WHY HAVE CHRISTIANS ABANDONED THE SABBATH?

WHY HAVE CHRISTIANS ABANDONED THE SABBATH? “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-19). The Pharisees and Sadducees accused Jesus of disobeying the Law of God, especially the fourth commandment: “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 20:8-11). Supposedly Jesus violated the fourth commandment by, for example, healing people on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6; Luke 10:13-17; Luke 14:1-6), and by defending His famished disciples’ choice to pluck grains while traversing a field on Saturday (Mark 2:23-28). Amazingly, the Pharisees claimed that healing people on the Sabbath was sinful. And they considered plucking grains to be prohibited work on the Sabbath. Hogwash! Jesus answered these absurd claims by affirming that He came not “to destroy the Law or the Prophets,” and that not one iota of God’s law shall be abolished until “heaven and earth pass away.” Heaven and earth have not passed away; according to Jesus, neither have God’s laws (the Ten Commandments, the Holy Days and festivals, dietary regulations, etc.) The Old Testament – specifically the first five books written by Moses (Genesis through Deuteronomy) – contains these laws. Moses wrote that God rested on and sanctified (to make holy) the seventh day. Later, God reconfirmed the holiness of the Sabbath: “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, ‘ Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘The feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings’” (Leviticus 23:1-3). Therefore, the Sabbath and Holy Days do not belong only to the Jewish people. Rather, they are God’s Feasts. Subconsciously, many Christians disagree. They believe that Jesus nailed the Law (including the seventh-day Sabbath and God’s Holy Days and Feasts) to the stake, commonly referred to as the cross. This is false. As Isaiah prophesied, Jesus would magnify the Law: “The LORD is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable” (Isaiah 42:21). Jesus magnified the Law by spiritualizing it. Obeying the letter of the Law was no longer enough; we must obey both the letter and spirit of the Law. For example, in His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22). In other

WHY HAVE CHRISTIANS ABANDONED THE SABBATH?

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