Saul, ate the showbread which was not lawful to eat (12:4). In so doing they violated the ceremonial law which stated that the showbread was only for "Aaron and his sons" (Lev. 29:9). Christ refutes the Pharisees by a direct appeal to Scripture, by setting a parallel between David and his followers and Himself and His disciples. If David’s situation permitted him to violate a ceremonial provision without sin, then certainly Christ (David’s anti-type) and His disciples could violate the regulatory traditions of finite, sinful men without guilt. "When the mind of the law-giver and the intent and the end of the command is not contravened, the precept is not broken: for this is the ground of Christ’s defense. Not reading nor considering the Scripture, whereby the meaning of the law may be understood, is the cause of error and mistaking of duties. This is it he says [sic], Have ye not read?" 69

Unfortunately, certain anti-sabbatarians have wrongly inferred from the example of the showbread that Christ was teaching that the Sabbath was ceremonial, and that for this reason it could be violated for necessity without incurring guilt. This interpretation has several problems and must be rejected. As noted, the parallel was not between the ceremonial law and the biblical sabbath law, but between the ceremonial law and the man-made traditions of the Pharisees. If the necessity of sustaining life allowed David’s men to eat the showbread, then certainly necessity permitted Christ’s disciples to ignore the rabbinic law. Furthermore (as noted above), the moral and perpetual nature of the Sabbath is taught throughout the Old Testament. An interpretation of Scripture which contradicts the clear and repeated teaching of other parts of God’s Word must be rejected. Christ was not teaching that under certain circumstances people can actually violate the Sabbath with impunity. His whole point was that certain activities that the Pharisees considered to be a violation were not a violation at all, but thoroughly lawful. Consequently, this passage does not teach that the Sabbath is ceremonial.

2. Religious works

Christ’s second argument is that some types of work are permissible on the Sabbath. Using an example from the law, He argues that religious work is not a violation of the Sabbath. "The priests in the temple did a great deal of servile work on the sabbath day; killing, flaying, burning the sacrificed beasts, which in a common case would have been profaning the sabbath; and yet it was never reckoned any transgression of the fourth commandment, because the temple service required and justified it." 70 "If all work on the sabbath profaned the sabbath, as the Pharisees maintained, the priests were guilty of continual profanation. The Saviour takes hold of the Pharisees' own word, when He uses the term profaned. He lays hold of it for the purpose of showing them that they should be somewhat more cautious in throwing out charges of profanation." 71 Some object and ask how plucking grain compares to the service of the temple. The answer lies in the fact that Christ and His disciples were spending the sabbath day preaching the gospel and healing the sick. The plucking of grain was necessitated by their pious activities and not by servile work or leisure. Thus, "Whatsoever bodily work is necessary for the promoving [i.e., promoting] of the service and worship of God upon the Sabbath is not a breaking of the Sabbath." 72 Christ strengthens His argument when He says, "Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple" (12:6). If the priests could serve in the temple without guilt, then surely Christ’s disciples could serve the greater Temple—the Son of God—without guilt. God’s Son is infinitely greater than God’s house which is but a type and shadow.

3. Works of mercy

Christ’s third argument is that "God prefers compliance with the spirit of his law, calling for humility, love and mercy, to mere observance of its outer form." 73 Jesus quotes from Hosea 6:6, which teaches that God prefers mercy, kindness and love to our brethren before sacrifice—before the religious rituals that were part of Old Testament worship. If a man is on his way to the temple to sacrifice a goat and sees his brother drowning in a river, he must delay the sacrifice and save his brother. Christ teaches that the caring for and saving of human life are permissible—yes, even required—on the Sabbath. "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Mt. 12:11-12). The Pharisees' problem was that they ignored the spirit of the law and focused their attention on the external: they loved ritual but lacked compassion. "Therefore the hunger which plagued the disciples of Jesus failed to kindle within the hearts of their critics any feeling of tenderness or eagerness to help." 74 Instead of offering the disciples something to eat to enable them to serve and worship God more effectively on the Sabbath, the Pharisees merely condemned them. What hypocrites!

