What is the purpose of the Sabbath?

[SabbathBlessings]

There are all kinds of crazy ideas and reasons people make up in their own mind on many things. We are only safe by Gods Word which is why scripture clearly tells us to not lean on our own understandings. Proverbs 3:5-6

God is not going to give us a commandment we don’t know how to keep.

The gracious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Exod. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; Lev. 23:32; Deut. 5:12-15; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Matt. 12:1-12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; Heb. 4:1-11.)


What Adventists Believe about the Sabbath - Adventist.org

 

[Leaf473]

There are all kinds of crazy ideas and reasons people make up in their own mind on many things. We are only safe by Gods Word which is why scripture clearly tells us to not lean on our own understandings. Proverbs 3:5-6

God is not going to give us a commandment we don’t know how to keep.

The gracious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. The fourth commandment of God’s unchangeable law requires the observance of this seventh-day Sabbath as the day of rest, worship, and ministry in harmony with the teaching and practice of Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom. The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people. Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts. (Gen. 2:1-3; Exod. 20:8-11; 31:13-17; Lev. 23:32; Deut. 5:12-15; Isa. 56:5, 6; 58:13, 14; Ezek. 20:12, 20; Matt. 12:1-12; Mark 1:32; Luke 4:16; Heb. 4:1-11.)


What Adventists Believe about the Sabbath - Adventist.org

God didn't tell us where on Earth sunset of the sixth day becomes sunset of the seventh day or sunset of the first day after that.

I agree that God isn't going to give us a commandment and then not tell us how to keep it. The logical conclusion, then, is that it's not about starting at a particular time.

The meaning of the Sabbath, then, would likely not be a literal 24-hour day.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

God didn't tell us where on Earth sunset of the sixth day becomes sunset of the seventh day or sunset of the first day after that.

I agree that God isn't going to give us a commandment and then not tell us how to keep it. The logical conclusion, then, is that it's not about starting at a particular time.

The meaning of the Sabbath, then, would likely not be a literal 24-hour day.

What is amazing is God has preserved the Jews even to this day and Jews who have been celebrating the Sabbath from Friday evening to Sabbath evening since the days of Christ.

Mark 15:42
Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Luke 23:54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.

Leviticus 23:32 from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.

Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God

The logical conclusion is we are to obey God! Exodus 20:8-11, but if you feel you don’t understand the Sabbath commandment so therefore are exempt from it, that will be between you and God.

You’re free to believe what you want and thats okay, not something I will debate about and will instead let the scriptures speak for themselves and have faith that God preserved the Jews who know when the Sabbath is from generation to generation since the days of Christ.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Sabbath could be today

It could be if one wants to follow something different than what God has said so clearly for us.

Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God

It’s better to trust God!

 

[Leaf473]

What is amazing is God has preserved the Jews even to this day and Jews who have been celebrating the Sabbath from Friday evening to Sabbath evening since the days of Christ.

Mark 15:42
Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Luke 23:54 That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.

Leviticus 23:32 from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.

The logical conclusion is we are to obey God! Exodus 20:8-11, but if you feel you don’t understand the Sabbath commandment so therefore are exempt from it, that will be between you and God.

You’re free to believe what you want and thats okay, not something I will debate about and will instead let the scriptures speak for themselves and have faith that God preserved the Jews who know when the Sabbath is from generation to generation since the days of Christ.

Jewish people believe all kinds of things today, many of them not based directly on scriptures.

As I write this, it's the first day of the week by traditional calculations. Over in India, the sun has already set so it's the second day.

But this assumes the traditional international date line, which is not something from the scriptures.

The peace of the lord be always with you!

 

[SabbathBlessings]

God wont mind. He still saves his enemies. won't worry so much

We have free to will to test this theory if we don’t have to obey God. Those who have faith though uphold God’s law. Romans 3:31 and keep the commandments of God. Revelation 14:12

Luke 4:22 Jesus answered, “It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Hebrews 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

puppets don't have freewill. I only obey the strings that move me.

Thats why God gives us free will to obey or not obey and does not force us to obey. Only obedience because of love is pure.

Love to God is keeping His commandments 1 John 5:3 It's our freewill to keep them because we love God.

 

[philadelphos]

I am going to have to respectfully disagree that we don’t know when the true Sabbath is and we have to wait until Jesus comes to know when that is.

God gave us a commandment to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy. Exodus 20:8-11. Just like He gave us a commandment to not worship other gods and to not commit murder. God is not going to give us a commandment that we will be judged by James 2:10-12 that we dont know how to keep. There is no such scripture that says we are only commanded to keep the Sabbath once Jesus returns.

