This will be slow...please bear with me. It will come in parts.
I. THE SABBATH DAY QUESTION.
"Sabbath" originally comes from a Hebrew word "Shabbath." The word means"rest." This word can refer to a day, festive period, month, or year. The purpose of this study is to find out if the Sabbath is binding and to be observed in this the Christian age.
THE SABBATH WAS NOT OBSERVED BEFORE SINAI.
Gen 2:2,3 - this passage is a prolepsis (a joining together of two distant events resulting in the appearance as if the two happened at the same time or were in effect at the same time). This passage is connected with Ex 20:8-11 in this fashion. Other examples are:
Mt 10:1-4 - "Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him." Here the fact of his being a traitor is mentioned at the time of his calling and being sent out.
Gen 3:20 - "And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." Here she is called the mother of all living even though she has not born any children yet.
God rested on the seventh day (Gen 2:2,3) but His commanding the Jews to rest on the Sabbath came at least 2,500 years later (Ex 20:8-11). Moses, looking back
through the centuries, connected the two events and wrote them down in Gen 2:2,3.
Ex 16:22,23 - The first mention of the Sabbath. This statement was made in the wilderness just prior to the encampment at Mt Sinai. It was said in anticipation of the Law which was to be given soon.
Question: Why did Moses have to explain the Sabbath if it was already an established observance?
Neh 9:13,14 - This passage tells us plainly when the commandment was given to observe the Sabbath. The Levites are speaking to God in prayer and say: "You came down also on Mount Sinai...You made known to them Your holy Sabbath..."
Ezek 20:10-12; 18-20 - This passage also identifies when the Sabbath Law was given to the Jews. "...I made them go out of the land of Egypt...I also gave them My Sabbaths..."
Deut 5:1-33 - Also identifies the time the covenant including the Sabbath command was given. It identifies to whom it was given.
God made the covenant with the Jews.
He made it with them in Horeb (Mt. Sinai).
In positive identification He then lists the Ten Commandments.
Num 15:32-36 - This records the event of the man found picking up sticks on the Sabbath. If the Sabbath had been observed for centuries, why did these people have to ask what they should do to this man? Verse 34 tells us that they had never been told what to do. Therefore this law with its penalties was brand new.
C. THE SABBATH WAS GIVEN TO THE JEWS AND TO THE JEWS ONLY.
Deut 5:2,3 - "The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us."
Ex 20:2 - Identifies that this law was given only after they had been, "brought out of the land of Egypt."
Ezek 20:10-18 - God gave the Sabbaths to those who went forth out of Egypt - the house of Israel.
Neh 9:13,14 - Tells that these laws were given to those who were gathered at Mt. Sinai.
1 Kgs 8:20,21 - "And there I have made a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord which He made with our fathers, when He brought them out of the land of Egypt."
The covenant had been made with these Jews' fathers.
Their fathers were the ones who had come out of the land of Egypt.
In that ark was the "covenant."
This covenant is identified as the "two tablets of stone" in verse 9.
Therefore since the Sabbath command was one of the commands given on the tablets of stone, it was given to the fathers when God had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
Ex 31:17 - Speaking of the Sabbath, "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever..."
THE COVENANT HAS BEEN DONE AWAY (INCLUDING THE SABBATH LAW).
Jer 31:31-34 - "...I will make a new covenant..." This passage is quoted in Heb 8:5-13; 10:16,17 as proof that the Old Law was taken away (removed, no longer binding). The Ten Commandments were called a part of the Covenant.
1 Kgs 8:9 - "There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel..."
Deut 5:2,3,22 - "The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb...and He wrote them on two tablets of stone..."
Heb 9:4 - "The ark of the covenant...in which were...the tablets of the covenant."
Deut 9:9-11 - "When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant...the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant."
"Two tablets of stone written with the finger of God."
Two tablets = the covenant = the Law = the Ten Commandments.
Deut 4:13 - "So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone."
The "covenant" was the "Ten Commandments."
These Ten Commandments (or the covenant) are what contained the Sabbath law.
Ex 34:27,28 - "He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."
The "covenant" was known as the "Ten Commandments."
When the covenant was done away, the Ten Commandments were done away.
When the Ten Commandments were done away the Sabbath Law (the fourth commandment) was
also done away.