Anti-sabbatarians seize upon Christ’s reference to Hosea 6:6 as proof that the Sabbath is ceremonial, because they say that acts of mercy take precedence over strict observance. But it must once again be pointed out that the disciples did not actually break the Sabbath, for Christ’s disciples were guiltless (12:7). Christ was not making the point that the Sabbath is ceremonial and thus can be violated, but that the Pharisees did not understand the true meaning of the Scriptures. This point is brought out more clearly when a statement of Christ’s omitted from Matthew’s account but included in Mark’s is considered: "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath" (Mk. 2:27). "The sabbath was instituted to be a blessing for man: to keep him healthy, to make him happy, and to render him holy. Man was not created to be the sabbath’s slave." 75 The Pharisees had taken a law given for man’s benefit and turned it upside down. They made the Sabbath a legalistic burden, a maze of man-made regulations. They had become so obsessed with their own regulations that the true meaning of the Sabbath was lost. God ordained the Sabbath to be a day of true freedom, a day of rejoicing, a day of reflection upon God, a day of worship, and a day to serve and help one’s neighbor. The Sabbath was not made to be a day of slavery to the arbitrary laws and regulations of man. "God did not require the Hebrews, nor anyone else, to keep it as a means of ascetic self-punishment, like the papist’s hair shirt, but he required them to keep it intelligently and from the heart, as an appointed and blessed means of grace." 76 Furthermore, Jesus did not say that the Sabbath was made for the Jews, but that the Sabbath was made for man. "God made it for Adam in paradise, and renewed it to Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam." 77 "The word 'man' is used in its generic sense—the race." 78 Therefore, this passage, which is often quoted as a proof text against sabbatarianism, is actually sabbatarian to the core.

4. Lord of the Sabbath

The conclusion and climax of Christ’s argument is His lordship over the Sabbath (Mt. 12:8). "The entire exposition regarding the Sabbath is given by Jesus as the Lord who has instituted the Sabbath, who thus knows what the Sabbath law involves. The emphasis is on kurios [Lord], but this does not imply that as Lord of the Sabbath Jesus can disregard the Sabbath, set it aside, do what he may please with it. As Lord of the Sabbath, who instituted it, he upholds it, he will tolerate no Pharisaical interference with its true purpose. It is thus that Jesus protects his disciples against the charge (aitia) that they are violating the Sabbath. As Lord of the Sabbath, he would be the first to condemn every violation. As Lord of the Sabbath, he is now condemning the Pharisees' perversion of the Sabbath." 79 It was the Pharisees, not Christ’s disciples, who were guilty of dishonoring the Sabbath. "For in rejecting the Word of the Lord of the Sabbath—both the written Word of the Old Testament which He had just quoted, and the incarnate Word of the New Testament Who had just quoted them—they themselves were desecrating the sabbath." 80

Some theologians and expositors, in keeping with their anti-sabbatarian presuppositions, have an altogether different interpretation of Christ’s words. They argue that Christ is telling the Pharisees that because of His supreme authority as Lord and Sovereign He had relaxed and discontinued the sabbath law for His disciples. The anti-sabbatarian interpretation suffers from a number of insurmountable exegetical difficulties. First, it would be quite inconsistent on Christ’s part to tell the Jews that He had not come to destroy the law (Mt. 5:17) and then turn around and eliminate one of the ten commandments. Second, if Christ had actually abrogated the sabbath law and allowed His disciples to break it at will, then why was the sabbath issue not brought up in His trial before the Sanhedrin? Why then was there no response when Jesus said to the Jews, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" (Jn. 8:46). Third, if Jesus had altered the Sabbath for His disciples, why did He spend so much time explaining the meaning of the Sabbath, and justifying His disciples' behavior, using Old Testament examples? Fourth, the New Testament teaches that the ceremonial types were rendered null by Christ’s death; thus, to argue that Christ was here—before His death—repealing the Sabbath is premature. Fifth, Christ came to "fulfill all righteousness"; as the second Adam He submitted perfectly to the whole Mosaic law, including circumcision. One does not fulfill a law by breaking it! Sixth, Christ says that His disciples were innocent of breaking the Sabbath. If the disciples were innocent, then why would Christ need to make an excuse, saying He altered or relaxed the day? The fact that Christ declared His disciples innocent renders the anti-sabbatarian interpretation impossible, for it would have Christ contradicting Himself in the same sentence. "This explanation would represent the Saviour as stultifying himself by his own words, as we sometimes hear foolish and false children and servants do, when, being charged with an offense, they first deny it and then make an excuse for it. Were such an explanation wilfully urged for Christ’s words, it would be profane." 81 "In what sense now is the son of man Lord of the Sabbath day? Not surely to abolish it—that surely were a strange Lordship, especially just after saying that it was made or instituted [egeneto] for MAN—but to own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it, by merging it in 'the Lord’s Day' (Rev. 1:10)." 82 The disciples were guiltless not because Jesus abrogated the Sabbath, but because they rendered obedience to Christ, who instituted the Sabbath, and not to the Pharisees who perverted its true meaning. 83

