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Well, it's that time of year again, and this year I feel compelled to share some thoughts about "Christmas." I offer this meditation in a Berean spirit and pray that it will be received the same way.
Nowhere in the NT is there either a command or a teaching to celebrate the Lord’s birth. Some would call this an argument from silence that consequently proves nothing. Others would say that since there is no teaching about it, we are free to participate in its celebration. However, for me the overwhelming silence about the birth of Christ as something we should celebrate, coupled with the obvious and early Christian recognition of Christ’s death and resurrection, convinces me that we ought not to celebrate His birth.
The overall biblical context about the Messiah is His suffering and death, not His birth; believers are to have a share in that death.
The NT gives us much teaching in general about how we are to think of Christ.
The Word of God tells us explicitly that angels are to worship or celebrate the birth of the Messiah, with the implication that we are not to worship Him in the same way.
Christ Himself tells us explicitly and decretically how we are to remember Him.
The early, Messianic community did not celebrate Jesus’ birth. It was not celebrated at all for at least two hundred years after His death. In the fourth century, the Church decided His birth occurred on December 25, which was already a pagan solar feast day. Christians who believe Christ was really born on December 25 are acquiescing to a deceit manufactured by the Church.
Only God can determine times of celebration, holy convocations, appointed times, feast days, and so on.
Christmas is a celebration promoted by the Congregation of Rome, which became the Catholic Church (see #6 above) and if Rev. 18:2 refers to the Catholic Church (as virtually all non-Catholic theologians and commentators believe), we are told in v. 4 to “come out of her”, that is, to not follow her corrupt teachings.
The two NT ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Table (Communion) are concerned with Christ’s death, not His birth.
The Bible tells us that we are to shun anything that we cannot find in, or that contradicts— directly or indirectly— the Word of God.
I purposefully make no reference here to all the various “Christmas traditions” such as the Yule log, stockings, gift exchanging, caroling, the “Christmas” tree and its decorations, holly, mistletoe and of course Santa Claus and his elves. This is because these traditions and many more like them are manifestly of pagan origins. I therefore believe that bible-believing, born-again Christians should have nothing to do with such trappings and indeed should find them abhorrent, even as God does. Yet some would say that the pagan aspect is no longer relevant since society has changed (i.e. become secularized) to such an extent that the very idea of “pagan” is anachronistic. However, I say that we are motivated by the same impulses and guilty of the same sins (at least in our hearts) as the early pagans. Besides which, and just as important, God has never declared a statute of limitations when it comes to sin (which is disobedience). Since He is eternal, so must be His wrath against sin. There will never be a time when God will annul His own righteousness and holiness.
Having said all the above, I realize that most people reading this post will still disagree with my position and either accept the celebration of “Christmas” as normative or else consider it an adiaphoron, that is, a matter of indifference. If it is a matter of indifference for some, then I will not seek to proselytize them by promoting my own position, but such forbearance works in both directions; others should not preach the celebration of “Christmas”, since that constitutes an assault on the Christian liberty of those with differing opinions.
While much more could be said, with many more citations from Scripture, let me end this post with a quote from the Prince of Preachers, CH Spurgeon:
“We have no superstitious regard for times and seasons. Certainly, we do not believe in the present ecclesiastical arrangement called Christmas; first because we do not believe in the mass at all, but abhor it, whether it be said or sung in Latin or English; and secondly, because we find no scriptural warrant whatever for observing any day as the birthday of the Saviour; and consequently, its observation is a superstition, because not of divine authority” (From the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1971, p. 697).
AMEN.
In this short article, I aim to answer five questions: What is the Sabbath? On what day does the Sabbath fall? What does it mean to “keep the Sabbath?” Should Christians keep the Sabbath? Why is Sabbath keeping so important?
I will not be including a lot of theory here, giving just enough to explain my propositions. Some of this material I have taken from my longer essay The Significance of the Sabbath (See below).
