There seems to be a trend occurring in the church these days that must be addressed by the authority of the scriptures and with the precedents set down for us in the form of apostolic traditions. Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of HIS church and laid upon that is the foundations of the apostle’s doctrines and traditions. In view of the many philosophies of today’s religious world, the gospel is indeed the straight and narrow way, which leads unto life everlasting!
Today’s sleepy Laodicean church world has accepted another gospel. From the view of The Way of Jesus Christ and his gospel, it is evident that there are now many “gospels”. Paul the apostle warned us that these are not another, but the gospel of Christ that has been perverted and altered for the sake of gain, ego, or pride! It is shocking to see that the gospel has been altered to one side of extreme grace so that anything goes! It doesn’t matter how you live, talk or act as Jesus will still love and receive you! And if it isn’t that one hand of greasy grace, then it has become the other side of legalism and salvation by works of the Old Testament law. So many believers who are weak in the faith have fallen into the traps of both! We MUST know the Word of God and like the Bereans in the book of Acts, search the scriptures to see if the things we hear are truly from the word of God! If it does not have a firm foundation in the doctrines once delivered to the saints of the early church, then it is from the enemy of our souls who uses the guiles of men, wresting and twisting the scriptures to their own destruction! There are many discussions and warnings to be heard about the greasy grace exit, but the focus of this article is to discuss the one exit from the true gospel to the slippery slope of legalism and law which leads men to bondage and fear, and away from grace and faith! In the following paragraphs we will look at the most common traps used by legalistic Hebrew roots movements, Saturday as the sabbath religions, Old Testament feast day observers, and the show of religiosity concerning dietary laws of the old covenant given to Moses.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
SABBATH DAY WORSHIP? SATURDAY OR SUNDAY?
Which day of the week should Christians worship? Is it so important that we worship on a particular day of the week? Or should we as new creations in Christ Jesus, carry on the traditions of the apostles in the NEW covenant? I pray this study on the sabbath subject from the WORD OF GOD answers that question in your minds, as there is a modern movement in the sleepy, Laodicean church world we live in today, to follow “another” gospel. If during this study you come to a conclusion that you must still observe a literal “Sabbath” day, then do so to yourself alone, and do not esteem your brother or sister in Christ to be any less, who chooses to follow the New Covenant Day of worship, the 8th day, or Sunday. The number 8 is a representation of a “new beginning” and indeed with the new covenant, it represents a time period of grace and no longer the rigid conformity required by the “law”. The following verses prove that returning to the Old Testament to perform any of its works of the flesh rather than living by faith in Jesus Christ and his FINISHED work on the cross of Calvary, is a perversion of the gospel of Christ!
Galatians 1:6-7 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 4:9-11 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.”
Galatians 5:8-10 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be.
Galatians 5:12 I would they were even cut off which trouble you.”
The Lesson of Nehushtan!
II Kings 18:4 He removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan.
Israel became discouraged on the way to Canaan and complained against God and Moses, so the LORD sent fiery serpents among them, which bit and killed many. When the living repented and begged for mercy, God told Moses to make a brass replica of a fiery serpent and put it on a pole. If any person bitten by a fiery serpent looked at the brass serpent, he would live. Moses did as God told him, and Israel survived by looking at the brass serpent. See Numbers 21:4-9 for this event that happened in the wilderness.
The Jews foolishly presumed this brass serpent Moses had made would have residual religious value, so they worshipped it for another 800 years! When the godly and righteous King Hezekiah reformed the nation, he found this religious relic and finally destroyed it. When he destroyed it, he mocked it with a name, Nehushtan! A mere thing of brass! See II Kings 18:4 for this history.
The Jewish Sabbath, taken out of its place as part of Old Testament ceremonial worship for Israel only, is just a day of the week now, no different than Tuesday or Friday. Nehushtan! It is only a day of the week! It has no value; it has no power; it has no role; it can be a snare to the ignorant and superstitious. Leave it to Israel under the Old Testament.
The Lesson of Concision
Philippians 3:2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.
