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September 16, 2005
Revised: October 9, 2005
Addendum: October 15, 2005

Seventh Sabbath Creation Day of God and Sabbaths of Man

God’s Seventh Day Of Rest

In verses 3-5 of Genesis, chapter 1, God created and made light (illumination) and time. In verses 6-8 the firmament (sky) was created and lacks the scriptural comment that it was “good.” In verses 9-13 land and vegetation reappears (body). In verses 14-19 solar light, the moon and stars appear (illuminating bodies). In verses 20-23 fish and fowl appear (soul). In verses 24-31 animals and then man (spirit) are created.
In Genesis chapter 2, speaking of the seventh day, the biblical comments concerning “the evening and morning” marking the time of the days, are lacking. Apparently time has ended and the seventh day is into eternity. We are now somewhere around Revelation 20:11 and the great white throne judgment and continuing to Revelation 21 and the new heaven and new earth because the first earth has passed away.

        Genesis 2:1-4:
        1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
        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.
        4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

In verses 3 and 4 of Genesis chapter 2 the word “created” in the original language is bara and according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary means “to create, make.” Vine’s further states:

bara, “to create, make.” This verb is of profound theological significance, since it has only God as its subject. Only God can “create” in the sense implied by bara. The verb expresses creation out of nothing, an idea seen clearly in passages having to do with creation on a cosmic scale: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen. 1:1); cf. (Gen. 2:3; Isa. 40:26; 42:5). All other verbs for “creating” allow a much broader range of meaning; they have both divine and human subjects, and are used in contexts where bringing something or someone into existence is not the issue.

Also in verses 2 (twice), 3 and 4 the word “made” is asah “to create, do, make” from Vine’s Dictionary. Continuing in Vine’s Dictionary, he says:

        This verb, which occurs over 2600 times in the Old Testament, is used as a synonym for “create” only about 60 times. There is nothing inherent in the word to indicate the nature of the creation involved; it is only when asah is parallel to bara that we can be sure that it implies creation.
        Unfortunately, the word is not attested in cognate languages contemporary with the Old Testament, and its etymology is unclear. Because asah describes the most common of human (and divine) activities, it is ill-suited to communicate theological meaning—except where it is used with bara or other terms whose technical meanings are clearly established.
        The most instructive occurrences of asah are in the early chapters of Genesis. (Gen. 1:1) uses the verb bara to introduce the Creation account, and (Gen. 1:7) speaks of its detailed execution: “And God made [asah] the firmament....” Whether or not the firmament was made of existing material cannot be determined, since the passage uses only asah. But it is clear that the verb expresses creation, since it is used in that context and follows the technical word bara. The same can be said of other verses in Genesis: (1:16) (the lights of heaven); (1:25, 3:1) (the animals); (1:31; 2:2) (all his work); and (6:6) (man). In (Gen. 1:26-27), however, asah must mean creation from nothing, since it is used as a synonym for bara. The text reads, “Let us make [asah] man in our image, after our likeness.... So God created [bara] man in his own image....” Similarly, (Gen. 2:4) states: “These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created [bara], in the day that the Lord God made [asah] the earth and the heavens.” Finally, (Gen. 5:1) equates the two as follows: “In the day that God created [bara] man, in the likeness of God made [asah] he him.” The unusual juxtaposition of bara and asah in (Gen. 2:3) refers to the totality of creation, which God had “created” by “making.”
        It is unwarranted to overly refine the meaning of asah to suggest that it means creation from something, as opposed to creation from nothing. Only context can determine its special nuance. It can mean either, depending upon the situation.

        As mentioned, in verses 2, 3 and 4 of Genesis, chapter 2, the same Hebrew words for “created” and “made” are used. The explanation of their meanings as detailed above leaves no doubt that God is emphasizing that He is speaking only of His work in having created and made the heavens and the earth. And everything in them. The fact that the Bible says the same thing twice with the same words gives another special emphasis to what is stated in those two verses.
        Careful reading of Genesis 2:1-4 reveals that scripture simply states a fact, heavily emphasized. Nowhere in those verses does it state or suggest that there is a command for humanity.
        Note in these verses that nowhere is this seventh day of rest of God identified as a “sabbath.” The first usage of the word “sabbath” is in Exodus 16:23, where God named the seventh day as a sabbath and commanded Israel to observe it. The observance was limited, however, to not gathering manna on the seventh day. In addition, God also caused the manna to stop falling on the seventh day, but doubled and preserved the amount that fell on the sixth day. In giving these instructions God established the matrix of the seven day week.
        In Exodus 20:8-11 God told the Israelites to “Remember the sabbath day ...” Since the first occurrence of the word “sabbath” is in Exodus 16:23, it’s obvious that God was telling the Israelites to “remember” His command given in Exodus 16:23.
        From Abraham to Mount Sinai there is no indication that the Jews had any information, much less any practice, concerning the “holy sabbath.” This is confirmed in Nehemiah 9:13,14, where the text plainly states that God made the “holy sabbath” known to the Israelites “by the hand of Moses.”

