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BIBLICAL EVIDENCE SHOWING THAT THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH WAS NOT EXCLUSIVELY TIED TO THE FIRST COVENANT
Many professed Christians today believe that the seventh day Sabbath
of the 4th commandment was exclusively tied to the first covenant and that the demands of the 4th commandment passed away with the passing of the first covenant. But on
this page we will show you from the Bible that the 7th day Sabbath stands apart on its own from the first covenant and is not exclusively tied to the first
covenant God made with the Israelites. Yes, the Sabbath was included with the first covenant, just like the commands against murder, lying, stealing, adultery, etc.
were. But the Sabbath was not exclusively tied to that covenant, just as these other commandments weren't. So let's take a look. When was the first covenant made with the Israelites?
Exodus 19:1,5,8 ...'In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai ... Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine ... And all the people answered together, and said, all that the Lord hath spoken we will do.'
So this is the first covenant that the people of Israel entered into with the LORD God. Exodus 19 is the beginning of the first covenant and it is confirmed and ratified during the next 4 chapters. But as we can see, this covenant began and was entered into "in the third month" since leaving Egypt, the "same day" they left Egypt, which was the 15th day of the first month.
So to confirm, the first covenant with Israel was instituted and entered into on the THIRD MONTH after leaving Egypt, on the 15th day of the third month, if it was indeed "the same day" they left Egypt.
Now many Christians believe that this is when the Sabbath commandment was instituted and truly began, with the beginning of the first covenant. It's interesting that they don't believe that the commands against murder, or stealing, or lying etc. started with the first covenant, even though there is no mention of these commands before Sinai. They just pick on the 4th commandment for some reason. But anyway, was the seventh day Sabbath instituted with the first covenant and exclusively tied to the first covenant? Well, let us take a look at what took place in Exodus 16:
Exodus 16:1,4,26-30 ...'And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the SECOND MONTH after their departing out of the land of Egypt ... Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no ... Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, WHICH IS THE SABBATH, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.'
As we can see, the events of Exodus 16 took place on the 15th day of the SECOND MONTH and the first covenant wasn't made with Israel until the THIRD MONTH. So this was a whole month before the first covenant was made and entered into. And yet what do we see? That the seventh day Sabbath is already in effect. Look at what God tells them a whole month before the first covenant was made ... "on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none." God is confirming, BEFORE the first covenant was even made and entered into, that the seventh day of the week IS THE SABBATH DAY. God doesn't say the seventh day "WILL BE" the Sabbath, but that the seventh day of the week IS the Sabbath.
This proves that the seventh day Sabbath was in effect BEFORE the first covenant and was not exclusively tied to the first covenant, standing apart on its own, as a living institution of God for man.
We can also go back to Exodus 5 and see the Sabbath. When Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt said unto them ... "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens. And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them REST from their burdens" (Exodus 5:4-5). That word 'REST' in the original Hebrew is the word 'shabath,' which is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2 speaking of God resting on the 7th day and in Exodus 16, speaking of the Israelites resting on the 7th day. We have a page dealing with this here ... THE SEVENTH DAY SABBATH WAS KEPT IN EGYPT BY THE ISRAELITES AND WAS INSTITUTED BY GOD AT CREATION
Did you notice in Exodus 16 that after some of the people went out on the Sabbath day to find manna, that God said "how long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws"? Again, this is a month before the covenant at Sinai.
Many Christians believe that God's commandments were something brand new given at the first covenant at Sinai. And yet here, a month before Sinai, God is speaking about his "commandments and laws." Well, let us go much further back than that. Let us go to the time of Abraham and see what God said about Abraham:
Genesis 26:5 ...'Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.'
Can anyone please show me where God's commandments, statutes and laws are listed between Genesis 1 and Genesis 26?
We are now talking of hundreds of years before the first covenant at Sinai, and yet God says that Abraham kept His commandments and laws. What commandments and laws? There are none listed! A spurious charge by those who reject the 7th day Sabbath, says that the Sabbath wasn't specifically commanded until Sinai, therefore it couldn't have been in force until Sinai. Well, not only are they wrong in that assumption, as we have proved above in Exodus 16 that the Sabbath commandment was in effect BEFORE Sinai, there are no specific list of commandments and laws given up to the time of Abraham, and yet God confirms that Abraham KEPT His commandments and laws. This proves that God's commandments were already in effect before Sinai.