The Different Grounds of the Law and the Sabbath

Much of the confusion surrounding the Sabbath is based on a poor understanding of the moral principle which underlies the Sabbath, and the different foundations of the ordinance. In the Bible there are basically four different grounds or reasons that undergird God’s laws. (1) Some laws are based directly upon God’s nature and character. An example is the command, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor" (Ex. 20:16). This command is founded upon the fact that God is truth (Jn. 14:6) and cannot lie (Num. 23:19). Laws that are based on God’s nature cannot change, for God never changes. (2) Other laws have their ground in God’s created order before the fall. These laws have abiding validity prior to the second coming and final state. This category includes all creation ordinances (e.g., monogamous heterosexual marriage, the covenant headship of the husband and submission of the wife, the dominion mandate, labor, and the weekly sabbath). These laws are permanent and universal until the end of the world 84, after which time they will no longer apply (Mt. 22:30; Heb. 4:3-11). (3) Another category is that of positive law. These are commands of God which are grounded solely on the fact that God says that man must obey them. An example is the command to Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17). There was nothing intrinsically evil regarding the forbidden fruit; it was wrong to eat it solely because God said it was wrong. (4) Some laws are based on unique and temporary circumstances and thus automatically expire when those circumstances no longer exist. This category would apply to the ceremonial law and laws specifically tied to the Old Testament land of Israel (e.g., jubilee, cities of refuge, levirate marriage). Although these categories are not mutually exclusive (e.g., ceremonial laws are positive laws with a distinct typological purpose), they are helpful in understanding Jesus' teaching on the Sabbath and the change from the seventh day to the first day of the week. 85

The Sabbath has a moral aspect and a positive aspect, and is a creation ordinance. It is moral in the sense that all men have a natural and perpetual obligation to worship God. Men must worship God, not just because God says so, but also because He is worthy of worship. The reason that man is only to worship the one true God and nothing else is because only God is infinite in perfection; His nature requires it. The Sabbath is also a creation ordinance; therefore, it is a creational imperative. Although wicked men deny it, man was created with a need to rest one day in seven, to recuperate from the week’s toil, to reflect on the creative and re-creative work of God in Christ; to receive religious instruction, and to worship God both in public and in private. The institution of the Sabbath has its ground in the very fabric of creation, including man’s nature.

The Sabbath also has a positive element. The day of the week in which man is to rest and worship God is grounded upon His revealed will. God could have chosen any day He desired, yet before Christ’s resurrection He chose the seventh day, Saturday; and after the resurrection He chose the first day, Sunday. While it is true that both days follow the creative and re-creative work of God, God, if He desired, could have created the world in a millisecond or in seven years. "That a certain portion of time should be set apart for rest from labour is by experience found to be, on physiological and moral grounds, highly desirable. That some movement of the creation of the world and of the resurrection of Christ, and that some permanent and frequently-recurring type of the rest of heaven, should be instituted, is eminently desirable for man, considered as a religious being. But that all these ends should be combined and secured by one institution, and that precisely one whole day in seven should be allotted to that purpose, and that this one day in seven should be at one time the seventh and afterward the first day of the week, is evidently a matter of positive enactment, and binds us as long as the indications of the divine will in the matter remain unchanged." 86

Understanding the positive aspect of the Sabbath is important for two reasons. First, it explains how God could change the day from the seventh to the first day of the week while retaining the true meaning and moral-perpetual aspect of it. Certain heretical groups (such as the Seventh-day Adventists) do not understand this positive element and thus mistakenly believe that there was something intrinsically moral about the seventh day itself. Thus, they foolishly argue that not even Christ Himself could change the day. James Durham understood this distinction: "Consider in this question, that there is a great difference between these two, to say the seventh day sabbath which the Jews kept, is moral, and to say the fourth command is moral. The one may be, and is abolished, because another is brought in its room. The other, to wit the command, may stand, and does stand, because it ties morally to a seventh day, but such a seventh day as the Lord should successively discover to be chosen by him; and though the seventh is changed, yet one of seven is still reserved." 87 Second, it explains why acts of necessity and works of mercy are permitted on the Sabbath. God has chosen one day of every seven for the human race to rest and worship Him. If the worshiping of God is moral and the particular day is positive, then in a serious emergency such as a flood, warfare, forest fire or major earthquake, the day of public worship and rest could even be postponed until a more appropriate time (e.g., Monday or Tuesday) without guilt. 88 This point is important, for if the day itself was moral and not positive, then the postponing of rest and worship for an emergency or necessity could logically be considered the violation of a lesser moral command in order to obey a greater moral command (such as saving life). But the Bible does not approve of ethical relativism or situation ethics in any form. Thus, when Christ says to the Pharisees, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice" (Mt. 12:7), He was rebuking them for elevating a positive command (the observing of a certain day) over a moral command (to preserve human life). They clung to the outward form yet completely missed the essential meaning.

