History of the Christian Sabbath, Part 1

Well, happy Sabbath once again. One of the most distinctive and deeply held doctrines of the Church of God is our respect for the Seventh-day Sabbath. In our 21st century, where we live with high technology, instant communication, these things have blurred time and space. And because of that, because so many of us today are pulled in so many directions. A respect and appreciation for the Sabbath is deeper than it's ever been before. Today I would like to begin a two-part series on the history of the Christian Sabbath, at least a two-part series. Today we'll look at the establishment of the Sabbath at creation and throughout the Old Testament. And then next time we will look or examine the observance of the Sabbath in the New Testament and beyond. But today we're going to focus on the original establishment of the Sabbath day and lay the groundwork of what it means for us and why the Sabbath is so important to God's people throughout history. Let's begin by going to Genesis chapter 1, beginning in verse 31. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 31. In particular, when discussing a topic like the Sabbath day, it's always best to go back to the very beginning. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 31. Moses wrote, and God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was a very good. So the evening and the morning were the six today. So God completes his six days of creation by this time he has created man. And what does he say about his creation? It's beautiful, it's wonderful.

He says it is very good. It says continuing them and the host of them were finished.

Verse 2, and the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which he had created and made. So it says here that the seventh day was set apart by God himself to creation contrary to the explanation of some who say that the word Sabbath isn't even used here and there are those who don't want to observe the Sabbath so they're always looking for loopholes. In some critics say, well, the Sabbath isn't specifically mentioned here in these verses. Well, frankly, that's not true. The word Sabbath is used in this verse. It's used as the Hebrew word, a verb. It's actually used in Hebrew as Shabbat and in essence it says that God Shabbat rested the same root word the Sabbath comes from God rested on the seventh day. So it's interesting that when you begin to study the Sabbath that immediately critics come out of the woodwork because it is human nature that mankind does not want to dedicate an entire day to God. Oh, they'll put in a token our performance on a particular day of the week, but they will not dedicate an entire day to do what God says that we should do. The very Bible note says this about the phrase He rested. It says He ceased or desisted from His work. No weariness is implied. The Hebrew word is Sabbath, the name of the day that later was given to Israel as a time of cessation from normal activities. So it's from this act and example we see that the seventh day that God ordained was later given the title Sabbath. Now, some say that the verse does not specifically command man to observe it. However, this scripture clearly states, and it says, quote, that God blessed the seventh day and sanctify it. When you sanctify something, it means you set it apart for special use. So it says that God set apart this day for special use. By His example, He designated it as something special. It was the final step of His beautiful creation. God made the first six days by working and He made the seventh day by resting. Now, does God need to rest? Does God get tired? Well, no. But if you have a hobby and you put something together and you finally finish it, whether you do models or you're a painter or you write songs or whatever your talents lie and you complete it, normally what happens is when you're done, you sit back and you look at it and you say, you have a sense of satisfaction. You have a sense of fulfillment because you completed something that you've been working on. It doesn't necessarily mean you're exhausted. It doesn't mean you're tired and certainly God doesn't get physically tired. But God created this beautiful world in which He said everything was very good and at the end of the six days that He had made the world and physical things, He set back and He said, I'm very satisfied, I'm very content with this beautiful world that I've created. And then He created the Sabbath day by resting on it, by taking that pause, that refrain. Again, God does not need rest. He performed this act to set an example for someone else to follow. Well, who would follow His example? Who did He set the Sabbath apart for? Well, since God and the angelic realm are outside of time and space, He certainly didn't establish the creation Sabbath for them. He did it for the benefit of man at the creation.

The Creator established the Sabbath for all people. You see, at this time there was no Jew, there was no Gentile, there was only Adam and Eve. They weren't Jew or Gentile. Jesus also later said in Mark chapter 2 and verse 9 that the Sabbath was made for man. And that word man comes from the Greek word anthropos. Now we use that word when we talk about anthropology, which is a science studying bones of mankind. The study of anthropology is not the study of Jewish people. It's the study of mankind. And when Jesus said the Sabbath was made for anthropos, the Sabbath was made for all mankind. Jesus was the one who instituted the Sabbath. It was He who spoke the words of creation. He is the Word. So He certainly knew what His original intent was for. He knew who the Sabbath was created for. Now some of the critics of the creation Sabbath, those who don't want to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, say, ah, but there's no evidence of any patriarchs ever observing the Sabbath day. Let's take a look at a few scriptures. First, let's understand why even God created seasons of the year and why the Sun and the Moon and the heavenly signs exist. Let's go to Genesis. We're already in chapter one. Let's go back actually to verse 13.

