Answers to Some Common Questions About the Sabbath

Many people say the Sabbath is a shadow that pointed to Christ and was done away with when Christ came…

But the truth is the Bible gives the reason for the Sabbath as memorializing the Creator and the week of creation (Exodus 20:8-11). If this is true, then the Sabbath comes after the thing it’s associated with and that it’s pointing to, it doesn’t come before. Shadows foreshadow things that will happen in the future. For instance, the temple rituals like the lamb being slain in the outer court and the priest sprinkling the blood on the altar pointed forward to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. These were shadows, and they were fulfilled when Christ gave His life for our sins on Calvary, thus they were then done away with. But since the Sabbath points backwards to something that already happened, this means the Sabbath can’t be a shadow and is in fact a memorial, a completely different concept from a shadow.

Shadows are meant to keep people focused on the thing to come until that thing comes, and then their purpose is then over. But memorials are meant to keep important past events or people in our minds forever, with the goal of us never forgetting that event or person. The goal with a memorial is to keep that person or event in our minds in an ongoing way. Think of Independence Day for instance. The purpose of that day is to keep in our remembrance the great sacrifice our ancestors made for our country in giving their lives to give us freedom, and the history of our country, the principles of freedom it is founded on, and how it was formed and came about. It’s to honor our country forever. That’s the purpose.

Or think of a married couple’s anniversary. It’s purpose is to keep in remembrance the importance of their union, how they met, and how much they matter to one another.

To fail to honor Independence day or a wedding anniversary is not morally neutral; it’s actually wrong to do that. When citizens fail to honor their heroes and fail to honor their country every year by celebrating Independence Day, they have a tendency to forget their history, to lose their love for their country, and to develop hate or indifference or ignorance.

If a spouse fails to honor their anniversary it has the same effect in a marriage.

Some have said the exact day we keep doesn’t matter, and people can keep any day they decide to keep. But think about it,

Imagine if instead of keeping your wedding anniversary, your spouse kept the day he started going out with his former girlfriend before he met you.

It wouldn’t be morally neutral if he kept that day instead; it would definitely be disrespectful for him to keep that day instead of the day he married his wife.

The day matters, because the day is memorializing something very important, and if a different day is kept, it ends up memorializing something else, or it ends up showing an attitude of indifference or inconsideration. If your husband were to forget your anniversary and celebrate it a couple days late, this shows his heart wasn’t in it and it’s disrespectful.

(However, this of course only applies to people who know about the day and understand it’s importance. It’s only willful rejection of the day that is morally wrong. If someone doesn’t understand what the Sabbath is and what it stands for, then they can’t see its significance and how it’s a core part of their walk with God as a Christian just as the other 9 commandments are, and then they aren’t guilty of breaking it if they do not keep it. James 4:17 tells us knowledge of the thing they are supposed to do must be present, in order for it to be sin for the person to neglect to do that thing. “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”)

I’ve heard people say we worship God every day of the week, so the Sabbath makes no sense and there’s no need for a Sabbath. But the Sabbath isn’t like common days. On all the other days we worship, yes, but we also do work. We also go to work and bring in a paycheck, or clean the house, or do other common activities that need to be done.

The Sabbath is a day specifically for only sacred activities. It’s a whole day devoted to worshipping God, in order to keep Him in remembrance as our Creator, the One who gave us everything, and from whom our very life and existence comes from (it is He who made us and not we ourselves Psalm 100:3), and our Savior who alone has power to reconcile us to God, and to recreate our hearts. It’s a day of reverent appreciation.

The Sabbath is a memorial day. A lot of memorial days involve businesses closing, and regular work and activities of citizens are stopped for that day. Every activity done has the theme of what that day is memorializing, so there may be parades and barbeques, and fireworks, but they all point to the same message and memorialize the same event. Then after the day is over, life returns to what it was and resumes. That’s how the Sabbath works too and that’s the purpose of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is like a spiritual Earth Day. On Earth Day kids go to quiet events like museum classes where they do crafts, and learn about the earth and how it works and the importance of caring for it in a responsible way. The Sabbath has a similar quiet and reverent atmosphere – only it’s directed at the Creator and our appreciation for Him – and the activities done are restful, interesting, and engaging. So things like Bible classes (I go to something called Sabbath school at my church on Sabbaths), corporate church service, lunches in the park, witnessing to people in your neighborhood, singing Christian songs together, Sabbath crafts, and things like that.