Sabbath In The Old Testament
Don Waterhouse  
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   I doubt whether you as an individual, unless you are astute... you study, you mark your Bible, you think about it. I doubt whether you could prove to anyone why you keep the weekly Sabbath. The new STP, which is the Systematic Theology Project, which embodies the doctrines of the Worldwide Church of God in written form... spent 33 pages explaining why we keep the Sabbath.

   I wonder how many pages you or I could write from memory or simply opening the Bible, maybe with a concordance, and explain why we believe what we believe in. Because the majority of mankind does not believe in God's Sabbath, and there must be a reason why there are religious bodies that also claim to prove their beliefs from the Bible and staunchly believe in other days, do not believe in the keeping of the seventh day Sabbath. You believe in it. Why do we believe in it?

   The Worldwide Church of God continues to observe the 7th day Sabbath as did Jesus in the New Testament church. The Sabbath was established by God in creation week. It was made for man, it was reaffirmed by Jesus. It was taught by the apostles, and the Sabbath was kept down through the centuries by faithful Christians.

   The importance of the Sabbath in the Old Testament cannot be disputed. And that's where I'm going to be spending my time today. Its continued observance is exemplified in the New Testament, which confirms that Sabbath keeping is a fundamental practice of Jesus and the New Testament Apostolic Church. I'm going to be reading sections of this. I'm going to try not to make it too boring, but I'm going to be reading sections of it because they have it worded quite well and they don't waste a lot of words.

   The original twofold functions of the Sabbath in the Old Testament... Now, I might, I might phrase it this way. I might ask you a question: What do you feel were the functions or the purposes of Sabbath observance in the Old Testament?

   Now if you read any material written by most people who would address the subject, they would normally say that the Sabbath in the Old Testament was given to the nation of Israel and that it was symbolic and that it was ceremonial, that it only had to do with the temple and it had to do with sacrifices and it was a day on which more sacrifices were made and so forth. And it only had to do with a period of time from Mount Sinai, which was about 1487 BC when God gave a covenant which included the Sabbath. And the time when Jesus Christ qualified as our Messiah and as our Lord and somehow paid for or fulfilled or sort of did the laws, the keeping of the Sabbath and so forth for us. And that would be overall the general consensus and concept of most literature.

   But I think we can show quite conclusively from the Bible that the original function of the Sabbath was much the same way as you keep it today. The original function of the Sabbath was not ceremonial. The original function of the Sabbath had nothing to do as such with ceremony. Now we do find that later on ceremonies were introduced on the Sabbath for specific reasons, but not originally. They were introduced later on for a set period of time, for a short period of time, to kind of regather God's people and reaffirm God's intent for his people. But the ceremonies only had a short life.

   The Sabbath number one provided needed rest for the body and the mind. And that was God's original intention, and we'll go into it and show you. And number 2, the Sabbath gave an opportunity for closer contact with God through study and prayer. And basically, that's why you keep it today, isn't it? You keep it, of course, because God said to, but what are the functions? What are the reasons for keeping it today?

   While it is a simple straightforward command from God to keep the Sabbath, and that's the only thing we need to know that we should keep it, I think it's more important that we understand the purpose and the intent for keeping the Sabbath. Why did God command it in the first place? The purpose behind most laws is clear, and that one which lies behind the Old Testament commands about the Sabbath is evident. Once this purpose is understood, it becomes obvious why no New Testament restatement of the basic command was necessary or even likely.

   Now that's one thing that causes some religious people to get hung up is they say, 'Well, we can see clearly from the Old Testament that God intended Israel at least, or they might say the Jews at least, to keep the seventh day Sabbath.' I mean, there's no dispute, there's no question in the Old Testament at all. It's very clear. It's clear who it was for. It is extremely clear as to when it was and what the purpose of it was. But now when you come to the New Testament, you don't find very much written about the Sabbath. And there are reasons for that, definite reasons for it, which really should require an entire sermon to explain that.

   The New Testament discusses or the New Testament discussions and examples concern themselves with one subject. That is not whether or not you should keep the Sabbath, but what? How to keep it. That's what the New Testament addresses. Now there is one command in the New Testament, and really this is the only one you need in the entire Bible, whether you had one in the Old Testament, whether you had no more in the New Testament, here is one command and it's only required that we have one command that we keep the Sabbath. Can you think what that is? Mark 2:27 and 28.

   And these are the words of Jesus Christ, and certainly if anyone has the authority to tell us which day we should keep and how to worship Him, it should be Jesus Christ because as we have seen very clearly, he was the God of the Old Testament that originated covenants with mankind. He was the one who revealed the laws of God to mankind, and he is the authority of the New Testament.

   So Jesus Christ said in Mark 2:27-28, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.' And I think we can conclude several things from that, such as: The Sabbath was made, I should put it this way, maybe, the Sabbath was made for man's use or for his value, for his restoration of body, mind, and so forth. It was made for man's benefit number 2, not for the benefit of God necessarily. Some people have the idea that God made the Sabbath as a burden, but Christ said the Sabbath was made for, meaning for the benefit, for the value, for the positive aspects of man, not for a negative reason whatsoever.

   So Christ said, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.' I don't know about you, I think you would agree with me that that is a very clear instruction as well as command by example from Jesus Christ that we are to keep the Sabbath. Let's, let's not stop there. We'll spend next Sabbath going into the New Testament. Let's spend today primarily in the Old Testament.

   What does the word Sabbath mean? Well, if you take a concordance or any kind of Bible help and look it up, you'll find the word Sabbath is basically an anglicized word. It is a Hebrew word that has been anglicized. It is it's not been changed much from its original sound or its original verbiage at all. The English word Sabbath is basically a Hebrew word. And it means rest or repose. That's all the word means. It does not mean a certain day of the week.

   Now, in most of your other languages, your romantic languages, you do have a word that sounds very much like Sabbath for the 7th day of the week. In fact, Mr. Marrs was showing me the other day on his watch. He's got a Seiko watch, has a calendar on it. And when it comes around to the Sabbath, it has a Sabbath on there. It doesn't have Saturday or Sabbath day. It has SAB something and it stands for Sabados or Sabbath. And it's kind of interesting that they would have that on the watch like that.