In Exodus 20:11, God makes a statement clearly referring to Genesis 2:1-3 as the basis for His commandment. At the same time God incorporates His sabbath day commandment as the fourth commandment of the ten commandments given to Moses but now expanding His commandment from not gathering manna to not doing any work.

        Exodus 20:8-11:
        8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
        9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
        10 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:
        11 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.

        God rested on, and then blessed and sanctified the seventh day of creation. This would become an integral part of a matrix God was preparing to eventually incorporate seven days, sabbaths and commandments relating to them.
        Among other things, there is a significant theological concept given here to the Israelites: worship God, and God only, by imitating Him.
        This is the theological concept that New Testament believers are to follow as the “spirit” of the commandment, but not the letter. Why? Because, with the coming of Jesus we are to be His disciples, i.e., learners, followers, supporters and imitators of Him, and Him only. Why? Because He is God come in the flesh.
        God created the seventh day as a time for mankind’s eternal existence with Him. Since God had provided everything for man that he needed, there was no work that was necessary for mankind to do on his own behalf. Man was to only do God’s work.
        It wasn’t until after Adam and Eve had disobeyed God that they both incurred physical (and spiritual) penalties and Adam was told that he would now have to work on his own behalf. And it wasn’t until Exodus that man was given the Godly statement that “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work ...”

        Genesis 3:16-19:
        16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
        17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
        18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
        19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
        Exodus 20:9:
        9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

When the sixth day ended everything had been created and made and Godly duties and responsibility of mankind had been defined:

        Genesis 1:27-2:3
        27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
        28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
        29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
        30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
        31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
        Genesis 2:1-3:
        1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
        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.
        Genesis 2:9:
        9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
        Genesis 2:15:
        15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

Disobedience Prevents Entrance Into Seventh Day Rest Of God

Scripture makes it clear that those who are disobedient to God will not enter into His seventh day of rest:

        Psalm 95:10,11:
        10 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:
        11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
        Psalm 132:13,14:
        13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
        14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.

Zion is used here for the heavenly Jerusalem.

        Isaiah 18:3,4:
        3 All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.
        4 For so the Lord said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, and like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.

The contrast between “inhabitants of the world” and God dwelling in eternity is strongly implied.

Isaiah 66:1:
1 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

God’s place in eternity (“My rest”) is contrasted with humanly made dwellings. Stephen makes this clearer in Acts:

        Acts 7:48-50:
        48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith the prophet,
        49 Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what house will ye build me? saith the Lord: or what is the place of my rest?
        50 Hath not my hand made all these things?
        Hebrews 3:11:
        11 [(]So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hebrews 3:11:

my rest—Canaan, primarily, their rest after wandering in the wilderness: still, even when in it, they never fully enjoyed rest; whence it followed that the threat extended farther than the exclusion of the unbelieving from the literal land of rest, and that the rest promised to the believing in its full blessedness was, and is, yet future: Ps 25:13; 37:9, 11, 22, 29, and Christ’s own beatitude (Mt 5:5) all accord with this, Heb 3:9.

Hebrews 4:3:
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.

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hebrews 4:3:

        into rest—Greek, “into the rest” which is promised in the ninety-fifth Psalm.
        as he said—God’s saying that unbelief excludes from entrance implies that belief gains an entrance into the rest. What, however, Paul mainly here dwells on in the quotation is that the promised “rest” has not yet been entered into. At Heb 4:11 he again, as in Heb 3:12-19 already, takes up faith as the indispensable qualification for entering it.
        although, &c.—Although God had finished His works of creation and entered on His rest from creation long before Moses’ time, yet under that leader of Israel another rest was promised, which most fell short of through unbelief; and although the rest in Canaan was subsequently attained under Joshua, yet long after, in David’s days, God, in the ninety-fifth Psalm, still speaks of the rest of God as not yet attained. THEREFORE, there must be meant a rest still future, namely, that which “remaineth for the people of God” in heaven, Heb 4:3-9, when they shall rest from their works, as God did from His, Heb 4:10. The argument is to show that by “My rest,” God means a future rest, not for Himself, but for us.
        finished—Greek, “brought into existence,” “made.”

Hebrews 4:4:
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.

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hebrews 4:4:

God did rest the seventh day—a rest not ending with the seventh day, but beginning then and still continuing, into which believers shall hereafter enter. God’s rest is not a rest necessitated by fatigue, nor consisting in idleness, but is that upholding and governing of which creation was the beginning [ALFORD]. Hence Moses records the end of each of the first six days, but not of the seventh.
from all his works—Hebrew, Ge 2:2, “from all His work.” God’s “work” was one, comprehending, however, many “works.”

Hebrews 4:5:
5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hebrews 4:5:

in this place—In this passage of the Psalm again, it is implied that the rest was even then still future.