What is the Sabbath? On what day does the Sabbath fall?The Sabbath is the memorial of the day on which God completed His work of creation. That is, it is the seventh day. The Sabbath was not called by that name in the beginning, “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Gen. 2:2). From this short passage, two things are evident. First, that on the last day of creation God rested. Second, God blessed that day and made it holy by setting it aside as being unique and special; it was different from the other days of creation. When setting it aside, God made the day “holy.” In other words, He sanctified it (you could say He “holied” it). To sanctify something is to set it aside, making it ceremonially clean, separating it to oneself for special purposes or intentions. In the OT it is to make or declare and to observe something as holy (the core attribute of God himself), pure, fundamentally different from the merely profane, dedicated to a different purpose and so on. So this last day of seven was made holy by God as a memorial of the work He had accomplished. It was His memorial to Himself as creator.
Jump forward to the sojourn in the wilderness. In reference to gathering the manna, in Exodus 16:23, God’s prophet Moses declares that, “This is what the LORD has commanded: Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD [literally, a Sabbath Sabbath]; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” In 16:26, he says again—in case they missed the importance of it—, “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none."
These verses indicate clearly that the seventh day was a day of rest—a solemn rest in fact—and that God named it Sabbath—the root of which word means to cease or desist. Further, keeping the Sabbath was a commandment of God; He considered it non-negotiable as we see from Exo. 16:28, “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?’” This verse reinforces what God had already declared in verse twenty-three; the Sabbath was holy and the keeping or observing of it was binding.
But how do we know that the Sabbath and the day of rest from Exodus were the same? In Exodus 20:8, 10-11, God makes it plain that the day being referred to is—in its description of distinction and purpose—identical to the day of rest referred to in the second chapter of Genesis, even though not named Sabbath in Genesis, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
So I believe we are on terra firma if we accept that the Sabbath and Genesis’ day of rest are in fact the same day. However, is the day of rest a creation ordinance? That is, as an aspect of God’s process of creation, does it apply to humanity in general and not exclusively to Jews? Well, first, remember that there were no Jews until Abraham. Adam was not a Jew, neither was Eve. Their children were not Jews or their grandchildren. They were all “Adam”, the name given in Genesis for human beings in general. Even so, in spite of their status as non-Jews and prior to their sin of disobedience, Adam and Eve were still the eligible recipients of the blessing of this rest. In fact, their “pre-fall” life in the Garden was this very rest. That is precisely why God put them in the Garden, not to work, but to keep or maintain (through obedience to God, in service to Him through His creation) the purity and sanctity of the yet unspoiled, garden. (The word rendered as keep in most English translations is the Hebrew word shamar (שָׁמַר) which means to watch, to preserve; in other words to protect. God did not put Adam and Eve in the garden—i.e. Paradise—to work it as gardeners, but to protect it as gatekeepers. (In fact part of the consequence of Adam’s disobedience is that he failed in his royal, Kingly duties to protect heaven on earth by permitting the serpent to enter the sacred enclosure.) In the Garden, there was to be no toil, no tiring and unpleasant labour, and no painful exertion; there was to be no anxiety or worry. As well, we have the testimony of Exo. 16:28-30, which, as I have already said, is ample proof that God’s law is not a condition imposed exclusively by the Sinai covenant. Therefore, we must conclude that this day (the day of rest or the Sabbath), was indeed part of the original creation, and so is applicable to the entire created order, especially since Adam was the federal head or representative of all humanity. As a part of original creation, God did not give this day of rest to the nations in a legal way, as He would later for the Hebrew nation, the father of which was Abraham. God gave the day of rest to, but never imposed it on, the nations.
An important related question is how do we know that Saturday, of the seven possible days, is the actual day of rest and worship, and not some other? After all, when God sanctified the last day of creation, there were no historians or calendarists to make note that the day blessed by God was eventually to be known by the Hebrews as the Sabbath and by the Romans (for instance) as Saturn’s Day. Our calendars do not go back to the beginning of creation, so how can we be sure that the day known as the Sabbath is the same day as the seventh day of creation? Well, we must arrive at our conclusion by “good and necessary consequence” (that is, deduction or inference) to quote the Westminster Confession. I freely admit that I have found no specific evidence in the Bible to identify our Saturday and the "Jewish" Sabbath as the appointed, hallowed and blessed day of rest and worship. Having made that admission however, I also think it is important to consider the way God revealed His will to His people. God ordained through Moses that the Hebrews remember the Sabbath Day (Deut. 5:12-15), and since God revealed his will to them through Moses, (Deut. 29:1), it is reasonable to conclude that God would also have indicated on which day He wanted them to keep (watch over and preserve) His Sabbath. This conclusion is corroborated by Nehemiah, “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant” (Neh. 9:13-14, italics added). In other words, Nehemiah is testifying that God revealed this information to Moses, who then relayed it to the people (Deut. 5:2-5a). Now I am assuming here that God would not reveal the nature of the Sabbath without also revealing the time and frequency of its celebration. This, I think, is only reasonable.