You see, God's ten commandments at Sinai were not new commandments specifically for the first covenant. Even the law of offering sacrifice for sin wasn't new, as we can see Abel offering a sacrifice in Genesis 4:4. But the covenant made with Israel at Sinai was the FIRST TIME God actually had His law written out for people to read and learn. God simply confirmed His commandments with Israel and entered into covenant with them, that if they kept His commandments, as did Abraham, they would be a peculiar people unto Himself and He would bless them. And the ceremonial priestly service was a new institution, which was to teach the Israelites about the work God's Son Jesus Christ was to do.
If the moral commandments of God as laid out in the ten commandments were not in existence or known to people before Sinai, then why was Cain charged with murder? Also on what grounds were the inhabitants of Sodom, and even the whole world condemned, if there were no commandments before Sinai? And how did Joseph know that fornicating with Potiphar's wife was adultery and a SIN against God, if God's commandments were not in existence before Sinai? Where was the commandment against adultery written out before Sinai? There is no written down command, and yet Joseph KEPT the commandment against adultery. So people need to stop making the pure assumption that just because there is no written command for Adam to keep the 7th day Sabbath, that he didn't actually keep it. All would have had knowledge of the creation week and the seventh day that God specifically blessed and sanctified for holy use.
"the Lord hath given you the sabbath." (Exodus 16:29)
"the sabbath was made for man." (Mark 2:27)
When was the 7th day Sabbath "made"? Genesis 2 confirms that it was "made" at the end of creation week when God blessed and sanctified the 7th day for holy use. How do we know that God instituted the Sabbath at creation? Because the 4th commandment specifically says that the 7th day of creation week is "the Sabbath day." And who was the Sabbath made FOR? The Jews? No, for mankind. There were no Jews around at creation. And neither was there any sin. Just take that important point in. The 7th day Sabbath was instituted BEFORE sin even came into the world. So the weekly Sabbath couldn't be any 'shadow' as some like to claim, because the 'shadows' and 'types' were introduced after sin and because of sin.
So the evidence is very clear. The 7th day Sabbath was not exclusive to the first covenant. But is a distinct part of God's moral law that has been in existence from the creation of this world. The Sabbath did not 'pass away' when the first covenant passed away. In fact, Isaiah 66 even confirms that the Sabbath will be kept on the new earth by all the redeemed for all eternity, look:
Isaiah 66:22-23 ...'For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.'
The testimony of God's Word is so clear. The seventh day Sabbath was instituted at creation. It is God's holy day of rest which He has given to mankind to also keep as a holy day of rest. It was being kept BEFORE the first covenant was made and entered into. It was never changed or abolished by Christ and it will be kept by all the redeemed for all eternity as Isaiah 66 confirms above. And have a good think about what God said concerning the new (second) covenant.
God said of the 'new' (second) covenant ... "I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts" (Hebrews 8:10) The second covenant doesn't do away with God's law, it is a covenant to put His law in our hearts. And what is included in God's law? The 4th commandment.
Please think carefully about what is said of the new covenant. God didn't say He would do away with His commandments in the new covenant. He said He would put HIS LAW into our hearts and minds, and as Ezekiel 36:27 says, "cause us to walk in His ways," so that we are able to KEEP His law. And this is the whole misunderstanding regarding the two covenants. The apostle Paul didn't say that the law was the problem in the first covenant. He said that the problem with the first covenant was the people (Hebrews 8:8), because the first covenant was based upon the Israelites saying "all you have said we will do" (Exodus 19:8). Whereas the new (second) covenant is based upon God writing His law upon our hearts and minds, helping and enabling us, through the Spirit of Christ, to KEEP His commandments, through faith. Which is why Revelation 14:12 says that God's end time saints are those who are "KEEPING the commandments of God AND the faith of Jesus." The commandments of God that the end time saints are keeping include the seventh day Sabbath.
For more studies on the Sabbath, please see our following pages:
THE SABBATH - DOES IT MATTER WHICH DAY?
THE SABBATH IS A SIGN BETWEEN GOD AND ISRAEL - BUT WHO IS ISRAEL?