"Sunday Morning Coming Down"

                                                     Is Sunday The New Sabbath?

• What is meant in scripture by the word “Sabbath”?
• Is it for all or only for Israel?
• How did it operate in Israel under the Law?
• Does it apply to believers in Christ Jesus today?

The law of first mention takes us right back to Genesis chapter 2 when trying to understand this issue of the Sabbath and what it means:  Gen 2:2 tells us the following;

:” and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made” This has immense significance in my article:

Was God tired? Did the Almighty really need to sit down and rest? What a crazy idea! So why then is it so specified that He rested on the seventh day: “These things were written for our instruction”  (Rom 15:4) In this Genesis passage and over the following 4000 years God was intent on laying down a principle and imprinting that principle on the whole consciousness of a people He had chosen: What exactly was he teaching?  What was this principle of the Sabbath?

• Sabbath means rest! Sabbath means a Stopping!
• Sabbath is of vital importance especially in our understanding Of Calvary.
• Sabbath is a sacred concept, set apart, unlike any other form of rest or stopping

Gen 2: 3 further states that God “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it …” Made it special! A time of special blessings! The reason given is because on that day God had ceased from all His work. Now all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for us: All scripture is not literally directed to us but all of it is for us  Scripture will instruct in righteousness, teach, rebuke error  and expose truth from error:We are not running out today to make an Ark like Noah did but we can learn so much from Noah’s obedience, bravery in a hostile world and care for God’s instructions and the salvation of his family:

Then after a period of time The Sabbath principle was further endorsed by including it (on Mount Sinai) in the Ten Commandments. (Ex 20:8) The special emphasis here was to “remember the Sabbath to keep it holy “

These commandments were special laws given to Moses for Israel , God’s chosen people: These laws were never given to the Gentiles or to those outside of the “commonwealth of Israel” We now understand that the law was given that sin might increase: What on earth does that mean? It means that in our old Adam nature we cannot obey God’s holy instructions: When there was no law we didn’t even know that: After law came every person realised it:  They knew in their conscience that the old Adam nature in them was unable to lead them to holiness: God’s purpose in this period of over 2000 years was to further reinforce the absolute significance of this principle of the Sabbath: His plan worked: Sabbath became a major issue in most books of the Old Testament (174 mentions) and 60 references in the New Testament, 27 of those in the book of Acts. Therefore sabbath or stopping must also have deep significance for us, believers in Christ Jesus.  We do well in the wickedness of 2018 to meditate on it.

To understand its application or relevance to us today we must now look away from Mount Sinai (10 commandments) and look towards Mount Calvary and Grace. Grace will train us not to be irreverent and act devoutlyt ( Titus 2:11-12) “For the saving grace of God made its advent to all humanity, training us that, disowning irreverence and worldly desires, we should be living sanely and justly and devoutly in the current eon”

Hebrews 4 speaks of Sabbath or a Stopping: It implies that there remains a rest or Stopping for the believers today: : Listen to verse 9 & 10 of Hebrews chapter 4:

“Consequently a sabbatism is left for the people of God. For he who is entering into His Stopping, he also stops from his works even as God from His own”

So now the penny begins to drop: We are being invited to stop all our own works and enter into God’s finished work: Stop trying to pay for what is a Free Gift of Life. Was this what God had in mind all along in so emphasising the word Sabbath? Again Hebrews implies that this stopping can only be enjoyed by entering through the door of Faith. And sanctification which follows is also a work of God’s Holy Spirit in us apart from any of our own works:

Let me put all this in simple terms:

• God has an amazing Rest or Stopping or Peace for us:
• This Rest is unlike any other form of rest. It is sanctified!
• This Rest blesses all who are enabled to partake of it: (Gen 2:3)
• This rest or Sabbath applies to both our salvation and to our sanctification.
• God at this time is gifting those chosen (Pilot scheme) with this blessing (Phil 1:29)

We are all , as His children, struggling along the road towards maturity: On that maturity road many consider Sunday as the.Sabbath or day of rest. Others consider Saturday as the real Sabbath:Still others consider it to be every minute of every day: Who is right?  Who is wrong?

Paul says in Col 2:16 “Let no one, then, be judging you in food or in drink or in the particulars of a festival, or of a new moon, or of Sabbaths” So don’t use this as an opportunity to judge  or to label anyone as an unbeliever or backslider because they hold a different view to you: This is my first point: Oh what pain would be averted if even this point had been taken to heart:

Paul then He goes on to direct discussion away from these shadows to the real thing:  You see our real day of rest is not a day at all: These are like shadows indicating the presence of something else. That something is clearly defined by Paul in the next few words: “Yet the body is the Christs” Our rest is only found in Christ: We do not trust in any day or festival or event. “In Christ alone my hope is found” We put all our trust in Christ only  to give complete spiritual rest

However this is not to become a matter of divisions or intellectual debates: God blesses each of His children not only on the summit of the mountain but on every struggling step as we climb: Listen to this instruction from Romans 14: 5-7

“One indeed, is deciding for one day rather than another day, yet one is deciding for every day. Let each one be fully assured in his own mind.”

God’s word is an amazing treasure: May He enable each one of us to “cut it rightly “ so that Christ’s sheep will no longer be either starving or striving with one another:!

The Quiz

• Do you believe that Sunday is the modern Sabbath?

Are you fully persuaded in your own mind?

Then if you are so convinced God is very pleased with you!

But are you judging others or criticising others who believe otherwise?

Are you looking on those who believe otherwise as backslidden?

If so you are wrong and need to repent and apologise to them & be blessed.

     (B) Do you believe Saturday is the real Sabbath and not Sunday?

Are you fully persuaded in your own mind? Or are you blindly following some human?

God will bless you if you are so convinced: He will give you rest:

Are you inclined to make it  a weapon of division or argument?:

If you have judged others in this matter it’s get it all right with them asap:

Then you will be blessed in your Saturday  conviction and enjoy non critical rest

       (C) Are you enjoying a Sabbath every day?

Are you resting from all your own labours and enjoying deep peace?

Is your ear inclined to God for to discern only His works every day?

Are you fully persuaded in your own mind and not merely being a rebel ?

If so then enjoy God’s precious blessings every day

Christ alone  is our spiritual Sabbath today: Only in Christ will you find your rest or stopping: But If observing any of the above days leads you to a fuller appreciation of  Christ and of this truth then you are doing well: God loves you and will bless you: