Jesus and Sabbath

Even in death the Saviour rested upon “the sabbath day according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56.) All of us know that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week-“Easter” Sunday. Jesus rested in the tomb on the day before Sunday – “the sabbath day according to the commandment”- commonly known today as Saturday. The Sabbath Christ kept during His earthly ministry has never lost its weekly identity through the centuries. That Jews still keep it on Saturday proves that it has never been misplaced in the order of the week days.

Luke 23.56 is not referring to Jesus but to the disciples who were preparing his body. They finished making spices for his body before the sun set on Friday. The women then went after the sun set on Saturday (early in the am on Sunday) to put those spices on his body.

There is a physical Sabbath that was important to Jesus as a Hebrew, but there is also a spiritual Sabbath that still remains for God's people that was never fulfilled in Old Testament, which Jesus lived under. Christians today do not need to follow the physical Sabbath - and Sunday has not been redefined as the "Christian Sabbath". There is no such thing, as regards days of the week.

OldStudent said:

Was the Sabbath (as identified in the Ten Commandments) important to Jesus?
Are there those in the Restoration Movement who address His interest in the matter?

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Hi OldStudent, since Jesus was Jewish he was a Sabbath keeper.

I don't think there are any Restoration Movement churches that keep the Sabbath. If you are looking for a Sabbath keeping church you could try 1. Seventh Day Adventists; 2. Seventh Day Baptists; 3. Church of God (Seventh Day).

If you are referring to keeping Saturday as a special day, then that is required by no Christian. But there is a Sabbath that remains for the people of God, which you can read about in Hebrews chapter 4. Go check that out, and you will seek that the Old Testament was looking forward to the spiritual realities that are now present under the New Testament.

If Jesus did not perfectly keep the Sabbath before the Father, or transgressed God's Law in any way, He could not have been our Redeemer. Jesus did however oppose the Pharisaic additions to God's Law concerning the Sabbath.

samkadya said:

Even in death the Saviour rested upon “the sabbath day according to the commandment.” (Luke 23:56.) All of us know that Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week-“Easter” Sunday. Jesus rested in the tomb on the day before Sunday – “the sabbath day according to the commandment”- commonly known today as Saturday. The Sabbath Christ kept during His earthly ministry has never lost its weekly identity through the centuries. That Jews still keep it on Saturday proves that it has never been misplaced in the order of the week days.

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The Sabbath belongs to the Old Covenant:

Exo 31:16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

Lev 24:8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order before the LORD continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.

Isa 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant;

The Jews finished off their covenant with God by killing their divine Bridegroom. Thus, the Old Covenant, and the Sabbath that went along with it, are gone, replaced and fulfilled by the New Covenant. With the New Covenant comes a new day of worship, one that recognizes the promised rest of the Sabbath as fulfilled in Christ and His glorious Resurrection.