Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the LORD your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the LORD your God…But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you.

Deuteronomy 28:1-2, 15

Most Christians today do not even think about obeying all 613 commandments written in the law of Moses. Yet the passage I just quoted lists the terms that God gave His people in order to create an environment where He would dwell among them, be their God, and provide victory and success in every aspect of their lives. Do you consider yourself to be one of God’s people? Why is it then, that you do not live up to that standard and still experience the continual blessing and favor of God in your life? You might think that you do not experience God’s blessings, but if you read verse 15 again along with the following verses which list out the many curses God would bring on His people for refusing to live in obedience, you will find that you actually experience a tremendous amount of blessing and favor regularly.

The answer, as many of you are aware, is found in Jesus. He came to the earth, lived a perfect life, died in our place, and rose from the dead. This sacrifice paved the way for our sins to be forgiven.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:1-2

Anyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus will be forgiven.

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:8-10

So we know the basics of it. But God never changes, so how is it that anyone who trusts in Jesus for salvation is no longer required to keep the law of Moses? Paul mentions this earlier in the book of Romans:

But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Romans 3:21-24

In the New Living Translation this becomes even clearer:

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

Romans 3:21 NLT

How can this be? How can God who previously required obedience to His law no longer require it? Jesus obeyed the law perfectly, but how does that translate to us when we receive salvation?

The law of Moses can be divided into four sections. The first section is the Ten Commandments. These first ten commands were given at Mount Sinai before the rest of the law was delivered. They are found in Exodus 20.

The remaining three sections are listed through the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. I am dividing it into three sections based on the three general topics it covers.

1. Sacrifices and sin. God allowed for a sacrifice to be made for any sin that was made by one of His people. It could be a specific animal, along with a grain and/or wine offering. The offerings were burned on the alter and the priests were allowed to eat select portions of the meat and grains. This section of the law instructed the Israelites what sacrifice to make when, and thus become right with God again after sinning.

There were six types of offerings. The burnt, sin, guilt, and peace offerings were required contributions to atone for sins of all kinds. The thanksgiving offering was not required; any Israelite could give a thanksgiving offering at any time. The tithe was a required offering which was to be a tenth of all increase to one’s flocks and herds, and the first tenth harvested of the crops in the field. In the time of the Israelites, crops and livestock were the primary economy along with gold and silver coins. Therefore tithing and offering these things was a bigger sacrifice than it may seem on the surface. Those of you who are familiar with farming will realize the extent of the sacrifice that had to be made for these offerings.

2. Cleanliness. The Lord explained to His people that certain things would defile them. This included eating unclean animals, which He listed out for them; and coming into contact with diseases or something that died, among other things. This section also gave instructions for how to become clean again.

3. Festivals. There were six festivals that God commanded the Israelites to keep annually. They were Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

Now let us insert Jesus’ sacrifice into each of these four parts of the Law and see how it works out to be a complete fulfillment.

Jesus death satisfied every offering required by God. Take a look at these scriptures which specifically deal with every required offering in the Law of Moses.

Burnt offering:

And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Ephesians 5:2

It is important to note here that God had said the burnt offering would go up as a sweet smelling aroma before Him.

Sin offering:

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Guilt offering:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; He has put Him to grief; when His soul makes an offering for guilt, He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.

Isaiah 53:10 ESV (translation chosen due to the wording in the original Hebrew language which translates more accurately to the word guilt than the word sin in this case.)

Peace offering:

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:1

Since Jesus is the eternal, perfect Son of God, His sacrifice is eternal and perfect. No other sacrifice is needed. His blood atones for every sin. When He said “It is finished,” it truly was.

Now for cleanliness. It is the same principle as with the sacrifices. Let’s take a look at what Jesus said to His disciples regarding defilement:

So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

Mark 7:18-23

Jesus has made the point that our sins are what truly defile us, not the external things we do like eating unclean food. Because of this, we can apply the sacrifice of Christ which has erased our sin. His blood has purified us and made us clean. Everyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Christ for salvation is made pure and cannot be defiled. Nothing is more powerful than the blood of Jesus.

