As I sat down early this morning to continue my reading through Exodus, I encountered the mention of the sabbath in two different chapters. First, in various places in chapter 16, where I began my reading. Its next mention is in chapter 20, The Ten Commandments, where I finished my reading for the morning. The sabbath is mentioned in the following verses of these chapters:
Exodus 16:23 "then he said to them, "This is what the Lord meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil,and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning."
Exodus 16:25 "Moses said, "Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field."
Exodus 16:26 "Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be none."
Exodus 16:29 "See, the Lord has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day."
Exodus 20:8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy."
Exodus 20:10" but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you."
Exodus 20:11 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
In the Christian culture of our day, it is a commonly held belief that the sabbath command has no application to believers today. But is this true? I was listening to Voddie Baucham preach a sermon on Exodus 16 and he said this, "You talk to 10 Christians out there on the street, and 8 of them are going to tell you that there is no longer a sabbath command. That it's done away with. Now, they are also going to tell you that the rest of the commands have not been done away with." Isn't it interesting that most Christians would say all of the other 9 commandments are still applicable, but not the 4th commandment? He goes on to say, "Of the other two who do believe that there is still a sabbath command, one of those people is probably going to belong to a Sabbatarian cult." This would be your Seventh-Day Adventists or something similar. The other person Voddie mentions that would say the sabbath command still remains would be one who belongs to a confessional reformed church, and holds Sunday, The Lord's Day, as the Christian Sabbath.
So which is it? I would number myself among those who say that there is still a sabbath command, and I can joyfully proclaim that I do not belong to a Sabbatarian cult. Though I am still early in my years of searching and studying scripture compared to more seasoned and mature brothers, I have found no biblical basis for believing that the Sabbath command is no longer applicable. The reason being, is that this command is not only found in Exodus 20, when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. No, we see this holy day mentioned before the command was given on Mount Sinai (Exodus 16 for example). In fact, this ordinance is rooted in creation, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which he had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (Genesis 2:1-3 NASB)
You may be lead to think next, "But that verse says that the seventh day is sanctified, which is why the Jewish sabbath was on Saturday.". This is true, but was changed by the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is not explicitly described in scripture, yet we do see clearly that the early church would gather together for worship on Sunday, in light of the resurrection. I recently read something in a book that I thought was most appropriate to share in this blog post. In the book, The Glory and Fullness of Jesus Christ, by William McEwen, in reference to the Passover Lamb in Exodus and the marking of the first month of the year, he writes, "If the beginning of the year was changed to the Israelites, and the seventh became the first month, much more may the beginning of the week be altered to the Christians, and the seventh day be changed for the first, for a Sabbath unto the Lord, for on that day a much more glorious work was finished than when He brought Israel out of Egypt or even when He finished the heavens and all their host and laid the foundation of the earth." Thus you see the great magnitude of the resurrection of Christ as the center of history.
I recently heard Sinclair Ferguson say something on this topic that I found pretty amazing. He said, "Isn't it interesting that the Sabbath was in a sense Adam's first full day. It wasn't the last day of the week for him. So in a sense, what the resurrection of Christ does is bring us back to that..".
Another resource that I found quite helpful on this topic was that great 1689 confession. It states:
"As it is of the Law of nature, that in general a proportion of time by God’s appointment, be set apart for the Worship of God; so by his Word in a positive, moral, and perpetual Commandment, binding all men, in all Ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a nSabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the World to the Resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week owhich is called the Lord’s day; and is to be continued to the end of the World, as the Christian Sabbath; the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy prest all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts, about their worldly employment, and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties qof necessity and mercy." (The London Baptist Confession)
Here is a quote from B.B. Warfield on the subject:
"I am to speak to you today, not of the usefulness or of the blessedness of the Sabbath, but of its obligation. And I am to speak to you of its obligation, not as that obligation naturally arises out of its usefulness or blessedness, but as it is immediately imposed by God in his Word. You naturally dwell on the joy of the Sabbath. This is the day of gladness and triumph, on which the Lord broke the bonds of the grave, abolishing death and bringing life and immortality to light. As naturally you dwell on the value of the Sabbath. This is the day on which the tired body rests from its appointed labor; on which the worn spirit finds opportunity for recuperation; an oasis in the desert of earthly cares, when we can escape for a moment from the treadmill toil of daily life and, at leisure from ourselves, refresh our souls in God. I am to recall your mindsóit may seem somewhat brusquely óto the contemplation of the duty of the Sabbath; and to ask you to let them rest for a moment on the bald notion of authority. I do not admit that, in so doing, I am asking you to lower your eyes. Rather, I conceive myself to be inviting you to raise them; to raise them to the very pinnacle of the pinnacle. After all is said, there is no greater word than "ought." And there is no higher reason for keeping the Sabbath than that I ought to keep it; that I owe it to God the Lord to keep it in accordance with his command." (The Foundations of the Sabbath in the Word of God)
In conclusion, I do believe that the sabbath command is still for today. I believe we obey this command and keep the sabbath holy by gathering together to worship God with our brothers and sisters in Christ, at our local church, on Sunday, the Lord's day. I believe that in light of this command, we must not forsake the assembling with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). Yes, we most certainly "ought" to keep the Sabbath, but it should also be our great joy to do so. This is a command for our benefit, for our rest, where we can rejoice and take refuge in our gracious God who has sent His Son to die for us.
So, ye fearful saints, go to church this Sunday.