   And in the Spanish language, the word for the 7th day of the week is Sabados. I don't know what it is in other languages, but it means exactly what it says, a day of rest. Now today, when you when you use the word Sabbath or we use the word Sabbath or you read the word Sabbath... Now one of my boys is sitting on the couch this morning and thumbing through I ordered this book on law through Reader's Digest or one of them, a real thick book on practical law for the layman, and they sent a little book with it, which were ridiculous laws of various states and cities of the United States which are no longer enforced, crazy, you know, little laws like two people cannot dance cheek to cheek in Cucamonga, California or something like that. And ridiculous little silly laws of bygone ages that don't apply today.

   And why did I bring that up? There was one in there on the Sabbath or rest. Maybe it'll come back to my mind here in a minute. I'll go ahead with this and see if it comes back. Roy, do you remember why, why I brought that up? He doesn't remember either. OK, we'll just go on then. It must have not been extremely important. Or he wasn't listening, one or the other.

   But anyway, the Sabbath means rest or repose. It doesn't mean a certain day of the week or anything of the sort. This Hebrew noun is itself evidently related to the verb 'to stop, to rest or to cease.' If you take the verb part of that word, it means to stop or to rest or to cease. This same verb is found in many other passages such as Lamentations 5:14. The verb part of the word sabbath... And it says 'the elders have ceased from the gate,' using the same Hebrew basic word, but in the verb form. The elders have ceased from the gate or they have left it or they have stopped, you know, being there, or they have gone from it.

   They have ceased from being there. Ceasing is exactly what God did on the 7th day of creation week in Genesis chapter 2. So the word Sabbath is used... And actually in Genesis 2:2, and we can turn back here if you'd like to. And just stay there because I'm going to bring it up again. In Genesis 2 about the Sabbath verses 1 and 2, 'The heavens and the earth were finished.' Then in verse 2, 'And on the 7th day, God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the 7th day from all his work which he had made.'

   'God blessed the 7th day, he sanctified it, because that in it, he had rested from all his work which he had done or which he had made.' Now that word therefore 'rested' is the Hebrew word SABBATHED. It's the verb form of the word Sabbath. God Sabbathed or God ceased or God rested. That's what the word means.

   So I think from that definition we can see that the word Sabbath does not mean a day of the week. It doesn't mean go to church or it does not mean offer an idol or anything else. It simply means rest or stop or cease or repose, all those various words that basically mean the same thing.

   Now, by definition, if you want a definition for the word as it is used in the Bible, you might turn to Leviticus 23 and verse 3. Hold your finger in Genesis 2 and just turn over here to Leviticus 23. And here would be a definition of the day, not the word, but a definition of how that word is applying to a day. Leviticus 23, and in verse 3 (Leviticus 23:3): 'Six days shall work be done, but on the 7th day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.'

   So there we have a definition that it is a period of time of approximately 24 hours, reckoned from sunset Friday until sunset Saturday evening. And we can prove how many of you know how to prove when a day begins and when a day ends from the Bible? Now, you know, many Jews believe that it begins at 6 o'clock. Now why in the world do they believe 6 o'clock? You got me, unless basically that's about an average sunset time and that's the way they can get all people, you know, kind of started at the same time. That might be one reason. I'm not sure.

   But, you can basically prove from the Bible how a day begins and how a day ends. So if you want to know when to begin the Sabbath and when to end the Sabbath, look to the Bible. The Bible does not say a certain time of the day. The Bible does not say sunset. So why do we keep sunset? Now where does the Bible say that we are to keep the Sabbath from sunset to sunset. Why do you do it? Why do I do it?

   Well, let's, let's take a quick look here, just a couple of interesting things. We might turn first of all to Genesis. And you'll find the entire first chapter of Genesis points out that a day is reckoned from evening to evening in reality. Well, it says the day, the night portion is from evening till morning, and then the daylight portion is from morning until the following evening, or we might say an entire day or a 24 hour period. Christ says a day is 12 hours long, so a night is also 12 hours long. And 12 and 12 equal 24.

   So a 24 hour day, as we call it, meaning the night portion and the day portion is from the time of the evening, that is the darkness, the previous darkness of the previous evening until the following evening. In verse 5 of Genesis 1 (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23 and 31), 'Evening and morning were the first day.' Then we can go down to verse 8, 'Evening and morning were the second day.'

   So it shows then from this scripture that a day begins when? The previous evening. Now, if the next day also begins the previous evening to that day, when does the day end? Well, just before the next one begins, which should also just be before evening. So evening to evening equals a 24 hour day in the Bible, evening to evening. You'll find that in verse 13 you'll find in verse 19, in verse 23. Scattered throughout the first chapter and find it in verse 31.

   Now, turn to Leviticus, you're still in Leviticus or should be, if you've got several fingers on your hand. Leviticus 23, verse 32. Relative to the day of atonement, which is a day. Now let's notice how God reckons a day. And this is the only place that I know of other than Genesis that really pinpoints how a day is reckoned. In verse 32 of Leviticus 23 (Leviticus 23:32), relative to the day of atonement in the 9th day of the month at even, and this is when God says to celebrate the day of atonement, 'From even unto even shall you celebrate your Sabbath.' From evening until evening shall you celebrate your Sabbath.

   Now, the only reason why, as far as I know that we can say from sunset to sunset is that that term evening applies to that general period of time. From the time the sun goes down, that dusk period just before dark is the end of the day. So I would say if you want to be safe on the Sabbath, that you want to begin to observe it by sunset. Now, I don't think you can prove from the Bible that you've got to start right at the minute of sunset. I mean, what about a minute after sunset? It's not yet dark, is it? No, you've got a dusk period and then you've got dark.

   So it's kind of hard to say exactly what God meant by evening. Did he mean the dusk period? Did he mean the sunset period, or did he mean the dark period? I don't know if you can prove that. I would just simply say the way I would do it is I would start the earliest time about sunset, and it is traditional. And it is traditional with the Church of God that we begin our Sabbath at sunset. And that way everyone you know, can start it about the same time because frankly, if we don't have some time to start it, we would be beginning the Sabbath at all different times, especially in bad weather.

