'The Sabbath of the New Covenant' Reviewed

Pastor David J. Meyer is a bit unique in that, while he does not believe in the observances of Christmas or Easter – two of the defining festivals of Protestant and Roman Catholic Christendom – he does not believe that the keeping of the Sabbath day is part of the law of Christ. Through Last Trumpet Ministries International, he has compiled a tract expressing his conviction on this topic. This is a review of this tract and the critical points raised therein. Unless otherwise indicated, indented text is from Pastor Meyer’s tract.

Going back to Genesis 2:1-3, the origin of the Sabbath day, he makes the following statements:

One thing that should be immediately noticed is that all of the preceding six days end with the following words, “And the evening and the morning were the (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th) day.” We do not find these words of finality or summation ending the seventh day, because in a perfect world, everyday thereafter would be a condition of Sabbath or rest and repose. That day was open-ended! Only sin could take away that condition of Sabbath or rest that was meant for everyday, and sadly, that is exactly what happened. Later, we will see how our Lord Jesus restored the perpetual and continual Sabbath to our souls.

This is quite clearly speculation; arguing from silence. A day was defined for the first through sixth day as “evening and morning”; there was no need to state it again for the day He ceased from His work. It could also be argued that this silence is a way of expressing finality. The term “there was evening and there was morning” could be seen as an indicator that an eighth day was coming; thus the absence of this term would mean that this was the end of the Creation Week; and thus all weeks to follow. The meaning of the Sabbath as the repose of believers is not disrupted by a seventh day that is 24 hours long.

One primary point that must be noted regarding the Sabbath commandment is that it has nothing to do with going to church! It has only to do with the cessation from work. Nothing more and nothing less. Sinful man was ordered to do nothing on the seventh day. Thus, one day each week he would not be out there committing sin after sin after sin. It was a “do nothing” day, established as such until the Savior would come to give us victory over sin every day of the week and establish rest for our souls by his spirit dwelling within.

One thing I sometimes find so unbelievable is how someone who has been Christian so long and has even been ordained as pastor could make a statement such as this. It shows a great, utter ignorance of the Bible and what the Sabbath day is about; if people see it just like this, I can understand why they would want to be freed from it. However, it is not. We see that from the Bible itself, in a verse that Pastor Meyer fails to mention:

Leviticus 23:3 – “ ‘There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.

The Sabbath is a day of assembly; a day of “holy convocation” as the New King James Version puts it. This is a side of the Sabbath that is not very well-known, but it is there, quite clearly seen in Scripture. A complete contradiction to the do-nothing day Pastor Meyer writes about in his tract. After seeing this blatant error, should we even bother to go further? The reason he puts forward for the Sabbath being established (to stop man from sinning) is once again speculation and reading into the Bible what isn’t there; it is found nowhere in the Tanakh (Old Testament) or New Testament.

The Old Covenant, according to Hebrews 8:13, is no more! It reads as follows: “In that he saith, a New Covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.”

In Galatians 3:24-25, we are exhorted “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are NO LONGER UNDER THE SCHOOLMASTER.” Thus, the law could lead us to Christ but no further!

Well, this is quite true. But did the apostle Paul say the law was to wax away? No, in fact, he wrote this of the New Covenant:

Hebrews 8:10 – This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

This the New Covenant; the law becomes written onto the hearts of believers. Pastor Meyer is very correct in that the law can take us no further; the rest is up to the relationship between each person and the Messiah. However, does this mean the law is null and void?

NKJV Romans 3:31 – Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

Those who think that they are keeping the Sabbath as a day must remember that James 2:10 says, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”

Once again, true. But, once again, the inference isn’t. Just because we can’t keep the law as perfectly as Jesus, does that mean that we shouldn’t try to do it at all? Let’s look at this verse in context; always a good idea:

James 2:8 – If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
James 2:9 – But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.
James 2:10 – For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
James 2:11 – For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

Is James saying here that we should not attempt to “keep the royal law”? Clearly not; he was berating them for breaking the law to love one’s neighbour as oneself, found in the Torah, in the Tanakh (Leviticus 19:18). Would Pastor Meyer claim that we should not attempt to keep adultery in the literal sense (as opposed to committing adultery against God with other gods as in Jeremiah 5:7) because we’d be guilty of the law in other aspects? I highly doubt it. We must certainly remember that keeping the law does not save us (Romans 3:28). Keeping the law is an act of love for our God (1 John 5:3).

