End Times Are Here

Excuses For Not Keeping the Sabbath

The Sabbath commandment is one of the Ten Commandments.

As much as we're not allowed to murder, we are also told to keep the Sabbath.

I've seen so many excuses recently why not to keep the Sabbath, that I've decided to list a few.

The Sabbath Was Changed to Sunday
"Jewish" Sabbath
The Sabbath Commandment is Not Repeated in the New Testament
Jesus is my Rest
We Are Not Under the Law, but Under Grace
Any Day is Good
Sunday is the Seventh Day
The Early Church Kept the Sunday
The Law is Nailed to the Cross
It is Just a Day
The Lord's Day is Sunday
Sabbath Keeping Optional?
Work Any Six Days, Then Rest
Jesus Worked on the Sabbath
We Should Rest on the First Day
God is Still Resting From the Seventh Day Onwards
Jesus Fulfilled the Law

The Sabbath Was Changed to Sunday

There is not a single verse to back that up with. In fact, it's the opposite.

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest [sabbatismos] to the people of God.
- Hebrews 4:8-9 (KJV)

God wrote the Sabbath commandment in stone with His own finger. Clearly He was not planning on changing it. Man changed it.

I have also noticed that even on the Sunday, people still don't keep the "sabbath" as it was intended. They just go to church for an hour, and then they do what they want.

That's not obedience. That's rebellion.

"Jewish" Sabbath

Some say that the Sabbath was for the Jews only, but that's not true. The Ten Commandments are for all Christians.

Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
- Romans 3:31 (KJV)

God's Law (the Ten Commandments) is written into our mind, and our heart.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
- Hebrews 8:10-11 (KJV)

Clearly that applies to us today. Note how we are referred to here as "the house of Israel". Who is Jewish now?

But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
- Romans 2:29 (KJV)

We don't need to keep Moses' Law (old covenant), but we do need to keep God's Law (the Ten Commandments).

God's Law never changes, and is eternal.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.
- Isaiah 66:22-23 (KJV)

The Sabbath is clearly made for man, and not just for jews.

And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
- Mark 2:27-28 (KJV)

God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.
- Ellen White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 48

The Sabbath Commandment is Not Repeated in the New Testament

Some say that we only need to obey that which is repeated in the New Testament, and therefore we don't need to keep the Sabbath.

But that's a very dangerous approach of course.

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
- James 2:10 (KJV)

We should always keep the Ten Commandments.

And besides, it is actually repeated in the New Testament.

There remaineth therefore a rest [Sabbath-rest] to the people of God.
- Hebrews 4:9 (KJV)

- Source

To see God's Law, the Ten Commandments, reflected in the New Testament, please click here.

Jesus is my Rest

Okay, fine, but that doesn't mean we should stop following God's Law.

Jesus Himself says:

If ye love me, keep my commandments.
- John 14:15 (KJV)

When you keep God's Law (the Ten Commandments) you will be given rest.

We Are Not Under the Law, but Under Grace

That doesn't mean you can continue to sin though.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
- Romans 6:1-2 (KJV)

Sin is transgression of the Law.

Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.
- 1 John 3:4 (KJV)

So, clearly the Law is still valid.

Any Day is Good

That's not true. God is very particular about His Law.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
- Matthew 5:18 (KJV)

The Sabbath is clearly on the seventh day. Not on any other day.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 (KJV)

If you think another day is just as good, then you are in rebellion with God's Law.

Partial obedience is disobedience.
- Rick Warren

From a practical point of view, it makes sense to pick one day for the Sabbath. For example, if I say to you "See you this Sabbath at 11 am at church", and I'm there on Saturday, and you're there on Sunday, we can never really celebrate the Sabbath together.

God is not the author of confusion, so He set the seventh day apart for worship, fellowship, and resting.

Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
- Leviticus 23:3 (KJV)

You either live with God in obedience (Sabbath), or you will die with satan in rebellion (Sunday).

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
- Romans 6:16 (KJV)

Sunday is the Seventh Day

No. Friday is the preparation, Saturday is the Sabbath, and Sunday is the first day of the week.

Just think of Easter.

Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulchre. And they entered in, and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.
- Luke 24:1-3 (KJV)

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.
- Exodus 20:10 (KJV)

The Early Church Kept the Sunday

Not true.

Jesus kept the Sabbath.

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
- Luke 4:16 (KJV)

So did the apostles.

After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; And found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
- Acts 18:1-4 (KJV)

Just because Jesus was resurrected on a Sunday, doesn't mean God's Law (including the Sabbath) must be done away with.

And yes, there may have been the odd meeting on a Sunday, but that doesn't mean the Sabbath was no longer in place.

And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
- Acts 20:7 (KJV)

You can break bread on any day. It doesn't mean anything.

The Law is Nailed to the Cross

Actually, it's not God's Law (the Ten Commandments) that were nailed to the cross, but Moses' law.

God wrote His Law (the Ten Commandments) in stone with His own finger (never to be changed).

That's where the phrase "written in stone" comes from.

Moses' law (written by man's hand) was done away with at the beginning of the new covenant.

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
- Colossians 2:14-15 (KJV)

If the Ten Commandments were indeed nailed to the cross (which they weren't), does that then mean we can kill?

Thou shalt not kill.
- Exodus 20:13 (KJV)

Of course not.

Therefore there will always be an obligation to keep God's eternal Law (the Ten Commandments).

It is Just a Day

Not to God it isn't. To God it's a very special day that He wants to spend with us.

It's a weekly date with the Creator of the Universe, the God of Love.

Every seventh day. Don't miss out.

The Lord's Day is Sunday

No. That's not true. The Lord's Day is the Sabbath.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Exodus 20:8 (KJV)

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

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.
- Exodus 20:10 (KJV)

Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
- Mark 2:28 (KJV)

Sabbath Keeping Optional?

Does the verse below really say that the weekly sabbaths are optional?

Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.
- Colossians 2:16 (KJV)

No. Paul here is talking about the ceremonial sabbaths (annual holidays). He is saying that there is no need to keep them anymore, but if you want to keep them, let no man judge you for it.

When Jesus died on the cross, the ceremonial laws were canceled.

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.
- Colossians 2:14-15 (KJV)

The weekly sabbath remains.

Work Any Six Days, Then Rest

For example, you could work from Tuesday to Sunday, and then rest on Monday.

The Sabbath commandment however specifically says that the Sabbath is on the seventh day (which is from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset).

The whole idea of the Sabbath is that we all meet on the exact same day. Otherwise it will never work.

Jesus Worked on the Sabbath

Some have quoted the verse below as proof that Jesus worked on the Sabbath.

And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
- John 5:16-18 (KJV)

However, the work here refers to "doing good" on the Sabbath.

If Jesus had truly worked on the Sabbath, He would have sinned, and He would not have qualified as a sinless sacrifice.

We Should Rest on the First Day

Some say that we should rest on the first day (Sunday).

But actually, God worked on the first day.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
- Genesis 1:1-5 (KJV)

And rested on the seventh day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
- Genesis 2:1-3 (KJV)

God is Still Resting From the Seventh Day Onwards

The seventh day doesn't end with "And the evening and the morning were the seventh day" which some people have interpreted as "God is still resting".

However, it is quite clear from The Ten Commandments that God was merely establishing a weekly pattern for us, e.g. six days of work, followed by a day of rest.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
- Exodus 20:8-11 (KJV)

We follow the same pattern as our Creator.

Jesus Fulfilled the Law

Some people say that because Jesus fulfilled the Law, we no longer need to keep it.

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
- Matthew 5:17 (KJV)

But that's missing the point. Jesus kept all of the Law, that's all it says. It doesn't mean that the Law was cancelled, etc.

Conclusion

The Sabbath commandment remains, and will be here forever.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.
- Isaiah 66:22-23 (KJV)

Looking at all the excuses, I must conclude that people just don't really want to spend any time with God.

Personally, it took me some getting used to, but now I love the Sabbath. It's great for worship, fellowship, and resting.

The Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, and is just as important as "Thou shalt not kill", etc.

It is Jesus who invites us to join Him on the Sabbath.