While I admit the calendars have changed over the centuries, what has not changed is the weekly cycle established right at creation. Work six days Genesis 1 but the seventh day is set aside and sanctified for holy use, God’s holy Sabbath day Genesis 2:1-3. Regardless which calendar is used, it does not affect the weekly cycle and every seventh day we can keep His Sabbath holy, just the way He has commanded us. That’s why most older languages Saturday means Sabbath. We serve a righteous and just God.

[Staff Edit]



Idolatry is possible in many forms, to make "any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above", e.g. 'stars' or celebrity/fame, or self-aggrandisement or narcissism. kol temuna (וְכָל־תְּמוּנָה) = "appearance, form". Any exterior vanity is arguably a breach of the commandment, glory-theft.

Likewise, "Thou shalt not kill" covers all forms of killing not only "murder", e.g. manslaughter, homocide, infanticide, genocide, androcide, etc. Rasah (רָצַח) can also "dash into pieces". Lo harasha (לֹא תִּרְצָֽח) is literally "NOT/NO KILL".

While these are negative commandments Sabbath is a positive commandment that works to the same breadth magnificently, it's not petty ritualism or sequential religiosity/superstition "by tradition". No.

Regardless which calendar is used, it does not affect the weekly cycle and every seventh day we can keep His Sabbath holy

Have you ever observed a 36 hour sabbath? Because "the weekly cycle and every seventh day" is only possible for a perennial calendar system not the Gregorian system. There are only 5 countries on a non-Gregorian system: Afghanistan and Iran (which use the Solar Hijri calendar), Ethiopia (the Ethiopian calendar), and Nepal (Vikram Samvat and Nepal Sambat). Where are you from? Where does it say in Scripture that a day is 24 hours and is fixed by the solar cycle?

The only way your view is possible is by doctoring the Gregorian system into a perennial system by introducing a 36 hour sabbath. Only then can it possible. "A Long-Sabbath plan achieves a perennial calendar without interrupting the continuity of the sabbatical cycle."

See Rick McCarty, The Long-Sabbath Calendar Plan,
The Long-Sabbath Perennial Calendar

When Scripture says the law is a burden, obstacle, stumbling stone, and cursed (containing curses), it is true, yet, the law is God's expressed will and stands eternal, so it cannot and must not be done away with. The problem then lies not in the commandment but in the current state of creation, in man and our understanding of sabbath.

When Zech 14 and Ezek 47 unfolds it will be impossible (physically and morally) to commit idolatry, to kill, or break any of the law and commandments contained in Torah.

By then all calendar systems will be worthless as the sun will be redundant. Even the Earth itself, our galaxy, will be positioned in a different part of the universe, somewhere near the Milk Way and Sagittarius A.

There is no such scripture that says we are only commanded to keep the Sabbath once Jesus returns.

[Staff Edit]

I wrote "God's will in Torah unfolds over time, the meaning of sabbath included. ... We experience a time-delay (lag) from when God "rested from all his work which he had made" (Gen 2), in the same way as Christ said "It is finished... and gave up the ghost." (Jn 19:30) and ~33 years later did the Holy Spirit arrive: "a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:4) ... similarly noted by Rashi ... Thus the sabbath commandment (and the Torah overall) is not redundant (per arguments for lawlessness -- see emphasis in Ex 31:12-17) but rather postponed in its full meaning."

I repeat: "Postponed in its full meaning", not deferred. The fulfilment of sabbath is by the Lord of the Sabbath. While sabbath is 'made for man', until these events unfold, sabbath will ever be incomplete, imperfect, lacking. Only then can there be true 'rest unto your souls', when work is 'finished'.

To suggest otherwise is vanity and carnality. Hence, Col 2:16-23 "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: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. ... vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind ... (but rather be) dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world"

Rev 21:23-25, "And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there."

Isa 60:19-22, "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified."

Rev 22:3-5, "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him ... And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

AYWK, I agree with Sabbath but the critics have a point, that is all. Disagreement is not necessarily an attack on Sabbath. How can anyone claim to know how or keep sabbath perfectly?

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Has the calendar been altered or the cycle of the seven-day week been changed?

Our calendar has been changed once since the time of Christ. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar displaced the Julian calendar but, while the dates of the month were changed on the calendar, the days of the week and their sequence were not altered in any way. Jesus, who created the week as well as the Sabbath in the beginning, would have known of any error in the weekly cycle and would surely have corrected the error if the Sabbath would have been on the wrong day in His lifetime.
Browse: Who changed the Sabbath to Sunday?

No calendar errors
However, there was no error, for the Sabbath that was observed immediately following Jesus’ death was the true Sabbath "according to the commandment”, and His disciples kept the seventh day faithfully as the Sabbath. The weekly cycle in the Jewish calendar has not been changed through the centuries, yet it agrees perfectly with our Roman calendar as far as the weekly cycle is concerned.
Browse: Which day is the Sabbath?