Superstitious Jews rejected Paul’s gospel of justification by Christ. These Jewish legalists would not leave their rite of circumcision in the Old Testament, where it was given, and where it belonged. Much of Paul’s ministry was against this heresy. He even called for a church council of the apostles and elders to formally reject this superstition.
Paul despised these Jewish legalists, for they bewitched Gentile believers and perverted the gospel by requiring surgery for salvation. He ridiculed false teachers holding on to circumcision as dogs, evil workers, and the concision! The Holy Ghost thus contemptuously mocked the revered Jewish rite of circumcision as mere body mutilation. Philippians Chapter 3 tells us of the history and the context of circumcision in the Old Testament. As circumcision was an outward sign to the Old Testament Hebrew, baptism is the outward sign of the New Testament believer. It served the purpose of being set apart in the flesh outwardly, and now believers are set apart by the observance of baptism, being buried with Christ! To proclaim all of the Old Testament ordinances and commandments are still in effect, diminishes the work of the cross and the sacrifice Jesus made there!
Colossians 2:10-12 And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead!
There is no reason to pity apostates that corrupt the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who uphold the Sabbath day as the only day to worship are brothers with the concision! It is vain superstition to require of Christians a rite that belongs in the Old Testament. Therefore, we would be foolish to require Sabbath observance after the cross, as that would exalt a day of the week rather than the Person of Jesus Christ who became our Sabbath rest!
Christians should follow and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ – not Moses, not Israel, not the Law, not the Jewish Sabbath. Exalting these pitiful substitutes that passed away long ago rejects and dishonors Jesus Christ. Sunday, the Lord’s Day, is a weekly privilege to glorify Jesus Christ on the day He ordained for worship. Christians always take New Testament ordinances and tradition over Old Testament ceremonial or national laws.
2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Seventh-Day Adventists, Hebrew Roots movement, Messianic Judaism and others glorify Saturday. They exalt Moses and the Old Testament over Jesus, the apostle Paul and the New Testament. They choose shadows over reality, law over grace, carnal ordinances over spiritual, bondage over liberty. They exalt a calendar day over the finished work of Christ. They reject the Lord’s spiritual fulfillment and abolition of the Sabbath for a worldly yoke of bondage.
Paul’s greatest burden was fighting such Jewish legalists. False teachers followed him, creeping into churches and corrupting Gentile believers with Old Testament laws about circumcision, dietary laws, and the Sabbath. Most of Galatians and Hebrews, and much of Romans, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, were written to oppose them. These heretics chose Moses and meats over Jesus and His gospel.
Rejecting celebration of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and His day for the beggarly bondage of Jewish Sabbath is heresy and superstition. Christians never assembled on Saturday after resurrection morning. The Lord of the Sabbath had abolished it at His resurrection, after nailing that carnal and worldly ordinance to His cross, when He became the reality and fulfillment of its shadow.
It was a new day, literally the first day of the week and spiritually, the gospel Day called Today, covenantally becoming the New Testament of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The issue is simple. What is the New Testament Day for religious worship? Is it Saturday, an ordinance Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai and imposed on Israel until Jesus and His apostles? Or is it Sunday, the day on which Jesus Christ appeared to His assembled apostles and blessed them, who all kept that day from then on?
Four simple, conclusive passages – Col 2:14-17; Gal 4:9-11; I Cor 16:1-2; Acts 20:6-7, are more than enough for noble readers (Acts 17:11), but the following arguments add much more, answer any objections, and provide for further study.
Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, (old testament laws and regulations) which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat,(old testament dietary laws) or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, (old testament holy days) or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: (old testament day of worship) 17 Which are a shadow (all of these things were meant to be a picture or shadow of the real-the body of Christ!) of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Galatians 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? (the old testament covenant is bondage in comparison to the freedom in Christ Jesus! Romans 8:2) 10Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. (the old testament holy day observances) 11I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.
Paul is referring to the ordinances of the law as weak and beggarly elements, in comparison to the awesome finished work of Jesus Christ!
I Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Acts 20:6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. 7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Sabbatarianism should be a joke! It would be, if there were not so many trying to make something serious of Old Testament relics, that were only intended to give a picture and a shadow of Jesus Christ! It would be if Christians read the New Testament and considered the facts that are recorded there. The Sabbath was given only to Israel as a special gift. The New Testament letters to the churches only condemn Sabbath observation, and they only command or commend the first day. The book of Acts of the apostles, where the foundations of the church were laid, condemns Sabbath observations and commends the first day. Jesus honored the first day and ignored the Sabbath after His resurrection. Satan hates truth, especially about Jesus Christ. If he gets believers sidetracked with Moses and Old Testament laws and ordinances that Jesus fulfilled and nailed to his cross, then Jesus and his work on the cross is minimized. Let Jesus Christ be glorified! Let God’s word be true, and every man a liar! Are you a Christian? If you are, you should know that the Old Testament laws and ordinances are passed away, as its name proves:
Hebrews 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
You know which section of the Bible is the new covenant, and which section now represents a type and shadow leading you to Jesus Christ! It does not matter how many times circumcision, sabbath, turtledoves, wave offerings, blood of bulls and goats, sacrifices, altar, and incense occur in the Old Testament, they do not apply directly to you today. Those were types and shadows of Jesus who would come in the New Testament, which became in force after the death, burial, and resurrection of the testator!
The Jewish form of worship and bondage is now 2000 years dead. Thank you, God! For the redeeming power of JESUS CHRIST! The Old Testament does give us a picture and is a schoolmaster LEADING us to greater knowledge and purpose in JESUS CHRIST!
Galatians 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
The Old Testament is still very relevant to the NEW TESTAMENT believer, as ALL scripture is given by inspiration of GOD and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of GOD may be thoroughly furnished to all good works. II Tim. 3:16-17 The old ordinances, while they show a picture of JESUS, are no longer intended for us to perform as works of righteousness, for if we take ANY, then we are again bound by ALL! Paul called these works of the flesh from the law and ordinances “dead works”.
Hebrews 9:13-24 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions [that were] under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. 16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament [is] of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. 18 Whereupon neither the first [testament] was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, 20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. 21 Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. 23 It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, [which are] the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
Christians follow Jesus Christ and the apostles, not Moses. The New Covenant exalts Jesus the Son far above Moses the servant!
John 1:17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Heb 3:3-6 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ is a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Christians follow the teaching and tradition of the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ:
II Thess. 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
Gal 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
His apostles and prophets had the highest offices in the New Covenant, and they are the foundation of the New Testament church.
Eph 2:19-22 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone:
Acts 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
Any opinion that is contrary to the New Testament doctrines and traditions given by the apostles from Jesus is heresy:
II Thess. 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received from us.
Rom 16:17-18 Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such, serve not our Lord Jesus Christ,..
Using Jewish Old Testament rules for religious practice today is not Christianity. Moses did not have an understanding about New Testament Christianity.
I Peter 1:10-12 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
Isaiah and other prophets had glimpses of the freedom that would come through the Messiah, who would break down the middle wall of partition, and the veil of the temple, so that we could boldly approach the throne of grace through JESUS CHRIST! David the Psalmist would sing of the salvation to come and told of the relationship that would be enjoyed when the LORD would become the captain of our salvation!
Paul gave the guidelines for New Testament worship. Jesus Christ chose Paul to be the apostle of the Gentiles, and he and the other apostles understood his special role.
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:
Rom 11:13-14 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
Gentiles are to follow Paul in the traditions of the church in the same way that he followed Christ.
I Cor. 4:14-16 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
I Cor. 11:1-2 Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you.
Phil 3:17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.
Paul set the pattern for proper Christian living and worship.
Phil 4:9 Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.
Paul wrote the three Pastoral Epistles of the New Testament. If a practice cannot be found in Paul’s writings, it should not be followed. Paul condemned Judaizers (those who exalted the law and its ordinances over the grace of God) and exalted the first day of the week, as the New Testament clearly shows.