Genesis chapter 1 here. Let's go back to verse 13 and see why God created the heavenly signs.

It says, so the evening and the morning were the third day. Then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the light from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.

And it was so. Then God made two great lights. The greater light the rule the day. We call the Sun and the lesser light the rule the night. Of course, we call the moon and the stars also. God set them in the firmament. So who put the stars and who put the moon and the Sun and the stars and the firmament for our benefit so that they could be signs for seasons and for days and for years. It says, God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. So here it says that God created the Sun, Moon, and the stars in the heavens to help man establish time cycles for agriculture, to know when to plant your crops, for religious celebrations, as we'll see in a minute, and to delineate the passage of time. Because before God created the universe, there was only timeless, unstructured eternity. Time is for our benefit. We are physical people. God has no need for time. He created these seasons. He created these signs in heavens for our benefit. In verse 14, the word seasons is from a Hebrew word, mauve,d and it means festivals or celebrations. I'd like to read verse 14 from the translation God's Word for Today. It says, then God said, let there be lights in the sky to separate the day from the night. They will be signs that will mark religious festivals, days, and years. So you see what's translated in the New King James Version is a poor translation. That word, mauve,d means festival. So it says God created the sun, moon, and the star so that men, so that you and I, could observe religious festivals. Now whose religious festivals could God possibly be doing this for? You think He thought that in the 21st century, so that way, no, when December 25th is, I'm going to create all of these heavenly signs. I think not. Obviously, they were religious celebrations to celebrate the one true God. He wanted to be worshipped and wanted to set aside time from the creation of the world. So again, I want you to notice that it's God who has an interest in mankind being able to mark days and years and religious festivals so that they can be used to honor the Creator. Again, whose religious festivals do you think God had in mind when He established this? What religious festivals would God be referring to? Well, we know because we observe them. They are the same festivals that He gave ancient Israel. Let's now go to Genesis chapter 7 and verse 10. Genesis chapter 7 and verse 10.

Long before the Exodus. Long before Moses is born. Long before God reveals the Sabbath day to ancient Israel. It says, and it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth. In the 600 year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened. So you see here, brethren, that the patriarchs obviously had a monthly calendar and a seven-day cycle. Even though the Sabbath isn't specifically mentioned here, we do see the patriarchs observing a seven-day cycle. Where and why would they have developed, of all things, a seven-day cycle? Could it be that it was passed down to Noah from previous generations who received it from the fact that the earth had been created in six days and God rested on the seventh day? Genesis chapter 8 and verse 10. Let's go to Genesis chapter 8 and verse 10. Again, here, speaking of Noah, after the ark had rested and he waited yet another seven days and again he sent the dove out from the ark. Then the dove came to him in the evening and behold a freshly plucked olive-leave was in her mouth and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. So he waited yet another seven days and sent out the dove which did not return to him anymore. You see, the ancient account of history written in the book of Genesis is a brief overview of man's earliest history. It is not a detailed history. It was never intended to be a diary of everything done by any one individual. Many characters in the Bible are only introduced as adults. The great majority of people are mentioned by one name only. Aside from that, we know very little about them. Nowhere does the book of Genesis specifically mention anyone observing a Sabbath after it was established at creation. But here's the key. This in itself doesn't mean that it wasn't observed by righteous men and women. For example, take Enoch. It says he walked with God. Genesis chapter 5 and verse 24 says Enoch walked with God.

