Sabbath

Towfiqu barbhuiya
@towfiqu999999

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Many Christians struggle with the idea of rest. Why would I want to rest? Won’t that get in the way of productivity? If anything, shouldn’t I be working harder? Isn’t rest for lazy people? There’s just so much to do.

In the passages we’re about to look at, we’ll see that rest is a really big deal to God. In many ways, we shouldn’t be surprised. After he created the world in six days in the previous chapter, we read:

2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh (shevi‘i) day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested (Hebrew: Shabbat) from all the work of creating that he had done.

The Hebrew word for rest is “Shabbat”, from which we get the word Sabbath (it’s also closely connected to the Hebrew word for “seventh”, the word “shevi‘i”).

Rest is so important to God that he does it himself. This doesn’t mean that he ceases all activity. Obviously, he remains pretty involved in the creation. As Jesus reminds us in John 5:17, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” However, he ceases his creative work on that seventh day. Now it’s time for a different kind of work: sustaining the creation and (after sin enters) redeeming it.

In what follows, we’ll see how important it is to God that his people rest, and where that rest ultimately points.

1. Sabbath and Exodus

In Exodus, we discover that God gave the Sabbath as a day of rest, signifying his covenant.

The Sabbath is such a big deal that it makes it into the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 20:8-11, we read:

8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

In Genesis, God rested on the original seventh day. In Exodus, he calls his people to follow his example. They’ll work for six days, and then take a day of rest. All of them.

It’s such a big deal to God that, in Exodus 31:14-15 we read:

14 Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death.

Anyone who fails to rest will be put to death! It’s really, really important to God.

You might feel like this is a bit extreme. But if you think about it, it makes sense. God is a holy God and he calls us to be his holy people. If people don’t want to live his way, they don’t have to. But not living his way means rejecting the good life that he gives them. This good life involves rest. If they don’t want the good life and the good rest he gives them, they will eventually experience the very opposite: death.

Moreover, rejecting the Sabbath also means rejecting God’s covenant agreement with his people.

In Exodus 31, we also see that the Sabbath is a sign pointing to the covenant. In verse 13, we read:

You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

We read something similar in verses 16–17:

16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

The Sabbath is a sign pointing to God’s covenant agreement with his people for the generations to come. It helps them know that he is the LORD, and that he makes them holy. It’s a sign pointing to God’s rest and refreshment. And it’s not just a sign for a short period of time. It’s a sign forever. And it’s a sign that points to Jesus.

As the story of the Old Testament unfolds, there’s a sense in which God’s people enter God’s rest. A big reason for the Exodus from Egypt was to facilitate God’s people entering God’s rest in the Promised Land. In Joshua 21:44, there’s a sense in which they enter this rest. There we read:

The LORD gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hands.

Fast forward a few hundred years to the reign of King Solomon, and the great king tells his friend Hiram, king of Tyre:

Now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster.

But in each case, the rest is short-lived. Soon after God’s people enter the Promised Land, they enter a cycle of rebellion against him, and they no longer experience much rest. In the book of Judges, they keep getting invaded and enslaved. A few generations after Solomon, the northern part of Israel gets taken over by the Assyrians in 722 BC, and from 605 BC–536 BC, the southern kingdom gets taken over by Babylon. Not so much rest anymore.

In Ezekiel, we discover that by allowing Babylon to conquer the southern kingdom, God is judging his people for their repeated breaking of the Sabbath (Ezekiel 20:13, 16, 21, 22:8, 23:38). But Ezekiel also predicts a time when the Sabbath is honoured again, and his people enjoy right relationship with him again (Ezekiel 44–46). What is Ezekiel pointing to?

2. Sabbath and Jesus

Ezekiel is pointing us to Jesus. Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, gives true rest.

In Colossians 2:16-17, we discover that the Sabbath day was “a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus helps us understand how the Sabbath ultimately points to him. He says:

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

If you want ultimate rest, you need to come to Jesus. If you feel weary, you need to come to Jesus. If you feel burdened, you need to come to Jesus.