Furthermore, God placed the lights in the heavens for “times and seasons” so that His people could not only confirm the seventh day Sabbath, but also the beginning and culmination of each day. In other words, God made the universe to be one big clock or calendar. Allen Ross says, “The Lord of eternity created time so that all his works could fulfill his plan in the seasons and sequences of this life. He then stepped into time to redeem his fallen creatures from death and receive them into his eternal rest. Every celebration in the sanctuary was a participation in the Sabbath rest of the Creator, for Leviticus 23 designates all the festivals as times of special Sabbaths. By using each day, week, month, and season as an occasion for worship, people could truly appreciate the LORD as the creator and sustainer of all life. And because the LORD’s saving acts had taken place in time, each appointed time of worship enabled the people to celebrate him as their Redeemer as well. Then, in the fullness of time God sent forth his Son into the world (Gal. 4:4), and time came to its focal point. The appearance of the Lord of Glory late in time now guides the Christian view of time, not only in its understanding of the plan of God, but also in its seasons of worship” (Holy to the LORD, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, 2002).
In the end though, I think what it comes down to is faith. Since there is no way to prove it one way or another (as far as I know), there is a simple choice to be made. Believers will accept Saturday as the Sabbath, the last day of the week as a matter of faith because it is made plain by Scripture, which for the true believer is the rule of life. Our discernment—informed by Scripture, illuminated by the Holy Spirit and strengthened by trust—will undoubtedly determine our position in this regard.
What does it mean to keep the Sabbath?
To keep, observe, or celebrate the Sabbath, only two things are required according to the Bible, (not Judaic traditions!), rest and remembrance. Two other qualities that I include here as being the outcomes of the first two are holiness and joy.
These qualities should be in evidence whenever God’s people gather before Him in worshipful assembly (calling to mind that according to Christ even when only two are gathered in His name, such an assembly constitutes a legitimate expression of the Ekklesia). If these minimal qualities are not in evidence outwardly in our circumstances and actions as well as inwardly in our minds and hearts (i.e. in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount) then we are not fully honouring God, who brings us together for the purpose of worship.
Rest
Perhaps the most fundamental of the four qualities, rest is essential for physical as well as psychic and spiritual wellbeing and rejuvenation. A person who is not rested is one who is not functioning at optimum levels and may be in a spiral of deterioration leading ultimately to physical and mental breakdown or even death. One who is not in this restful state of spiritual wellbeing will be self-absorbed and unable to remember (in the sense of rehearsing or re-experiencing in the mind) the blessings promised by God to those who love Him.
Remembrance
Remembrance is not just recall of events or experiences, although it certainly includes that. Rather, remembrance in the biblical sense has more to do with being mindful of something that one may or may not have experienced personally. This is the case with Deut. 5:15. Only those who were led by Moses out of Egypt and into the wilderness could ever remember, in the sense of recalling from memory, the exodus. For everyone else that “memory” was an abstract idea and could only be a description of an event that happened to others. So when Jews and Christians alike are called to remember the Sabbath we need to understand that it is in the sense of being mindful, of reflecting upon the meaning and intention of the Sabbath as well as on the One by whom it was given. Those who are not sufficiently rested (and whose attention is therefore focussed on worldly concerns, worries and so on) cannot “remember” the Sabbath because they are overcome by thoughts and feelings that are not conducive to their wellbeing and are therefore ultimately harmful. When this state of mind is present, it acts to block out our recognition of God and our single dedication to Him, which is our holiness or sanctification. It could be said that resting is a negative injunction. The rest called for requires us to stop doing something. However, in Deut. 5:15 there is what we could understand as a positive injunction. We are to do something, not refrain from doing something; we are to remember, to meditate, to consider, to reflect and then to do. Our remembrance must be a meditation—in thought, word and deed—on God and the blessings—especially of salvation—that He has bestowed through sovereign grace. In other words, “In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:6, see also 1 Chron. 28:9). I think this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote to the Philippians, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Phil. 4:8), knowing that the source of all these attributes is God alone.
