Herbert W Armstrong

   There is no religious organization, there's no religious commentary that I've ever seen or heard about, there is no one who studies the Bible who questions the fact as to when the weekly Sabbath was in the Old Testament. There's no question. The only time there's a question as to when the Sabbath is or was is when we come to the New Testament.

   Now there are a lot of clever arguments that people use using scriptures in the New Testament to try to prove that either Christ or maybe the apostle Paul particularly frowned upon and in some cases discouraged and may have even felt that the Sabbath was abrogated or set aside or maybe even put away or even abolished by God. There are some very clever arguments.

   But this morning I want to take you into the New Testament, and we're going to have to move rather quickly because there is so much material and I don't want to take two sessions to do it, just one. And if you're interested in taking any kind of notes, which I would hope some of you might do if you want to have these references for the future... The issues discussed in the New Testament never deal with whether the Sabbath should be kept. Now that's an extremely important principle. Let me mention that again. The issues discussed in the New Testament never deal with whether the Sabbath should be observed. You can't find one. The only issue you'll find relative to the Sabbath is not whether it should be kept, but how. That's the only question. How not whether.

   Now some commentaries and even some biblical teachers tell us, 'Well, look, the Sabbath is nowhere in the New Testament commanded as such.' There is no place where Christ or the 12 apostles or maybe later on the apostle Paul or Timothy or any of the other latter apostles said a Christian should observe the 7th day Sabbath. You won't find that anywhere in there either. You won't even find anything close to that as far as a quotation from Christ or a quotation from one of the other major apostles which says, a Christian should observe the 7th day Sabbath.

   Now you will find in one place in the book of Hebrews where it's kind of couched in the English language and rather hard to understand until you look into the Greek a little bit, which is a command, but not in the English language is what I'm talking about. It's kind of unclear.

   And let me just make this statement at the outset, and if you're interested in looking into it further, you can do so. The reason, brethren, that the Sabbath is not addressed in the New Testament as to whether you know you should or should not keep it is because it was never an issue. The New Testament deals with issues. It deals with problems. It deals with misunderstandings. It deals with schisms and quarrels between people or between ethnic groups.

   In the New Testament, we find over and over again that one particular subject is addressed and that's the subject of circumcision. Now this morning I'm going to take you into the 2nd very important subject that could have arisen in the New Testament, and that's the subject of the Sabbath. At the time of the Jews, the New Testament Jews, time of Jesus Christ, the time of the New Testament church, there were two subjects that were pillar subjects of the whole Jewish religion. And those pillar subjects, the most important subjects, the most important beliefs that the Jews followed and were very strict in were number 1, the Sabbath. Number 2, circumcision.

   Now, I'll read that to you. I don't have to, you don't have to take my word for it. But let me read you a few quotations here. Here's one from a well-known scholar of early Judaism by the name of G.F. Moore. He states in his study: 'The two fundamental observances of Judaism are circumcision and the Sabbath.' This was as true in the 1st century A.D. as at any other time. Both practices were referred to as signs, that is circumcision and Sabbath. And as eternal covenants in the Old Testament.

   In fact, in first Maccabees 2:32, there's a description of a group of Jews who were slaughtered because they refused to defend themselves on the Sabbath, showing how strict they were about it. And as a result Mattathias and his followers determined to fight in self-defense on that day if necessary, but even then, they would not take the offensive. First Maccabees 2:41.

   So we see then that the time element just before Christ, the time of the Maccabees, the time of the religious wars of the Jews, that Sabbath observance was so very important to them that they would not even defend themselves. But did not resist and were slaughtered, shows how important the Sabbath was to the Jewish community.

   Now the reason we mention the Jewish community is because that is the community which Jesus Christ came to. That's the community that the 12 apostles preached in primarily before they were sent out to the 12 tribes of the lost house of Israel. And later on, the apostle Paul began to preach, first of all, where? In the Jewish community. The original New Testament churches were established in, first of all, Jerusalem and then they spread out from there in the Jewish communities primarily.

   When the apostle Paul went into Gentile cities or Gentile nations like Greece, or, which is called Macedonia in the New Testament, he went first of all to where? To the Jewish community. It says he would go to the synagogue as his manner was, and then from there if they would not receive him, he would go to the Gentiles. So we find the entire New Testament message first of all went to the Jewish community.

   Now we need to find out what was the attitude of the Jewish community. What were their strict feelings? What things would they defend more than anything else? What area would they argue about more than any area? Number one, the Sabbath. Number 2, circumcision.

   Now keeping those things in mind, let me just read a couple of other things here. The Book of Jubilees written in 2nd century B.C., gives some detailed regulations for the Sabbath. Things forbidden including preparing food, taking anything between houses, drawing water. Now these are not God's laws, but the very, very orthodox Judaism or Jewish community. Riding on an animal or ship, making war or having even sexual relations on the Sabbath. The Qumran community had a number of the same regulations. Other prohibitions including going more than 1000 cubits from one town, helping an animal out of a pit or in giving birth. And apparently even using an instrument to save a human being from water or fire.

   These things were prohibited. If somebody's drowning out there in the water, if you could just kind of casually reach down and clasp their hand and without working, pull them out fine, but if you had to pick up a long stick, you know, or a pole and drag that coming over the water and hold it out, no, down they went. They drowned and that was according to God's law, you know, according to the Jews, according to the Orthodox community. So it shows you how very strict they were with the Sabbath, how very important it was to them.

   Let me read you just one or two other things. The observance of the Sabbath was such a strong tradition that it continued alongside Sunday for portions of Catholic Christianity. Even after Christ died and after the church had become mature in its age, we find that when Sunday began to arise, when the few communities began to observe, not the Jews, but primarily we're talking what became later the Catholic community, and that's a whole different subject, but we find that many observed the Sabbath alongside Sunday.

