Sabbath
The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week which God ordained to be a day of rest. Its origins come from the very first week of the world’s existence:
Genesis 2:1–3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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. 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 created the universe and everything in it in six days. He then rested and did no further work for an additional day. Being omnipotent, this raises the question of why. Being omnipotent, He could have created the universe in an instant with no rest needed.
God rested as an example to us. He sanctified, or set aside, one day as a rest day. People cannot go and go and go nonstop. We are not omnipotent. We need rest and relaxation and our Creator knew this.
The Bible does not elaborate on the practice of the rest for the next ~2,500 years. Its next mention in Scripture is when God gives the Israelites manna in the wilderness. They were told to only gather as much manna as they needed and to live in continual dependence on God’s provision, lest it supernaturally rot. Yet on Friday, they gathered twice as much so that they would not have to work gathering it on the Sabbath. Moses approved this plan for it would be “the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord”. God blessed this plan and preserved the manna on this night only.
The next mention of the Sabbath is when God gives Moses the Ten Commandments:
Exodus 20:9–11 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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, 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.
This is the first strict instruction as to how the Israelites were to keep the Sabbath in a way that set them apart as God’s people. Specifically on Saturday everyone was supposed to do no work. Not even their animals were to work. Other verses clarify that this meant they were not to move heavy objects out of their homes or even to light a fire and that violating this carried the death penalty. Jeremiah 17:21–22; Exodus 35:2–3 It even instituted special septadal Sabbaths where people were to forgive all debts and not to farm for a whole year. Deuteronomy 15:1; Leviticus 25:4 God wanted it to be clear that the Jews were different than other peoples, and again that God’s example was their reason. Exodus 31:13; 20:11
Over the centuries, Israel’s obedience to this varied. Yet it remained one of the most important issues for the religious Jews. In fact, some Jewish leaders added their own rules about the Sabbath to their version of the Mosaic Law, calling even righteous acts sinful for violating their man-created legalistic standard. Mark 3:2
Yet, when Christ died and rose again, He fulfilled the Mosaic Law. He was the promised Messiah which was promised. God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on all Christians. No longer did people need an unattainable standard to show them their sin; they had God indwelling them and could live by faith. Galatians 3:19–28
As Jesus rose again on a Sunday, gentile Christians began meeting together on Sunday in honor thereof. Jewish Christians naturally continued their tradition of meeting together on Saturday. It did not matter what day people rested or when they met for church. No one is to say one day is better than any other or how you should rest.
Colossians 2:16 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.
To be clear, the principle of setting aside a day to rest and to focus on God applies universally, but free from the Law, no specific day is required. Further, no specific method of resting is required. You can have your rest day be Sunday or Saturday or Thursday. You can light a fire if your conscience permits it. As long as you rest and worship and honor God (though we should worship and honor God on every day of the week), you are honoring God’s example of Sabbath. Nor should we judge others for honoring it differently within those guidelines. As long as we are honoring the Sabbath by dedicating one day to rest, there are no prescriptions for Christians relating to Saturday specifically.