The Sabbath

 

God made the Sabbath, blessed it, and made it holy

  • Genesis 2:2-3 - And on the seventh day God ended 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.

The Sabbath is on the seventh day of the week (Saturday)

  • Exodus 16:26 - Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.

The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments

  • Exodus 20:8-11 - Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.  In it you shall do not work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

God gave the Sabbath as a sign between Him and His people

  • Exodus 20:12 - Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Jesus kept the Sabbath

  • Luke 4:16 - So 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 to read.

We can do good on the Sabbath

  • Matthew 12:12 - Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?  Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Jesus expected that the Sabbath be kept during the end times

  • Matthew 24:20 - "And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath."

The Sabbath was made as a benefit for man, not as a burden

  • Mark 2:27 - And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

Jesus' followers kept the Sabbath even after His death

  • Luke 23:54-56 - That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.  And the women who had come with Him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how His body was laid.  Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils.  And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.

Paul the Apostle kept the Sabbath

  • Acts 17:1-3 - Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.  Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ."
  • Acts 13:42,44 - So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath....On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God
  • Acts 16:13 - And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city ot the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there.

The Sabbath is the Lord's Day

  • Revelation 1:10 - I was in the Spirit on the Lord' Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
  • Isaiah 58:13 - "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

Matthew 12:8 - Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath

  • Matthew 12:8 - "For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
  • Mark 2:28 - "Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."
  • Luke 6:5 - And He said to them, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

God's people will keep the Sabbath

  • John 14:15 - "If you love Me, keep My commandments."
  • Revelation 14:12 - Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

The Sabbath will be kept on the New Earth

  • Isaiah 66:23 - And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me," says the Lord.

In Summary, the Sabbath:

  1. Given at Creation
  2. Given at Mt. Sinai
  3. Kept by His people
  4. Kept by Jesus
  5. Honored by His disciples
  6. Sign of God's power
  7. Will be kept on the New Earth

 

Happy Sabbath!

A Short Prayer