Sabbath (73)
When the Lord's Day is at an end, we should long for the Sabbath in heaven, which will never have an end.
Thomas Vincent
Shorter Catechism Explained2.5K
The Lord's Day took the place of the Jewish Sabbath as the weekly day of public worship. The substance remained, the form was changed. The institution of a periodical weekly day of rest for the body and the soul is rooted in our physical and moral nature, and is as old as man, dating, like marriage, from paradise. This is implied in the profound saying of our Lord: "The Sabbath is made for man." It is incorporated in the Decalogue, the moral law, which Christ did not come to destroy, but to fulfil, and which cannot be robbed of one commandment without injury to all the rest.History of the Christian Church: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead.Ante-Nicene Fathers: The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, Vol. 1, Ed. A. Cleveland Coxe (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 186.
Many continue to view the weekly Sabbath as a part of Israel's cultic system terminated by the work of Christ... this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding... First, the earliest references to the seventh-day Sabbath predate tabernacle worship and are disconnected from it... Second, the Sabbath ordinance is embedded in the Decalogue, which is unconcerned with cultic matters; its agenda is theological and ethical. Third, the original Sabbath ordinance is rooted in creation... Fourth, the revelation of the Sabbath ordinance is separated from the revelation of the worship systemFor the Glory of God, 282
To interpret Hebrews 4:1-11 as annulling the seventh-day Sabbath is unwarranted. Simply because a concept (Sabbath rest) is used metaphorically does not mean the original notion is irrelevant or terminated. Rather, Hebrews declares that by participating in the Sabbath rest by faith, Christians commemorate creation, celebrate salvation, and anticipate final consummation, restoration, and rest.For the Glory of God, 280
if the weekly Sabbath included the function of pointing forward to consummate rest, and that rest has not yet come, then that weekly Sabbath should continue.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 32
I find our Savior taking for granted the continuance of the Sabbath when He foretells the destruction of Jerusalem. "Pray ye," He says to the disciples, "that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day" (Matt 24:20).
There are five things that were given to the father of the human race in the day that he was made. God gave him a dwelling place, a work to do, a command to observe, a help meet to be his companion, and a Sabbath Day to keep. I am utterly unable to believe that it was in the mind of God that there ever should be a time when Adam's children should keep no Sabbath.
It seems clear that the apostles taught Christians to worship on "the first day of the week" (Acts 20:7), the day of Jesus's resurrection, "the Lord's day" (Rev. 1:10), treating it as the Christian Sabbath. These changes were momentous, but the pattern of praise, thanks, desire, trust, purity, and service, which constitutes true worship, continues unchanged to this day.Concise Theology, Ch 37
Under the new covenant... the Sabbath is renewed, with a casuistry of doing good rather than doing nothing (Luke 13:10-16; 14:1-6), and is recounted, on the basis of one-plus-six rather than six-plus-one.Concise Theology, Ch 37
The day was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week, not on the ground of a particular command, but by the free spirit of the gospel and by the power of certain great facts which he at the foundation of the Christian church. It was on that day that Christ rose from the dead; that he appeared to Mary, the disciples of Emmaus, and the assembled apostles; that he poured out his Spirit and founded the churchHistory of the Christian Church: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
the Jewish Sabbath was hedged around by many national and ceremonial restrictions, which were not intended to be permanent, but were gradually made so prominent as to overshadow its great moral aim, and to make man subservient to the sabbath instead of the sabbath to man.History of the Christian Church: https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
There are none that walk so close with God all the six days, as those that keep closest to God on the seventh day.
It is good to rest on the Sabbath-day from the works of our calling; but if we rest from labour and do no more, the ox and the ass keep the Sabbath as well as we; for they rest from labour. We must dedicate the day to God; we must not only 'keep a Sabbath,' but 'sanctify' a Sabbath.Ten Commandments, 100
Sabbath rest is not the post-eschaton Sabbath celebrated in heaven, nor the rest that believers experience in death, but a present rest enjoyed by those who believe (4:3), anticipating a greater future "rest" (4:11). Human Sabbath keeping is a metaphor for cessation from works (4:10) in commemoration of God's rest at creation (4:4=Gen. 2:2) and of salvation provided by Christ. The physical Sabbath rest that God's people enjoy reflects the inner spiritual rest, which is a deposit of the final eschatological rest proleptically experienced "today" (4:7)For the Glory of God (280)
if you throw it out and become a non-commandment person and you don't have the fourth Commandment then how do you justify having a moral obligation to treat your employees a certain way because whenever Paul or Peter talk about the treatment of servants? It is rooted and grounded in the morality of the fourth Commandment.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YOm0y5EEk
Would you discipline someone in your church who just showed up once a year? Would you allow them to still be members in your church, and if you discipline that person you're basically saying they're committing a sin. Sin has to be tied to a moral obligation how do you have a moral obligation without an ought without a commandhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YOm0y5EEk
Folks why do we go to church every seven days as opposed to every 40. And this is especially my question to those people who abandon the reformed position and abandon The Ten Commandments as the Ten Commandments and abandon the fourth Commandmenthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90YOm0y5EEk
If the ten commandments were a loose and disjointed collection of precepts, there would be nothing very extraordinary about the supposition we are now discussing. But that is precisely what the decalogue is notThe Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
the whole Ten Words were always treated as a unit. Specifically, creational imperative may have been given ceremonial and civil trappings under the old covenant, but the moral imperative built into creation remains unchanged.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 80
The Sabbath is the market day of our souls, in which we come to God's house to buy the wine and milk of the word without money.