What’s the rest he brings? As well as no longer being weary, burdened or yoked, Jesus brings us into a covenant relationship with God. Through Jesus, we can have peace with God now and we can dwell in his presence in the new creation.

In the following passage (Matthew 12:1-13), Jesus and his disciples walk through some grainfields on the Sabbath. The disciples start picking some grain. And then he heals a man with a shrivelled hand. The Pharisees see this and are mortified. Jesus is working on the Sabbath. He’s breaking the law. They want to kill him! After all, Exodus 31 said that breaking the Sabbath law requires the death penalty.

Jesus explains to the Pharisees that mercy matters more than sacrifice (Matthew 12:7). Then he says something massive in verse 8:

For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

What does this mean? By “Son of Man”, Jesus is referring to himself, a title borrowed from Daniel 7:13-14. By “Lord of the Sabbath”, he’s saying that he has authority over the Sabbath. He is its “Lord”. He defines its purpose, not the religious leaders. And, anyway, he’s not abolishing the Sabbath. Rather, he’s directing the Sabbath back to its original purpose: to serve people, to bring them rest, and to be a sign pointing to God’s covenant relationship with his people.

Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, brings true rest.

Kate Stone Matheson
@dreadpiratekato

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3. Sabbath and Us

In addition to showing us that the Sabbath points to the rest Jesus brings, the book of Hebrews also tells us to make every effort to enter that rest.

While there was a sense in which Joshua (Moses’ successor) led God’s people into “rest” when they entered the Promised Land (Joshua 21:44), “if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day” (Hebrews 4:8), that is, another day of rest to come. But God does speak of another day of rest: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).

This Sabbath day is a “now-but-not-yet” reality. God’s people enter it now (or “today”) through Jesus when we come to him (with our weariness and burdens etc.). It’s a spiritual kind of peace.

But the Sabbath day also has a “not-yet” aspect to it. It points to the day when Jesus returns and brings physical rest and peace. When Jesus returns, he will bring us to the new creation. God will be with his people and there will be no death or mourning or crying or pain (see Revelation 21:3-4).

Knowing that this Sabbath day is coming, Hebrews 4:11 tells us:

Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

This rest is going to be really, really good. You don’t want to miss out on it. So, make every effort to enter it. This doesn’t mean that we are trying to earn our way to this rest. It’s not saying, “Be good and you get to go to heaven.” No. It’s only through Jesus that we receive this rest.

Rather, the point is that we shouldn’t let distractions get in the way of us following Jesus.

Taking time off is a great way of “making every effort to enter that rest”. Here are some practical thoughts.

Some Practical Thoughts

A. Take A Day Off—It’s A Good Gift From God

God’s people in the Old Testament took Saturdays off as it was the seventh day of the week. Since Jesus rose from the dead on the first day of the week, (most) Christians now gather for church on Sundays. My unverified theory is that, at some point, people got confused about which day to take off and then created the weekend. So now we get Saturday and Sunday off. In truth, it probably has more to do with workers campaigning for better working conditions.

But how does the whole Sabbath thing play out these days? Can we work seven days a week? Do we still need to take a day of rest?

The New Testament is pretty quiet on which day we should take off. Colossians 2:16-17 tells us not to let people judge us with regard to the Sabbath—the important thing is that it points to Jesus. Galatians 4:10 speaks against obsessing over certain days, and in Romans 14:5, Paul allows for personal conscience about which day to observe.

Most of the Ten Commandments are reaffirmed in the New Testament, but the Sabbath command isn’t.

However, there is something wise about taking a day of rest each week. The Sabbath principle is given to us as a good gift from God. As Jesus says in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” I think it would be foolish for us not to accept this good gift from God and go on working seven days a week. It gives us a chance to slow down, catch up on sleep, trust God, and enjoy his good creation in a different way from the other six days of the week.