Now for festivals.

It is interesting to note that Jesus has fulfilled three of the festivals. These are commonly known as the spring feasts, because they are celebrated in the spring.

The easiest to understand is Passover. For the first Passover, the Israelites were required to kill a lamb and put its blood on the entryway doorposts of the house. When the Angel of death saw the blood he would pass over the house and not kill the firstborn child inside. This translates quite nicely to Jesus. Isaiah 53 equates Him to the “lamb that was lead to the slaughter.” He is our Passover lamb, and when God sees His blood on our lives He will pass over us and give us eternal life. So Jesus is the fulfillment of Passover.

The next festival in order is the Festival of Unleavened Bread. With the realization that the Bible compares leaven to compromise in one’s life, it becomes quite clear that Jesus is the unleavened bread as there was no sin or compromise in His life in any way.

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15

So Jesus is the fulfillment of Unleavened Bread.

Feast of Firstfruits: Jesus was resurrected on the actual day of this feast. This is one of the reasons why Paul writes the following:

But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

1 Corinthians 15:20

So Jesus has fulfilled Firstfruits.

Because of the accuracy with which Jesus fulfilled the first feasts, it is believed by many that He will fulfill the final three feasts just as accurately when He returns. For example, many believe that the rapture of the church, described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, will take place on the feast of trumpets.

As an extremely summarizing explanation, the Feast of Trumpets starts on the day that the new moon is visible. In Jesus’ day, its beginning was varied depending on when the moon appeared, and no one knew exactly when that day would be. When the moon appeared, the priests would blow the shofar and the feast would begin. Therefore the day marking the start of the feast was commonly referred to as “the day that no man knows,” or the feast of “no man knows the day nor the hour.” So when Jesus said of His return in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no man knows,” all who heard Him would have instantly connected His statement to the feast of trumpets. And since Jesus says nothing by accident, it is a fair conclusion to say that He intended for this connection to be made. We do not know for sure that it will happen this way, but it is definitely an interesting point to consider.

Now for the final section of the law, how did Jesus fulfill the Ten Commandments? He perfectly obeyed every one of them from day one. We already looked at scripture proving that Jesus did not sin. So when you trust in Him, the Father gives you His obedience. Refer to 2 Corinthians 5:21, another verse we looked at.

Before I finish this post, I would like to touch on three accepted beliefs among evangelical Christians which actually run contrary to what the Apostle Paul teaches regarding the fulfillment of the law. I will warn you now that some of what I am about to write may seem heretical, and indeed it will run contrary to what you have been taught for your entire time as an evangelical Christian. However when I study the scriptures, the answer cannot be more clear.

I will start with the easiest because the evangelical church as a whole generally agrees with my answer. But there is a large group of believers out there who do not, so here goes. The question is, do we rest on Saturday, the official sabbath day according to the 4th commandment? As it turns out, I have already devoted an entire blog post to answering this question, which you can access here. Simply put, the answer is no, God does not require Christians of the new covenant to rest from all work on Saturday. Some scripture to support this answer can be found in Romans 14 and most specifically in verse 5, because Paul directly talks about holy days, or in some translations, sabbaths. And for those who would say that the original seventh day sabbath is set apart and distinct from every other sabbath day that God instituted, just go back one chapter to Romans 13 and take a look at verses 8-10 where Paul says the 10 commandments are lumped together with the rest of the law and fulfilled by carrying out the command that Jesus gave in Matthew 22:37-40, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. For further answering of this question see the attached blog post.

Moving on to the next question. That is, does God still require us to obey the Ten Commandments? Most Christians today would answer without a second thought or hesitation, a resounding “yes!” But let’s take a look at what scripture actually teaches. I already mentioned Romans 13. I will list it here:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Romans 13:8-10

Simply put, our focus has changed. The law, and the matter of keeping the law, is no longer a question of what are you doing or not doing, but is now a matter of the position of your heart. Take a look also at Colossians 2.

Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

Colossians 2:14

Nowhere in scripture is there a distinction made between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law. They are all grouped together in the completeness of Jesus’ sacrifice. So the answer to the question is this: according to scripture, if you love God and others the way Jesus commanded us to, the Ten Commandments will be fulfilled through that love, without you even trying to keep them.

Now for the final question. It is this: are Christians required to tithe?

The group that most strongly supports tithing is, sadly, a group of pastors and teachers who care more about the tithes coming in than the gospel going out. The pastors and teachers in this group have built up for themselves a life of luxury off of the tithes of their churches. It is they who most strongly teach tithing. If you are one of these, you should reconsider what you are doing. The gospel is not intended to be a method of extortion, but that is exactly what you are doing to your church. If you were alive in Jesus’ day, you would have been one of the business dealers in the temple when Jesus went in and flipped the tables.

So what does God say about tithing? Originally, the tithe was first commanded by God in the Law of Moses. God commanded the Israelites to set aside a tenth of all their increase and give it to the priests at the temple. This was be a source of food for the priests, because they served in the temple and were not able to tend to their own fields or take care of their own flocks. So when God commanded a tithe, it was for their benefit. God was taking care of His priests because they were being faithful to serve Him in the way He commanded them. In our day, this specific purpose for the tithe is irrelevant.

However, some will argue according to Malachi 3:8-10 that failure to tithe is actually theft. And so in this way God requires tithing. To this I will say, tithing was a requirement of the Law of Moses. If you are going to enforce this command, you must also enforce the rest of the law and require your church to offer the sacrifices, follow the procedures of cleanliness, and keep all of the sabbaths and festivals. Failure on this point puts you in a position of hypocrisy, and also makes you out to be a judge of which of God’s commands are covered by Jesus’ sacrifice and which still need to be obeyed. The scriptures are clear. All of them have been fulfilled in Jesus and none of them have to be obeyed.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7

These are some of the scriptures that should be taught to the church. The New Testament fosters an attitude of generosity. Christians should pass on to others the generosity they received from Jesus. We have been given much and forgiven of much, so we should be generous and of a self sacrificing spirit at all times.

So as a conclusive answer, no, we are not required to tithe anymore. The law is now a matter of the heart, not the actions, and has been fulfilled in Jesus. The specific way that each person carries out their life should be at the direction of the Holy Spirt. For those of you who are wondering if you should continue carrying out the commands we discussed, I would answer according to Romans 14 and say that you should if your conscience or the Holy Spirit leads you to. Take tithing for example, since I just wrote extensively on it. God will lead some people to support the local churches, because He has promised to provide for all our needs, and He is careful to provide a way wherever He issues a calling. He is completely faithful. So there is nothing wrong with doing any of the things I have written about. The only thing that is wrong is expecting and requiring others to do them. This is contrary to Romans 14, where Paul instructs believers to respect each other’s consciences and choices on these matters. We see this in action in the book of Acts by the example of Paul, who mentions in various places that he was offering a sacrifice, or carrying out a specific purification symbol, during the same time that he was traversing the Roman Empire and teaching that the law was fulfilled in Jesus and was no longer required. So on the issue of what does God want you to do, make your choice in each area of question according to what your conscience tells you, and walk it out by faith. The New Testament is very clear that this is what God requires of you, and He will be pleased when you do this.

As a final conclusion, Jesus is your representative before God. He is your high priest, and He has made you righteous. You are credited with keeping the law because of what He did. You are not required to keep any of the commands of the Law of Moses, because as your representative, Jesus already did. He gave you righteousness in the same way that Adam gave you sin. His sacrifice and atonement for sin are enough for you. Nothing more needs to be done.

