you choose Q: what does it mean to keep the sabbath day holy?
Q: What does it mean to keep the sabbath day holy or observing the sabbath? Besides going to church does it mean that I cannot eat out in a restaurant on sabbath hence causing one to break the sabbath? Can I not give my dog a bath on that day? —Kit
A: To truly observe the sabbath would require you to do a lot more than just worshipping on a Saturday. For example, you are not allowed to work (Exodus 31:15, 35:2). You are to stay put in your home and not travel (Exodus 16:29) or buy and sell things (Jeremiah 17:21). At home, you’re not to prepare food, light a fire (Exodus 35:3) to cook, bake, or boil water (Exodus 16:23). It’s a “day of complete rest” (Exodus 16:23, Leviticus 23:3). For some special sabbaths, you have to “deny yourself,” usually understood to include fasting and other abstinence, for a full day! (Leviticus 16:31, 23:32). Not keeping the sabbath is a capital offense. You could be executed for carrying sticks on the sabbath!
Thankfully, sabbath-keeping was part of a covenant God made with the ancient nation of Israel. Christians today are not required to keep the sabbath as specified in the Old Testament. The Jews were in a special covenant relationship with God. And God stipulated 2 signs of that covenant: circumcision (Genesis 17:11) and the sabbath. Twice, God told the Jews “the sabbath is a sign of the covenant” (Exodus 31:13), “a permanent sign of my covenant with the people of Israel” (Exodus 31:17). Keeping the sabbath holy was the covenantal sign that the Jews were God’s redeemed people (Deuteronomy 5:15).
In its infancy, the Church was predominantly Jewish. Jewish Christians continue to meet on the sabbath in the Temple and synagogues as a matter of habit and convenience. Christianity was seen as a “continuation off-shoot” of Judaism. Concurrently and progressively, the Jewish believers began to meet on Sundays. Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday (Matthew 28:1). On that same evening, the disciples met (John 20:19). They did so again the following Sunday (John 20:26). The Bible (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2) shows that the primary day for worship in the Christian Church was the first day of the week. Meeting on Sunday in celebration and commemoration of the Lord’s resurrection was a totally new thing, not a replacement for sabbath. Soon, Sunday was known as the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10).
Today, some Christians choose to worship on Saturdays. This is an exercise of freedom of how they want to practice their Christian faith. But merely worshiping on a Saturday is not the same as “keeping the sabbath.” Observing the sabbath demands much more than that.
There are no commandments or exhortations in the New Testament for Christians to keep the sabbath. It’s noteworthy that the apostles at the 1st Church Council of Jerusalem (AD 49-50, Acts 15:1-3) did not require the Gentile believers to keep the sabbath (Acts 15:28-29). The apostle Paul went further: “So don’t let anyone condemn you . . . for not celebrating certain holy days . . . or sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality” (Colossians 2:16-17). The Mosaic system that was given to Israel culminated and ended at the Cross (Hebrew 8:7-13, 10:1-18).
God ordained that one day in seven be restful (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:11). That’s God’s provision for our well-being, for our good (Mark 2:27). There are profound spiritual, physical, and emotional benefits in setting aside a day each week to rest in order to honor God. It could be Saturday, Sunday or every day! (Acts 2:46). But Christians are not required to keep the sabbath as specified in the Old Testament.
Paul gives us the last word: “Some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike (i.e. holy). You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable.Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor Him” (Romans 14:5-6). That should be our motivation and purpose. —K.T. Sim
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This is a terrific answer, K.T. It’s difficult to thread the needle between legalism on one side and licentiousness on the other, but you did it. We should observe a Sabbath rest for our own good, but not in some legalistic, God-will-judge-us-if-we-don’t sort of way.
Very true; Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between God and Israel just like the wedding ring is a sign of the marriage covenant. This covenant sign patterned after God resting on the 7th day—marked Israel as a separated people from whom Messiah would come. It is through Him God’s rest would be restored through salvation from sin for all the nations of the world. Remember, Adam was expelled from Eden and forced to work all the days of his life as part of the curse. Sabbath therefore, is a picture and promise of final restoration of the blessed rest God purposed for us since the beginning of creation.
What did it mean to keep the Sabbath Day holy? The people of Israel must not do any work to profane the Sabbath Day. “Work” refers to the daily labor people get paid for or any work they do for their benefit like buying or selling, ploughing, cooking etc. Labor does not include doing volunteer works of charity or saving lives in an emergency or picking grain from the field for snacking. They were free to eat and drink and also untie the ox or donkey and lead it out to the water to drink.
In this context, Kit you can give your dog a bath on Sabbath okay… but not allowed to eat out because it is to make others do work. Why was work forbidden? Israel’s cessation of work for one day was to teach them to know God their Creator and depend on Him for everything. Why did work on the day of rest meant death? It was because of the sin of unbelief—the lack of faith in God to provide for their needs. This is why God became angry when some violated His command to gather manna on the Sabbath. And when they repeatedly refused to believe Him He promised they would not enter His rest.
Rest means to cease from our own efforts and trust God who has not only created us but also saves and sustains us. Sabbath is not the end but only a means to an end. For Israel in the OT, rest in a day was a reminder that God saved them from the weary toil and slavery of Egypt (Deuteronomy 5: 15) to give them rest in the land of Canaan. For the Church in the NT, rest in the person of Christ who gives us rest from the toil and slavery to sin (Matthew 11: 28) is a foretaste of the ultimate rest in Heaven.