Holiness
Biblical holiness is a state of “otherness.” In itself, it is not an expression of piety or religious devotion. However, when one is truly holy (and this state is variable—it can wax and wane) one will consequently manifest piety or sanctified attitudes and behaviour (Matt. 12:33). The quality of “otherness” is to be found in an absolute degree in God. It is perhaps His most striking attribute. When we are able to be mindful of God, we inevitably discover His attribute of holiness and in so doing, we are able to become holy in relation to the world, to be separated from it, to be other than what it is. This holiness is a kind of echo of God’s holiness and enables us to untangle our minds and hearts from the distractions of the world and to be fully engaged by God, living in and for Him alone (Gal. 2:20). In this state of being, we are potentially able to experience great joy.
Joy
When we are in the state of holiness (both subjective and objective), we are able to experience a degree of joy. This joy is the subjective apprehension of an objective state of separation from physical and emotional distractions such as fear, anger, envy, covetousness and so on and a corresponding devotional attachment to God and His Kingdom. This joy is not “happiness” as we understand it. We don’t walk around with a goofy grin or whistle “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning” all day long. This joy is experienced more as a deep, settled contentment or a profound sense of assurance. It brings a smile to the heart but not necessarily to the lips. It’s a revelation in the heart of God’s omnipotence and His faithfulness to deliver on all His promises, both curses and blessings.
Should Christians keep the Sabbath?
In a word, “Yes.” But you ask, “Why should Christians keep Sabbath?” There are several answers to that question, and if we cannot give adequate and sufficient answers to this particular question then the whole issue of the Sabbath is moot. It is best here to answer this question in point form with supporting texts from the rule of life for all believers—the Holy Scriptures. The following list has been modified from a similar list provided by John Parsons on his website Hebrew4Christians, and to whom I am indebted.
The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments (Exo. 20:8-11; Deut. 5:12).
As such, it is as binding as the other nine (Matt. 5:19; James 2:10). There is no room to maneuver. If the law (Torah) condemns sin (which it does) then we are as bad as the murderer, the adulterer, or the thief when we disregard the Sabbath.
The Sabbath is blessed by God (Gen. 2:3).
God has never revoked this blessing, nor has He added to it by blessing the first day of the week (Sunday). Scripture nowhere describes or defines any other but the seventh day Sabbath as the single day of rest and worship. He set this day aside as His day, the day on which we are to honour Him exclusively.
The Sabbath commemorates God’s prototypically redemptive symbol for deliverance from pain, suffering and want, the exodus from Egypt (Deut. 5:15).
The OT memorializes the Exodus as the pre-eminent act of redemption, pre-figuring the ultimate, final and perfect salvation in Christ. It was an historical event and is a symbolic representation of the saving, atoning work of Christ.
The Sabbath brings to mind God as the trustworthy providential sustainer of all things. Thus, it encourages us to acknowledge His absolute sovereignty and our submissive dependence on Him alone (Gen. 2:2; Exo. 31:12-17; Isa. 66:2).
The Sabbath is first mentioned as such in the book of Exodus. In Exo. 16:3 it is introduced in connection with the giving of quail and manna—the” bread” of the wilderness. After a journey of about forty-five days, provisions had run out (or were at least getting very low). The people started to grumble and complain, showing no trust in God even though they had experienced many spectacular miracles already. God further tested the trust of the people when he declared through Moses, “’Let no one leave any of it [the manna] over till the morning.’ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat. On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather [the manna], but they found none. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days’” (Exo. 16:19-21a, 27-29a). In context, the lack of trust in the LORD is plain. The Sabbath encourages us to trust in God as our provider.
