"THE SABBATH OF THE LORD"

Is it an absolute necessity in this dispensation of New Testament times for the
sabbath day to be ritualistically observed on every Saturday of the year? Is it
necessary that the Old Testament commandments concerning the Sabbath be
kept in a literal sense at all? The Jews think so. So do some Christians. He
who has a spiritual ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches…how that now for His righteousness sake, He alone does "magnify
the law, and make it honourable." Isa.42:21 KJV.

The word of God says, "Let no man judge you in meat or drink....or in
respect of a holy day, or of the new moon or of the Sabbath day, which are a
shadow (of good things to come like unto all ceremonial laws [Heb.10:1] that
were meant merely to foreshadow and reflect Christ and) of things to come,
but the body is of Christ." Col.2:16,17 KJV. Yes, "the real things are in
Christ." Col.2:17 Beck. This tells us that natural observances and works
under the old decayed covenant (Heb.8:13) were, like unto the tabernacle in
the wilderness (Heb.chptr.9 & 10), merely "a figure for the time then
present." Heb. 9:10 KJV. Now we have a new and more excellent spiritual
reality wherein anything that is done in the flesh profits nothing - Jn.6:63.
Now, "Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better (stronger) agreement---a
more excellent and more advantageous covenant." Heb.7:22 Ampl.

As spirit filled Christians, God "hath made us able ministers of the New
Testament [covenant]; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth
but the Spirit giveth life." 2Cor.3:6 KJV. Now if the old religious service
which resulted in death, although its law as carved in letters of stone, was
introduced with a splendor so great....why should not this spiritual service (of
life) be attended with much greater splendor? For if the service connected
with condemnation had such splendor, the service resulting in right standing
with God will surely far surpass it in splendor. For on account of its
surpassing splendor, what was once so splendid has now no splendor at all.
For if what was passed away was introduced with splendor, with how much
greater splendor must what is permanent be attended? 2Cor.3:7-11 Wms.

Overall, the old law was in its time, excellent, glorious, and splendid and
tended to serve God's dispensational purposes well. Yet, How much greater
now is all the new covenant law of the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus"
(Rom.8:2 KJV) wherein the old law has been fulfilled in "Him who is the
fulfillment of its types" (Ro.10:4 Ampl.) and its shadows. In this new
dispensation, the splendid and glorious righteousness of God's new and
permanent law is being "fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit." Rom.8:4 KJV. Paul said, "Practice occupying your mind with
the things above, not with the things on the earth." Gal.3:2 Wms. "If you are
guided (led) by the (Holy) Spirit you are not subject to the law." Gal.5:18
Ampl. After all, "the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the
lawless and disobedient." 1Tim.1:9.

"We know that the law is good if a man use it lawfully"(1Tim.1:8 KJV), but
observing and practicing the letter of the old law does not in any way give
spiritual life. Anyone, as well as the Jews, can observe and practice the
letter of the law with respect to meat and drink, or of holy days, or of the
sabbath in the Old Testament type of religious works and service, but the
truth is...that service is, was, and ever will be, void of the things above--void
of the real Spirit of life. Observing the Sabbath in this way has nothing to
do with the Spirit of life in Christ, and therefore nothing to do with salvation
by grace.

The Jew's Sabbath was always Saturday, and for them to continue to observe
such a law was good until they came into the understanding of a better thing
under the new law called "grace". Grace is beyond mere "good". It is in the
realm of perfect holiness and perfect love. Paul told believers that they were
"no longer under the law but under grace." Rom.6:14 KJV. Paul condemned
former ceremonial practices on the Sabbath and any laws they were in pursuit
of which could not give true righteousness. "And Why? Because they were
pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what
they regarded as merit ...ignorant of the righteousness which God provides,
and building their hopes upon a righteousness of their own, they have refused
submission to God's righteousness. For as a means of righteousness " Christ
is the termination of Law to every believer." Rom.9:32-10:4 Weym. He has
fulfilled it for us. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believeth." Rom.10:4. KJV.

"By the law is the knowledge of sin" Rom.3:20 KJV. The strength of sin is
the law. The old law does not have the strength nor power of righteousness
nor holiness, "for the law made nothing perfect." Heb.7:19 KJV. Nor will the
observance of it in a natural, literal, letter of the word sense, ever make
anything righteous, holy or perfect. It is only the indwelling Spirit of God in
Christ which can perfect. So then, "now, after that ye have known God, or
rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly
elements, where- unto ye desire again to be in bondage. Ye observe days,
and months, and times, and years." Gal.4:9,10 KJV. O foolish ones, "who
hath bewitched you?" Gal.3:1

Paul beseeched the foolish Galatians who in different respects were reverting
back to forms of Judaism, saying, "Be as I am" (Gal.4:11), free from the
suffocating bondages of the ceremonialism, formalism, and legalism found in
their law. "Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and
be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Gal.4:1 KJV. After the
same manner Paul exhorted the Pharisees asking, "Why tempt ye God to put
a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were
able to bear?" Paul taught that "Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from Grace." Gal.4:4
KJV. He believed that only "through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we
shall be saved, even as they." Ac.15:11 KJV.

There are some believers even in this day and age who believe they are
justified in attempting to literally keep the Sabbath day laws. Some say they
are not under the law but rather serving the Sabbath of creation found in
Gen.2:3 as well as the commandment later in Ex.16:23-30 where no manna
was to be gathered on the Sabbath day. This clearly predates the law and
commandment in Ex.chptr.20. Some argue that they need a Sabbath rest, for
God Himself rested. But of a truth, since sin entered into the world, God's
rest in creating has ended---for God now worketh in man both to will and to
do of His good pleasure - Phil.2:13; 1Cor.12:6.

In John chapter 5, Jesus healed a sick man and told him to pick up his bed
and walk. That day was a Sabbath. "Today is the day of rest," the Jews
told the man who had been healed. "It's wrong for you to carry your bed...The
man...told the Jews it was Jesus who had made him well." Jn.5:8-15 N.A.S.
"Because Jesus was doing such things on a Sabbath, the Jews started to
persecute Him. But Jesus answered them, My Father has been working until
now, and so I am working. Then the Jews were all the more eager to kill
Him, because He wasn't only abolishing the Sabbath but even calling God
His own Father, making Himself equal to God." Jn.5:16-18 Beck.

Jesus okayed the picking of corn by His disciples on the Sabbath much to the
Pharisees dismay. Among other things, He also asked the Pharisees if they
had "read in the law that the priests in the temple work on a Sabbath as on
other days and yet do no wrong?" Matt.6:5 Beck. Are not all believers and
servants of Christ now a part of His holy temple (Eph.2:13-22) and are they
not all part of an holy priesthood of this spiritual house? 1Ptr.2:5,9. Though
the law was still in effect for unregenerate man at the time Jesus was on the
earth, for those who were His servants and followers, he revealed that He was
the Lord of the Sabbath (Matt.6:8) and in Him alone was found the authority
and immunity from the letter of this law. He even told the Pharisees it was
lawful for them to do any kind of good or fruitful work on a Sabbath day -
Matt.12:12. On the same day, He healed the man with the withered hand
and loosed the woman with infirmity.

If the literal keeping of the Sabbath is so essential to Christians, would not
Jesus and others like Matthew, John, Paul etc. have made it plain enough that
it must be observed? The fact is, just the opposite is the case. On the other
hand, the old covenant laws certainly are plain enough. In Ex.35:1-3, man
was to be put to death for lighting any kind of fire on the Sabbath. There
was to be no fire in their habitation. Very few if any observe and believe this
is applicable today. Obviously, the Jewish Sabbath could not possibly be kept
now in a cold climate. Nor are Christians expected to stone one another to
death for not observing this law. Likewise, "whosoever doeth work therein
(on the seventh day) shall be put to death. "Ex.35:2,3 KJV. How many
seemingly faithful sabbath keepers are willing to enforce this part of the law?

Where is the observance today in the fulfilling of these things? Are some
laws to be carried out in full and others only in part? Either all these things
are to be carried out to perfection, or none at all because now, as many as are
depending on the works of the law are under the curse, "for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the
book of the law to do them." Gal.3:10 KJV. If one is to be consistent and
ritualistically observe the sabbath day, then that one of a necessity also must
keep the sabbath year and all its requirements. However, thanks be to God
for His grace, for as Christians, we should know that "Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law.." Gal.3:13 KJV. Not just part of it but all of it.

The Lord spake unto the children of Israel saying, "Verily my sabbaths ye
shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your
generations...Ye shall keep the sabbath...for it is holy unto you: every one that
defileth it shall surely be put to death.: for whosoever doeth any work therein,
that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work may be done;
but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth
any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surly be put to death. Wherefore the
children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the sabbath through-out
their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the
children of Israel forever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and
on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed." KJV. The Hebrew word
for "perpetual" and "forever" simply means...an unknown, indefinite period
of time in God's dispensation of the allotted ages. It does not at all mean
"eternal", "everlasting" nor any of the other English words we use to denote
timelessness.

The Sabbath as shown here [in comparison to the real spiritual Sabbath
which it foreshadowed...see Hebrews chapters three and four] the statutes
(Ex.27:21; 28:43), the sacrifices and offering (Lev.chptrs. 23 and 24;
Heb.10:1-18), as well as the Aaronic order of the changeable Levitical
priesthood (Ex.40:15; Heb.7:11,12)..... were obviously to be observed for
"ohlahm" time only--as evidenced in the abundance of New Testament
teaching concerning the old order covenants, laws and priesthoods. Bringing
in the new order covenant for the "House of Israel", even the "Israel of God"
(Gal.6:16) in Christ, and "not according to the covenant...made with their
fathers" (Jer.31:31-33), clearly supersedes the former (Heb.8:6-13) covenant
and laws which were "imposed on them until the time of reformation."
Heb.9:10 KJV.

As the new and reformed covenant laws came into effect, new light began to
dawn upon many of God's servants. "Upon the first day of the week, when
the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them."
Ac.20:7 KJV. So The Catholics were not the first ones that changed the day.
Paul said that the collection for the saints was to be laid up for him in store as
the saints gathered each week on the first day of the week - 1Cor.16:1,2. So
their giving and the Lord's supper was on Sunday rather than Saturday. This
was a brand new day the Lord had made. It typified the eighth day, a day of
new beginnings, a day of the beginnings of the new covenant church. The
old religious system rejected Christ, His new laws, His new ways and His
new church. The psalmist declares, "This is the Lord's doing; it is
marvellous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord hath made." Psa.118:23,24.
Acts 4:10,11 confirms that upon Christ's resurrection, the Lord began a brand
new day.

Now, most people regard Sunday as a main day of rest and worship but
observance on that day isn't absolutely necessary either, for one is free
through the Spirit to gather and worship just as effectively on Wednesday,
Saturday, any day, or every day of the week. The Bible says, "One man
esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth everyday alike, let every
man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Rom.14:5 KJV. What is it now
that replaces the original Sabbath, the original rest of the Lord if it isn't
Saturday, Sunday, or any particular day? In a nutshell, it is the peaceful
loving Spirit of Christ. "For Christ is our living peace" (Eph.2:14 Phi.)..."He
annulled the law with its rules and regulations (Eph.2:15 NEB) thus
producing peace."(vs.15 Phi). "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose
mind is stayed on thee." Isa.26:3 KJV.

What is it that transcends and fulfills all law? Is it anything we might do in
observance of the Sabbath day? Is it natural work that we might not do? Not
at all! True peace and rest finds its fulfillment only in the Spirit of God, for
God is the Spirit of love-1Jn.4:7,7; Jn.4:24. "For he that loveth another hath
fulfilled the law." Rom.13:8 KJV. The true working of love is all that the
law demands. In its operation, all the required works of every law of God are
completed. In the operation of loving the Lord thy God with all thine heart
and loving thy neighbour as thyself (Matt.22:37-39), all the commandments
and laws of Exodus 20 are fulfilled-Ro.13:9. They are fulfilled in Christ!

"The whole of the Law and the prophets is summed up in these two
commandments." Matt.22:40 Weym. "Love is the fulfilling of the law."
Ro.13:10. Christ loved us and bore our burdens, so fulfilling the
law-1Jn.4:7-12. "Brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not
liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the
law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself." Therein, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of
Christ."Gal.6:2 KJV. We are not bound to any of the old law or
commandments therein, but rather we are required to live and serve under the
new law of the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom.8:2) which which frees us
from any law that still contains the elements of sin and death. Jesus also
reveals this law in saying, " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this
shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
Jn.13:34-35.

All the foregoing has been laid as a foundation to reveal that there is now a
spiritual Sabbath---a true spiritual rest that is laid up in store for the children
of God. No longer does the Lord require those who are partakers of Christ's
love and grace to observe and obey the literal Sabbath day. The law and all
its works are totally satisfied and fulfilled in the love and works and
righteousness of the Spirit of God in Christ Jesus. Faith and obedience to the
Spirit of Christ brings the true Sabbath rest. "Let us labour therefore to enter
into that rest." Heb. 4:11. Ceasing from our own carnal works (Heb.4:10)
and allowing the works of the Holy Spirit to be done in us and through us,
brings us true peace and rest-Matt.11:28-30. "Return unto thy rest, O my
soul" Psa.116:17. He, who is our Lord of the Sabbath, is also our true and
holy Sabbath.

Both the seventh day Sabbath, and the land of Canaan, is used in Hebrews
chapters 3 and 4 to symbolize the true Sabbath rest of the Lord. God calls it
"My rest". The Holy Ghost saith, "I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter
into My rest....So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief."
Heb.3:19 KJV. "To whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest,
but to those who disobeyed--who had not listened to His word, and who
refused to be compliant or be persuaded? So we see that they were not able to
enter [into His rest] because of there unwillingness to adhere to and trust and
rely on God--unbelief had shut them out.[Num.14:1-35.] Therefore, while
the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered [today], let us be
afraid [to distrust it], lest any of you should think he has come too late and
has come short of [reaching] it.

For indeed we have had the glad tiding [of God] proclaimed to us just as truly
as they [the Israelites of old did when the good new of deliverance from
bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them,
because it was not mixed with faith [that is, with the leaning of the entire
personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom
and goodness] by those who hear it; neither were they united in faith with
[Joshua and Caleb] the ones who heard [did believe].

For we who have believed---who have adhered to and trusted and relied on
God---do enter into that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those
[who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in my
wrath, They shall not enter into My rest; and this He said although [His]
works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would
believe] from the foundation of the world. [Ps.95:11.]

For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day: And God rested
on the seventh day from all His works. [Gen.2:2.] And [they forfeited their
part in it, for] in this [passage] He said, They shall not enter into My
rest.[Ps.95:11.] Seeing then that the promise remains over [from past times]
for some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were given the good
news about it and the opportunity, failed to appropriate it and did not enter
because of disobedience, Again He sets a definite day, [a new] Today, [and
gives another opportunity of securing that rest,] saying through David after so
long a time, in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His
voice, and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts. [Ps.95:7,8]. [This
mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan], for if
Joshua had given them rest, He (God) would not speak afterward about
another day. So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath rest
reserved for the[true] people of God; For he who has once entered into
[God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors,
just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His own [Gen.2:2].

Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter
into that rest [of God]--to know and experience it for ourselves--that no one
may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which
those in the wilderness fell]." Heb.3:18-4:11 Amplif.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest."

Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:
and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Matt.11:28,29"

K.Ross McKay

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