The Meaning of the Sabbath

Having observed that the Scriptures teach that the Sabbath is moral and perpetual, the important question that must now be answered is: How is the sabbath ordinance to be obeyed? The commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Ex. 20:8). "The precept is, sanctify it, or keep it holy. Sanctifying of it is twice mentioned in this command. 1. In this end, it’s said God hallowed or sanctified it, that is by separation, destination, and appointment for holy uses, and as part of worship. So he sanctified the temple, altar, etc., not by infusing any holiness in them, but by appointing them for holy uses. Thus only God can sanctify a day, or any other thing, so as to make it a part of worship, and no man or power on earth whatsoever can do that. 2. In the precept itself we are commanded to sanctify it, that is, by the application of it unto the uses wherefore he has set it apart; thus we sanctify what he has sanctified when we use it and employ it according to his appointment." 89 The Sabbath is to be sanctified or set apart unto God in two ways: First, it is a day of rest from work, a day of cessation from the normal daily routine (the Hebrew word for sabbath is clearly related to the Hebrew verb shabeth, which means to rest or cease). Second, the day is set apart unto the service and worship of God.

1. The sabbath rest

A study of the Scriptures reveals that the sabbath rest is a rest from one’s normal worldly employments (except works of necessity and mercy) and from recreations. 90 The Lord has given man six days in which to work and take care of his business, house, factory or farm; therefore, there is no excuse to engage in servile labor on the Lord’s day. Not only should people refrain from working on the Sabbath, but they should not engage in activities that encourage and cause others to break the Sabbath. Christians should not ordinarily go out to eat, buy gasoline, go grocery shopping, go to the shopping mall, etc., on the Lord’s day. Our attitude should be that of righteous Nehemiah who labored to stop such profanation: "In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, 'What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?'" (13:15-17). "Unlike many modern public figures, Nehemiah was determined to put a stop to this flagrant sin. First of all, he testified against the merchants on the very day on which they sold their merchandise; he protested on the Sabbath as soon as he caught them red-handed, not even waiting for the morrow and the working days which were to follow, on which to voice his complaints (Neh. 13:15). Next, he approached the local politicians, the civil authorities. Contending with the nobles of Judah, he roundly accused them of themselves doing evil and themselves profaning the sabbath, by virtue of their own permissive connivance regarding the public desecration; and he went on to threaten them that God would bring even more wrath upon Israel than the previous sabbath curse of the captivity, if they did not act against that evil (Neh. 13:17-18)." 91 This is in stark contrast to today’s fundamentalist pastors who have Super Bowl parties on the sabbath evening in place of public worship, or Reformed pastors who discuss the need for Christian reconstruction on Sunday afternoon at the International House of Pancakes. "It may be observed, that in those places where the sabbath is well kept, religion in general will be most flourishing; and that in those places where the sabbath is not much noticed, and much is not made of it, there is no great matter of religion [i.e., Christianity] in any way." 92

The cessation of one’s normal employments should also extend to one’s thoughts and conversation. The business person who takes Sunday off, yet spends the day meditating on how to conduct business in the next week and discussing company strategy, certainly has not kept the Sabbath. Schools do not hold classes on Sundays, yet many students spend the day studying science, mathematics and the liberal arts. "The Sabbath is not a day for such exercises as the reading of history, the studying of sciences.... People should not give their orders for the week’s work on the Lord’s day, nor converse about their worldly business." 93 "These texts may tend to reprove those tradesmen, who, on the sabbath, post their books, state their accounts, or prepare their goods which are to be exposed to sale on the following day. And if we do not run these lengths in profaning the sabbath, yet we are highly guilty when our thoughts and discourse run after our covetousness, which is, in effect, a saying as they did who complained, 'When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?' [Am. 8:5]." 94 Is it a hard thing to set aside one’s worldly employments, cares, thoughts and preparations for one day out of seven, for God who created all life and Jesus Christ who gives life eternal?

The Sabbath is also a day of resting from all worldly recreations. This is taught implicitly in the command itself, which teaches that the day is separated unto God and not our own pleasures. It is taught explicitly in Isaiah: "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken" (58:13-14). Sabbath sanctification involves more than leaving the plow in the barn. The Jews had turned from true sabbath observance to doing their own pleasure; that is, they did not delight in the day and in Jehovah, but spent their time serving their own interests.

Isaiah is not saying that the Sabbath is to be unpleasurable, or a day of gloom and sadness, but that the day is to be focused on God (His person and works), not focused on pleasing ourselves. Isaiah focuses on three areas in which the Jews needed repentance. "The first of these, not doing thy ways, is parallel in thought to the earlier doing thy pleasure. There is no need to restrict these phrases to matters of business. The 'way' is a course of conduct and refers to all courses and actions that men choose in preference to the commands of God. These courses and actions may be right and legitimate on other days, but when they obtrude in the place of that delight, which is to find expression in the observance of the sabbath, they are to be refrained from. Secondly, not finding thy pleasure also refers to one’s own pleasure in distinction from what pleases God; and the third expression, speaking words (the noun is best understood as collective), probably refers to idle and vain talk, in which God is forgotten or ignored. What is mentioned tends to draw the heart away from God to the consideration of one’s own occupations. This is wrong conduct on the holy sabbath." 95