Paul’s gospel and ordinances were directly from Jesus Christ. Paul certified that the gospel he preached was directly from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gal 1:11-12 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I Cor 14:37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
As the Lord had commissioned and charged the original eleven apostles, Paul taught converts to observe exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ had commanded.
Matt 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Since Paul condemned Sabbath obligations, and ordered the churches to use the first day of the week for religious duties, we know that these were the express commands of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul exalted the first day of the week.
When he stayed in Troas for a full week, neither he nor the church came together in a full assembly on the Sabbath. Instead, they assembled as a church on the first day of the week, which was the appointed time for the church to gather and hold the Lord’s Supper.
Acts 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
Paul further ordered the churches of Corinth and Galatia to perform their worship of giving on the first day of the week.
I Cor 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
This order by the apostle of the Gentiles confirmed the apostolic doctrine and tradition for setting aside the first day of the week for worship of God on the Lord’s Day.
The Sabbath was a special day to Israel only. This point is very important but ignored or rejected by Judaizers. The Sabbath was never for Gentiles or Christians. It was only and specifically His special sign to Israel as His covenant nation under the Old Testament.
Ex 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
Deut 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Ezek 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.
Gentile Christians under the New Testament have no obligation to keep Israel’s Old Testament Sabbath laws. God never charged anyone else at any other time to keep the seventh day for any reason or purpose.
No one observed the Sabbath before Mt. Sinai.
God chose six days to create, resting the seventh, and from it gave an ordinance to Israel to have weekly rest in coming from their bondage in Egypt. God made the Sabbath for the carnal and worldly comfort of the Jews, their servants, and their livestock. Worship was not required. Jesus declared God did not make man for the Sabbath, thus limiting it to a day of rest.
Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.
The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. He did not create man to give him a day of observance or ordinances. If so, he would have made a rule to the newly created Adam male and female to only dress and keep the garden 6 days and rest on the seventh.
Moses wrote Genesis 2:1-3. Therefore, he referred to the seventh day as being blessed and sanctified from the perspective of God’s law to Israel. This is a simple fact, but it has an important implication. There is no evidence the seventh day was a creation ordinance for all nations. The evidence says the opposite. Not one man prior to Israel under Moses ever saw or read Genesis 2:1-3. There is much worship of God in Genesis of all sorts, but there is no mention of anyone observing the seventh day. God judged many sins and sinners in Genesis, but He never charged anyone with violating the Sabbath. There is no mention of the Sabbath until Exodus 16, when God first introduced the rules for collecting manna.
The Sabbath confused Israel, because they had never heard of it. There was confusion in Israel about gathering manna for the seventh day, and the inspired history states and shows that the Israelites had not been observing the Sabbath before leaving Egypt Ex 16:16-31 tells the story of the gathering of manna on the seventh day. When we read these scriptures we will understand that the sabbath was a new thing for the people of Israel. They had not worked six-day weeks and rested the seventh day before. Pharaoh did not let them sleep in on Saturday mornings, sit at home all day, and relax from working one day out of seven! For 2000 years after creation, no one had heard about the sabbath or observed the sabbath.
Jesus kept the sabbath for reasons you cannot.
He was born a Jew, in the nation of the Jews, under the laws of the Jews.
Gal 4:4-5 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Rom 15:8-9 Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.
He only kept the Sabbath as a Jew, not as an example for Christians. He never kept the Sabbath after His resurrection, and neither did His apostles. As a Jew, Jesus also kept other Jewish laws, such as circumcision, which Christians are not required to keep. He even taught that the Pharisees were to be obeyed by his countrymen, but that does not obligate Christians to look for the nearest Sanhedrin. For these and many other reasons, we are to follow the apostle Paul as he followed Jesus Christ.
Paul used the Sabbath for reasons you cannot. He only visited synagogues on Sabbath days to convert Jews and Gentile proselytes that were ignorantly following Moses.
Acts 9:20 And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God.
Acts 16:13 And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither.
