Now that Jesus has been crucified and sits in highest honor at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us, declaring us forever righteous and infusing us with His Holy Spirit forever, we have to ask:
What does the Sabbath mean for believers today?
Is it still a rigorous mandate in which believers must shun all work?
Pastor Andrew Wommack has counted very expertly that such a reading of the Sabbath is inappropriate and obselete today. Christ came to fulfill the law, not law another yoke of bondage upon us:
"Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." (Matthew 5: 17)
and
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
"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.
"For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28-30)
Peter pressed the matter, that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from the curse and the burden of the law. When the Jews were deciding whether the Gentiles who received the gospel of grace should obey the Mosaic law, Peter put an end to the discussion:
"Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
"And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
"And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
"Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
"But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." (Acts 15: 7-11)
Included in this "yoke" is the legalistic respect for the Sabbath day. Paul denounces the rabid attempt by Judaizers to force believers into retreating back into the law of Moses for sanctification:
"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)
Feast, festivals, respect for Sabbath days, all are a mere shadow for the substance of Christ, who lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
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