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The Bible says God
rested in Genesis 2. God was not saying he
was tired or fatigued because he never
wearies (Isa. 40:28-29). God saw all that he
had made and it was very good! His divine
work of creation was complete so he alone
rested in his finished work and took
pleasure in its beauty. God blessed the
seventh day of creation week and made it
holy. He “sanctified it” because it
commemorated the completion of his creative
work. The creation was perfect and God
blessed all that he had done that day.
Genesis 2:1-3 says, “Thus the heavens
and the earth were finished, and all the
host of them. And on the seventh day God
finished his work that he had done, and he
rested on the seventh day from all his work
that he had done. So God blessed the seventh
day and made it holy, because on it God
rested from all his work that he had done in
creation.”
There is no mention of
Adam and Eve keeping a Sabbath rest. In fact, there is no
command to keep the seventh day Sabbath
anywhere in the book of Genesis. Moses wrote
the book of Genesis as a historical record
for the new nation of Israel so they could
know all that God had done for them leading
up to their time in history.
In fact, the Hebrew word for
Sabbath (sabbat), that is used in
the Ten Commandments is never found anywhere in the
book of Genesis. No one before Moses was
ever told to keep it. If they did, why are
there no examples of anyone from Adam to
Moses keeping it? The Patriarchs were given
instructions regarding: being fruitful and
increasing in number: Gen. 1:26-22; ruling
over the earth: Gen. 1:28; their diet: Gen. 1:29-30; 2:16-17;
Gen. 9:1-4; marriage: Gen. 2:24; Gen. 34:9; offerings:
Gen. 4:3-4; 14:20; altars: Gen. 8:20; priests:
Gen. 14:18; and circumcision: Gen. 17:10. But nothing is said at all about the
importance of keeping the seventh-day
Sabbath rest holy. And, why is the Sabbath
called a sign of Israel’s captivity and
exodus from Egypt if the Patriarchs actually kept it
(Exod. 16:6-7; 20:2; 31:13-18; Deut. 5:12-15)?
The
definition for the word, “command” is, “to
direct with authority; to give orders to.”
These are the commands that God gave
to Adam and Eve before the fall:
1.
Be fruitful and multiply and subdue the
earth (Gen. 1:28);
2. Work the garden (Gen. 2:15);
3. Do not
eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil (Gen. 2:16-17);
4. And, Adam was told to
give names to the animals (Gen. 2:18-20).
God gave the Sabbath to Israel alone to serve
as a sign of the covenant He made with them.
Exodus 31:13, 17
says, “You are to speak to the
people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you
shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign
between me and you throughout your
generations, that you may know that I, the
LORD, sanctify you. ... 17 It is a sign
forever between me and the people of Israel
that in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, and on the seventh day he rested and
was refreshed.’”
And Ezekiel 20:12, 20
says, “Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths,
as a sign between me and them, that they
might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies
them…20 and keep my Sabbaths holy that they
may be a sign between me and you, that you
may know that I am the LORD your God.”
Notice that the Sabbath “sign” was
between God and Israel alone
and not for all of mankind to keep (Exod. 12:15-17).
The only way the Sabbath could be used as a
distinguishing mark for His people was if it
was unique to them.
Moses said the Ten
Commandments were not given to anyone before
God gave them to Israel on Mount Sinai.
Deuteronomy 5:2-3 says, “The LORD our
God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not
with our fathers did the LORD make this
covenant, but with us, who are all of us
here alive today.” (cf. Exod. 12:40; Gal. 3:17).
And Nehemiah says the
Sabbath was not given to anyone until God
gave it to Israel in the wilderness.
Nehemiah 9:13-14 says, “You came down on
Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven
and gave them right rules and true laws,
good statutes and commandments, and you made
known to them your holy Sabbath and
commanded them commandments and statutes and
a law by Moses your servant.”
The
early church under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit never required the Church to keep the
Sabbath, or any of the other laws from the
Mosaic Covenant (Acts 15:1-29).
The Law of Moses
(including the Ten Commandments), is not
binding on the New Covenant Church.
Hebrews 9:15 says, “Therefore [Christ] is the
mediator of a new covenant, so that those
who are called may receive the promised
eternal inheritance, since a death has
occurred that redeems them from the
transgressions committed under the first
covenant.”
Christ brought all
613 laws in the Old Covenant to an end and
gave us the New Covenant in its place.
Romans 10:4 says, “For Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness to everyone who
believes.” And Romans 6:14 says, “For sin
will have no dominion over you, since you
are not under law but under grace.”
Obviously, new
converts were expected to follow the moral
teachings of Christ and His apostles, which
are based upon and expanded upon the moral
principles taught in the Torah (Gal. 6:1;
Heb. 12:14; 1 Pet. 1:16; 2 Cor. 7:1; Rom. 12:1).
However, if the Sabbath was a moral law
then we would expect to find a command to
keep it in the New Testament, but there is
none.
The Apostle Paul wrote over
one-third of the New Testament and never
once told his Gentile converts to keep the
Mosaic Law, or the Sabbath. Paul gave his
churches instruction on everything they
needed to know about Christianity: morality,
giving, leadership principles, church
organization, spiritual gifts, theology and
everything else they needed to know to live
the Christian life and never even once
commanded anyone to keep the seventh day
Sabbath. None of the other apostles did
either.
When God says
something specific, we should listen to Him.
Moses and Nehemiah agree that the Law and
the Sabbath were not given to anyone until
God gave them to Israel after their exodus
from Egypt.
God used the
rest He alone entered into after the
creation in Genesis 2:1-3 as an example, or
type, of
the rest Israel was commanded to keep under
the Old Covenant Law.
The
Sabbath was not a moral law, it was a
ceremonial sign of God’s covenant with
Israel (Exod. 31:16-17; Ne. 9:13-14; Ezek. 20:12, 20).
When the Pharisees criticized Jesus’
disciples for picking a few pieces of corn
to eat on the Sabbath, Jesus defended his
disciples by referring to two examples from
the Old Testament. First, when David and his
men were very hungry and urgently needed
food, they were rightly allowed to eat the
holy bread of the tabernacle, which normally
only priests were allowed to eat (Matt. 12:1-4;
1 Sam. 21:1-6). Second, even the
Levitical priests worked on the Sabbath, for
they had to prepare and offer the sacrifices
(Matt. 12:5; Num. 28:9-10).
These two
examples show that in a case of necessity
the legal requirements of the Sabbath law
could be overruled. Jesus taught that life is more important
than ritual, and people are more important
than the Sabbath! God gave the Sabbath to
Israel to be a blessing for His people, not
to be a burden; and since Jesus is the Son
of man, He had
the authority to decide how the Sabbath
could best be used (Matt. 12:6-8; Mark 2:27-28).
If the Sabbath was a moral
law there would be no exception to the
rule. God never said it was okay to commit
adultery, or murder someone, did he? Jesus was saying that he was God in
the flesh and that he knew exactly how the
Sabbath could best be used to benefit his
people.
The New Testament explicitly
teaches that Sabbath-keeping along with all
of the other ceremonial requirements of the
Old Covenant Law are not required for
Christians under the New Covenant (Matt. 11:28-30; 12:1-8;
Acts 15:1-28; Col. 2:14-17; Gal. 4:10-11; Rom. 14:5-12;
Eph. 2:11-18; 2 Cor. 3:3-11; Heb. 3:7-4:13; 8:6-9:4; 10:23-25).
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