“And He said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.’” Mark 2:27-28.
The question has been asked, some folks say that the Sabbath is for the Jewish people and some say that Jesus is our rest, what is your (my) opinion?
I will attempt to give more than my opinion on this by bringing in a number of Scriptures for you to consider. In the end though it may still be a bit confusing; first though, a flat-footed statement, both the idea that the Sabbath is for the Jews and that Jesus is our rest are correct.
It should also be added that Jesus’ statement in our opening verse sums things up pretty well.
For the Israelites it was Law to keep the Sabbath in no uncertain terms by the fourth commandment.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:8-11.
In time they profaned the Sabbath both by ignoring it at times and finally by loading a day of rest down with petty rules until it was a bloated monstrosity.
“In those days [approximately 445-425 B.C.] I saw in Judah some people treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.” Nehemiah 13:15-16.
If you compare the above with the fourth commandment you will see that these folks were breaking every point of the commandment. While there was a period of revival during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah the Jews soon began to worship God in a dead, legalistic way until Malachi recorded God’s complaints against them in the last book of our Old Testament around 400 B.C.
Then 400 hundred years of silence from God, many of those years were horrific and catastrophic for Israel, finally ending in Roman rule by the time Jesus the Christ came to His own. With the final rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah:
“But they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’” John 19:15.
God rejected them and turned to the Gentiles. Many people have accepted the error that God has completely rejected the Jews and has given their place to the Christian church.
Scripture, our final authority, refutes this thinking very clearly.
“But Isaiah is very bold and says: ‘I was found by those [Gentiles] who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.’ But to Israel he says: ‘All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.’” Romans 10:20-21.
“I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” Romans 11:1-2a.
“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that hardening in part has happened to Israel until the fullness [complete number] of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all [Jews and Gentiles] to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all [Jews and Gentiles].” Romans 11:25-32.
The above Scriptures tell us that God foreknew the entire history of the Israelites from beginning to end, yet He still elected them for His purpose and His glory, and they are beloved for the sake of their fathers.
Their place in God’s timeline has been stopped for a while, but God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable and when the last Gentile is added to the church, the Israelites will awaken to the gospel of Jesus Christ their Messiah and will carry God’s word forward into the whole world.
“I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fulness!” Romans 11:11-12.
Is the Sabbath still for the Jews; technically no.
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile], there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:26-28.
“where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:11.
The Jew who accepts Christ as his Savior is no longer under law but under grace and as such is not a Jew but rather a part of the body of Christ just as every other race is.
Should the Jew of today keep the Sabbath? In my personal opinion, yes, but for an odd reason. The Jew that is truly attempting to please God should keep the Sabbath, study Moses’ Law as it is given in the Pentateuch, study the entire Old Testament, and pray that God would open the Scriptures to them.
The wise Jew will turn away from the study of the Talmud with its 613 laws which do nothing but confuse and entangle them in meaningless rules and regulations which are not in the spirit of the Law of Moses as it is given in the final authority on God, the Scriptures.
The reason I recommend this is simple, the Old Testament gives a graphic description of the Messiah and before they finish the book of Isaiah, they will have run right smack dab into the face of Jesus (see Isaiah 52:13-53:12).
Finally, an interesting thought, during the millennium the temple will be rebuilt, and it will be massive. The description of the millennial temple and the various ordinances for sacrifices and temple service by Israelites are described beginning in Ezekiel chapter 40 on through the end of the book.
The reason this is mentioned is that the Sabbath is evidently reinstituted for the millennium.
“Thus says the Lord God: ‘The gateway of the inner court that faces toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and on the day of the New Moon it shall be opened.’” Ezekiel 46:1.
“The burnt offering that the prince offers to the Lord on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish, and a ram without blemish…” Ezekiel 46:4.
“Now when the prince makes a voluntary burnt offering or voluntary peace offering to the Lord, the gate that faces toward the east shall then be opened for him; and he shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he did on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.” Ezekiel 46:12.
God further indicates the return of Israel to grace by comparing them to a branch which was broken off of a good olive tree and in its place a branch (Gentiles) taken from a wild olive tree is grafted in to the good olive tree.
“And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.’ Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be but off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, who are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?” Romans 11:17-24.
Sabbath – Seventh Day, Part 1 Taken from godisrevealed.com Posted on 11-5-14 and updated on 10-22-24 ck.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.