In the beginning, God laid out the plans of His work and began to bring them to pass. The last day of God’s plans was the seventh day, a day of rest that was made holy, blessed, and set apart (Genesis 2 v3).
It was made holy because the Lord God rested from all His work He had done in the creation. There are hundreds of Biblical references to the Sabbath day. One of the larger landmarks on this topic comes in Exodus chapter twenty, when the Lord visited the earth in His strength and power. He gave the Ten Commandments, the Covenant with mankind, and the Sabbath day made the top four commandments man is to adhere to (Exodus 20 v8-11). In this command, we are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We are reminded that the Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week and we should not do any work on this day.
The scholars of the Biblical world will say this was a thing in the Old Testaments and not required for the new; primarily in the New Testament after the death of Jesus Christ. While Jesus was alive the seventh day Sabbath was still being kept and honored. It was kept customarily by Jesus Christ Himself (Luke 4 v16). When Jesus was killed, the women followed to see where His body would lay and they left to keep the Sabbath day as commanded by Moses, before returning to do the ointments and spices for the body (Luke 23 v56). It was not just JESUS custom to keep the Sabbath; Paul also had this custom as well, even after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Acts 17 v2, Acts 16 v13).
Everywhere Paul traveled into; he reasoned and taught people on the Sabbath day (Acts 13 v14, Acts 18 v4). Much of the healing and teaching of the ministry of Jesus Christ took place on the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week (Luke 4 v31). This is because Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath day (Mark 2 v28). In the book of Isaiah, chapter 56, it says blessed is the man who holds fast to the Lord’s Sabbath and stops him or herself from profaning it.
The Sabbath is very important to the Lord. He clearly states that it is a covenant forever and a sign between the God of Israel and His people (physical and spiritual) forever (Exodus 31 v13-17). Now the question for this article was what does the Bible say about the Sabbath? The references above are more than enough and we will refrain from going into where did we go from the Sabbath day to Sunday (first day of the week)? This change came from the early church out of Rome and not the apostles of Jerusalem. This distinction must be made clear for the reader to understand. The BIBLE only speaks of the seventh day Sabbath and speaks of it as a covenant forever.
Grace and many blessing are upon you today and always in Jesus name. Amen
Koko Ishe
Bible Study Ministry
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