Three Sabbaths

THE JEWISH SABBATH

There is such a thing as “the Jewish Sabbath,” or the Sabbath of the Jews, but it is a far different thing from the Sabbath of the Lord. Many people imagine that if one observes the seventh day he is keeping the Jewish Sabbath; but that does not at all follow. No one keeps the Jewish Sabbath if he keeps the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” There is the same difference between the Jewish Sabbath and the Sabbath of the Lord, that there is between a man and God. Let us explain. THSA 6.1

“The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord;” but we have seen that the Lord’s rest is spiritual rest, which the seventh day commemorates. A man may cease from physical toil on the seventh day of the week, and not keep the Sabbath of the Lord. If a man stops work on Friday evening at sunset, and abstains from all labor until the next day at sunset, merely as a form of worship, and in order that he may be physically better able to go at his work again, or with the thought that he is thereby discharging a duty, and gaining the favor of God, that is not keeping the Sabbath of the Lord. To keep the Sabbath of the Lord is to delight in the Lord. Those who do not delight themselves in the Lord, do not keep His Sabbath, no matter when they abstain from labor. THSA 6.2

It is absolutely impossible for one who is not a Christian to keep the Lord’s Sabbath; for, as we have seen, God’s rest comes only from His perfect work, which is found only in Christ. “We which believe do enter into rest.” Therefore no Jew, so-called, its as distinguished from a believer in Christ, keeps the Sabbath of the Lord, even though he apparently rests on the seventh day of the week. His rest is his own rest, and not the rest of the Lord THSA 8.1

Do you see the difference? The Jewish Sabbath falls on the same day of the week as the Sabbath of the Lord, but it is not by any means the same thing. It represents only the man himself, and his own work. Instead of being the sign of justification by faith in the work of the Lord, it is the sign of self-righteousness, as indicated by the question which the Jews asked of Jesus: “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” They counted their own works equal to God’s works. Their obedience was not the obedience of faith, but only of form. From such a Sabbath may the Lord deliver us. It is from it that we are delivered in the Sabbath of the Lord, for we are saved from our own works, and given the perfect works of the Lord. “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord,” but let us beware of making it a mere caricature of rest. Let us take it for what it is: the rest of the Lord. THSA 8.2