Scripture doesn't say that Enoch ever prayed. It doesn't say he had faith. It doesn't say that he worshipped only one God. It doesn't say that he performed sacrifices. Yet we're told he was a righteous man who obviously honored God in worshipful ways. The fact that something is not specifically mentioned in the book of Genesis, like the fact that somebody actually kept the Sabbath, the fact that it's not mentioned in itself is not a proof. You cannot establish proof of something simply by omission because Genesis is not intended to be a detailed account of everything that everyone did. What we do see here is direct evidence of a seven-day week. We see a direct evidence of influence from the creation of the earth by the Creator himself to people observing a seven-day week. Let's go to Genesis chapter 29 and verse 27. Genesis chapter 29 and verse 27. This example of Jacob negotiating with Laban for his wife, Genesis chapter 29 and verse 27, Laban says, fulfill her week. What is a week? A week is seven days. Jacob knew what a week was. Laban knew what a week was. It was a seven-day period of time. Fulfill her week. And we will give you this one also for the service with which you will serve with me still another seven years. So Jacob did as so and fulfilled her week. And he gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife also. So his wives were Leah and Rachel. Another example, brethren, of a seven-day weekly cycle being observed. Can you tell me any human culture that ever existed that had a seven-day cycle and didn't set aside one of those seven days to worship? Scripture also shows us that when Jacob's father died, it says in Genesis chapter 50 and verse 10 that Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. Again, that's Genesis chapter 50 and verse 10.

So there is no doubt that the observance of the seven-day weekly cycle was understood by the patriarchs. And just because it doesn't specifically say that they kept the Sabbath day is not a proof. If they observed a seven-day cycle, they obviously understood the principles of the creation that we read about in Genesis 1. And there is very strong indication and understanding that that they would have observed the seventh-day Sabbath, even though the Bible doesn't specifically state it. But time went on. And certainly the observance of the Sabbath was lost to the descendants of Abraham by the time of the Exodus. First of all, Israel had been enslaved for hundreds of years. Secondly, the Egyptians didn't have a seven-day week like the Hebrews did. The Egyptians had a 10-day work week. And they certainly would not have allowed their slaves to take a day off every seven days to worship a God that the Egyptians didn't respect. So by the time of the Exodus, God needs to restore an understanding of the Sabbath that goes back to creation when it said that God sanctified it, God rested, and God set that day apart. He needs to restore that understanding to these former Hebrew slaves. So when does he do it? Does he do it when they all reach Mount Sinai? Well, no. He teaches them about the Sabbath before they reach Mount Sinai. Let's go to Exodus 16 and verse 12. Exodus 16 and verse 12. They are on their way. They are traveling. They've left Egypt. They're not yet at Mount Sinai.

The Ten Commandments are not yet given. They have not yet ratified the Old Covenant with God, but they're on their journeys and God wants to teach them about the Sabbath. Exodus chapter 16 beginning in verse 12. And here is the lesson that he teaches them. I've heard the complaints of the children of Israel speak to them, saying, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. So it was that quails came up in the evening and covered the camp.

And in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there was on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? It's a fair question. Occasionally I make dinner for my wife, and she comes home and she looks at what I put on the table.

And she doesn't say it because she's a very nice person. But I can see by the look in her eyes she's saying, What is it? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.

This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need. One omer for each person according to the number of persons. Let each man take for those who are in his tent. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had nothing left over. And he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need. Verse 19. Then Moses said, Let no one leave any of it until morning.

Notwithstanding, they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and it stank. So God said, What I provide for you each day has to be sufficient. Each day you need to come back to me with renewed faith so that I can provide you for that day.

And he said, Don't try to keep this manna through the night over into the next day. Don't try to store it so that you can eat it in the future. And some did. And it said that it bred worms and it stank. And Moses was angry with them. Verse 21. So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one instead of one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. They said, Look, it's the sixth day. We have twice as much as we normally get on any other day. So let's stop right there before we continue. God is introducing the concept of the Sabbath to these people. He uses an example of giving them yet another gift.

The Sabbath is a gift and He gives them the gift of food called manna. He wants to teach them about His Sabbath. He wants to teach them that they can work and they can gather the manna on six days, but they shouldn't do it on the seventh day. I want you to remember that Jesus prayed, Give us this day our daily bread. That's from Matthew chapter 6. What was Jesus saying? Of course, Jesus was the very one who was dealing with Israel at this time. Later, became known as Jesus Christ. But in Matthew 6, Jesus Christ is teaching you and I the same principle.