He used his opportunities there to preach Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. He did not sanction the Jewish Sabbath for anyone by this practice any more than he sanctioned circumcision for justification by circumcising Timothy (Acts 16:3). He was willing to be made all things to all men to save them, including visiting synagogues on Sabbath days.
I Cor 9:20-23 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; To them that are without the law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law. To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. And this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Who abolished the Sabbath? The Lord Jesus Christ abolished the Sabbath! He was the Lord of the Sabbath and He defined its limitations and inferiority to mercy!
Matt 12:7-8 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.
He defined its limitations and purpose as a tool, not a thing for worship!
Mark 2:27-28 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
He nailed this contrary Jewish ordinance to His cross!
Col. 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
Eph 2:15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
Having conquered sin and death, He rose bodily and appeared to His assembled followers on the first day of the week, which was thereafter known as the Lord’s Day.
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, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
When did He abolish the Sabbath? At His resurrection, when He had secured perpetual rest for the elect by His finished work of redemption.
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Heb 10:12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
As Lord of the sabbath, he had all the authority as head of the church. His example was and is everything. He did not choose the Sabbath to rise from the dead and gather His disciples (Matt 28:8-10; Mark 16:9-14; Luke 24:33-48; John 20:1-25). He chose the first day of the week as the Lord’s Day. His resurrection proved He was the Son of God, Lord, and Christ.
Rom 1:4 And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:
Many dead saints rose on the first day of the week. The collateral power of our Lord’s resurrection was so great that many tombs were opened and saints rose from the dead and went into Jerusalem!
Matt 27:52-53 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
Glory! This wonderful power of the resurrected Christ was displayed on the first day of the week! Nothing like this ever happened on any Sabbath day. The Sabbath was a day attached to the curses and death of the old covenant! The events of this day of salvation far exceeded the day of Israel’s rest from Egyptian bondage.
The reunion of Jesus and His church was on the first day of the week.
He came to their assembly, showed them His wounds, blessed them with peace, and commissioned them to their work.
He then breathed on them the Holy Ghost and gave them their apostolic authority to build His church. Here was a very significant event in the further establishment of Christianity. It was this clearly identified first day of the week that was a time of great joy and gladness at the resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord!
Luke 24:1 Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 2And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. 3And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
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, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 20And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
He assembled with them again on the second Sunday. He appeared the second time to His disciples on the first day of the week, not the seventh
John 20:26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
The following Sunday was the eighth day, inclusive, since His resurrection. The apostles were assembled, having been blessed by His presence a week earlier. There is no mention in John, Acts, or the epistles of any Christian event on a Sabbath day. The apostolic and Christian tradition was now established! Christians meet on the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day, and which entirely replaced the Sabbath.
The Lord of the Sabbath further hallowed Sunday worship at Pentecost. The disciples were assembled with one accord in one place, just as Christians today assemble on Sunday. Luke wrote that Pentecost had fully come, which is the morrow after a Sabbath, meaning it was the first day of the week
Lev 23:15-16 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
So even the Sabbatarians should take every 7th week a day in church on Sunday to celebrate the “Pentecost” feast! Pentecost means “fifty” signifying the fifty days after Passover….7×7=49, the next day was the first day of the week, or the 50th day! This is shown in the book of Acts by The Lord Jesus Christ who shook the established religious world of the Jews by pouring out the gift of the Holy Ghost on this day!
Acts 2:1-4 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
No wonder John was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day! It was the day the Holy Ghost had come to exalt the worship of Jesus Christ the Lord!
Rev 1:10 I was in the spirit on the Lords Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
The Holy Ghost was not poured out on a Sabbath day, for it was a stony ordinance
II Cor 3:6-8 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
God shook the Sabbath away to reveal Christ’s kingdom. Haggai promised a shaking of religious things at Christ’s coming to Zerubbabel’s temple.
Hag 2:6-9 For thus saith the Lord of Hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts.
Jesus came to this second temple at His first coming and glorified it, and there He made peace. Paul declared that the religious shaking had occurred, leaving the permanent kingdom of Christ and ending the temporary Old Testament.
