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Lesson 12

What The Bible Teaches About
The Best Day To Rest

The Day Of Rest Given By God

1. According to God's law, which day is the day of rest?

Exodus 20-8-11

2. Who does the Sabbath benefit?

Mark 2:27

Mark 2:27 (KJV)
27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

The History Of The Seventh Day: The Sabbath

3. Who instituted the Sabbath and when did He do so?

Genesis 2:1-3

Genesis 2:1-3 (KJV)
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 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. 3 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.

4. What day did our Lord Jesus Christ respect?

Luke 4:16

Luke 4:16 (KJV)
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.

5. What day did the Virgin Mary keep?

Luke 23:56

Luke 23:56 (KJV)
56 And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.

6. What day did Jesus' apostles keep?

Acts 17:2

Acts 17:2 (KJV)
2 And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures,

7. What day will be kept in heaven?

Isaiah 66:22,23

Isaiah 66:22,23 (KJV)
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

WHAT MUST I DO?

1. Be careful to not desecrate the Sabbath.

Isaiah 56:2

Isaiah 56:2 (KJV)
2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.

2. Honor the Sabbath, doing God's will.

Isaiah 58:13,14

Isaiah 58:13,14 (KJV)
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

3. Obey God rather than men.

Acts 5:29

Acts 5:29 (KJV)
29 Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

MY RESOLUTION

I believe that the Sabbath is the day of the Lord. I desire to be faithful to God and observe it correctly.


Addtional Study 12

Venerable History of the Sabbath. It was given at creation (Genesis 1:1-3). Abraham respected it (Genesis 26:5). It was sanctified by the Hebrews before the written law was given (Exodus 16:21-30). Established in the holy law (Exodus 20:8- 11). It was kept by Jesus (Luke 6:5; 4:16; Mark 1:21). Respected by the Virgin Mary (Luke 23:56). Kept by the Apostles (Acts 13:14, 44; 17:2; 18:4). It will be respected in heaven (Isaiah 66:22, 23).

No One Has The Right To Make Changes To It. God is unchangeable (Malachi 3:6). Jesus is unchanging (Hebrews 13:8). Neither men nor institutions have the right to make changes to the law of God (Matthew 5:18, 19; 15:6, 9; Ecclesiastes 3:14).

The Christian Must Follow The Example Of Jesus. Jesus respected the commandments and kept the holy Sabbath (Luke 4:16). The true Christian follows Jesus' example in all things (1 Peter 2:21; 1 John 2:6; 3:3; John 14:15).

The Lord's Day

The title Day of the Lord legitimately corresponds to the Sabbath (Revelation 1:10; Matthew 12:8). The Sabbath is a perpetual reminder of God's creative power.

Through the centuries, the Sabbath has occupied the seventh place in the week. The Bible identifies it as the seventh day in several texts (Exodus 16:26; 20:8-11; 35:2; Leviticus 23:3; Ezekiel 46:1; Luke 13:14). "Sabbath in the Hebrew language means rest, and it is the seventh day of the week". — Back's Theological Dictionary

Sunday Is Not The Day Of Rest

In the New Testament the expression "first day of the week" appears eight times, referring to Sunday (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1, 19; Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2). Every time it is given the name "first day of the week", without giving any religious significance. On the other hand, the Sabbath is referred to 59 times, using the word sabbaton, which means rest. "You can read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will not find a single line that authorizes the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures talk about the religious observance of the Sabbath, the day that we never sanctified". — Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers, p. 98.

How Was the Change Made?

The Bible predicts serious attacks against God's law (Daniel 7:25; 8:12). Likewise, the apostles warn Christians about the apostasy and the introduction of heresies into the bosom of the church (Acts 20:28, 30; 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4; Romans 1:25).

The change was not made by Christ or the apostles; rather it came on little by little in a church that had separated itself from the eternal principles of God's law. Thousands of pagans who were not fully converted and worshiped the sun came into the church. The worship of the sun was on the first day of the week. For some time, both days were kept. Until Constantine issued his famous decree ordering to sanctify only Sunday.

Constantine's decree states: "Let all the judges and town people, and the occupation of all trades, rest on the venerable day of the sun".

Neander, a renowned Church History professor from Berlin states: "The festival of Sunday, like all other festivals, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday." God could never approve of these changes. Our Lord Jesus severely rebuked anyone who placed human teachings above divine ones (Psalm 89:33, 34; Matthew 15:3, 9).

The Seal of God

God has established tests of obedience and loyalty to determine who his faithful children are. In Eden, it was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, the Lord has a seal, by which he knows who are his own (2 Timothy 2:19). With this seal he will indicate or sea his children (Revelation 7:2, 3). Because of this, sanctifying the Sabbath is a sign between God and his children (Ezekiel 20:12; 20).