Question: Has Saturday Sabbath been stopped by Jesus?
According to Luke 4:16-21, Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath day, as was his custom, and stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him, and he unrolled it to find the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”.
Here in the above verse we see that it was the custom of Jesus to go to synagogue every Sabbath, which is the 7th day Sabbath. This clearly establishes that Jesus never changed the Creation Sabbath, which God gave as commandment to get it reinforced in the Law of Moses to the nation of Israel to follow.
If I am not mistaken isn't the Hebrew word for worship "work". Kindly clarify if you can. Sabbath is a day to rest and worship (work for the Lord), why is it done on the first day after the Sabbath, that is on Sunday!
Answer: Greetings in Jesus mighty name!
You are right Yes, the Hebrew word avodah (pronounced ah-vod-ah) can be translated as both "work" and "worship" in the English Bible. It literally means "work, worship, and service". In Judaism, avodah means serving God, but in Modern Hebrew it can simply mean "work".
Avodah appears 145 times in the Old Testament and reflects the Early Church's view that work is a form of worship in daily life. It suggests that work is an offering to God, not done for one's own benefit, and that the workplace is a place of worship. Some examples of avodah being translated as worship include: Worship of YHWH, ...and God calling Moses to lead His people out of Egypt.
So even though we worship the Lord through the work we do...still we can keep the intimacy of Sabbath with the LORD on any particular day, because it is a perpetual command for all humans to keep since Creation. Sabbath in itself means, to cease from labour. In other words, cease thinking from what we do or need to do to live an earthly life, and contemplate and Ponder over, to intentionally turn our focus on God and His eternal word through communion with His eternal Spirit. By doing this, on Sabbath or on any set day, there are innumerable blessings of God that can be received to live in the heavenly satisfaction on earth itself.
Did Jesus keep the Law of Sabbath?
What kind of work Jesus did, makes it a dead work or righteous works of God. Because Jesus was led by the Spirit, His works were righteous works of faith and not legalistic work as the religious Jews or Pharisees of His times (Mark 2:27-28; Matt 12:9-13, Mark 3:1-6, and Luke 6:6-11;13:10-17; John 9:16; Acts 10:38; Col 3:23-24). Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” (Luke 14:3).
Jesus took hold of a human and healed him of his sickness and sent him away on that day of Sabbath before the very eyes of those who questioned Him regarding Sabbath, the whole point of Jesus was, if a human saves his very own animals and children on Sabbath, does not God who has Created them for His own purpose and glory have the rights to save them when they are sick in their body or soul (Luke 14:5)? It was indeed a righteous work of Jesus and his disciples on Sabbath, because it was the Father who was working through them and whatever they did, they did for the Glory of God in the name of Jesus who was the Lord of Sabbath, who has the rights to work what he sees His Father work since creation in the beginning, when humans fell in to sin, as he Himself was on creation Sabbath that overrides the Moses Sabbath (John 5:19)!
Creation Sabbath that Jesus kept did works that only pleased God and not blindly and in a religious way like the Pharisees, that true Sabbath Jesus kept overrides the Moses Sabbath because in it works were done in a random manner expecting God to accept what ever they kept as law externally in the soul as they were written on stone and books and scrolls.
Do Christians keep the Law?
So in the New Testament, there is no letter of the law kept legalistically, but rather through believing in Jesus and keeping the letter of the Spirit written in our hearts, we turn even our day to day chores and professional work in to worship, by doing it as unto the LORD and not unto men. This turns our very Life in to a perpetual Sabbath of rest, as the Scripture says, "Therefore there remains a rest for the people of God to enter, For he who has entered in to it by believing in Jesus Christ, has also ceased from his works as God did from His to spend his time with man in eternal satisfaction of sharing His love for them." (Heb 4:9-10, Paraphrased).
So for a Christian, everyday is a Sabbath day of rejoicing in the LORD Jesus to reaffirm His finished work of salvation on the Cross for us (Php 4:4).