The Sabbath is (or should be) a delight, not a burden (Isa. 58:13; Matt. 11:28-30; Heb. 4:9).
It was this that Jesus taught His disciples by declaring (imperatively) “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). In other words, the true Sabbath eases the burdens of life, removing those things that cause pain or suffering. When Christ said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:29-30) He was speaking as God, not man. As such, His words are a continuation of “Torah.” The hedges put around the Sabbath by the Rabbis of Judaism, especially of the Talmudic Rabbis—the descendants of the Pharisees—have made the Sabbath unnecessarily complicated and legalistic. Most of the Sabbath-keeping rules are either not Biblical or are misapplications of general Biblical principles. Having said that, if what you do on the Sabbath allows you to be mindful of God, if it gives you peace and rejuvenating rest, gives you joy and thereby sanctifies you, then regardless of whether you follow the 39 traditional melachot (Sabbath prohibitions) or not is up to you. And if by following the melachot you are happy in God, then who am I to object?
Yeshua and His disciples observed the Sabbath day (but not all its customs—Mark 1:21; 6:2; Luke 4:16; Acts 13:13-42; 18:4 etc.).
The NT never abrogates the LORDs Sabbath. Notice, the day is the LORD’s. He owns it because He created it. He gave the Sabbath to man as a blessing, that’s all. The Sabbath is not the Jew’s Sabbath. It is God’s, notwithstanding that He gave the day to His chosen people (those of the promise) in a special way. Moreover, in Exo. 20:10 the LORD makes it clear that the Sabbath rest was intended not just for card-carrying (circumcised) Jews, but also for everyone living within the community of Israel, including slaves as well as uncircumcised foreigners (unclean Gentiles). Even the animals who worked in various capacities were intended to experience the Sabbath blessings. This is as inclusive as it gets.
We must now ask a question on everyone’s mind, “Did Jesus and His apostles keep the Sabbath?”
Jesus was a Jew, born under the law (Matt. 3:13, 15; Luke 3:21; Gal. 4:4) that is to say, subject to the law and all its demands. He was an obedient son (Luke 2:51) whose parents were law-abiding Jews (Luke 2:21-23, 39-42). He attended worship services on the Sabbath and taught in synagogues (Matt. 4:23; Mark 1:21, 39; Luke 4:16) and when young attended a house of instruction as a student of the Rabbis (Luke 2:46). In light of these facts therefore, to assume and teach that Christ would not have kept the Sabbath as a law-abiding Jew is completely unwarranted. Jesus recognized the permanent legitimacy and authority of the moral law, as summed up in the Ten Commandments, and kept them. This must include keeping the Sabbath since the Sabbath was one of the ten. Christ came to fulfill all righteousness (Matt. 3:15) and to be the goal of the Torah—that is, the law, including the Ten Commandments (Matt. 5:17). And if keeping the Ten Commandments is not fulfilling all righteousness, well then I’m at a loss. There are several examples from Scripture concerning Christ and His apostles (including Paul, the so-called antinomian). I offer a few here. Rather than giving exhausting explanations in support of my view, I think it best to decide for yourselves on the preponderance of the evidence: Luke 4:16, 31; 24:27 Mark 2:27-28; Acts 16:12-13; 17:2; Rom. 3:31; 8:3-4
A brief word needs to be said now concerning Hebrews 4:9, as this letter is by all accounts apostolic, perhaps from the pen of Paul or Barnabbas. This verse is important (as is the entire discussion, vv. 1-11) because of the word sabbatismos (σαββατισμός) a noun which Strong’s Concordance defines as “a Sabbath rest.” The verb form is Sabbatizo, which means, “to keep the Sabbath.”