   How would you know when it's evening? In the last few months, you know, you and I would have broken the Sabbath many times if we didn't start at sunset because we didn't see the sun sometimes for 10 or 12 or 15 days. How would you know when dusk came if you didn't follow the clock or time? So I would suggest we start about sunset, and that's when we do it. Try to have everything done and completed and shopping and, you know, car washed and all this kind of thing, and the house cleaned up prior to sunset and then keep it from sunset to sunset or from evening to evening. OK, that's how you prove when a day starts and when the day ends.

   So, the Sabbath end would basically be from evening to evening or sunset to sunset. The initial and cardinal passage about the Sabbath is one we've already read Genesis 2, which is the creation account, and it says 'The heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them,' and on the 7th day, God ended his work which he had made. And God rested on the 7th day from all His work which he had made, and God blessed the 7th day and he sanctified it. So from the beginning, this is long before there were Israelites, and this is long before there were Jews because there were not any Jews until Judah was born. And there were not any Israelites until Jacob had children.

   And that was quite a long time after the creation week. Who knows how long? Well, we don't know exactly how long. But we find that the Sabbath was created by God, not for Israel, not at the time of Israel, but back at the time when God reestablished the heavens and the earth and rested on that day, Genesis chapter 2. So now let's ask this question: Just from that verse or from that chapter in Genesis, who would you say the Sabbath was created for?

   Well, Christ said it was made for man, didn't he? What man was around? Now Adam was around and that day, the Sabbath day, his wife was around. So you might say the Sabbath was created for Adam and Eve. Who came from Adam and Eve? Isn't Eve the mother of all man? Sure. The mother of all man, Adam, the father of all men. So in reality, if you wanted to break it down that way, the Sabbath was originally intended for the children of Adam and Eve, which is all mankind, or we could say the Sabbath was created for universal and for cosmopolitan observance by all people, all tribes, all colors, man, woman, and child of all ages.

   Now that's the original account of the creation of the Sabbath, its original intent and for whom it was created. Well, there are a lot of verses we could add here. Isaiah 66:23 is one, which shows that all nations will be observing the Sabbath during the millennial reign of Christ. So along with Genesis 2, you can add a number of them, such as Isaiah 66:23, which point out that God's original intention and when God restores his original intention in the millennium, all mankind will keep the Sabbath.

   So there are at least two verses to show the Sabbath is not just a church doctrine. The Sabbath is not just for us. The Sabbath is not just for the church of God. It is not just an Old Testament law. It was not originally intended just for the nation of Israel, nor for the tribe of Judah. It is a universal law for all mankind, and in the times of restoration of all things, the millennial age, when Christ is back on this earth, the Sabbath will be kept, it says, by all nations, all men around the face of this earth.

   Now, let's get into thesome of the nitty gritty of the Sabbath and turn to Exodus chapter 16. Let's notice how important the Sabbath is. We find Exodus 16, the case of manna and so forth. And this points out more than I would say any other chapter of the Bible, the great importance that God places on the specific period of time for the Sabbath. Now, how many of you have heard and if you have the idea before you became converted that a Sabbath could be any day of the week?

   Now you do have at least one prominent religious organization that teaches that you should keep all days holy and that there is no specific 24 hour period of time that should be set aside as the Sabbath. Well, brethren, why did God go to all the trouble? Not only to inspire a chapter to be written like this, but to go through all the trouble that he went through with several million people and strangers to show how important a specific day was. It involved killing people. It involved a lot of people who died. It involved a lot of disappointments and fatherless children and so forth. But God was going to prove a point that he had one particular 24 hour period that he called the Sabbath.

   Let's notice how specific God was. We certainly need not read the entire thing, but let's... It's relative to the manna and so forth. Let me just cut in here. Beginning of verse 22 (Exodus 16:22): 'It came to pass that on the 6th day, which would be Friday, as we call it today. Israel gathered twice as much bread, 2 Omers for 1 man, and all the rulers of the congregation came and they told Moses about it.'

   And he said unto them, 'This is that which the Lord has said.' Now why did they come and tell Moses about it? Why were they concerned? Because God had told them, 'Don't gather any more on any specific day than is necessary for your family for that 24 hour period. Only gather enough for your family. Don't leave any over.'

   OK, they were concerned because people were all gathering twice as much as they normally did on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they gathered twice as much manna, the bread from heaven that God miraculously gave to Israel. So they came in, they told Moses. And Moses said, 'This is that which the Lord has said, Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake today, that is on Friday, seethe that which you will seethe today and that which remains over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.'

   And they laid it up till the morning as Moses said, and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. Now, what happened on the other days? Any other day of the week? Well, if they kept any over, if they had gathered any additional and had not used it, if they had gathered more than they needed, you will find that it would stink. Kind of a curse for them if they were greedy, and God would cause it to rot, would decay real quickly and stink.

   But now on the Sabbath day, they had already gathered twice as much as they needed. They used and baked with part of it and saved some over for the following day, and it did not stink, a definite miracle from God on that day to prove which day was the Sabbath. They laid it up till the morning. It did not stink. Verse 25, Moses said, 'Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Today you shall not find it in the field.' So we find one other thing: They not only could gather twice as much and it did not stink when they held it over for another day, God didn't send any on the Sabbath. But he sent it on all the other days of the week, but God would not send any on the Sabbath day again to pinpoint which was his holy day. God didn't work on that day. He didn't work to send the manna.

   Now, the question might come up, does God keep the Sabbath today? Do you think God keeps it? I won't ask you to raise your hands because none of us knows. We'll have to wait around and ask God. We don't know whether God keeps the Sabbath. Genesis 2 says God created the Sabbath for man, didn't he? Is God controlled by time and space? And you know, does God have 24 hour periods of time?

   Moses said, 'Eat that today for today is the Sabbath, six days you shall gather it, but on the 7th day, which is the Sabbath, in it, there shall be none.' And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the 7th day to gather manna, and they didn't find any. And God said to Moses, 'How long do they refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?'