Hebrews 12:25-29 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.
Christians have an eternal heavenly kingdom, that was established by Jesus Christ as the AUTHOR and FINISHER of our faith!
The temporary Jewish ordinances are now gone!
This includes circumcision, dietary laws, the Sabbath, and observances of feasts and holy days, for they have been shaken away to leave only the final form of New Testament worship, which Jesus said would be in spirit and in truth!
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
The true reformation changed the day of worship, and ordinances required for holiness unto the Lord. The law and the prophets were until John, since then the kingdom of God was preached.
Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
Beginning with John, continuing with Jesus Christ and with the apostles, the true time of reformation ended the Jewish ordinances of the Old Testament, including any Sabbath ordinances. Jesus declared this change to the woman of Samaria by rejecting external religion and declaring that God was seeking those who would worship in spirit and in truth!
John 4:23-24 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
When Sabbatarians adore an ordinance that is 2000 years dead, it is merely another form of Nehushtan!
Judaizers, Sabbatarians, and Hebrew Roots movements choose mount Sinai; Christians choose mount Zion. When Paul exhorted Hebrew Christians to leave the carnal ordinances and justification by works of the Old Testament, he made a graphic comparison between the two covenants in Hebrews 12:18-27
18For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, 19And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: 20(For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: 21And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, 23To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. 25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
He described Sinai and its commandments, including the Sabbath, as fearful, terrifying, black, and dark that no one could endure the noise of it, including Moses. But he described Zion in the most glorious terms, for there is no comparison between the two. To conclude, he proved that Zion had replaced Sinai by God’s shaking of the heavens (temporary religious things exchanged for permanent ones) by the arrival of Christ’s kingdom.
The only inspired church council condemned the altered gospel of the Judaizers. When the apostles and elders met for a church council in Jerusalem at Paul’s request, the specific and only purpose was to settle what parts of Moses’ law applied to converted Gentiles.
With this perfect opportunity to instruct ignorant Gentiles and to exalt the Sabbath and Old Testament ordinances, dietary laws and observing of holy days, the Holy Ghost and the apostles totally ignored it!
Acts 15:21-28 Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: 20But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. 21For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. 22Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: 23And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: 24Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: 25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. 28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; 29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Note the words, no greater burden in verse 28. They had learned the first day of the week from the Lord Jesus Christ. They knew the Sabbath was fulfilled and gone. Jesus had abolished it, along with circumcision and all the other laws, ordinances and dietary restrictions. The Christian church is founded on these men, and they rejected any role for the Sabbath, feast days and dietary laws in New Testament churches.
James and the elders declared that Gentiles should ignore the Judaizers. Paul later came to Jerusalem again and met with James and the elders (Acts 21:15-19). Since the believing Jews in Jerusalem remained superstitious about the Law until Jesus totally destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D., they asked Paul to participate in a Jewish vow to prove to this Jewish church that he allowed the law for Jews (Acts 21:20-24).
But they made it very clear to this great apostle of the Gentiles that Gentile believers needed to keep no such thing, which would include the Sabbath, beyond the four items from the Jerusalem council.
Acts 21:25 As touching the Gentiles that believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.
The churches founded by the Apostles assembled on the first day of the week. Paul was in Troas a full week on his way to Jerusalem. But the church did not assemble on the Sabbath! This church had the practice of assembling on Sunday, as indicated by when, at which time Paul preached, since he would leave on Monday. This New Testament text declaring church practice is far weightier than 100 Old Testament verses to Israel about their Sabbath. Consider further that Moses commanded work for six days of the week, Sunday through Friday, but these saints did not work the first day! Are there two sins here? God forbid!
Churches the Apostles started took communion on the first day of the week.
It was the established custom of the church at Troas to assemble on the first day of the week for breaking the communion bread, as indicated in Acts 20:7 when Paul preached to that local body of believers on Sunday!