In my view, contrary to established opinion, the writer of Hebrews is not expressing some kind of vague spiritual repose, not a mystical rest in Jesus (i.e. Gal 2:20). The bible used by the first Christians, including the apostles, was the Septuagint (LXX), a Greek translation of the Hebrew. In the Septuagint the use of the word Sabbatizo in Lev. 23:32 is clear and plain. It is referring to the Sabbath day of rest. This same word is used by the writer of Hebrews. The Greek English Lexicon of the Septuagint defines Sabbatizo as “to keep Sabbath, to rest.” The writer of Hebrews knew that his readers would understand this word in precisely the same way they already understood it in the Greek (LXX) version of Lev. 23:22 as referring to the Sabbath day, the day of rest. When the author of the letter writes, “there remains a Sabbath rest” he is referring to an Old Testament reference to the Sabbath. See next point. (As a sidebar, the writer of Hebrews says that there is a rest for the people of God. Who are the people of God? The people of God are all the elect—including Jew and Gentile together. This is strong support for the universality of the Sabbath.)
The Sabbath will be honoured (kept and remembered) in the Heavenly Jerusalem and in the redeemed, resurrected world to come (Isa. 66:22-23. See also Psalms 86:9; Zech. 14:16).Isaiah writes of the end times, saying that in the new heavens and new earth, which God will make, the redeemed (from all nations, not just the “Jews”) shall worship God from “Sabbath to Sabbath.” The Sabbath Isaiah was seeing with prophetic vision is the Sabbath rest described by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9ff).
Why is Sabbath keeping so important?
We could use several verses to answer this question; however, due to the self-imposed brevity of this article, three only will have to suffice, two from Ezekiel, one from Revelation. “Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and be careful to obey my rules, and keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you’” (Eze. 20:18-20; 31:12-13). “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads” (Rev. 9:4, italics added). There is a sign by which we proclaim our commitment to the Living God and by whom our commitment is sealed. The sign and seal are really two aspects of the same thing. By them, we are dedicated to God, made “holy unto the LORD.” The sign makes it plain to whom we belong. The seal is the mark of divine approval and ultimate protection of God for His people. Together, the sign and seal separate us as being “sojourners and exiles” in the wilderness. By the sign, we announce to the creation that we have been chosen by God. By the seal, God announces to the creation that He has indeed chosen us and has separated us to Himself as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9).
As we learn from Ezekiel, the sign that we are to display (on our hands and foreheads, which is to say by our beliefs as we embody them in our activities) is keeping the Sabbath. When we keep the Sabbath, we are the bride who says to her betrothed, “I love you.” Put plainly, keeping the biblical Sabbath is a sign of devotion demanded by God (Eze. 20:20) as a faithful and sincere admission that we belong to Him, that we are His possession, that we love Him even as we are loved by Him.
Conclusion
Before concluding let me clarify one thing not touched on yet, but which is for many, if not most, a very important issue. If a Christian begins keeping the Sabbath, must he or she give up Sunday worship and fellowship? My answer is no, nothing of the sort is required. You are not required to become a Jew! It was common in the post-apostolic church to keep Sabbath (in families and as part of a larger community) as well as Sunday worship. This was happening well into the third century, when it began to be abandoned (for a variety of reasons) in favour of exclusive Sunday worship. There is no reason whatsoever for a Christian to feel that relinquishing Sunday worship is required.
I could say so much more, but my main purpose has been to present an invitation to Sabbath keeping in as simple and straightforward a manner as I could. More theology (as well as history) would have defeated my purpose had I included it. (There’s probably too much already.) In closing, I’d like to reiterate that the Sabbath belongs to God, not the Jews. It is not the Jew’s Sabbath. It is Adonai’s Sabbath. As a creation ordinance, it was His good pleasure to give it for the benefit of all people, Jew and Gentile alike.
It is my fervent prayer that you will consider with an open mind, free of assumptions and bias, what I have written here. As one who has only recently discovered Sabbath keeping, I have come to experience an underlying completeness, wholeness and peace (Shalom) and a joy that God always intended for the blessing of His people. To Him be all the glory, now and forever.
AMEN.
Background articles
• Christ, the Law and the Prophets
• Why do Christians Worship on Sunday
• Significance of the Sabbath
• Sabbath prohibitions
There are many resources available in print and on the Internet if you need further convincing. Many of these however, are written by those who also have other agendas and unbiblical beliefs. I urge caution and prudence in your search.