I have been crucified with Christ; 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 gave Himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

Note: this will be a shorter post as my son has been going through sleep regression from teething which keeps me up in the night, and I am currently dealing with the effects of a serious lack of sleep. Never-the-less, God has been faithful to bring me through it and provide all that I need up to this point, and I and confident He will continue. This post, though short, is my recollection on the first five Books of the Bible and provides important insights into our understanding of the nature of God’s relationship with His people. I have very much enjoyed doing the prep work for this post, which was going through these books in as few sittings as possible to get a bird’s eye view. Although I didn’t realize at the time it was prep work. I simply had a desire to do it and felt the Holy Spirit push me in that direction. This is the usual way He leads me in writing this blog.

I have been listening to the Bible the past two weeks as I work. The You version Bible app allows listening to the Bible like an audio book in some translations. I started at the beginning and yesterday I finished Deuteronomy, which concluded with the death of Moses. Here is what I learned:

1. The whole point of the law that God gave His people was to create a way for Him to have uninterrupted relationship with His people. Because of the fact that Jesus had not come yet, there was no covering for sin and there had to be a way for God to be among His people without constantly seeing their sin. God was aware of not only his hatred toward sin, but He was also aware of how His anger affected His relationship with the people. God would say things like, “The Levites shall serve at the tabernacle and protect the people of Israel from the Lord’s anger.” God Himself wanted the people to be protected from His own anger because He knew they would all be destroyed if they were not.
2. The law was divided into three categories. 1) Sacrifices and offerings, and what sin was to be dealt with in what way. Even in the time of the law, God was merciful and understanding. If anyone sinned unintentionally God would not punish them until they were made aware of their sin and refused to offer the required sacrifice. If anyone sinned and could not afford the offering, God instituted a substitute offering that was less costly, down to an offering of flour to be burned on the alter. In this God showed His understanding of the situation each of His people was in. 2) cleanliness and how to become clean if they became unclean. God told his people what foods they could eat or not eat according to what was clean or unclean. All of the unclean animals, according to modern science, would give the one who eats them a deadly or incurable disease if not cooked properly. In this way God protected His people from food borne illness by forbidding the eating of such animals.
   3) Festivals. The festivals and sabbaths were a sign from the people that they remembered what God did for them and put Him first in their hearts. This is the most important part of relationship with God even in our day, though we express such remembrance differently according to the freedom Christ bought for us as Paul taught in the New Testament.
3. Reading these books gives a clear picture of the holiness and righteousness of God. God is jealous for our love and sin is nothing less than adultery against God, putting the love He is supposed to receive in a different, unworthy place. This is why the penalty of sin is death and why Jesus had to die for us.

In our time today, we do not live under the Law of Moses. The Apostle Paul goes into great detail throughout many books of the New Testament about how Jesus became the fulfillment of the law and through His life and death He fully satisfied all of its requirements. We now live in the freedom that Christ brought to us, following the one commandment He gave:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 13:8

If you struggle with accepting and living in this freedom, the book of Romans can help you. This book holds the most detailed and thorough explanation of the gospel and what it does for the believer.

Jesus lived in our place and became our sacrifice as God required in the law. Those who believe in Him have this credited to their account before God. All of God’s wrath was satisfied in Jesus and there is none left for you who believe in Him and walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1). What a wonderful gift He has given us!

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

1 Corinthians 1:30.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. 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 20:11 NKJV

This is one of the great controversial questions in today’s Christian world. Do we keep the sabbath? If so, how? On one side, the answer is clear. “Jesus fulfilled the law, so we no longer need to keep the sabbath.” On the other side, “Jesus fulfilled the law, but He did not do away with it. Keeping the Sabbath is still a requirement.” And so they meet to worship every Saturday, instead of-as is tradition among Evangelical Christians-every Sunday. And some circles within this group go so far as to teach that worshiping on Sunday instead of Saturday will become the mark of the beast, and all who do so while the antichrist is in power are dooming themselves to hell and separation from God for all eternity.

With teaching such as this, it is essential that we discover the truth of what God’s word actually commands. We must develop within ourselves the confidence and conviction to know that we are obeying God in everything, so we can stand unwavering against all false teachings, but even more so that we can stand boldly in the righteousness of Christ and appear holy and blameless before the throne of God on the final day.