   Now, let me ask this question. First of all, does God say here that the Sabbath is a part of his commandments and laws? Yes, obviously. When were the laws of God given to Israel? Later, 4 chapters later. In Genesis, excuse me, Exodus chapter 20 through 24, we find the 10 Commandment laws, the judgments, the national statutes, and so forth all given to God, and these in turn, the most important ones were put inside the Ark and the secondary ones were put on the outside of the Ark. Inside of the Ark was what? The very, very important laws of God, including the Sabbath. That was kept safe, that was kept secure. That was extremely important to all of Israel.

   Now those laws were given in a codified or a written form for a nation to carry with them, like a book of laws. In Exodus chapter 20. Now, how many people teach and believe that the Sabbath did not exist, that it was not a law or a command of God prior to the giving of that law on Mount Sinai? Most all the Protestant world, most all of it.

   Now Exodus chapter 16 is clear evidence without any question whatsoever that the Sabbath already existed. We find that it began to exist in Genesis 2. And it existed all the way through the lives of the patriarchs of the Old Testament that is in Genesis, men like Enoch, right on up to the time of Abraham, right on up to the time of Moses, and now we are in the latter years of the prophet Moses. And the Sabbath has existed all this period of time, and God calls it in verse 28, 'How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?' commandments referring to those that he later calls the 10 or the codified 10 laws or commandments, and then the law refers to all the other ones, commandments and all the other laws of God.

   The Sabbath has always been a part of God's law. And it was only given to a nation in a codified form in Exodus chapter 20. In verse 29 (Exodus 20:29-30), 'See for that the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, he gives you on the 6th day, the bread of 2 days.' And then in verse 30, the people rested on the 7th day. And the house of Israel called the name of it manna meaning 'what's it,' and it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

   OK, there is then proof and later on because the people would not keep that particular day like they should, some went out and worked on that day. Some went out and built industrial fires on that day and so forth. God did have to take the lives of some, as I stated earlier, because they would not recognize a specific day. So brethren, how important to God is it that we keep the exact time period? Well, it's so important that God took some lives later on if we had time to read of them because they would not keep a specific period of time. So it's extremely important to God.

   The thing I want to point out here though is number one, there God lays great importance on a specific period of time. And number 2, the Sabbath was commanded before God's covenant with Israel. It is an eternal spiritual law. The additional significance of the account of Exodus 16 lies in the fact that it shows the supreme importance of the Sabbath to God. The fact that God revealed and maintained the identity of His Sabbath to Israel by the daily and the weekly miracles of the manna, along with a clear example of the types of punishment meted out upon those who broke the Sabbath as recorded in these verses, reemphasizes that God's original Sabbath command was a law of extreme importance.

   The fact that the events described in Exodus 16 actually occurred in Israel before the institution of the covenant at Sinai corroborates the truth that the Sabbath was not, as some contend, only part of God's specific pact with that nation and hence to no other people. So we've already covered that, but I'll give you the official word on it.

   OK, then later on in Exodus 20, God gives it as part of the codified law. Had it written by the hand of God on a flat piece of stone, and then it in turn was to be kept with Israel through all ages. And that only lends extra weight to the fact of the importance of all of God's laws and at this time, specifically the Sabbath.

   Now, In Exodus 20 verse 10 is a little further kind of an interesting point anyway, showing that the Sabbath was a communal responsibility. It was not just a responsibility of the head of the household, or it was not just a religious day for the religious leaders of the nation, but it was a communal day. We find that God said not only were the men to refuse work, heads of household, adult members of the family, but we find that he also says that children, the manservant, the woman servant and the animals... So it was to be a total day of rest for all living things.

   And I don't think you can you can make a dog keep the Sabbath. In fact, our dog will never keep the Sabbath even if he was spiritual because he got killed a couple of nights ago. So he's hardened and stiff and rotting now. But, if you have a dog, you can try until you turn green in the face and you can't make a dog keep the Sabbath. You can't make an ox keep the Sabbath, but you can surely refuse to work that animal on the Sabbath, and that's what God means here.

   Exodus chapter 20, in verse 10 (Exodus 20:10): 'The 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it you shall not do any work, you,' that is the head of the household, 'nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant.' Now in our day and time, we do have a few members who do have manservants and maidservants who live in South America. We have some who live in Ceylon in India. And they do have household servants that they pay a certain wage to. We have a few in the military overseas who still have household servants in Japan and elsewhere, and they are not to employ those people on the Sabbath.

   If they're in the household at that time, it is to be a day when they are free. They're not to be paid for that day. They're not to be required to cook and work, you know, and clean on that day. They're free to go their way or if they choose to to keep the Sabbath. 'Neither you, your son, daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor'... notice, interesting point... 'nor the stranger.'

   Now right there is further proof that the Sabbath was not just for Israel, because who were the strangers? We'll go back to the early account of Exodus. And you'll find God said, well, you know, all Israel come out of bondage and said, 'If there be any strangers among you,' any who were not Israelites, is what the word stranger meant. Any who were Egyptians or any who were of other tribes who might be living in that area who are not Israelites, who are not of the tribe of Israel.

   He said they could come out with you. He said they cannot keep the Passover though, unless the males are circumcised, and then they can keep the Passover. And now here in the case of the 10 Commandments and the Sabbath in particular, God says not only is the head of the household, the son and daughter, the children of the Israelite head of household, the animals that he has, the maidservants and the manservants that work for him, and any strangers that he has with him.

   Any strangers, and some of these strangers, you know, worked as servants, what we might call kind of a slave or a helper, and were dependent upon the wealthier Israelites, and they traveled and they lived with them and they had abodes on their property and so forth. And God says, don't let the stranger work.

