You forgot to include where in the New Testament the Lord tells Christians they
are required to observe Saturday sabbath and they'll burn in hell if they don't.
Where's the beef
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I first learned of the Sabbath 20 years after first coming to know Jesus.
I learned about the Sabbath at a time of deep backsliding, then soul searching, then hearing and experiencing God's word to me, "seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness".
I learned from the Psalms that the righteousness of God is His character, and His character is expressed in His law. It's a character of love. Which is why love is the fulfilment of the law.
I learned of the Sabbath after searching the scriptures, after much prayer and study, and discovered 3 very important facts.
1. One couldn't read scripture, either in the OT or NT, without a sense of awe at the importance God places on His holy day.
2. And why? Because God was totally invested in man, loved man, wanted man to know Him and His love and care. Since creation, it has been God's deepest desire to be in the presence of the people He made. In the garden, it must have brought much pain to His heart that sin imposed the necessity to separate and establish a distance between Himself and man, in order to avoid man's instant destruction due to the presence of holiness.
3. So God made provision, the gospel, that the relationship would not be completely broken, offering man an opportunity to overcome the sinful nature He inherits from his forbears. God sent His only begotten Son, to stand in His place. To speak His words. To bring His healing touch. To bring peace, establish faith, and restore the beauty of holiness and righteousness in man. He regularly visited, to encourage, lift up, warn, and protect those who would be faithful and obey. Few did. At one time the entire planet had to be destroyed before His servants were extinct. It came down to the wire. One man, Noah. Would he obey the voice of God against all odds and save the race from destruction?
Later, God chose a nation of people, the children of Abraham, to be His vehicle through which God would establish righteousness, His law, and bring forth the Messiah, God made flesh. Would Abraham obey? The Messiah would be God begotten in a new sense, to become human flesh, to die that man could be justified, and through His resurrection and the power of the holy Spirit, be changed and strengthened and have joy once again in the presence of God. Would Israel listen and obey?
"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell with them". Brief visits was no longer enough. The Son wanted to be with His people full time. We know the story. The sanctuary. The priesthood. A method of religion to bring healing and restoration. A faith to counter sin. A means by which the sin problem would be dealt with. A foretaste of a time when "God Himself shall provide a Lamb for an offering". The result? A series of unfaithful, disobedient, rebellions with the odd faithful obedient servant. As a nation however, Israel was a failure. Nevertheless, God remained faithful to them and to His promises. The Messiah came. What manner of love is this that God would die in man's place! What love! What risk!! Yet came He did. The Son of God begotten as a human, subject to all the same threats, temptations, weaknesses, that man is subject to, and for our sake and His, overcame all the odds stacked against Him and saved all humanity from certain death. There was nothing man could do to save himself . Nothing can be added to what God Himself, and alone, has accomplished for us. Yet in our pride and arrogance we seek still to go our own way. To invent methods whereby our religion may look and sound good, but bypasses true obedience. Just as the nation of Israel did throughout its history. Just as men have done through all time.
We invent a new religion to avoid surrender. To avoid death to self. To avoid the cross. Each one of us is unique. Not one person on the planet thinks, acts, reacts, and relates to God in exactly the same way. In all the 8 billion people on this planet, there's not one like you. Or me. Yet we each think that the way we do life is the best. We think that if everyone else behaved and thought just like me, there would be peace on earth and everyone would get along just fine.
The Lord Himself showed me His holy Sabbath. You want me to show you where is it? No. I won't. No more. Even if I did again, you wouldn't see it. Observing the Sabbath isn't just about obedience to a Commandment. It's about a relationship. It's about surrender to a higher authority than yourself. You have your own relationship with God. You ask Him to show you His Sabbath. And yes. It is
His Sabbath. Not mine. Not Israel's.
KJV Isaiah 58:13-14
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on
my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight,
the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
Nor is the Sabbath about earning salvation, avoiding hell, improving our reputation, earning credit points in the Bank of Heaven, but it is exactly as the scripture above says. It honours God. Try it. You may be surprised.