If one is to abstain from doing one’s own pleasure and even engaging in idle talk 96 on the Sabbath in order to delight in the Lord, then obviously recreations are forbidden. They are not to be practiced, watched on television, or even discussed on the Lord’s day. 97 God did not set the day apart from other days in order for man to play football, soccer, tennis, racquetball, baseball, swim laps, go bike riding, jogging, golfing, weight-lifting, hiking, and so on. The day was not sanctified for the NFL, NBA, NHL, professional baseball or tennis, concerts, theater attendance, movies, television, etc. The whole day is set apart for the public, family, and private worship of God. The day is for a holy resting where God and His works are meditated upon, discussed and celebrated by God’s people. This view, which is taught in the Westminster Standards and was practiced by Puritans and Presbyterians for centuries, may now be considered overly strict, unrealistic, and even legalistic, but it is clearly taught in God’s Word. 98

2. Works of necessity and mercy permitted

The Bible teaches that certain works are permissible on the Sabbath: works of necessity and mercy. In the section above regarding Christ’s teaching on the Sabbath, it was noted that works necessary to the proper observance of the public worship of God are permitted on the Lord’s day (Mt. 12:5): preaching, teaching, collecting tithes, the singing of psalms, travel to and from worship, etc. If the priests could do religious work in the service of the temple without breaking the Sabbath, then certainly religious work done for the greater Temple, Jesus Christ, is permissible. Another necessity is the refreshment of the body with food and drink (Mt. 12:3-4). One cannot properly worship and meditate upon Christ and His works when one is famished or dying of thirst. The Lord’s day is a day of joy, celebration and victory (Ps. 118:22-24), and thus under normal conditions is not a day of fasting, sackcloth and ashes. One must care for one’s animals on the Sabbath by feeding and watering them. Works of necessity also involve taking care of emergencies: invading armies, fighting fires, floods, earthquakes, car accidents. If it is permissible to save the life of a beast on the Sabbath (Mt. 12:11-12), then it is permissible to save human life also. "But in all these things it should be regarded, that the necessity be real, and not pretended: for it is not enough that the work can be done to such advantage on another day; for that might let out people on the Sabbath, if it be a windy day or so, to cut down their corn, whom yet God has in a special manner provided against, Exod. xxxiv. 21." 99

Christians must never confuse an inconvenience with a genuine necessity or emergency. If worship is to be missed, it should be because of a real sickness or hazard. Some treat a slight fatigue as a serious flu or a half inch of snow as a blizzard simply because they are lazy and do not really want to attend to the means of grace. Others break the Sabbath who turn ordinary providence into a crisis. These are motivated out of greed rather than laziness. "Hence though the weather and season is rainy, yet it is not lawful to cut down or gather in corn on the sabbath, their hazard in this case being common and from an ordinary immediate providence. Yet suppose that a river were carrying away corn, or that winds were like to blow them into the seas, it were lawful in such a case to endeavour to prevent that, and preserve them. Because (a.) that comes by some more than ordinary dispensation of providence in the weather, and affects and puts in hazard this corn more than others. (b.) Because there is no probability of recovering these in an ordinary way, though the weather should alter, but there is hope of gathering in of such as are in the fields [outside] that reach of hazard, if the Lord alters the season." 100 Those who turn necessity into a loophole to mow lawns, chop wood, harvest crops or pull weeds are perverting the commandment to their own detriment and destruction. 101

Works of mercy are also permitted. Jesus said that "it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" (Mt. 12:12). If it is appropriate to have mercy upon an animal in distress on the Sabbath, then it is even more appropriate to help a person in distress (Mt. 12:11-12). Thus, caring for the sick and relieving the poor are good and lawful on the Sabbath. The church has always acknowledged that necessary hospital and nursing-home work are permissible on the Lord’s day. If it is lawful and good to minister to man’s temporal needs on the Sabbath, then it is also good to minister to man’s spiritual needs (preaching the gospel, witnessing, ministering in retirement communities or prisons, counseling, passing out tracts, etc.). "Works of mercy and charity are very proper and acceptable to Christ on this day. They were proper on the ancient sabbath. Christ was wont to do such works on the Sabbath-day. But they especially become the Christian sabbath, because it is a day kept in commemoration of the greatest work of mercy and love toward us that ever was wrought. What can be more proper than that on such a day we should be expressing our love and mercy towards our fellow-creatures, and especially our fellow-Christians? Christ loves to see us show our thankfulness to him in such a way as these. Therefore, we find that the Holy Ghost was especially careful, that such works should be performed on the first day of the week in the primitive church," 102 as we learn from Paul’s exhortation to collect tithes for the poor saints in Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16:1-2).

