“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy…” (Ex. 20:8-11)
To many the concept of Sabbath-keeping conjures up images and feelings of bondage, legalism, time wasting and boredom, that unenlightened Christians insist on indulging in. This however is sadly, a warped perspective of the Sabbath. In fact, one of the reasons God instructed the nation of Israel to observe the Sabbath, was to remind them of their deliverance from bondage in Egypt by His mighty power (Deut. 5:15). The Sabbath therefore should properly be seen as a day of liberation and celebration of the awesomeness of the Great Creator! There is truly joy and excitement in the true keeping of the Sabbath. Yes, this day is even something to look forward to, as we shall see by the end of this article.
Why is it that such a negative outlook of Sabbath observance is so prevalent? Undoubtedly this view is perpetuated by well meaning preachers, who simply have not been able to fathom the blessing entailed in the day and its observance. The carnal mind is always resistant to things spiritual (Rom. 8:7), and this is truly a spiritual matter. Unfortunately, there are also those even among us who subscribe to Sabbath-keeping, who have given the Sabbath a bad reputation. In our zeal to please God, some of us sometimes make the Sabbath seem like just a time to avoid having any fun -a time to stay away from this, and stay away from that, while not appreciating the true intent of the day.
In the time of Jesus’ human ministry, this was one of the problems. The Pharisees who were the teachers of the law, had lost sight of what the Sabbath was really meant to be. They had made stipulations regarding the Sabbath that resulted in hundreds of rules to be followed to ensure “proper” Sabbath observance. For example, they forbade healing on the Sabbath (Luke. 13:14), and even picking of grain to eat (Mark. 2:23) because they felt this would constitute harvesting.
It should be noted that it wasn’t the law of God that enjoined such restrictions. (In the matter of picking some grain, the law did forbid harvesting since that is clearly work, but picking some grain because you’re hungry is not forbidden by Scripture). Interestingly, the law gave few specifications regarding Sabbath-keeping. The main one, as spelt out in the commandment is, rest –do no work on the seventh day (Ex. 20:8-11). The problem the Pharisees had was in determining just what exactly constitutes work. Their solution was the elaborate system of rules as mentioned before. Jesus however had no qualms about breaking these regulations, since not only were they not God-ordained, but they also went counter to the purpose of the Sabbath. In fact, Jesus deliberately broke their traditions to bring back proper perspective to the Sabbath. On one of these occasions when he was confronted by the Pharisees for disobeying their rules, He made the simple but poignant declaration that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath! (Mark. 2:27,28) The message is clear –the Sabbath was made to benefit us (not just the Jews by the way). Essentially, the Sabbath is one of God’s gifts to mankind.
To learn more of what this day is really meant to be, let us go back to the origins of this day.
Gen 2 –Origins of the Sabbath
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made” (vs. 2-3)
There are a number of observations to be made from these verses.
1. The seventh day marks the completion of the physical creation
2. God rested on the seventh day
3. God blessed the seventh day
4. God sanctified it (ie. set it apart for holy use). The seventh day is holy!
So note that the seventh day is no ordinary day. God Himself set it apart from the others and blessed it. It is holy time, and therefore ought to be treated as such. All this should indicate to us that it is not up to us to choose our day of rest. That has already been settled by God. The questions we ought to ask ourselves, are, Why is God doing all this? Couldn’t He simply have left it at day six? Does God even need rest?
When we attempt to answer these questions, we inevitably come to the conclusion that all that He is doing here must be for man. So even without Jesus’ clear statement that the Sabbath was made for us, it is self-evident. God set aside a day for us to use in a specific way, and He set us His example of resting from His labours on this day. This is all confirmed in Exodus 20, when God gives the commandment to observe this day because of what He had done here at the end of creation week. (Incidentally, in case you’re wondering whether the day is still holy, rest assured that it is. For the basis of its sanctity some thousands of years later in the time of Moses, is what was done here in the Creation week. This means the seventh day* will remain holy so long as days continue).
Now it is important to remember that we are made in the image of God. Therefore, we are expected to emulate God and reflect His way as we participate in the Work He gives us to do. So let us reflect on what God did here.