Hebrews 4:8:
8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hebrews 4:8:

Answer to the objection which might be made to his reasoning, namely, that those brought into Canaan by Joshua (so “Jesus” here means, as in Ac 7:45) did enter the rest of God. If the rest of God meant Canaan, God would not after their entrance into that land, have spoken (or speak [ALFORD]) of another (future) day of entering the rest.

Hebrews 4:9:
9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

        Adam and Eve were disobedient as evidenced by the fall of Adam and Eve. Therefore the fall must have taken place on the sixth day of creation and they disqualified themselves from entering into the rest of God’s eternal seventh day.
        When the sixth day ended, God’s plan was for mankind to enter into eternity with Him on His seventh day of rest. However, when Adam and Eve failed God’s single test of faithfulness by disobeying Him, they changed not only their eternal future but all of mankind’s future.
        Genesis clearly establishes that God’s seventh day of rest is not a seventh day of man. The seventh day of God established and created a matrix (but with different variations) from which God eventually instituted a seventh day sabbath for man among other sabbaths.
        Although we have established our calendar upon the matrix of a seven day week, I don’t think that mankind has ever experienced the eternal seventh day of rest of God. If I’m wrong and it was the seventh day, then my timing is simply off and Adam and Eve broke the continuity of God’s eternal seventh day of rest and were evicted from an eternal existence to return to a resumption of their earthly existence.
        In Exodus, chapter 23 God sent an angel to guard the Israelites in their journey to the promised land and to bring them to the place which He had prepared for them (verse 20). God also said that He would be an enemy to their enemies and oppose those who oppose them (verse 22). God promised to bless their bread, and their water; and to take sickness away from the midst of them, and that there would be no miscarriages or any barren and He would give them a full life span (verses 25,26). God also promised that He would terrorize and confuse the nations they would encounter and would make all their enemies run away from them and drive their enemies out of their way (verses 27,30). God also promised to set the boundaries of the land He gave them, and to deliver the existing inhabitants of that land into their hands so they would be able to drive them out. God also admonished Israel not to make a covenant with them or their false gods and not to allow them to live in the land because the worship of their gods would be a snare to them.
        Instead, Israel continued to rebel against God’s laws, ordinances, statutes, precepts and commandments. This resulted in an acknowledged eleven days journey taking forty years to accomplish (Deuteronomy 1:2,3).
        Their continual murmuring against God resulted in the establishment of the first of multiple sabbaths which God gave them to observe (Exodus 16). God codified the sabbath day as what we know today as the fourth commandment of ten in Exodus 20:8-11.

        Exodus 23:20-33:
        20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
        21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
        22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
        23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
        24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
        25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
        26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
        27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
        28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
        29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
        30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
        31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
        32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
        33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
        Deuteronomy 1:1-3:
        1 These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
        2 (There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadesh-barnea.)
        3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them;
        Exodus 20:8-11:
        8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
        9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
        10 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:
        11 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.

The purpose of these multiple sabbaths for Israel, which God created on variations of the matrix of His singular seventh day of rest was to create a sign by which Israel would continually remember their sins of rebellion against Him. It also reminded the Israelites that the sin of rebellion, which originated in Adam and Eve, was the reason they were observing sabbaths in a repetitive cycle, rather than having stepped into God’s eternal singular seventh day of rest.

        Exodus 20:8,11:
        8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
        11 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.

In verse 11, “blessed” is the same Hebrew word as used in Genesis 2:3. “Hallowed” is the same word translated “sanctified” in Genesis 2:3.

        Exodus 31:12,13:
        12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
        13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

In verse 13 “sanctify” is the same Hebrew word as used in Genesis 2:3.

Exodus 31:17:
17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

In verse 17 the word “rested” is the same Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:3.
The word “refreshed” in verse 17 is the same Hebrew word used in Exodus 23:12:

        Exodus 23:12:
        12 Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.
        Ezekiel 20:12,19,20:
        12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.
        19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;
        20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.
        Deuteronomy 5:15:
        15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
        Deuteronomy 16:12:
        12 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

Seventh Day Sabbaths of Man

Weekly Sabbaths

A seventh day sabbath (Exodus 16:23-31; 20:8-11).

Annual Sabbaths

        The Feast of Passover (Exodus 12:14; 34:25; Leviticus 23:5)
        The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:15-20; 23:14-15; 34:18; Leviticus 23:6-8; Numbers 28:17)
        The Feast of Firstfruits (or Harvest or Pentecost) (Exodus 23:16; 34:22), Feast of Weeks (Numbers 28:26), later the day of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-21, 23:39; Acts 2:1).
        The Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1)
        The Feast or Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:27-32; Numbers 29:7)
        The Feast of Tabernacles (Booths or Ingathering) (Leviticus 23:36, 23:39; Numbers 29:12)
        The Feast of the Last Great Day (Leviticus 23:34-36, 23:39; Numbers 29:35)

Sabbatical Years

In addition, Israel had a sabbath year in which the land was tilled six years, and in the seventh year the land was to rest ( Leviticus 25:2-7). There was also a Jubilee sabbath, which happened after seven sabbath years (Leviticus 25:8-55).