It is important that civil governments and employers acknowledge the Lord’s day and accommodate those who are involved in works of necessity (e.g., police, firemen, the military) and mercy (e.g., doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, hospital workers) in such a way that they can attend public worship as often as possible. Thus in a society that honors God’s law, a rotation system should be used so that people could have at least two or three Sundays off each month in order to worship God publicly and partake of the Lord’s supper. On the weeks in which Sunday employment is required, a day of rest must be given in place of Sunday, to follow the pattern of one day of rest in seven as closely as possible. "Further, if necessity obliges us to engage in secular employments on the Lord’s day, as in the instances of those whose business is to provide physic [care] for the sick, let us, nevertheless, labour to possess a spiritual frame, becoming the holiness of the day, so far as may consist with what we are immediately called to do." 103 One must also make sure that one is truly engaging in a work of necessity. There are many medical procedures (e.g., plastic surgery, removal of warts) that do not need to be scheduled for the Lord’s day. "Finally, if we have a necessary call to engage in worldly matters, and so be detained from public ordinances, we must endeavor to satisfy others that the providence of God obliges us to act as we do; that so we may not give offense to them, or they take occasion, without just reason, to follow their own employments, to do which would be a sin in them." 104

3. The Sabbath and modern industrial civilization

There are certain industries that are crucial to dominion and the well-being of civilization that cannot be completely shut down on the Lord’s day. A few anti-sabbatarians have seized upon this fact as an argument against sabbath-keeping. Gary North writes, "Rethinking the sabbath question will involve a rethinking of the whole of Western industrial civilization. It will certainly involve the questioning of the last two centuries of rapid economic growth. Strict sabbatarians should at least be aware of the possible effects of their proposals. If the world should be conformed to Christian standards of Biblical law, and if the standards of Hebrew sabbath practice are, in fact, still the rule for the Christian dispensation, how would those standards be imposed on the population at large? Would it not make impossible our modern version of industrial specialized society? In other words, if such standards had been enforced for the past two centuries, could this civilization, which most modern Christians accept as far as its technological conveniences are concerned, have come into existence? How much of our economically profitable, efficient Sunday technology would we be forced to destroy? The costs, I suspect, would be considerable. It is time for strict sabbatarians to count these costs."  105 North ignores the abundant biblical proofs for a moral and perpetual sabbath. Instead of a frontal exegetical attack on the Puritans, North constructs an economic straw man, implying that Christians must choose between modern industrial civilization and sabbath keeping.

The argument that obedience to the fourth commandment would entail the economic fall of western civilization is ludicrous. Sabbatarians acknowledge that certain economic activities and industries cannot be completely shut down on the Sabbath. One example is the steel industry. If the smelter in a foundry takes several days to reach its proper temperature, then it cannot be shut down every Lord’s day without shutting down the whole steel industry. Thus, at least a minimal crew is needed to keep the operation running through Sunday. But the benefits of steel for mankind (e.g., safer cars and buildings, the need for steel for the military) render it a necessity (wooden sailing ships would not have fared well against Japanese destroyers in the battles of the Pacific). Another example would be certain types of shipping. An oil tanker could not reach Japan from a port in Alaska in less than a week and thus would be in transit on the Sabbath (the shipping of oil is a necessity, since energy is needed for large populations to heat buildings, and for generating electricity). God does not require people to deforest the countryside or freeze to death in order to keep the Sabbath. Power and electric utilities and telephone companies must maintain service on the Lord’s day. Hospitals, churches, homes, retirement communities and nursing homes need heat and electricity to preserve life and minister to the sick. Communication facilities need to operate for emergencies. Industries involving animals need to care for those animals (for example, cows must be milked every day or they will stop producing milk).

Industries that have a genuine need for labor on the Sabbath are few in number. The percentage of people working on the Lord’s day should be very small compared to those who work on a given week day. The vast majority of economic activities on the Sabbath in America are totally unnecessary and sinful (e.g., shopping malls, sporting events, restaurants, movie complexes, newspapers, retail outlets). Those industries which require sabbath labor should rotate staff so that working on the Lord’s day is kept to a minimum for each worker. Workers must also be given another day off in place of the Lord’s day.

The central thesis of North’s argument is that modern sabbatarians are hypocrites, because the fourth commandment, if followed today, would require that Christians refuse to use electricity and heating in their homes and churches on the Sabbath. North writes, "We often pride ourselves on the efficiency of modern technology, forgetting that many men and women must go to work and operate the machines that provide the power—the fuel—for our gadgets. These workers are committing sabbatarian capital crimes each Sunday, and every Christian sabbatarian who uses these gadgets, apart from some legitimate emergency, sends people to hell every Sunday, morning and evening, as he sits in the comfort of his air-conditioned church. If the sabbatarian creeds are correct, then sabbatarians are weekly condemning others to the flames of eternal torment, just so they can sit in 75-degree comfort." 106 North builds his case on Exodus 35:2-3 and Numbers 15:32-36. In Exodus 35 the Israelites were commanded not to kindle a fire in their homes on the Sabbath. The Numbers passage records the execution of a man for collecting sticks (firewood) on the Sabbath. Do these passages forbid Christians from using heat and electricity on the Lord’s day? What are the facts?

