It is written:
I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, Her New Moons, Her Sabbaths—All her appointed feasts. (Hosea 2:11)
Are Christians required to keep the Sabbath day?
Some so teach.
However, the Word of God teaches differently.
Long before the time of Christ, the Prophet Hosea declared that God would one day cause all of the holy days of Israel to cease-including the Sabbath Day.
God had make the Sabbath day as a day of rest for humanity:
Exodus 20:9-11-Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
It was also a day of worship and assembly:
Leviticus 23:3-Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.
This day of rest was for the Jewish people:
Exodus 31:16-17-Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ “
Non-Jews (Gentiles) were not bound to keep the Old Testament Law, including the Sabbath (cf. Psalm 147:19-20).
As important as the Sabbath was, God declared through Hosea that He would one day bring the Sabbath-along with all the other Jewish holy days-to an end. When would this be?
Hosea 2:16-“And it shall be, in that day,” Says the LORD, “That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’ And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
When the people of God would be married to the Lord, then the prophecies of the requirement of the Sabbath day being taken would be fulfilled.
Has this happened?
Romans 7:4-Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
2 Corinthians 11:2-For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
God’s people-the church- are married to Christ. As such, the prophecies of the requirement to keep the Sabbath Day-have ceased. Christians hold to the Lord’s Day-Sunday-the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). While we assemble on other occasions (Acts 2:42-46), Sunday holds special meaning for the child of God. It is was on this day that Jesus arose from the dead (Matthew 28:1), that the church was established (Acts 2:41, 47), that the New Testament of Christ began to be proclaimed (Acts 2:42), and that the Holy Spirit was given to the people of God (Acts 2:38).
The Sabbath was a reminder to us of the salvation we enjoy in relationship with Christ (Colossians 2:14-17), and of the promise of Heaven.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
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