The Sabbath and the Lord's Day

Keeping commandments are not the way to salvation as the Pharisees soon found out who dismissed it as lesson not learned. There is no salvation in following any commands but one: The Greatest Commandment and its corollary - to love God and others. The problem, however, is not in the Ten Commandments; it lies within people. First off, God did not call the ten commandments, "commandments." They were "words of the covenant" (Exod 34:28). The Covenant is in reference to the Abrahamic.

Think of the Law of God, compared to Mosaic Law, as terms of the contract or covenant. Remember that the promise in the Abrahamic Covenant was twofold: (1) prosperity in Canaan and (2) eternal prosperity in Paradise. In my commentaries, I have concluded that Canaan land and heavenly Paradise is the same place, and both are the Garden of Eden in Paradise on Earth. Abraham was promised a Savior for the latter; God would become flesh and save mankind personally.

Calvinists conclude that the Abrahamic Covenant was without conditions; that people do not need do anything for salvation. That is correct, but their attitude should be changed. The Ten Words of the Covenant is a much better expression than "commandments" because the Hebrew word "XAC" (pronounced daw-baw'; BibleExplore), is more of an idea or precept (teaching) than a commandment. Commands are enforced whereas the student either accepts teachings or not using the faculty of the will. The Ten Words are not what Christians must do, but what they are willing to do. The only thing anyone "must do" in the Bible is to be born again (John 3:7).

Keeping the Ten Words does not obtain salvation. Those who thought so were called "vipers" by Jesus. The Ten Words are what Christians should be willing to do. Do you see the difference? It's between having to and willingness. We find from the New Testament that the Ten Words are metrics for love. By an attitude of willingness to do Ten Things demonstrates love in Two Ways. (I.e., the first four commandments are Ways to fulfill the Greatest Commandment, and the last six are Ways to love others, and since loving God is more difficult to communicate, it is demonstrated vicariously by loving others as yourself.)

The Ten Words are Ways to love God. For what? For saving the souls of degenerate men and women. Should not people have gratitude for God saving them by suffering death Himself? The Ten Words are Ways to show God gratitude for his grace. The first four are grace toward God and the last six are grace toward others. Those who neglect the Ten Teachings in the Ten Words neglect God in ten ways. 

Few Christians argue with the commandments with the exception of one - the teaching to "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God" (Exod 20:8-10a). Note what that teaching does not say:  

You must go to church.

You must not do any work.

 You must not have any fun.

 And many other hidden "you must nots" which the Pharisees added! 

It does say that the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord. “Sabbath” means "to rest" (Online Etymology). God rests on that day, not Christians! What are Christians to do on the sabbath? "Keep it holy." How can that be done? Hebrew - YCW - keep it morally clean. Keeping the sabbath is keeping the teachings of God which are the Ten Words. In other words, don't sin on the sabbath, and let God rest. That's a fine thing to do on all days of the week! 

God has a job. He generates, what is called "create." He creates all things "very good" (Gen 1:31), using His own attribute "goodness" or virtue. As God keeps his creatures safe, virtue flows from Him, as in the case of Jesus healing the woman with a blood issue (Mark 5:30). When Jesus died, to cover all the sins of the world, he healed the blood issue of all mankind - the virus of sin infused into our forebears. Jesus's loss of virtue drained him until he experienced death. God's Person died for mankind, but the Creator aspect and Jesus's Spirit experienced death on the cross. 

Resurrection was Jesus's virtue restored. God did the hardest work which He ever did when He died on the cross; even more difficult than creating the universe! That did not drain God's goodness as much as the blood sacrificed for all mankind, then he faced the Devil and dumped all of the sins of the world off in Hell. All that work was done on Friday evening and Saturday. On Sunday morning Jesus's finished his work and then it was time to rest. With Jesus's death on the cross and resurrection, God no longer rested on Saturday but Sunday. Christians are to honor that day and keep it holy.

Jesus was transfigured in preparation of death. The cross transfigured mankind - those willing it. The Sabbath was to honor the Creator; the Lord's Day - Sunday - is to honor Jesus. Christians can honor both days, and are called to honor all days of the week by keeping God's Word. The Lord's Day is a day of remembrance for what God did on the cross. Communion is taking the elements in remembrance of Jesus. (Luke 22:19). Remembrance is recollection of what Jesus did on the cross. The elements are symbolic of God's Body and Blood. The Lord's Day is honoring the time when God offered His own Flesh and Blood on the behalf of all mankind.

 Why would Christians not want to honor the Lord on His day? Why would they not want to be in the Lord's House in sanctuary from the world? Why would they prefer to work and pleasure rather than honor the Lord? Perhaps they did not take Jesus's death seriously!   

I have written many times that the Fourth Word - "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain," means to not take Jesus's purpose (dying for mankind) flippantly. In six days, God generated everything, but on the sixth day, he generated mankind. That would be on a very good Friday. Jesus regenerated mankind on Good Friday, but that time while God seemed to rest in the tomb, He was far from resting. Handling sin is hard work, and on Sunday, Jesus was regenerated. His work, although finished on the cross by his flesh (John 19:3), his Ghost left him and carried on. Jesus's Ghost, absent from his body, carried all the sins to Hell. Finally, on Sunday, God in three substances was finally able to rest.

Unknown to the reader, this commentary was from the prophet Isaiah who truly understood the Sabbath:

If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words (Isa 58:13).

The sabbath is for rest and honor, not for pleasure. Pleasure came from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Rest came from the Tree of Life. Honoring the sabbath, of course, is to honor God but people reap the rewards as well. Note that the sabbath was "not for doing your own ways" nor "for your own pleasure", nor even to "speak your own words." It is for keeping God's Words - all of the Ten Words. The Lord’s Day is for the same.  Grateful Christians will do that!