That is, we have to go to God every day for our needs. He's not interested in us storing up things for the future. We have to go to Him and for each day He'll give us what is sufficient for that day.

And the next day we go back to God all over again in prayer and faith and ask for our daily needs. And in faith, God was trying to teach these people that a very special day was occurring at the conclusion of the sixth day. Let's pick it up now here in verse 23. And then He said to them, this is what the Lord has said, tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you bake today and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning.

So they laid it up till morning as Moses commanded. Now if they did this on any other day, it stank. It said then it bred worms. But it says here it did not stink. Nor were there any worms in it. Verse 25, then Moses said, eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, there will be none.

Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.

And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my law? See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore he gives you on the sixth day, bred for two days, let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day, so the people rested on the seventh day. So God is teaching the ancient Israelites long before they get to Mount Sinai, and here the fourth commandment, long before he creates a covenant, the old covenant with the nation of Israel, he is teaching them about the importance of the Sabbath. I want you to notice what it says here. It says it is a Sabbath to the Lord. It's not our Sabbath. It's not any man's Sabbath. It's not any organization's Sabbath. It is a Sabbath to the Lord. By the way, this is also a good example of how people were encouraged to use the sixth day, Friday, as a preparation day for the Sabbath. Food was prepared in advance, so it didn't consume a lot of hours preparing and cooking a meal on the Sabbath day. It's a good lesson here for all of us. But what does the word Sabbath mean? Well, a few Hebrew words with all that have the same root, which is Shabbat, are translated into the English Bible. The word is used as Sabbath, and it means to rest, it means to desist, it means to experience and intermission. Stop! Pause for a while.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says this. It says, The Sabbath was the day on which man was to leave off his secular labors and to keep a day holy to Jehovah. That's the end of quote. So this event again occurred weeks before they ever got to Mount Sinai. The Sabbath is reaffirmed before a covenant is even discussed with Israel. Since the Sabbath predates the Old Covenant, it is not limited to the terms of the Old Covenant. Here's what I'm saying. This was a sign, this was a teaching that was given to these people before the Old Covenant. So even if the Old Covenant ends and is abolished, which it eventually was, that does not end, that does not abolish the observance of the Sabbath day. This shouldn't surprise anyone since Moses wrote in Genesis 1 that it was at the creation of the earth that the Sabbath was established when God rested long before there were any Jews, long before there were any Hebrews, long before God made covenants with the nation of Israel. The Sabbath was taught. It was part of the creation. Now let's take a look at another scripture here. Let's go to Exodus chapter 20 beginning in verse 8.

The scripture we're very familiar with because it's one of the Ten Commandments.

The Sabbath, respecting it, honoring it as a day of worship, as a day of rest and reflection, of spiritual things, was so important that it became one of the Ten Commandments. Exodus chapter 20 in verse 8. God said, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now there is no other commandment in which He uses the word remember. Well, why is that? Because God knows the human heart and He knew that it was the very one that people would respect least. He knew it was the very commandment that people would forget or that people would find loopholes about not observing that people would ignore. So He says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Again, it's not my Sabbath, it's not your Sabbath.

It is God's Sabbath. In it you shall do no work, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your maidservant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and He hallowed it. Now what does it mean to do no work? It's a good question. The word translated work here in verses 9 and 10 is malaka in Hebrew and it means occupation, it means business, it means workmanship, it means industrious labor. So God said that you were to leave the secular world and your secular occupation and you were to have an intermission during holy time that God designated as His Sabbath day. It's also a commandment that's very humanitarian and it's universal. God says here in the commandment that even your stranger which is within your gates that you cannot compel that stranger to work.