   Let me give you some quotations here or comments. For example, the so-called apostolic constitution, about 375 to 400 it was written, exhorted the faithful to assemble on the Sabbath day and on the Lord's Day, which they call Sunday or the Lord's Day. Both days are to be festivals mentioned in that same article. Christian slaves are to be allowed to rest on both of them, even though Sunday is given a slightly higher value, the Sabbath is to be celebrated as a memorial of creation and a time of godliness.

   So it shows that even outside of the Jewish community that they had had such influence on the people. Then when Catholicism started 375 to 400s when this one apostolic constitution was written, they even encouraged the faithful, not the borderline cases, but the faithful to observe Saturday and Sunday. So we see the tremendous influence that the Sabbath had on the Jewish and the Gentile community. In fact, if I had time to get into it, I could take you into some quotation showing that even the Gentile community referred to what we now call Saturday as the Sabbath. The Sabbath, that's the word they used for it. You'll find that word used throughout the New Testament as a matter of fact thing.

   Well, I think that's enough quotation or we don't have time to get into the subject, but I wanted to show you there how very important the Sabbath was in the times of Christ, the time just prior to Christ at the time of the Maccabees, a period of time of the early New Testament church, and even as late as 400 A.D. that the Sabbath was considered extremely important and influenced the people very, very strongly.

   Now keep that in mind when we go to the New Testament. That's the reason why nobody had to say, 'Don't you know you have to keep the Sabbath?' Because everyone knew about the Sabbath. There was no question. Let's get into it. Notice when Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath, the Jews never once questioned, should he keep it or was he keeping it? What did they question? They questioned only how he kept it. They never said, 'Well, you should keep it.' Or they never said, 'Why don't you keep the Sabbath?' They only questioned, 'Why do you do this certain thing on the Sabbath?'

   Now, Matthew 12 is one of the good examples and we've referred to this in the past, but I think it's timely that we mention it again. Matthew 12 is a case of walking through the grain fields on the Sabbath. At that time, Jesus went out on the Sabbath day through the corn. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat them. And they weren't gathering. They weren't taking our big bushels of them home, but they were stopping in the grain fields. They we're out on a walk on the Sabbath.

   They stopped in the grain fields. They pulled off a head of grain or an ear of corn, whatever it was, and they shucked it or they shook it, got all the grain off. It was in the case of corn, there is a question whether it's more like maize or corn, but whichever way makes no difference. They plucked it. They took the grain off and then they ate the grain right there. And then anyone who's ever walked through cornfields knows there's nothing better than to pull off a good old fresh piece of sweet corn as you're out in the grain field and shuck that thing and just sit there and eat raw corn. I've done that many, many times, pheasant hunting. Get hungry and you just stop and grab some corn or later on in the pheasant season, you'll have dried corn in the field, you know, waiting and letting it dry so you can feed it to the cattle. And eat dried corn is very, very good, and that's what they were doing at the time.

   The Pharisees saw it and they said unto them, 'Behold, your disciples do that, which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.' They didn't say they don't keep it or they didn't say, why don't you keep it? They say you're not keeping it properly or you're not keeping it like we say you should keep it.

   Now, why do the Jews have this idea? Why do they have a hang up about plucking an ear of corn, shucking it, and eating it? Was there any work involved? Well, I can't, I don't see how they could really say there was work involved in that sense. Was there a violation of trespassing on personal property? No, because the Old Testament laws allowed you to cross personal property and if hungry to eat whatever you needed to satisfy you on the spot.

   That was a part of God's law. You have the gleaning laws, you had the various laws in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, that dealt with the poor, and they were able to glean. Anyone who was traveling through the country or traveling through this area of the land could cross that land as long as they did not destroy the crop, and they could have anything they wanted to eat as they traveled. So they were not violating any of the laws of God. Why did they question it then?

   Well, according to the Orthodox Jews, according to them, if you picked an ear of corn or a head of grain, they classify that as reaping. It's like you take, you know, your mules or your oxen or whatever and go out in the fields and begin to reap an entire field of grain. OK, you popped it off, they call that reaping. And so technically that would be a violation of God's law if you were reaping, wouldn't it? And then when you shuck the corn or you shake the grain out, they call that threshing.

   Now, obviously on the Sabbath, you couldn't go out and cultivate a field or harvest the field or thresh the grain and keep God's Sabbath, could you? Now that was the way they applied something like this, so Christ had to show them by an example that he was not violating the spirit of the law. He was not violating the law of the Sabbath at all. He was not violating any Old Testament principles. He was only violating their man-made laws relative to the Sabbath.

   So the main reason I want to emphasize this is that you find the Jews never once questioned Jesus as to why he did not keep it. They only asked him, why do you keep it the way you do? And he began to show them that there was a spirit of the law, not just a letter of the law, but a spirit of the law.

   Now, go on to the same chapter, verse 9. And here we have the case of the man with the withered hand. And there was a man verse 10 with a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' that they might accuse him. Now why would the Jews question that? Well, again, among the Orthodox, what we might refer to as particularly the Pharisaical Orthodox Jews, Jewish law prohibited treating sick people, any kind of sickness on the Sabbath, unless the individual's life was in danger. That's why unless the individual's life was in danger, would they treat the sick? Otherwise, let them lay there and wait for sundown.

