The sabbath-day commandment is the fourth of the Ten Commandments (or Decalogue, literally "Ten Words"): "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work ...." (Exodus 20:8-11; Deuteronomy 5:12-15).
What should be the Christian's attitude toward this sabbath-day commandment?
1. Recognize that the commandment to observe the sabbath-day rest was given only to the nation Israel. The preface to the Ten Commandments expressly states they were given as a code of law only to Israel, that nation whom "the LORD your God ... brought ... out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:1f; Deuteronomy 5:6 and v.15). It is true that the other nine commandments are binding upon every man in every age (see for example Romans 2:14f). But Israel alone – to the exclusion of every other nation or entity – was ever commanded to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy."
2. Recognize that the covenant containing the sabbath-day commandment is no longer in effect. This covenant was made between God and Israel through the mediation of Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:1-8; Deuteronomy 5:1-6). It is therefore called the Sinaitic and/or Mosaic Covenant. It has been superseded by the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34) which was ratified at and by the shedding of the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:28). In His death on Mount Calvary He was the "Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises" (Hebrews 8:6). This "better covenant" is the "new covenant" which has made the "first [i.e. the Old Covenant] obsolete" (Hebrews 8:13). When this Old Covenant was made obsolete, so was the commandment peculiar to it regarding the sabbath-day.
3. Recognize that the New Covenant which is applicable to Christians contains no commandment to observe a sabbath-day. God therefore today approves the person who "esteems every day alike" (Romans 14:5). Indeed, Paul the apostle soundly rebukes those Christians who, having been freed from the law of Moses, would revert to observing its sabbath-day commandment: "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days [e.g. sabbath-days] and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain" (Galatians 4:9-11).
4. "Therefore let no one judge you ... regarding ... sabbaths" (Colossians 2:16). Why? Because they were but "a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ" (v.17). That is, the sabbath-day rests were given to Israel as types, or prophetic pictures, of that rest which would eventually be found in Jesus Christ alone. They were therefore mere "shadows" of the rest which God has reserved for His people; but Jesus Christ is the "substance" of that rest. They as "shadows" provided mere temporal and physical rest; but Jesus Christ as the "substance" provides eternal and spiritual rest. The "shadows" have become obsolete and passed away; but the "substance" which has superseded them forever remains.
God therefore today commands men to forsake the observance of Jewish sabbaths and to find rest in Jesus Christ alone. Christ Himself invites us to "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you [i.e. "Become My disciple"] and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28f). (See also Hebrews 4:9-11.)
Have you found the everlasting spiritual sabbath by believing in Jesus Christ?