1. How long did God say we should observe this commandment?
2. Does the New Testament support us keeping this commandment?
3. Why did God want us to keep them in the past?
4. Does the reason of why God wanted us to keep them in the past still apply?
5. Is there any evidence that we will be keeping the Sabbath when Christ returns?
1. How long did God say we should observe this commandment?
Exodus 31:13-17
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you…Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.
2. Does the New Testament support us keeping this commandment?
Matthew 24:15-22
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
There are many places in the scripture where the disciples went into the synagogue on the Sabbath to preach. Most people will say, they were only doing this only to witness to the Jews but they were still meeting on Sundays to have church. Here is a verse to think about…
Acts 13:42-44
And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God
If the Gentile church was meeting on Sunday, then why would the Gentiles be meeting to hear the preaching on the Sabbath and why did the Gentiles ask “that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath”? Why didn’t they just ask them to preach it tomorrow at church?
Acts 1:12
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey.
If the Sabbath was abolished, then there would be no such thing at this time of a “Sabbath day’s journey”.
Also, after Jesus rose from the grave he spent forty days on earth with his disciples and others [Acts 1:3]. In forty days he would have spent at least five end of the week Sabbaths plus the High Sabbath at the end of the days of unleavened bread. During one of these, Jesus could have mentioned to his disciples that this law no longer applies. How do I know he didn’t? Because if they knew that the Sabbath was already abolished, there would have been no debate about the Gentiles and circumcision later in Acts 15.
Acts 20:6-7
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight.
In the above verses, the disciples were not keeping Sunday. They were actually keeping the Sabbath. If you have a KJV (with added words in italics) you would notice that the word “day” is in italics. Now, get your Strong’s Concordance, and look up the word that was translated as “week” in the above verse. You will notice that the word translated as “week” in the above verse is actually “sabbaton” meaning “Sabbath”. So it should read, “upon the first Sabbath, when the disciples came together”. What is this “first Sabbath”? Well, if you look at verse 6, you will notice that is taking place right after the days of unleavened bread. This is the time where the people would count seven Sabbaths to Pentecost. This was the “first Sabbath”. Many Sunday keepers present the above verses as their absolute proof that we should keep Sunday. I wonder, if they analyzed these verses, if they would start using these verses as “absolute proof” for keeping the Sabbath, or will they hold their tradition over the Bible?
3. Why did God want us to keep the Sabbath in the past?
It was a sign between God and Israel “that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you [Exodus 31:13]
It is “a shadow of things to come” [Colossians 2:16-17] (See The Shadow of the Seventh Day Sabbath)
4. Does the reason of why God wanted us to keep the Sabbath in the past still apply?
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons that God set up the Seventh day Sabbath was to foreshadow the Millennium reign with Christ. It foreshadowed it when it was created, and since Christ has not returned yet, it still foreshadows it today. So, does it make since that God will abolish the Sabbath if it still points to the return of Christ? If not, then that means the reason of why God wanted us to keep the Sabbath still applies.
5. Is there any evidence that we will be keeping the Sabbath after Christ returns?
Isaiah 66:22-23
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
