God’s Sabbath: Michael Bunker comments On the Sabbath and what it means to Christians.

My own personal conversion to the Sabbath

Although this letter is designed as a discussion of the Lord’s Sabbath, I do not plan (in this first section) on discussing which day should be set apart as the Sabbath (I find it far less important an issue), but, instead, I intend to note the mental processes that I went through in bringing this area of my life under the government of Christ Jesus.

When the Lord first began to really call me to Himself in a personal way, I was working several jobs. One of my jobs was as a part-time bartender at a very busy university bar. One of my primary (and most lucrative) shifts was Sunday afternoon for the Sunday football crowd.  Although I had been nominally “raised a Christian”, I knew very little about the Bible at this time (I was reading through it for the first time), and I had absolutely no direction from any type of spiritual authority; but I just knew (in a somewhat spiritual way) that I was to keep holy what I thought was the Sabbath day. I went to my boss and told him that I could not work on Sunday any more because I wanted to keep the Sabbath holy. My boss (who was also a good friend of mine) not only understood, but he later told me it impressed him that I was so eager to please God.

As time went on, I never lost the spiritual "knowing" that I was to separate out the Sabbath day, although my immersion in "church" and other activities soon wore out my willingness to actually do what I knew I believed.

When I finally separated from the corrupt institutional church system, I gave up on the idea of the Sabbath completely, not in my conscience, but in my actual behavior. I also was so repulsed by the evil Judaizing of the modern Messianic movement that I (rightly, I believe) determined to make spiritual freedom from religious tyranny and legalism a hallmark of my ministry.  I don't believe I was wrong in doing this, but I am certain that I overreacted to what were very real threats, by further searing my conscience and by grieving the Holy Spirit in regards to the Sabbath.

Through the years, I have said to my wife on many occasions "we really ought to make an effort to keep the Sabbath day holy"; although I was never really willing to do what I knew was the right thing to do. This is one of the few decisions in my ministry that I truly regret, because I am pretty well known for making hard decisions - and at some level, this failure must necessarily harm my credibility in other areas.

On several occasions over the last few years, I have been pressed (by friends and strangers alike) to speak on the issue - but I have always refused.  On occasion I would throw out an offhand "Jesus is the Sabbath’s rest" line, just to get me out of the situation.  But in my conscience, I knew that this was an issue in my life that needed to be brought under God's government.

When I began teaching the Doctrines of Grace in all their fullness, we were somewhat a "voice in the wilderness", and there was not a big Sovereignty movement going on at the time (almost none actually) like there seems to be now. Since then, as the new Reformation has gained steam, more Puritan and Reformed books have been made available to the public, and I have had the opportunity to really get in and study the issue more.

Recently, the issue came to a head with me when I began to really dig into the issue, and when I saw that my family was suffering from an irreverence and disrespect to spiritual authority and also when it came to things that should be considered "Holy".  I could see the same irreverence in myself, and I could see it in my children.  It is natural for those of us who escape religious tyranny to flee far beyond what is a safe position and, as a result, to become irreverent and presumptuous.

Recently I have been dealing with this issue in my house, with my family and with the others who live here. It has been a wonderful and rewarding experience...

“Let man only enter into God’s mind and tread in His footsteps, by resting every seventh day from his works, and he shall undoubtedly find it to his profit… What he may lose for the moment in productive employment, shall be amply compensated by the refreshment it will bring to his frame – by the enlargement and elevation of his soul – above all, by the spiritual fellowship and interest in God which becomes the abiding portion of those who follow Him in their ways, and perpetually return to Him as the supreme rest of their souls.” (1900, Patrick Fairbairn, Typology of Scripture, pg. 259)

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.  - Genesis 2:3

First note that God “blessed” the seventh day.  He mentions that He sanctifies it as a separate issue. He not only sanctified it (set it apart), but he blessed it.  Here we see that God actually blessed the day.  He bestowed blessings upon it, not unto Himself (for we know that the Sabbath was not made for God, for God needs no rest).  God rested on the Sabbath as a sign, a shadow or a “type”, as He could no further be refreshed or perfected than his eternal, unchangeable character demands.  He specifically BLESSED the Sabbath day.  God hid special blessings in store for those who would but receive those blessings by rest.  In a special mystery, he planted into the fabric of the creation unalterable laws that work in the favor of those who will honestly and spiritually look to submitting themselves to God’s government and Sovereignty through the rest provided in the Sabbath.  In a delicious sort of irony, no work can be more profitable than to endeavor to enter into this rest.  That rest is not just spiritual, in that the Apostle says that we are to work to enter therein.  An evident sign of our submission to God’s authority is in our humbly assuming His image and walking after Him.  But how bountiful is the secret treasure stored up for those who will heed God’s commandments?  Simply look into the treasure chest and you will see.

Second, God “sanctified” the Sabbath day.  He set it apart for a specific and eternal purpose.  He set His mark upon it and painted innumerable types and shadows in the reality of the former dispensations to show weary travelers where rest might be found.  Fairbairn points out that man’s lot, indeed his destiny, was to be placed into a position whereby he must work, albeit he must work as a reasonable and rational being.  The repose of the Sabbath was designed to be a signpost of the promise of eternal rest and redemption, in a dispensation when man must work for his increase by the sweat of his brow.  But far from being a burdensome command, or even a distasteful one, the Sabbath gave great comfort to those who sorrowed in being separated by the veil from the presence of their God.  Legalism crept in.  Rationalism and human inventions corrupted the reality of God’s gift.  Some began to despise even the word “Sabbath” for all the evil that had been done under its banner.  But God has evidently “sanctified” the day, in that he placed it as a signpost for those who have eyes to see.  How noticeable is it that the enemy has tried to rip down every signpost that leads to the special blessings of God?  In ancient times, a “landmark” was a sign that instructed you where one property stopped and where another started.  The landmark was also used to instruct travelers along the way where they might be welcomed and where they might find rest.

“Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set” (Proverbs 22:28)

In future articles (Lord Willing = DV), I will lay out not only a case for the continuing responsibility towards the Sabbath, but I hope to more clearly make a case for why the blood-bought child of God should have a desire towards the Sabbath of God.

The Sabbath is a sign.  It is a signpost to our final rest, and it is a sign to the world that we are different, and that we truly believe in God’s sovereignty.  We don’t “believe” it in only an intellectual way, but we truly believe it in a real way.  We believe that God has set apart (sanctified) this day by blessing it to those who will seek it in purity.  This is not a salvation issue.  This is a maturity issue.  The GOSPEL is more specifically THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM.  Being in the Kingdom is being under the government of Almighty God, and admitting it in our worldview and in our lives.  Woe unto me if I preach not the Gospel – which is to say, “Woe unto me if my life reflects not the Gospel”.

For me and my house, we have entered into an even closer walk with our Creator.  We’ll let the simpletons, legalists and humanists argue about the exact, strict nature of its details.  We’ll let the Judaizers and fable pushers gorge themselves on their own prideful fantasies regarding it.  We’ll let the talkers (see Pilgrim’s Progress) and the worldly wise men debate its value.  They question it, because they cannot (or will not) partake in it truly.  The treasure of blessings is locked fast against them.  It is really a work of God and it is wonderful to behold.  My prayer has been this… “Lord, bring me under your government.  Teach me your perfect way.  Place me under your yoke and do not hide yourself from me.  Soothe my damaged conscience by chastising your child, and let the world be damned if they don’t get it.”  I ask God daily to make us a spectacle to the worldly, and a landmark to those weary travels who seek rest for their souls.

This is a family project and it is wonderful to behold.

The Sabbath and God’s Sovereignty

The virtual disappearance of practical godliness in our land must drive us to examine ourselves and our Christian lives, because if there is no fault or no cause behind the devastation and eradication of practical godliness, then God Himself could rightly be said to have brought about that which His law forbids, His nature abhors and His character denies; But we know that God is not the fountainhead of sin, and it is evident in scripture that it is sin that is the cause of practical ungodliness and it is sin that is a cancer to any nation.  It is sin (generally allowed by, and proceeding from those who profess to be the children of God) that most certainly and inevitably brings destruction and judgment on a people.

It has always been my position, that our faithful actions out to spring from the certain knowledge that:

a)      There is a God who is Lord and Sovereign over all of Creation.  He is made evident to us by the light of nature, and by the Holy Scriptures; and He, being good, perfect, benevolent, loving, merciful and full of all grace, is the One and only object of our worship.

b)      This One, perfect, Holy and Sovereign God of all Creation has spoken in an unmistakable way in the Holy Bible, through the revelation of Jesus Christ in due time, and in everything that God alone has created.

c)      Having spoken in an unmistakable way, He is to be obeyed and worshipped only in those ways instituted by Himself, and in those ways He has commanded; and He is not to be disregarded or ignored in that which He has ordained and commanded by men who seek to worship Him according to the devices of their own minds, or in a manner that men concoct based on their own fallen reasoning.

d)      To disobey God in those reasonable services that He has required of us brings curses and sufferings on any people whose fear of God has waned to the point that they are willing to trade the plain and simple blessings of an eternal God for the carnal and transient benefits of a perishing world.

