As mentioned previously, I am not certain about keeping the Sabbath. Perhaps it is strict obedience to do so, but that implies much time to be exact and precise. It certainly is God’s Will to remember the Sabbath, but how Technical (Teknik in the Greek) is God?
Antinomianism is that Christians are freed by grace from obedience to the Law of Moses. That makes Mosaic Law debatable or even negligible. Moses wrote only what God decreed to him, and the “Ten Words” of God are His direct decrees written on stone for perpetuity.
Antinomianism has good intentions but is entirely wrong! Jesus said that he did not come to do away with the Law but fulfill it: “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom 3:10). That validates the perpetuity of the Law and the truth: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Mat 5:18). The Law is forever, like it or not!
To love God is to do His Will just as those who love their fathers do their fathers’ wills. Rather than look on the Ten Words as commands, the Christian would show his love for God by doing His “Ten Wills” for you. They are indeed the metrics of love. Rather than love (agape) as emotional, divine love is goodwill toward God and others.
The Ten Words (Commandments) are not ten works because they are either cognitive or the absence of work. By grace God gave us a list of thoughts and avoidances. The “shalt nots” are things not to do, and the others are ways to think, not work. They are the ergonomic way of loving God that the Greeks referred to as katergasomai — to accomplish with no mention of physical work.
Ergon in the Greek is physical work. Hence “works” are things that expend energy. Expending your own energy for salvation is vain work in that only by the propitiation of the blood of Jesus can anyone be saved.
Jesus did all the work as He lost virtue on the Cross to Power the regeneration of all mankind. The “virtue” that He lost was giving up His spiritual identity. Jesus gave up His divine Substance to save the empty souls of mankind. That was the efficacious work that paid for our wages of sin.
If the “Fourth Word,” or “Saying,” of Jesus (yes Jesus, because He is God) was simple: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exod 20:8). Examine that precept. Remember (zakar) is to be mindful. That is not physical work. It is cognitive only. It is “working out” the Will of God. It is having God and His Will in mind all that day in whatever is done!
God made that “work” easy. It was simply to do no work! God made his Will ergonomic for us. The Sabbath is literally an “intermission.” Intermission from what? Working. It is so simple — on one day of the week, do nothing to please the Lord.
The Jewish calendar is different than the Julian calendar. Their seventh day is their Sabbatical Day. Their day corresponds with the Sun. The Sabbath begins at eighteen minutes before sundown when the last work done was lighting the candles. The exact times of that have been calculated so that each observes the Sabbath at precisely the same time in their locale. The time changes because the setting of the Sun differs according to location and season.
To be in harmony with scripture, because God created the Moon and Sun on the fourth day and rested three days later, the Sabbath is on the seventh day measured from the new moons. For the Hebrews in Israel, the Sabbath was precise because of their proximity to the celestial axis of Jerusalem — the very navel of the world.
The time this minute (7:52 am in Bowling Green KY) is 3:52 pm in Jerusalem. It is Wednesday morning here and Wednesday evening there. The Sun set at 7:08 pm on Good Friday (Apr 15,, 2022) in Jerusalem. Thus, their Sabbath began at 6:50 pm on the day that Jesus died. Jesus died in the ninth hour or within sixty minutes of 3:00 pm.
Jesus was entombed on the evening of the Crucifixion. According to Josephus (yes, I am reading Josephus), the Law required that those crucified be buried before sunset. Hence, Jesus was buried sometime between 3:00 pm and 6:50 pm on Good Friday. His entombment was the day of rest, or His Sabbath, and surely it would correspond to the Sabbath Day which commenced at 6:50 pm.
Thus, just as God rested from the creation on the seventh day, Jesus rested from the re-creation on the Sabbath day. In Judaism and scripture, the Sabbath is the last day of the week.
Somehow Emperor Constantine thought that Sunday was a more appropriate day because of the Resurrection of Jesus. Hence, Sunday is thought of as the first day of the week, or a new beginning with the Resurrection of Christ. What he was thinking is unknown, but Sunday became the Lord’s Day. Certainly, Good Friday was our day that God worked for us, so that would make sense to the emperor.
On the Julian Calendar (Gregorian in the day of Constantine), Sunday is from midnight to midnight, literally the middle of the night wherever you are. Rather than celebrating light it seems to celebrate darkness.
There were no time zones in those days, so midnight was precisely between the setting and the rising of the Sun but was Rome focused. Rome was to them the locus of existence. The locus for the Hebrews was the Foundation Stone wherein the Creation occurred. That stone is now believed to be under the Dome of the Rock near where Jesus was crucified.
Technically, God’s Sabbath began on anno mundi time (the year of the world) and at the navel of the world, Jerusalem.
During the exodus from Egypt, the Sabbath was based on the setting of the Sun wherever they were. Thus, according to scripture, the Sabbath is flexible, but it always begins with the setting of the Sun regardless of proximity to Jerusalem. To this day, Jews celebrate the Sabbath wherever they are. In other words, in the Midwest of America, they begin the Sabbath eight hours after it technically begins.