In this post we will discover what the Sabbath actually is and what it looks like to apply it as a new covenant Christian. Though it may seem unlikely, discovering the true answer to this perplexing question will reveal a deeper understanding of the gospel and how Christians should walk it out as they trust in Christ. The message of the gospel is more than Jesus’ blood atoning for our sins. That is the key element; do not misunderstand. But the way it is applied to our lives is something many Christians have misunderstood, or do understand but fail to walk out, and so give rise to questions such as the one we are looking at.

The Message of the Gospel

I have been crucified with Christ; 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 gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.

Galatians 2:20-21 NKJV

The typical verse to put here is John 3:16, which gives us the basic and fundamental truth of the Gospel. Jesus died so we do not have to. If we instead trust in Christ and ask for forgiveness, we will be cleansed of all sin. While John 3:16 shows us the way to eternal life after death, Galatians 2:20-21 shows us how to achieve God’s perfect life on the earth while we still have breath. When Jesus came to the earth, His work consisted of two elements: First, He lived a perfect life, fully obeying every detail of the 613 commands written in the Law of Moses. Second, He took our sin and sacrificed Himself. In order to fully walk out the message of the gospel, we must have both of those elements in our own lives.

Now the fact remains that we are imperfect human beings, finding ourselves in a state where it is impossible to obey God. In Romans:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned…

Romans 5:12 NKJV

Because Adam disobeyed God, sin entered the world. We are born in a sinful state deserving of the righteous judgement of God even before committing a single act of disobedience. There is nothing any of us can do to justify ourselves. Not only is it impossible for a fallen human to perfectly obey God’s law, but our very nature is sinful at the time of birth, causing separation between us and God from the beginning.

This is where the beauty of the Gospel comes in. This is where Christ, the knight in shining armor as it were, rescues the damsel in distress from destruction. Again in Romans:

Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgement came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life, for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:18-19 NKJV

Not only did Jesus die to pay the penalty of our sin, but He also lived in our place. Romans 5:19 emphasizes that it was through the obedience of Christ that we are made righteous. His perfect life justifies our life, and His death and resurrection redeems us, bringing about salvation. If we repent of our sin and trust in Him, Both His life and His death will be atributed to us. Thus we see that the two elements of the gospel will be credited to our accounts by faith. The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

The Sabbath

So how does all this tie into the Sabbath? If you refer to the opening of this post, the Sabbath is a command from God which is part of the law of Moses. This is the same law that Jesus kept in our place. In order to fully embrace the meaning of having received the free gift of righteousness and salvation, one must understand that this line of reasoning we are exploring can and must be followed for every one of the 613 commands. We are dealing specifically with the sabbath because it is perhaps the most conspicuous, as the original 10 commandments are the most well known of the law, and so it appears that one of God’s commands need no longer be followed. This could not be further from the truth. For Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”

Even though God still requires perfect obedience to be accepted by Him, one thing did change. Through the death of Christ, God instituted a new covenant with His people. While the old covenant required strict adherence to God’s law, along with animal sacrifices to cover sins, the new covenant requires faith and trust in the work of Christ, that He did it for us in our place. With this new understanding comes a sense of liberty. No longer do we have to keep the law ourselves, we simply trust in Jesus. The law is still being kept on our account, but Jesus is the one doing it instead of us.

With this in mind let us look at a passage that is relevant to the sabbath but does not specifically mention it.

One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in is own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks, and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks, For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.

Romans 14:6-8 NKJV

The point Paul is getting at in these verses is that everything we do must be done in faith. Anything done in faith is pleasing to God, and anything not done that has been chosen in faith not to be done, is pleasing to God. Because the law has already been kept for us, we are now free, so long as what we do is done in faith.

Now what did Jesus say about the Sabbath? In this next passage we find that Jesus has given his disciples permission to pick heads of wheat and eat them on the Sabbath, which according to their tradition was in violation of it, for God had said, “In it you shall not do any work.” His response here is to the religious leaders of the day, who witnessed it and were appalled.

But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.”

