Is the Sabbath Important Today?
List by Ami Hendrickson
The Jewish calendar observes special Sabbaths — holy days that are holidays — at the same time every year. However, every week, for one glorious twenty-four hour period, from sundown to sundown, God has built-in a day of rest and worship for all His children, young and old, rich or poor.
The commandment to observe the Sabbath is the longest, most specific of the Ten Commandments. It includes a testimony of Creation, and serves as a weekly reminder of the absolute power of God. Like the rest of the Ten Commandments, it has never changed; it is as important today as ever.
Observing the Sabbath is the longest commandment; it includes a divine blessing and a reminder of God's unlimited power
Exodus 20:8-11
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
The Sabbath was created to be a divine blessing to humanity
Mark 2:27
He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
The Sabbath has always stood apart as a special commandment
Nehemiah 9:13-14
You also came down on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments, and made known to them your holy Sabbath, and commanded them commandments, statutes, and a law, by Moses your servant.
It is lawful to do good and to save lives on the Sabbath
Luke 6:9
Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?”
Jesus Himself observed the Sabbath as a day of rest and worship and helping those who needed it
Luke 4:16
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.
Keeping the Sabbath holy is connected to both salvation and blessing
Isaiah 56:1-2
The LORD says, “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”
The Sabbath day has never changed because God's law never changes
Matthew 5:17-19
Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Sabbath is a time for thanking and praising God
Psalm 92:1-3
It is a good thing to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, Most High, to proclaim your loving kindness in the morning, and your faithfulness every night, with the ten-stringed lute, with the harp, and with the melody of the lyre.
Even in death, Jesus rested on the Sabbath day
Matthew 28:1
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
Paul was an intellectual and a scholar who observed the Sabbath even after His conversion
Acts 17:2-3
Paul, as was his custom, went in to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.”