   Now, what do the Jews do today? They have a word for anyone who is a stranger. I don't recall what it is. Anyone who is a non-Jew, they have a particular Hebrew word for it. And they, they will have this person come in and if they're orthodox, and I know they did this in Chicago, particularly in the Jewish sections of Skokie and Evanston and so forth up in there. And when they would go into synagogue they'd come back home and they would want, you know, the lights turned on or they would want something mixed or they would want something maybe prepared for them, you know, or some menial task which they would not do on the Sabbath, they would call this particular individual in who was non-Jewish or what we would call in the Bible, a stranger.

   And have them do it for them. What does the 10 Commandments say? It says 'Neither you, your son, daughter, manservant, maidservant, cattle, nor your stranger which is within your gates.' So that proves further brethren, that the Sabbath, even from the time of codification, was intended for more people than Israelites. So don't let anybody ever tell you that the, that the 10 Commandments of Sabbath or any of these laws like this were, were directed just to Israel at all.

   You will find the word in Exodus 20:8, a very interesting word, and if you have not heard this before or not marked it, I think you ought to do it. And that is the first word of verse 8. It says, 'Remember.' Now if you look at your kid and you say, 'Now look, Joel, don't you remember?' meaning that Israel already knew about it. And we know they knew about it. Exodus 16, man, some of them lost their lives back then because they didn't do it. They got in trouble with God because they didn't do it.

   We go right on back to the time of Moses and Abraham and so forth, we find the Sabbath was remembered by the people of God, and by the servants of God, and by Israel earlier before they went into bondage. Joseph and Jacob and the families thereof were servants of God. They knew those laws. So God says, 'Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy,' showing that that Sabbath they had always been known about, but in this case, many in Israel had forgotten. And God says, 'Because you have forgotten, I want you to remember.' Therefore, I'm gonna write it down so you can read it, so you can look at it and remember it.

   The Sabbath was not instituted here for the first time. Now there is an interesting little argument. Turn to Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah 9, and this argument is brought up by some, saying that, well, in this particular case, talking to Judah or to Israel, God used a word, used the word 'made known unto them, made known unto them.' Let me turn to that. And some have said, 'Well, because God says he made known unto Israel the Sabbath, that was the first time they knew about it.'

   OK, let's, let's read this. Nehemiah chapter 9. Beginning in verse 13 (Nehemiah 9:13): 'You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right commandments and true laws, good statutes and commandments,' now referring back to Exodus 20, 'and made known unto them, your holy Sabbath. And commanded them, precepts, statutes, laws by the hand of Moses, your servant.'

   Now what did Nehemiah mean when he says, referring to the time of Moses and God revealing his law and having it codified, use the word, 'You made known unto them the Holy Sabbath?' Some have used that scripture to try to prove that they never knew about the Sabbath before Exodus 20, but I think we've already proven from chapter 16 of Exodus that they did know about it. And they knew about it so well that God said he would punish them for breaking it. So they knew well enough about the Sabbath.

   It simply says he made it known to them. In other words, he made known to them something they had forgotten. They had considered it of less importance. They had set it aside during a few years of several hundred years of bondage. So God did not create the Sabbath at Sinai, but rather made it fully known at that time.

   Now go to Exodus 31. Exodus 31, and we find that the Sabbath is a sign. You might ask yourself, what, why is the Sabbath a sign? Why didn't God choose some other day of the week or why didn't God choose some of the law as a sign? Why didn't God say, well, um, uh, you know, the, the, the 6th commandment is a sign between me and my people? Or why didn't God say, well, the day of Atonement will be the sign between me and my people? Why didn't he say circumcision would be the sign?

   Exodus 31, speaking of the Sabbath, beginning in verse 12. Come to verse 13 (Exodus 31:13), God told Moses, 'Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, verily my Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign.' Now here God does include some of the holy days, but not just the holy days per se. 'It is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you, and you shall keep the Sabbath. It is holy unto you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death, for whosoever does any work thereon, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'

   'Six days shall work be done. But the Sabbath is a day of rest, holy to God. Whosoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It's a sign between me,' God says, 'and the children of Israel forever. For in 6 days, God made heaven and earth, and on the 7th day he rested and was refreshed.'

   Now that seems to lend quite a bit of authority to keeping the Sabbath. I mean, when God Himself says, if you defile it, I will personally kill you. Now, frankly, I'm glad I live in this age and not in ancient Israel. Some of us could be dead, you know that? If we lived in ancient Israel and defiled it maybe even as we defile it today. And God has mercy waiting for us to repent. There's the difference.

   OK. Exodus 31, we find that the Sabbath is made a specific sign. It is the Hebrew word, ot OT. It is a sign of the special relationship between God and Israel. Now in the past, God had had other special signs. We find at the time of the flood God had the rainbow as a special sign between him and mankind. And then later on with Abraham, God had circumcision as a special sign between him and Abraham and the children of Abraham. Now we find a special covenant with Israel.

   Now this is not a covenant with mankind, brethren. This is a covenant with Israel. Now, don't confuse this covenant in Exodus 31 with the 10 Commandment laws in Exodus 20. They're separate. Both of them include the Sabbath, but they are separate circumstances. In Exodus 20 are the codified laws that God had given for universal application. And later in Exodus 31 is what we call the Sabbath covenant. It was a special covenant that God made with the house of Israel, or with the tribe of Israel, including the Jews. Now he did not make that covenant with any other nation. There was no other nation that had the Sabbath as a sign between them and God. But yet the Sabbath was a command for all nations, but it was not a sign between them and God. Main reason is because nobody else kept it anyway. So we don't have to confuse that issue.

   Why did God single out the Sabbath as a sign? Have you ever thought about that? God has a reason for doing what he's doing. OK, if you wanted something to be special between you and another person, or if you were God and you wanted something very special between you and a nation, you would want it to be an item or an element or a commodity that would stand out that nobody else knew about or kept, wouldn't you? And now if everybody kept the Sabbath, how could the Sabbath be a sign between Israel and God if everybody kept it? What if only one other nation kept it? How could it be a sign between Israel and God? It couldn't be.

   It was a sign between Israel and God because only Israel kept God's Sabbath. Now, you'll find if you study historical accounts much at all, you'll find that other nations, including numerous Gentile nations or heathen nations, it might be a better term, did observe other 10 commandments of God. Hammurabi's law. Various other codified laws like that were kept by other nations, by other peoples, by different dynasties. But no other nations kept the Sabbath. So God chose the Sabbath as a special day between him and his people. No one else kept the Sabbath day. It was the one law of God that would make Israel stand out above all other nations.

