The Sabbath - A Gift From The Father

The sabbath has been a well debated issue among many Christians for quite some time now.  The issue being, is obedience to the seventh day sabbath (the Lord's day of rest) required to obtain salvation? Some would say absolutely yes, while others argue that the day you choose as your holy sabbath (day of rest) is not important to God.

To get to the bottom of this issue we need to understand where the sabbath day came from. In the bible we find that it was established in the very beginning of time by God Himself. The seventh day was the day that our heavenly Father chose to rest or sabbath on after He created the heaven and the earth...

Genesis 2:2-3 (KJV) 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.

Later in the scriptures we find God reminding His chosen people (the Isrealites) to keep the sabbath that He sanctified, holy. This was part of the Ten Commandment that He gave to them...

Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou 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, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day, wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

As we look into the New Testament, we find that Jesus kept the seventh day sabbath.  This was to be expected because He was obedient to the Father in all that He did and He was also Jewish...

Mark 6:2  And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished...

Now, there are some people who will say that the days have been changed and that long ago Sunday was considered the seventh day. Not true. We know this because Jewish people still consider Saturday (Friday night to Saturday night) to be the Lord's sabbath. This has never changed. Also when we look at the scriptures, we see that Jesus' followers even chose to keep the Lord's sabbath (Saturday) instead of tending to His body after He died on the cross...

Luke 23:54-57 It was Preparation Day, and the Sabbath was about to begin. The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how His body was laid in it. Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.

After the sabbath was over the women came back (on Sunday) to complete their work, but found that Jesus' body was gone...

Luke 24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.

So is the Lord's sabbath Saturday or Sunday? If we follow the scriptures we know that it is indeed on the seventh day of the week (Saturday).  The Jewish people are a testament to that fact today.  Up to this point in the scriptures, there are no text that indicate that the God's sabbath was ever changed to Sunday.  As a matter of fact, in the new testament we find that the Gentiles that were seeking to follow the apostles also went to the synagog on the seventh-day sabbath to worship...

Acts 13:42 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 13:44 
And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God.

With that being said, the question is now...  Can obedience to the Lord's sabbath grant you salvation? Let's see what Jesus had to say specifically about the sabbath...

Mark 2:27 The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

What did Jesus mean by this? I sounds to me like the "day" has no dominion over man but rather it is a gift from God to the people that love Him. Furthermore, I can find no scripture that says salvation is obtained through Christ AND the keeping of the sabbath day. If we really want to obtain salvation we need to go through Christ. If we read through the scriptures we find that Jesus has a set of commandments that He wants us to follow.  See the following texts...

Mark 12:29-31... The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind and with all thy strength, this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Jesus said we should keep HIS commandments just as He keeps the Father's commandments, (see the following text)...

John 15:10 If ye keep MY commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.

It turns out that this is also the will and commandment of the Father to us, now that He has turned all things over to Christ (see the following text)...

1 John 3:23-24  And this is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as HE gave us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him and He in him...

We must understand that as Christians we are under Christ and no one can get to the Father but by Him. By keeping Jesus' commandments, He will inquire of the Father to give us the Holy Spirit (see the following)...

John 14:15-16 If ye love me, keep MY commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever.

Now, does this mean that the sabbath and the other 10 commandments are of no importance? Or that the sabbath was ever changed to Sunday?  Not at all. If you look closely at Jesus' commandments they are still in accordance with the 10 commandments that were given to the Israelites long ago (Exodus 20:1-17). The first 4 commandments of the 10 deal with showing respect for the Father and the last 6 deal with showing respect for your neighbor. Jesus' commandments add the element of love. So in other words, when you follow Jesus' commandments, you end up following the 10 commandments NOT because it was written on stones, but because you LOVE the Father and you LOVE your fellow "man". The commandments (written on stones) were a good thing, but what Christ has to offer (the Holy Spirit) is better! see the following text ...

2 Corinthians 3:7-8 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?

So when you get down to it, you won't be saved BECAUSE you keep the Lord's sabbath (Saturday) or the other 10 commandments, you're saved because you accept Christ, you love the Father and you love others (just as Jesus gave us commandment to do). Hopefully, people who truly love the Lord will accept the Father's gift of "rest" and will not find a desire to alter it. If we read Hebrews 4:4-11 it sums it up nicely...

Heb 4:4-11 (KJV)
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, Today, after so long a time as it is said, Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.  For if Jesus 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.

Notice that the apostle acknowledged that the Lord's sabbath was not changed, not even by Jesus. But also notice that no where in the passage does it say your salvation relies upon the sabbath day. The sabbath is a good thing but keeping it will not automatically save you. There are many Christians who believe in God and really love Him, who keep Sunday as their day of rest to perhaps commemorate Jesus' resurrection. This is a sabbath that was instituted by mankind and not by God.  if is not authorized or sanctified anywhere in the bible.  Some may say, since we are saved through Christ then all our worship should go to Him. But we must remember that when we keep the Father's day of rest, we are not only entering into that rest to worship the Father, but we are also worshiping Jesus because in spirit He was there at creation, all things were created for Him (see the following text)...