   Now Jesus Christ dealt with a sick man who was not about to die. He was a man with a withered hand. He was known to be a man with a withered hand. He had had this withered hand for how many years? I think it even mentions the time here. I'm not sure. But anyway, they question as to why he would heal, and he said unto them, 'What man shall be there among you who shall have one sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath will not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.' So again, Christ emphasized how to keep the Sabbath, that there is the spirit of the law in which you can do good. And he gave that example.

   That's point 2. They never questioned why didn't he keep it. They only questioned how he kept it. In John 5, it is another example. John 5:8 is the case of the man with palsy, who was never able to get down into the swirling waters. The withered man impotent, I don't know whether he had palsy as such, but he was disabled or impotent and this he had the infirmity 38 years and he wasn't able to get down in the water in time and so Jesus asked him verse 6, 'Will you be made whole?' And he said, 'Yes, sir,' in verse 7, and Jesus said, 'Rise up, take your bed.'

   That was not an army cot or it wasn't a bunk bed or a queen size bed, it was a pallet. They all laid around this pool on a pallet. It's a very, very light thing, probably didn't weigh more than 1 pound or two at the most, very, very light. He said roll it up, pick it up, and walk away. Now, what happened when he did that? Immediately the man was made whole. On the same day was the Sabbath, verse 9. The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, 'It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful to carry your bed.'

   Now why wasn't it lawful to carry his bed? Only because of Jewish man-made laws, not God's law. You don't find anywhere in God's law that God says you cannot carry your pallet. Now there is a law back in Jeremiah 17, Jeremiah 17 where Jeremiah warned the Jews, he said, 'Look,' he says, 'remember now on the Sabbath, don't bear your burden.' And he talked about working and bearing heavy burden in and out of the city and making money as a result and working on that day, and the expression there was burden. You find that in Jeremiah 17:21-22 and 27.

   And the Jews misconstrue that anything and they had, I forget how many ounces it could be, I don't recall. I've heard in one case that if it was over the weight of a dried prune, it was considered a burden. Well, according to what the size of the dried prune. You got big prunes, little prunes, you know, but anyway, here was a pallet and it weighed several ounces, maybe 1 pound or so, very, very light. So he rolled it up, picked it up, and they said, 'You're bearing a burden on the Sabbath.'

   And Jesus contradicted them by pointing out that he had done good, that the man was made whole, and that was a part of keeping God's law. You can read that right on down through verse 15-16. So Christ again emphasized the spirit of the law and that the man was not bearing a burden. So again, the question is always why did Jesus keep the Sabbath the way he did, not did he keep it.

   So I don't think in Jesus's life there's any, any real question. There are two other instances that further proved that Jesus expected the church to continue keeping the Sabbath after his death. Matthew 24:20. Matthew 24:20 talks about the Sabbath day and about fleeing on the Sabbath day, you know, and that your prayer should be that that you would not have to flee for your life on that day. Matthew 24 and verse 20: 'Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day.'

   Now, the first time that this prophecy could possibly refer to would be around 69-70 and 71 A.D. Jesus had already prophesized in this chapter that the walls of the temple would begin to be pulled down in war. They would be besieged, the temple would fall, the Jews would be dispersed.

   They would be taken in some cases into captivity. The church would be dispersed. The first time this prophecy could ever possibly refer to would be that period of time. Now, brethren than that's 38 years after Jesus Christ's death, or about 38 years after his death. So we see even Jesus' own words, in his words that he expected his church to continue to keep the Sabbath. And then if you apply it prophetically to the end time in the book of Matthew is dual, it would apply to the end time church of God as well.

   So we find that Jesus' instructions for the church after his death presupposed that the church would be keeping the Sabbath. Then here's one final one is Luke 4:16. And I think most all of you know what this is. Luke 4:16 was the time when Jesus began to teach. This is about the time that his ministry began and so he began to teach at this time. In Luke 4:16, 'He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and as his custom was' or his habit, a weekly thing, 'as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read.'

   Now what was his custom? His custom was to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath. Now, not to stand up and read because the context here shows that they were amazed when he began to read. It was like a first time thing. It was like an unusual thing. And as a result of him reading, you find the Jews began to turn on him. They began to accuse him of being the Son of God, of blasphemy.

   Now the point I want to show here is that it was Christ's custom to go into the synagogue every Sabbath. Now what significance, brethren, is there to that? So Christ went into the synagogue. So what? What significance is there to that? Well, he said he did it as his habit was. Now do you recall any scriptures later on? Well, I'll give you one to hurry on here. Matthew 28 and verse 20. Jesus, after he had died, been resurrected, come back to this earth, spent 40 days with the disciples, he gave some final instructions, and he says, 'Go unto all nations.' Not just the Jews, not just the church in Jerusalem, but unto all nations, which would be Jewish, Israelite, and Gentile.

   And you'll find that began to take place when the 12 disciples or 12 apostles were dispersed to the 12 lost tribes. And in the book of Acts when Paul began to go to the Gentiles, we find then that the way or the example that Christ set was taken unto all nations of their day. And has continued and in this day it continued to be taken unto all nations.

   Now what did Jesus tell them to take unto all nations? He says go unto all nations and teach them to do as I have done. In other words, teach them to follow my example. Let's read them. Matthew 28:20: 'Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever, I have commanded you and lo, I'm with you always.' Many of Jesus Christ's commands were by example. I think we can find that from I Peter 2:21 that his example was a command that we ought to do as he did.

   That we are to take on the same mind that Christ had, Philippians 2:5. We're to take on the same attitude, the same mind toward God's law that Christ had. And if Christ habitually kept the Sabbath as a custom, we then are to do the same and to take that example to all nations.