   Now in this same chapter and the same verses we've read, Exodus 31, we find the word perpetual used. Exodus 31 and in verse 16 (Exodus 31:16), 'The Sabbath is to be observed throughout your generations for a perpetual covenant.' What does the word perpetual mean? Well, doesn't mean forever? Are everlasting? Yes, that's what it means. In fact, if you look it up in the dictionary, it means lasting forever or eternal. In fact, God uses another word in the next sentence. He says, 'It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.' Forever and perpetual, of course, mean the same thing.

   Now, how many of you ever have ever heard or maybe read some dissident material that has said that the word forever... The word forever refers to a period of time that has a beginning and an end, but it's only a temporary period of time. This is information in print if you want to read it. How many of you ever heard the expression that forever refers only to a limited period of time? I have. I've said it. And interestingly, it means that. But it also means something else.

   Now, in the English language, when you and I use the word forever, what do we mean? Well, now when you were a teenager or maybe an early 20, you know, and you told your girl, 'I'll love you forever' and you knew that you were lying. Now forever then meant, you know, until another girl comes along or until the conditions extend no longer that it extend now no longer exists. That's what you meant forever.

   Now hopefully later on when we took our marriage vows and we um you know, said that we would be married forever, we meant it. Now what did or did we mean it? What do you mean forever? We knew we were going to die sometime. So forever meant until we die. How does God use the word forever? How does he use the word forever in the Bible?

   The main word that is used forever is the Hebrew word olam, O-L-A-M. Now, interestingly, you'll find this word used in two different ways. If you check in Exodus 29:28 relative to the sacrificial and ceremonial laws, you'll find that Moses pointed out that the sacrifices were to be kept by Israel forever. Then why don't we keep them today? Well, one reason is because we can go to Hebrews chapter 10 and we find out that Christ inspired the apostle Paul to point out that sacrifices today are of no value today.

   They have no purpose. And even if we wanted to, we could not sacrifice because Paul points out there must be a temple. There must be an altar. There must be a Levitical priesthood he makes it extremely clear in chapter 10 and 11, in chapter 7. So we see even then from Bible example that forever does not mean for all eternity.

   Now we read about forever in Exodus 31. It says the Sabbath is to be kept as a sign between me and my people forever. What did God mean? For some who no longer keep the Sabbath feel that the word forever meant that it stopped in the New Testament times. Of course there is kind of an interesting little phrase in there it says 'observe forever throughout your generations.' And we still have generations going on, don't we?

   OK, what does the word forever mean? We can see that relative to sacrifices forever meant until time for the sacrifices to end - is the way the Hebrew word is used. When it comes to the Sabbath and other 10 Commandment laws of God, forever means for all eternity, or for as long as there are people, or mankind, or Israelites.

   Now the word forever... the overall connotation and you can even take Strong's Concordance and look this up if you want to... And it means it has the connotation or the overall, you can't just take one word and explain what forever means in Hebrew. It's an overall thrust or an overall idea, and the overall idea is one of continuousness. Continuousness. In other words, don't stop doing it. Continue to do it until you see otherwise. Is what it means. Forever means continue. In fact, that's one of the definitions in the Hebrew. Check a Concordance or a Lexicon and look it up closely.

   OK, the basic meaning then of Olam or forever is that of continuousness. It essentially gives the concept of a situation in which there is no end in sight. Now this does not mean that there is no end, but there is no end in sight. Now maybe way on down the line, you know, maybe God will say, 'OK, now is the time to end it.' But when it was stated, there was no end in sight. Therefore, the word forever was used.

   But now when God changes something, when God alters it, that is the end of the word forever. Or as we used to say years ago, the word forever carried the meaning of as long as the situation or the circumstances are extant. Now you've got to determine from the Bible, did those circumstances change? Is there any place in the Bible where God said, stop sacrificing? Yes. So that's what the word forever meant. Yes, when the temple was destroyed in 69 A.D., yes. They were to stop.

   And in reality, for the spiritual people of God, the church, they stopped at the death of Jesus Christ in 31 A.D. You can prove that from the book of Acts that the Christians quit sacrificing. OK. So when it comes to the Sabbath then brethren, the Sabbath is a perpetual sign forever throughout all the generations until God says stop it. Has God said for you and me to stop keeping the Sabbath? Well, I'm gonna show you next week from the New Testament that rather than saying stop it or slow it down or consider it, God says, well, you better keep it and even more so in a spiritual sense, and we'll get into that next week.

   But I think you ought to understand, we all ought to understand what this word forever means. Now let's hurry on here. Now one other argument that might come up is that Exodus 31 says the Sabbath is forever for the generations of Israel. How many of you are Israelites? Most of you probably are. How many of you are not Israelites and you know you're not? You're Italian descent, maybe you're German descent, you know, maybe you're Russian, maybe you're a Negro, maybe you're Mexican, maybe you're, you know, whatever. You're not Israelite. Then why in the world are you keeping the Sabbath? The command says keep it forever down through all the generations of Israel.

   Many Jews don't even keep it. Well now we need to carry this a little bit further and find out how we apply it in the New Testament times. Why do we as a church, we are not an Israelite church. Why do we as a church keep the Sabbath then? Turn to just... I'll give you 3 scriptures. One is John 4 in verse 22. John 4:22, Christ said, 'You worship, you know not what. We know what we worship for salvation is of the Jews.' That sounds to me then like you've got to be Jewish to be saved. How many of you are Jewish? Not very many hands went up. How many of you are literally Jews? I mean you know, your bloodline, your daddy and mommy were Jews.