If there's someone that you have acquired as a servant that isn't even of your religion, that isn't of your religious belief, you are not to force them to work. You are not to compel them to work. Even they are entitled to enjoy the gift of the Sabbath day. Why? Because God gave that gift to all mankind, not simply to Israel, not simply to the Jewish people. By what authority and by what original event was the Sabbath ever created or established? It was at the creation by the very example of God on the seventh day. Yes, the Sabbath is the fourth commandment and is one of God's great moral laws. It predates the Old Covenant and it's not limited to the terms of the Old Covenant. God gave the Ten Commandments directly to the people. But you see, the Ten Commandments and God's Sabbath day were ahead of the law of Moses. The Ten Commandments were literally spoken and written directly from God. And of themselves they are not a part of the law of Moses. The law of Moses were the laws and judgments and statutes that God gave to Moses as a mediator between God and the people. The Ten Commandments was spoken directly by God to the people and with his very finger those commandments were written on tablets of stone. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 10 and verse 1. I'd like to point out the difference symbolically between the Ten Commandments and the law of Moses. It's important for us to understand, brethren, that what existed before of law of Moses cannot become obsolete when the law of Moses became obsolete. The Ten Commandments were set apart. They were distinct from the law of Moses. Deuteronomy chapter 10 beginning verse 1.

Moses writes, At that time the Lord said to me, this is Deuteronomy chapter 10, verse 1, At that time the Lord said to me, You for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and make yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.

He says, So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two tablets of stone like the first, went up to the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand, and he wrote on the tablets according to the first writing the Ten Commandments, which the Lord had spoken to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Verse 5, Then I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I made, and there they are just as the Lord commanded me.

So let's stop for one second. This is the Ten Commandments. The Ark of the Covenant, we understand because we recently observed the Day of Atonement, it was a chest that was built with two carabum who were facing each other sitting on top of the ark, and it represented the very divine presence of God.

It was also called the Mercy Sea, and God spoke to Moses personally because his presence was there at the Ark of the Covenant. God spoke with Moses between the carabum, that's mentioned in Exodus chapter 25, and we know from the Day of Atonement, that was only one time in the entire year when the High Priest, on the very Day of Atonement itself, was even allowed to go in there and was allowed to put blood all around this Ark of the Covenant.

So God instructed the Ten Commandments to be placed here in the Ark. This was because God's great moral law represents who and what he is. His presence was in the Ark. God wanted these laws that represent love and respect, that are part of any covenant he would make with anyone, that's part of the deal. He wanted these commandments to be placed inside this Ark that represented the very character, the very values, the very quality of who and what God is.

Now let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 31 and see where the words of the law of Moses were to be put. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 24. Let's see if the words of the law of Moses, the Old Covenant, was given the same level of stature. Deuteronomy chapter 31 and verse 24. It says, So it was when Moses had completed writing the words of this law in a book, when they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, Take this book of the law and put it beside the Ark.

Not in the Ark. The Ark represented the divine character, the moral presence of the Creator God. So he says, Don't put it in the Ark, like I told you to put the Ten Commandments. Put it beside the Ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there as a witness against you, for I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. He says, I know you are a stubborn people.

If today, while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the Lord, then how much more after my death? So he said, I want these hanging outside, on the outside, as a witness, as a reminder to you of this covenant that God is making with this nation.

So again, in contrast to the Ten Commandments, Moses was instructed to put the books of the law, the five scrolls of the Pentateuch, beside the Ark, not in the Ark. The books of the law were the details of God's covenant relationship with the physical nation of Israel. So why the difference? What is the difference between being in the Ark and beside the Ark? Well, God's very instructions show a difference in the permanence and importance between His holy commandments and the separate, limited covenant that would and could be broken by people who would not observe faithfully the law of Moses.

So God is teaching us here of the value of His commandments, one of which is the command to remember the Sabbath day.

Now let's go to Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 1. Leviticus chapter 23 and verse 1.

When we talk about the Sabbath, this may be one of the very first scriptures that normally pops into our minds. Because we learn here that the weekly Sabbath was the first of God's important festivals that He outlines in Leviticus chapter 23. It says here, beginning in verse 1, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feast of the Lord. They are not my feast, they are not your feast, they are not any church's feast, they are God's feast. He says so, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations. As I've mentioned before, holy conventions. These are, He says it again, my feast. God says these are mine, they're not yours, they're not a church's, they're not any man's. God says these are my feast. 6 days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest. A holy convocation, you shall do no work on it, it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwelling. So the weekly Sabbath is listed first in importance as God's festivals because it occurs every week. It is repeated, it's easy to follow. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Right?