   So there's a life of Christ in capsule form. There are many other verses about the Sabbath, but I think those 5 will show without any dispute at all that Christ kept it. That it was a very, very hot issue in his day and that Jesus Christ was never questioned one time, 'Why don't you keep it?' Never once. And if anybody had been questioned, it would have been Jesus Christ who claimed to be God's son. And he was a teacher of the law. But they could never question him as to why he didn't keep it. Only why did he keep it the way he did.

   The second point, our second heading: The New Testament Jerusalem Church never gave up the Sabbath observance after Jesus Christ died. They never gave it up. Now we can first of all go to a period of time which is around 50 A.D. somewhere right around there, which would have been about 19 years after Christ died. Go to Acts 15 and I think this is an extremely important chapter because you find here that Jews who had been in the church got they became disappointed and began to circulate among the brethren and began to tell some of the Gentile brethren that they should be circumcised in order to be saved. And they were a little disgusted with Paul's teaching that you don't have to be circumcised, and they began to spread it among other churches outside of Jerusalem, that in order to be saved, you have to be circumcised and you have to keep all the laws of Moses.

   Now again, let's reflect on the two important subjects of the Jews, the pillar subjects. They were circumcision and the Sabbath. They would die for those two subjects. They believed in them so strongly. In fact, I didn't even quote one thing here. It points out where the Sabbath by many of the Orthodox Jews was considered as important as the entire Sinaitic covenant between God and His people. They considered that to be the most important thing, and they literally would die to defend their feelings and beliefs about that day. A very, very hot issue.

   I won't take time to try to find that quote I marked, but it's there anyway. I'm not gonna take time to look more for it. OK, now, in Acts 15. Notice again, the two main subjects in the Jew's life, the Jewish community was the circumcision and the Sabbath. What subject was questioned in Acts 15? Circumcision. Never once is the subject of the Sabbath brought up. Why? Because the church kept the Sabbath.

   And these Jews who had grown up keeping the Sabbath and now had become disappointed with the church because it taught you don't have to be circumcised to be saved. And if that church did not keep the Sabbath, that would have been the first order of dispute. Just as difficult of a problem, just as important as circumcision. And the Sabbath is never once mentioned. And what is mentioned? Well, after all the discussion, we find here that Paul and some of the apostles went up to Jerusalem to talk to the apostles there about the problem and try to solve it so that all the church understood the thing about circumcision.

   They kept discussing and finally it came down to verse 19. James says, 'My sentence is'—James apparently was the senior apostle. He says 'that we not trouble them which are among the Gentiles who have turned to God. But that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood.'

   Now those are 4 particular laws in the laws of Moses mentioned in the book of Leviticus. And the apostle Paul and James and the others finally concluded and they said, 'Look, of all those ritualistic laws, all the laws that Moses gave to the Levites, we're not talking about the Sinaitic laws of the 10 Commandments.' That was not in question. They were not questioning the 10 Commandment law. They were questioning the laws that were added later. The physical laws that had to do with animals and things and blood and strangulation and things like that.

   And among all those laws, James says, because these people—you have to kind of read between the lines, I think you can see—because they are Gentiles, because they have practiced in the past these things and will have a tendency to go back to them, let's emphasize that they cannot worship pollutions of idols, that they cannot be involved in sexual vice is really what the word fornication means. It doesn't mean just fornication, but all kinds of sexual vice in or out of marriage from things strangled and from blood.

   Now check Leviticus, you'll find a lot of other laws in there that applied only relative to the temple. Days of purification. If you have a man child or a woman or a girl child, you know, there were you could go in and worship for so many days and for one and so many more days for another and you know, all kinds of laws like that. OK, the Sabbath was not an issue here. And again, brethren, if the Sabbath had been an issue, you can be guaranteed that the Jews would have brought it up. Because they were looking for anything to attack the church.

   On the contrary, notice verse 21. James says, 'Moses of all time has in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day.' James accepted that. He didn't say it read in the Sabbath in the synagogue every Sabbath day, but we don't keep it. He just said it was a matter of fact thing. All these laws are read in the synagogue on all the Sabbath days, the Jews know about it. We accept it, we believe in it. It's a matter of fact.

   And a lot of times because something is not said, some feel, well, the law is done away. But something was not said because it was not a problem. It was not an issue. Now let's notice that the apostle Paul observed the Sabbath. And he taught it among, interestingly, the Gentiles. Paul kept the Sabbath and taught its observance to the Gentiles, showing that the Sabbath is not just for the Jewish community at all, but it is for Jews and Gentiles.

   Let's go to Acts 13. Let's go back just a little bit here. Acts 13:42: 'When the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.' Now, you have to really pick up the context to get the flavor of this. It was the custom of the apostle Paul, and you can read this in Acts 13, Acts 16, and Acts 17:1 and 2. It was the custom of the apostle Paul when he went into an area where there was no synagogue—excuse me, where there was no church of God.

   Now, by this time, the church had begun to meet separately from the Jews. When he went into an area where there was no established congregation of God's church, on the Sabbath he would go where? To the synagogue. He would go and meet with the other Jews in the area. And he went there at least for two reasons. One would be to honor God on the Sabbath and to keep it because God's law did command assembly on the Sabbath, Leviticus 23:2. And as we see here in this case, he also took that opportunity to witness to those people and show them that there is a better way.

   Now he began to speak on the Sabbath in the synagogue, and he began in verse 38 about talking about Christ and his sacrifice and so forth, and the Jews hated that. They did not accept that. So they got mad in verse 42 and they left the synagogue, they went out of it. The Gentiles then crowded around the apostle Paul and besought him that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Kind of interesting that the Gentiles did not say preach it, 'How about coming tonight or how about coming tomorrow or Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday or Friday?' The Gentiles said, 'How about next Sabbath?'

