Today’s Sabbath-keepers cannot find in the Bible one example of the Sabbath being commanded before the exodus. Nor can they offer a single command for people outside of the Jewish system to keep the Sabbath.
More decisively, the Bible shows how the Sabbath went the same way as circumcision. The New Testament clearly describes the end of the covenant of which the Sabbath was a part.
–Romans 7:1-7 insists that God’s people have been released from the law that included the Ten Commandments.
–2 Corinthians 3:6-16 shows that the covenant written on stone—which certainly included the fourth commandment—faded away.
–Hebrews 8:13 calls that Old Covenant “obsolete.”
–Ephesians 2:15 describes “the law of commandments” as abolished.
–Galatians 3:25 says, “we are no longer under” the law as a guardian.
–Colossians 2 shows that Christ’s death cancelled all spiritual debts based on legalistic rules. Colossians 2 then applies that truth by saying that we can no longer be judged about foods, feast days and Sabbaths. The only legal system that required Sabbaths was the law of Moses. So, while Colossians defends Christians against false “philosophy” that is more pagan than Jewish, the principle is clear. Even Old Testament regulations such as the Sabbath cannot be made to judge us any longer.
[God forgave us] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him [Christ]. Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. (Colossians 2:14-16)
Because of the cross, let no one judge you about foods, festivals and Sabbaths.
In the Old Testament, Numbers tells of a man who was judged. Instead of resting on the Sabbath, he gathered wood. God Himself pronounced the penalty (Numbers 15:35). “All the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses” (Numbers 15:36). The man died because the Sabbath law, which included the death penalty (Exodus 35:2), was in effect. When Colossians says no one can judge you about Sabbaths it proves that, along with all legalism, even the law itself has ended. So, in ways both general and specific, the New Testament makes it clear that the Sabbath cannot be required of God’s people today.