Earlier in this article, I pointed out the many blessings that are promised in scripture for those who recognize and honor the Sabbath day.  It is evident throughout history that those nations and peoples who have honored and kept the Sabbath day have prospered both physically and spiritually.  It is also evident by a simple review of history that those who have forsaken this commandment of God, have soon passed from disobedience to practical ungodliness, from ungodliness to blatant rebellion and warfare against God, and from rebellion against God, to destruction.

There are primarily two views in the world today which have led to the almost unanimous “decision” by the world’s people not to honor the Sabbath day:

1)      The position of the heathen (the unreligious or irreligious) that the Sabbath is only for religious extremists and can not be imposed upon them.  (We agree with this position regarding the heathen.  The Sabbath is not for them.)

2)      The position of most religious people (particularly in America) that the Sabbath was part of the law that was done away with on the Cross, and is no longer binding on Christians. (With this opinion, we most strenuously object; but we sadly conclude that the Sabbath is likely not for them either.)

Based on this last argument, let us make a review of where these arguments fail, and in what category we should place them.  Specifically regarding the moral law, there are two main views:

1.)    Christ kept the law because I could not  = Christianity

2.) Christ kept the law so I don't have to = Antinomianism (literally – “lawlessness”)

Regarding the purpose of the moral law, we look at the same two positions:

1.)    According to Christianity, in the NT the Law is still a mirror that shows us our inability and requires of us our duty.

2.)    According to Antinomianism, in the NT the mirror is removed, so our morality has no real concrete bounds outside of how we think we should act in certain situations (situational ethics).

Regarding the extent and application of the moral law, here are the two positions:

1.)     According to Christianity, the moral law is an eternal exposition of God's character. It defines what is (and what is not) sin. It is eternally binding on all of God's children, and it is the binding nature of the law that shows us the necessity of salvation through Jesus Christ.

2.)     According to Antinomianism, the moral law is completed (and therefore expunged) in Christ. It cannot be binding on us; because where there is no eternal punishment, there can be no eternal law. Since I can't lose my salvation, then I can sin all I want to and grace will abound.

Now most Antinomians won't come out and admit these things, but these are the inevitable end of their thinking and theology. They will call us legalists, although they must admit that grace cannot abound where there is no law. Without law, grace is irrelevant. The more lawless a man is in the inner man, the more he will obscure the law with obfuscation.

It is the antinomian who is the legalist, because he cannot allow any limits to his freedom - so necessarily his lawless freedom becomes a law that is binding on the minds and consciences of other men.  If I tell a man that the moral law requires me to keep the Sabbath, his legalist mind must condemn me quickly before his conscience condemns him. He is locked into a defensive posture by his legalist misinterpretations of scripture.  He cannot answer me a simple question:

If you can say, "I'm secure enough in my salvation not to keep the sabbath", why can I not say, "I'm secure enough in my salvation to kill you (commit murder)"?

Where, now, is his lawlessness? I have found that liars, coveters, homosexuals, adulterers and other antinomians require very strict laws when it comes to those who would murder them, but reject any strict laws that limit their own lawless behavior.  So where, then, is the standard?  I say the eternal standard is the moral law.  It must be.  This is the argument that cannot be refuted.

Jesus Christ enumerated the fullness of what was required of us when He was asked what the greatest commandment was in the law.  A tempter, who desired to get Jesus to abdicate or toss out the moral law, was laying a trap for Jesus.  Jesus said, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40).

This summation not only shut the mouths of the Pharisees (who could not now legitimately claim that Jesus was voiding the moral law), and gave to those of us who truly believe in Him, the firm answer that we need concerning the place of the moral law.  A friend of ours put the answer plainly, “When you look at it, that is, when you look at the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments), you will find that the first 4 commandments deal with our love of God, the next commandment, the 5th deals exclusively with family, that is our parents, and the last 5 deal with society at large, that is, our neighbor. Of course there is overlap in that we worship God when we don't steal, etc, but in general, this is how they are presented.”

