No Sabbath For 2500 Years.
4. No Sabbath For 2500 Years.
The principle of one day in seven for rest, was laid down and in the mind of God from Creation; but, was never given to man as a commandment until 2500 years later in Exodus 16:1-36. We have no record of Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob ever observing the Sabbath.
Only after Israel was liberated from Egypt and received the Law, did the Sabbath appear as a commandment. We have no record of Moses ever keeping any Sabbath until Exodus 16:1-36, after Israel's deliverance from Egypt. This is the first mention of the weekly Sabbath, in connection with the giving of the manna. Let us notice Exodus 16:26; Exodus 16:29-30 :
"Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. (26) 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. So the people rested on the seventh day." (29,30) Two things are evident: This commandment was given only to the nation of Israel through Moses.
It was a complete day of rest and no person was ever to leave their dwelling place. For those who maintain we are to worship on Saturday, the Sabbath, we find just the opposite in the Bible. Saturday, the Sabbath, was never given as a day of worship; but, rather, a day of complete rest. It was not a day of religious gathering; neither that of any public gathering for fellowship or business. They were commanded to rest, and not leave their homes. Here, again, is the command concerning the Sabbath.
"See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath...abide ye every man in his place, LET NO MAN GO OUT OF HIS PLACE on the seventh day." (Leviticus 16:29)
Those, today, that say we are to worship on the Sabbath, or Saturday, are laboring under a drastic misconception! First of all, they must be Jews, for the Law was never given to Gentiles. Second, they break the Law of the Sabbath by going to church and worshipping. Remember, the Sabbath was a day of complete rest. It was not a day of worship, and you were never to leave your house.
Years ago, I was talking with a lady, who was a Seventh-Day Adventist, and her husband, of another denomination. During the conversation, she stated that tomorrow (Saturday) she was going to church and it made her feel so good to worship on the real Sabbath. I asked her how far she had to drive to church and she answered "About 15 miles." It completely ruined her whole day when I told her that, under the Law, she would be taken out and stoned to death!
I reminded her that Exodus 16:29 says you are not to leave your house on the Sabbath, and Exodus 31:15 says you shall be put to death for breaking the Sabbath. Numbers 15:32-35 tells us that "Sabbath-breaking" is punishable by stoning. Her husband later told me he had never seen his wife so upset. She would have been better off to listen to the Word of God, than to her "church." A warning to everyone is found in the middle verse of the Bible, Psalms 118:8. "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man!" The prophet Jeremiah puts it this way in Jeremiah 17:5,
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD."