Now some, without really thinking it through, have told us that the seventh day Sabbath is Jewish and therefore is not for us. But Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man.” And that means all men. The Saviour Himself made the Sabbath two thousand years before there was a Jew. He gave the Sabbath along with marriage, and the Sabbath is no more Jewish than is marriage. Woman was made for man. Did you ever hear anyone say, “I can’t get married because it’s Jewish?” Did you?
The deeper you study into this thing, the more thoroughly you investigate, the greater will be your conviction that something is wrong somewhere, that in some very vital issues we have been just slipping along, following the crowd, never thinking to question. At this point you maybe saying, “I believe you are right. Evidently the seventh day is the right day to keep. But how can we know that the day we now call Saturday is the seventh day of Bible times?” Let’s look at the following texts: Luke 23: 52-56; 24: 1. “This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. And the women also, which came with Him from Galilee, followed after, and beheld the sepulchre, and how His body was laid. And they returned and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared and certain others with them.”
Do you see how these words settle the matter? Three days are mentioned here—the preparation day, the Sabbath, and the first day of the week. Notice that two of the days are given sacred titles. The other is given simply a number—the first day of the week. Oh, I know it doesn’t say Friday, Saturday, Sunday. But we all know that Jesus was crucified on the day we now call Friday, and rose from the dead on the day we now call Sunday. The Sabbath is the day in between. It’s as simple as that!
And keep in mind that these words were not written that weekend and rushed off to press. No. They were written many years this side of the cross. Yet the inspired writer still calls the seventh day the Sabbath, and Sunday simply the first day of the week. Significant, isn’t it? Think it through.
I hope you will not be satisfied with a shallow look at this Sabbath subject, friends. It is terribly important to understand exactly how you relate to those ten commandments that God wrote with His own hand.
- From the Joe Crews Radio Sermon Library |