The Sabbath as a Sign

I. Memorial of Creation

Gen 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.
2 And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and
He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He
rested from all His work which God had created and made.

Exod 20:1-2, 8-11

1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out
of the house of slavery.
8 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 "Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall
not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female
servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
11 "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea
and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the
LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

Note: Exodus 20:1-17 chronicles the Ten Commandments given to Moses by

God on MT. Sinai. The Sabbath Commandment of Exodus 20:8-11 is the
Fourth Commandment.

II. Memorial of Jesus as Our Creator and Lord

John 1:1-3
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made
that has been made.

John 1:10
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him , and the
world did not know Him.
Col 1:15-16
15 the invisible God, the first-born of all creation.
16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,
visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--
all things have been created by Him and for Him.

Matt 12:8
8 "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

III. Sign of Deliverance from - The of Sin

Many of the literal events and practices in the Old Testament were symbolic
of spiritual truths. For example, the lambs that were slain in the Old
Testament sacrificial system were symbolic of Jesus and His sacrifice as the
true Lamb of God. Israel's in Egypt also has a spiritual application.

Deut 5:6, 12-15

6 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
12 'Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God
commanded you.
13 'Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall
not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or
your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your
sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female
servant may rest as well as you.
15 'And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt,
and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and
by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you
to observe the sabbath day.

John 8:34-36
34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who
commits sin is the slave of sin.
35 "And the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain
forever.
36 "If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.

Rom 6:5-7
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of
sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
 VII. Sign of Sanctification

To sanctify means to set aside as Holy to God. Sanctification is the life-long

process by which God molds us into the likeness of Christ by changing the
motives of our hearts.

Ezek 20:12, 20
12 "And also I gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and
them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
20 'And sanctify My Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and
you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.'

Exod 31:12-18
12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
13 "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely
observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout
your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies
you.
14 'Therefore you are to observe the sabbath, for it is holy to you.
Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any
work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
15 'For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a
sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the
sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
16 'So the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath
throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.'
17 "It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased {from
labor,} and was refreshed."
18 And when He had finished speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, He
gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by
the finger of God.

John 17:17-19
17 "Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.
18 "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the
world.
19 "And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may
be sanctified in truth.

VIII. Sign of God's Grace

Heb 4:1-10
1 Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but
the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in
those who heard.
3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, "As I swore
in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest," although His works were finished
from the foundation of the world.
4 For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day "And
God rested on the seventh day from all His works";
5 and again in this passage "They shall not enter My rest."
6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly
had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
7 He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long
a time just as has been said before, "Today if you hear His voice, do not
harden your hearts."
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another
day after that.
9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God .
10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his
works, as God did from His.

Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

If we realize that our salvation is based on God =s Grace rather than as a

result of our works, then we can rest from the burden of our works. The
Sabbath is a symbol of that rest, and thus a symbol of Grace.

VI. Sign of Faith Leading to Obedience

The Elijah Message

Look at Eph 2:8-9 again. We see that we are saved by grace through faith,
and not by works.

Eph 2:8-9
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God;
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

Rom 3:21-22
21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been
manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Rom 3:28
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the
Law.

Likewise, we are accounted righteous and justified by faith and not by works
of the Law. And yetY

James 2:17, 20, 24, 26

17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without
works is useless?
24 You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without
works is dead.

We are led to the unmistakable conclusion that salvation, justification and

righteousness are by faith and faith alone, but that true saving faith always
results in works of righteousness.

Gal 2:20
20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in
the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.

John 15:5
5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him,
he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Phil 4:13
13 I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

As an example,

Matt 14:28-31
28 And Peter answered Him and said, "Lord, if it is You, command me to
come to You on the water."
29 And He said, "Come!" And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the
water and came toward Jesus.
30 But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried
out, saying, "Lord, save me!"
31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and
said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Peter's faith in Jesus enabled him to walk on the water. When he quit trusting
Jesus and looked at his precarious circumstances, his own efforts could not
keep him up and he began to sink. Faith in Jesus enables us to obey Him.

Elijah called all Israel to Mount Carmel to confront them on this issue of
obedience. You should read the whole account in 1 Kings: 18 to see the
dramatic way that God vindicated Elijah's challenge to Israel.
IKing 18:21
21 And Elijah came near to all the people and said, "How long will you
hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if
Baal, follow him." But the people did not answer him a word.

Beginning with Adam and Eve, God has placed this choice before His people -
obey and live, disobey and die. He has repeated this plea throughout history.
He offered it through the children of Israel through Moses before they entered
into the Promised Land.

Deut 30:19-20
19 "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set
before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order
that you may live, you and your descendants,
20 by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding
fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live
in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, to give them."

King Saul, the first King of Israel, lost his rulership because he disobeyed.

1 Sam 15:10-11, 22, 23, 26

10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from
following Me, and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was
distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
22 And Samuel said [ Saul], "Has the LORD as much delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 "For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as
iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He
has also rejected you from {being} king."
26 But Samuel said to Saul, "I will not return with you; for you have
rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being
king over Israel."

Jesus, Himself, reminds us Y "If you love Me, you will keep My
commandments . John 14:15

We have seen that we cannot obey on our own, but that the strength to obey
comes from faith in Jesus. The choice we are really making, then, is whether
to love and trust Jesus or not. Our faith in Him will yield obedience. Will we
have faith in Him?

I Jn 5:3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not burdensome.

Okay, what does this have to do with the Sabbath then? Everything! The
Sabbath has become a symbol of our obedience to God. It is the only one of
the Ten Commandments that is questioned by modern Christians. Yes, even
devout Christians occasionally slip and break one of the other nine
commandments, but they will acknowledge their failure as sin and seek
forgiveness. Most, however, will not even acknowledge Sabbath breaking as a
sin. In this way the Sabbath has become a symbol of obedience to the whole
Law of God. James reminds us that.

James 2:10-11
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he
has become guilty of all.
11 For He who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit
murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but do commit murder, you have
become a transgressor of the law.

The Bible Sabbath is the seventh day or Saturday. The Catholic Church
transferred the solemnity of the Sabbath to Sunday, the first day of the week,
in the Council of Laodicea in A.D. 336. This is a documented historical fact.
The Saturday Sabbath is God's commandment; observing Sunday as the
Sabbath is a tradition established by men.

Mark 7:7-8
7 'But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of
men.'
8 "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of
men."

The Sabbath is indeed then a symbol of obedience to the whole Law of God.
And since obedience is the result of faith in Christ, the Sabbath becomes a
symbol of that faith. It is a symbol, sign, or mark of our faith in the
Righteousness of Christ.

Those who chose to develop a faith relationship with Jesus will be saved. That
faith will then be manifested in their works of obedience. The Sabbath is a
symbol of obedience to God =s commandments, and therefore, a symbol of
Faith.

The Gospel

The Sabbath as a sign is symbolically the full embodiment of the Gospel.

Salvation (from the guilt, power, and presence of sin [justification,

sanctification, and glorification])
by Grace
through Faith
in Jesus
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