Why the Sabbath is Not Repeated
Most of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments. But have you ever noticed that only nine of them are repeated in the New Testament for the church to follow? The one that’s not?
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.” (Exodus 20:8)
In fact, in Colossians 2:16, Paul says: “Let no man therefore judge you… in respect of an holyday… or of the sabbath days.”
So why would the Sabbath commandment be left out, when the others—like not stealing, not killing, honoring your parents—are all carried forward? The answer goes all the way back to how God operates that we’ve highlighted many times in our blogs. “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…” (Isaiah 46:10) Nowhere is “the end declared from the beginning” more clearly seen than in the Sabbath commandment. It wasn’t just about resting on the seventh day. It was a built-in prophecy—a forward-slanted command that wouldn’t be fully understood until the entire Bible was written.
In Exodus 31:16–17, God says, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.”
It was part of the covenant with Israel, not a universal command to all people. Unlike “thou shalt not kill,” which is moral and universal, the Sabbath was ceremonial and prophetic—a preview of something still to come.
Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:8 “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” This unlocks the timeline God hinted at from the very beginning:
· About 4,000 years passed from Adam to Jesus — that’s four “days.”
· About 2,000 years have passed since Jesus — two more “days.”
· That brings us to the 7th day — the 1,000-year reign of Christ, the Millennium. (Revelation 20:4)
Just like God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, human history is heading toward its own seventh “day”—a time of rest when Christ rules the earth. That’s the day the Sabbath was always pointing to.
This future “day of rest”—the 1,000-year reign of Christ—isn’t just a peaceful period. It has a clear purpose: to fulfill the promises God made specifically to Israel.
· Jesus will reign from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2–4).
· The land promises given to Abraham will finally be fulfilled (Genesis 15:18; Ezekiel 47–48).
· The twelve tribes will be restored and recognized (Matthew 19:28).
· The New Covenant, first promised to “the house of Israel and the house of Judah”, will be fully realized (Jeremiah 31:31–34).
· The nations will come to worship the King in Zion (Zechariah 14:16–17).
In other words, the Millennial Kingdom of Heaven on earth is Jewish in focus, and global in impact. The Sabbath was a preview of that coming Kingdom.
That’s why the Sabbath commandment isn’t repeated in the New Testament for the church. It’s not because it was unimportant, but because it was prophetic. It pointed forward to something that hadn’t happened yet for Israel—but will.
The church isn’t under the Law of Moses. We aren’t told to observe a specific day of the week. But the Sabbath remains a sign—a reminder that God still keeps His promises, and that a day is coming when the world will finally rest. He wrote it right into creation (the seventh day of rest) and into the fourth commandment. He was declaring the end from the beginning. The Sabbath always had its eyes on the future. And if anyone is still asking, “is God done with Israel yet?” the answer is still “no.”
R&J Shee