   You know there aren't many Jews in the Church of God, very, very few. I don't know, but maybe 10 or 12 that I can think of by name that are Jewish. Very few Jews in the church and Christ says the salvation is of the Jews. And where does that leave you and me? I'm not Jewish, I'm Texan. My daddy was in Harris County and my mother came from Louisville, Kentucky, and they got married in San Angelo, Texas, and that's where they lived, and that's where my dad died, and I'm Texan. I'm not Jewish. I'm a Caucasian. I'm not Jewish. I'm not Semitic. I'm English. My family came over at the same time the Mayflower time came over from England, from the east coast of England. So I'm not Jewish. You're not Jewish. Then where does that leave us? Remember the scripture. What did Christ mean when he said salvation is of the Jews?

   And you'll find that, that, that Christ had to continually correct the Jews and he didn't have too many good things to say about the Jews of his day. They had... One more scripture. One more is in Romans. Chapter 8, or chapters, let's say, what is it? Romans 9. Romans 9:6. Paul says 'Not as though the word of God has taken none effect, for they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.' Not all Israelites are really Israelites in God's eyes is what he's saying.

   'Neither because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children, but in Isaac shall your seed be called. That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.' So just being an Israelite or a Jew by blood, by heredity did not make you a child of God or me a child of God. And when Christ says salvation is of the Jews, he is not referring to the literal tribe of Judah, but as Paul explained it, those who became Jews at heart. Jews at heart.

   Now can we prove that statement? Yes, go to Galatians. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 29. Find Galatians 3 verse 29 (Galatians 3:28-29). Where again the apostle Paul says, 'If you be Christ,' that is, you be a child of God, you be a coheir with Christ. 'If you be Christ,' then... Maybe I ought to preface it with verse 28. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek when it comes to conversion. There is neither bond nor free, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

   So I think we can put all three of those verses together and point out quite clearly that the promises of salvation go to anyone, no matter what his ethnic background is, no matter what his race is. Those promises go to those who become Christ or become converted, who see the same spirit that Christ has.

   OK. Now, going back to the question in Exodus 31, God says that the, that the Sabbath is to be kept as a perpetual sign by all the generations of Israel. When we come to the New Testament, we find that Christ then makes a change in this word forever and applies it to spiritual Israel. The Sabbath is a perpetual sign between him and his people, spiritual Israel. That's what the apostle Paul had to spend so much time writing and and showing the people, that being a Jew by blood didn't give you any extra points with God. It was a matter of conversion.

   So Exodus 31 then is applied in our New Testament times to the spiritual house of Israel, the Church of God, not the national Israel. Now that's a little bit unclear to you, you can see me or see someone else and we can spend a little more time explaining it to you.

   In Ezekiel 20 verse 12, we find that God gave Israel his Sabbath as a sign for another reason as well. And that is that they would continue to know God as God's sanctified people. Let's read that very quickly. Ezekiel 20. In verse 12 (Ezekiel 20:12). So we find that it is a sign between God and His people, that it's a part of the covenant between God and His people, that it is a law forever, that it is applied in the New Testament times to spiritual Israel, a house of God or the Church of God.

   Ezekiel 20:12 now: 'Moreover, also, I gave them my Sabbath to be a sign between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctified them.' So the Sabbath then has to do with being set apart for a special holy use and identifying our God as the God of Israel. So we find numerous uses or reasons why God emphasizes the Sabbath. This means that the Sabbath is one means by which God sanctifies, that is a method God has chosen of consecration by setting apart for a holy purpose.

   So we find in Genesis that God created it to give it to all mankind as a day of rest. And then we come, as I said, to Exodus 20, that it is a law forever and Exodus 31, it is a perpetual covenant and a sign between God and ancient Israel when we come to the New Testament between God and spiritual Israel. In Ezekiel 20:12 is an additional emphasis on the sanctified element of the Sabbath that God gave it to set him apart with his people as their God, a special God and a special people. So one emphasizes the people, the other aspect emphasizes God as being the God of Israel.

   Leviticus 23 points out that the weekly Sabbath is one of the appointed feasts of God. We not only have the Passover season and Pentecost and all the Holy Days, but we find that the Sabbath heads that list as one of the appointed festivals of God. It's just an interesting side point.

   Now one of the greatest indictments against the people of ancient Israel was for Sabbath breaking, and I'm not going to go back and read it, but you'll find one of the greatest sufferings that Israel and Judah suffered was as a result of breaking the Sabbath. Now sometime if you want to study it, study Leviticus 26, and you'll find there that God says, 'I took you into captivity and I caused you to fall as a nation because you worship idols, and number 2 because you broke my Sabbath.'

   Jeremiah reminds Israel of that fact in Jeremiah 17:19 through 27. Jeremiah was ordered at that time to stand in the gates of Jerusalem and warn the leaders and the people by saying, 'Take heed for the sake of your lives and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day. And don't bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy as I commanded your fathers.'

   Now God considered it so important to a nation that was again getting away from his laws that he had Jeremiah stand at the gates and yell it out at the top of his lungs to all the people: 'Don't carry a burden. Don't allow burdens to be brought in and don't work on my holy Sabbath.' Now verse 24 through 26 of that chapter, promises that if the people would keep the Sabbath day holy, they would be blessed. Verse 27 says God gives it a warning of the dire consequences if they neglected the Sabbath.

   Jeremiah said, 'If you neglect the Sabbath, then I will kindle a fire in its gates,' that is Jerusalem, 'and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and shall not be quenched.' And that happened. That happened very, very clearly sometime later on, specifically at the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. Ezekiel 20:10 to 26 also speaks strongly against breaking the Sabbath and considers it one of the main reasons why Israel went into captivity. But I'm not going to wade through that. If you're interested, you can open it and read it. Ezekiel 20 verses 10 through 26.

   Now, in conclusion, turn to Isaiah 58. And this definitely has New Testament overtones here. Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14 (Isaiah 58:13-14): 'If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, Isaiah says, from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day.

   How many of you know what the word pleasure means? Did anybody have any pleasure this morning? Did you take a shower? I enjoyed taking a shower till one of my boys jumped in the tub and turned on the hot water and 50 gallons of hot water went into the tub, and I got the cold water just as I was rinsing off. That was a pleasure for about 5 minutes or 3 minutes. And I started getting pleasure. Well, I enjoyed, you know, having breakfast. That was a pleasure to me. I think we all had various pleasures today. Last night you had a fine meal and possibly a good night's rest, and maybe you spent evening talking with friends or family or whatever, and it was a pleasure.