In 2 Cor 3 - Notice the contrast the Holy Spirit makes:
New Covenant - v. 6
Tablets of heart -v. 3
The Spirit - v.6
Ministry of the Spirit - v.8
Ministry of righteousness -v.9
Exceeds in glory - v.9
Remains - v.11
Unveiled face - v.13
Old Covenant -v. 14
Tablets of stone - 3
The letter - 6
Ministry of death - 7
Ministry of condemnation - 9
Glory - 9
Passing away - 11,13
Veiled face - 13
The old covenant (14) passing away (11,13) but the hardened minds (14) refuse to see the end of the law (13).
Gal 3:16-19 - The Law was added "till the Seed should come."
The Seed is Christ - 16.
Christ did come!
Gal 3:23-25 - "We are no longer under the tutor."
Before faith came we were under the Law - 23.
The Law was our tutor (schoolmaster) - 24.
Now that faith has come we are no longer under the tutor - 25.
Tutor = Schoolmaster.
Rom 7:1-7 - "You have become dead to the law."
"You also have become dead to the law...that you may be married to another (law)."
"We have been delivered from the law" - 6.
That same law was the law that included "You shall not covet" -
And this law was one of the Ten Commandments - Ex 20:17.
Therefore, the law to which the Jewish people were made "dead" or "delivered from" was the Ten Commandments.
Col 2:14-17 - "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us."
The requirements (law) was wiped out - 14.
When Christ died He fulfilled the Law, nailing it to His cross - 14.
The result was that Christians were to let no man judge them in respect to any Sabbath day - 16.
Also the Sabbaths "are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ."
Eph 2:14-16 - "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances..."
Enmity was what separated the Jews and the Gentiles.
Enmity was the result of the "law of commandments."
Therefore, for the Jews and the Gentiles to be reconciled in one body, the law or enmity had to be removed.
Gal 4:21-31 - the allegory of Hagar and Sarai.
The son of the bondwoman (22,23) represents the following of "the covenant" (24) which was made at Sinai.
The "covenant" at Sinai was the Ten Commandments.
The son of the bondwoman will not inherit (30,31).
Therefore the followers of the covenant made at Sinai shall not inherit with Christ or His followers.
THE "LAW OF GOD" IS THE SAME AS THE "LAW OF MOSES."
Sabbatarians claim that the "law of God" contains the Ten Commandments only. Then they claim that the "law of Moses" contained the ceremonial and sacrificial ordinances and that it was this "law of Moses" (the ceremonial law) that was done away at the cross.
Neh 8:1-18.
The phrase "Law of Moses" was used in verse 1 to refer to that from which Ezra was reading.
But notice that in verse 8 the same material is referred to as "the Law of God."
"The Law of Moses" (14) commanded the Feast of the Tabernacles, yet, this was read from the same book that had just been called the "Law of God (8).
Lk 2:22-24 - "And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, 'A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.'"
The "law of the Lord" commanded the sacrifice of turtledoves.
This is a reference back to Lev 12:2,8.
But this is what the Sabbatarians claim should be called the "Law of Moses."
If there is a distinction between the Law of Moses" and the "Law of the Lord," Jesus did not know it.
THE OLD TESTAMENT PROPHETS TOLD ABOUT THE SABBATHS COMING TO AN END.
Hosea 2:11 - "I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, her sabbaths - all her appointed feasts."
Amos 8:5-10 - "When will the New Moon be past, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may trade our wheat?...It shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God, that I will make the sun godown at noon..."
Amos here records that the Sabbath was to cease.
The Sabbath was to cease when the sun goes down at noon.
The sun was darkened at noon when Christ was crucified - Lk 23:44.
Therefore, the Sabbath ceased to be (ended) at the crucifixion of Christ.
WHAT DO WE CONCLUDE FROM ALL OF THE ABOVE?
1. God made a covenant with Israel - 1 Kgs 8:20,21.
2. This covenant included the Ten Commandments - 1 Kgs 8:9.
3. This covenant was never given before - Deut 5:2-22.
4. This covenant made known the Sabbath - Neh 9:13,14.
5. God promised a new covenant - Jer 31:31-34.
6. The New Testament declares this was fulfilled in Christ - Heb 8:5-13; 10:16,17.
7. Before the second covenant could be enforced Christ had to take away the first covenant - Heb 10:9,10; 8:6-8.
8. Christ did this at the cross - Col 2:14-16.
9. Such changes in the law governing God's people (including commandments concerning the Sabbath) fulfills specific prophecies of which the Jewish fathers were aware - Hos 2:11; Amos 8:5.