As we are yoked as a Christian with Jesus, to lift up our own cross of doing God's will for our lives, our burden to do work to please God by our own strength of the letter of the Law becomes zero, because the same work we will be able to do even more effectively by God's grace of the letter of the Spirit from within our hearts, which will not only please God and glorify Him, but will make us become rich and rewarded by God for eternity ahead as we find soul rest in God (Matthew 11:28-30). Hallelujah!
Carrying out our own cross and walking in the Lord's will of His grace in communion is the sweetest thing our soul can ever experience with God, in this side of the earthly life we live for a short period of time (Luke 9:24-26).
Praise the LORD! Hallelujah.
That Means, When Does External Sabbath A Christian Keep?
YES...As a Christian, we choose to worship publicly gathering together on the first set day of the week Sunday, after creation Sabbath which is Saturday (i.e. Friday evening 6.00 pm to Saturday evening 6.00 pm), because we have been given a governmental day of rest or holiday based on the Gregorian calendar which is used in our present world mostly.
As a matter of fact, the apostles mostly who wrote the Bible were Jews and so kept the Sabbath, but they never forced or wanted the new Jewish converts in to Christians to keep the Jewish Sabbath because they understood the perpetual Sabbath of Christianity which they keep within them through Jesus Christ (Acts 15:22-29; 16:1-5; Gal 2:3; 5:2-3; 2 Tim 1:5; 3:15).
In fact, we as Christians, we do not keep Sabbath legalistically, because of the above reality of internal Sabbath, we celebrate by faith 24/7/365. We call Sunday Sabbath day or special resurrection Sabbath because in it we choose to symbolically have communion with the Lord as it is also a worldwide governmental holiday too.
The one command because of that significance of internal Sabbath Rest Jesus gives in reality, the apostles chose not to repeat the Sabbath as a mandatory command to the Church of God, unlike the Old Covenant in which it is mandatory for all Jews (Acts 15:24-29).
But rather with one verse the apostles told the believers not to forsake the assembling of saints, as some people were doing it even in the first century. The reason they said this was that, they realised the need to stir up love and good works by destroying selfishness through the assembly of saints till Rapture takes place (Heb 10:24-25). In fact, the very reason we are assembling online in Facebook is to do just that and be edified within us for the Glory of God!
Yes indeed, to take the assembly on Sunday as a work of the LORD is right. But I believe it should also continue for the rest of the week even up to the next Sunday gathering. In this way, Sabbath should not be confused with the gathering on Sunday which is ofcourse a physical day to rest and also gather together for the edification of the mind, soul and body and spirit of the Church believers, and also worship ((i.e.) work for the Lord to be a witness to others) and live in the same way for the rest of the week time, and it is also not mandatory and necessary that it should be done on the first day after the Sabbath. But it can be a good start for the rest of the week time, as the 1st day is the day of resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to remember and continue in its power by the grace of God for the remaining days until the next creation Sabbath [(i.e.) Saturday and Sunday comes] which is to serve and work for the Lord all the days of our lives (Psa 23:6)!
In fact, we as Christians, we do not keep Sabbath legalistically, because of the above reality of internal Sabbath, we celebrate by faith 24/7/365. We call Sunday Sabbath day or special resurrection Sabbath because in it we choose to symbolically have communion with the Lord as it is also a worldwide governmental holiday too.
The one command because of that significance of internal Sabbath Rest Jesus gives in reality, the apostles chose not to repeat the Sabbath as a mandatory command to the Church of God, unlike the Old Covenant in which it is mandatory for all Jews (Acts 15:24-29).
But rather with one verse the apostles told the believers not to forsake the assembling of saints, as some people were doing it even in the first century. The reason they said this was that, they realised the need to stir up love and good works by destroying selfishness through the assembly of saints till Rapture takes place (Heb 10:24-25). In fact, the very reason we are assembling online in Facebook is to do just that and be edified within us for the Glory of God!