Perhaps therefore, the exact time of resting is not the issue, but that one day of rest is what is so important. Constantine chose Sunday because it was the day dedicated to the Sun god, and the Romans had become accustomed to that day for reverence. Surely, Sunday was chosen as the Christian “Sabbath” because pagans could adapt to it so easily.
Technically, the Sabbath should begin at eighteen minutes before sundown in Jerusalem wherever you are.
God was lenient to allow the Hebrews to rest on Babylonian time and Egyptian time. The requirement was for rest for one day. In the West, that would mean that some of eight hours of that time would be on Sunday morning. If it is 6:50 am Sunday (the end of the Sabbath day) in Jerusalem, it is 10:50 pm Saturday here. So sincere Christians do rest part of the Sabbath just as the Hebrews would in Babylon or Egypt.
Time is relative. It is not for God but for man to schedule his life. It makes sense that the exact time is not so important but only the day of rest. The Sabbath can be wherever you are for God’s time is not our time.
Should Christians honor the Sabbath?
16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. 17 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. (Exod 30:16-17)
The Will of God was what? “The children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath.” Who are the children of Israel? The Abrahamic Covenant includes everyone, even Ishmaelites, as God covenanted with them as well. But this command was only for the children of Israel (Jacob). It is for those whose God is of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That includes Jesus and the promise of the Abrahamic Covenant was for his seed that was to be through Israel. Christians are of the seed of Jesus in a spiritual manner, as His Holy Spirit resides in them.
By the time of Christ, the only true “Israelites” left standing were the Judeans (Jews). A Christian, by adoption, is one who is a “Jew inwardly” (Rom 2:29). That applied to Constantine as Paul is speaking to the Romans and it is generalized to include all Christians. Therefore, Christians are to keep the Sabbath.
Some Christians get technical and are Sabbath keepers, but they too miss the mark in that they use local time. It is certainly acceptable to make Saturday your day of rest, and God would be okay with Saturday Sabbath keepers, but they keep the Sabbath on Saturday from 12:00 am to 12:00 pm. That is not the Sabbath per se to get technical; it is from Friday evening until Saturday evening.
The Jews were known for the precise keeping of the Law.
The Pharisees saw to that and condemned Jews even for technical reasons. Paul
implied, Let us not be so technical:
14 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, “There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day.” 15 The Lord then answered him, and said, “Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering?” (Luke 13:14-15)
Paul was saying, It is the spirit of the Law that is to be kept not the letter. Now look at the rest of what Paul said to the Romans, “But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom 2:29). Keeping the Sabbath is in the Spirit not in the actual work.
Technically, Sabbath keepers should not go to church because going is doing work of some sort. Jews to this day live in proximity to their synagogue so that they can walk to synagogue. That is a vain attempt to keep both the spirit and the letter of the Law, but they walk in futility because they are still working on the Sabbath by walking.
What may have Paul been implying? That a gentile should keep the spirit of the Law but not be so technical about it. Perhaps so long as there is a day of rest to revere God, then that is sufficient for Him. So, Christians begin their Sabbath at midnight a day later. God would be satisfied with the spirit of the Law even thought the letter is not met.
Sabbath keepers are Jewish in nature; they endeavor to keep the spirit and letter of the Law, but they fail at that as well. Sabbath keepers would still care for their animals. If the ox needed milked, they would milk because that would be cruel not to milk an animal on the Sabbath day.
Face it — Christians do not keep the letter of the Law and Jesus was okay with that. What He surely does have a problem with is not keeping the spirit of the Law. If your Sunday is your Sabbath, that would be okay with Him, according to what he told the hypocrites. The problem with many Christians is that even on Sunday they do not keep the spirit of the Law.
Sunday is for rest. God would be okay with our removing the ox from its stall; or us taking the car out of the garage and going to church. That much work is the spirit of the Law but not the letter.
Would He be as satisfied that you failed to assemble with the other Christians who are honoring the Sabbath?
Would He be content that you are so lazy and unmotivated that you sleep all day on the Sabbath? He prefers that you not do ergon work (physical) but katergazmai work. You can think on God and read scripture. You can consider the Word of God. Those things are not work and even if you take your “ox” out of its “stall” that is still okay!
Did Paul tell the Romans that they could go to the Coliseum on the Sabbath? Would it be okay for them to watch Roman gladiators battle for glory? Hopefully, you know that he did not; that would not be the spirit of the Law.
With that said, consider the Will of God on whatever day is your Sabbath, but have one day of rest. That is the spirit of the Law.
Employers often give at least Sunday off for rest. Even with that “generosity” Christians still do not rest.
One person told me that she could not miss work because she had to eat, but she would seldom go to church to honor the Bread of Life — Jesus — to give thanks for her Daily Bread. She would stay home and rest on her Sabbath, but would she “remember” the Sabbath and revere God that day?
She not only missed the letter of the Law, but the spirit of it as well. It is not only rest for you but for the pleasure of God to do His Will on that day.
(picture credit: The Guardian)
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