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Commentary on "Rest"
Day 3: Monday, May 18, 2009
Introduction
The Sabbath is “holy”, set aside for a specific use. Who makes it holy, man or God? What does keeping the Sabbath holy look like? How does keeping it holy impact us? It’s a sign that we are separate and different, and of our loyalty to our Creator. The reality of the Sabbath should be a reminder to us, when facing temptations during the week, to be a holy people set apart from the world. Adventists object strongly to the change of Saturday to Sunday without a biblical mandate—it’s an affront to God.
Problems
This lesson assumes that while God made the Sabbath holy, we’re somehow able to satisfactorily “keep” the Sabbath holy to God’s standards. When God gave strict Sabbath-keeping laws to the Israelites, the penalty for not keeping them to the “letter-of-the-law” was severe—even death. It’s at this point we need to clarify whether we’re still under Old Covenant laws or not. If we are, then we still need to be under the whole law, as God didn’t mandate a discontinuation of some of the laws and not others.
We, then, are not at liberty to arbitrarily and subjectively “keep” the Sabbath however we want (depending on what part of the country we live in or which Seventh-day Adventist church we attend). If we try to keep the Sabbath (which basically translates into attending church on the “right” day) as we see proper and convenient to us, how can we expect it to be “holy” and pleasing to God’s perfect standards? If you marry this concept with the denominational belief of Sabbath being the ultimate test of the “true church” (Sunday laws/Mark of the Beast), isn’t it vital to make sure you’re doing it perfectly…why have God’s standards loosened over time? Isn’t it a huge “affront to God” if the Sabbath laws are truly still binding as they were for the Israelites? What about the sacrifices, other Old Covenant laws, the whole package? Why are just a few dietary laws and the Sabbath the “biggies”?
You can’t have it both ways: either you’re under Old Covenant law completely OR Jesus came to fulfill the law; to enter into a New Covenant with us—one directed and driven by the Holy Spirit via Jesus, instead of the external laws via Moses. You can’t say, on one hand, that Jesus’ sacrifice was complete, but we’re still bound by Sabbath laws (and are uncertain of our salvation because we’re in the middle of an Investigative Judgment). The two are incompatible, because it makes Jesus’ sacrifice incomplete—that’s an affront to God. Christ came down to die for all our sins as the ultimate sacrifice and a BETTER way than the old laws and sacrificial system (Gal. 3:10-12; 19-26).
Trying to have one foot in the “Old Covenant door” while trying to embrace freedom in Christ (with the other foot) doesn’t work (Heb. 7:17-19, 22, 28). To “hedge our bets” by deluding ourselves that we’re really keeping Sabbath is futile. If we’re doing it just in case Sabbath allegiance really IS the true test of end time believers, and somehow we’ll be covered and on the right side of the fence, it’s really a pitiful attempt to cover ourselves, not rest in Christ’s finished work. We’re relying on our own works (of attempted Sabbath-keeping).
The statement made above about being “separate” and “set apart” refers to being Godly-minded vs. worldly-minded—it has nothing to do with what day one worships on or “keeps” holy. Setting apart special time for the Lord is good and necessary to build our relationship with Him. On this side of Christ, it’s not a sign for us as it was for the Israelites. Being separate in this way is elitism, and it doesn’t unify the body of Christ, it divides it. It’s not being used as a sign of loyalty, but rather a way to cover oneself and earn God’s favor.
The “reality of the Sabbath” shouldn’t be what reminds us or deters us during temptations—Christ should be! What does a day have to do with it? Our love for Him and living well for His kingdom should be our motivation. It’s all about the heart. This same principle applies to the charge that we’ve changed the holy day from Saturday to Sunday. If we had arbitrarily tried to assert that Sunday was holy, without a directive from God, that would be blasphemous (and a huge affront to God).
It’s the Bible that tells us that the New Covenant is about Christ, not the day, and that it’s superior to the Old Covenant system (Gal. 3:24-26; 5:4, Heb. 7:18, 19, 22). One can worship on ANY day (or every day!), Sunday most commonly being chosen because it’s called “The Lord’s Day” among New Testament believers (the day Christ rose from the dead). The main point to remember is that it’s about a person, not a day.
Summary
- Only God can make anything holy. We can’t “keep” any day holy, either. We have to decide whether we’re under Old Covenant law completely or not. If we are, then we need to keep them to the “letter-of-the-law” and not pick and choose which ones are convenient or mandatory. They came as a package and no mandate was ever given to do away with some of them. Either Christ fulfilled the whole “package” or He didn’t. We’re either under law or we’re not.
- Being “separate” isn’t about being different in the day we choose to try to keep holy or go to church, but in being distinctively different in how we live our lives; our actions should model a heart that loves and hungers after Him. They should be in line with the New Covenant commands given by Jesus to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul, and to love others as we love ourselves (Rom. 13:8-10).
- The “reality of the Sabbath” isn’t what deters us from temptation, it’s Christ.
- Saturday isn’t changed to Sunday as a holy day. Sunday is when the New Testament Christians met, commemorating Christ’s resurrection. It isn’t about a holy day; it’s about our Holy God. The day is irrelevant under the New Covenant. Jesus is the fulfillment of our Sabbath Rest.
Copyright 2009 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised May 11, 2009. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
The Sabbath School Bible Study Guide and the corresponding E.G. White Notes are published by Pacific Press Publishing Association, which is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church. The current quarter's editions are pictured above.
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