The Sabbath has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ

I will begin by saying that the Hebrew word Shabbat (Sabbath) means rest. Gen. 1:2-3 "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." God sanctified (set part) the 7th day from all the other days of creation in which he worked so that all of creation (man and animals) could partake in his providence. Exodus 20:8-11 "8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Israel was to keep the 7th day holy by keeping it to become apart in God's rest, however it was by faith that this could be done, not by works. God's promises to Abraham created the Hebrew peoples because of Abraham's faith. The Sabbath was also to be kept because of Israel's salvation from Egypt (Deut. 5:15) and were separated as God's special people. Jesus was born under the Torah (Gal. 4:4) and obeyed it's commandments, however the Pharisees had created their oral Torah in order to regulate and keep the Sabbath (1). Jesus however taught that the Sabbath was made for mankind, not the other way around (Mk. 2:27) and came to fulfill the Law. Exodus 31:16 "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual (Olam) covenant." In Hebrew, the word forever does not really mean forever in the sense that it's eternal. Olam can also mean "a really long time" (2). Since Jesus Christ fulfilled the Torah, it is consistent with the Old Testament to interpret this verse to have been in place until the coming of the Messiah. Colossians 2:16 "16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. " These observances were just mere foreshadows of the fullness which was to come through Jesus Christ. Hebrews 3:7-11-19 "7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, "They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways." 11 So I swore in My wrath, "They shall not enter My rest."" 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion." 16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." Israel failed to enter God's promised land because of a lack of faith so they failed to enter God's rest. Hebrews 4:1-10 1. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, "They shall not enter My rest,"" although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest." 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His." God's Sabbath rest isn't based on Torah-observance but solely on faith in his son, Jesus Christ and once we have faith in the work of Jesus Christ, we receive a spiritual rest in God just as he did in the 7th day. In conclusion Sources: 1. http://en.wikipedia.org... 2. http://biblehub.com...