Is there a Sabbath after Calvary? Yes! Hebrews 4:9-10 says, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” There are two words not found in those verses, “Sabbath” and “day.” It is because our rest is no longer a calendar day each week, but every day, which includes the seventh, and thus we keep the Sabbath by living a godly and blood-washed life every day. For we have ceased from our old works.

I will respond to this by quoting from something I had written previously:

Being the last day of the week, the Sabbath day pictures the eternal rest that God’s people will receive at the end of the age. The rest we receive now can be lost by turning away from the Lord (Hebrews 6:4-6). Christians who divert from the Lord Yahweh lose this present rest and never get to partake of the future rest. Let’s go on:

KJV Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Hebrews 4:11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.

The epistle was written to believers, converted Christians (Hebrews 3:1), and yet he is saying they should attempt to enter the rest of which he speaks; and that the promise to enter that rest was still not fulfilled. Were he just referring to the rest of this life, he would say they’d already entered it. But no; he is speaking of the later rest here; the rest that is reserved for those who accept the Messiah.

Hebrews 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;

The word bolded here is translated from the Greek word sabbatismos. Thayer’s Greek Definitions explains it thusly:

1) a keeping sabbath

2) the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians

This is the only time that the word sabbatismos is used in the Bible. If the intended meaning was the same as the other Greek words used to mean rest in this and chapter (katapausis and katapauō, which are related words) as referring to the rest that a Christian receives from God, then wouldn’t it be used more often? Interchangeably with these other words?

Couldn’t it be that the reason sabbatismos is for the meaning Thayer gives in sense 1? Used here to show that in light of the rest of Christ, the Christian keeps the Sabbath in light of the meaning and context of the rest we have received in Christ (just as we keep the Lord’s Supper in light of the time Jesus will eat it with us; Matthew 26:27-29) and the rest that He will give in the future, when some will have to be faced with the rude awakening that they come short of receiving the promised rest?
(Take Off Your Sandals: A Look at the Sabbath)

Pastor Meyer, like many others who fight against Sabbath-keeping, puts forward that the Sabbath day is fulfilled right now in this Christian walk; but it is not. It is a shadow of the rest we will receive in the Kingdom when Yeshua returns and transforms His saints to immortal beings.

Some people who haven't come to an understanding of what covenant they are under will point out that Paul often went into the synagogues on the Sabbath. If we look at those incidents, however, we see that it was to bring those who hear out of the synagogue and that system of death.

Paul did go into the synagogues for the sake of evangelism. But “that system of death” is nowhere defined in the Bible as incorporating Sabbath-keeping.

Here is what Paul the Apostle said about the seventh day as found in Romans 14:5-6: “One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it.”

This is a commonly used antisabbatarian argument. At least he doesn’t contradict himself by using Galatians 4 in defence of his doctrines as many do. (Which is it? It doesn’t matter which day you keep as in Romans 14? Or does Paul condemn those who keep the Sabbath as people say Galatians 4 means?) Look at the passage carefully. Can it be proven Paul was referring to the Sabbath day? It isn’t as conclusive as Pastor Meyer wants you to believe. The word “week” isn’t there for you to deduce it is referring to esteeming a day of the week as the same. Nor is the word “Sabbath” there. Since the context of the passage is about eating and not eating, it would be more plausible to deduce that it is about esteeming certain days as better for fasting. Pastor Meyer makes a speculation here and it cannot be proven that this is referring to the Sabbath day.

We know that the Sabbath law is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and He abides within us. The seventh day Sabbath was not eliminated but fulfilled, and our Savior added six more days to that rest and gave us the timelessness of eternal life. Thus, the seventh day is kept holy with all the other days.

It’s amazing how we humans can read into the Scriptures. Why did God command the Sabbath to be kept anyway?