When I endeavor to find out HOW to love God, I am left with His instruction to keep His commandments (John 14:15, 15:10); If I then ask, “which commandments”? I must either answer, “The Ten Commandments”, which actually instruct me how to love God, or I must do like the religious world does and answer, “the two commandments of Jesus”, which tells me TO love God, but not HOW TO love God.  One way gives me my answer; the other way just loops back around to the question again.  It is interesting to note that Jesus tells us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments”; and specifically within the listing of the Ten Commandments are the words, “…shewing mercy unto thousands that love me, and keep my commandments”.

So… how do I love God?

The first 4 commandments show me what I will be like when I truly love God:

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it” (Exodus 20:2-11).

When I love God, I will forsake all other “gods”, I will forsake idolatry (even the appearance of it), I will not take the LORD’s name in vain (many people have taken the LORD’s name in vain, because they call themselves CHRISTians, when they do not care to show they love Him by obeying Him), and I will keep the Sabbath day holy and separate unto Him.

The Purpose of the Moral Law

The moral law does not exist to justify me before God; (no act of man could do what only the righteousness and obedience of Christ could do), rather, the law exists to show me my true needful state, continuously, so that I remain mindful of that need, and in a worshipful state before God.

The moral law remains as a binding obligation for the benefit of man; not for his righteousness, but for his well-being.  The Sabbath of God (a gift to man) stands as monument to God’s mercy and grace towards His people, while it simultaneously exists as a memorial to our inability to ever please God by our own works.  So it is a mistake for anyone to conclude that we keep the Sabbath in order to please God.  God is eternally pleased with His sheep, since He looks on us from His throne of Grace and sees the Sabbath as perfectly fulfilled and completed in the person of Jesus Christ as our federal representative.  Most people miss the message of the Sabbath because they cannot see any other view other than man’s view Godward.  They say, “If it isn’t to please God, who do it?” which is really a foolish argument, since only the righteous works of God Himself can please an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God.  Man neglects to note that Christ kept every element of all the law on behalf of His sheep.  He kept the commandment to not murder for me, and He kept the commandment to not covet for me.  Does this free me to be murderous and covetous?  Do I say, “Because Christ perfectly kept the law, I can now murder and covet”?  Does Christ keeping the commandment against idolatry for me (specifically) free me to worship other Gods?  Surely no true Christian would ever come to that conclusion… but we daily hear from people who are absolutely certain that since Jesus Christ became the fulfillment of the shadows and types provided by the Sabbath, that they are free to harm themselves by rejecting one of God’s commandments.  These people miss the fact that that my well-being, my spiritual health, my proper God-view rests on my humility.  Only by looking into the looking glass that is the law (James 1:23) do we see our true state, and by doing so, the true Christian keeps in mind his needful state, and has before his eyes his utter hopelessness without God’s grace and mercy.  Just once begin to reject God’s moral commandment as something that does not apply to you and you become that man who looks into the looking glass, and walks away without remembering what sort of man he is.

I will end this section on the defense of the Sabbath with the question that I receive the most on this subject:

“But Jesus Christ IS the Sabbath, and the physical Sabbath is just a shadow."

My Answer: “And yet, marriage is a shadow, and that is all it is.”

I've taught that for 6 years – marriage is a shadow - but we don't seem to be in a hurry to put it away.  Marriage is a beautiful shadow of Christ and His Church (when it is done right) and it serves as a show to society and our children what Christ and His Church is about.  Marriage and the Sabbath are so intimately linked that they will occupy one chapter in my book on the subject.  What is the difference between marriage and the Sabbath?  Marriage is easy to start doing because our flesh wants it, but it is hard to keep doing if the man and the woman are not both governed by Christ.  The Sabbath is hard to start doing because our flesh doesn't want to be governed by God, but it is easy to keep doing it if we are governed by Christ.  The rest that is provided to us in marriage is so valuable, that it is accepted by all but the most heretical cults that marriage is fundamentally a building block of a Christian society.  Marriage, as a shadow, was instituted for the benefit of man and not for God; it is a picture and a type of our eternal rest and satisfaction with God in heaven.

When the institute of Christian Marriage is obediently followed, it physiologically and spiritually serves our well being.  Why would we throw out Marriage because it is abused by some, and because it is only a shadow?  We wouldn’t.  So let us not throw out those things that serve us and help us… like the Sabbath.

So, When is the Sabbath Anyway?

The question, “What day is the Sabbath?” has been an age old topic of discussion, debate, argument, warfare, and even the cause of disfellowship and schism in the Church.  Why is that?  It seems that once we decide that the Sabbath is (and ought to be) a perpetual obligation of every true Christian, the value gained by that wise and obedient revelation is then subverted in the subsequent argument about… WHEN?

