BibleAsk Team

What does the Old Testament teach about the Sabbath?

The Old Testament and the Sabbath

1-After working the first six days of the week in creating this earth, the Almighty God rested on the seventh day Sabbath (Genesis 2:1-3).

2-The Lord ordained the seventh day as God’s rest day, or Sabbath day, for the Sabbath day means rest day.

3-The Creator blessed the seventh day for in it He has rested from His work of creation (Genesis 2:3).

4-The Lord sanctified the seventh day (Exodus 20:11).

5-He made it the Sabbath day in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:1-3).

6-It was made before the fall; hence it is not a type; for types were not introduced only after the fall.

7-It was made for all mankind – Jews and Gentile alike (Deuteronomy 5:12-14; Isaiah 56:6,7).

8-It is a memorial of creation (Exodus 20:11; 31:17). Every time we rest upon the seventh day, as God did at creation, we commemorate that great event.

9-It was given to Adam, the head of the human race (Mark 2:27; Genesis 2:1-3).

10-It was not a Jewish institution, for it was made 2,300 years before ever there was a Jew.

11-Evident reference is made to the Sabbath and the seven-day week all, through the patriarchal age. (Genesis 2:l-3; 8:10,12; 29:27,28; etc.).

12-It was a part of God’s law before Sinai (Exodus 16:4, 27-29).

13-God placed it in the middle of His moral law (Exodus 20:1-17; 20:8-11).

14-The seventh-day Sabbath was commanded by the voice of the living God (Deuteronomy 4:12,13).

15-The Lord wrote the commandment with His own finger (Exodus 31:18).

10-The Bible never calls it the Jewish Sabbath, but always “the Sabbath of the Lord your God God” (Exodus 20:10).

16-God engraved it in the enduring stone, showing its imperishable nature (Deuteronomy 5:22).

17-It was kept in the ark in the holy of hollies of God’s Sanctuary (Deuteronomy 10:1-5).

18-God forbade work upon the Sabbath, even in the most pressing times (Exodus 34:21).

19-God destroyed the Israelites in the wilderness because they broke the Sabbath commandment (Ezekiel 20:12,13).

20-It is the sign of the true God, by which believers are to know Him from false gods (Ezekiel 20:12,20).

21-God promised that Jerusalem should stand forever if the Jews would observe the Sabbath day (Jeremiah 17:24, 25).

22-The Lord sent the Jews into the Babylonian captivity for breaking His Sabbath commandment (Nehemiah 13:18).

23-God destroyed Jerusalem for its breaking the Sabbath (Jeremiah 17:27).

24-The Lord pronounced a special blessing on all the Gentiles who will observe it (Isaiah 56:6,7). This prophecy, points to the Christian Church (Isaiah 56).

25-God has promised to bless all who would keep the Sabbath (Isaiah 56:2).

26-The Lord requires His people to call it “honorable” (Isaiah 58:13). Therefore, let us not call it the “old Jewish Sabbath” or “a yoke of bondage.”

27-After the holy Sabbath has been broken for “many generations,” it is to be restored in the last days (Isaiah 58:12,13).

28-All the holy prophets of God kept the seventh day.

29-God promises a blessing to all Sabbath keepers: “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 58:13,14).

30-The Prophet Isaiah prophesied that the Sabbath will be observed in the New earth (Isaiah 66:22:23).

For more on the Sabbath, please check (Lessons 91-102) of the Bible Lessons.

In His service,
BibleAsk Team

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