Are you a Sabbath Keeper? I am. You'll see how, as you read on...

This article may be unlike any Sabbath article you've read to date. Please read this article in its entirety. If you stop part of the way through, assuming you know what I'm going to say, you could be quite incorrect, and leave with the wrong idea.

The first Sabbath rest was God resting on the seventh day during the creation week.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. -Genesis 2:2-3

Why did God rest? Was He tired? Not likely. I believe He rested, because He is a God of order, and this was part of establishing an ordinance of eternal Sabbath keeping. Bear with me, and you'll see how this plays out.

Now let us move on to the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment says:

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. -Deuteronomy 5:12-15

Notice that the Sabbath is still being revealed. First, it was a seventh day rest, commemorating God's rest. Then, after the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, we get the Passover, the days of Unleavened Bread, and now - more revelation about the Sabbath - The above Fourth of the Ten Commandments (in the Deuteronomy commandments, which further the Exodus ones) states that the Israelites were to keep the seventh day Sabbath rest as a remembrance of their salvation from the Egyptian bondage.

As we read through Scriptures, we see more and more revelations about the Sabbath rest open up. To go through every instance would turn this article into a book, so we will only touch on some of them. As you personally read through the Bible, you may notice more.

As we read further in the Old Testament, we learn that not only is there a weekly Sabbath, but there is also an annual Sabbath every seven years, and further, every fiftieth year there is a Jubilee Sabbath. This would mean 49 years (7 x 7) and then the fiftieth year is a Sabbath year.

The Bible says in a few places that a thousand years are as one day to the Lord, and this has led many to believe that perhaps after the sixth millennium (which we don't honestly know when that is, because the calendars are all off - even the Jewish ones) that there will be a jubilee millennium.

There will be something that is, or is like a jubilee millenium. It is the millennium of peace:

And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. -Revelation 20:1-3

Let's see what we have so far:

1) The first Sabbath was to commemorate God's rest on the seventh day of creation.

2) After the Israelites came out of the Egyptian bondage, the Fourth of the Ten Commandments (in Deuteronomy) revealed that the Jews were then to keep the Sabbath to commemorate their salvation from slavery in Egypt.

3) We see other Sabbath rests in patterns of sevens in the Bible, such as the jubilees and possibly the future millennium of peace.

We leave off with the Sabbath of the Ten Commandments - a seventh day rest to commemorate the Israelites' escape from the Egyptian bondage.

God promised the Israelites that He would fight for them, and bring them into the promised land.

The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes -Deuteronomy 1:30

Just as God hearkened to the cries of the Israelite slaves, and worked wonders and supernatural signs, and freed them from bondage, He would also clear the promised land for the Israelites to enter and live there. They just needed to believe the Lord, and trust Him. In other words, they needed to have faith. This is a pre-type of the New Covenant's saving faith in Jesus Christ.

Did the Israelites have faith in God and His promises, and enter boldly into the promised land? No. Spies went in to spy out the land, and all but two of them were frightened by the giants who dwelt there, and advised that the Israelites NOT go into the promised land. What?! God PROMISED to go before them, and fight for them. They did not enter the promised land, because of their unbelief.

Forty years later, their children got to enter the land. God told their grown children to exterminate the giants out of the land. You see, careful studies in the Scriptures reveal to us that the giants were hybrid offspring from devils and humans. They were alive, but not savable. They were inherently evil - half demons. This was Satan's attempt to mar God's image. This occurred worldwide before the flood, as we read about in Genesis 6. Post flood, most of the giants seemed to be only around the promised land area. This is no coincidence. Satan worked it this way, to keep the Israelites from fully getting the land.

The Israelites did not exterminate all the giants as they were told, nor the pagans of the land who worshiped the devils who fathered these giants. To this very day, Israel still doesn't have all of her promised land. While the remaining giants eventually died off, many of the peoples of the land who worshiped devils are still there.

We see that Israel is not in the promised land yet - they are now only so partially.

You may be wondering what all of this has to do with the Sabbath. There is a very important significance here that we need to recognize, and to start seeing it, let us turn to Psalm 95. Take a look at this:

Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. -Psalm 95:8-11

If there is any question as to what the above is referring to, then simply read Numbers, chapters 13 and 14. It is clear Psalm 95:8-11 is referring to the promised land as God's rest - "enter into my rest."

This points us to the future, when we will have entered God's rest of the promised land. New Jerusalem will be lowered down from Heaven, to the site where Jerusalem is right now. This is referred to in Revelation as the "bride of Christ." The city isn't the bride, it's who is in the city - Christians.