Col 1:16 For by Him (Jesus) were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created BY HIM and for Him.

When all is said and done, each man and woman must decide in their own heart what they will do with the Father's gift of rest. ONLY GOD can look into each living soul and decide the sincerity of each one... No one else can do this.

If you choose to keep the sabbath that the Lord has made, keep it not because it was once written on stones, but because you truly LOVE the Father and want to honor Him for all that He had done.  Remember...

1 John 5:2-3 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous.

Women To Preach or Not To Preach

In the past few decades the issue of women preaching in the churches have become more of a debated issue. View points range from; woman should sit quietly with her head covered to women should be allowed to speak, preach and hold the highest office (Pastor, Reverend ect...). To get to the root of this issue we must utilize both the old and new testaments of the bible.

When you look at texts used to support the view that women should not preach in church, you find that some of them are taken out of context or misinterpreted. Let's look at Colossians 3:18-20, Titus 2:4-5, Ephesians 5:22-25, 1Peter 3:1-2 ... These verses say that a man is to be the head of his OWN household and that wives should show respect for their husband. The texts say nothing about women being forbidden to preach the good news. So to use those texts to defend the point is clearly out of context. Probably the more compelling texts to support the forbidding of women to preach would be the following scriptures.

1Corinthians 14:34-35 (KJV) Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

One may say OK, case closed! But not so fast, let's look closely at this text in context. We must first understand that God does not contradict Himself. Men are moved by the culture around them but God cannot be moved. And when you take all that has been said and done in the past into account, we find that Apostle Paul was more likely than not expressing his own opinion based on the culture that he lived in. Notice that in 1Cor 14:34-35 Paul is addressing women who are "Learning" and being disruptive in the church. The apostle says nothing about women teaching at this point. In the text he backs up his point by making a reference to a section found in the "law". This is the same law that he once described in the past as being a curse...

Galatians 3:10-11 (KJV) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.

In that same chapter (Galatians 3) he stated that we have been redeemed from that curse "of the law" through the death of Christ.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written: Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

He goes on to say...

Galatians 3:24-26 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Then he says ...

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

(I would encourage you to read Galatians 3 in its entirety to get a clear representation of what Apostle Paul was saying at that time).

So using the law really didn't justify his point. If all are spiritually equal in the sight of the Lord, then all are equal. Let's take a look at another popular text written by Paul that is also used frequently to forbid women preaching in the church...

1 Tim 2:11-15 (KJV) Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Apostle Paul began that text as he did the last, addressing women "Learning" in silence. He then states his own personal opinion by saying "But I suffer not a woman to teach. It was not a God given instruction but his own recommendation for the time. Paul is witting this letter to Timothy and is giving him advice on what he would do concerning women in the church using his own personal judgment. It is not based on any revelation from God. We know this because our printed bible has given us access to information that was not freely accessible in those days. And as we look through our bible we see that Paul's opinion on this issue contradict what the Father and Jesus permitted in the past.

Let's look deeper...

Paul says that he would not suffer a woman to teach, but if we turn to 2 Kings 22:13-16 we find a priest, a scribe and 3 men of high standing seeking guidance from a prophetess (at a college I might add). This leads me to believe that she is a spiritual teacher who is in direct contact with God (being a prophetess and all). So we can conclude that God permitted women to teach or He would not have worked through her. Next Paul says that a woman should not have authority over a man, but if we turn in our bible to Judges Chapter 4 we find Deborah, another prophetess who judged over Israel. This gave her authority over many men, great and small. Also like Huldah in 2 Kings 22, she too was a prophetess, receiving guidance directly from God. So again, we can conclude that God permitted a woman to lead.

Finally Paul uses the fact that Adam came before Eve and that Eve was the one in the transgression to support his point. But when all is said and done, both Adam and Eve transgressed and both were punished by God. Moreover Eve's sin cannot be used to restrict women today because even her sins have been washed away at the cross. The wages of sin is still death but it is our own sins that convict us, for we are ALL guilty of sin .

Just as the Father demonstrated non-bias concerning women, so did Jesus. After His resurrection, Christ chose to reveal Himself to a woman first and then commissioned her to go tell the men the good news. Due to their mind set and view of women in that day, I'm sure the male followers did not like it one bit and wondered why Jesus did not reveal Himself to them first. Could it be that Jesus was introducing the concept that All are equal in His eyes, male and female even when it comes to preaching the gospel?

The Apostles were men of God but they were also men that lived in a time and in a culture that did not fully accept men and women as being equal in any way. Yes the bible says that man should be the head of his OWN household, providing and caring for his wife and children, that's a good thing! But Christ is the head of the church and in His church He does not see male or female. Time has proven that God will use whomever He wants to do His will, to speak and to lead...

Male or female.