It's not really that hard, it's easy to follow. And God places it first when He outlines the important festival days to Him. Now, in spite of everything we've been talking about, we've been talking about the fact that the Sabbath was actually established as creation for all mankind, aside from the fact that God taught Israel about the Sabbath before they ever reached Mount Sinai. Aside from the fact that the Ten Commandments are part of God's royal law and one of those commandments is to remember the Sabbath day and those laws were so important, they were put inside of the chest and not outside of the chest. Aside from all of this, God also said that the Sabbath is a special sign between Himself and His people. Let's go Exodus 31 and verse 12. Exodus 31 and verse 12. It says, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Now those are pretty strong words, but observance and respect and honoring God's Sabbath were so important that God said, If someone profanes the Sabbath day, they are to be put to death.

For whoever does any work in it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Verse 15, Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work in a Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. Six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. What is this perpetual covenant? It's the perpetual covenant that has existed since the creation of the world. When God rested on the seventh day for the benefit of all mankind, before there was either Jew or Gentile, when there were only two people, a man and a woman, that God established a special day called his Sabbath. And he has intended men from every nation on this earth, every skin color, every language, to honor and realize that this Sabbath day is a gift given to them by the Almighty God.

Verse 17, it shall be 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 and was refreshed.

So we see here that the Sabbath was also a special sign between God and the nation of Israel.

Now, since the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments, it must be part of his covenant with Israel. Was it part of the old covenant? God will not make any covenant with a human being unless that covenant includes God's value system. Who and what God is.

So it certainly was part of the law of Moses, but we have to realize that it was distinct from the law of Moses in that it existed before the law of Moses and continues to exist long after the covenant was broken by a rebellious people. I think that's important for us to understand and appreciate. Let's now go to Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13. Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13.

Sadly, the history of Israel and Judah is one of constant rebellion against God's will, against God's law. Anything that God ever told them to do, they rebelled. And when you read this story in first and second Kings and first and second Chronicles and you see rebellion after rebellion, dysfunction, and sin, and just a society that is turned upside down because of its perversity, you realize how rebellious the nation of Israel and Judah were against violating God's law.

And the prophet spoke out about that. Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13. God speaks to the prophet Isaiah, if you will turn away your foot from the Sabbath, meaning if you will stop stomping on this holy day, if you will stop putting it under your feet and stomping on it from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath of the light, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride in the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

So what does it mean when it says from doing your pleasure on my holy day? Well, this is when we observe the Sabbath our own way. When we decide we can observe the Sabbath in our own style instead of the way that God desires. We may make ourselves exclusive and stay at home on a consistent basis because we don't like people or because we've just grown tired of getting up and going to church.

All well knowing that in Leviticus 23 it says that it's a commanded assembly. This is not about us.

This is about worshiping God. And as I have said before, it is my hope that you would come to Sabbath services for no other reason than to stand up and sing praises to Him and worship our great God even if the sermon stinks and breeds worms.

For no other reason than to take the time out to assemble with people of like mind and to publicly stand up and sing praises to God. That's what Sabbath services are all about. Sure, we hope we hear a fine message. Sure, we hope we're spiritually fed. And I know the sermon and speakers work very hard at doing that and yours truly does as well. But even if that doesn't occur, for no other reason that it is a holy convention to come and stand up and sing a praise and be together with God's people is what the Sabbath is all about. And if we get to the point where we say, well, that's not necessary. I can just do this myself. I can seclude myself. I can just stay at home and listen to tapes or do this. We violate what God wants us to do. That is an example of doing our own pleasure on the holy day. Or if we decide that we can just begin to do things like go to the baseball game on the Sabbath or do things that are quite secular or make a few sales calls or call into the office or do certain things that we know we shouldn't do, then again, that's doing your own pleasure on my holy day. The beautiful thing about the Sabbath is that it gives us a chance to get out of the stresses and pressures of this world. It is a day in which we should minimize the use of email and anything else that we normally do and take time to reflect, to meditate, to pray, to study, to get some extra studying of God's Word, and to come and rejoice and celebrate with God's people. That is what the Sabbath is all about, and that is how God desires that we worship Him. The Sabbath is a delight when we embrace it as holy time, when we say from sunset Friday evening to sunset Saturday night that this is holy and special time. It is time to stop what I'm doing. It is time to reflect on what my life is all about. It is time to think about what I did the last week. It is time for me to spend extra time with my family, my spouse, my children, to call them, to encourage them, to talk to them. It's time for me to go and celebrate God's goodness with my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. And that means we get out of the rat race, we step off of the merry-go-round that we're going on in this world with instant messaging and Facebook and smartphones and all of these things that we are sucked into in our society today, almost addicted to, that we say, no, I am going to step away. Now that doesn't mean that it's entirely wrong to see if somebody called you to check your email. I'm not saying it's wrong to go on Facebook and talk to some of your friends. But if it gets to the point where it's consuming hours, then we've gotten out of balance. Then we're not doing what God wants us to do to honor and respect His holy day and to make it a delight. Let's go to Jeremiah 17 and verse 19.

We saw that God calls the Sabbath day. He says it's my holy day and He says it's a delight. And the Sabbath should be a delight to us. It means that we should do some special things that we don't do any other day of the week. Why? Because we have the time to do it. It may be to have a special meal. It may be to buy flowers on Friday and put them on the table so that we have them on the Sabbath day. Whatever your family culture thinks is unique and special, whether it's fine China or whatever it is that's special to you that makes the Sabbath a delight, I encourage you to do that.

Because there have been many people before us who did not honor and respect God's Sabbath day and God had to punish them for that. God's law, unfortunately in ancient Israel, was not written on their hearts and they all wanted to be like the nations around them. Is that a problem some of us are struggling with today? Do we want to be like the society around us? Have we become so workaholic oriented that we don't even feel normal when we stop? Do we get so wrapped up in phones ringing and I got to do this and I got to achieve this and I got to do this that we have problem letting go and allowing the Sabbath to change us, allowing the Sabbath to reconnect us to our God?

That's exactly what ancient Israel did. Let's go to here Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 19.

Jeremiah was trying to tell the city of Jerusalem something. At this time it was being savagely attacked by the Babylonians around 600 BC and God said if you want to get right with me and they were doing far more things than just breaking the Sabbath. Far more dastardly things than that. They were violating every principle, every statute, every law God had ever given them. But he says here's the place to start. Jeremiah chapter 17 and verse 19. Thus said the Lord to me, go into the gate of the children of the people by which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out and all the gates of Jerusalem and say to them, hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. Thus says the Lord, take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day to bring it to the gates of Jerusalem.

Now the gates of Jerusalem were where you carried your goods as a merchant to sell what you had made.

And he said, stop treating the Sabbath like it's any other work day. Stop taking your goods and your wares.

The message to us today is let go of your occupation. Drop it. Don't think about it.

Don't check up on it. Don't wonder about, well, what's going on? Just let it go.

He says, bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it to the gates of Jerusalem. Again, the gates of Jerusalem were where these wares were sold. Nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work but hollow the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers. So he said, this day has to be different than the other six days in which you work. It has to be a delight. Notice how he uses the word burden here. Isn't burden the opposite of a delight is having a burden?

But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff that they might not hear nor receive instruction. And it shall be if you heed me carefully, says the Lord, and bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day to do no work in it. He says, if you forget about your occupation, forget about your constant quest to make money, forget about your desire to be like other people in your culture, in your society.

Says, then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princesses sitting on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses. They and their princes, accompanied by men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in this city, shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin and from the lowland, from the mountains and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. He says, so the place to begin, city of Jerusalem, if you want to get right with your God, step one is to begin respecting and honoring the Sabbath day. He says, Jeremiah says, and you know what, city of Jerusalem, in spite of your flaws and weaknesses, if you begin to do this, good things will happen to the city of Jerusalem. But, verse 27, if you will not heed me to hollow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. And it wasn't too long after this that's exactly what happened. The Babylonians came in, they burnt down the palaces, they raided the temple, they took all the holy things out of the temple and hold anything of value, including the cream of the Jewish society back to Babylon. So, it was a warning from the prophet that went unheeded by the nation of Judah. Unfortunately, we know that both the nations of Israel first and then Judah broke the covenant, they sinned, and they went into captivity.

But in the course of time, some Jews returned to Jerusalem about 50 years after Judah was taken into exile. But nothing happened. They went back to Jerusalem and very little happened. They didn't rebuild the walls of the city. They were faithless people. So, another 90 years happened after that 50 years, and the walls of Jerusalem were still not built. And you need walls in a city to protect yourself from the many enemies that existed in that part of the world. And again, the faith of the Jews were very weak. Well, God, in His mercy, He called a governor, a civil governor named Nehemiah, who was a cupbearer for the king. And because of that, He had favor with the king. The king said, what can I do for you? And he said, allow me to go back to my home to Jerusalem and encourage my people to build the walls of the city of Jerusalem. And that's what He did. But what did He find?

What did Nehemiah discover when he went back? There's Nehemiah chapter 13 and verse 17, if you will turn there with me. Jeremiah chapter 13 and verse 17.

What we find here is they didn't learn. What we'll find here is the same sin that was occurring, that Jeremiah condemned, was going on all over again. The fact that they were beaten and taken to exile and lost everything they had, their possessions, their temple, their own sovereignty as a nation, didn't do any good. They didn't get it. Nehemiah says, and then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, what evil thing is this that you do by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do this? Did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city?

Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. So it was at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut and charged that they must not be opened until after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice, and we'll stop there. Eventually they got the point. But what is Nehemiah saying? He's saying the nut doesn't fall far from the tree.

And the fact that you people, my brothers, he said, went into an exile and lost your kingdom, and lost your temple, and lost your dignity, you come back here and you do the same thing over again. On the Sabbath day, you're treating it like a secular day, like any other day of the week, and you're bringing the wares that you've made, and you're bringing them to the gates of the city to exchange and to sell with others who are waiting at the gates of the city. And Nehemiah says, that is not right. You are profaning the Sabbath day. And, brethren, that can easily happen to us. We can get so wrapped up in this secular world that we are in. Over a period of time, it can begin nibbling at the edges of our lives, and we can begin to profane the Sabbath day by not realizing that it has been set apart by God. What is holy? Well, only God can make something holy. Men, committees, organizations, they do not have the ability to make anything holy. Something is holy when God's presence is there. Why was the showbread holy? It's because when it was made, God's presence was there, and when it was time to be replaced with fresh showbread, that old showbread was no longer holy. The temple was holy because God's presence was there. The utensils in the tabernacle was holy because God's presence was there. You are holy. I am holy, not of ourselves.

Oh my no! We are holy because God's presence is here by the indwelling of His Holy Spirit, and we don't have the right to change something that's holy and make it common.

The Sabbath day is a day given to us by the Creator, God, as a gift, as something that's delightful, as something that we should embrace each and every week as we look forward to it. And as we end the week and we go, ah, thank you, God, for the gift of your wonderful Sabbath day. And that's what I hope we can take away with us as we conclude this first part of the sermon today. What happened to the Sabbath from this time until the ministry of Jesus Christ? We will see that Judaism began to destroy the Sabbath as the pendulum turned the other way. It is a sin to profane the Sabbath, but it is also a sin to add so many rules and laws and do's and don'ts that were never intended and make the Sabbath a crushing burden on people. And that is exactly what happened by the time of Jesus Christ. Did Jesus fulfill the Sabbath? Did He make it obsolete? We will look at that. Did the early church observe the Sabbath, or did they change the Sabbath to another day? In part two of this sermon, we'll examine these questions from the Word of God. But in conclusion, the Sabbath is a weekly memorial of God's creation conceived by our Father and spoken into existence by Jesus Christ. Every week the Sabbath returns us to a time when man walked in perfect alignment with his Creator in the Garden of Eden. And every Sabbath reminds us that we want the Garden of Eden to be restored in this earth. Again, we call it the Millennium or the Kingdom of God. It reminds us that the world was intended to be in perfect rest and peace with our Creator. Every Friday evening, the Sabbath arrives to free us from the secular troubles of this world, to calm us, to soothe us, from the many pressures that mount up during the week. Six days we seek to dominate the world, but brethren, on the seventh day we allow God to dominate our hearts.

Enjoy the Sabbath day. We'll see you next week.