Lesson #4 --
Section 1 -- The Sabbath of the Lord Thy God
p 15 -- Introduction - In the three preceding lessons, we have studied concepts of truth which will enable us to better understand this lesson. First, we noted how to establish a doctrine. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line. (Isa. 28:9-10) Secondly, we observed that God requires not only worship in spirit, but also according to truth. (John 4:24) Our worship of the Lord, even the day we observe, must be in harmony with the truth as found in the Word for such worship to be acceptable in His sight. Thirdly, we studied the place of Jesus in the plan of the ages. We noted His stately movings in the Old Testament as our Creator and Lawgiver. These facts are important as we study this lesson.
Genesis 2:2-3 -- God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested.
Note - Without Christ was not anything made that was made. (John 1:3) He as our Creator, made the first Sabbath day by blessing and sanctifying that day above all the other six through the act of resting thereon Himself.
Exodus 20:8-11 -- The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.
Note - When one understands that Jesus is the Lawgiver, and equally God with the Father, this commandment takes on a new importance. The seventh day is not the sabbath of the Jews, but it is the Sabbath of the Lord God of Heaven. When we recognize Him as our God, then we happily accept the day He designated for His worship.
Isaiah 56:3, 6 -- The sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him. ... everyone that keepeth the Sabbath.
Note - Even In Old Testament times, when one who was not a Jew, turned from idolatry and paganism to serve the true God, he was not to count himself as separate from the people whom God had chosen, but was to take hold of the covenant, and keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the holy day of those who chose the Lord God.
Ezekiel 20:12, 20 -- I gave them MY Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them.
Note - This sign was for two purposes: (1) "That they might know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify them," and (2) "That ye may know that I am the Lord your God." The Sabbath is meaningful from God's viewpoint. It is His sign to us.
Section # 2 -- The Sabbath in the Gospels
Luke 4:16 -- He (Jesus) came to Nazareth where He had been brought up: and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
Note - Jesus in His humanity is our Example. We are to follow in His steps (I Peter 2:21-22). We are to walk even as He walked (I John 2:6). He who made the Sabbath in the beginning, observed when upon earth. It was His custom to gather with others for worship on the Sabbath, and to participate in the service of worship.
p 16 -- Mark 2:27-28 -- The Sabbath was made for man ... The Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath.
Matthew 12:12 -- It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath days.
Note - In these verses we find the Lord of the Sabbath teaching the true meaning of the Sabbath. It was made for all mankind; a day in which he was to do good, and thus draw into close fellowship with Him who went about doing good. "It is a time when the spent spirit may catch its breath, and man may look into the face of God and be refreshed." The Sabbath is a day of liberty from the cares of life, enabling man to do the activities of the service of love. It is in such holy service that we see the face of God. Only thus can we worship our God in spirit and in truth.
Section #3 -- Which Day Is the Seventh Day?
Luke 23:50 - 24:3 -- This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down ... and laid it in a sepulchre.. .That day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on.
The women ... which came with Him from Galilee ... returned and prepared spices ... and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment.
Now upon the first day of the week ... they found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
Note - Here in the gospel of Luke are three days marked out in succession: (1) The day of the crucifixion, commonly called Good Friday; (2) The following day noted as "the sabbath day according to the commandment:" and (3) The day of the resurrection, now called Easter Sunday. The only day between Friday and Sunday is Saturday, the seventh day. This then is the Sabbath of the Lord our God.
Section #4 -- Apostolic Practice and Teaching
Acts 13:14; 42-44 -- The Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day ... And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.
Note - Ten years had passed since Paul had seen Jesus on the road to Damascus. He was now on his first missionary journey. Here was a remarkable opportunity for Paul to tell his Gentile listeners that a new day of worship had been appointed for them, if such had been done. When they, therefore, asked that the gospel be preached to them, Paul could have told them to come back on the morrow; but no, they waited a whole week till the next Sabbath day to hear the words of truth.
Acts 16:12-13 -- And on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a river side where prayer was wont to be made.
Note - Even in cities where there was no synagogue available for Sabbath worship,Paul sought a place of prayer and study outside of the city. Consistently under all circumstances, Paul who was the Apostle to the Gentiles faithfully observed the Sabbath of the Lord his God.