God Still Working

Question: Did God really stop working on the seventh day of creation? Answer: No, He only stopped His work of creating and making His creation.
Jesus Himself testified to that fact:

        John 5:16-18:
        16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.
        17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
        18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
        John 5:17 (Amplified Bible):
        But Jesus answered them, My Father has worked [even] until now.—He has never ceased working, He is still working—and I too must be at [divine] work.

        God worked six days to provide every material thing that mankind would ever need. However, He didn’t stop working on the seventh day because He then transitioned from creating material things man needed to those things of the soul, i.e., man’s mind (thinking), emotions (feeling) and will (choosing) that man would need. And He didn’t stop there because He then transitioned from creating and making those things mankind needed relative to his thinking, feeling and choosing and on to those things that man’s spirit needed.
        Genesis, chapter 2, verses 2 and 3 clearly state that God: “... 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.”
        Do you see how God stopped creating and making material things but actually still continued working by creating the totality of everything mankind needs for not only his physical body, but also for man’s soul and spirit? God finished creating the physical creation at the end of the sixth day. But He has been creating and working continually to provide for man’s soulical and spiritual needs.
        This continual work by God of creating and making soulical and spiritual provisions is mandatory so that God can prepare us to eventually be with Him, not just physically, but with our entire being, body, soul and spirit.
        God has provided us with the clues we need to understand that the seventh day of God has to do with a new heavens and a new earth and a dimension of existence without time, i.e., eternity. We are being prepared for that eternity as we continue to go from glory to glory with Jesus Christ within us, our hope of glory, as we learn to transition from a physical existence to a spiritual one.
        The very fact that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to earth, many, many years after the creation was created and made by Him, is evidence that God has not ceased in His work to provide for the totality of man’s needs, isn’t it?

Jesus Christ Is Lord Even Of The Sabbath Day

There are many verses and passages in scripture in which Jesus relates to the weekly sabbath observance given by Moses. The strongest point Jesus makes is that He is Lord even of the sabbath day, in answer to the many accusations by the hypocrites of His day that He broke the sabbath day by doing “work,” of some sort, or by healing.
A few of those scriptures are presented here, with comments from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary:

Matthew 12:8: For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Matthew 12:8:

8. For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day—In what sense now is the Son of man Lord of the sabbath day? Not surely to abolish it—that surely were a strange lordship, especially just after saying that it was made or instituted for MAN—but to own it, to interpret it, to preside over it, and to ennoble it, by merging it in the “Lord’s Day” (Re 1:10), breathing into it an air of liberty and love necessarily unknown before, and thus making it the nearest resemblance to the eternal sabbatism.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary mentions “... merging it in the “Lord’s Day” (Re 1:10) ...” Their own comments on Revelation 1:10, I think, help to explain that remark:

Revelation 1:10:
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Revelation 1:10:

10. I was—Greek, “I came to be”; “I became.”
in the Spirit—in a state of ecstasy; the outer world being shut out, and the inner and higher life or spirit being taken full possession of by God’s Spirit, so that an immediate connection with the invisible world is established. While the prophet “speaks” in the Spirit, the apocalyptic seer is in the Spirit in his whole person. The spirit only (that which connects us with God and the invisible world) is active, or rather recipient, in the apocalyptic state. With Christ this being “in the Spirit” was not the exception, but His continual state.

My understanding of their remarks is that Christ’s continual state of being “in the Spirit,” was equal to being in God’s eternal singular seventh day of rest.

Luke 6:5: And he said unto them, That the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Luke 6:5:

5. Lord also—rather “even” (as in Mt 12:8).
of the sabbath—as naked a claim to all the authority of Him who gave the law at Mount Sinai as could possibly be made; that is, “I have said enough to vindicate the men ye carp at on My account: but in this place is the Lord of the law, and they have His sanction.” (See Mr 2:28.)

        John 5:17,18:
        17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
        18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on John 5:17,18:

        17, 18. My Father worketh hitherto and I work—The “I” is emphatic; “The creative and conservative activity of My Father has known no sabbath-cessation from the beginning until now, and that is the law of My working.”
        18. God was his Father—literally, “His own [or peculiar] Father,” (as in Ro 8:32). The addition is their own, but a very proper one.
        making himself equal with God—rightly gathering this to be His meaning, not from the mere words “My Father,” but from His claim of right to act as His Father did in the like high sphere, and by the same law of ceaseless activity in that sphere. And as, instead of instantly disclaiming any such meaning—as He must have done if it was false—He positively sets His seal to it in the following verses, merely explaining how consistent such claim was with the prerogatives of His Father, it is beyond all doubt that we have here an assumption of peculiar personal Sonship, or participation in the Father’s essential nature.

