Christ has redeemed His people. He has purchased a full and complete redemption that cannot be subtracted nor added upon by any mortal creature. He has pleased the Holy One on behalf of sinners and given them 100% righteousness while removing all their sins, I mean all their sins, once and for all! Once we get this fact correct, then it’s easy for us to go on and use the word “therefore”: therefore, because Christ has done this, we ought to live this way. Therefore, this should be the consequence of that; Sabbath, tithe, and all that. This is why I would not waste much time with another baby-size teaching about the origin and the use of the Law of Moses. If you wish to learn about that, there is already a two part article about the Ten Commandments on this blog. Today I just wanted to remind you that the main issue about the Sabbath must be understood from the angle of what Christ has already done for us on the Cross. Hence I will only give you two passages of Scripture that I am confident will be sufficient to settle this, at least to those willing to learn.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ - Colossians 2:16-17
One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it - Romans 14:5-6
You see my dear friend, Christ's work on the Cross gives us freedom of worship. Because we are no longer in bondage of the law but because the Spirit of Christ in us enables us to please the Lord. Further read Romans 7:4, Romans 8:3-4, Galatians 3:24-25, Galatians 5:18 and 2 Corinthians 3:4-15.
Christ the Sabbath
“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”…Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,”…Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His - Hebrews 4:4-10
I consider this an extra lesson. That is, since there was indeed a day of rest – according to our text above – the people failed to enter that rest because of disobedience, hence the Lord established another day and called it “Today”. “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts”, and those who do believe in Him do enter that rest. It means we all live our lives trying to merit our salvation through our efforts; we try to work for our redemption. Yet there is Good News: a Saviour has worked on our behalf! To believe in Him is to cease from our works and to rest on His finished work. “But to Him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness”, quoted from Romans 4:5. Therefore the Old Covenant’s seventh day was a picture or shadow of Christ, our ultimate rest for our souls. Amen.
The Sabbath years?
The worrying hypocrisy about those who advocate for Sabbath-keeping, in appeal for the law is that they say nothing about the fact that the Sabbath was not only about the Sabbath day, but every seven years, the people were also commanded to rest from farming the land; the Sabbath year. Then they were supposed to count seven Sabbath years until 49 years; the year of Jubilee, or the Sabbath of Sabbaths (Lev 25:3-8). Question: how many Sabbath years have you observed my dear Sabbath keeper? Not only that, anyone who was found working on the Sabbath was supposed to be stoned (Num 15:32-36). To those who say they keep the Sabbath without fail, I ask: how many have you stoned? Then you are not keeping the Sabbath! If we are concerned about keeping the law of Moses, then let’s keep it whole without fail (Gal 5:3-4): all the 613 laws must be kept, otherwise, we become guilty of being Pharisees, who loaded heavy weights on people yet they themselves couldn’t care to bear them (Mat 23:4). Remember my first point, that it’s about the Cross. The reason why Christ came was that we could not keep the law. All of us have sinned and fallen short of that righteous standard. Hence we are saved freely by His grace, which He purchased through Jesus whom God put as a propitiation for our sins (Rom 3:23). This is the main thing, let’s keep it that way.
What about Sunday worship
The legend goes that a certain pagan Roman king named Constantine rejected the Holy Sabbath and established Sunday worship to lead the whole world astray. I am sorry, the Christian way of Sunday worship has nothing to do with some Constantine. Right in the New Testament, we see disciples meeting to break bread and fellowship together on a Saturday? No, it was on the first day of the week – it’s called Sunday (Act 20:7, 1 Cor 16:2). Why, did they forget about Saturday? Answer: to celebrate the day that our Lord rose from the dead. For this same reason, the Holy Spirit was also poured out on all flesh on a Sunday. What is called the Day of the Lord is actually not Saturday, but Sunday. In other words, God didn’t change the Sabbath Saturday, that is God's Covenant with Israel forever (Exo 31-16-17) :( not the Church). What changed was that a New Covenant was established, through the death of the Saviour. Once you are in Him, no one has a right to judge you by a Sabbath, because the Sabbath was only a shadow of Christ, who is the reality of our faith (Col 2:16-17). Let me sit down.
Sinothi Ncube
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