 When is the Sabbath? What's the purpose of the Sabbath? And should we as Christians observe the Sabbath? There's a lot of confusion about the Sabbath and the point or purpose of it. Initially, the Bible tells us that on the seventh day that God rested from his work and what did he do? He sanctified it and set apart because that's the day in which there was nothing that he did on that day. And so initially, the Sabbath day was just a day of rest. Unfortunately, there's been some confusion as to what the Sabbath is. Is it a day of rest or is it a day of worship? Now, there can be some worship on the Sabbath under the Old Covenant. And granted, there are various different Sabbaths. We won't cover those, but the point that we want to get to is the Sabbath to date. The Sabbath is the seventh day, which is for us a Saturday. It's not a Sunday. Now, does that mean that we should go to church on Saturday and not Sunday? There are some groups that would say that you should. However, again, that's not what the point of the Sabbath was. The point of the Sabbath initially was a day to rest. In Exodus 16-23, we're told that then he said to them, this is what the Lord meant. Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath of the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil. And all that is left over, put aside and be kept until the morning. So they're given these instructions on preparing their meals in preparation for the Sabbath. Note what he says. If we drop down to verse 25, Moses said, Eat it today for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather. But on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. In other words, you shall rest. And it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandment and my instructions? In other words, the Lord wanted them to cease from working. Do no work on the Sabbath. Work all the other days. But on the Sabbath, it is a rest for observance of me. And the 10 commandments is codified when he says in Exodus 28. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But on the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God. In it you shall not do any work. You or your son or your daughter or your male or female servants or your cattle or your souljourners who stays with you. Four in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and everything that's made in it on the seventh day he rested. So initially the Sabbath was a day of rest. Now what we'll notice is the Bible doesn't tell them what they should do on the Sabbath, but what they could not do which is to not work, which is to rest. Does that mean they were precluded from worshiping the Lord, giving honor and glory? Well, obviously not. As a matter of fact, any day that you do so would be wonderful. But they're not told to do X, Y and Z or to do thus and thus on the particular day, except just don't work on that day. Rest from your works. Why? Because it is a reminder of what God did in creation. Unfortunately, because of their hard-heartedness, their sinful hearts, their rebellious nature, the Jews did not obey the Lord's Sabbath. As a matter of fact, the Lord was angry with them, not only for not obeying his Sabbath that he gave to them, as well as other laws that they were supposed to abide by. But one of the other Sabbaths they also violated was the land Sabbath. God was angry with Israel. And so what does he say? It seems to indicate that maybe he is, has turned his back on the Sabbath and that the Sabbath at that point in time is not what it was supposed to be. And so therefore God was not honoring it. Notice what he says here in Hosea 2.11, I will put an end to all her gaiety, her feast, her new moons, her Sabbath and all her festival assemblies. So is that to say that the Lord is done away with her Sabbath? Well, let's read a few more. In Isaiah 1.13, Bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbaths, the calling of assembly, I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. Obviously the Lord is not tired, but he's angry with their sinfulness. And what would they do? They would behave in sinful fashions and then want to observe the Sabbaths or observe these feasts and these festivals. But the Lord said, No more I cannot endure them any longer. And in Lamentations 2.6, Notice what he says he says, And he has violently treated his tabernacle like a garden booth. He has destroyed his appointed meeting place. The Lord has caused to be forgotten the appointed feasts and Sabbath in Zion. And he has despised king and priests. Now, is he specifying which particular Sabbath or Sabbaths? Well, sometimes he uses singular form and the plural form. And so it seems as though God is not involved in their Sabbath. If they decide they want to keep the Sabbath and honor the Sabbath or any of their other festivals, the Lord says fine, you do it, but I'm not in it. Why? Because of your sin. At some point in time, he's going to change things and eventually give them an eternal Sabbath, which he's going to give to all of us. Now, the question is, us as believers, those who are not Jews, should we observe the Sabbath? Well, there's no command in the New Testament for us as believers to observe a Sabbath. As a matter of fact, there's no command for us to observe any other day above the next day. What you would see happening was because the Sabbath was still exercised by the Jews and the Jews began meeting in the synagogues on the Sabbath, then that would be a prime place for proselytization to take place, for evangelizing to the Jews to take place. And so you would see oftentimes in the New Testament, you would see people like Paul and others in the synagogue preaching the Gospel to them. And there would be some that would say that is Paul's preaching in the Gospel, is that work? Remember though, the Lord has seen to have forgotten the Sabbaths, have caused those Sabbaths to be forgotten and he has no desire to be involved in their Sabbaths, according to the three passages that we read. But what he is doing, what Paul is doing and others are doing are trying to bring them, the Jews and whomever else, into a new Sabbath, into an internal Sabbath, a Sabbath in which all believers in Christ would take part in. Now, what we do notice in terms of coming together as a body, worshipping, breaking bread and so forth, we notice that in Acts 2.46 we saw this happening every day. So there was no particular day as a day of worship, every day became a day of worship. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. And so in this case we see that every day they were in the temples or in the houses or gathering together, breaking bread, praising God, giving glory to him and so forth. We see that a little bit different than what we saw in the Old Testament even what we see today where we think that Sunday for many of us is the day of worship. There is no such thing as a singular day of worship. Where we get this idea from that Sunday is the day, is because it's the first day of the week and in Acts 20 we begin seeing the disciples and the people of God, the children of God, the church coming together on the first day of the week. He says in Acts 27, on the first day of the week, when we gather together to break bread, Paul began talking to them intending to leave the next day. Now the point is though, on the first day of the week we see this happening and then if we also go and look and see in 1 Corinthians 16-1, Paul gives an instruction, says now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also, on the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that no collection will be made when I come. And so here we have them putting money aside, collection aside. Now this was not a command for all the churches to do so. This was specific and so we would see these examples and scriptures and therefore led to the tradition of coming together on Sunday. However, is there a particular day that we should come together? What if we don't come together on the same day? What if someone wants to come together on Saturday? What if people want to get together on Sundays? What about Wednesdays? The Bible tells us this Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day. Now, what that also means is if a person wanted to on their own observe the Sabbath, they are more than welcome to do that. There is no reason why someone can judge them for observing the Sabbath, nor can anyone judge them for not observing the Sabbath or if they worship the Lord on this day versus another day. No one is allowed to judge another for that. Every day should be regarded as a day that we give honor and praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.