| Author | Message | ||
| Jtree |
A sabbath is a "cessation from activity; rest." The seventh-day sabbath was the weekly day of rest which God required of Israel when He entered into covenant with them at Mount Sinai. This requirement was expressed in the fourth of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-12): "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 work ...." What was the purpose of the seventh-day sabbath? 1. The seventh-day sabbath was the sign of the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai. What is a "covenant sign? A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. The covenants between God and man involve God's promise to bless man. To each covenant was joined a sign, or visible token serving as a reminder of the covenant. For example, the rainbow is the sign of the covenant God made with Noah (Gen 9:8-17): "... Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.... I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth...." Every rainbow is a sign, or reminder, that God is honoring His covenant. (Circumcision was the sign of the covenant God made with Abraham [Gen 17:1-14].) What was the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai? It was His promise to make Israel His special people if they would obey His law (Exodus 19:1-8). That law was expressed in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17; 34:28), given to Israel through the mediation of Moses. What was the sign of the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai? God appointed the seventh-day sabbath for its sign (Exod 31:12-18): "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.... It is a sign between me and the children of Israel ...." (Ezek 20:12,20). The commandment to observe the seventh-day sabbath is the one commandment which is peculiar to the Ten Commandments God gave to Israel. The requirements expressed in the other nine commandments are applicable to all men of every age (see Romans 2:14). However, only the nation Israel was ever commanded to observe the seventh-day sabbath, because this day was the sign of the covenant God made with them alone. Is that covenant and its sign yet in effect? No. This answer is expounded in the Epistle to the Hebrews, especially 8:7-13. The covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai is called the "first covenant" (8:7). It has been replaced by a "new covenant" (8:8,13) which was prophesied by God in Old Testament times (Jeremiah 31:31-34), and which is "a better covenant ... established on better promises" (8:6). Since this new covenant will never be replaced, it is known also as the "everlasting covenant" (13:20). The Mediator of this new and better covenant is Jesus Christ (8:6), not Moses. By His death, Jesus Christ has shed "the blood of the everlasting covenant" (13:20) and once-for-all obtained forgiveness for the sins of His people ó something that was never done under the old covenant (10:11-18). In so doing, He has inaugurated the new covenant, causing it to supersede the old covenant. The old covenant has therefore been rendered "obsolete" and caused to "vanish away" (8:13) The same has consequently happened to the seventh-day sabbath, its sign. What is the sign of this new covenant? The sign of the new covenant is the blood of Jesus Christ, which is symbolized in the wine of the Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:27; 1 Cor 11:25). Therefore, Christians today are not to observe Jewish sabbaths, the sign of a covenant no longer in effect. Instead, they drink the cup of the new covenant as a reminder of the blood of Christ which has redeemed them and made them His own special people. Do you? |