So, take a day off every week, receiving this as a good gift from God, and use that time to reorient your brain toward the Lord of the Sabbath (Jesus) and the rest that we are invited to enter.

B. You Are Very Important. But Not That Important.

The most obvious objection to the idea of taking a day off is that we feel like we’re too busy. There are too many jobs to do. There are too many assignments. The world will end if I stop working. Plus, a lot of what I’m doing is serving God.

I get it.

But I think it’s flawed thinking.

You are very important to God. He loves you deeply. The Bible is very clear on that. But you’re not that important. The world will continue to spin on its axis if you take a day off each week.

From experience, I can tell you—life generally gets busier and busier. High schoolers feel like they can’t take time off because they’re too busy. But then they get to uni and they have to manage bigger assignments, plus the pressures of part-time work, increased church commitments, and a busier social schedule.

Then you throw in the complexities of marriage, home-ownership, and children, and life just keeps getting busier and busier!

Everyone thinks they’re the busiest person on earth. And yet God still gives the Sabbath as a good gift for his people.

I’m a fairly busy dude. I’m married with three young kids and I have a never-ending to-do list for my job. But I’m still convinced that I need a day off. And I find it helpfully humbling to take a day off. It reminds me that though I am very important to God, he doesn’t need me. He loves me and wants to involve me in his plans. But he doesn’t need me. I can stop working a day a week (just like I lie in bed for eight hours every night), and the world keeps functioning.

Taking a day off helps you remember that you are important, but not that important. We should make every effort to remember that.

C. If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail

All that said, the reality is that I have to plan well to make sure I get to have my day off. If I don’t build good plans, I won’t be able to take a day off. Or I’ll let other people down.

In my case, I have to cram everything else into the other six days. That means potentially longer hours on the other days, but I reckon it’s worth it. It forces me to be more efficient and thoughtful on how I do things, and on what things I say “no” to.

Part of that plan means choosing the right day to take off.

When I was at school, Monday to Friday weren’t options for me. I generally chose Sunday as my day off. For me, that meant no homework and no part-time work. Those were tasks for the other six days.

Today, as a pastor and youth pastor, Friday and Sunday aren’t options. Saturday doesn’t work as a day off since I have eight to ten different church-related events each year on Saturdays. So I take Wednesdays off.

For most people, their day off will typically be on a Saturday or Sunday.

Whatever day you take off, though, the important thing is that you plan to do it and make supporting plans to ensure your plan works. And plan it so that it will help you “make every effort to enter that rest”.

D. Do Something Different

And what do we do on a day off? Something different. What that means will be different from person to person.

If you’re a school student, you probably won’t study.

If you’re a worker, you probably won’t do “work” work.

If you’re a student and worker, you probably won’t study or do “work” work.

If you play a truckload of sport during the week, you probably won’t play sport.

If all you ever do is church stuff, you probably won’t do church stuff (meaning you probably won’t make Sunday your day off).

As a pastor, I won’t do church stuff on my day off (unless there’s an exceptional circumstance). I choose to do stuff that helps me enjoy God and his good creation.

I spend a lot of my day off with my family, especially my daughter Sophie, who hasn’t yet started school.

Sometimes I write because I really enjoy writing and it helps me fix my thoughts on God. I do this even though I also end up writing a fair bit of stuff for my church work. But I don’t write church-related stuff on my day off.

Sometimes I’ll go for a bike ride. Sometimes I’ll spend a few hours doing chores while listening to a Christian audiobook or podcast. And I usually mow the lawn as well, even if it doesn’t need mowing. I really enjoy mowing.

But, whatever you do on your day off, you want it to be angled towards Hebrews 4:11. That doesn’t mean you must only pray, read your Bible and go to church, although those things will certainly help you “make every effort to enter that rest”. But (I reckon) you also want to avoid filling your day with things that will distract you from thinking about Jesus and the rest he offers.