If you were invited to a birthday party at 3:00 PM on Sunday, would you show up at 6:00 PM on Monday? Or if your employer asked you to be at work at 8:00 AM on Friday, would you come in at noon the following Tuesday?
The obvious answer to both questions is, “Of course not!”
How long would your friend or employer tolerate such ridiculous behavior? We all understand that in the circumstances mentioned, we don’t have the authority to change the timing of either event. And showing up at the wrong time doesn’t somehow shift the occasion to that time.
Although that behavior wouldn’t be acceptable with our fellow humans, some Christians think it’s perfectly acceptable with God.
Take, for example, Christian author Phil Chan. On his personal blog, he says, “I take a pragmatic (and I think Biblical) approach to Sabbath in that I take Sabbath whenever I can.”
But how is observing the weekly Sabbath at the time most convenient for us biblical? It’s not.
God rested on the seventh day after creating the world in six literal days, setting it apart as holy (Genesis 2:2, 3). God calls the Sabbath “My holy day” (Isaiah 58:13), and humans don’t have the authority to transfer the holiness of His day to one of the other six that He designated for work.
The fourth commandment is easy to understand. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:9, 10).
It Really Is That Simple
After admitting that in the Scriptures, the Jews observed the Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening, Chan says, “I don’t think it’s that simple, nor a hard and fast rule. I think while the Bible assumes that the Sabbath is during that timeframe, it doesn’t prescribe that it has to be that timeframe.” This reflects his interpretation, but it diverges from the clear biblical instruction.
Additionally, Chan quotes Colossians 2:16, 17 as evidence that Christians aren’t required to keep the seventh-day Sabbath like the Jews. This is a popular text used by countless Christians to release themselves from the obligations of the fourth commandment. It says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.”
The problem here is that the sabbaths mentioned are the annual sabbaths associated with the Jewish festivals pointing to the Messiah and His work, not the seventh-day Sabbath God instituted at creation. It’s clear which days are being referenced because they are designated as “a shadow of things to come.”
The weekly Sabbath doesn’t fall into that category. It existed as a memorial of creation before there was a need for a Savior. That’s why the fourth commandment points us back to the beginning, saying, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
As Creator, God made the seventh day holy from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31; 2:2, 3). We are commanded, “In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, 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 20:10, 11).
The Day Hasn’t Changed
Phil Chan says, “My joy and the aim of this site is to help readers go deeper in their Christian faith.” Unfortunately, he is falling short of his goal regarding the Sabbath issue. The Bible doesn’t permit Christians to usurp God’s authority by disregarding His holy day and replacing it with any day of our choice.
The Sabbath day is the same today as it was at creation. It is the same day the Jews have observed since Jesus’ time until now. Although the religious leaders of Jesus’ day fought with Him on how the Sabbath should be observed, there is no evidence in Scripture that He or the disciples honored any other day but the seventh as the Sabbath. We are told that it was Jesus’ custom to worship at the synagogue every Sabbath (Luke 4:16).
Christians who want to honor Jesus Christ, our Creator and Redeemer, should keep the seventh-day Sabbath as He intended from the beginning. It is a weekly reminder of His greatness and our origin. By observing the Sabbath when and how God intended, we “worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water” (Revelation 14:7).
One of the grave sins of Israel’s priests that led to the nation’s ruin was this: “Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them” (Ezekiel 22:26, emphasis added).
Repairing the Breach
Like ancient Israel, Christians “have not distinguished between the holy and unholy” and have “hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths.”
It’s time we become “Repairer[s] of the Breach,” as admonished in Isaiah 58:12.
God’s promise is, “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father” (vv. 13, 14).