in urging his followers to pray that their flight might not occur in winter or on the Sabbath, Jesus assumed that the institution would last into the eschaton.For the Glory of God, 278
The First Testament specifies only one way of "remembering," "keeping," or "sanctifying" the seventh-day Sabbath: banning daily work performed to sustain life.For the Glory of God, 277
Despite the Sabbath's importance, the First Testament provides little information on how Israelites actually observed it.For the Glory of God, 276
Superficially, it may appear that Israel was 'not acquainted with any sabbatical observance at that time' since some of them still went out to gather on the seventh day (Exod. 16:27). But if so, the LORD's complaint, 'How long will you refuse to keep my commands and instruction?' (Exod. 16:28) is misplaced; it implies knowledge of... not least concerning the Sabbath.From the Finger of God, 65-66
Does Exodus 16 not suggest that they were aware of an obligation to rest before the heard the Decalogue?From the Finger of God, 65
Strike out the Sabbath and you also shatter the entire category of moral law and all that depends on it.From the Finger of God, 6
To whom or what are the Jews pointed when reminded to remember? It was not to Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. It was to the very beginning, specifically the Lord's rest at the end of His creative week. The Jews were already aware of the pattern of work and rest that God built into creation.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 68
The command to remember is telling for two reasons: (1) It means this is not a new command (i.e., it assumes prior knowledge), and (2) some were already guilty of not keeping it, as is the sinful tendency of all mankind.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 67
If, even in the state of innocence, the Sabbath was a blessing to man, how much more is it necessary for him in a state of sin, degradation, and toil?Sanctification of the Sabbath, 343
The lack of observance of the Sabbath by the patriarchs need not be an argument against Sabbath rest as a creation ordinance any more than the observance of polygamy by the patriarchs is an argument against monogamous marriage as a creation ordinance. Instead, the lack of observance can be explained by sin and the fall of mankind.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 57
Though a pattern was built into creation from the very beginning, God progressively revealed the exact nature and meaning of His creation-week example..There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 56
The claim of our Lord that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" was applicable to Adam and Eve preeminently. Adam was the only man present when the Sabbath was made. The Sabbath was a gift given to him at the end of the creative week. This gift was meant to be a perpetual reminder of God's masterful work in creation.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 54
Given that God does not actually grow weary so as to need literal rest, the celebratory rest might have easily occurred after three days, or after two, of even after one... It seems obvious to me that God intended the six-plus-one pattern for man's edification and imitation.The Doctrine of the Christian Life, 532
Man is to properly magnify God's image by living in consonance with the patterns that God has installed in His creation from the beginning, including the pattern of work and rest.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 52
The God who had observed that everything was 'good,' even 'very good,' called only the seventh day 'holy.' Creation itself is not marked by perfection or holiness; only the seventh day is so distinguished.The Progress of Redemption, 46
Sabbath will be literally fulfilled as we enjoy the actual, bodily presence of our Savior in a literal place of rest. Thus, the fulfillment of Sabbath typology in the New Testament indicates that Sabbath rest is salvifically inaugurated b Christ's first advent, spiritually appropriated while preserving the physical pattern between Christ's advents, and awaiting literal fulfillment at Christ's second advent.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God, 33
New Quotes
If the Decalogue does serve as a single unit for acceptance or rejection, then the fourth commandment -the one commandment explicitly tied to creation -is as abiding as the other Ten Commandments.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 82
If we say that the fourth commandment is abrogated and the other nine are not, we must understand what we are saying. It would indeed be an amazing phenomenon that in the heart of the decalogue there should be one commandment -and one given such prominence and meticulous elaboration -that is totally different from the others in this regard that they are permanent and it is not. Surely no one will dispute that in the Old Testament the ten commandments constitute a well-rounded and compact unit. And surely no one will dispute that the Old Testament is itself throughout conscious of that fact.The Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
As we read the Old Testament we do not find any warrant for discrimination between the fourth and the other nine. Nor indeed do we find any intimation in the Old Testament that in the Messianic age the Sabbath law would cease. If any commandment is emphasized it is the fourth.The Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
being created in God's image implicitly demands an imitation of God by mankind.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God, 49
a creation ordinance is defined as a general pattern established in Genesis 1-2 that becomes normative, but not uniformly observed, with any exceptions to the pattern contributing to the pattern's fulfillment; moreover, the pattern must be confirmed, not negated or abrogated, by later biblical revelation.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 3
God directs that each seventh day be kept as a day of rest from the labors of the previous six... The day is to be kept 'holy' -that is, it is to be used for honoring God the creator by worship, as well as for refreshing human creatures by the break from their otherwise unending toilGod and Culture, Essays in Honor of Carl F. H. Henry, 363