Acts 20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached onto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
The communion of a local church is described as breaking bread. It requires the whole church coming together into one place, which is different from breaking bread and eating meat from house to house.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
Communion makes it the Lord’s Day, for the communion of the Lord’s Supper remembers the death of the Lord Jesus Christ until he comes! Early churches worshipped on the first day of the week. Paul ordered New Testament churches to do their worship of giving on the first day of the week.
I Cor 16:1-2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
Paul ordained Sunday, the day of the week for religious duties, making it apostolic doctrine and tradition. In formal, spiritual contemplation of God’s mercy, Gentile believers would have been very disposed on Sunday to give for poor saints in Judea. There is no order, nor even a hint, of New Testament churches doing anything on the Sabbath or any other day. Sunday was and is the Christian’s day of worship!
Sabbatarianism and Judaizers are leaven. Paul warned about the corrupting influence of requiring Old Testament ordinances from New Testament Christians by comparing it to leaven, or yeast.
Gal 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
A little yeast disturbs a whole lump of bread sufficiently to cause the whole thing to rise. A heresy like Sabbatarianism corrupts the whole religion of Jesus Christ by exalting the Law where it ought not to be. Once the Sabbath is put where it ought not to be, it is only a matter of time that keeps man from bringing other parts of the law forward, and will consistently cause him to put these works above faith as justification for salvation.
The Sabbath looked forward, not backward. If it had been a creation ordinance for a memorial of God’s creation, then it would have looked backward. But the Bible declares it was a shadowy figure of good things to come. The Sabbath looked forward to Christ, not back to creation.
Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.
The Sabbath was an elementary and rudimentary aspect of the schoolmaster leading us to Christ.
Gal 3:24-25 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
The exciting thing about creation is knowing that since man sinned horribly in Eden, only God can make things new! Rather than looking back at creation, men needed to look forward for redemption! The Sabbath was only a shadow, which is worthless compared to the reality. Christians now have the reality and substance of the good things figured and shadowed by the weak and beggarly things of the Law of Moses, which makes the shadow of no value after Jesus Christ the reality came.
Col 2:15-17And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 16Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Who in any situation would choose the shadow over the reality and substance of any object? Does a man settle for the photograph or image of his spouse, when she can really and truly be with him? How much more should we exalt the reality and substance of Jesus Christ and salvation by Him over any shadow of Him!
The Sabbath is not the rest for the people of God.
God had a much better rest in mind for His people than merely the seventh day of the week. He had perpetual rest planned through the finished work of Jesus Christ, which is obtained by faith. Psalm 95, indicating a future rest for the people of God, was written about 3000 years after creation, and about 500 years after Canaan (Heb 4:1-11). Believers enter this rest when they stop working the works of flesh and of the law and trust in Christ by faith! Consider that God rested the seventh day from His works of creation; Jesus rejoiced on the first day from His works of redemption.
The Sabbath was a carnal ordinance. God imposed carnal, which is the opposite of spiritual, ordinances on Old Testament saints. These were works of the flesh and not of faith.
Heb 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation……v14 How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
These ordinances of worship involved the worldly tabernacle of Moses and earthly activities of the natural senses. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth, which was not done in Jerusalem or under the Old Testament.
The carnal or worldly ordinance of the Sabbath has been replaced by spiritual rest in Christ!
The whole sacrificial system of Moses has been replaced by the finished sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins once for all.
Heb 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
The Sabbath was imposed only for a while. God never intended for the carnal ordinances of the Old Testament to go past the time of reformation.
Heb 9:9-10 Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed upon them until the time of reformation.
They were a schoolmaster until the church graduated to the New Testament, when it would advance to a spiritual form of worship and greater fellowship with God. They were imposed or forced on Israel until the time God reformed His worship to its new form. What was the time of reformation? From the preaching of John the Baptist to the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple. Jesus described this change to the woman of Samaria and Paul described it as decaying, waxing old and ready to vanish away in Heb 8:13. The Sabbath was a rudimentary part of a worldly religion. Paul condemned worldly rudiments, which included the Sabbath days of the Jews. What are rudiments? Rudimentary or elementary parts of a thing. The Sabbath was a rudimentary part of the Old Testament, meaning it was part of that elementary system of religion. How was it of the world? Because the Old Testament was dealing with the carnal and physical of this world, not of the spiritual or heavenly. Those who obsess about the worldly and rudimentary ordinances show their spiritual immaturity and a lack of appreciation for the better spiritual things of the New Testament.
