Jesus Christ IS the Sabbath.
Matthew 11:27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
<<Jesus was not talking about physical rest, which the Sabbath was given for. The rest He spoke of was “unto your souls.” Yes, the rest He gives man for their souls is light and easy (because He does the work) but He was not saying people would find physical rest through Him instead of the Sabbath>>
The sabbath rest from "works" is exactly what Jesus was speaking about and you defined it quite well if one leaves out the word "physical".
People would find rest through Him instead of the Sabbath.
But a different kind of rest.
This is why I included the Hebrews passage…
Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest (sabbatismos-sabbath keeping) to the people of God.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
If there REMAINETH a rest (SINGULAR)…, that means that all other kinds of "sabbath-keeping" are gone and one remains.
In fact an irony is used for people to "labour" to enter into that rest lest those people (Hebrews) be shown to be in a state of unbelief.
Matthew 12:1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat…
<<I agree that He is Lord over the Sabbath and can heal people, allow His disciples to pick corn, have mercy on David, etc. Jesus is God, it’s His law, and He has a right to define it or grant mercy to His law. However, I do not see Jesus saying that the 4th commandment was abolished in this passage. Sure seems to me that His point was on mercy, similar to the example in Matthew 23:23. >>
In the Luke account Jesus precedes the corn-picking with the wine skin parable…
Luke 5:36 And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
37 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
38 But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.
39 No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.
The Old and New Covenants cannot be mixed. If you try, you will have neither.
Excerpts from Acts 15…
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they…
23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:
24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:…
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Where is Sabbath-keeping here?
<<Those who enter God’s rest are not ones who are trying to do it by keeping the commandments but this passage does not say that the Sabbath should be the only one of the Ten Commandments that we ignore. >>
Even sabbatarians "ignore" the Sabbath law…
The Torah dictates the requirements of Sabbath keeping. Sabbatarians pick and choose which they will keep and their response of "legalism" to what follows will prove it.
Turning on a light.
2 Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death.
3 Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.
Whenever a person turns on a light on the Sabbath (Friday sundown through Saturday sundown) he/she BREAKS the Sabbath. If you don't believe that a light bulb is a fire, grab and hold on to a lit one.
Either you keep it in every point or you don't.
Either verse three is part of the commandment or it is not.
What difference is there between the sabbath-keeper who picks and chooses and/or modifies the sabbath rules and the non-sabbath keeper?
No amount of apologetics can change this part of sabbath keeping.
What constitutes work?
Most sabbatarians pay their electric bills for WORK done by their appliances on the sabbath.
Appliances BURN electricity which comes from the BURNING of fossil fuels which happens (and they use) on the Sabbath.
<<but this passage does not say that the Sabbath should be the only one of the Ten Commandments that we ignore.>>
We all ignore other commandments as well…
4 Thou shalt not make (ASAH-to make or acquire) unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
This is a two part commandment just as the tenth is a multi-part commandment, one part says not to make or acquire an image of ANYTHING. The other part says to not bow down to them, BOTH are forbidden by the Commandments. In fact we break both parts with the money that we use. On the back of a one dollar bill which is covered by enGRAVEN images is the symbol of the all-seeing eye of ISIS. We possess images of false gods in our wallets, purses and pockets.
15 Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place (wallet, pocket, purse). And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.
…hands of a craftsman… Even if someone else makes it we are not to possess images of any kind.
13 Thou shalt not kill. " Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer '
14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
15 Thou shalt not steal.
16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in ALL THINGS which are written in the book of the law to do them.
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.