        John 9:4,5:
        4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
        5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on John 9:4,5:

4. I must work the works of him that sent me, &c.—a most interesting statement from the mouth of Christ; intimating, (1) that He had a precise work to do upon earth, with every particular of it arranged and laid out to Him; (2) that all He did upon earth was just “the works of God”—particularly “going about doing good,” though not exclusively by miracles; (3) that each work had its precise time and place in His programme of instructions, so to speak; hence, (4) that as His period for work had definite termination, so by letting any one service pass by its allotted time, the whole would be disarranged, marred, and driven beyond its destined period for completion; (5) that He acted ever under the impulse of these considerations, as man—“the night cometh when no man (or no one) can work.” What lessons are here for others, and what encouragement from such Example!
5. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world—not as if He would cease, after that, to be so; but that He must make full proof of His fidelity while His earthly career lasted by displaying His glory. “As before the raising of Lazarus (Joh 11:25), He announces Himself as the Resurrection and the Life, so now He sets Himself forth as the source of the archetypal spiritual light, of which the natural, now about to be conferred, is only a derivation and symbol” [ALFORD].

        In Matthew 11:28, Jesus makes the statement that “... I will give you rest.” In Matthew 11:29, Jesus also says “... and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
        In the phrases “and he rested,” and “he had rested” in Genesis 2:2 and Genesis 2:3, respectively, the Hebrew word is shabat, which means to rest or cease.
        My opinion is that in Matthew 11, verses 28 and 29, Jesus was referring to the verses in Genesis 2:2,3, indicating that He Himself is the source and giver of the eternal seventh day of God and of the rest to be enjoyed in Him.

        Matthew 11:28-30:
        28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
        29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
        30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Matthew 11:28-30:

        28. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest—Incomparable, ravishing sounds these—if ever such were heard in this weary, groaning world! What gentleness, what sweetness is there in the very style of the invitation—"Hither to Me"; and in the words, "All ye that toil and are burdened," the universal wretchedness of man is depicted, on both its sides—the active and the passive forms of it.
        29. Take my yoke upon you—the yoke of subjection to Jesus.
        and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls—As Christ's willingness to empty Himself to the uttermost of His Father's requirements was the spring of ineffable repose to His own Spirit, so in the same track does He invite all to follow Him, with the assurance of the same experience.
        30. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light—Matchless paradox, even among the paradoxically couched maxims in which our Lord delights! That rest which the soul experiences when once safe under Christ's wing makes all yokes easy, all burdens light.

The Ryrie Study Bible, New Testament has this comment for verses 28-30:

11:28-30: This great invitation, extended to all, is threefold: (1) to come and receive salvation; (2) to learn in discipleship; and (3) to serve in yoke with the Lord. The yoke involves instruction under discipline. Yet, in contrast to the teaching of the scribes, Jesus’ yoke is easy. Through the ages these verses have been among the most beloved in the N.T.

When will we come to understand these simple truths?
The Bible, in speaking of Jesus, tells us:

        Colossians 1:15-17:
        15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
        16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
        17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The word “consist” in Colossians 1:17 is, according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary sunistemi, sun, “with,” histemi, “to stand,” denotes, in its intransitive sense, “to stand with or fall together, to be constituted, to be compact”; it is said of the universe as upheld by the Lord, (Col. 1:17), lit., “by Him all things stand together,” i. e., “consist” (the Latin consisto, “to stand together,” is the exact equivalent of sunistemi).”
So we see God continuing His work by creating all things, not only this universe, but also things in heaven, visible and invisible, power hierarchies and then continuing to uphold, not only the universe but many other things of which we humans are unaware, or don’t fully understand.

Seventh Day Of Rest Of God Not Available On This Present Earth

We can easily see from the curse on the ground of this earth mentioned in Genesis that the seventh day of rest is not available to us humans in this present, or past times. Paul speaks of this in Romans, chapter 8.

        Genesis 3:17-19:
        17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
        18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
        19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
        Romans 8:20-23:
        20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
        21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
        22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
        23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

The seventh day of God’s rest in Genesis has no “evening and morning” marking the time of the day because it has to do with eternity. However, the seventh day of man has to have a “evening and morning” in order for man to be able to recognize and observe the beginning and the end of the seventh day sabbaths of man.
In Exodus 20:8, God is urging the Israelites to “Remember the sabbath day” relative to what He said in Exodus 16, not Genesis 2:2.
God rested from all His work which God created and made on the seventh day (Genesis 2:3), speaking of His work in creating and making a physical universe. However, in the seventh days of man, man must continue to be concerned with the physical environment all around him. Man must be aware of the occurrence of a sabbath day, and of the time of its beginning and ending. During the time of a seventh day sabbath (the totality of all sabbaths), man must not:

Bake or boil food (Exodus 16:23)
Gather manna (Exodus 16:26)
Go anywhere (Exodus 16:29)
Work on the sabbath day (Exodus 20:10; 23:12; 31:14; 34:21; Leviticus 23:3)
Defile, i.e., pollute or profane the sabbath day (Exodus 31:14)
Fail to put to death those who do any work on the sabbath (Exodus 35:2; Numbers 15:32-36)
Light a fire (Exodus 35:3)
Gather sticks, i.e. wood (fire wood) (Numbers 15:32–36)
Buy or sell food (Nehemiah 13:15-18)
Carry anything (Jeremiah 17:21,22)

