{"kind":"clesson","id":"bbc","lang":"en","langs":["en","zh","de","es"],"courseTitle":"Basic Beliefs Curriculum","cover":"content/courses/media/3acdfce5ebfd583c.png","n":8,"m":0,"count":10,"lessonTitle":"Sabbath","title":"Sabbath","blocks":[{"k":"h2","t":"Teaching Guidelines: "},{"k":"oli","t":"You may choose to complete this topic in one session."},{"k":"oli","t":"The goal of this class is to help truth seekers understand the purpose and significance of the Sabbath and the fact that the Sabbath is on Saturday. In addition, we want to encourage them to begin keeping the commandment to remember the Sabbath."},{"k":"h2","t":"Presentation slides:"},{"k":"p","t":"▶️ Slides on Sabbath for use in class"},{"k":"hr"},{"k":"h2","t":"The Importance of the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"At the True Jesus Church, we worship on Saturday because it is the Sabbath day. "},{"k":"h3","t":"What Is the Sabbath?","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"The Sabbath day is a special day of the week and it was God who set the Sabbath day apart during creation."},{"k":"q","t":"So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:3)"},{"k":"p","t":"These actions of God in blessing the seventh day and making it holy make it different from the other days of the week."},{"k":"p","t":"The word Sabbath (שַׁבָּת in Hebrew) means rest. When God finished creating the world, He Himself rested. He wanted man to have a day to put aside all work and to rest, just as He did."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"What Does God Want Us to Do on This Day?","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"God included the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments so that we will not forget that day and will know just how important it is to keep it. The fourth commandment about keeping the Sabbath is the longest of the Ten Commandments. God goes into detail to explain how it began and what God asks of us to do on that day."},{"k":"q","t":"“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20:8-11)"}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Keep it Holy","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"First, we need to keep the day holy. The reason is because God blessed the day and made the day holy."},{"k":"p","t":"How do we keep the day holy? By not doing any work. Just like God had six days to complete the work of creation, we as man have six days to labor and do our work."},{"k":"p","t":"Then on the seventh day, it is “a Sabbath day to the Lord your God,” meaning that the day belongs to God. It is God’s day and therefore we need to think of the day as His and not ours. On this day, we rest by putting down our work, no matter how busy we may be. In this way, we shift the focus from ourselves to God. Through not going our own ways or doing our own things, we show honor to this blessed day."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Remember Your Redemption","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"What else does God want us to remember regarding the Sabbath?"},{"k":"p","t":"God also gave us the Sabbath in order for us to remember His deliverance and redemption."},{"k":"q","t":"”You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:15)"},{"k":"p","t":"The Israelites were once slaves, but by God’s power and love, He brought them out of bondage to a life of freedom. For us today, it remains a day for us to remember how God has delivered us out of the bondage of a life of sin and suffering. We were redeemed in His love, and only because of that were we able to receive the special status of being His beloved children."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"A Covenant","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"The Sabbath serves as a sign of that special relationship between God and His people, as it says in Isaiah 56:6-7:"},{"k":"q","t":"“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,\nto minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,\nand to be his servants,\neveryone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,\nand holds fast my covenant—\nthese I will bring to my holy mountain,\nand make them joyful in my house of prayer;\ntheir burnt offerings and their sacrifices\nwill be accepted on my altar;\nfor my house shall be called a house of prayer\nfor all peoples.”"},{"k":"p","t":"Here, keeping the Sabbath is equated to holding fast to His covenant. To those who are in this covenant, God promises the following: to bring them to the place where He is, to give them joy, and to accept their offerings."},{"k":"p","t":"Therefore, if we value having a close relationship with God and being acceptable to Him, we would hold tightly onto this covenant by keeping the Sabbath."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Conclusion","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"It is because of these reasons that we gather on this special and holy day to worship God, and remember how precious it is that He has called and redeemed us."