No time lost
By mathematical calculations, modern astronomy is able to reckon time forward or backward, and the loss of even one minute can be promptly detected. Read the testimony of these noted astronomers:

"The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of the Mosaic dispensation, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of weeks and their days from that time to the present.” Dr. W. W. Campbell, Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.

"For more than 3,000 years science has gone backward, and with profound research, reveals the fact that in that vast period the length of the day has not changed by the hundredth part of a single second of time." Gen. O. M. Mitchell, Astronomy of the Bible, p. 235.

Compare the sources
Not many years ago, suppose that you wanted to set your watch correctly. You would pass three watchmakers' shops, and, if their official clocks gave the same hour and minute, you would be satisfied as you have obtained the correct time.

In the same way, if you want to know if your calendar is right, just check it by the calendars of the Jews, Muslims and pagans. What will you find? Perfect agreement--Sunday the first day of the week, and Saturday the seventh. The Jewish calendar stands unchanged through the centuries as does the Muslim calendar. Any change of the weekly cycle would readily be discovered by such a comparison.
Was Sabbath lost because of a calendar change? | Bibleinfo.com

https://www.sabbathtruth.com/portals/20/documents/chart-of-the-week.pdf

https://manna.amazingfacts.org/amazingfacts/website/sabbathtruth/documents/weekly-cycle.pdf

When God gives us a commandment, He is going to give us the tools we need to keep His commandments. No one claimed anything other than that.

The Sabbath is not something that God commanded us for a later time in the future, Jesus kept the Sabbath Luke 4:16, the diciples kept the Sabbath Acts 18:44, Acts 13:44, Acts 13:42 as our example to follow. The scriptures are filled with how to keep the Sabbath both by the commandment, throughout scripture and the example of Jesus and the disciples.

 

[DamianWarS]

It could be if one wants to follow something different than what God has said so clearly for us.

Exodus 20:10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God

It’s better to trust God!

you are speaking of requirement not purpose. please stick to the explicit request of the op

 

[philadelphos]

you are speaking of requirement not purpose. please stick to the explicit request of the op

How many times has that been asked politely? Regurgitation has no brain.

 

[philadelphos]

Has the calendar been altered or the cycle of the seven-day week been changed?

Our calendar has been changed once since the time of Christ. In 1582, the Gregorian calendar displaced the Julian calendar but, while the dates of the month were changed on the calendar, the days of the week and their sequence were not altered in any way. Jesus, who created the week as well as the Sabbath in the beginning, would have known of any error in the weekly cycle and would surely have corrected the error if the Sabbath would have been on the wrong day in His lifetime.
Browse: Who changed the Sabbath to Sunday?

No calendar errors
However, there was no error, for the Sabbath that was observed immediately following Jesus’ death was the true Sabbath "according to the commandment”, and His disciples kept the seventh day faithfully as the Sabbath. The weekly cycle in the Jewish calendar has not been changed through the centuries, yet it agrees perfectly with our Roman calendar as far as the weekly cycle is concerned.
Browse: Which day is the Sabbath?

No time lost
By mathematical calculations, modern astronomy is able to reckon time forward or backward, and the loss of even one minute can be promptly detected. Read the testimony of these noted astronomers:

"The week of seven days has been in use ever since the days of the Mosaic dispensation, and we have no reason for supposing that any irregularities have existed in the succession of weeks and their days from that time to the present.” Dr. W. W. Campbell, Director of Lick Observatory, Mt. Hamilton, California.

"For more than 3,000 years science has gone backward, and with profound research, reveals the fact that in that vast period the length of the day has not changed by the hundredth part of a single second of time." Gen. O. M. Mitchell, Astronomy of the Bible, p. 235.

Compare the sources
Not many years ago, suppose that you wanted to set your watch correctly. You would pass three watchmakers' shops, and, if their official clocks gave the same hour and minute, you would be satisfied as you have obtained the correct time.

In the same way, if you want to know if your calendar is right, just check it by the calendars of the Jews, Muslims and pagans. What will you find? Perfect agreement--Sunday the first day of the week, and Saturday the seventh. The Jewish calendar stands unchanged through the centuries as does the Muslim calendar. Any change of the weekly cycle would readily be discovered by such a comparison.
Was Sabbath lost because of a calendar change? | Bibleinfo.com

https://www.sabbathtruth.com/portals/20/documents/chart-of-the-week.pdf

https://manna.amazingfacts.org/amazingfacts/website/sabbathtruth/documents/weekly-cycle.pdf

When God gives us a commandment, He is going to give us the tools we need to keep His commandments. No one claimed anything other than that.

The Sabbath is not something that God commanded us for a later time in the future, Jesus kept the Sabbath Luke 4:16, the diciples kept the Sabbath Acts 18:44, Acts 13:44, Acts 13:42 as our example to follow. The scriptures are filled with how to keep the Sabbath both by the commandment, throughout scripture and the example of Jesus and the disciples.

