Why keep the Sabbath, but not the festivals of Israel or other parts of the Law of Moses?
The Ten Commandments and other moral teachings of the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18, Matt. 22:24-40) have their permanence in the character of God. They deal directly with right and wrong, good and evil, and with spiritual values like love, faith and hope. Such values have their source in God, whose goodness is unchanging (Psa. 119:89-91, 144; Lk. 18:19; 1 Jn. 1:5 & 4:7-8). That is not equally true of the ritual and ceremonial aspects of the law of Moses. At the heart of them were the Temple sacrifices and the feast days designed around those sacrifices, by which Israel was cleansed of sin (Lev. 23:4-37). Though the Sabbath temporarily shared ritual offerings with these days, it was always distinguished from them (Lev. 23:3-4, 37-38).
Believers today no longer need to approach God through these cleansing rituals (Heb. 10:1). In Christ's sacrifice, the Passover lamb was offered once and for all time (1 Cor. 5:7, 1 Pet. 1:18-19), and a blood better than that of the bull and goat of the Day of Atonement was shed, ending the need for such sacrifices to ever be made again (Heb. 9:11-14, 24-26; Heb. 10:18). The ceremonial prohibitions accompanying these have also ceased to be necessary: "They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order" (Heb. 9:10). Believers today owe no obligation to such regulations, which are "weak and useless" (Heb. 7:18). We relate to God under the New Covenant in Christ. "By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" (Heb. 8:13).
The coming of Christ marks a change in the Law (Heb. 7:12). The results can be seen in such places as Acts 15:10-11, 2 Cor. 3:7-17, Gal. 4:8-11 and Gal. 5:2-4. The Sabbath, however, was not changed--except that the Temple offerings, which it shared with New Moons and feast days, were made no longer necessary (Col. 2:16).
The Ten Commandments and other moral teachings of the Old Testament (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18, Matt. 22:24-40) have their permanence in the character of God. They deal directly with right and wrong, good and evil, and with spiritual values like love, faith and hope. Such values have their source in God, whose goodness is unchanging (Psa. 119:89-91, 144; Lk. 18:19; 1 Jn. 1:5 & 4:7-8). That is not equally true of the ritual and ceremonial aspects of the law of Moses. At the heart of them were the Temple sacrifices and the feast days designed around those sacrifices, by which Israel was cleansed of sin (Lev. 23:4-37). Though the Sabbath temporarily shared ritual offerings with these days, it was always distinguished from them (Lev. 23:3-4, 37-38).
Believers today no longer need to approach God through these cleansing rituals (Heb. 10:1). In Christ's sacrifice, the Passover lamb was offered once and for all time (1 Cor. 5:7, 1 Pet. 1:18-19), and a blood better than that of the bull and goat of the Day of Atonement was shed, ending the need for such sacrifices to ever be made again (Heb. 9:11-14, 24-26; Heb. 10:18). The ceremonial prohibitions accompanying these have also ceased to be necessary: "They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings--external regulations applying until the time of the new order" (Heb. 9:10). Believers today owe no obligation to such regulations, which are "weak and useless" (Heb. 7:18). We relate to God under the New Covenant in Christ. "By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear" (Heb. 8:13).
The coming of Christ marks a change in the Law (Heb. 7:12). The results can be seen in such places as Acts 15:10-11, 2 Cor. 3:7-17, Gal. 4:8-11 and Gal. 5:2-4. The Sabbath, however, was not changed--except that the Temple offerings, which it shared with New Moons and feast days, were made no longer necessary (Col. 2:16).