Yes indeed, to take the assembly on Sunday as a work of the LORD is right. But I believe it should also continue for the rest of the week even up to the next Sunday gathering. In this way, Sabbath should not be confused with the gathering on Sunday which is ofcourse a physical day to rest and also gather together for the edification of the mind, soul and body and spirit of the Church believers, and also worship ((i.e.) work for the Lord to be a witness to others) and live in the same way for the rest of the week time, and it is also not mandatory and necessary that it should be done on the first day after the Sabbath. But it can be a good start for the rest of the week time, as the 1st day is the day of resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ to remember and continue in its power by the grace of God for the remaining days until the next creation Sabbath [(i.e.) Saturday and Sunday comes] which is to serve and work for the Lord all the days of our lives (Psa 23:6)!
What does it mean by Creation Sabbath?
Creation Sabbath is the 7th day of rest with humans, after which God who had been working from the fall of humans to this day, in which because He is working for humans to deliver them from sin and all rebellion of soul, we too as God's children work and serve with God perpetually, through which God by His grace gives soul rest from within to keep the Sabbath internally in peace, joy and righteousness (Matt 11:28-30; Rom 14:17).
The one who keeps the Creation Sabbath with God internally can only boast in the Lord, saying like the great apostle Paul, yet not I but the grace of God because He is trusting purely in the work of Christ for his salvation and serves Him in faith through His grace which qualifies him for a eternal reward (1 Cor 1:31; 15:10; Gal 2:19-21). In other words, for a Creation Sabbath keeper, the Sabbath day becomes a perpetual service of his towards the Lord all the days of his life on earth, for which He will be rewarded again in rest for eternity ahead when He reaches the Presence of God to live there with God and Christ forever and ever the true Sabbath in the new heaven and new earth. Let each be convinced in His own mind to keep the day, or not to keep a particular day externally to the Lord (Rom 14:6, 8).
Some times, when a Christian lives in other countries like any Muslim nation, they are given a day off on Friday only, so there the assembly of believers as the Church will gather on that day to end the work week of worship in a high note.
Keeping the Sabbath on Saturday makes a Jew or a proselyte, not a Christian. Christian keeps the Law of Christ, which is higher than Moses as it is not law written on tablets of Stone, but in the heart of a believer. A righteous Christian is the one who lives by faith in the finished work of Jesus for salvation and not keeping the law of Moses for salvation by works (Rom 1:16-17; 4:4; Gal 3:12).
Some times, when a Christian lives in other countries like any Muslim nation, they are given a day off on Friday only, so there the assembly of believers as the Church will gather on that day to end the work week of worship in a high note.
Keeping the Sabbath on Saturday makes a Jew or a proselyte, not a Christian. Christian keeps the Law of Christ, which is higher than Moses as it is not law written on tablets of Stone, but in the heart of a believer. A righteous Christian is the one who lives by faith in the finished work of Jesus for salvation and not keeping the law of Moses for salvation by works (Rom 1:16-17; 4:4; Gal 3:12).
Are You A Jew Or A Gentile Proselyte Or A True Christian?
The question we should ask ourselves is, Are you a Jew to keep the law of Sabbath and the law of Moses? If you are a Church of God, whether somebody is born biologically a Jew or a Gentile has no difference before God within the Church (Gal 3:28; 1 Cor 10:32). Then you need to walk by faith, because Jesus fulfilled all laws for you through his life (Matt 5:17-20), death and resurrection, so that now you can walk by faith in the newness of the life of Jesus, being set forever free from the demands of the law to walking by the Spirit of Grace to glorify God right through out your short life here on earth (Rom 6:4). Hallelujah!
Jesus has fulfilled the law even to the last bit. But you want to walk in the old covenant or new covenant is what matters? Old is the law of Moses, the new is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ accessed through our faith. If we continue to work by the law of the letter, we are under the law of Moses and remain a Jew, or Proselyte Jew if we are a Gentile. But if we depend on the grace of Jesus Christ, the we are under the law of Liberty to follow the Commandments of love, reading the law of the Spirit from our heart, spiritually moving in the direction of the Spirit's guidance to live life as God's sons by the help of the Holy Spirit, then we are true Christians.
Law Of Moses Or Law Of The Spirit?
