Sabbath Day Parables

Where in the Bible does it state, separation of Jews and Christians? Why did Jesus follow the Torah and we don’t as christians? Like the sabboth?

Kevin

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Hello Kevin,

The Bible is a spiritual book written in parables.  A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.  Look at the Sabbath day for example.  Why are we to rest on the Sabbath?

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were to rest on the seventh day (Saturday) Sabbath.  It was a day of rest we learn because ‘God rested’ as explained in the following verse:

Exd 20:11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

But the Bible also teaches that we are to rest on the Sabbath day because ‘God worked’ in the following verse:

Deu 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and [that] the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day. 

Interestingly, we also learn that the Sabbath is a ‘sign’ in the following verse:

Exd 31:13   Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORD that doth sanctify you. 

A sign points to something spiritual that we are to understand.  What is the Sabbath teaching us spiritually?

There is the account of the man who picked up sticks on the Sabbath day in Numbers as follows:

Num 15:32-36 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day.  And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.  And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.  And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp.  And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses. 

Seems like a harsh penalty to be put to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath.

But then we read another account when Jesus’ disciples plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath day:

Luk 6:1 And it came to pass on the second sabbath after the first, that he went through the corn fields; and his disciples plucked the ears of corn, and did eat, rubbing [them] in [their] hands. 

Luk 6:2   And certain of the Pharisees said unto them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbath days?

Jesus responded by concluding that: “the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (Luk 6:5). 

Piecing all of this together we see that the Sabbath teaches that we rest in the Lord; resting in the work that Christ has done to sanctify us.  The man in Numbers picking up sticks (who consequently lost his life) was an example of someone who doesn’t trust in the work that God has done and wants to add some work of his own.

If you were asking why Christians don’t follow a Saturday Sabbath and instead a Sunday Sabbath, then that is answered in Mat 28:1 (and other verses) where there was a mistranslation.  If you look at the Greek for that text you’ll see the Greek word for Sabbath twice.  The verse should actually read ‘in the end of the Sabbaths as it began to dawn toward the first of the Sabbaths..’.  God is effectively changing the Saturday Sabbath to a Sunday Sabbath and this makes perfect sense because the completion of the saving work that we are to rest in was demonstrated perfectly by God in rising from the dead on Sunday.

Thanks for the questions and hope I got that right.

Paul