Acts 17:2 -- Paul as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.
p 17 -- Acts 18:4 -- And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath.
Hebrews 4:4, 9-10 -- And God did rest the seventh day ... There remaineth therefore a rest [margin - a keeping of a sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, AS GOD DID FROM HIS.
Note - When one accepts the rest that Jesus offers in the invitation - "Come unto Me and I will give you rest " (Matt. 11 :28), he gives up his own works, and accepts the merits of the Saviour. As a memorial of the surrender to the recreative power of Jesus Christ, he ceases from his own works as God did from His in the first creation. "And God did rest the seventh day." It is interesting to note in passing that a translation of the Aramaic text of the New Testament renders Hebrews 4:9 thus - "It is therefore the duty of the people of God to keep the Sabbath." (Lamsa)
Section # 5 -- The Sabbath in the New Earth
Isaiah 66:22-23 -- The new heavens and the new earth ... it shall come to pass that ... from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.
Note - The Sabbath of the Lord our God will not cease, but in the new earth state, all beings will come and worship before the Lord on that day. Would it not be well now, to be in harmony with the worship of the world to come?
Section #6 -- The Time and Observance of the Sabbath
Leviticus 23:32 -- From even unto even shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.
Mark 1:32 -- At even when the sun did set.
Note - God's division of time is from sunset to sunset. The days of creation began with the evening. "And the evening and the morning were the first day." (Gen. 1:5) So the holy Sabbath day begins on Friday evening at sunset, and continues till Saturday evening at sunset. The first hour on Friday night is just as sacred as the hour of worship in the middle of the day. Every hour of the Sabbath is God's time, and is to be reserved sacredly unto Him.
Isaiah 58:13-14 -- If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath ... and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord.
Note - Here is a divine comment on the proper observance of the fourth commandment. Mere ceasing from work on the holy hours of the Sabbath is not necessarily keeping the Sabbath. An attitude of mind is involved. We must consider it a delight to thus honor the Lord, by laying aside the ordinary duties of life. In so doing, we seek His interests, not our pleasures; we study His words, not our thoughts: we follow His ways, not our paths. In this, the true essence of Sabbath observance is to be found - we delight ourselves in the Lord.
Revelation 22:14 -- Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
p 18 -- Lesson #4 -- Quiz (Fill in the blanks)
1. -- In formulating a doctrine, we must use all the ___, and bring together all the related texts, ___ upon ___, and ___ upon ___ before drawing a conclusion.
2. -- In the Ten Commandments it is definitely stated that instead of being Jewish,
the seventh day is the ___ of the ___ thy ___.
3. -- Jesus declared that He is ___ of the Sabbath. Text:___.
4. -- Jesus was crucified on the day we commonly call Good ___. His followers rested the next day, or ___, the Sabbath day ___ to the ___. On the first day of the week, designated as Easter ___ Jesus arose.
5. -- The Sabbath begins on ___ evening at ___, and continues until ___ evening at the same time. Every ___ of the day is just as ___ as the hour of worship on the Sabbath.
6. -- In keeping the Sabbath, we cease from the ordinary ___ of life, and call the Sabbath day a ___. By not doing our own ___ nor finding our own ___, nor speaking our own ___, we delight ourselves in the ___.
7. -- In the earth made new all ___ will worship before the Lord on the ___ ___. Text: ___.
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ITEMS FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION IN ADDITION TO THIS STUDY -- Sixty Bible Facts Concerning the Seventh Day
p 1 --Why keep the Sabbath day? What is the object of the Sabbath? Who made it? When was it made, and for whom? Which day is the true Sabbath? Many keep the first day of the week, or Sunday. What Bible authority have they for this? Some keep the seventh day, or Saturday. What Scripture have they for that? Here are the facts about both days, as plainly stated in the Word of God:
1. -- After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, the great God rested on the seventh day. (Genesis 2:1-3.)
2. -- This stamped that day as God's rest day, or Sabbath day, as Sabbath day means rest day. To illustrate: When a person is born on a certain day, that day thus becomes his birthday. So when God rested upon the seventh day, that day became His rest, or Sabbath, day.