The Exodus passage, as virtually all commentators (including North) acknowledge, does not forbid having a fire in one’s home for heat; it refers either to the starting of a fire from scratch or to the kindling of a fire. "Orthodox commentators have taken two basic views of this passage. First, that 'kindle' must have referred to the starting of a fire, literally and figuratively from scratch. It was a difficult task to light up a fire once it had gone out, and this constituted extra labor which could have been avoided merely by paying attention to the home fire which should have been started a day before. The second view holds that 'kindle' refers to a fire used in business, such as in the case of a blacksmith. The latter view is singularly unconvincing. (A third possibility, that no fires were going in Israel, even in the cold of winter, is unlikely, especially in the light of Jesus' liberal interpretation of sabbath observance [Matt. 12:1 ff].) Thus, it seems reasonable to assume that it was illegal to start a fire on the sabbath, but legitimate to keep yesterday’s fire burning." 107 The passage in Numbers 15 forbids the collection of materials used to build a fire on the Sabbath. North points out that unlawfully collected sticks could be used for heating, lighting, cooking and selling. 108 He also notes that this commandment requires that fuel must be obtained and stored before the sabbath day. 109 North maintains that using electricity or heat on the Sabbath is no different than paying someone to collect sticks on the Sabbath; therefore (according to North), heating one’s home or church is no different than going to the shopping mall or eating at a restaurant on the Lord’s day. 110

North’s analogy is clever but does not hold up under close scrutiny. He fails to consider the major differences between a decentralized form of energy consumption (for heat or light) and a centralized form. The Hebrews were to gather their firewood six days a week but not on the seventh. They were permitted to have a fire in their homes as long as they did not start it from scratch on the Sabbath or use it for business. Thus, on the Sabbath each family was permitted to add wood to the fire to maintain heat and light in the home. In modern industrialized culture, man uses a centralized power production source to maintain heat and light in the home; this is necessary (at current technology levels) because of the huge increase of population since ancient times, and the massive population centers that have arisen with industrialization (cities of a million or more people are common). A decentralized form of energy consumption using wood or coal would ravage the environment (e.g., deforestation) and greatly increase air pollution and the diseases that accompany it. If a centralized form of energy production based on oil, natural gas or nuclear power can save human life, protect the environment and provide energy to populations that otherwise would not have it, then is it not a necessity? The medical and environmental benefits alone render a central, dependable, clean source of energy a necessity. Christ said it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save human life (Mt. 12:12; Lk. 6:9). Does North believe that hospitals should burn filthy wood- or coal-burning stoves on the Sabbath, or that elderly people should be allowed to die of heat stroke in the summer, or that children should be allowed to freeze to death in winter? No, but he apparently likes to go out to dinner after church. 111

A centralized power source would actually enable a Christian society to keep God’s sabbath better. The Hebrews were permitted to burn fires in their dwellings on the Sabbath, as long as they did not use the fire for business purposes. The burning of a fire requires a certain amount of attention (i.e., work). Furthermore, a certain amount of smoke irritates the eyes and lungs. Although a central power system requires a crew to man it on the Sabbath, it enables millions of people to rest and worship God in a healthy, clean environment. In a Christian culture, those who work at the power plant would be rotated so that working on the Lord’s day would be rare among power plant workers. There likely will come a time in the future when technology will enable power plants to run automatically with a skeleton crew for observation and security purposes. The keeping of the Sabbath is indeed compatible with modern industrial culture. God does not require Christians to return to the stone age every Lord’s day.

4. Preparing for the Lord’s day

Before turning to the question of how the day is to be sanctified, it is appropriate to discuss the need for preparation for the Sabbath. In modern hedonistic culture, Saturday evening is usually spent in various entertainments. Many people (especially those who are young and single) stay up very late watching TV or going to movies or social events (sports, theater, parties, concerts, etc.). While a certain amount of entertainment and fellowship is lawful and good for one’s well-being, people must remember their duty to be ready in body and mind for the important spiritual exercises that are to take place on the Sabbath. A person who stays up late and misses public worship, or who comes to church so fatigued that his attention is not focused upon God and His Word, has violated the Lord’s day. One of the most common reasons given by young adults for missing public worship is lack of sleep. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you understand the depths of degradation and humiliation and the immense suffering that He endured for His people? You call yourself a Christian, a follower of Christ, yet you neglect His appointed means of grace so that you can watch TV or go to the movies. What a mockery, what hypocrisy!

