The Sabbath Relooked!

When was the sabbath ordained unto man to follow?
We should probably start in Genesis.
Genesis 2:2-3
²On the seventh day, having finished his task,
God rested from all his work. ³And God blessed
the seventh day and declared it holy, because
it was the day when he rested from his work of
creation.
Ok now, he didn't say we had to rest on that day.
He said he blessed it and made it holy.
Now we go to the time of the Israelites in the
wilderness for 40 years being served manna
from the sky daily, except on the sabbath.
^{Exodus 31:12-17
12}The LORD then gave these further instructions
to Moses: ¹³"Tell the people of Israel to keep my
Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the
covenant between me and you forever. It helps
you to remember that I am the LORD, who
makes you holy. ¹⁴Yes, keep the Sabbath day,
for it is holy. Anyone who desecrates it must die;
anyone who works on that day will be cut off
from the community. ¹⁵Work six days only, but
the seventh day must be a day of total rest.
I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day,
anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put
to death. ¹⁶The people of Israel must keep the
Sabbath day forever. ¹⁷It is a permanent sign of
my covenant with them. For in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, but he rested on
the seventh day and was refreshed."
This seems a bit extreme.... God doesn't play games.
We have to now look at whether this is a command
that is carried on into the new testament and
set forth further in Jesus new laws or if it was
just for the Israelites.
Mark 2:23-28
²³And it came to pass, that he went through the
corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples
began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
²⁴And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold,
why do they on the sabbath day that which
is not lawful?
²⁵And he said unto them, Have ye never read
what David did, when he had need, and was an
hungred, he, and they that were with him?
²⁶How he went into the house of God in the
days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat
the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat
but for the priests, and gave also to them
which were with him?
²⁷And he said unto them, The sabbath was
made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
²⁸Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
ok so... if David didn't follow the sabbath to
the extreme that the Israelites were told to
and Jesus said that was ok and said that he
is Lord over the sabbath how then are we to
use the sabbath?
^{Acts 18:4-6
4}And he reasoned in the synagogue every
sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.
⁵And when Silas and Timotheus were come
from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit,
and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.
⁶And when they opposed themselves, and
blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said
unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads;
I am clean; from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles.
verse one says this is Paul...
This is after Jesus crucifixion....
This is Paul trying to reason with Jews and the
Greeks trying to tell them about Jesus.
He gives up and wipes his hands clean and goes
unto the Gentiles. He wasn't in the synagogue
because it was the sabbath, he was there to try
to minister to the lost.
Acts 15:21
For these laws of Moses have been preached in
Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath
for many generations."

What I make of all this is such:
The sabbath was ordained by God in the very
beginning as a day of rest. God gave the
Israelites the command to follow it strictly, but
when Jesus was crucified and resurrected the old
law was fulfilled completely and no longer necessary
to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Instead what
Jesus ordained as the new law is simply this:
Believe in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
Repent of your sins and turn away from your
wicked ways taking up the cross daily.
Confess before men that Jesus Christ is Lord
of your life.
And be buried in water, baptized for the remission
of sins, all according to what Jesus and his disciples
taught in the New Testament.
So do we follow the sabbath or not?
I think that's left up to us to decide.
A mans body needs rest and one day a week is
a good way to do it.
Is it a command for us to follow today?
I don't think so.
Is it hard to follow? Not really.....
It is if you try to follow it the way the Jews then did.
Follow it the way Jesus did. If something needs done,
do it. If you're hungry, then eat. If someone needs
healing, then heal them.
Pick a day, one day a week, to always have free to rest.
This is I feel the best way to have a sabbath today.