3. -- Therefore the seventh day must always be God's Sabbath day. Can you change your birthday from the day on which you were born to one on which you were not born? No. Neither can you change God's rest day to a day on which He did not rest. Hence the seventh day is still God's Sabbath day.
4. -- The Creator blessed the seventh day. (Genesis 2:3.)
5. -- He sanctified the seventh day. (Exodus 20: 11.)
6. -- He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 2:1-3.)
7. -- It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type; for types were not introduced till after the fall.
8. -- Jesus says it was made for man (Mark 2:27), that is, for the race, as the word man is here unlimited; hence, for the Gentile as well as for the Jew.
9. --It is a memorial of creation. (Exodus 20:11; 31:17.) Every time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that grand event.
10. --It was given to Adam, the head of the human race. (Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3.)
11. -- Hence through him, as our representative, to all nations. (Acts 17:26.)
12. -- It is not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew.
13. -- The Bible never calls it the Jewish
p 2 -- Sabbath, but always "the Sabbath of the Lord thy God." Men should be cautious how they stigmatize God's holy rest day.
14. -- Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day week all through the patriarchal age. (Genesis 2:1-3; 8:10, 12; 29:27, 28, etc.)
15. -- It was a part of God's law before Sinai. (Exodus 16:4, 27-29.)
16. -- Then God placed it in the heart of His moral law. (Exodus 20:1-17.) Why did He place it there if it was not like the other nine precepts, which all admit to be immutable?
p 19 -- 17. -- The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God. (Deuteronomy 4:12, 13.)
18. -- Then He wrote the commandment with His own finger. (Exodus 31:18.)
19. -- He engraved it in the enduring stone, indicating its imperishable nature. (Deuteronomy 5:22.)
20. -- It was sacredly preserved in the ark in the holy of holies. (Deuteronomy 10:1-5.)
21. -- God forbade work upon the Sabbath, even in the most hurrying times. (Exodus 34:21.)
22. -- God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they profaned the Sabbath. (Ezekiel 20:12, 13.)
23. -- It is the sign of the true God, by which we are to know Him from false gods. (Ezekiel 20:20.)
24. -- God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would keep the Sabbath. (Jeremiah 17:24, 25.)
25. -- He sent them into the Babylonish captivity for breaking it. (Nehemiah 13:18.)
26. -- He destroyed Jerusalem for its violation. (Jeremiah 17:27.)
27. -- God has pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will keep it. (Isaiah 56:6, 7.)
28. -- This is in the prophecy which refers wholly to the Christian dispensation. (See Isaiah 56.)
29. -- God has promised to bless all who keep the Sabbath. (Isaiah 56:2.)
30. -- The Lord requires us to call it "honourable." (Isaiah 58:13.) Beware, ye who take delight in calling it the "old Jewish Sabbath," "a yoke of bondage," etc.
31. -- After the holy Sabbath has been trodden down "many generations," it is to be restored in the last days. (Isaiah 58:12, 13.)
32. -- All the holy prophets kept the seventh day.
33. -- When the Son of God came, He kept the seventh day all His life. (Luke 4:16; John 15:10.) Thus He followed His Father's example at creation. Shall we not be safe in following the example of both the Father and the Son?
34. -- The seventh day is the Lord's day. (See Revelation 1: 14; Mark 2:28; Isaiah 5 8:13; Exodus 20: 10.)
35. -- Jesus was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28), that is, to love and protect it, as the husband is the lord of the wife, to love and cherish her (1 Peter 3:6).
36. -- He vindicated the Sabbath as a merciful institution designed for man's good. (Mark 2:23-28.)
37. -- Instead of abolishing the Sabbath, He carefully taught how it should be observed. (Matthew 12:1-13.)
38. -- He taught His disciples that they should do nothing upon the Sabbath day but what was "lawful." (Matthew 12:12.)
39. -- He instructed His apostles that the Sabbath should be prayerfully regarded forty years after His resurrection. (Matthew 24:20.)
40. -- The pious women who had been with Jesus carefully kept the seventh day after His death. (Luke 23:56.)