}]}]},{"k":"h2","t":"When Is the Sabbath Day?","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"The Sabbath day was established at creation when God blessed the day and made it holy. In nine passages in the Bible, it clearly states that the seventh day is Sabbath. In Genesis 2:1-3 alone, the seventh day is mentioned three times. Therefore, it is clear that Sabbath is on the seventh day, but which day of the week is the seventh day?"},{"k":"h3","t":"How Do We Know that the Seventh Day Is Saturday?","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Besides looking at the calendar, there are various ways we can tell that the seventh day is Saturday. In more than 21 languages, such as Russian, Spanish, Italian, Indonesian, and Greek, the word for Saturday is equivalent to Sabbath. For example, the word for Saturday in Spanish is “sábado.” When these languages originated long, long ago, Saturday was understood to be the same as Sabbath."},{"k":"p","t":"The Jews have kept the Sabbath as a cherished day since the time they received the commandment. They know the correct day Sabbath falls on because God pointed out the specific day to them in the wilderness."},{"k":"q","t":"[H]e said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, (Exodus 16:23-24a)"},{"k":"p","t":"It was clear that the children of Israel knew the exact day of Sabbath because God directly told them that tomorrow is the Sabbath. The people did what God commanded and kept that day accordingly."},{"k":"p","t":"To this day, the Jews are careful in all aspects of keeping the Sabbath, which they observe from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. The day of the week that Sabbath is on is also confirmed by Jesus, who observed it on the day that the Jews kept."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"If the Sabbath Is on Saturday, Why Do Many Christians Worship on Sunday?","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"In history, we can see that the original day of worship on Saturday was gradually changed to Sunday."},{"k":"p","t":"At the time of the writing of the New Testament books, the Sabbath was observed by Jesus and His followers."},{"k":"p","t":"Then, some Christian leaders advocated worshipping on Sunday to commemorate the fact that Jesus resurrected on Sunday, which they referred to as the Lord’s Day. We can see this in Ignatius’s writings:"},{"k":"q","t":"And after the observance of the Sabbath, let every friend of Christ keep the Lord’s Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days (Epistle to the Magnesians, ch 9)."},{"k":"p","t":"From this we can see, even though the practice of observing the Sabbath still remained, Christians were encouraged to worship on Sunday as well."},{"k":"p","t":"Justin Martyr, a Christian philosopher in the second century, took an even stronger stance and argued for the abolition of Sabbath observance. He wrote,"},{"k":"q","t":"For if there was no need of circumcision before Abraham, or of the observance of Sabbaths, of feasts and sacrifices, before Moses; no more need is there of them now… (“Dialogue of Justin with Trypho, a Jew,” 23. 3)"},{"k":"p","t":"While there is evidence that certain groups of Christians continued to keep the Sabbath up to the fourth century, Sunday worship became dominant in Christianity over time."},{"k":"p","t":"In 321 AD, Constantine legislated Sunday as a civil day of rest for the Roman empire."},{"k":"q","t":"On the venerable day of the sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. (Codex Justinianus, bk 3, tit 12, 3)"},{"k":"p","t":"However, Constantine’s legislation may not have been linked to Christianity, since he used the pagan term, “the venerable day of the sun,” for Sunday."},{"k":"p","t":"Then, from the Council of Laodicea in 364 AD, resolutions actually prohibited Christians from resting on Sabbath. Sabbath was acknowledged, but the church clergy pronounced that any who kept it would be cursed. The fact that they felt a need for this proclamation shows that some Christians still kept the Sabbath at that time."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Conclusion","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Few would disagree that Sabbath is on Saturday. History shows that the day of Sabbath is not in question but that man changed Sabbath observance to Sunday worship. However, God never commanded commemorating the resurrection on Sunday in place of Sabbath."}]}]},{"k":"h2","t":"God’s Commandment to Keep the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Is the Sabbath only meant for the Israelites? Do we as Christians need to keep the Sabbath today?"},{"k":"h3","t":"Why Christians Need to Keep the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Sabbath applies to all man because God instituted it at creation. After God finished His work of creation, He set apart the seventh day as a day of rest and blessed it. This was before there was a Jewish nation."},{"k":"p","t":"In addition, we need to keep the Sabbath because God clearly commands it. The Sabbath is described as being “commanded” by God seven times in the Bible. God cares about the keeping of Sabbath so much that when the people forgot about it and stopped, He would remind them of it. One such example is in Jeremiah 17:22:"},{"k":"q","t":"“’And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.’”"},{"k":"p","t":"Out of the many commandments in the Bible, keeping the Sabbath is included in the Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own finger."},{"k":"p","t":"Jesus affirmed that it is necessary to keep the Ten Commandments in order to receive eternal life. He mentioned five of the Ten Commandments as examples of what one must do to enter the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew 15:4, He also cited the fifth commandment, teaching us that honoring our father and mother is a commandment of God."},{"k":"p","t":"It’s clear that Jesus upheld the Ten Commandments. Believers of Jesus, therefore, need to keep the Sabbath commandment."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Jesus and the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Jesus Himself kept the Sabbath. In Luke 4:16, Jesus was at the synagogue on the Sabbath day “as His custom was.” Through His actions, He set an example for us of keeping the Sabbath. As followers of Jesus, we need to keep the Sabbath."},{"k":"p","t":"Not only did Jesus keep the Sabbath, He also proclaimed that He is the Lord of the Sabbath. In Matthew 12:8, He says:"},{"k":"q","t":"“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” "},{"k":"p","t":"This shows that Jesus recognizes and validates the Sabbath’s importance, as Jesus can only be Lord over what is still in effect and relevant."},{"k":"p","t":"Jesus also said that the Sabbath was made for man. In Mark 2:27, Jesus said to the people:"},{"k":"q","t":"And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”"},{"k":"p","t":"Since the Sabbath was instituted for man’s benefit, as long as there is man, it remains applicable and needed."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Jesus’s Disciples and the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"How did the followers of Jesus act regarding the Sabbath?"},{"k":"p","t":"When Jesus died on the cross, it was a moment of extreme grief for His followers, but they did not break the Sabbath, even for the sake of Jesus’s burial."},{"k":"q","t":"It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment. (Luke 23:54-56)"},{"k":"p","t":"The writer of Luke, as well as the followers of Jesus described here, saw the Sabbath as a commandment that must be kept. That is why these women rested from their burial preparations once the Sabbath began."},{"k":"p","t":"Paul, who became a disciple after Jesus’s death, continued the example set by Jesus. Although his ministry was to the non-Jews, Paul still kept the Sabbath. Acts 17:2 says that Paul went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day “as was his custom.” This was the exact phrase used for Jesus. There is no record of Paul observing the day of resurrection."},{"k":"p","t":"Furthermore, Paul’s letters taught that it is necessary to keep the Ten Commandments. Like Jesus, Paul quotes the fifth commandment in Ephesians 6:1-4 that children should obey their parents, explaining that to “’Honor your father and mother’” is the first command with a promise. Paul’s letter was addressed to the Ephesian church, which consisted mostly of non-Jews. So even non-Jewish Christians must keep the Ten Commandments."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Conclusion","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"There is no Biblical proof that the Sabbath commandment was ever done away with. Rather, Jesus and the disciples kept the Sabbath themselves and reinforced the Ten Commandments in their teachings. The Sabbath, therefore, still stands."}]}]},{"k":"h2","t":"Blessings of Keeping the Sabbath","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Although keeping the Sabbath is a commandment, God does not want us to treat the Sabbath as a chore we are forced to do. God intended for Sabbath to be a blessing and joy for man. God created Sabbath for man’s sake, so Sabbath itself is a blessing to us. Through keeping the Sabbath, we receive more benefits and blessings."},{"k":"h3","t":"To Know God","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"God is so almighty and high above us, but He makes a way for us as His people to understand who He is."},{"k":"q","t":"“’[A]nd keep my Sabbaths holy that they may be a sign between me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’” (Ezekiel 20:20)"},{"k":"p","t":"This goes beyond merely knowing of God. Knowing God is to have a true relationship with Him, in which He acknowledges that He is our God. It is to find favor in His sight. Sabbath serves as a sign between us and Him as our God, so that we can be assured of His relationship with us."},{"k":"p","t":"God took the initiative in giving us the Sabbath. We are blessed that He acted first to give us something good and to lead us to Himself, before we ourselves knew Him or did anything for Him. The Sabbath is a sign of the great privilege it is to have a personal relationship with God. This is why God emphasizes the importance of Sabbath in Exodus 31:13:"},{"k":"q","t":"“You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.’”"},{"k":"p","t":"God said to keep the Sabbath “above all” for the purpose of knowing that God is the One who sanctifies us. Just as God set the Sabbath day apart to be special, God is the one who sets us apart. It is not us who chose God but He who chose us. It is His great love that makes it possible for us to be part of this precious relationship."},{"k":"p","t":"We were all once foreigners to God, but we are joined to Him through keeping the Sabbath."},{"k":"p","t":"Keeping the Sabbath helps us to remember that out of all the people there are, He chose us to be His cherished people. Our sanctification is only possible through a process of redemption, in which we were delivered from our old lives and sins and freely given a new life and status that we did not earn or deserve. "}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Seeing God’s Providence Through Rest","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"God gives this blessing of a day of rest to everyone—from the king to the maidservants and even to the animals, showing God cares for everyone equally. In Exodus 23:12, God says that this rest is so that we may be refreshed. When we cease from our labor and our own works on the Sabbath, we receive physical and mental rest. God said that the Sabbath rest was to be kept every week, regardless of whether the people were in a busy season—whether it was during plowing time or the harvest season (Exodus 34:21)."},{"k":"p","t":"However, God does not want us to worry about not having enough for our daily needs if we lay aside our work on the Sabbath day. He promises to provide for our daily needs."},{"k":"p","t":"In fact, the very first time that the word “Sabbath” is mentioned in the Bible is in Exodus 16, when God told the Israelites not to gather food on the Sabbath. He said that He would make what they gathered the previous day enough for two days. This was to show that because God desired to give man the Sabbath, God would also provide for man’s needs."},{"k":"p","t":"If we have the faith to rest on the Sabbath and not do our own work, we can receive the blessings He desires to give us in Isaiah 58:13-14:"},{"k":"q","t":"“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,\nfrom doing your pleasureon my holy day,\nand call the Sabbath a delight\nand the holy day of the Lord honorable;\nif you honor it, not going your own ways,\nor seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;\nthen you shall take delight in the Lord,\nand I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;\nI will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,\nfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”"},{"k":"p","t":"To those who honor the Sabbath, the blessings that God promises with His own mouth are that He will cause the person to ride the heights of the earth and to eat of the heritage of Jacob."},{"k":"p","t":"Deuteronomy 32:13 tells us that riding on the heights of earth represents God’s providence for our needs. In the difficult seasons in our lives, we will not be abandoned or overlooked. His providence shows His great care for us. He not only sees but will also take action to come to our aid. Though we may be in hard times, His care for us will come through. The God who makes all and holds all things in His hand will be as attentive to us as a mother nurturing her child."}]},{"k":"h3","t":"Conclusion","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"p","t":"Because of all the blessings we receive physically and spiritually, Sabbath will be a great joy to us. If we treat Sabbath as “a delight,” then we will find our “delight in the Lord.” The joy we receive will come from Him. With this, we can keep the Sabbath with a heart of gratitude for the amazing works He has done in our lives."}]}]},{"k":"h2","t":"FAQ","fold":true,"c":[{"k":"oli","t":"Why do most other Christians worship on Sunday? "},{"k":"oli","t":"Was the Sabbath only for the Israelites? "},{"k":"oli","t":"What is the Lord’s day? "},{"k":"oli","t":"Can’t I observe the Sabbath on any day I want? "},{"k":"p","t":"Answers"}]}],"pages":[],"prev":{"n":7,"title":"Holy Spirit"},"next":{"n":9,"title":"Church"}}