God spent six days creating the wonderful world for us to live in and have dominion over. All that He did in these days He deemed good. Then the seventh day, He set it apart to mark the completion of the Creation when He rested on it, blessed and sanctified it. God delighted in this Sabbath rest, as He was pleased with His work that He had now finished. This wasn’t a day where God felt restrained. It was a celebration!
What can we glean from all this as it pertains to the Sabbath?
The Sabbath Memorialises God as Creator
Just the concept of the Sabbath reminds us that God is the Creator. So keeping the Sabbath is a recognition that the God we are called to serve, is the one who created all things in six days, and rested on the seventh. The Sabbath memorialises God as Creator. Through this institution we can take heart that there is purpose and design to the universe and our lives. God is in control, and we can rest our cares on Him.
A Special Time of Worship
When those of us who recognise God as Creator, consider the vastness of the heavens, the intricacies involved in the various life forms, the beauty of it all, we can’t help but bow down and worship this Great Being. The Sabbath therefore is a special time of worship. Sure you can worship on any day of the week, and we ought to spend some time in worship each day, but no other day (of the week) was set apart for this express purpose. On the Sabbath we do not need to be distracted by our mundane work. We have full authorisation from God Himself, to enjoy the whole day in focusing on Him and His Work, and our participation in it, without having to worry about making a living.
Time for Fellowship, Not Idleness
From worship proceeds fellowship. When God set apart the seventh day, making it holy, He in effect prepared a time for man to fellowship with Him. He desires to be in the midst of us, and on this day when we are free from our regular labours, we have the perfect time to get together with our Father and His firstborn Son. In this fast paced world with so much turmoil and stress, we have as it were an oasis in a desert. What a blessing it is to be able to take time out from all the negativity going on, and spend in peaceful refreshing communion with God! This is an ideal opportunity to delve into the Scriptures, pray and meditate upon the Word of God as we seek to hear and receive instruction from our heavenly Father.
Fellowshipping with God also entails fellowshipping with our fellow servants of God. For who can love the Eternal without loving his brother? (1 John 4:20-21) Also, God does interact with us through other human beings, so we ought to spend time with our brethren as we seek to spend time with God. Since we serve the same God, then on the Sabbath, we essentially have the same focus to unite us. What better time to spend with others that God has called into His household? It is indeed family time (ie. God’s family time). That we are meant to be with other worshipers of God is confirmed in Leviticus 23:
“Six days shall work be done: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest, an holy convocation” (Lev. 23:3)
A holy convocation is a gathering of God’s people to worship God together. Naturally this affords us the opportunity to fellowship. It is important to understand that fellowshipping is not wasting time. When we come together with other believers, we are able to, and should, exhort and edify each other in the Lord, and so be better equipped to face the coming week with a triumphant spirit.
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:24-25)
A Day of Rejoicing
We also see that the Sabbath is a day of rejoicing. God was well pleased with His work, and in His delight with what He had done and purposed for man, He placed His blessing in this day. If God rejoiced in His Work, then we should rejoice in it too, not only in what He did at the Creation, but also in what He has done for us throughout the week. Truly there is much to be thankful for when we reflect on what God is doing in our lives, and therefore much to rejoice in. Why not use this time to meditate on the specific blessings He has afforded you throughout the week?
“If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isa. 58:13-14)
When it says “not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure“, this is not to say that you ought not to have any joy in it. On the contrary, it says it should be called a “delight“. What God is saying, is that we should not be doing things that are not appropriate for this occasion which is holy time. For example, going about our daily business/employment would be doing our “own pleasure“.
God wants us to take the time out from our making a living and other worldly activities, to remember who it is we serve, and that it is He who will sustain and bless us with all that is good for us. Let us therefore rejoice in the Lord’s holy day.
Time for Introspection
Following our Creator’s example also means that we too should strive to do well in our work throughout the week and then celebrate in the seventh day by resting from it and remembering our Creator. It is truly a satisfying experience. The better we do in the week, the more fulfilling we will find our Sabbath observance. As human beings, we will make mistakes along the way, and do things that we are not pleased with. So unlike God, we will have some regrets in what we do. But do not be discouraged. For even as God was committed to seeing His Creation through from beginning to end, so is He committed to finishing the work He has started with you, so long as you allow Him to.
The Sabbath provides an ideal time to consider how well we are living to God, where we are going, and therefore an opportunity to refocus, re-commit, and make the necessary changes in our lives. Be thankful that you have such a time as this, so that you can take the necessary measures, with the help of our Redeemer, to correct your wrong turns before you go even further off course.
A Shadow of Things to Come
One significant aspect of the Sabbath that often gets overlooked is that this day is a shadow of a glorious reality that is to come. Some shy away from calling the Sabbath a shadow or symbol, thinking that this undermines the importance and relevance of it. But this fear is not warranted. In fact, it provides even more reason to observe it. Before we explore this facet of the Sabbath, just to assure you that shadows and symbols are not necessarily redundant, consider baptism and Lord’s Supper.
Baptism when properly understood is indeed a symbol of something to come and can therefore be called a shadow. In Rom 6, Paul explains that baptism symbolises our sharing in the death of Christ, and in His resurrection. Paul goes on to explain that we can expect to be raised from the dead just as Christ was, based on the meaning of baptism (vs. 3-5). So baptism can be regarded as a shadow of our resurrection. Yet baptism is surely an important ordinance that should be observed. Another shadow or symbol that is generally taken for granted is the Lord’s Supper. Paul explained that it shows the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). So it points to what Jesus has already done, and it anticipates His return.
So how is the Sabbath a shadow? As has been clearly pointed out, God’s resting on the seventh day marked the completion of the physical creation. When we understand that God has a spiritual creation being worked out, then we can appreciate that the literal seventh day Sabbath that we observe, anticipates the completion of this grand project, which we are at the heart of. There is indeed a rest that we are looking forward to. This is a time when we will have reached our ultimate state, when there will be no more sorrow, pain or death! It will be a time of everlasting joy and happiness in the presence of God the Father and Jesus Christ (Rev. 21:1-4). Not even the life Adam experienced before his sin will compare to the kind of life we will come to. (To learn more about the fantastic future of man, request the article, The Destiny of Man!)
We begin to enter this rest when we come to Jesus, the son of God (Heb. 4:3). Just as how the Sabbath was a reminder of God’s delivering Israel from the bondage of Egyptian slavery (Deut. 5:15), so it is a reminder of the deliverance from the bondage of sin, that was wrought through the magnificent work of Christ on the cross, and after His resurrection. This deliverance is available to us by faith. However, it is not sufficient to simply start the course; we must finish it too! “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning of it” (Eccl. 7:8). We can lose even what we have already, if we fail to abide in faith and cooperate with Jesus, the author and finisher of our salvation (Heb. 12:2). But once we receive the end of our faith, we will have permanently attained the joy that has been set before us.
This is why the writer of Hebrews wrote:
“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their [ie. ancient Israel’s] example of disobedience” (Heb. 4:9-11).
(For a more thorough treatment of Hebrews 4, request the study, Should Christians Keep the Sabbath?).
The Sabbath provides a regular reminder of the things God has in store for us. It reminds us that there is coming an end to the strife, grief and suffering so prevalent in this sick world. It gives us a foretaste of the glory to be revealed, and reaffirms to us that all the struggles we go through now, will not only come to an end, but will be well worth going through.
Physical Rejuvenation
At the very least, the Sabbath provides opportunity for physical rejuvenation. God understands the limitations of our bodies, and established the weekly cycle with this day of rest to provide both spiritual and physical refreshing. Considering the fast paced society we live in, with all the hustle and bustle throughout the week, a day of rest should be most welcomed. Thank God such a day exists!
It is important to understand that because we are creatures with both spiritual and physical components which are integrally linked, to maximise the physical benefits of the Sabbath, we must have a good appreciation for its spiritual application, as has been highlighted throughout this article.
Conclusion
The Sabbath is so rich in meaning that a lot more could truly be said to demonstrate the virtues of keeping it. But it is not the intention of this article to try to exhaust the meaning and purpose of the Sabbath in such an academic manner. It will prove much more thrilling and meaningful when you embrace this gift of our Creator, and explore the joys of Sabbath-keeping yourself. If you are already a Sabbath-keeper, hopefully you’ll be even more motivated to participate in this blessing, and to keep it in a positive light with the right focus. If you’re not a Sabbath-keeper, it is hoped that you will have a desire to learn more of this blessed holy time –God’s gift to man.
*Note that in Scripture, days begin at evening, or around sunset, so the Sabbath starts Friday evening and ends Saturday evening.