Did Jesus intend for His followers to continue keeping Sabbath after the cross?
There are a few biblical passages where we find evidence that Jesus expected Christians to continue observing the weekly seventh-day Sabbath after He died on the Cross.
1. In His famous Olivet Discourse, Jesus gives His prophetic farewell address to His disciples and tells them of many things that will happen in the future, after His departure. Referring to the destruction of Jerusalem—which happened in AD 70—Jesus counsels His disciples to pray that they do not have to flee Jerusalem in the winter, nor on the Sabbath day (Matthew 24:20). If Jesus knew that His sacrifice was going to cancel or abolish the Sabbath, then why would He reference the Sabbath at all? The answer is simple: Because He never intended for His sacrifice on the Cross to end Sabbath keeping.
2. In Luke 23:56 we see that the female followers of Jesus observed His body in the tomb and proceeded to make final preparations before resting on the Sabbath “according to the commandment.” This is powerful for two reasons:
First, if Jesus knew that His death would abolish Sabbath keeping, surely He would have informed His followers of the new and upcoming change. However, we see the opposite occurred. Scripture actually says “they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.” This occurred after the cross; therefore, this is evidence that Jesus never intended for the Sabbath to be canceled.
Second, it shows that these women wouldn’t make an exception—even for Jesus, the Son of God. Why were they returning to prepare spices and fragrant oils? Because Jesus’ body had not been properly embalmed. These ladies wouldn’t even break the Sabbath to embalm the body of the Son of God! This is a powerful testimony to the fact that they understood how important Sabbath keeping was to Jesus; and therefore, it was important to them. The embalming process could wait until after Sabbath hours.
3. Surely, if anyone would have known that the Sabbath was abolished after the Cross, it would have been Paul. And, ironically, many people try using Paul’s writings to refute Sabbath keeping.
Did Paul continue to keep the Sabbath well after the sacrifice of Christ? Yes, and Acts 17:1–2 and 18:4 are prime examples that he continued to keep the Sabbath after the Cross. In fact, he encouraged Gentiles (non-Jews) to worship the Lord on the Sabbath, as well (Acts 18:4). If the Sabbath were just a Jewish thing, then certainly Paul would have informed his Gentile friends about that. However, that is not what took place in the establishment of the early Christian Church. Sabbath keeping was still as strong in the Church after the Cross as it was before.
4. The Bible says we will keep the Sabbath in the newly created Heaven and Earth (Isaiah 66:22–23). What sense does it make that God would give the Sabbath as a blessing, then abolish it, and then reinstate it in Heaven? That is not the case at all. In fact, Jesus still desires for us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath (Saturday) holy today.
In Matthew 6:9–13 we find the Lord’s Prayer, where Jesus counsels us to pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.” Did you catch that? Jesus wants us to be accustomed to practicing Heaven’s ways now, while we are still on Earth. If we will be keeping the Sabbath in Heaven, then that must mean that we should be keeping Sabbath now—many years after the Cross.
Therefore, the Cross is not a reason to stop keeping the Sabbath day holy, but a reason to continue making it special.