Paul only allowed the Sabbath as a private matter of liberty.
Conflicts between Jews and Gentiles led Paul to allow liberty for private observance of Jewish days by weak converts. (Rom 14:5-6,22). The days here are not pagan days, because pagan days are never acceptable to Christians. Debate about Jewish days was forbidden (Rom 14:1), and the days could only be observed in private (Rom 14:22). Sunday was still the only day for assemblies and religious duties, set by apostolic order and tradition; but those weak and superstitious Jews that could not leave Moses alone could sleep in on Saturdays.
The covenant of works of the Old Testament was anti-grace. Jesus Christ brought grace and truth, which is contrary to Moses’ Law. Trying to mix the two corrupts both and causes a person to fall from grace! Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
The proper understanding of grace and the New Testament does not allow for obsessing about carnal ordinances of the Old Testament. Grace sees the fulfillment, the payment, and the interpretation of the law all wrapped up in Jesus Christ.
Grace is better for the heart and mind than the Sabbath. Paul warned the Hebrews about the danger and unprofitableness of external religion, especially from Moses’ Law, rather than the grace of God that had put that Law away and given the people of God a perpetual rest. The Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John 1:17). There is no comparison between the two. Those who would rather fuss and obsess about the calendar and dietary details of Moses’ Law instead of glorying in the cross of Jesus Christ, are to be rejected.
The cross rejects the Old Testament ordinances and laws. Jesus nailed the carnal and condemning ordinances of the Old Testament law to His cross, which leaves all His children complete and completely forgiven in Him. On this basis the Jewish Sabbath was rejected.
Col 2:16-17 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days; Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
There was no further obligation to keep it, and there was no guilt or sin in ignoring it, for it was perfectly fulfilled by Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross, He removed the distinctions of ordinances that separated Jews and Gentiles, including the distinctively Jewish Sabbath days.
Sabbatarians and Judaizers put new wine into old bottles, and both are destroyed!
You cannot put the new things of Jesus Christ in the old bottles of Moses and the Pharisees, for they will overwhelm and destroy both. There was a visible difference between Christ’s religion and Moses’ religion of the Pharisees, which moved our Lord to create this parable about not mixing elements of the two, for they are mutually exclusive. Trying to attach Apostolic Christianity to Sabbath keeping, and other laws and ordinances are counterproductive, impossible, and destroys the intent of both. Leave Moses where he belongs, buried by God. We should lift up Christ, who lives forever! The new wine of the gospel should not be buried and lost in old bottles from Moses.
Sabbath and law debates are unprofitable and vain and lead to heresy. Paul warned Titus not to waste his time answering foolish questions, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the Law of Moses
Titus 3:9-11 But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject; knowing that he that is such, is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.
Striving about ordinances of the law, sabbath days, and meats were subversive and evil. Paul knew such debates were unprofitable and vain, so he instructed Titus to reject heretics that engaged in such foolish things. These issues were clearly not a New Testament tradition, easily understood by those who will read the New Testament scriptures and submit to Jesus and the traditions that were set by his apostles.
The Sabbath is old and gone. God made a covenant with Israel, which included a special gift of a hallowed seventh day. It was called their covenant with God. Jesus called His covenant the new covenant, which made Israel’s covenant old, meaning that it was vanishing away. The naming of one covenant NEW makes the previous covenant OLD, meaning the things of the Jewish covenant were now old and ready to vanish away, for they had been replaced. They were imposed for 1500 years. They were no longer in force after the Cross, which brought into force the New Covenant!
MORE TO FOLLOW…….concerning dietary laws and feast day observances…
Pastor Stephen Dubois