Copy and paste? Was Sabbath lost because of a calendar change? | Bibleinfo.com

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Copy and paste? Was Sabbath lost because of a calendar change? | Bibleinfo.com

That’s why I posted the source, which doesn’t change the facts that God created the weekly cycle that is traced back from creation. Today we can keep His Sabbath on His true seventh day, just the way God commanded us. Exodus 20:8-11 We serve a righteous God.

 

[Leaf473]

That’s why I posted the source, which doesn’t change the facts that God created the weekly cycle that is traced back from creation. Today we can keep His Sabbath on His true Sabbath day, just the way He commanded us. We serve a righteous God.

At the time that I write this, it's about 1:40 Tuesday morning in the Howland Islands. That's the third day of the week.
Current Local Time in Howland Island, US Minor Outlying Islands

And 1:40 Wednesday morning in the Marshall Islands. That's the fourth day of the week.
Time in Marshall Islands

What day is it? The meaning of the Sabbath probably isn't found in a 24-hour day imo.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

At the time that I write this, it's about 1:40 Tuesday morning in the Howland Islands. That's the third day of the week.
Current Local Time in Howland Island, US Minor Outlying Islands

And 1:40 Wednesday morning in the Marshall Islands. That's the fourth day of the week.
Time in Marshall Islands

What day is it? The meaning of the Sabbath probably isn't found in a 24-hour day imo.

Does that apply to you? Can you not locate Friday night sunset to Saturday night sunset where you live? I don’t think we are judged based on other peoples circumstances.

PS- I did not realize the thread I was posting in when I get the notification of someone responding to me. To the OP if you want everyone to stay on topic you might address other posters who are asking questions that are off topic as well.

 

[Leaf473]

Does that apply to you? Can you not locate Friday night sunset to Saturday night sunset where you live? I don’t think we are judged based on other peoples circumstances.

PS- I did not realize the thread I was posting in when I get the notification of someone responding to me. To the OP if you want everyone to stay on topic you might address other posters who are asking questions that are off topic as well.

I think it's very much on topic, because one of the first questions is whether the meaning is based on a literal, concrete understanding of the seventh day or not.

If I follow the human tradition of where the international date line is, then yes, I can find Friday sunset. But that's a big *if* imo. It's not something from the scriptures.

Put the date line in the middle of the Atlantic instead of the middle of the Pacific, and what had been Friday sunset for me becomes Saturday sunset for me.

If it doesn't matter to God what day it is, then that indicates a more metaphorical application of the Sabbath.

The Peace of the Lord be always with you!

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I think it's very much on topic, because one of the first questions is whether the meaning is based on a literal, concrete understanding of the seventh day or not.

If I follow the human tradition of where the international date line is, then yes, I can find Friday sunset. But that's a big *if* imo. It's not something from the scriptures.

Put the date line in the middle of the Atlantic instead of the middle of the Pacific, and what had been Friday sunset for me becomes Saturday sunset for me.

If it doesn't matter to God what day it is, then that indicates a more metaphorical application of the Sabbath.

The Peace of the Lord be always with you!

That would go against the commandment God gave us and follow mans logic and not God’s. God is not going to give us a commandment that we can’t obey or leave up to our own interpretations- that leads to dangerous territory, but God gives us free will. Jesus kept the Sabbath Luke 4:16, John 15:10 as did the disciples Acts 18:4 and the established His church based on Jesus who commanded to observe everything He had taught. There was Sabbath keepers from the very beginning and will continue until the end of time, even though we are told, those who keep His commandments will not be the majority. Revelation 12:17

 

[Leaf473]

That would go against the commandment God gave us and follow mans logic and not God’s. God is not going to give us a commandment that we can’t obey or leave up to our own interpretations- that leads to dangerous territory, but God gives us free will. Jesus kept the Sabbath Luke 4:16, John 15:10 as did the disciples Acts 18:4 and the established His church based on Jesus who commanded to observe everything He had taught. There was Sabbath keepers from the very beginning and will continue until the end of time, even though we are told, those who keep His commandments will not be the majority. Revelation 12:17

So... What is God's logic about the dateline?

 

[SabbathBlessings]

So... What is God's logic about the dateline?

There’s a seventh day all around the world, so I think when God gave the commandment, Exodus 20:8-11 He knew it was possible for man to keep.

Take care.

 

[Leaf473]

There’s a seventh day all around the world, so I think when God gave the commandment, Exodus 20:8-11 He knew it was possible for man to keep.

Take care.

But... it can be the same time of day and both the seventh day and the first day at the same time. So if it matters whether it's the seventh day or the first day, then the dateline becomes critical.

I think we agree that the dateline is not in the scriptures. Does God want it to be where it is now? Or is it supposed to be in the Atlantic? Or through the middle of London, or Jerusalem, or New Delhi?