The New Testament Lord's Day, is part of a greater issue of the law and gospel theology as taught by Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, and the great Reformed confessions, versus the new covenant theology of today.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God (iii)
If Jesus approved of or broke the fourth commandment before the cross, as a Jew still under the old covenant law that He fulfilled, then He sinned and disqualified Himself from being the perfect law-keeping atonement for our sins.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God (ii)
Jesus corrected the man-made Sabbath laws of the Pharisees, not the Sabbath law.There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God (ii)
we should celebrate the Sabbath not in such a manner (nor with such a strict and exact observance) as was required by Judaism or as superstition had imposed, but with a moderate, reverent rest of the sort that is needed for the worship of God.Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 21
the observance of a Sabbath day is part of the eternal Law of God. It is not a mere temporary Jewish ordinance.
The reason why God blessed the seventh day was not because it was the seventh, but because "in it he had rested."
Why, then, did He "rest," and why is it recorded on the top of the second page of Holy Writ? Surely, there can be only one answer: as an example for man!
The due observance of it, in which the churches of England, Scotland, and America, to their incalculable advantage, excel the churches of the European continent, is a wholesome school of discipline, a means of grace for the people, a safeguard of public morality and religion, a bulwark against infidelity, and a source of immeasurable blessing to the church, the state, and the family. Next to the Church and the Bible, the Lord's Day is the chief pillar of Christian society. Besides the Christian Sunday, the Jewish Christians observed their ancient Sabbath also, till Jerusalem was destroyed. After that event, the Jewish habit continued only among the Ebionites and Nazarenes.https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
In the gospel dispensation the Sabbath is not a degradation, but an elevation, of the week days to a higher plane, looking to the consecration of all time and all work. It is not a legal ceremonial bondage, but rather a precious gift of grace, a privilege, a holy rest in God in the midst of the unrest of the world, a day of spiritual refreshing in communion with God and in the fellowship of the saints, a foretaste and pledge of the never-ending Sabbath in heaven.https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
The universal and uncontradicted Sunday observance in the second century can only be explained by the fact that it had its roots in apostolic practice. Such observance is the more to be appreciated as it had no support in civil legislation before the age of Constantine, and must have been connected with many inconveniences, considering the lowly social condition of the majority of Christians and their dependence upon their heathen masters and employers. Sunday thus became, by an easy and natural transformation, the Christian Sabbath or weekly day of rest, at once answering the typical import of the Jewish Sabbath, and itself forming in turn a type of the eternal rest of the people of God in the heavenly Canaan.https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
On that day he ordered the Galatian and Corinthian Christians to make, no doubt in connection with divine service, their weekly contributions to charitable objects according to their ability. It appears, therefore, from the New Testament itself, that Sunday was observed as a day of worship, and in special commemoration of the Resurrection, whereby the work of redemption was finished.https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/hcc1/hcc1.i.IX.57.html
they changed the day of rest from the seventh to the first day of the week. The Jewish Sabbath was the logical culmination of the creating work of God, who rested on the seventh day, but the first (or eighth) day symbolized the beginning of the new creation that had been established and fulfilled in Christ.God Has Spoken, 80
Christians rejected the almost superstitious reverence that some Jews had for the Sabbath, insisting that although it was meant to be a day of rest and worship, it could not be so hedged about with legalism that the weightier matters of the law had to be ignored out of deference to it.God Has Spoken, 80
Unlike the Jewish Sabbath, which was confined to this world, the Christian Sabbath pointed to the eternal rest of the people of God, which was promised to all believers but that could not be fulfilled in this life.God Has Spoken, 80
As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he has particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.London Baptist Confession 1689
Let us therefore no longer keep the Sabbath after the Jewish manner, and rejoice in days of idleness; for "he that does not work, let him not eat." For say the [holy] oracles, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread." But let every one of you keep the Sabbath after a spiritual manner, rejoicing in meditation on the law, not in relaxation of the body, admiring the workmanship of God, and not eating things prepared the day before, nor using lukewarm drinks, and walking within a prescribed space, nor finding delight in dancing and plaudits which have no sense in them. And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the dayshttps://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-longer.html
Every church, according to the example of Christ's disciples and primitive churches, on every first day of the week (being the Lord's day), should assemble together to pray, prophesy [preach sermons based on Scripture], praise God, break bread, and perform all other parts of spiritual communion for the worship of God, their own mutual edification, the preservation of true religion, and piety in the church.