Fail to proclaim holy convocations (sacred assemblies).
Note the use of the “phrase in all your dwellings:”

        Leviticus 23:3:
        3 Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy convocation; ye shall do no work therein: it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
        Leviticus 23:14:
        14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
        Leviticus 23:21:
        21 And ye shall proclaim on the selfsame day, that it may be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein: it shall be a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.
        Leviticus 23:31:
        31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Fail to have the priests make sacrifices and a burnt offering (Numbers 28:9-10)

A sabbath day must be observed in its entirety and in obedience to all of God’s requirements. Failure to do so causes a person to be guilty of disobedience to all of the Mosaic Law:

        Galatians 5:1-9:
        1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
        2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
        3 For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
        4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
        5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
        6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
        7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
        8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
        9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.

If the seventh day of God in Genesis was the same as a seventh day of man, then it would, on the one hand, be blessed and sanctified by God (Genesis 2:3) and on the other hand, cursed by God (Genesis 3:17).
A further emphasis is found in the phrase “he had rested” in Genesis 2:3 which is the word shabat, a verb, which means to rest or cease. The word shabbat, a noun (the verb of which is sabat) means the sabbath. So the seventh day of God is described with a verb, not named as a noun. God did not say He was resting—simply that He rested, or ceased His physical creation work.
You will defile, i.e., pollute or profane the sabbath day when you fail to stone to death those who do any type of work on a sabbath day. However, civil law, which God also teaches us to obey, will try and convict you as a murderer if you do so.
In Genesis 2:2 there is no “next day” following God's singular seventh day of rest. However when the Israelites observed the multiple sabbaths they were commanded to observe by God, there was always a next day, i.e., a day following the sabbaths.
If you observe the singular seventh day of rest of God you will only do the work that God requires of you as explained in the Bible for Adam. In so doing, you will violate the commandment to observe man’s multiple sabbaths because you will have done work, in violation of Exodus 20:9,10 which states “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 ...” and Exodus 23:12 which states “... and on the seventh day thou shalt rest ...”

If you observe man’s multiple sabbaths and then go back to work for six days before again observing another sabbath you are violating the singular eternal seventh day of rest of God because you have done work for yourself, instead of only the work that God requires of you. The two are mutually exclusive.

In Deuteronomy, God reminds us that He says what He means and He means what He says:

Deuteronomy 12:32: What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

We humans, instead of rightly dividing the word of God’s truth, have a tendency to do exactly what God said not to do, i.e., to add to it and to subtract from it. When we do that, it in no way changes the ultimate consequences of being disobedient to God, does it?

        Why did God command Israel to observe the sabbath? According to Deuteronomy 5:15 to “... remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm ...”
        In Exodus, chapter 31 God told Moses that the children of Israel were to keep God’s sabbaths (plural: all of them), as a sign between God and them so they would know that “... I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.” And God also said “... It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever ...”
        The observances of all sabbaths then, was a sign between God and Israel. It was for the Jewish nation of Israel, a part of the covenant between Israel and God. Nowhere in the text does it state, imply or suggest that the gentile nations were to also observe the sabbaths. In fact, there is no scriptural reason for gentiles to observe the sabbaths. The gentiles were never delivered from the Egyptian bondage and therefore have no reason to memorialize something that never happened to them.

Our Biblical “Today”

In all of this we are co-laborers with God, working until all the provisions are created and made and fully functioning, at which point we enter into God’s rest. When that time comes for us, it is our biblical “Today.”
Those who rebel against God and turn away from Him with a sinful, unbelieving heart, and are disobedient concerning God’s laws, ordinances, statutes and commandments will not enter into God’s rest. Only those who co-laborer with God, mixing His revelation of Himself to us with faith, will enter into His rest.

        1 Corinthians 3:6-9:
        6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
        7 So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
        8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.
        9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.
        Hebrews 3:7-4:13 (NIV):
        7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice,
        8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,
        9 where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did.
        10 That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’
        11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
        12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
        13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
        14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.
        15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
        16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
        17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
        18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
        19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
        Hebrews 4 (NIV):
        1 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
        2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.
        3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
        4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.”
        5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”
        6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.
        7 Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
        8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.
        9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;
        10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.
        11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
        12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
        13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Verse 9 clearly states “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God ...”
Revelation also mentions this rest from our labours:

Revelation 14:13: And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.

        Matthew 5:17-18:
        17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
        18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

Excerpted from the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Matthew 5:17:

I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil—Not to subvert, abrogate, or annul, but to establish the law and the prophets—to unfold them, to embody them in living form, and to enshrine them in the reverence, affection, and character of men, am I come.