What if New Jerusalem could have been brought down after the Israelites left Egypt? Alas, God already saw that they would lack in their faith in Him, but what if?

In the book of Joshua, we read about the Israelites finally taking the promised land. As we read further, we see they never fully did what God said, and because of that, they still don't have the promised land today. They still have not entered God's rest, as Psalm 95 put it. Interestingly, did you know that the word "sabbath" does not occur in the book of Joshua, and doesn't show up in the Old Testament again, until 2 Kings 4:23?

As we continue our journey through the Bible, we see the Sabbath continued on. The Bible tells us Messiah was born under the law, and therefore He kept it. But we also see inklings of a change on the horizon. Let's move to the New Testament:

"At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day. And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him. And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days. Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other." -Matthew 12:1-13

There is a lot of info packed into the above. We learn that Levitical priests "profane the sabbath, and are blameless." Then we see a very powerful statement that a lot of people glaze right past. Jesus says that He is "greater than the temple." Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is greater than the Jewish temple. He then proclaims His deity plainly, and says that he is Lord, EVEN of the Sabbath.

At the end of the previous chapter to the above, Jesus said:

"All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." -Matthew 11:27-30

There's that word "rest" again. Let's do a review, to help us stay on track:

1) The first Sabbath was to commemorate God's rest on the seventh day of creation.

2) After the Israelites came out of the Egyptian bondage, the Fourth of the Ten Commandments (in Deuteronomy) revealed that the Jews were then to keep the Sabbath to commemorate their salvation from slavery in Egypt.

3) We see other Sabbath rests in patterns of sevens in the Bible, such as the jubilees and possibly the future millennium of peace.

4) If the Israelites would have entered the promised land with their faith intact and obeyed the Lord, they would have entered into God's rest.

5) Levitical priests broke the Sabbath law, and were blameless. Under the New Testament, Christians are kings and priests (Rev. 1:6), and Jesus is our high priest (Heb. 4:14).

6) Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, and if we come to Him, He will give us rest.

Now we need to take the above points four through six, and pull them all together. It's like we are sewing a tapestry, and the strings are in place, but to see the whole picture, we need to pull all the strings tight. There is string-pulling Scripture that reveals the picture on the tapestry, and it is in the book of Hebrews, of course:

Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Therefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus [this is the Greek form of Joshua, not Jesus the Messiah] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest 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. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." -Hebrews 3:8-4:11

Under the New Covenant, we enter the Sabbath rest by being in Jesus! Faith in Christ is our Sabbath rest, and that's why Jesus said that if we come unto Him, He will give us rest.

Some will object, and say that the seventh day sabbath is an eternal law for all generations. To that, I say - "did you read the above Scripture to the HEBREWS?" We keep the sabbath by having a saving faith in Christ. First, the Sabbath was to commemorate God's seventh day of rest from the creation week. After being freed from the Egyptian bondage, Sabbath was still kept on the seventh day, but it was to commemorate being saved from slavery in Egypt. Sabbath may have changed again, had the Israelites entered the promised land the way the Lord said, but they lacked faith.

Now, born again Christians rest in Christ. Friday/Saturday is not the Sabbath. Sunday is not the Sabbath. The Sabbath is our resting in Christ, via our faith in Him, making EVERY day Sabbath. We are still keeping the Sabbath, and in the future, it will be kept in the millenium of peace, and then in New Jerusalem. While we work, we are resting, because we are in Christ. While we still need to take bodily rest, we are not commanded to do so on any particular day anymore.

Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, just as He fulfilled all the laws in the Torah. We are only under the moral ones, as the sacrificial and ceremonial are all fulfilled in Christ:

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us -1 Corinthians 5:7

Some would argue we are supposed to keep the Passover, even though the above says "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," because the next verse says "keep the feast." Let's see what that whole verse says:

Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. -1 Corinthians 5:8

Notice it says "not with old leaven." We no longer sacrifice a lamb for Passover, because Christ is our Lamb. Leaven symbolizes evil. If the above says we are to still keep the (already fulfilled) passover feast, then I guess we only need to get rid of malice and wickedness one day a year (or a week, if you count the Days of Unleavened Bread). That would be preposterous. Clearly, the above is telling us that the passover is fulfilled, and we are to perpetually keep the spiritual passover via always removing the leaven of malice and wickedness from our lives, every day.