   The Gentiles recognize the Sabbath. Now this was Luke's narrative as to what the Gentiles said to Paul. And they said, would you come back and preach to us the next Sabbath? The Sabbath was not a new subject to these people. I mean, where were they? They were in the synagogue, weren't they? On the Sabbath with the Jews. Here were Gentiles and they were beginning to embrace some of the Jewish laws. And they were in the synagogue, so the Sabbath was not an unknown subject to many of the Gentiles at all. Many kept the Sabbath with the Jews and so did the apostle Paul, and there was no church there.

   Now when the congregation was broken up, Sabbath day was ended now, they all went home. Many of the Jews and religious proselytes, so we see here the Jews were proselytes, followed Paul and Barnabas, speaking to them, persuading them to continue in the grace of God. So we have them, you see, not all the Jews got mad and left, just part of them. Which had some Jews who stayed and listened to Paul, then you have this Gentile element who stayed. And they followed Paul and Barnabas.

   In verse 44: 'The next Sabbath day came almost the entire city to hear the word of God.' So we find then that the apostle Paul kept the Sabbath. Now, why didn't he say 'Now hold it, everybody. Don't you know that I'm only meeting with you on this Sabbath day to get your attention? But I'm really here to show you that tomorrow is the Lord's Day. Tomorrow, Sunday is the Lord's Day, you fools. You know, stick around or come back tomorrow. You don't have to work tomorrow. Let's get together and I'll show you the better way of God.' An ideal opportunity. You could not ask for a greater captive audience than men who were begging the apostle Paul to preach. And he said, 'No, let's just wait till the next Sabbath.' That's God's holy day. That's the day God says for us to assemble, and he says, work 6 days and keep the Sabbath. So, we'll meet next Sabbath day. And that's what they did.

   And they observed that Sabbath. So we see then that he taught not only kept it but taught the Sabbath day to Gentiles. Acts 16:13 says basically the same thing. Here's another case of Paul going over to Macedonia to Greece. This was the vision that he had, the dream. And he saw in vision someone saying, 'Come over here.' And he left and went to Philippi. Then in verse 13 'on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. We sat down and spoke unto the women which resorted thither.'

   Apparently there was no synagogue in that city is the indication because Paul had as his custom was, we'll find in chapter 17 verse 1 and 2, went to the synagogue. Now he didn't go to the synagogue here, so apparently there was no synagogue in Philippi. Apparently just not enough Jews there for some reason. This was a Greek culture, Macedonian culture, and so he went over to this area that did not really know God's way. They had not been influenced with God's way like they had been in Asia Minor and northern Palestine.

   And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira which worshiped God, so here's someone who did recognize God and reverenced him as the Moffit says. She heard us, whose heart God had opened, and she attended to the things which were spoken by Paul and you'll find that she and her household verse 15 were baptized. But I do want to point out there again that Paul did not keep another day, he kept the Sabbath and because apparently there was no synagogue there, he went out to the riverside with other worshipers of God and kept the Sabbath on the riverbank.

   And apparently gave a sermon there or you know, talked a great deal because this one woman overheard him and was so convicted that she and her household were baptized subsequently. In chapter 17 verse 1 and 2, 'Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them'—them being the Jews in the synagogue at Thessalonica—'as his manner was, went in unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures.'

   So we find Paul, as his custom was, attended synagogues where there were no churches of God. Now again, the main thing here about the Book of Acts is that the Book of Acts was written, like I pointed out earlier, about 49 or 50 A.D., somewhere around 50, right in that area. And it covered the period of time from Christ's death, right on through the apostle Paul's death. And in that long record that Luke wrote, we find that the Sabbath is never once addressed as a problem. In fact, anytime the Sabbath is mentioned, it's mentioned, like I said earlier, in a matter of fact way which all people understood.

   There was no question. We find that the apostle Paul and the other apostles never once in the book of Acts were accused by the Jews of breaking the Sabbath. Never once. Now, let's back up a little bit. Who was Paul? Paul was or had been a chief Pharisee, hadn't he? And he broke away when God converted him, struck him blind, and he fasted for 3 days and 3 nights. And when God gave his sight back to him, he gave his life entirely to God, and God chose him to be apostle to the Gentiles.

   When he broke away, being a chief Pharisee and a persecutor of the church and highly honored and respected by the Jewish community, don't you think they would have been after the apostle Paul? Don't you think they would have been looking for a reason to condemn him? You bet they would have. I mean, the apostle Paul wasn't like you and me. He was well known. His name was a hallmark in many cities. And when the apostle Paul came to town, people knew who he was. That's why he was so often persecuted, beaten, left for dead, you know, whatever, but you don't find one time when the apostle Paul was ever accused of not keeping the Sabbath. Never once. And his chief persecutors were the Sabbath keeping Jews, not the Gentiles.

   So I think that is, that's as much proof as any place looking to any place in the book of Acts saying he kept the Sabbath. Simply because they didn't persecute him is to me one of the greatest proofs that he kept it. Let's keep moving on here. Some of Paul's writings are used as proof that he felt the Sabbath observance was unnecessary. I want to give you three of them very quickly. These are 3 key ones that are used by many to try to say that Paul's writings discouraged Sabbath keeping.

   One of them is Romans 14. And if you attend the Bible studies we have gone through this, and most of them. Romans 14:5-6 say 'One man esteems one day above another. Another man esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regards the day regards it unto God and he that regards not the day does not regard it to God.'