Mark 2:25-27 NKJV

The Sabbath is a time of rest. It is a time set aside to remember God. Under the old covenant, it was a day specifically set aside where no work was done and no distractions were allowed. Sadly, the old testament Israelites got so caught up in the carrying out of the Sabbath that they turned even that into work. They made work out of setting aside work, instituting all manner of extra laws and rules that God did not command, and the reason for the Sabbath was forgotten. In fact, they did the same with the entire law, and the reason behind the law was forgotten. God had come down out of heaven and chosen this people to be His own, and they were so carried away with keeping the law that they missed the point. The law was instituted because God desired relationship with men, only they had to be acceptable in His sight for this to happen. Sin, uncovered by sacrifice, irreparably separated men from God. Through the obedience of Jesus, He was able to get to the heart of the matter, literally. Observe how he addresses the ten commandments.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement…You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart…Furthermore it has been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except for sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.”

Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28, 31-32 NKJV

Jesus is making it clear that the issues of the heart are the real issues. The law was in place so that God would be able to be in the presence of man without having to execute judgement. Now that Jesus has kept the law on our account, God can get to the heart, which was His goal all along. So therefore under the new covenant the requirement of God toward us transferred from keeping outward rules and regulations, to a transforming of the heart inwardly. The same rule applies to all 613 commandments, all of the original 10, and even more specifically, the fourth commandment dealing with the Sabbath. The Sabbath, being originally a day of rest where we remember God, has transferred under the new covenant to a heart position of rest as we receive the free gift of God and recognize ourselves as having been made righteous in the sight of God. Not because of anything we have done, but because of the saving power of the blood of Jesus. Therefore we are still required to keep the Sabbath, in that we are required to rest in the work of Christ and refrain from trying to please God in our own strength. This understanding of the Sabbath is missing from many of today’s church circles. Many do not realize that not only is the free gift offered, but once accepted, we are commanded to rest in it, so much so that it is nearly impossible to progress in one’s walk with God for as long as one is striving to please God in their own strength. This point is made clear in Galatians 5:1: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Under the new covenant, Jesus Christ Himself is the Sabbath, and accepting His free gift, instead of trying to earn salvation by works, is keeping it.

Now we know what the Sabbath looks like under the new covenant, let us examine the opening arguments to see if they line up with God’s command.

“Jesus fulfilled the law, so we no longer need to keep the sabbath.” This argument, although partially correct in it’s verbiage, inherently falls short of the understanding of the gospel. If Jesus did away with the law, there would be no point to His death. He would simply have needed to live a perfect life and then at the appointed time return to heaven. For without the law, we would have no knowledge of sin; and if the law, God’s standard of righteousness, is removed, righteousness itself is taken away.

The second argument, requiring all Christians to keep the Sabbath by worshiping God on Saturday, misunderstands Romans chapter 14 as well as 1 Corinthians chapter 8. If God leads somebody to worship Him on Saturday then they should do so out of faith. But it is not right to make a blanket statement that all are required to do so. If one is going to hold this position they should also require all to dutifully keep every command in the old testament law in order to avoid a position of hypocrisy, but in so doing they nullify the work of Christ.

Applying the Sabbath

The new covenant is one of trusting in Christ, instead of doing the work ourselves. We realize that we cannot fulfill the law and look to the One who did. But when we stray from that place of rest and move into striving to achieve acceptance through obedience, we forfeit our faith in Christ. When we perform our works before God in an attempt to please Him, we are each at the same time attempting to control our relationship with God and ultimately our final destination. Though we may not realize it, this is a form of trampling on the death and resurrection of Christ. For if our works could save us, Christ had no reason to die, and we would still be under the old covenant of the law. Therefore we must instead adopt the mindset of seeing ourselves as made righteous. Shake off guilt, shame, and condemnation. Repent of sin immediately and move on from it. Far from taking it too lightly as the enemy may have you believe, when you rise again through repentance and keep moving forward, you are walking in the righteousness that Jesus bought for you with his blood.

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV