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Saturday, 23 November 2024

The sabbath commandment

 Jesus did not mandate the Sabbath. It is unusual to be able to say something was NOT said, because of course not everything he said and did is recorded. However, if he had mandated it, Gentile Christians would surely have had to keep it in the way he said. There would be no sabbath seventh day controversy. But it was an optional command in regard to non-Jews as is prophesied in Isaiah 56:6, but the sabbath promise for those who chose to keep it voluntarily. So Jesus made his teachings applicable to non-Jews as he usually did, hence we read his gospel teachings even in non-Jew churches, and he taught the Sabbath as something beneficial to keep -  Mark 2:27-28. The thrust of his teaching is about how to be confident at the judgement day judging he himself would one day lead, knowing now the principles he uses to judge so we can live confidently now. He is lord of the sabbath, so abiding by his teachings should make us safe. He taught what is relevant for this.