   Now, that scripture right there is taken by some and is even explained in commentaries as such to be a scripture that gives you the right to choose to observe any day of the week you want to. Not just the 7th day. All I'm gonna say about Romans 14 is this: You must understand the context. Find out what kind of day he's talking about. Is he talking about a holy day? The word holy day is never mentioned. Is he talking about the Sabbath or a feast day? Those expressions are never mentioned, just day. The context is what? The context is something to do with eating or not eating or fasting. It's really unclear exactly what the subject is, but the subject has to do with eating or not eating. It has to do with vegetarianism, eating meats, and so forth, not which day to worship on.

   And that's all I, at this time I'm gonna take time to comment on that subject. Galatians 4 and verse 10. Galatians 4:10. Now here's the apostle Paul talking to the primarily Gentile church. Galatians, Galatia was primarily a Gentile church. And we can see that by the context of the problems that they have. He says 'You observed days and months and times and years, and I'm afraid for you or of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.'

   The apostle Paul here condemns the keeping of certain days. He says, 'I feel like I've been spinning my wheels. I've gone to all the trouble to come into this area that had never been preached to before. And I have given you the truth, I've been willing to sacrifice my time for you. I have brought you along. I've baptized you. I've had the laying on of hands for you. I've been the instrument that God has used to bring you into the church. I've anointed your sick. I spent all this time with you and now you're turning back to something that is wrong. You're going back to something that you used to do.'

   He says that here in verse 7 and 8. He says, 'You are no more a servant but a son, and if a son then the heir of God through Christ, how be it then when you did not know God,' referring to the past, 'you did service unto them which by nature are no gods.' Did the Jews worship pagan gods in the days of the apostle Paul? No, they worship the God of the Old Testament. Now truly there was some paganism that had to work its way into their religion, but they were the worshipers of God, of El Shaddai, of the Eternal and so forth. They worship the God of the Bible.

   And here's a condemnation to a group of people says, you used to worship gods, little g's talking about the little gods and idols which were not gods. 'But now after that you have known God or rather are known of God, how do you turn again to the weak and the beggarly elements' or as the margins says the rudiments, the old ways. What old ways? You observe days, months, times, and years.

   It's interesting, brethren that among the Gentile world, and that's who he was talking to, Gentiles, they were the ones that worshiped these gods and rudiment things and these pagan elements. Over 1/3, over 1/3 of all calendar days in the Gentile world were significant in one way or the other. They had names placed upon them. Worship of certain gods on particular days, various types of pagan memorials, some days had restrictions on them. Other days had various other religious elements to them, you know, and about 1/3, about 1/3 of all the days, that would be 120 days out of the year, were observed by the Gentile world one way or the other.

   And Paul says, 'Look, now you're beginning to give up your true way and you're going back to observe days, months, times, and years.' That had to do with their worship among pagan Gentile religion. Now Paul does not say here, you are going back to observe Sabbaths, holy days, months and years because in God's law, you can't find anywhere in God's law where God says, 'I want you to observe a year.' There was no religious significance placed upon a year.

   Now there was the Jubilee year, but it had to do with giving physical things back and restoration of physical things and working and getting everything rectified. He's talking here about religious significance. There were no years set aside by God as a year of special worship or special God or something like that. Where in the Old Testament anywhere do you find where God says worship times? Never once, but in the book of Deuteronomy, I won't take time to go back there, you'll find that God says among the pagan world in which Israel was working, in which they were living, there was a worship at times, astrological worship of times, the astral bodies, you know, in this type of thing.

   Where in the Bible does God tell you to observe months? No place where God says set aside a certain month for religious worship. Nowhere. Now there are times in ancient Israel when they recognized the beginning of the month with the new moon. But not the entire month. And then that brings us down to the words. Anytime God refers to the weekly worship of a day, he calls it the Sabbath. This word day is not even the same word in Greek that is used for the Sabbath.

   I've got all that here in the literature. I'm not gonna take time to read the Greek words and so forth, but here we're again talking about reverting, going back to pagan worship rather than staying with the true way of God. And the other is Colossians 2:16. Go forward now to Colossians 2 in verse 16: 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of a new moon or the Sabbath days which are the shadow of things to come but the body of Christ.'

   Very confusing. An incomplete sentence. It's not even grammatically correct in the English. I'm not going to take time to explain what this verse means. That is an entire sermonette subject, or could even be worked into a sermon. But the point I want to bring out here is that the apostle Paul, rather than discouraging, or rather than ridiculing, or rather than telling the Colossians, don't keep the Sabbath, he says, don't let it trouble you because other people condemn your keeping of the Sabbath.

   Read it very closely. 'Let no man, therefore judge.' The word judge means condemn, krinos condemned. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or as the margin clearly clarifies, don't let any man judge you or condemn you because you eat and drink. Or because you observe the word respect is observe or observance of a holy day. The Colossians were observing a holy day. The holy days of God. Or of a new moon. They were even recognizing new moons apparently. There's no condemnation, says you can't, or of the Sabbath.

   So we see the Colossians then were keeping God's holy days. They were keeping the Sabbath. But someone, whether the Gentile element out of which they had come or subversive Jewish element creeping into the churches, rather unclear were condemning them because of what they were doing. Or how they were doing it. And Paul says, don't let anybody judge you. He says, actually, he says, remember that these things, verse 17, are a shadow of things to come. The Sabbath day and the holy days are all shadows of things to come. They all foreshadow something. He says, don't let anybody judge you, but let the body of Christ, follow the body of Christ. Let the body of Christ, the church, tell you what to do, what is right and what is wrong.

