Sabbath in the Beginning
“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:2–3
The following articles will all focus on the Sabbath, and how the Sabbath was kept through out time.
Let us first look at the time that the Sabbath began on this earth until the time of Abraham.
“The Sabbath was hallowed at the creation. As ordained for man, it had its origin when ‘the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.’ Job 38:7. Peace brooded over the world; for earth was in harmony with heaven. ‘God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good; and He rested in the joy of His completed work.’ Genesis 1:31.” –The Desire of Ages, p. 281
But another important thing about the sabbath is how it was kept. In doing my research on this topic I realized something that I had never noticed before. The word “Sabbath” is barely mentioned in Genesis. What does this mean? Does it mean that from Adam to Abraham they never kept the Sabbath?
“Because that Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Genesis 26:5. Here we see that Abraham kept God’s commandments or laws.
“Six days shall work shall be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.” Exodus 35:2
So we know theat the sabbath was kept and that Abraham had to keep God’s law properly or he would be put to death.
The same had to be with Adam, Eve and Noah. Though God had not put His law on this earth in writing, He told us what to do and what not to do.
I just mentioned Noah. You may ask yourself: what about the flood, why did it happen? Was it not sin?
“And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Genesis 6:1–5
So we can see that the people of the earth had put away the Sabbath and replaced it wih sin. Why would people do this, though? Well, for them, sin must have looked a lot better than keeping God’s law.
Remember, when God finished creating the earth He said that it was good. Let us keep it that way.
Mathew Romero
Amen
Sabbath in Jesus’s Time
We have been learning about how the Sabbath has been kept throughout the earth’s ages. Moving down the timeline, we are now at the time of Jesus and the Pharisees. They both kept the Sabbath in very diferent ways; the Pharisees taught the whole Jewish nation and were well respected by all, so let’s look at how they kept the Sabbath. They made many rules on how one should keep the Sabbath, so many that the Sabbath becamea burden rather than a delight to the people, who, on Sabbath, were not even allowed to walk on green grass as this would bruise or thresh it, which was forbidden to do on the Sabbath. No wonder the Sabbath didn’t really feel like a resting day! It wasn’t being kept properly! Let’s see what the Bible has to say about this. “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour Me, but have removed their heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the precept of men.” Isaiah 29:13. Ths is exactly what was happening with the Pharisees!
Let us look at what Jesus did on the Sabbath when He was here on earth. “And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days.” Luke 4:16, 31. Reading and going to the synogogue on Sabbath was the typical Jewish custom and there was nothing wrong with that, but when Jesus started His own ministry, He and His followers began to observe the Sabbath a little differently.
He [Jesus] started healing on the Sabbath;this angered the Pharisees as they thought this constituted working on the Sabbath. “And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man which had a withered hand. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.” Mark 3:1–3. Jesus knew that they were angry and disapproved of what He was doing so He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?” Mark 3:4. This angered the Pharisees even more as He had proved them to be wrong on the topic of the Sabbath.
The Pharisees had been keeping the letter of the law and even making up (based on their own inferences) their own rules to burden the people; But as the Bible says, we should be keeping the spirt of the law instead, as “the letter kills, but the spirit givith life.”
But although Jesus did keep the Sabbath differently than the Pharisees, He did not change the Sabbath and contrary to common belief, the commandments, including the Sabbath, were not nailed to the cross. Let us read a Bible verse that can prove this: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Matthew 5:17–18
“Christ removed all these ‘traditonal regulations and senseless restrictions’ and by His life and teachings restored the Sabbath to its proper place as a day of worship, of contemplation of God, a day for doing acts of charity and mercy. Thus He magnified it and made it honorable. One of the most prominent features of Christ’s ministry was the work of Sabbath reform. Christ did not abolish or change the Sabbath; but He did rescue it from. . . . false ideas, and superstitions by which it had been degraded. The Pharisees had placed the institution above man and against man. Christ reversed the order and said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath.’ He showed that it was to minister to the happiness and well-being of both man and beast.” (can’t find reference—may remove quote marks if Elaine can’t identify it)
So it is my desire that we would all keep the Sabbath holy, as Jesus did.
Amen
Elaine Romero