12/01/2022
Do we rest on the Sabbath? On the seventh day do we lay down our instruments of labor, close our businesses, and rest as our God rested, or do we look for excuses to disobey? On the Sabbath we aren’t meant to rest from life, but from our works. We don’t cease worship or abandon those things we have built or created, no, we simply do as God did… we rest following the completion of our labor. We don’t gather herds, build homes, or prepare the dead, but we still tend to them.
“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
Hebrews 4:9-11 ESV
If we go back to the very first Sabbath we read that God rested because He had completed the work of creation, but there is no mention of Him abandoning it, or us, during His rest, or ceasing to care for it. As we rest on the Sabbath It is the same for us; when a man builds a house He inhabits it, and when he takes his rest he does so in the comfort of that house.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
Genesis 2:1-3 ESV
There are three major characteristics of the Sabbath that we should consider. The first is detailed in the scripture we just read that deals with the actual occurrence of God resting on the seventh day. The second is the establishment of the Sabbath as a commandment…
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.”
Exodus 20:8-10 ESV
And the third is described for us by Jesus after He and his disciples gathered some grain to eat while passing through a field on the Sabbath. Here He quotes David in His defense when He says…
“And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””
Mark 2:27-28 ESV
Then Jesus tells us something remarkable about the Sabbath…
“But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.””
John 5:17
Ask yourself how many times God rested, and the answer is one. This is the event. Now ask yourself how many times we are to rest, and the answer is every seventh day because we do this in remembrance. This is the Law. Now ask yourself if you are a child of God like Jesus, and if His response in John 5:17 should be ours as well. This is the fulfillment.
““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”
Matthew 5:17-18 ESV
So Jesus didn’t abolish the law of the Sabbath, but He helped us to understand it. Like God rested from creating, we are to rest from our earthly labor, but just as God continued to care for us and the remainder of His creation during His time of rest we are to do these things too… we are to continue worshiping, praising, eating, drinking, healing, praying, loving, being merciful, and all the other things that care for what God has created, what we have built, and all that has been given to us in our lives. Just as God has never left or forsaken us we are not to leave or forsake either.
“…”I will never leave you nor forsake you.””
Hebrews 13:5 ESV
So, do we rest on the Sabbath, or in our ignorance and confusion have we lost sight of this as being important? Have we read the words of Jesus and concluded that He was doing away with the commandment regarding the Sabbath? Heaven forbid, because He maintained His observance of the Sabbath even in death…
“This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took it down and wrapped it in a linen shroud and laid him in a tomb cut in stone, where no one had ever yet been laid. It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning. The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.”
Luke 23:52-56 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the work you did during creation, but thank you equally for resting upon its completion. Thank you for establishing this day as the Sabbath, making it Holy, and commanding us to observe it. Thank you also Lord for your Son Jesus who opened our eyes to the true nature of how we are to adhere to your intentions when we celebrate it. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who is with us always; even on the Sabbath. Praised be your name for the rest you give us, and your grace that covers us on the Sabbath as well as every other day. Merciful are you who allows us to continue loving one another, and doing your work on the Sabbath, even as you do. Wash us clean with the blood of Christ, Holy Father, and prepare us to stand before you in judgement… perfected in Christ. Call us home to you, and seat us at your table forevermore. In this way let us rest in your presence in eternal peace and joy as we pray without ceasing, and praise you always.
Rich Forbes