        Jesus Christ obeyed and embodied the requirements of the Mosaic Law by living a perfect and sinless life. Trusting in Christ, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to you and you are declared as being justified and righteous by God. The death penalty for breaking the Law was also paid by Christ. God’s judgment and justice have been fully satisfied. Jesus has sent His Holy Spirit to indwell us so that we may now experience justification and righteousness.
        Thus, all of the moral, social and ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Law continue to live on in the Person of Jesus Christ. As disciples of Christ, i.e., learners, followers, supporters and imitators of Christ that same fulfillment is imputed to us by our Creator, God, Redeemer, Saviour and Lord.
        Paul, the apostle said:

        Romans 2:28-29:
        28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
        29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
        Philippians 3:3:
        3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
        Colossians 2:6-17:
        6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:
        7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
        8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
        9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
        10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:
        11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
        12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
        13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
        14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
        15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
        16 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:
        17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

        Clearly, we are spiritual Jews and clearly, we are no longer under the Mosaic Law, but under the grace of Jesus Christ.
        However, we are not now, or have ever been, the nation of Israel, to whom the commandment to observe the multiple sabbaths of God was given. We also cannot skip over the Mosaic Law and go all the way back to Genesis 2:2 and claim that we don’t observe the multiple sabbaths given exclusively to the nation of Israel, but rather we are observing the singular seventh day of rest of God. Why? Because, as stated previously, it’s not a commandment. It occupies a place in God’s economy that has nothing to do with you attempting to “observe” it.
        When we who co-labor with God to attain to our “Today,” cease from our labors with Him, then heaven and earth pass away, and we will be in the kingdom of God and in eternity. In our new spiritual bodies at that time there will no longer be a requirement for the Mosaic Law’s provisions to continue to be perpetuated in a formal manner because all will have been accomplished unto God’s eternal purpose for us.
        Those who confuse the seventh creation day of rest of God, and obedience and fellowship with Him, which is necessary to attain to their individual “Today,” with the seventh day sabbaths of man under the Mosaic Law are in scriptural error.
        The Bible very clearly states in more than one passage that those who name the name of Christ are not under the Mosaic Law, but are under the grace of Jesus Christ. However, there are some who continue to insist that those of this hour and day that are followers of Christ must continue to observe the seventh creation day of rest of God in the same manner as the Israelites observed the sabbaths under the Mosaic Law. Talk about mixing apples and oranges ...
        Since the seventh creation day of rest of God deals not with the physical, but with the spiritual aspects of God’s provisions for man, this is a conclusion—and practice—that is not substantiated in scripture.
        Observance of a sabbath for the motive and intention of observing the seventh creation day of rest of God described in Genesis 2, is, in reality, simply an oblique method of observing the Mosaic Law.
        If the motive and intention of observing sabbaths is as a virtual Israelite observing the sabbaths under the Mosaic Law, then this is a practice in violation of scripture.
        There is danger to the true saint of God in observing sabbaths because they are then placing themselves under the totality of the Mosaic Law and negating the death of Jesus Christ as paying the penalty for their sins. In reality, it’s simply another very thinly disguised “works” mentality, declaring that the death of Jesus was insufficient to cleanse us all from sin, and that we must continue to “do” something that God will accept as “monthly payments” (in this instance “weekly payments”) for the down payment Jesus paid on our behalf.
        However, the Bible makes it perfectly clear that no one is justified by the Mosaic Law. Not during the times of the Old Testament and not during the time of the New Testament.
        God is looking for disciples of His Son, Jesus Christ—those who learn of Him, follow Him, support Him and imitate Him. If we will but re-orient our theological studies to a primary focus on the New Testament as the basis of our faith, and concentrate on Jesus and quit trying to live in the Old Testament, we will be able to focus in on what God has chosen to reveal of Himself to us.
        God wants true disciples of Jesus to populate His heaven. Neglecting His Son puts you in great danger of missing His heavenly census count in eternity.

ADDENDUM

The following is written to bring clarity as to the Mosaic Law:

The Beginning Of The Mosaic Law And The “Holy Sabbath”

        Nehemiah 9:4-14:
        4 Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God.
        5 Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, Stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.
        6 Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.
        7 Thou art the Lord the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham;
        8 And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous:
        9 And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea;
        10 And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day.
        11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters.
        12 Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go.
        13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
        14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

From Abraham, to their slavery in Egypt and subsequent deliverance, to their Mount Sinai experience, a period of thousands of years, there is no indication that the Jews had any information, much less any practice, concerning the “holy sabbath.” Nehemiah 9:14 says that God made the “holy sabbath” known to the Israelites “by the hand of Moses.”
This “holy sabbath” was first mentioned by Moses in Exodus 16:23. In Exodus 20:8, Moses told the Israelites to “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” This obviously refers back to Exodus 16:23, where the “holy sabbath” is first mentioned in the Bible. This “remembrance” of the “holy sabbath” is codified into the ten commandments as the fourth commandment, in the Exodus passage. Exodus 16:23, then, is the beginning of the “holy sabbath” which was incorporated into the beginning of the Mosaic Law.

