Why do we worship on Saturday, the 7th day?

 

      The simple answer is because that is what Jesus did, and He is our example.  A Christian is a little-Christ, and should follow the pattern that He left for us in the gospels.  In Luke 4:16 we find Jesus attending the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and Luke said it was His ‘custom’ – his habit, his pattern.  Both growing up in Judaism, and throughout His gospel ministry, He attended the Synagogue on the Sabbath - the 7th day of the week.  See Mark 1:21; 6:2; Luke 4:31; 6:6; 13:10. 

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      As you study the gospel records (the first 4 books of the New Testament) you find that Jesus used the Sabbath to teach, to heal, to bless.  Jesus taught that the ‘Sabbath was made for Man’ (Mark 2:27.) The word ‘man’ in that verse is the word ‘anthropos’, meaning mankind.  The Sabbath was not made for the Jews exclusively, though it was later included in their Old Covenant law system.  The Sabbath was made in the garden of Eden at the Creation of the world.  See Genesis 2:1-3.  The Sabbath is a ‘Creation Ordinance’ given to all mankind.  It was intended to be a day of rest and blessing, a memorial of the Creator, and since the Fall of mankind – a foreshadowing of the future Rest in the Kingdom of God (Hebrews 4:9.)

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      The second reason why we worship on the 7th day Sabbath is because it is the 4th commandment of the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. See Exodus 20:8-11. Here we find God recalling the events recorded in Genesis 2:1-3 as the basis for the commandment.  By stopping from our busy work lives on the Sabbath, we honor our Creator (Jesus) and we are blessed and refreshed by Him, as He intended from the beginning. The New Testament authors, including Jesus Himself, often affirm the abiding obligation of the Ten Commandments as a code of conduct to live by.  See Mt. 5:17-19; 15:1-9; 19:16-21; Lk. 18:18-20; Ro. 7:7-12; 8:1-7; 13:8-10; 1 Co. 7:19; Eph. 6:1; Ja. 2:8-12; 1 Jn. 3:4; Re. 12:17; 14:12; 22:12-15.

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      Christians are not under the Old Covenant, nor are they bound by the additional rules affixed to the Sabbath in the Old Covenant.  But we recognize that the Sabbath existed before the Old Covenant, and continues after it.  Furthermore, it will be kept in the Eternal Kingdom of God. See Isaiah 66:22-23; Revelation 21:1-5.  We do not keep the Sabbath legalistically, in a vain attempt to merit favor before God. We are saved by Grace, not law-keeping - but we do obey the Sabbath commandment to Honor our Great God and receive the blessing that He promised to us.

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