41. -- Thirty years after Christ's resurrection, the Holy Spirit expressly calls it "the sabbath day." (Acts 13:14.)
42. -- Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, called it the "sabbath day" in A.D. 45. (Acts 13:27.) Did not Paul know? Or shall we believe modem teachers, who affirm that it ceased to be the Sabbath at the resurrection of Christ?
43. -- Luke, the inspired Christian historian, writing as late as A.D. 62, calls it the "sabbath day." (Acts 13:44.)
44. -- The Gentile converts called it the Sabbath. (Acts 13:42.)
45. -- In the great Christian council, A.D. 49, in the presence of the apostles and
p 3 -- thousands of disciples, James calls it the "sabbath day." (Acts 15:21.)
46. -- It was customary to hold prayer meetings upon that day. (Acts 16:13.)
47. -- Paul read the Scriptures in public meetings on that day. (Acts 17:2, 3.)
48. -- It was his custom to preach upon that day. (Acts 17:2, 3.)
49. -- The Book of Acts alone gives a record of his holding eighty-four meetings upon that day. (See Acts 13:14, 44; 16:13; 17:2; 18:4, 11.)
50. -- There was never any dispute between the Christians and the Jews about the Sabbath day. This is proof that the Christians still observed the same day that the Jews did.
51. -- In all their accusations against Paul, they never charged him with disregarding the Sabbath day. Why did they not, if he did not keep it?
52. -- But Paul himself expressly declared that he had kept the law. "Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all." (Acts 25:8). How could this be true if he had not kept the Sabbath?
53. -- The Sabbath is mentioned in the New Testament fifty-nine times, and always with respect, bearing the same title it had in the Old Testament, "the sabbath day."
54. -- Not a word is said anywhere in the New Testament about the Sabbath's being abolished, done away, changed, or anything of the kind.
55. -- God has never given permission to any man to work upon it. Reader, by what authority do you use the seventh day for common labor?
56. -- No Christian of the New Testament, either before or after the resurrection, ever did ordinary work upon the seventh day. Find one case of that kind, and we will yield the question. Why should modem Christians do differently from Bible Christians?
57. -- There is no record that God has ever removed His blessing or sanctification from the seventh day.
58. -- As the Sabbath was kept in Eden before the fall, so it will be observed eternally in the new earth after the restitution. (Isaiah 66:22, 23.)
59. -- The seventh-day Sabbath was an important part of the law of God, as it came from His own mouth, and was written by His own finger upon stone at Sinai. (See Exodus 20.) When Jesus began His work, He expressly declared that He had not come to destroy the law. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets." Matthew 5:17.
60. -- Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees as hypocrites for pretending to love God, while at the same time they made void one of the Ten Commandments by their tradition. The keeping of Sunday is only a tradition of men.
Three points to consider after going through this study:
1. The Sabbath has been from eternity in heaven; God gave it to us at creation, he reaffirmed it through all the patriarchs and prophets through the Old Testament and to his chosen people. He reaffirmed it with his own Son Jesus Christ and through the Apostles all through the New Testament and, as we have already read in the Study from Isaiah, it will be continued in heaven at the end of time and for eternity. So, with all this evidence through thousands of years of history and the fact that we can find no biblical proof of a change, the question is - Why would any person believe God would change the day of worship for this short period of time only?
2. In the study of astronomy we are shown reasons for the existence of a Day, a Month, the four Seasons and a Year but there is no scientific reason for the existence of a Week -- EXCEPT THAT GOD INSTITUTED IT. People say, "How can we tell which day is the Sabbath with all the calendar changes that have been made over the years." In looking at these calendar changes, such as the change from the Gregorian Calendar to the Julian Calendar, the numbering of the days has been changed, however, the weekly cycle has never been altered.
Quiz Answers --
(1) Bible, line, precept, precept. (2) Sabbath, Lord, God. (3) Lord, Mark 2:27-28. (4) Friday, Saturday, according, commandment, Sunday. (5) Friday, sundown Saturday, hour, sacred. (6) cares, delight, ways, pleasures, words, Lord. (7) flesh, Sabbath. Isaiah 66:22-23.