The Sabbath Day Truth

When I was young I remember talking about the Sabbath with a friend. As Sunday keepers we concluded that the Sabbath Day truth was a ritual meant for another people at another time.

Years later I meant a friend that challenged me to show her that I was right with my conclusions about the Sabbath. Her simple words were “show me.”

Given that by this point I had been through Bible school and served as a pastor this seemed like a challenge I could not refuse. What I found along this journey was quite interesting and worth sharing with others who are looking for the truth of the Sabbath Day.

Ten Commandments Sabbath

My first defense was to rally to the new laws of Jesus. After all, the Old Testament ways are a thing of the past today, why should we pay them any attention. Even Jesus made this clear

Matthew 22:36
"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

A direct question deserves a direct answer.

Matthew 22:37-39
Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

What a great answer from Jesus this was. He is clearly pointing at two laws not given previously. At first, this looks like an excellent defense for my position of Sunday keeping until I read the rest of the story

Matthew 22:40
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.

Whoops?

What did He mean by all “the Law” and all “the Prophets?”

All “the Prophets” would refer to what had been declared in the past. All “the Law” would include the 10 commandments including the fourth, which directly identifies the seventh day Sabbath.

Okay, so we are talking about the Old Testament, but what are we saying about it?

“hang on these two commandments”

That would mean that everything that had been written before was built on a foundation of love. The first four commandments show us how to love God and the last six demonstrate loving humanity.

Fact is; the whole idea of the seventh day Sabbath was an act of love.

Wait!

Wasn’t it a Jewish law?

What does that have to do with love?

Genesis 2:2-3
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Ahhh, so God did give the Jews the ten commandments. Sabbath keeping was part of those ten commandments. But the origination of a seventh day Sabbath came long before any Jew was even alive. Therefore, the Sabbath day truth is that the creation of Sabbath just as all the other ten commandments was an act of love from God rather than being a legalistic dogma handed down from the Jewish culture.