Commandments have not changed in the NT (New Testament), but the operating way has changed. Unlike OT (Old Testament) in which we have to meditate upon and assimilate in to our soul the commandments, in the NT all the needed Laws of God, Holy Spirit writes in our soul from within our hearts. All we need to do is to co-operate with Him to renew our soul mind to put his inputs and keep it by His grace, so that the strength to do His will comes from Him and will greatly glorify Him and will be rewarded by God for eternity.
Praise the LORD!
Jesus Our Sabbath Rest!
Humans are not made for Sabbath, but rather Sabbath is made for Humans, which means humans who keep Sabbath externally are implementing the Law that came through Moses and at creation on the 6th day instruction that God gave Adam to please God as a Jew or a proselyte (Gen 2:16-17, 18), but those who keep it internally by faith in Jesus Christ simply express that all laws have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus the last Adam of the Old Creation (1 Cor 15:45), and that they are keeping the law of Christ which is to keep all the burdens of sins and the cares that follows it at the feet of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 5:7), and instead carry the yoke of doing the Lord's will revealed to them personally by the Holy Spirit to work and serve Jesus till He comes to take us along with Him to our Father's House in New Jerusalem to reward us (Luke 9:23; Matt 11:28-30). Coming to Jesus, makes us keep the Sabbath rest in our lives!
The Father had only one day in the beginning kept Sabbath rest, that is, on the 7th day of creation, ever since after that, He has been working to uplift the fallen humans to righteousness and rest. Jesus being the LORD of SABBATH, has been working with the Father God since the fall of humans in to sin, thus he did not just keep the Sabbath as a Jew legalistically, but as a Creator He worked as God in human form and gave others who followed him the Shalom as God to help them enter HIS REST, THE TRUE SABBATH FULFILLED INTERNALLY IN ALL CHRISTIANS IN CHRIST WHO LIVE BY FAITH AND NOT BY WORK. HALLELUJAH!
To all Christians who lives by faith, God works and humans rest in Him, which is the true rest of salvation joy, peace and righteousness (Isa 32:17)! This is work and rest God's way. In short, God worked the first six days and ended His work on the seventh day, we as believers in Jesus have tried to keep the law as much as possible in our own own humans strength, but thank God, we returned to our sane mind, and remembered that we can never be able to work for salvation, but by faith in Jesus Christ we shall enter in to perpetual Sabbath by the Grace of God and have entered in to the eternal salvation of God (Eph 2:8-10; Heb 5:9). Glory to God!
SATURDAY IS NOT KEPT AS SABBATH DAY BY CHRISTIANS, INSTEAD SUNDAY IS CELEBRATED AS THE RESURRECTION REMEMBRANCE DAY TO REMEMBER, THANK AND PRAISE GOD FOR THE INTERNALLY FULFILLED SABBATH IN CHRIST JESUS THROUGH FAITH THAT MAKES US ENTER GOD'S REST!!!! IN OTHER WORDS, EACH DAY, HOUR, WEEK, MONTH AND THE WHOLE YEAR OF OUR LIFE BECOME A PERPETUAL SABBATH REST INSTEAD OF ONE DAY AS WE HAVE CEASED FROM ALL WORKS AND DEPEND ON THE WORK OF JESUS ON THE CROSS TO JUSTIFY US BEFORE GOD!
In short, JESUS himself is our SABBATH! GLORY!
Much Blessings...
SATURDAY IS NOT KEPT AS SABBATH DAY BY CHRISTIANS, INSTEAD SUNDAY IS CELEBRATED AS THE RESURRECTION REMEMBRANCE DAY TO REMEMBER, THANK AND PRAISE GOD FOR THE INTERNALLY FULFILLED SABBATH IN CHRIST JESUS THROUGH FAITH THAT MAKES US ENTER GOD'S REST!!!! IN OTHER WORDS, EACH DAY, HOUR, WEEK, MONTH AND THE WHOLE YEAR OF OUR LIFE BECOME A PERPETUAL SABBATH REST INSTEAD OF ONE DAY AS WE HAVE CEASED FROM ALL WORKS AND DEPEND ON THE WORK OF JESUS ON THE CROSS TO JUSTIFY US BEFORE GOD!
In short, JESUS himself is our SABBATH! GLORY!
Much Blessings...
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