“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Exodus 20:8-11, NKJV
If the third commandment (taking the Lord’s Name) is, one of the most misunderstood commandments today (please see my last blog entry), then the fourth commandment likely held that distinction during the time that Christ walked the Earth – even to the learned Jewish elite. It was this commandment that was at the heart of the ultimate condemnation of Jesus – sending Him to the cross. And even today, many in the church do not truly comprehend the full meaning of the “rest” found in this commandment. So what was it about the Sabbath that caused such a problem for the Jews, and how did this lead to Jesus’ death? And how has Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath? We will examine these questions. But, before we do, let’s examine the commandment itself.
My readers may not be aware that the doctrine of the Sabbath is one of the oldest principles in the scripture. And it is interesting that this is a commandment that God Himself practiced long before conveying it to us, His creatures. As we will see later, practicing Jews are intimately familiar with the doctrine of the Sabbath. However; in the church, while we sometimes use the word Sabbath, but it is likely that few of us truly understand its origin and its depth. We find the very first Sabbath recorded for us in the second chapter of the Bible:
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:1-3, NKJV
Now, the Hebrew word for Sabbath literally means “to repose” or “to abstain from effort or action”. To me, it seems interesting that God Himself rested. Of course, as the originator of energy, and the prime mover of creation, God did not need to rest, but He did it anyway. And as He did so, He blessed the day on which He rested and made it holy. And it is God’s holy will that we, then, follow His example and rest from work on the Sabbath day. In fact, we find this principle in action even prior to Moses’ receipt of the commandments. As the nation of Israel began its journey into the wilderness, food became scarce. As the nation cried out for lack of food, God provided both food and the doctrine of the Sabbath:
Then [Moses] said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ”
Exodus 16:23, NKJV
Now, the food that Moses was referring to was the Manna that came down from Heaven. Ultimately, we have come to understand that Manna was a picture of Jesus, our Bread of Life. So, God was already giving His people a preview of the salvation to come. And in so doing, He enjoined it with one of the benefits of that salvation (though it would later become a stumbling point in the Law), the blessing of rest. We will address this idea of “benefit” later in this study.
So we have seen that, prior to God handing down the commandment of the Sabbath, He both personally practiced it and ordained it as a behavior in the lives of His people. And after being freed from a life of hard slavery, this was, then, a commandment that they likely readily received. At least as long as it suited their purposes. You see, it was not long before this commandment was broken – with severe consequences:
Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard, because it had not been explained what should be done to him.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died.
Numbers 15:32-36, NKJV
Resting on the Sabbath was a commandment straight from God, and choosing to ignore this law was very serious. Let us examine an expansion of the Sabbatical law that God gave to Moses:
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'”
Exodus 31:12-17, NKJV
Doesn’t this seem to be a rather harsh punishment for “not resting”? To many of us, this appears a cruel and inhumane punishment for a very minor offense. But we do not have the mind – or wisdom of God.
For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts.Isaiah 55:8-9, NKJV
Now, the doctrine of the Sabbath seems very straightforward. Six days are for work and the seventh for rest. According to the Law, God’s people are not allowed to work on the seventh day. This is very clear. What is not so clear, however, is the underlying definition of “work”. So, over the many years between the receipt of the commandments and the time that Jesus walked the earth, the Jewish rabbis sought to clarify the law. And with this “clarification”, came many restrictions. As an aside, these restrictions continue to be added, as seen in the following list that is just a small example of the many things that are currently considered unlawful on the Sabbath (excerpted from a wonderful website that helps explain the Jewish faith – http://www.chabad.org):
- writing, erasing, and tearing;
- business transactions;
- driving or riding in cars or other vehicles;
- shopping;
- using the telephone;
- turning on or off anything which uses electricity, including lights, radios, television, computer, air-conditioners and alarm clocks;
- cooking, baking or kindling a fire;
- gardening and grass-mowing;
- doing laundry.
It is understandable that the ancient rabbis worked to clarify the law. One person’s definition of work may be very different from another’s. However; in clarifying the law, and in an effort to maintain a buffer such as to not accidentally break the law, these same rabbis eventually added to the law. And it was these additions that became a significant point of contention between Jesus and the Jewish elite during His days of ministry. Let us look at some examples of interactions between our Lord and some of the Jewish leaders of the time:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
The Gospel of Matthew 12:1-8, NKJV
Immediately after the occurrence recounted in this passage, the law of the Sabbath once again came between Jesus and the Pharisees:
Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” — that they might accuse Him.
Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.
The Gospel of Matthew 12:9-14, NKJV
Did you see it? While Jesus’ demise was certainly in their hearts prior to this interchange, it was the doctrine of the Sabbath, and the significant gulf between Jesus’ knowledge of its intent and the Pharisees’ faulty understanding that finally set in motion their plot to destroy Him. But did you also catch Jesus’ role in the Sabbath?
“For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
We will come back to this extremely important concept a little later in this study.
Now, in order for us to understand this law, and its seemingly drastic penalty, we need to look further into the ultimate meaning and fulfillment of the Sabbath. To do this, we will start in the wonderful book of Psalms; specifically, in Psalm 95:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord!
Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving;
Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.For the Lord is the great God,
And the great King above all gods.In His hand are the deep places of the earth;
The heights of the hills are His also.The sea is His, for He made it;
And His hands formed the dry land.Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.For He is our God,
And we are the people of His pasture,
And the sheep of His hand.Today, if you will hear His voice:
“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
When your fathers tested Me;They tried Me, though they saw My work.
For forty years I was grieved with that generation,
And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,
And they do not know My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.'”Psalm 95, NKJV
Why did I choose this particular Psalm? The Sabbath is not mentioned in this passage. Or is it? Did you notice the last sentence?
“So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
God said, “They shall not enter My rest.” But He had commanded them to rest on the Sabbath. What then did He mean by saying that they would not enter “His rest”? To answer this, we will examine another passage in the gospel of Matthew that immediately precedes our earlier passages detailing the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees.
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The Gospel of Matthew 11:27-30, NKJV
Do you see what Jesus is saying? Our burdens are difficult. And the keeping of the Law is difficult. In fact, it is impossible – in our own effort. But Jesus offers us rest. This is the root of the controversy between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees, as we see in the following passage:
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
The Gospel of Matthew 23:1-5, NKJV
So, while the Jewish leaders were willing to burden the people but not help relieve the burden, Jesus was willing to relieve the burden and give rest. And as the Son of Man and the Lord of the Sabbath, He is qualified and able to do that. Jesus came, then, to relieve our burdens and give us rest. But my readers may be asking, “Does this rest have anything to do with the Sabbath? Does God not command us to rest on the Sabbath day? And has He not already given out the death penalty for some that have chosen to ignore this law?”
These are very good questions. And in order to answer them, we must move to a very difficult passage in the letter to the Hebrews:
Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.'”Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:
“So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,'”
although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The Letter to the Hebrews 3:1-4:13, NKJV
Wow. This is indeed a difficult passage. And unpacking it fully would take many sessions. But let us look at the portions that directly speak to our topic – that of the Sabbath rest.
Did you notice that the writer starts this passage by describing Jesus as the builder of His house, and that we, having faith and hope in Him are that house? He is the Son of the House, and as Son of Man, He is also Lord of the Sabbath, and able to give rest to His house. But notice also that the writer focuses heavily on our earlier Psalm – Psalm 95. He returns several times to the portion regarding entering God’s rest. And the writer goes on to describe that rest. Did you see it?
For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.”
The writer has thus linked this passage to the original Sabbath – God’s own Seventh Day rest! Could it be that God is inviting us into His OWN Sabbath rest? Absolutely! But we are NOT able to enter this rest on our own merits. In fact, no one has ever been able to enter on his own merits. Except, that is, for the Son of Man, who lived the perfect life so as to meet all requirements of the Law and fulfill the work. And having done so, He obtained the right to grant that rest to those of His household. And we, if we maintain hope and faith in the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus, are allowed to enter into that rest. God’s rest. His Sabbath rest!
But did you also notice the writer’s intense focus on TODAY? If you are not currently a member of Jesus’ house, he was writing this to you. Have you heard His voice? If so, this is your day to respond. Do not delay! Do not harden your heart and turn away – because it will not always be today! We are never guaranteed tomorrow. So if you are hearing Jesus call out to you, my friend, I urge you to respond by praying and receiving Him in faith – and accepting His free gift of salvation and redemption for your sins. Simply acknowledge to God that you have accepted the blood of Jesus as the sacrificial payment for your sins, and you will be free!
And, thus has Jesus fulfilled the fourth commandment – the keeping of the Sabbath. Indeed, He has become our Sabbath! Selah!
In our next session, we will address the first of the commandments that are focused on our earthly relationships – specifically, honoring our father and mother. Until then, may God richly bless your study of His holy Word!
YouJi