Exodus 20:11 – For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Nowhere in Hebrews 4 does Paul explain that this hallowing, this sanctification was placed unto the other days of the week. As we have seen, the Sabbath points not to the rest of this life, but the future rest. The sanctification is still on the seventh and last day of the week. The Sabbath is to be kept because never, in all 27 apostolic writings, has its holiness been recorded as being rescinded. The Sabbath is to be kept because the seventh day is holy and was made holy by God. Simple as that. Pastor Meyer does not address this point and indeed, hardly any antisabbatarian does. Since he does not mention the assemblage aspect of the Sabbath, he does not explain how this aspect of the Sabbath is fulfilled. It isn’t, of course, as Paul wrote:

Hebrews 10:25 – Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Honestly, doesn’t this understanding (of the future fulfilment of the Sabbath) bring a whole new meaning to the keeping of the Sabbath and make it more wonderful? It is not only an acknowledgement of the Creator, but a celebration of what awaits us in the Kingdom.

We can worship our Lord any day and every day. We know that Sunday is not the Sabbath but rather one of seven days, any of which can be used for worship. Acts 20:7 says, “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.”

This is a common passage that is often used to propose that the early church congregated on Sunday as opposed to the Sabbath. He is right; we can worship our Lord any and every day. But the Sabbath is only day (of the week) on which rest of convocation for this purpose is commanded. Once again, I will quote from other of my essays to answer this one:

This verse shows that first century Christians met and had a meal together on the first day of the week. But there are some details that Luke did not include. We don’t know the time of day, the purpose of the meal (whether religious, for a fellowship gathering, or just plain because they were hungry). One explanation may be as follows.

The first thing that we must remember here is that in the Judeo-Christian culture of the first century, the day began at sunset, as Jews still practise today (Genesis 1:5; evening comes first and then morning in the same “day”). Luke does not indicate whether or not he is using Roman or Biblical reckoning for the beginning of the first day the week (midnight or sunset), what they did here is probably the common practise among Jews called chaverah, which means “fellowship”. It is a gathering on Saturday – but after the Sabbath, which ends at sunset – to eat and fellowship. If Luke was referring to the first yom (Hebrew word for day) beginning at sunset instead of Sunday, it would be more feasible for Paul to preach until sunset.

In fact, it didn’t even have to be done for chaverah; the context shows that this was a special situation. Paul had intended to leave the next day (Acts 20:11). Whatever time of day, it makes sense that they would want to spend the last hours of their time with their friend and preacher, and that Paul would want to leave them with a Word from God before leaving. There is no indication that this was a regular practise for them to gather on the first day in this manner. But was it the Lord’s Supper that they ate? Elsewhere in the book of Acts, Christians gathered daily to “break bread” (Acts 2:46). This seems to be fellowship gatherings, like the gathering in Acts 20:7.
(Pesach: The Lord’s Supper, The Lord’s Way)

The Sabbath is a day of celebration, a day that God said to call a “delight” (Isaiah 58:13). It certainly isn’t nor was it ever a do-nothing day. It is a day in which we are to come together to worship the God of creation. I must say, I don’t see how anyone, knowing what the Sabbath is about, would not want to keep it. A day when we don’t have to think about our jobs or our schoolwork; and a day when we can spend time with our brethren; a day chosen by God for this purpose. A day when we can celebrate the most complete and eternal Sabbath rest. A day when we can sing:

Lead me to rest, sweet Lord
Lead me to rest
From my journey here
Lead me to rest
The relief I’ve found
From the burdens that have weighed me down
Lead me to rest
Lead me to rest
(‘Lead Me To Rest’ by Acappella)

Note: All Bible quotations are taken from the New International Version unless otherwise stated. Bolded words in Bible quotations and from Pastor Meyer’s tract are my emphasis.

· Anthony Coore’s Should Christians Keep the Sabbath Day?

· Take off Your Sandals: A Look at the Sabbath

· Shabbat: Work on the Sabbath

· Colossians 2: Paul’s True Message

· What It Means to be Under Grace

Readers are permitted and encouraged to reproduce this paper in its entirety. To copy subsections, you will require the permission of the author, who may be contact at the e-mail address below. All reproductions and distributions must have the name and e-mail address of the author.

Contact: [email protected]

http://www.geocities.com/keniru_san/