Sometimes it is argued that we are no longer obliged to keep the Fourth Commandment. Do we not live in the New Testament age and does the Sabbath not belong to the Old Testament? Does the New Covenant not do away with the Sabbath? Has not Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath? Should not every day be a Sabbath and given to the Lord? Is not Sabbath observance a kind of legalism and the sort of thing the Pharisees were guilty of? Many jobs today require seven-day working and many Christians have no problem with that. Indeed, apart from meeting for worship on the first day of the week, there is little Sabbath observance with the majority of Christians. They are happy to shop, to play sports, to study, to watch TV and films on the Lord’s day and basically to treat it as any other day.

There are some verses of Scripture which appear to give credence to these views. Paul wrote to the Colossians, 

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.Col. 2:16-17

Similarly, he wrote to the Romans, 

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. Rom. 14:5-6

Do these verses not make it plain? Are you not free from the obligation to keep the Sabbath?

Actually these verses are only dealing with the ceremonial law. The sacrifices, the ritual and the holy days given to Moses on Mount Sinai passed away with the death of Christ and the tearing down of the veil of the temple. There were clean and unclean foods under the old dispensation but all foods are the same to us. Now ‘all things are pure’ (Rom. 14:20). In the Old Testament there were yearly Sabbaths every seven years. Also it appears that in early NT times when the Sabbath began to be kept on the first day of the week (celebrating the completion of the work of redemption) some sensitive souls kept both the Saturday and the Sunday. That is why Paul puts Sabbath days along with new moons and holy days as that which is no longer binding.

Sometimes it is said that Jesus taught that we do not have to keep the Sabbath. We find the Lord in conflict with the Pharisees on several occasions when they accuse Him of breaking the Sabbath. Jesus heals the sick on the Sabbath, tells a man to take up his bed and walk on the Sabbath, and allows His disciples to pluck ears of corn on the Sabbath. Is not Jesus teaching that we do not have to bother about the Sabbath? But Jesus never actually broke the Fourth Commandment. Remember that He was under the old covenant and He had to keep the whole law. The ceremonial law with sacrifices etc. was binding till Jesus died on the cross and the veil of the temple was torn down. If Jesus had not perfectly kept the whole law and all the commandments He would not have been a Lamb without blemish and without spot. He had to be sinless to be a suitable Saviour. Therefore the way He and His obedient followers kept the commandments had to be perfect. Jesus did keep the Sabbath. Indeed He was the only One ever who kept it perfectly. However, He didn’t keep the non-biblical traditions of the Jews. That was the difference. He kept the Sabbath as God meant it to be kept and as we should keep it. There are such things as works of necessity and mercy which are not breaches of the Sabbath commandment.

There is an interesting verse to be found in Mark’s gospel:

And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Mk. 2:27

esus here taught that the Sabbath was made for man. That means it was for man’s benefit. God designed it to be that from the very start. How can people reject the Sabbath which was made for man, for his good? Surely God knows what is beneficial? Here we see the purpose of the Sabbath from the beginning and it was there at the very start of human history (Gen. 2:2-3). Even before the fall and the entrance of sin into the world the Sabbath was there for man’s benefit. It is a creation institution and permanent like marriage, work and the creation mandate — ‘Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it’ (Gen. 1:28).

God kept the first Sabbath by resting on the seventh day (Gen. 2:2-3). That would be very surprising if it was a mere temporary institution. Surely we must follow His example. He didn’t need rest but we do. Further it was instituted before the fall and if man had not sinned presumably it would have gone on being kept forever. The covenant of grace and the death of Christ was something which was necessitated by the fall. How could that be seen as fulfilling the Sabbath and negating it?

In addition to the earlier verse quoted in Mark we find the words, ‘Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath’ (Mk. 2:28). To be Lord of something means that it belongs to Him. This day is not for our pleasure but to be given to Him. We are to spend it especially pleasing Him.

There is one verse which is often over-looked but is fascinating in showing the continuing obligation of the Sabbath. Jesus told the disciples that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. He warned them to flee when the Romans approached. He advised them, ‘But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day’ (Mat. 24:20). Why not on the Sabbath? Obviously lest they should be involved in breaking the Sabbath and also in missing out on the weekly blessing that the Sabbath is to the soul. From this it is clear that Jesus expected his followers to keep the Sabbath after He ascended into heaven.

Jesus said, ‘If ye love me, keep my commandments’ (Jn. 14:15). Which are His commandments? Who was it that spoke on Mount Sinai? It was the Lord Jesus Himself, for He is the Word and the Revealer of the Father. Further Jesus clearly taught,

Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Mat. 5:19

The civil laws of Israel passed with the passing of the nation. The ceremonial laws which involved the sacrifices were first introduced after the fall and they passed with the offering of the great sacrifice on Calvary, but the Sabbath was there from the beginning and predated the fall. That is why it is included in the Ten Commandments spoken by the voice of God in the ears of all the people and then written with the finger of God on tables of stone. They were special and to be everlastingly binding and the standard by which men would be judged at the end of the world.

The early church kept the Christian Sabbath. They met for worship on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). You would expect that they would make their collections at the end of the week, when everyone got their wages, but Paul says specifically, ‘Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come’ (1 Cor. 16:1-2). John tells us that he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10). The day of Jesus’ resurrection was ever after called ‘the Lord’s day’ and to John it was a blessed day. A brief survey of the history of the church will show that when God’s day is most carefully kept the church is at its strongest and best. The writer to the Hebrews states, ‘There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God’ (Heb. 4:9).The word used for rest here in the Greek is sabbatismos, a Sabbath. Our Sabbaths here should be a foretaste of heaven, the eternal Sabbath.