What is the Sabbath for the NT church?
In the OT God created the heaven and the earth and rested from HIS works on the seventh day.
Gen. 2 ... 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it:because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
So does that mean the 7th day is the Sabbath?
The important point is the Sabbath is ceasing from your own works as God did from HIS.
The OT has many examples of the Sabbath and the commandments and judgments of God concerning the Sabbath. Some of these judgments are very shocking.
In one case in OT, a man was gathering sticks on the Sabbath.
Numbers 15 ... 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
35 And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death:all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.
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On the Sabbath in OT, they could not gather food ... they had to get their food ready the day before.
They had to cease from all their own works on the Sabbath in the OT as God did from HIS. This is the whole point of the OT Sabbath, ceasing from their own works.
They rested in their tents in OT on Sabbath.
One time I was at grocery check out and the woman checking out before me was talking to the checker. This woman said to the checker: "I can't believe you are working on a Sunday!"
The checker explained that the person scheduled to work got sick and they called her to come in and she had to work.
(It was obvious that these two women attended the same church group.)
The woman checking out kept scolding the checker for working on Sunday.
The Spirit of God came on me and I said to the woman who was scolding the other woman: "I can't believe you are buying groceries on a Sunday!"
If a person is going to keep the Sabbath as they did in the OT, then not only would you be prohibited from working on "Sunday" but you would also be prohibited from gathering food on "Sunday". Both would violate the Sabbath in OT.
Ex. 16 ... 9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord:for he hath heard your murmurings. 10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel:speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. 13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp:and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. 14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. 15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna:for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
(In NT church, our "bread" that we eat is Jesus, the Word of God. As we partake of these scriptures, we eat the word of God. The Word of God is the Lord's supper.)
16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18 And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank:and Moses was wroth with them. 21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating:and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.
(In the NT church, we should also gather bread of the Word of God every morning that we would be properly nourished by God, day by day.)
22 And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man:and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord:bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
(In OT, they were not permitted to gather food, nor to prepare food on the Sabbath. They were to cease from their own works ...this was the purpose of the Sabbath.)
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade:and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the Lord:to day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore HE giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
(They weren't even permitted to go out of their place, leave their tent, on the OT Sabbath.)
So what about NT Sabbath? Is it seventh day as in OT? or is it first day of week, a Sunday?
What did the early church do? When did they gather together?
They met daily in the early church.
Acts 5:42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house (eating the Word of God which is bread for us) , did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
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So when is the Sabbath for the NT church? What day?
The "sabbath" for the NT church is not a day of the week. The "sabbath" is ceasing from your own works as God did from HIS and entering into God's rest, ceasing from your own ideas and living by that word given you by God concerning the issues of this present life.
Heb. 3 ... 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. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them:but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest:although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
The "sabbath" for the NT church is daily ceasing from your own ideas and committing everything to God in prayer and doing that which God shows you to do at that point in time.
Resting in HIM continually.
Mt. 6 ... Jesus said ... 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow:for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
This is the NT sabbath.
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Concerning coming together on Sunday ... they certainly did that. But by scriptures we see they meet daily also in homes of those who belonged to Christ.
Paul says: I Cor. 16 ... 1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. 2 Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
It is not a commandment of God that offering can only be given on the first day of the week. But this is a way to remember to do offerings. You are free to give any time you have been prospered, any day of the week. Paul wanted the meeting when he got there to focus on the Spirit of God and the ministry of the Word.
We see example of a meeting on Sunday where Paul preached til midnight ...
Acts 20 ... 6 And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. 7 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. 8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. 9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep:and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. 10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. 11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. 12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
The apostle John spoke of being in the Spirit "on the Lord's day" ... Revelation 1 ... We take this to be on Sunday.
But the truth is the day of the week is not the factor as it was in OT.
The breaking of bread was the eating of the Word of God regardless of the day of the week. When they came together, they "broke bread" (taking the nourishment of the Word of God) ... this is the Lord's supper ... The "bread" is Jesus, the Word.
Jesus said: I am the bread of life. Jn. 6:35
If you in the NT church are going to call a day the "sabbath" as they did in the OT, then you are going to have to live by all the rules of the "sabbath" of the OT ...
In the NT church, when they came together, Paul told them to do the following:
I Cor. 14 ... 26 How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
These would be the rules of the NT church gathering together.
The early church met in homes. The word of God could come through any one attending the gathering.
Matthew 18:20 Jesus said ...For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
I see no reason the gathering together can't be by phone. One time when I spoke by phone with Pam Padgett, I heard the above scripture and knew Jesus was in the midst of the conversation between Pam and I.
We assemble together as we read this blog with the word of God and the testimonies of what God has done in our lives and the resemblance of that which God did in the lives of Abraham and the children of the promise as stated in the Bible.
Certainly gathering in one house would allow for all the gifts of the Holy Spirit to come forth. And this is desirable. But if the meeting is set up to prohibit freedom, then the Spirit will be quenched and harm can come forth.
The Lord's day and the OT Sabbath can't be the same for there are different rules set up for the Sabbath and the gathering of the NT church.