Point 4:
Only through Christ can we really experience, enjoy, and keep the Sabbath as originally intended by God. The Sabbath, from the point of view of the New Covenant, is no longer signified only by a single day in a week. Now, every day of our Christian walk is a Sabbath day with Christ!
Answer:
It is true that only through Christ can we truly experience and keep the Sabbath. However, that fact does not remove the obligations of the Sabbath commandment. For example, Jesus said, “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” (Matthew 5:28) The only way we can truly keep the seventh commandment is if we have Christ in our heart. By pointing this out, Jesus in no way sought to remove the obligations of the seventh commandment, but rather showed its deeper meaning. Understanding the spiritual meaning of the law in no way removes the physical aspects of the law. Just as it is impossible to keep the spiritual aspect of the seventh commandment while transgressing that law physically, it is impossible to keep the spiritual aspect of the Sabbath commandment while transgressing that law physically. A man could ever so piously profess to keep the spiritual aspect of the second commandment prohibiting idol worship, while at the same time bowing down to idols. No matter how exalted his opinion of his spiritual obedience, the physical aspect of his life proves that he is a transgressor.
If the point stressed in the New Testament is no longer the day of Sabbath, why did Christ and His apostles keep the literal Sabbath day throughout their lives? Why did neither Christ nor His apostles ever indicate that the obligations of the fourth commandment have been relaxed or abrogated? I have heard people tell me that every day is the Sabbath to them. However, this cannot be true for at least three reasons. 1) To keep the Sabbath a person must cease from physical labors, which cannot be done every day or starvation will be the result. 2) The commandment says, not only that we must not work on the seventh day but, that we must work on “the six working days.” (Ezekiel 46:1; Exodus 20:9) 3) It is impossible to keep a day holy that has never been made holy to begin with. “God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.” (Genesis 2:3) He “rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:11) There is only one day of the week which God blessed and made holy. No matter how holy or upright a man may be, it is impossible for him to bless or make a day holy.
When God blesses something that thing changes. When He blessed a field it produced more abundantly, when He blessed a womb, it brought forth children, when He blessed Samson he became strong. God blessed a period of time, the seventh day of the week. That day is different from any other day because it has a blessing upon it, and it was set apart by God and made holy. Man cannot alter that blessing no matter how hard he tries. There is no Scripture in the Bible that indicates that God has removed His blessing from the seventh day of the week, or that He blessed any other day. In order for every day to be the Sabbath, God would have to bless each of the other six days and make them holy, and then command us to keep those days holy. Yet there is no record of such a command or blessing. There is no indication in the Bible that Christ, or any of His apostles, considered any other day to be the Sabbath other than the one God had blessed and made holy, the seventh day of the week.
