Enjoy the Rest!

Every day is a special, holy, and sanctified day when we walk with the Father and serve our Lord Jesus Christ. But why did God set life in a seven-day cycle? We see this not only on our calendar, but in life around us. 

Most insects take an exact number of seven-day units to develop (from two to six weeks), while chickens take three weeks and ducks take four weeks. The same is true for embryonic development with mammals: mice (3 weeks), rabbits (4 weeks), cats (8 weeks), dogs (9 weeks), lions (14 weeks), sheep (21 weeks), people (40 weeks).

This seven-day cycle is built into your body. Your heartbeat is faster in the morning for six days, and then is slower in the morning on the seventh day. Let’s see how this “sabbath” system got set up.

God’s Example of Completeness and Rest

Genesis 1 shows that in six days God sent light, set the expanse, separated land and sea, established the plant kingdom to continue and celestial bodies to support the earth. Then He brought forth birds in the air, creatures in the seas, and animals on land—including people. His culminating work was to create spirit in man (in God’s image, see John 4:24), and then God said it was all very good! The next, or seventh, day was a time to sit back and enjoy that things were completed.

Genesis 2:2,3:
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.

God wants us to recognize when things are complete so that we can rest from our labor as well. He lovingly instructed Moses to have every person (and even their animals) follow God’s example of resting on the seventh day.

Exodus 20:8-12:  
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.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

Exodus 31:15,17:  
Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord…
It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.

This says the sabbath was a “sign forever” between God and the people of Israel. God always wants people to rest in Him, and God provided a savior, Jesus Christ, to make that available. In Christ’s completeness we find the genuine sabbath, a true rest.

Moses wanted to know God and His rest.

Exodus 33:13,14:
Now therefore, if I [Moses] have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.”
And he [God] said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

When God is with us, we have true rest. Jesus Christ always did the Father’s will and is now at God’s right hand. We have “Christ in” us (Colossians 1:27), and can enjoy rest through Christ.

Matthew 11:28:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

God promised Moses rest when they went together. Christ promises us rest as we are in him.

Completeness and Rest in the Law of Moses

When God cared for the children of Israel in the desert by providing manna, He met their need completely. He even maintained their day of rest and provided double before the sabbath.

Exodus16:26-30:
Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”
So the people rested on the seventh day.

The weekly sabbath was to continue even during “busy” agricultural seasons.

Exodus 34:21:
Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Exodus 35:2;
Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord.

Leviticus 23:3:
Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

Even servants and visitors were to have a day of rest and reflection out of every seven.

Deuteronomy 5:14:
…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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

Heart Not Actions

God wanted people to recognize that it was enough to simply believe in and trust the Lord. They were to anticipate the coming Messiah, who would fulfill all legal requirements. Many religious people in Israel just “went through the motions” of keeping the sabbath. God wanted their hearts, not their religious duties.

Isaiah 1:13,14:
Bring no more vain [empty] offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.

God was tired of their empty offerings, and their keeping of the sabbath became a burden to Him. He was tired of their insincerity and self-righteousness. He wanted His people to walk in “His ways” and not their own.

Isaiah 58:13,14:  
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;
then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

These sabbaths were a sign to show people that it was God Who sanctified and set them apart, and not they themselves. They were to rest in His completed works and not their own.

Ezekiel 20:11,12:
I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live.      
Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

Christ, the End of the Law

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Old Testament law. He was the end of the law for righteousness so that we could believe on him and be saved by grace.

Matthew 5:17,18:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. 
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. 

John 1:17:
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Jesus understood His Father’s heart for the sabbath—that it was a time set aside to recognize God as our sufficiency. That is why he walked by the spirit and showed forth God’s power every day—including the sabbath.

Matthew 12:1-14:
At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.
But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him:
how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it 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 how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.
And 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 of the Sabbath.”
He went on from there and entered their synagogue.
And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse him.
He said to them, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other.
But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

Jesus taught that the sabbath was a day to have each need met from a loving God—including good food and physical healing. But the religious leaders felt threatened that he did not honor their “special day” according to their narrow-minded standards.

John 9:14-16:
Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.
So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.

The Apostle Paul’s Example

Paul understood that the greatest news of any day was about Jesus Christ and our completeness in him. He used the weekly sabbath as a launching pad to preach about the savior.

Acts 13:42,43:
As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath.
The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

Acts 16:13:
And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

Acts 17:2:
And Paul went in, as was his custom [his habit], and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures.

 Acts 18:4:
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Our Completeness and Rest in Christ

We receive God’s righteousness when we believe He raised His Son from the dead, and make Jesus our lord. We don’t have to work for righteousness by keeping a special day of the week.

Romans 10:4,9,10:
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. 
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 

There does remain a sabbath rest for God’s people—but it is not a certain day of the week. Every day is a day of rest spiritually when we obey God’s Word, which is alive and energetic, living and active. Jesus Christ bought our salvation by being tempted in all ways, and never sinning. Now we have rest every day as we confidently go to our merciful and gracious heavenly Father for help when we need it.

Hebrews 4:9-16:
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.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We are not complete in our own works and attempts to keep earthly days or regulations. The sabbath given to Moses long ago was only a “shadow” of the completeness and rest we now have in Christ. We have true forgiveness, rest, and peace without doing the works of the law.

Colossians 2:10-17:
And you [are complete] in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ,
having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let’s go forth each day, and enjoy God’s true rest, a sabbath of spiritual sanctification, through our lord and savior, Jesus Christ!