Jesus Christ is our Sabbath Rest

Jesus Christ is our Sabbath RestJesus is Our Sabbath

Jesus says in Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jesus is ‘Lord of the Sabbath day’ (Matthew 12:8). You see Jesus came to seek and save lost sheep who would hear His voice (John 10:3, 27) so when the Pharisees criticized Him for healing a man on a Sabbath day, Jesus reminded them, that they would not think twice to pull a sheep out of a pit on a Sabbath day.  Because Jesus created the Sabbath day he He could break the Sabbath rules and change them permanently.

So Jesus informed the Pharisees that people are more important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than rules. We now enter into the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for our sins.  Mark 2:27  “And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:”  Jesus came to relieve us from our attempt at achieving salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only one day, but ceace forever our at working to obtain God’s favour.   Jesus is our Sabbath, He is our rest now, He is our rest from works forever.

Do not reject God’s Sabbath through Jesus Christ.  There is no rest outside Jesus Christ, and no works can satisfy or provide relief.

Hebrews 4:9-11 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”

Sabbath Keepers exposed!

According to a Seventh-Day Adventist website, in an article titled, “What does the Sabbath have to do with salvation?”, by Erwin R. Gane…

“The Bible teaches that those who receive the gift of Christ’s character will observe His Sabbath as a sign or seal of their spiritual experience. Thus the people who receive the last-day seal of God will be Sabbath-keepers.” [Emphasis added] —http://www.sabbathfellowship.org/biblestudies/erwingane/biblestudy_gane_sabbathsalv.htm

Blasphemy!  According to Mr. Gane, keeping the Sabbath is evidence of salvation, just as Charismatics/Pentecostals teach that speaking-in-tongues is the initial evidence of being born again.  BOTH of these doctrines are lies of the Devil.  Sabbath Keepers are false prophets!

Erwin Gane further states…

“There is not the slightest hint in the New Testament that the Sabbath was changed or abolished.”  —http://www.sabbathfellowship.org/biblestudies/erwingane/biblestudy_gane_sabbathsalv.htm

WRONG!  This is evidenced by Hebrews 4:2-4, which state…

“For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.”

This passage of Scripture clearly evidences the fact that the Sabbath Day was only symbolic of a person’s faith (i.e., solely resting) in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.  Mankind attempted to work his way to Heaven through self-righteousness, but he utterly failed (Romans 3:19; James 2:10).  This is represented by man working 6-days prior to the Sabbath Day.  Today, Jesus is our Sabbath, i.e., He is the fulfillment of what the Sabbath Day symbolized.  In Christ we rest for salvationColossians 2:16,17 state, “…or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come…”  A shadow is only cast when the sun is afar off in the distance.  Once the sun rises overhead, the shadow vanishes away.  Hence, when Jesus Christ fulfilled His earthly mission, He took the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross (Colossians 2:14).  There is NO Sabbath Day today.  It was nailed to the cross.  Jesus has become our Sabbath, and in Him alone we rest for our salvation. See conclusion below.

Sabbath Keepers Pervert the Scriptures and Worship the Sabbath

Erwin Gane further states…

“When we have true faith in Christ, we will not argue about whether it is convenient to keep holy His Sabbath day. We will do it because Jesus asks us to. Our Sabbath keeping will be the result and the evidence of our faith in Him. We will observe the Sabbath day as a memorial of creation ad a sign of Christ’s work of sanctification in our hearts. Sabbath keeping will be not only a sign of Christ’s work for us, but also an observance that strengthens our relationship with Him. It will be a vital part of our Christian walk and a tremendous blessing to us as we prepare for the seal of God and an eternity with our Lord.”  —http://www.sabbathfellowship.org/biblestudies/erwingane/biblestudy_gane_sabbathsalv.htm

Sabbath Keepers are idolaters, worshipping the creature more than the Creator.  You’d think nothing else mattered in life except the Sabbath Day from listening to these people.  What did God say in Colossians 2:16, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days…”  God said not to become misguided by false prophets who would try to lead us away from Christ.  Carefully read,

Colossians 2:18,19… “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”

The Scriptures are very clear, only Jesus Christ is to be worshipped!  Catholics worship Mary.  Charismatics worship speaking-in-tongues and the ‘experience’.  Sabbath-Keepers worship the Sabbath.  Televangelists worship money.  Christians are commanded to worship the Lord!  Sabbath Keepers are “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, And not holding the Head…” (Colossians 2:18,19).

Misguided Worship and the Cults

So many false religions are started because people get sidetracked from the main issue–Jesus Christ Himself.  One group is off worshipping Mary.  Another group is off worshipping Water Baptism.  Still yet another group is off worshipping the Lord’s Supper.  And now we have the Seventh-Day Adventists (SDA’s) and those in in the Hebrew Roots movement off worshiping the Sabbath.  Nothing is more dear to the Catholic than Mary.  Nothing is more dear to the Lutheran and Baptist than ‘water baptism’.  Nothing is more dear to the Pentecostal than speaking-in-tongues.  And nothing is more dear to SDA’s and Sabbatarians than the Sabbath.  Truly, nothing should be any more precious to the believer than Jesus Christ Himself, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious…” (1st Peter 2:7).

The Bible never speaks of the Sabbath as being “precious”; but, 1 Peter 2:7 calls Jesus Christ precious!  We also read in the Scriptures about the “precious blood of Christ” in”

1st Peter 1:18,19… “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

From the blood sacrifice of Abel, to the saints washed in the blood of the Lamb in Revelation 7:14, the Word of God centers around the blood of Jesus Christ.  Yet, Catholics think Mary is precious, when the Bible does not say so.  SDA’s think the Sabbath is precious, but the Bible does not say so.  Charismatics think speaking-in-tongues is precious, but the Bible never says that.  What is precious to you?  If you are a genuine child of God, then Jesus Christ and the blood He shed for your sins and mine ought to be the dearest and most precious things in your life.

The doctrine of Sabbath Keeping, as evidence of salvation, is false.  The Apostle John said in

1st John 5:13… “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God;that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”

Interestingly, John never mentions The Sabbath.  If observing the Sabbath were any type of evidence of being saved, then surely John would have mentioned it, because the entire reason he wrote 1st John was to help believers know they are saved.  Do you see how quickly false doctrines and cults are exposed when we shine the Light of God’s Holy Word upon them?  This is why Jesus said in John 5:39… search the scriptures!

Conclusion:

To end with an excellent comment by one of our regular commentators Koko who said;

“here are two rests in the bible 1.) The first is the true rest that all believers (Jews and Gentiles) enter into when you become born again i.e. resting/ceasing from our works as a means of obtaining salvation. The book of Hebrews covers this topic 2.) The second is the Sabbath rest included in the ten commandments given to Moses. This as we can see clearly from Exodus 31: 15-18, was incorporated solely for the Jewish nation. It was strictly a sign between them and God. As believers Jesus is our rest. We can also worship on any day we choose. Please note though that all believers are already worshiping God all the time anyway in spirit and in truth. This is by virtue of being indwelt by the Holy Spirit. But we can and do put time aside to pray, study Gods word, worship God etc on any day(s) we so desire. We can also decide to take one day out or any number of days out to rest. Makes sense for health reasons. That’s also why you generally don’t go to work Saturday and Sunday.”

The Bible is very clear on the matter, Galatians says:

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. (Gal 3:24-25)

Those who again place themselves under a schoolmaster (Jew and Gentile) by trying to uphold the Law, including the Sabbath, are actually denying the fact that Jesus Christ has already fulfilled the Law, including the Sabbath (Matthew 5:17-20).

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Deborah (Discerning the World)

Deborah Ellish is the author of the above article. Discerning the World is an internet Christian Ministry based in Johannesburg South Africa. Tom Lessing and Deborah Ellish both own Discerning the World. For more information see the About this Website page below the comments section.

65 Responses

  1. Artaxerxes Miguel Garcia says:

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  2. Artaxerxes Miguel Garcia says:

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  3. Artaxerxes Miguel Garcia says:

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  4. Rob Chisum says:

    This is one of the most absurd articles I’ve ever read. Let’s start with the conclusion, sure Jesus fulfilled the law but that doesn’t mean we don’t seek to keep it also. Jesus fulfilled not worshipping idols, is it ok now to worship them? of course not. Is it ok to take God’s name in vain? absolutely not, yet Jesus fulfilled that commandment also. I am a Sabbath keeper but it is by no means more important to me than Jesus or my heavenly Father. Rather I am a Sabbath keeper because of my love for them and the life and salvation they give me. If you look at God’s own words He tells us what the Sabbath is about. He says remember it because He is our CREATOR (Ex 20:8-11. Keep it because He is our DELIVERER (Deut 5:12-15). It is a sign that He is our SANCTIFIER (Eze 20:12) that is He is the One who sets us apart and makes us hoy as He is holy. It is the sign that He is the only true GOD (Eze 20:20). Then He says we will keep it in the new heaven and new earth as we meet personally with Him (Is 66:22-23). In other words, the Sabbath teaches us the gospel. God is our CREATOR. We were in bondage (sin) and He DELIVERED us. He is the one who SANCTIFIES us, not ourselves, we can’t do it. He is the only true GOD. He has promised us ETERNAL LIFE with Him in a new heaven and a new earth. The Sabbath is God’s rest and we are to enter into His rest. He rested because the plan of salvation was complete, it just had to be carried out. True Sabbath keeping is resting in the fact that God has has done everything for our salvation and we can not add to it. If we believe then we will enter His rest and cease from our work as He did also from His part of which includes keeping the seventh day, which He set apart, holy unto Him (Heb 4).

  5. Hi Rob. I have one question for you. Will you be granted entrance into heaven if you should decide to stop keeping the Sabbath?

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