Genesis Part 005
Throughout the entire Bible, it is clear that God created the Sabbath as a day of rest for His people. He intended it to be a “perpetual covenant” between Him and His children, but history shows it has been distorted.
On the seventh day of creation God did something very special. With all His work done, God rested. This word “rested” is the Hebrew “Shabath” (H7673). This is the verb form of the Hebrew noun “Shabbath” (i.e. Sabbath).
Let's look at the use of this word in a few verses:
- Exodus 23:12 “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest [“Shabath”—verb form], that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.”
- Exodus 31:14 “You shall keep the Sabbath [noun], therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.”
- Exodus 31:15 “Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath [noun] of rest [“Shabbathon” – Sabbath observance], holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath [noun] day, he shall surely be put to death.”
- Exodus 31:16 “Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath [noun], to observe the Sabbath [noun] throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.”
- Exodus 31:17 “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested [verb] and was refreshed.”
What we can derive from these verses, is that God created the Sabbath from the very beginning. It wasn’t created only for the nation of Israel but was part of God’s perfect design for all of mankind. The Bible also clearly shows that it is to remain in effect for New Testament Christians.
Hebrews 4:9 “There remains therefore a rest [“Sabbatismos”—Keeping of the Sabbath] for the people of God.”
In Greek, there is another word for “rest” that is used many times by the author of Hebrews. However, here in verse 9 the author uses a different word, “Sabbatismos.” It is clear that the change of wording was very intentional and designed to take us back to the original Hebrew word it was inspired from. This was meant to be a reminder to us that we are still to keep the Sabbath to this day!
Many Christians do not know that the Roman emperor, Constantine the Great looked to form one common religion in the Roman empire for the sake of peace. Constantine was a known worshiper of the sun god. He made decisions on Christian doctrines to form something that was nothing like what Jesus Christ or the apostles practiced. The Sabbath as a day of worship, was changed to a different day, dedicated to the worship of the Sun (“Sunday”). Additionally, Passover would be replaced by Easter. Many true Christian beliefs were changed to false pagan ideas. The history behind this is well documented and every Christian should understand what occurred at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD and the later Council of Laodicea.
For more information about how the Sabbath was changed and the origin of some commonly held beliefs, please see the following article which takes about 15 minutes to read: ucg.org/the-good-news/modern-christianitys-forgotten-roots
Next time we will continue our study in Genesis 2.
UYA Team | uya@ucg.org
United Young Adults (UYA) primarily serves the 18–32-year age group for the United Church of God. There are three main areas of contribution to the lives of the young adults: Promoting Spiritual Growth, Developing Meaningful Relationships and Making the Most of Your Talents. The Know Your Sword series is a daily expository message introducing God’s Word from a trusted perspective.