Not only must Christians go to bed at a decent hour, but they must also prepare their affairs in such a way as to avoid the temptation of engaging in unnecessary labor or commerce on the Lord’s day. If the house is dirty, clean it on Saturday, so that if people come to lunch after church, you will not be tempted to rush home and clean up. Make sure that the car has plenty of gasoline in order to go to and from public worship (or for emergencies). Businessmen and students must prepare for Monday’s affairs on Saturday, not on Sunday. Paperwork or homework must be finished on Saturday. The preparation for Monday’s activities should be thorough, so that on the Lord’s day the mind may be fixed upon God and His works. Thorough preparation will help one avoid the temptation of thinking about the Monday morning business meeting, algebra exam or sales conference.

Housewives should prepare for sabbath meals as much as possible on Saturday. There are many kitchen duties, such as the kneading and baking of bread, preparing stuffing, cooking and mashing potatoes, that do not need to be done on the Sabbath. Moses spoke to this point in Exodus 16:23: "This is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'" "The meaning of this is, that they were to gather the manna, working which would take up a considerable time, and to grind or prepare it for baking or seething. This was a servile or laborious work, and might as well be done the day before. Accordingly, they were commanded then to dispatch or finish it, that they might rest in and sanctify the Sabbath immediately following." 112 This law does not make it unlawful for Christians to prepare and heat up food on the Lord’s day (for a certain amount of preparation is necessary), but it does teach that food preparation should be handled as much as possible on the day prior to the Sabbath, that we may apply ourselves more diligently to the means of grace and rest.

There is also a spiritual preparation for the Lord’s day. This, of course, involves, first of all, repenting of any known sins to God. Second, if there is any known enmity between oneself and another Christian, reconciliation should be sought if at all possible (Mt. 5:23-24). Third, we should pray fervently that God would not only forgive our sins but also fill us with His Spirit on the approaching day. We should pray for God to subdue our fleshly appetites, worldly cares and unclean thoughts in order that we may focus in worship upon Christ, study His Word, and feed upon Him spiritually at His supper. We also should pray for the special assistance of God in the preparation and delivery of His Word by the teaching elders of the church, and that the Holy Spirit would convince and convict hearts unto a greater sanctification. Even the Apostle Paul exhorted the Ephesians to pray "for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel" (Eph. 6:19). "We ought to be very importunate with God, that he would sanctify and fill our thoughts, from the beginning to the end of the Lord’s day, which he has consecrated for his immediate service and glory." 113 Fourth, we should read and meditate upon the preacher’s text for the next day, if it is known. We should "desire the pure milk of the word that [we] may grow thereby" (1 Pet. 2:2). What a wonderful privilege to have the Lord’s day, a day in which the cares and vanities of life are forgotten, a day of blessed fellowship, communion and celebration with our Lord Jesus Christ.

5. The time of the Lord’s day

The sabbath law teaches that man is to sanctify to the Lord one whole day in seven. A question that needs to be answered is: "When does the Christian sabbath begin?" Some argue that the Christian sabbath begins on Saturday evening, while others argue that it runs from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday. Those who argue that it runs from evening to evening point to the Jewish ceremonial sabbaths for support: "On the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover" (Lev. 23:5). The Hebrew word translated "twilight" (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NTHSMT 114) or "evening" (RSV) literally means "between the evenings." "The meaning of the phrase is much discussed. Most commentators think it means 'in the evening' (cf. Deut. 16:6, 'at sunset'), or more precisely, the period between sunset and complete darkness. The orthodox Jewish view is that it means 'between midday and sunset,' and this is supported...on the grounds that it would have been impossible to kill all the passover lambs in the temple between sunset and darkness. In NT times the passover sacrifice began about 3 p.m." 115 The evidence for an old covenant evening-to-evening sabbath is quite strong (cf. Lev. 23:32; Ex. 12:6, 30:8). Hendriksen believes that the Jewish sabbath began at 6 o'clock Friday evening: "According to the ancient Hebrew way of speaking, there were 'two evenings' (cf. Exod. 12:6 in the original). The first 'evening' which we would call 'afternoon' began at 3 p.m., the second at 6 p.m. Something of this is probably reflected in the phrase 'When evening fell,' for we cannot imagine that Joseph of Arimathea, a Jew, would have approached Pilate on Friday, 6 p.m., asking for the body of Jesus when the sabbath was beginning." 116

Although the Jewish sabbath was probably from evening to evening (or sunset to sunset), the passages in the New Testament which discuss the Lord’s day (the new covenant sabbath) point to a midnight-to-midnight observance. A passage which indicates that the inspired apostles no longer held to the old covenant system of a sunset-to-sunset sabbath is John 20:19: "Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 'Peace be