Exodus 31:12-18, The Sign of the Sabbath

“Sabbath” is sometimes used loosely.  Christians use it in speaking of Sunday, that it’s our “Sabbath.”  In Jerusalem Friday is the Muslim day, Saturday the Jewish day, and Sunday the Christian day.  The benefit of all that is that any day you can find a grocery store open somewhere. 😊

On the other hand, there are some Christians who see Sunday as the “Sabbath” and use it as a day of ministry.  We saw this at Metropolitan Tabernacle (Spurgeon’s church) in London.  After a wonderful worship service we roamed around the building afterwards, and saw many people fixing lunch in preparation for an afternoon of ministry.  They would go out into various neighborhoods and hold Sunday Schools.  I thought to myself, what a great way to use the day.

I am aware, of course, that there are those who insist that we must keep the Sabbath, meaning Saturday, as a day that is holy and devoted to worship or ministry or rest.  We might have a peaceable attitude towards these folks, remembering that Paul said one day is as good as another (Rom. 14:5-6).  The problem, of course, is that they “insist” that it must be Saturday.  After all, God assigned Saturday as the holy day because of creation (Ex. 31:17b) and we are all the product of God’s work of creating all things in six days and resting on the seventh.   Let me also note that usually those who insist on the Sabbath insist on other aspects of the Mosaic Law. 

Having noted these varieties on the subject, as I was reading Ex. 31 recently, I was reminded again of a critical truth.  Ex. 31:17a says, of the Sabbath, “it is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever.”  This sign exists between God and Israel, specifically.  Why the Sabbath?  Yes, because it was the day of God’s rest in creation.  But that is not a basis for assigning the Sabbath to the Church. The Sabbath was never given as a sign of our relationship with the Lord. 

If you are wondering, the Body of Christ is not the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).  That is a reference to the Jewish believers in the New Testament Church.  By their faith in Christ they had come to receive the blessings of the New Covenant and were thus what we sometimes call “fulfilled Jews.”   Their existence was the reason for the conflict addressed in Galatians and the encouragement in Ephesians for Jewish and Gentile Christians to recognize their unity in Christ.

Why is this important to me?  Because the Bible cannot be properly understood, Old and New Testament, if you do not keep Israel in their God-given place, the Church in its God-given place, and the proper distinction maintained between the Church and Israel.  All Christians today are in the Body of Christ, Jew and Gentile, and they are all spiritual descendents of Abraham.  Not all Christians are Israel.  It is not for the Church to appropriate Israel’s commands or blessings or curses.  Such a view does great damage to the Word of God, Old and New Testament alike.