BIBLE STUDY: CHAP.96 -- THE SABBATH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Chapter 96.
The Sabbath in the
New Testament
1. ACCORDING to the New Testament, what day immediately precedes the first day of the week?
"In the end of ______________, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week." Matt. 28:1.
NOTE.-According to the New Testament, therefore, the Sabbath had passed when the first day of the week began.
2. After the crucifixion, what day was kept by the women who followed Jesus?
"And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and __________________________________________." Luke 23:56.
3. What day is the Sabbath, "according to the commandment"?
"But ___________________________ of the Lord thy God." Ex. 20:10.
4. What was Christ's custom respecting the Sabbath?
"And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, __________________________________________." Luke 4:16.
5. In what instruction to His disciples did Christ recognize the existence of the Sabbath long after His ascension?
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, ______________________." Matt. 24:20.
NOTE.-The destruction of Jerusalem under Titus occurred in the spring and summer of 70 A.D. The flight of the Christians took place three and one-half years earlier, or late in October, 66 A. D., following the arrival and sudden withdrawal of Cestius and his army. See readings in Chapter 68. of this book.
6. On what day did the Jews meet for worship?
"Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every ___________________________." Acts 15:21.
7. On what day did Paul and Barnabas preach at Antioch?
"They came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the ___________." Acts 13:14.
8. When did the Gentiles request that Paul should repeat the sermon he had preached at Antioch on the Sabbath?
"And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them __________________________." Verse 42.
9. On what day did Paul and his companions preach to the devout women at Philippi?
"And ______________________ we went out of the city by a riverside, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Acts 16:13.
10. What was Paul's manner respecting the Sabbath?
"They came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews: and Paul, _______________________________________________." Acts 17:1,2.
NOTE.-It was Paul's manner, as it was Christ's custom (Luke 4:16), to attend religious services on the Sabbath.
11. How did the apostle spend the working days of the week when at Corinth?
"After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla; . . . and because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and ___________: for by their occupation they were ___________." Acts 18:1-3. See Eze. 46:1.
12. What did he do on the Sabbath days?
"And _______________________, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Acts 18:4.
13. How long did he continue this work there?
"And he continued there ___________________, teaching the word of God among them." Verse 11.
NOTE.-Here, then, were seventy-eight Sabbaths on which Paul preached in one city. The record further says that he worked at his trade, and we may justly infer that Paul worked at tent-making just as many Sundays as he preached Sabbaths. If to these seventy-eight Sabbaths we add the three he spent at Thessalonica, the one at Philippi, and the two at Antioch, we have a record of eighty-four Sabbaths on which the apostle held religious services, while, so far as the record shows, he held only one meeting on the first day of the week, and that a night meeting, immediately following the Sabbath. See Acts 20. Evidently Sunday was not the Sabbath in Paul's day.
14. On what day was John in the Spirit?
"I was in the Spirit ________________." Rev. 1:10.
15. Who is Lord of the Sabbath?
"_____________________." Mark 2:28.
16. What, through the prophet Isaiah, does the Lord call the Sabbath?
"If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on ________________________." Isa. 58:13.
17. Why does the Lord call the Sabbath His day?
"For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and _________________: wherefore the Lord ______________ the Sabbath day, and ________________--it." Ex.20:11.
18. Through whom did God create the world?
"God. . . hath in these last days spoken unto us by ____________, . . . by ________________________________." Heb. 1:1,2.
NOTES.-From beginning to end, the Bible recognizes but one weekly Sabbath,- the day upon which God rested in the beginning; which was made known to Israel at Sinai (Neh. 9:13,14); was observed by Christ and His apostles; and is to be kept by the redeemed in the world to come. Isa. 66:22,23.
The terms Sabbath, Sabbaths, and Sabbath days occur sixty times in the New Testament, and in every case but one refer to the seventh day. In Col. 2:16,17, reference is made to the annual sabbaths connected with the three annual feasts observed by Israel before the first advent of Christ.
The first day of the week is mentioned but eight times in the New Testament, six of which are found in the four Gospels, and refer to the day on which Christ arose from the dead. See Matt. 28:1; Mark 16:2,9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1,19. The other two (Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:2) refer to the only religious meeting held on the first day of the week after the ascension, in apostolic times, recorded in the New Testament and to a systematic accounting and laying by in store at home on that day for the poor saints in Judea and Jerusalem.
It is evident, therefore, that the Sabbath of the New Testament is the same as the Sabbath of the Old Testament, and that there is nothing in the New Testament setting aside the seventh-day Sabbath, and putting the first day of the week in its place.
The Law of God
As Given By Jehovah As Changed By Man
I
Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. I
I am the Lord thy God: thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.
II
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven Image, or any likeness of anything 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 showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
III
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. II
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God In vain.
IV
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, 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 man servant, nor thy maid servant, 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. III
Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
V
Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. IV
Honor thy father and thy mother.
VI
Thou shalt not kill. V
Thou shalt not kill.
VII
Thou shalt not commit adultery. VI
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
VIII
Thou shalt not steal. VII
Thou shalt not steal.
IX
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. VIII
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
X
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt. not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man servant, nor his maid servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.
(Ex. 20:3-17.) IX
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
X
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
(Butler's Catechism. pg. 28.)
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