   God says, 'You shall turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my Holy Day.' Now, why didn't you just sit around and gruff, and sour and mad and upset and say 'I'm not gonna have any pleasure tonight. It's a Sabbath.' The Jews don't allow the Sabbath to be a pleasure. What does the word pleasure mean? Well, unfortunately, in the King James Version, that word pleasure has really not been properly rendered. And if you take other more modern translations of the Old Testament, you'll find that it is rendered 'don't do your own labor or your own interest on that day.'

   In fact, it could be properly translated this way: 'If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath from doing your own business or pursuing your own business' is what it means. And then that complies then with all the other laws that we read of in Jeremiah and we read of in Nehemiah and so forth, where God condemned them going out and working and pursuing their business on that day. You don't find any condemnations for the people enjoying the day, do you? Now later on when we get into some of the other sermons, you'll find that has to be tailored. What do we mean by enjoying the day? We'll have to tailor that and see what the Bible has to say about it. But when it says don't do your own pleasure, it doesn't mean that the Sabbath should be terrible and depressing and dark and gloomy at all. It means don't pursue your own business on that day. So that should be very clear to us.

   Now there is, there are at least two other verses that point out that the Sabbath was a, a day that God expected Gentiles to keep as well. In fact, while we're in Isaiah, let's turn to Isaiah 56. And notice in the beginning in verse 3. In verse 2 (Isaiah 56:2-3), God says, 'Blessed is the man that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it.' Then in verse 3, 'Neither let the son of the stranger.' Now that's interesting. Old Testament. 'Neither let the son of the stranger that has joined himself to the Lord speak saying, the Lord has utterly separated me from His people. Neither let the eunuch say, behold, I am a dry tree.'

   'For thus sayeth the Lord unto the eunuchs, they keep my Sabbaths and choose the things that please me and take hold of my covenant. Even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place in the name better than the sons and daughters of sons and daughters.' Now God is saying here that if a eunuch comes into God's church - and you have to apply this to the New Testament times because the promises are spiritual. The promises are eternal life. 'I will give him an everlasting name,' and you only find everlasting names mentioned in the book of Revelation to those who have become members of God's family.

   So here are everlasting promises to whom? Eunuchs, those who had been mutilated either willfully or unwillfully so that they could not bear children. And God said, 'Well, if you can't bear children at least I'll give you sons and daughters in my kingdom.' See, 'I'll give you brothers and sisters and a family and so forth in my kingdom.'

   And he also says to the stranger, 'Also to the sons of the stranger that joined themselves to God, and I love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it and takes hold of my covenant.' So we find then that the Sabbath is enjoined upon Israelites, and upon strangers, and upon eunuchs, or we could say all mankind. Anyone who will connect himself to God, anyone who will become converted.

   One of the longest chapters in the Bible about Sabbath breaking is Nehemiah 10. The captives in the time in this time period of Judah were freed from bondage in Babylon and had begun to return to Palestine. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah describe their return and their attempts to rebuild the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Nehemiah 10 records a special covenant made by some of the people, including Nehemiah in which they said, quote, it says, 'They entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses, the servant of God, and to observe to do all the commandments of the Lord our God.'

   Among the provisions of this covenant was, quote, 'If the peoples of the land bring in wares of any grain on the Sabbath day to sell it, and we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on the Holy Day,' period. Or the word 'and' is not in there, it's a comma. 'If they bring anything in to sell on the Sabbath day, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a Holy Day.'

   These verses make it obvious that Nehemiah and the people deeply recognize the seriousness of Sabbath breaking. A lot more in the Old Testament than you thought, isn't it? About the Sabbath, and this isn't all of it. I haven't given you everything. I've only chosen the more important points. Nevertheless, it did not take long for the emergence of a certain laxity in the case of the Jews. Nehemiah soon found himself confronting a situation in which the Sabbath was treated as an ordinary business day. He met the problem head on and apparently solved it for the time being in Nehemiah 13:15-22. And if you're interested in reading that account, you can do that on your own.

   Hence as we approach the time of Christ's ministry in the New Testament, we find that the Sabbath, due to man's sincere but exaggerated effort and interpretation referring to the Jews, had become, the Sabbath had become not a joy, but a burden. Something not ordinarily intended by God. As a result, Christ had to set out to clarify the true spirit of keeping the Sabbath day. I believe without question, you can see from the Old Testament, from Genesis 2 all the way through the major and the minor prophets and men like Nehemiah that the Sabbath brethren was intended, was originally created at the time of the creation of man.

   It was given to faithful patriarchs of God all through the Book of Genesis. It was a part of God's law. It never ceased to be. Now when God had to bring Israel out of bondage, he had to again remind them of the laws that he had originally given them. The laws upon which they had been established under Jacob and Joseph. They had forgotten those laws in bondage and had substituted many of those laws with pagan ways, with Egyptian ways.

   God had to bring them out under Moses and clean them up. He had to purify them. He had to again remind them of his law. To keep it in their minds, God had the law of God codified or written down on tables of stone and kept in an Ark to be borne by Israel. And it was pretty faithfully done back and forth up until the times of David and Solomon.

   That Sabbath day also became a sign between God and His people. It identified who were the people of God. That Sabbath also sanctified those people and made them look back to God as a creator, showing which God they worshiped. No other nations observed the Sabbath day except Israel. So it's something very, very special between them and God.

   Some have argued that this day was only for Israel or for the Jews, but we can see from Exodus 31 and other scriptures that I've shown you that it was a perpetual covenant with spiritual overtones for the spiritual house of Israel, the Church of God, which you and I are today. It is a day that is not only for Israelites and Jews, spiritual or not, but it's also a day for eunuchs and strangers. It is a universal day, a cosmopolitan day, and I'm going to show you beginning next week how to apply in the New Testament time the spirit of the keeping of the Sabbath day.

Sermon Date: 1978