   I think that's sufficient there. I'm simply going to give you these next two verses showing that the Sabbath is going to be kept all through the millennium. In Isaiah 66:10 and 23 mentions the Sabbath should be kept throughout the millennium. And it's going to be kept by Israelites and by the stranger or by Gentiles. Then you go to Ezekiel 40-48 and you find that those eight chapters have to do, they are prophetic pictures of the way the millennium is going to be once Christ comes back. And it talks about a temple being set up and about rivers of water going out from the temple and about fish in the water, and about the width of it, you know, and all the trees that are going to be growing around it and you'll find in chapter 44, 45, and 46 that God specifically mentions the keeping of the weekly Sabbath. And that's millennial.

   The weekly Sabbath is an analogy of God's plan. That's why it's so very, very important. It is an analogy of the plan of God. Number one, it looks back or it is a memorial of the creation. It is a memorial of the creation. You'll find this in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3, and you'll also find it in Hebrews 4 and verse 4. The keeping of the weekly Sabbath keeps us mindful that we are to worship the Creator. We're not to worship anybody else. We are not to worship idols. We are to remember who created things and worship the Creator and keep the Sabbath like God kept it. Genesis 2:2 and 3. So it's a memorial.

   Number 2, so far as an analogy, the Sabbath is a shadow of a spiritual rest in the millennium and the creation of a spiritual family. It foreshadows the millennium and the family of God, and that's Hebrews 4. Let me just read a portion of that if you're not familiar with it. Hebrews 4. He talks about the keeping of the weekly Sabbath and says that is a type of a millennial Sabbath, and the reason we know that is because he says it plus the Hebrew words. You'll find that the apostle Paul uses two different words in Hebrews 4. One of them is the word sabbatismos, which means the weekly Sabbath. And the other word is katapausis which refers to a rest, a period of time, separate from the weekly Sabbath, a rest, and the apostle Paul identifies that as a millennial rest, 1000-year rest.

   And I'm not going to take time to read all of it. I'll just show you where those words are used. 'Let us therefore fear lest the promise being left us of entering into his rest.' Verse one, that word rest is katapausis. And it is referred to as a future thing. Let's fear lest we don't enter into God's rest. God's rest, the future thing, not at the time of the apostle Paul.

   In verse 3, 'For we which believe do enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest' katapausis again, 'all the works were finished from the foundation of the world.' So here's a rest that is typified by a creation that is in turn typified by a weekly Sabbath. So you have creation, the weekly Sabbath, and the millennium.

   And then we can go on down to verse 9. It says 'There remains therefore a rest to the people of God,' and the word here is sabbatismos. And sabbatismos means the weekly Sabbath. 'There remains therefore a weekly Sabbath.' So as you and I observed the weekly Sabbath we are foreshadowing the katapausis or the millennial Sabbath when all mankind will rest from Satan the devil, we will rest from the works of man, and we shall be under the direct governorship and rule of God. And you and I shall rest in a spiritual way, and that we shall enter the family of God as spirit beings. So that's what that entire chapter is about.

   Now let me very quickly give you 7 principles for observing the Sabbath. First of all, the church cannot create a handbook of dos and don'ts. We can't tell you everything that is right or everything that is wrong in observing the Sabbath because brethren, the Sabbath is a spiritual law. It's a physical day but the keeping of it is a spiritual law, and it must be kept in the spirit. It must be kept in the attitude. That's why you cannot lay down a book of do's and don'ts or rules, because it's a spiritual thing.

   I'm going to give you 7 principles. If you ever wonder, you know, how to keep it or something right or wrong, but with the help of God's Holy Spirit and with prayer, and with your Bible and these principles, I think you can pretty well determine whether something is right or wrong.

   Number 1, Genesis 2:3, Genesis 2:3 says that on the Sabbath day, God rested and hallowed it. So that's principle one. It is a day that has been set aside by God for holy use. And it is a blessed day. Now if a day has been set aside for holy use or sanctified, then anything that we would do that would make that day unholy or would make our actions unholy on that day there would not be an example of the way God kept it would be wrong.

   Number one, it says God rested on that day. And he says, God was refreshed on that day. So the Sabbath, part of keeping it holy is to rest and be refreshed. And how many times do we find the Sabbath is the one time when we don't get as much rest? That's a violation. That's not right. That's not God's way. It's a day of rest. It is a holy day.

   Principle 2, Exodus 20:8 through 11, the 10 Commandments says that we are not to labor on that day. He says, '6 days shall you work, but the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, you shall do no work.' Now, what did God mean when he said no work? Because frankly, almost anything you do is work to one extent or the other. Just a woman getting up and getting cleaned up and put her clothes on her makeup and breakfast and all that. There's an hour and a half hour job. That's work. Especially if you have a bunch of kids. That's work.

   Now, what did God mean when he said work? Well, he's also said labor, didn't he? And this law went originally to ancient Israel. And we have to understand what type of work ancient Israel was doing. Ancient Israel was an agrarian society. They were a society primarily dealing with planting and with cattle. And so when God says you shall not labor, he meant stop doing that work which you normally do, which was the planting and the harvesting and the plowing and you know, dealing with the cattle and separating them and corralling them and branding them and all the things that are involved in an agrarian society. That's the type of labor God is talking about a very, very general term meaning your labor or your employment or your work.

   And we can go later to Exodus 31. We'll find there that later on God says, if you want to be my covenant people. Verse 13-14, he says, you shall do no work in that day. So I think we can derive from that spiritual principles that anything that begins to take our time away from God, anything that begins to border on our job, things like going out and mowing the lawn and washing the car, you know, and trimming the dog and all those things, that begins to be work.

   But preparing a light meal or taking a shower, or making up the bed, you know, or sweeping up a mess that the kids spilled or that's not work. That's not the kind of work God was referring to. And again, it's the spirit of the law. We have to ask ourselves, why are we doing this little bit of labor? Are we doing it to defy God? Are we doing it to get away with something? Or are we doing it because it is an emergency, it has to be done and in the attitude, we are still observing God's day holy. And you can't do that by going to work.

