© 11 Colin Melbourne
Seventh Day Observance?
Q: Do we need to obey the Fourth Commandment and rest on the seventh day like God did in Genesis? Genny
A: You refer to Genesis 2:1-3 KJV;
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
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.
God’s Laws plus Rabbi’s Laws
When Moses brought The Law of God to the Jews it included this commandment, De. 4:12-14 KJV;
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
Faithful Jews observed this commandment as best they could, and Jewish rabbis added reams of home-made legalistic rules (the Talmud) to the Law (Torah).
These rabbis with their supplemented rabbinic teachings were so blind to spiritual matters that when Jehovah God came in the Flesh, they even criticised Him for healing on the Sabbath Day.
The rabbis decreed that healing the sick was “doing work”, thereby breaking God’s Commandment. You’ll find the exchange in Jn. 5:16-18.
The Lord rebuked them and highlighted their hypocrisy, gently at first, then in sterner terms calling them; a brood of vipers, foolish, blind guides, and sons of Hell.
That’s what God thinks of people who twist His word to create bondage and religion.
God Hates “Religion”
This collection of transcripts of Smith preaching: The Complete Smith Wigglesworth Teachings is one of the best daily devotional resources you can use. His words are just as powerfully anointed today as when he spoke them.
Judaism, the religious system concocted by generations of Jewish false-teachers, was, and still is, detestable to God.
Here’s a reminder of His one-liner to the Jewish religious crowd through the Prophet Amos 5:21 KJV;
I hate, I despise your feast days
Why?
Because the Jews completely missed the significance of God’s Law, and they still do.
What Was God’s Law For?
No-one (except Christ) ever has been, or ever will be, justified in God’s sight by observing the Law. Gal. 2:15-16, 3:11.
It was given to make us aware that we cannot keep it, and that we all desperately need a Saviour from our sins.
The Law is a teacher, a schoolmaster, that leads us to Christ. Gal. 3:23-25. Read more on the Purposes of the Law and the Gospel.
When Christ came, God in the Flesh born under Law, He kept the Law perfectly, never sinning once in His whole life.
The only person ever to do so.
God Trumps His Own Law
As the sinless sacrificial Lamb of God He willingly gave His Life on the Cross in our place, bearing our sin, our guilt, punishment, and sicknesses.
He did this so that those who believe in Him are set free of all the condemnation that The Law of God brought to mankind. (See Rom. Chs. 6-8)
Christians are not under law, but under God’s Grace.
The Law is now obsolete, and has no power to condemn a Christian.
It has been superceded by the New Covenant of Grace, through faith in Christ. Rom. 6:14, Rom. Ch. 8, Gal. 3:23-25, Heb. 8:13.
Christians embrace the moral aspects of God’s Law, but are not bound by the Law.
They are free from the curse of the Law. Gal. 3:13.
Christ died to set us free from the Law. Gal. Ch. 3.
Who the Son sets free is really free. Jn. 8:32,36.
Study Galatians in the Holy Spirit for God’s explanation, and note His stern warnings about Judaisers trying to lure Christians back under His Law.
So that’s God’s Law dealt with; now your question on Sabbath observance.
Is a Christian Day-off compulsory?
Do Christians have to stop physical work on the seventh day (Saturday) like followers of Judaism?
No!
Now here’s an even more wonderful truth.
The whole point of setting aside a day of rest from work, to honour the Lord, is beautifully fulfilled in the Gospel of Christ.
Hebrews chapter four spells it out clearly.
Enter His Rest: And Stay There!
The Sabbath of the Law represents the rest a believer in Christ has under the New Covenant. They rest from the labour of trying to justify themselves before God by works. They trust in Christ’s finished work. It is enough to justify the worst of sinners before God.
The instant a sinner repents and believes in the Risen Christ, he or she is made a righteous child of God, holy, and accepted in the beloved, washed pure, redeemed by His Blood.
A Christian knows that nothing needs to be added to justification through faith in Christ’s finished work on their behalf.
Our redemption is perfect, complete, and finished. Ps. 130:7, 1 Co. 1:30, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14, Heb. 9:12.
So you come to understand that every day is a Sabbath Day for the Christian.
Every moment we have ceased from the labour of working for salvation.
We have a continual Sabbath rest.
Glory to God!
God has done it for us, once and for all.
Therefore, Christians do not observe the Jewish Sabbath Day.
It was a symbol, a mere shadow, of what was to come in Christ, and we have the reality, not a symbol. Praise God! Look at Hebrews 10:1 and 8:13 KJV;
For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,….
In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
However, when witnessing to “observant Jews” I am respectful, and careful not to offend them. I love Jews, I get a thrill inside when I’m around Jews, especially religious Jews.
Why? Because they don’t know who they are, they think they do, but they really don’t.
I see the potential, and God is relying on us to show them the way to their Messiah. So I become like them to win them. All the time knowing that I’m totally justified before God by my faith in Christ alone, not by any work or observing the Law.
Why Christians worship on Sunday, the first day of the week, is an interesting topic.
© 11 Colin Melbourne
