The Sabbath Day

KEEPING WHICH DAY HOLY?

Genesis 2:3 reads; “So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation.” What does this verse have to say to us today? Most people are aware that the seventh day the Sabbath refers to Saturday. Sunday, known in the New Testament as the Lord’s Day is the first day of the week. Whereas the Sabbath commemorates God’s rest after having created the world, Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. When the Bible commands us to; “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy” is it referring to the seventh day of the week or the first day of the week? In short, the fourth of the Ten Commandments refers to the Sabbath our Saturday. That being so are Christians then free to do what they want on the first day of the week? Have we been neglectful in our observance of Saturday as prescribed in the Old Testament? Some denominations like Seventh Day Adventists would say yes while many others would say no. Always keep in mind that Christ is continually being foreshadowed in the Old Testament. The Messiah was always viewed as the one to come. Once the messiah had come the shadows disappeared and all things would be new. Even the Sabbath would take on new meaning with the advent of Christ. Now, we observe the Sabbath not so much because on it God rested after having created the world but rather we celebrate the completion the culmination of our redemption in Jesus Christ. We don’t sweep away the Sabbath in fact we incorporate within our observance of Sunday much of what we find in the Sabbath. We rest from our labors on Sunday while remembering that on the first day of the week (Sunday) Christ rose from the dead.

John Fraser