The End Of The Mosaic Law And The “Holy Sabbath”

Paul, the apostle, in the book of Colossians speaks of the end of the Mosaic Law:

        Colossians 2:13-17:
        13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
        14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
        15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
        16 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:
        17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

In case there should be any confusion, Paul explicitly states “or of the sabbath days.” Can this be made any clearer?

Who Was The Law Written For?

        Mark 2:27-28:
        27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
        28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

        Mark 2:27 makes it clear that the sabbath was created for man and that man was not created for the sabbath. In the original language the article “the” precedes the word “man” twice. This is significant because it actually says “The sabbath was made for the man, and not the man for the sabbath:”
        Who is “the” man?
        Nehemiah tells us “the” man is Israel, as does also Exodus.

        Nehemiah 9:13,14:
        13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:
        14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:
        Exodus 31:13:
        13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

What Does “Fulfill” The Sabbath Mean?

Matthew 5:17:
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Matthew 5:17:

        Think not that I am come—that I came.
        to destroy the law, or the prophets—that is, “the authority and principles of the Old Testament.” (On the phrase, see Mt 7:12; 22:40; Lu 16:16; Ac 13:15). This general way of taking the phrase is much better than understanding “the law” and “the prophets” separately, and inquiring, as many good critics do, in what sense our Lord could be supposed to meditate the subversion of each. To the various classes of His hearers, who might view such supposed abrogation of the law and the prophets with very different feelings, our Lord’s announcement would, in effect, be such as this—“Ye who tremble at the word of the Lord, fear not that I am going to sweep the foundation from under your feet: Ye restless and revolutionary spirits, hope not that I am going to head any revolutionary movement: And ye who hypocritically affect great reverence for the law and the prophets, pretend not to find anything in My teaching derogatory to God’s living oracles.”
        I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil—Not to subvert, abrogate, or annul, but to establish the law and the prophets—to unfold them, to embody them in living form, and to enshrine them in the reverence, affection, and character of men, am I come.

Did Israel’s Sabbaths Cease In Hosea And Resume In Isaiah?

Hosea 2:11:
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary on Hosea 2:11:

her feast days—of Jeroboam’s appointment, distinct from the Mosaic (1Ki 12:32). However, most of the Mosaic feasts, “new-moons” and “sabbaths” to Jehovah, remained, but to degenerate Israel worship was a weariness; they cared only for the carnal indulgence on them (Am 8:5).

        Isaiah 66:22-24:
        22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.
        23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.
        24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

God says of the new heavens and the new earth “... which I will make ...” indicating the new heavens and earth at the time of His statement was yet a future event. He is here making a comparison between the eternality of the new heavens and earth which He will make and the eternality of the seed of the Israelites and their name.
Having made the comparison, God then changes the subject and speaks of the time of the millennium. After the time of a new heaven and a new earth, Revelation tells us:

Revelation 21:4:
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

The new moons and sabbaths mentioned in Isaiah 66:23 must obviously refer to the time of the millennium, not to the time of a new heavens and a new earth.

Revelation 21:23:
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

        The “... carcases of the men ...” mentioned in Isaiah 66:24 must also obviously refer to the time of the millennium, not to the time of a new heavens and a new earth.
        The Net Bible makes the meaning of Isaiah 66:23 clear: “(“)From one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people will come to worship me,” says the Lord.”
        There is, in that verse, no command, hint or suggestion that the new moons and the Sabbath will again be observed. Instead, the reference points of new moons and sabbaths are being used because they were common reference points to the passage of time for the hearers to whom it was addressed. What the verse is saying, in effect, is that all of mankind will worship God continually, “... from one month to the next and from one Sabbath to the next ...” The text does not say on the new moon, or on the sabbath, or only on the new moon, or only on the sabbath.
        All of humanity in the millennium will continually worship God.
        But ... in a quote excerpted from “Isaiah, Prophecies, Promises, Warnings,” by W. E. Vine, the author states:

Yet in spite of this, such will be the spirit of dissatisfaction with the righteous and firm reign of the Lord, that the nations will break out in rebellion at the end of the thousand years, when, under the permissive will of God, Satan will be loosed from his prison to deceive them (Rev. 20:7,8).

No More Sun, Moon, Night Or Curse

Then comes the second death, the lake of fire and then a new heaven and a new earth. In which there is no sun, no moon, no night and no curse.

        Revelation 21:23-25:
        23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
        24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
        25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
        Revelation 22:3:
        3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

Revelation 22:3 is a direct reference to Genesis, chapter 3, and an oblique reference to the Mosaic Law. The old heavens and earth have passed away, and apparently, all will have been fulfilled.

        Matthew 5:18:
        18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
        Galatians 3:10-14:
        10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
        11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
        12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
        13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
        14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Revelation 22:5:
5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

May the glory of the Lamb of God shine in and through you!

Click here to read a thorough and detailed study and explanation of the Mosaic Law in the article “The Mosaic Law: Its Function and Purpose in the New Testament,” by J. Hampton Keathley, III , Th.M.