35. �And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, to test him.� 36. "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37. �And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.� 38. �This is the great and first commandment.� 39. �And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.� 40. �On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets
(The Bible. Revised Standard Version. Mat. 22:35-40).�
So just how important is the Sabbath to keep? I think the best way to answer that is to look at Ezekiel 20:11-12. 11. �There I gave them my laws so they could live by keeping them. If anyone keeps them, he shall live.� 12. �And I gave them the Sabbath--a day of rest every seventh day--as a symbol between them and me, to remind them that it is I, the Lord, who sanctifies them, that they are truly my people(Living Bible).� So as not to get confused the Sabbath is the fourth commandment, therefore it is one of the Laws Yahweh is speaking of in eleven. And yet it is mentioned again as if it were separate from the Law in twelve. Here Yahweh is speaking through Ezekiel to some of the elders who had come to get an answer from Yahweh.
Now that we see the importance of the Sabbath I propose a question. Does God change his mind? My answer to this is a resounding no! Hebrews 13:8 says; �Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come Darby�s Bible.� And in Malachi 3:6. 6. �For I Jehovah change not, and ye, sons of Jacob, are not consumed (Darby�s Bible).� Psalms 89:34. �My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips (The Bible).�
So if God doesn�t change then why have we taken the Sabbath which is on Saturday and moved it to Sunday? Let�s explore some popular misconceptions. If you
asked most Christians they would tell you that they don�t keep the Sabbath. That Sunday is a day of worship but Christ did away with the Sabbath. Many would also say that the early Christians all worshiped on Sunday.
Rabbi Thomas Barns say�s, �Many Christians believe that Christ came to do away with the Sabbath and that Paul as an early Christian worshiped on Sunday (Telephone Interview).� Lets take a look at these two assumptions and deal with them one at a time.
Did Christ come to do away with the things in the Old Testament such as the Sabbath? First of all Christ said very plainly in Matthew 5:17-19. 17. "Do not for a moment suppose that I have come to abrogate the Law or the Prophets:� �I have not come to abrogate them but to give them their completion.� 18. �Solemnly I tell you that until Heaven and earth pass away, not one iota or smallest detail will pass away from the Law until all has taken place.� 19. �Whoever therefore breaks one of these least commandments and teaches others to break them, will be called the least in the Kingdom of the Heavens; but whoever practices them and teaches them, he will be acknowledged as great in the Kingdom of the Heavens (Weymouth�s New Testament).�
If we take Matthew 5:17 to heart we have a clear statement that Christ did not come to change the Sabbath. We also read in eighteen that until �the Heavens and earth� pass away that not one iota will change from the Law. Many like to say that when Christ died and was resurrected he fulfilled this verse of the New Testament (Thomas Barns). Now unless I am mistaken the earth is still here and I hope the Heavens are so this could not relate in any way to a change in the Law. More to the point we find Christ saying things like in John 5:43. �I have come as my Father's representative, and you do not receive me. If some one else comes representing only himself, him you will receive