   Principle 3, Leviticus 23 and verse 3 commands an assembly on the Sabbath in order to honor and worship God. So it's a commanded assembly day as well.

   Point number 4, Isaiah 58 verse 13 says that we are to rejoice in the Sabbath day, so it is not a day of drudgery. It is a day to rejoice, a day to enjoy one another, one another's family life. A day to be happy. A day to rest. A day to have private relationship with your family, you know. A day to look forward to the millennium. A day of rejoicing and in that command you find that Isaiah said that we are not to do our own pleasure. And the word for pleasure there, the Hebrew word for pleasure is properly translated. That's just an absolute wrong translation. Your new Jewish society translation clarifies it. I think the Phillips translation, several of them clarify it. And when Isaiah said, you shall do no pleasure, it says you shall not pursue your own business. That's all it means. You shall not pursue your own business.

   Point 5, Matthew 12:9 through 13, Jesus Christ said it's all right to do good on the Sabbath. Doing good. Visiting the sick, writing a letter to mother. You know, helping a neighbor who's gotten in serious trouble. Maybe an automobile accident on your way home, you're running, you know, somebody's had a horrible automobile accident, stop and help them. That's doing good.

   Now does that mean that a registered nurse should work on the Sabbath because that's doing good? Now that begins to be a borderline thing. In cases of emergency, surely, you know, we had a, if we had a national or a citywide or a Gulf, you know, catastrophe, a hurricane came in or something, began to kill people and people were filling the hospitals, I would think there would be a time when a registered nurse ought to help to save someone's life, where life is in danger. For your help may mean the difference between life and death, but to go in on a day to daily basis to Saint Luke's, you know, and take care of the sick people all day long is plying your trade. That's a different thing altogether. But in cases of emergency, which are again substantiated by Luke 14:5, where Christ again said that it's right to do good, giving the principle of hauling the ox out of the ditch on the Sabbath.

   In cases of emergency. Then Mark 2:27, Jesus Christ said, 'The Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.' You are not to be enslaved to this day. You're not to feel like you can't do anything. It should be again a day of rejoicing. It is made for the service of mankind.

   Now let me read you in conclusion a quotation from this doctrinal paper: 'It is obviously out of step with the spirit of the Sabbath day to participate in violent physical sports activities. Can one really keep the Sabbath holy while charging down a football field or a basketball court? In competitive sports, one must go all out to the point of exhaustion to win. The Sabbath is a day of rest.'

   'The Sabbath would not be a day to dig up the garden or to plow or to harvest in a major way, but there is nothing wrong with watering the lawn or pulling up a few carrots or breaking off stalks of celery for a salad, you know. And I know there have been times when I've gone out on Friday evening because the lawn was so dry. I just mowed it. And I turned on the sprinkler, you know, I may have sat there for an hour and enjoying the evening, just spray around the corners and spray my flowers and whatever, and it was a time of just relaxation and meditation and thought, you know, for the next day and a very, very relaxing.'

   'Now that didn't mean I went out and mowed the lawn and I fertilized and I dug around the edges and trimmed so I could water. But I watered is a natural thing. There was a need for it's crazy to water during the middle of the day. It's gonna evaporate. You're gonna scald things. We did it after dark and spray. I've done that on occasions and found it to be very, very relaxing. But it's not a time to go out then and chop in the garden, you know, and work around and what have you. But if I was sitting out on a lawn chair, you know, and enjoying the sun, I looked over my flower bed and saw a weed, I'd pull it up. I wouldn't say aha, wait till the Sabbath and I'm gonna get you, you little devil. You know, wait till it's over. Pull it up. Then I didn't get out there with my fork and my hoe and everything and work the entire garden. That's a whole different thing altogether.'

   'One should not do the entire week shopping on the Sabbath or Saturday. One should plan ahead. In fact, in the New Testament, Christ referred to what? The preparation day. Friday as the preparation day, but you know, there are a lot of times when you can prepare all you want to and on Saturday there's still something that you forgot to do or an emergency. As an example, if a baby runs out of milk and you're out of it, there's nothing wrong with picking up a quarter or two of milk for that day or so.

   There is simply a spiritual principle here. As a rule, Christians should avoid getting into situations where Sabbath observance becomes difficult. As we have always said, it is best to remain far from the edge of the cliff. Why get into borderline situations in which there's a hairline between keeping the Sabbath and violating it? Why trouble your conscience?

   Well, I think that's sufficient from a doctrinal viewpoint to show you, I think conclusively, without any question whatsoever, that the Sabbath day you're keeping was the day that God originally created by resting on it. It's a command of God. It has restrictions all through the Old Testament. Entire nations, or at least one entire nation, was taken into captivity because they refused to keep this day holy.

   And as a result of coming out, they began to add their own man-made laws to it and restrictions which Christ had to come and show were not the spirit of the law. Christ set the example of the Sabbath by keeping it, by going into the synagogue as his habit was. The apostle Paul, the greatest apostle in the New Testament, went in as his manner was into the synagogue every Sabbath day.

   It is a millennial prophecy. It shall be kept all through the millennium. It is a type of that millennium, and as we keep it today, we look back on the creation of God and we anticipate the time when we shall become at rest with God, at rest with ourselves, at rest with all the creation of God by being made spirit beings.

   So without question, the Sabbath day is truly to be kept by us, and it is a command that is going to go on to all nations to be kept by all peoples, all nations of all colors and creeds and beliefs, ultimately in the millennium.