Ex 20:11 makes the case that the first text showing that humans were obligated to keep God's Sabbath - was Gen 2:1-3.
Gen 2:1-3
And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
The passage simply says that
God rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. There is no command here in Genesis 2:1-3 for humans to keep the sabbath.
Although God's rest on the seventh day did foreshadow a future sabbath law, there is no Biblical record of the sabbath before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt.
Nowhere in Scripture is there any hint that sabbath keeping was practiced from Adam to Moses.
The word "sabbath" first appears in
Exodus 16:23 - Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a
sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.
Look at
Deuteronomy 5:1-15 which gives the commandments to Israel. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The Lord
did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive.
Nehemiah 9:13 - Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven;
You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. 14 So
You made known to them Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses.
Ex 20:11
11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy (same word as in Gen 2 - Sanctified)
Ex 20:8-11 declares that God's act of Sanctifying something on Earth - creates an obligation for mankind to honor it.
Ex 20:10 "the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD (YHWH)"
Exodus 20 is written to
the Israelites under the old covenant. Exodus 20:1 - And God spoke all these words, saying: 2 "I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."
Mark 2:27 "the Sabbath was made for mankind - not mankind MADE for the Sabbath" speaks to the "making of both" in Gen 1-2:3.
The sabbath is made for man and the
Israelites are of mankind. Jesus did not say ALL mankind here (Jew and Gentile alike).
Exodus 31:16-17 and
Deuteronomy 5:15 are very clear on this.
Sabbath observance was a
sign between God and Israel (and not ALL mankind).
"The
Israelites are to observe the sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a
sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested." (
Exodus 31:16-17)
*In
Deuteronomy 5, Moses restates the Ten Commandments to the next generation of Israelites. Here, after commanding sabbath observance in verses 12–14, Moses gives the reason the sabbath was given to the
Israelites (and not ALL mankind).
"Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day." (
Deuteronomy 5:15)
No wonder gentiles are commanded not to profane the Sabbath in Is 56:6.
Is 56:
“Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
To attend to His service and to love the name of the Lord,
To be His servants, every one who keeps the Sabbath so as not to profane it,
And holds firmly to My covenant;
In regards to
Isaiah 56:2-6, foreigners were to "join themselves to the Lord;" and "love the name of the Lord;" and "be his servants;" and "take hold of God's covenant." The
old covenant. But to do this they had to be circumcised, for God said: "No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the sons of Israel, shall enter My sanctuary." (
Ezekiel 44:9). When Gentiles thus "joined themselves to the Lord" they
CEASED BEING GENTILES and became proselytes to the Jewish religion. They kept the Sabbath AS JEWISH PROSELYTES, NOT as Gentiles.
But WHERE ARE GENTILES as Gentiles ever commanded to keep the sabbath? Furthermore, if the sabbath was of universal application, why were the Gentiles called "strangers?" The apostle Paul, speaking of the Gentiles during the Jewish age, says they were "strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world?" (
Ephesians 2:12).
And when God gave the sabbath commandment at Sinai, why did he make it binding only on "the stranger that is within your gates?" (
Exodus 20:10). Where is the passage that proves the sabbath was binding on the Gentile OUTSIDE the gates?
All this shows the sabbath was NOT universally applied. If it had been, there would have been no "strangers from the covenants of promise."
This obligation regarding the Sabbath commandment continues for all mankind - as it is included in the Law "written on heart and mind" under Jeremiah's New Covenant Jer 31:31-34 and is applicable to all mankind for all eternity after the cross in the New Earth according Is 66:23.
In regards to
Isaiah 66:22-23, this merely teaches that from month to month and from week to week, God’s people will worship Him. In the new heaven and the new earth, we read there will have no need of the sun or moon, there will be no night there, but one perpetual day and the glory of God will illuminate it. (
Revelation 21:23-25) How then could there be a cycle of seven days that would allow for literally keeping the weekly sabbath day under the law? The Isaiah passage simply means that
God’s people will perpetually worship Him in contrast to keeping the weekly sabbath day under the law.
Furthermore, if you insist on sabbath observances based on
Isaiah 66:23, then you also need to observe new moons as well. Yet from what I hear, SDA's don’t observe new moons, which is inconsistent. New moons require night, which requires night in heaven, yet there is no day and night cycles in heaven. You cannot have "new moon to new moon" or "sabbath days" without day and night. Will there be Levital priests in the new heaven? If
Isaiah 66:23 teaches that we will keep the sabbath day in the new heaven, then it also teaches in
Isaiah 66:21 that the Levitical priests will be in the new heaven, because it is also mentioned. What happened to the Levitical priesthood under the new covenant terms?
Priesthood changed so did the law. Hebrews 7:12 -
For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also. *The old and new covenants do not mix.*
No wonder even non-Bible Sabbath keeping scholarship admits to these Bible details --
D.L. Moody
Baptist Confession of Faith Sectn 19
Westminster Confession of Faith Sectn 19
R.C Sproul
(C.H. Spurgeon)
etc
Some examples - here
#7
and here:
#8
======================= FYI
interesting comment about God's act of sanctifying something - creating an obligation for mankind to honor it.
Very cunning, but you are not fooling me. There is no obligation for ALL mankind (Jews and Gentiles alike) to keep the sabbath under the old or new covenant.
*Sabbath keeping with all it's rules and regulations, was
part of a covenant with Israel (
Exodus 16:23, 29; 31:12-18; 35:1-3;
Leviticus 19:30; 23:2-3, 32;
Numbers 15:32-36; 28:1-10; 29:39-40; I Chronicles. 23:30-31; II Chronicles 31:2-4;
Isaiah 1:13;
Amos 8:5;
Nehemiah 10:31) that is
not binding on Christians under the new covenant. (
Colossians 2:16-17)
Your SDA gospel (which is a mixture of law and grace) culminates in
"salvation by grace plus law, faith plus works." (
Galatians 1:6-9)