the Sabbath is hallowed so long as on that day we do things similar to those God did on that day and which he commands men to do.Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 21
the Sabbath-day is lost, polluted, and desecrated when our eyes are distracted from the Sabbath (Ezek 22:26) and we do things on that day which we are forbidden, and we omit what we ought to do (Matt 12:2[,11,12]).Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 21
The wording for this commandment is unique. For one is not given a simple command, "Hallow the Sabbath" (as in the others), but the following warning precedes it: "Remember the Sabbath-day, that you keep it holy." This shows that the matter is of a sort that can fade easily into oblivion (because it is not engraved into our nature); therefore, we must cultivate it constantly in our memories, and we should not make light of it but guard it very carefully.Synopsis of a Purer Theology, Disputation 21
One day in seven should be especially devoted to corporate worship and other spiritual exercises that restore the soul's rest in God and zeal for His name. It should provide physical refreshment and fit one for a week of devoted service to Christ.https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-baptist-catechism
the fourth commandment is a moral law which still applies to believers today. Its careful observance is no more legalism than is obedience to the other nine.The Christian Sabbath, 5
his grandfather's generation referred to Sunday as the 'holy Sabbath,' his father's to the 'Sabbath,' and his to 'Sunday.' Today we think of it as the back half of the 'weekend.' This may be the commandment most visibly ignored and overtly violated by professed Bible-believing Christians today.The Christian Sabbath, 5
alas! in many places, there is no day in the week, wherein the devil has been more served in revellings, drunkenness, and all manner of ungodliness, then on that Day. We have been so far from esteeming it a delight, that no day has been a greater burden to us, accounting the work of that day most irksome, and the time most tedious.A Glimpse of God\'s Glory
we have brought God as low in his Day, as in any of the former: though it be a Day of commemoration of one of the greatest mercies; a Day of special communion with God in his Ordinances; a sign between God and his people; a type of our eternal rest in heaven; a Day of God's own institution; yet how in many places of this kingdom has it been profaned? We have been so far from calling it Honourable, that we have made it Ordinary; a Day of sports, pasttimes and recreations; we have done our own works, and spoke our own words;A Glimpse of God\'s Glory
Some argue for the normativeness of the "Ten Commands" as a guide for Christian behavior, but then remove the Sabbath ordinance as an exception, claiming this to be part of the ceremonial law that ended in Christ. However, this approach is indefensible. (1) The seventh-day Sabbath ordinance is embedded in the Decalogue as a fundamental principle of covenant relationship, along with the prohibition of any other gods, of murder, and so on. One may not treat it differently from the rest. (2) According to the Exodus version of the Decalogue, the six-plus-one weekly rhythm is fundamental to the cosmic order. Exodus 20:11 grounds the human practice in the pattern of divine creative work. (3) In its origin the Sabbath is separated from Israel's ceremonial laws. In fact, Israelites were observing it as a matter of course before they got to Sinai (Ex. 16). (4) The Sabbath command is not primarily a cultic ordinance. In intent and character it was both humanitarian (a gift offering people rest and refreshment from life-sustaining labor) and theological—offering Israelites an opportunity to declare their fundamentally theological perspective on life (God is Creator of all), their confidence in him to provide for the seventh day, their acceptance of covenant relationship, their gratitude for salvation from slavery, and their compassion for the poor. (5) Nowhere does the New Testament declare the seventh-day Sabbath passé in Christ.
Sabbath-sanctification consists in two things: (1) Solemn preparation for it... (2) The sacred observation of it.Ten Commandments, 100-101
Works of necessity and charity however may be done on this day. In these cases God will have mercy and not sacrifice.Ten Commandments, 100
It is sacrilege to rob for civil work the time which God has set apart for his worship. He that devotes any time of the Sabbath to worldly business, is a worse thief than he who robs on the highway; for the one does but rob man, but the other robs God.Ten Commandments, 99
The grand reason for changing the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord's-day is that it puts us in mind of the 'Mystery of our redemption by Christ.' The reason why God instituted the old Sabbath was to be a memorial of the creation; but he has now brought the first day of the week in its room in memory of a more glorious work than creation, which is redemption.Ten Commandments, 96
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