All the law is fulfilled in Christian love, as instructed by God:

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. -Romans 13:8

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. -Galatians 5:14

Jesus Himself said He didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. -Matthew 5:17

Since Christ's death and resurrection, Christians fulfill the law through love. 1 John says that we need to keep the commandments, and so does Revelation 14:12:

"Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."

What are the commandments the Christian is under? The Bible isn't going to leave us high and dry. It tells us plainly. There are Two Commandments under the New Covenant:

And he answering said, (1) Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; (2) and thy neighbour as thyself. -Luke 10:27

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. -Matthew 22:37-40

And this is his commandment, (1) That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and (2) love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us. -1 John 3:23-24

Did you know that the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament, are abolished and done away, and we are now under the New Testament? Don't take my word for it, see for yourself:

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it {their heart} shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. -2 Corinthians 3:6-17 The words in {curly brackets} are mine.

The law is nailed to Christ's cross:

And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. -Colossians 2:13-17

Becoming a Christian is also Scripturally referred to as being "saved," or "born again." It says "born again," because we are considered having died when we accept Christ, and born again as a new creature in Christ:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. -2 Corinthians 5:17

We die to the Old Testament, and are created a new creature under the New Testament:

Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. -Romans 7:1-4

The words covenant and testament are interchangeable. A covenant is an agreement, as is a testament. Hmmmm, what phrase do we have which sounds like testament? How about "last will and testament?" This is a covenant that becomes valid after the death of the testator. For example, if your uncle died, and you were close, then in his "last will and testament," he may have left you something, such as his car. This was given to you after his death, because his testament didn't activate until after his death.

This is the same with Christ. He is the testator of the New Testament, and after His death, the New Testament activated. It's TRUE! Look:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. -Hebrews 9:14-17

The above also squashes the false doctrine of "keeping the law, because Jesus did." Of course He did. The New Testament (covenant) didn't come to force, until after the death of the testator - Jesus Christ.

The complete fulfillment of the Sabbath rest will be when the Kingdom of Heaven comes to this earth - New Jerusalem - the promised land of the Israelites. All nations will then flow to Israel to visit New Jerusalem and to worship the Lord God, who will sit upon the Throne.

As you see, Friday/Saturday or Sunday is not the Sabbath - JESUS is the Sabbath. All who have entered Jesus, have entered the Rest. Today is Sabbath. Everyday is Sabbath for the Christian. We rest in Christ, and look forward to His second coming, when all things shall be fulfilled.

Christians gather on Sunday, not because it's the Sabbath, because it's not. I've read that the Roman Catholic church changed Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. While they gladly glom on to that, and take the credit, they didn't do any such thing. The early Christians were already gathering together on Sundays. Others claim Constantine changed the day from Saturday to Sunday. That is also balderdash. Constantine simply made keeping Sunday the law. It was already being kept before he did so, as is evidenced in Christian writings that pre-date Constantine. This is much like how some states used to (and maybe still do) have laws stating that liquor stores must be closed on Sundays. Besides, no one could have changed Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday, because under the New Covenant, neither Friday/Saturday, nor Sunday is the Sabbath. Sunday is the Lord's Day (not Sabbath), because that's the day the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet" -Revelation 1:10

Don't get "The Lord's Day" mixed up with "The Day of the Lord," which is the Lord's wrath in Armageddon.

The Apostles and Christians didn't meet together or take communion on Saturdays. Saturdays were "door knocking," or "soul winning days." Many Baptist churches go out every Saturday to spread the Gospel. Did you know that that is also what the Apostles and the first Christians did on Saturdays? Pretty neat, isn't it?

The new Christians and Apostles would go to Jewish synagogues on Saturdays to tell them about their Messiah. The Messiah had come - this is great news.

"Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia: and John departing from them returned to Jerusalem. But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience..." -Acts 13:13-16

"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath." -Acts 13:52

"And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed." -Acts 14:1

"And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." -Acts 18:4

"And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized." -Acts 18:8

"And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." -Acts 18:26

"And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God." -Acts 19:8

I could list more Scriptures - there are plenty more - but I think you get the picture.

Saturday was soul-winning day. When did Christians gather, to worship the Lord, and fellowship with one another? Why, they did so on the first day of the week - Sunday, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus:

Jesus was resurrected on Sunday:

"Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils." -Mark 16:9

The disciples and new Christians met together on Sundays:

"Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you." -John 20:19

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." -Acts 20:7

"Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem." -1 Corinthians 16:1-3

Jesus is our Sabbath rest. When we've entered into Jesus, we are keeping the Sabbath.