The Apostles, the primitive church, and the Reformers were uniform in one aspect of the Sabbath… it was to be one day in seven, or “every seventh day”.  Some believe (as I do) that the Bible defines and perpetually places the Sabbath day as the 7^th day, when God rested from His works.  Some believe that since the Bible clearly teaches that the 1^st day of the week is the “Lord’s Day”, that these two appellations are really one in the same, therefore they believe that the Sabbath was changed to the 1^st day of the week after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. There is no doubt that competing camps can well defend their positions, and that they each have legitimate arguments for their position.  Historically (outside of Scripture) we can find a basis for either position.  It is evident from my reading that the very primitive church, up until the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d., kept the Saturday Sabbath and celebrated the Lord’s resurrection on the first day of the week (the Lord’s Day).  Since the bulk of the primitive church in that time was of Jewish heritage, they saw no problems with delineating in their minds between the Sabbath (which was a day of family rest and did not allow them to travel for communion and fellowship) and Sunday, which was a day of “meeting”, where they brethren met house to house to celebrate and worship.

After the destruction of Jerusalem, when the early church had to more seriously combat the evils and pernicious ways of the Jewish unregenerate “nominal christians”, most of the early churches (like that in Antioch under Theosophorus) then rejected the Saturday Sabbath as a tool of Judaizers, and instead chose to focus the time of worship and rest on Sunday.

I personally have no problem combating Judaistic teachings and still allowing the Sabbath to remain (as I believe the Bible teaches it to be) perennially on the 7^th day.  And I believe that there is a mysterious shadow of these two weekly holy days, in the mystery of the first Passover:

“And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you” (Exodus 12:16).

Now we, as believers, live in the Lord’s Passover (Jesus Christ), and are being brought into our Sabbath’s rest (the Kingdom), so the shadow picture is complete, but I believe that the Apostle Paul removes all need for contention for us in his epistle to the Colossians:

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17).

As we have said throughout this study, the Sabbath is a shadow, and should never become a legalistic ritual, or a reason to judge a brother as to which day (notice it says “Sabbath days”) he chooses to set aside for solemn rest and the worship of God.  This is not the authorization that some seek to totally reject and eschew the Sabbath altogether, because the verses cannot be twisted to allow for that interpretation; rather, it says for us to not allow ourselves to be judged “in respect… of the Sabbath days”, which means in respect to which day we choose to celebrate the Lord’s Sabbath.  I personally believe that the Sabbath is perpetually on Saturday (from Friday at sundown to Saturday sundown):

“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. 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” (Genesis 2:2-3).

and I believe that the seventh day is to be set aside for rest and family worship alone; but I also believe that the Lord has instituted for us in scripture “The Lord’s Day”, and this was the day when the primitive church met together (assembled):

“Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you” (John 20:19).

“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” (Act 20:7).

Now, I understand that in our modernist religious time this opinion (that both days are sacred and set aside for different purposes) seems like a unique one.  But my conscience is captive to the Word of God, and I cannot see why it cannot be true (since it is so evident in scripture) that the Sabbath day (Saturday) was set aside for rest (no work) and family worship and instruction, while the Lord’s Day (Sunday) was set aside for communal service, assembly of the Saints and breaking of bread.  Does setting these days aside for God and His service cost us anything?  Well…. Yes it does; for if we choose to live the life that God has ordained for us, we will become a spectacle to the world and to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies.  If we choose to regulate ourselves according to the Bible (by interpretation of the Holy Spirit alone) then we will suffer persecution from the world, the flesh, and the devil.  And why shouldn’t the world hate us?

So we must recognize that:

1^st – the Sabbath is, and ought to be, a perpetual obligation (as a part of the moral law) for every Christian.  It is for the Saint’s well-being and spiritual health, and is profitable far beyond what the physical eyes and ears can determine.

2^nd – The Sabbath is one day out of seven, being every seventh day, and should be set aside as a time apart from our normal work and worries, and should be a time where we protect our minds and spirits from the stress and tension of the modernist world, so that we can build ourselves up in the faith, forge stronger family ties and bonds, and focus our attention on our Redeemer and King.

3^rd – The Sabbath should not be a legalistic duty or burden, but should be both a joy and a respite from the pains and sorrows of this present world… it should be a sign of the work that we engage in to enter into our eternal rest (Heb. 4:11), and it should be a teaching tool for our families and future generations.

If we believe these things, then we will do them… blessed are those who both believe and do… AMEN.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com

 
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