THE SABBATH PART I

In the very beginning God gave man a day of rest, a day to worship Him. Many believe it is Saturday, many Sunday, some say it doesn't matter which day as long as we worship the Lord. How important is the Sabbath Day to the Lord? What was the purpose of the Sabbath Day? Are we given instructions on how to keep this day? Has it been changed?

Which day is the Sabbath, and does it really matter? The first thing we need to do is look on the calendar and see which day is the 7th day and which day is the 1st. You will notice that Sunday is the 1st day and Saturday is the 7th day. According to the Lord He uses the numbers,1-7, not our Roman names of the week which was named from Roman gods and goddesses. Let's look into the scriptures and just see what He says about the Sabbath Day:

When did the Sabbath originate and by whom?

Genesis 2:2-3
"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."

Exodus 20:8-11
"Remember the sabbath day to keep it Holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; But the SEVENTH DAY is the SABBATH of the LORD THY GOD; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord BLESSED the Sabbath Day and HALLOWED it."

Exodus 16:23-30
"...Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord; bake that which ye will bake today, and...Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none...How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the LORD hath given you the Sabbath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day."

According to the scriptures above, we find that in the beginning of time, the time of creation, the Lord created, blessed, and made holy a day to worship Him. Who else has the power to make anything Holy? There is only one, the Creator, Jesus Christ. There is a purpose to the Sabbath, to put all aside and worship and remember the Creator, did you notice he said "REMEMBER" to keep the sabbath day Holy? That is the only one that starts out with remember.

If you will also notice the story of the gathering of the bread (Ex. 16), the Lord promised them the bread for the Sabbath, and the sixth day He provided enough bread for the Sabbath Day because they were to rest and worship Him. This scripture also shows us that the Sabbath Day was important and commanded to keep even before the tablets were even given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. The Seventh Day Sabbath wasn't just for the Israelites no more than the Creation was. Man is to worship the Lord and on the Lord's Holy Day He created and made Holy. Who was the Sabbath made for, and who is Lord over it?

Mark 2:27-28
"And He said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath; Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath."

Luke 6:5
"And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath"

Matthew 12:8
"For the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day."

John 12:26
"If any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be; if any man serve me, him will my Father honour."

When Christ walked this earth, His purpose was to save the lost, preach repentance and to leave us with an example to follow! The Lord taught us that the Sabbath Day was created for us! He, the Creator, our Saviour created a day for us to put all aside and rest and worship Him and the Father. What a loving God we have! We need that day of rest, we need that full day to put all aside and worship the Lord. The Lord created 6 days for us to work, to take care of business, and to use for recreation, but when the 7th day comes around, that day is a Holy Day, and if we are following Him, we must keep the 7th day Holy!