Sabbath Rest

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." (Exodus 20: 8-11 KJV)

These words respect the weekly Sabbath, one of the ten commandments which Lord God gave to the children of Israel. The law regarding the weekly Sabbath was not a law Israel was under prior to this time, although it had been a custom with some ancient people from the time of Adam.

"Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 31: 15; 35: 2 KJV)

"Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day." (Exodus 35: 3 KJV)

These are some enlargements (or further explanations) given by Moses respecting the keeping of rest on the Sabbath day. All physical labor was to be stopped on the Sabbath day.

"Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God." (Leviticus 19: 13 KJV)

"But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard." (Leviticus 25: 4 KJV)

"...the land enjoy her sabbaths..." (Leviticus 26: 34 KJV)

Lord God commanded Israel to keep other Sabbath days, besides the weekly Sabbath. The above verses speak of "sabbaths" in the plural, and speak of the Sabbath rest for the land every seven years. There were also other special "high Sabbaths" that occurred in conjunction with certain holy feast days.

"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." (Isaiah 58: 13, 14 KJV)

These words give us both the letter and the spirit of the law regarding keeping Sabbath or of enjoying physical and religious rest. A man, if he kept the Sabbath in the manner Lord God originally intended, as a day not only to cease physical labor, but a day in which to meditate upon the Lord, and to read his word, to be happy in the Lord, rather than taking delight in worldly amusements.

The "pleasure" a man got on the Sabbath day was to come from his time spent in communion with God. It was not a day to talk idely about non-religious matters, but to spend the day in religious meditation and devotion, to talk about the things of God.

"And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them...And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God." (Ezekiel 20: 11-13, 20 KJV)

"Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you." (Exodus 31: 13 KJV)

"Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant." (Exodus 31: 16 KJV)

The above verses indicate that the laws respecting Sabbath keeping were not given to all the nations, as a "perpetual covenant" between them and Lord God, but to Israel alone.

This issue of "Sabbath keeping" has been a matter of great historical debate among Christians, and still is till this day. Are Gentile Christians, from among the non-Jewish nations, obligated to keep the Sabbath laws that Lord God gave to Israel?

Most Christians affirm that the weekly Sabbath is yet binding upon all men forever, it being what is called a "moral" precept, and "moral" precepts, it is argued, never cease. Among this majority group, there is further division, with some believing that Saturday, the seventh day, is to be regarded as the Sabbath, as it was under the law of Moses.

On the other hand, the other side affirms that the Sabbath day was changed, in the New Testament, from the "seventh day" (Saturday) to the "first day of the week," or to Sunday.

Very few, however, are consistent to the point of advocating that Christians are to strictly keep all the laws given by God respecting the keeping of Sabbath or "holy days," nearly all Gentile Christians affirming that only the weekly Sabbath is still binding, and not the numerous other Sabbaths God gave to Israel.

They also almost unanimously affirm that all "kindling of fire" on the Sabbath is not wrong (for they cook and heat their homes on the Sabbath), and that there is certainly to be no external punishment for its violation, certainly not a capital punishment.

When the New Testament writers listed the sins of the Gentiles (heathen), they never once mention the sin of sabbath breaking. The question is obvious - Why is this?

There is also no command in the New Testament for anyone, especially a Gentile Christian, to keep the sabbath laws. The other nine commandments are repeated, and made binding upon Christians as they were binding upon believers under the Old Testament. In fact, there are verses that clearly seem to condemn those Christians who make "sabbath breaking" a sin and immoral act for Christians, who are under the New Covenant, yea, even for Gentile Christians.

"Let no man therefore judge you in meat (food), or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." (Colossians 2: 15 KJV)

This is a key verse in this debate over the keeping of the Sabbath under the New Covenant (Testament). Paul, himself a Hebrew Christian, clearly affirms that no Christian may be condemned by the law for not keeping the Old Testaments dietary laws, nor its laws respecting observing religious feasts, and sabbaths, and other "holy days."

If the sabbath were still binding upon Christians to observe, then it would be a sin to not observe it; And, it would be right for other Christians to pass judgment upon that non-Sabbath keeping Christian for his non-observance. But, Paul says no one may condemn another Christian in regard to keeping Sabbath, which he would not say if the keeping of the sabbaths were still binding.

"Ye observe days, and (observe) months, and (observe) times, and (observe) years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain." (Galatians 4: 10, 11 KJV)

Paul, in these words, obviously views the observing of holy days and sabbaths, by the Christian churches of Galatia, as evidence to him that they are not understanding and not entering into the New Covenant, but are still thinking they are under the Old Covenant.

Many churches exist today in which Paul, were he here, would express the same fear when he beheld the various ways in which Christian churches have mixed together the law and the gospel, or the Old and the New Testaments. Today, most Christians are afraid of those Christians who don't keep holy days, and sabbaths, and dietary laws, and various rituals! Ironic.

"But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus (Joshua) had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest (keeping of a sabbath) to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Hebrew 3: 17-4:11 KJV)

These verses, more than any other in the New Testament, explain why Christians no longer keep the sabbaths of the Old Covenant; or more properly, they explain how Christians keep sabbath or rest in a far superior way to the carnal or physical keeping of sabbath or resting that was made obligatory upon everyone in the land of Israel.

The words - "there remains a rest" are sometimes translated as "there remains a keeping of sabbath." So, yes, there is a way and manner in which Christians do observe the sabbath. But, as said before, in a far greater way.

Remember that Paul said that the prior sabbaths and other rests under the Old Testament, were but "shadows" (or types) of the "body" (that which casts the shadow, or the antitype), the antitype being the daily experience of rest in Christ, what every believer regularly enjoys, because his salvation experience consists chiefly in his "ceasing from his own works" (for salvation) and resting in the work and person of Christ.

This kind of rest does not cease. It is not only enjoyed or realized upon Saturday or Sunday, or only one day in seven. The Christian life is a continual Sabbath, a daily rest, and this experience is exactly the thing the carnal ordinance of sabbath keeping was designed to point to symbolically.

What God is interested in, is not people keeping the carnal ordinance of simply stopping physical labor on the seventh day, but to stop trying to save themselves by their own religous and moral labors, and by their own law keeping, and righteousness, and to trust solely in Christ, who kept the law, including the Sabbath laws, on behalf of every Christian, and thus made it possible for him to enjoy rest now in Christ, in his heart, mind, and conscience, and fully in the ages to come.

"Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him." (Psalm 62: 5 KJV)

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." (Psalm 91: 1 KJV)

"Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you." (Psalm 116: 7 KJV)

"The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble." (Proverbs 19: 23 NIV)

These verses describe the "true rest" which is found in daily communion with the Lord, and in believing in his word, and trusting in Christ for salvation. A man in this state has ceased laboring under the guilt of sin, has stopped working to obtain favor with God by his own meritorious deeds, and has ended his fretting and worrying.

"All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes 2: 23 NIV)

This is the state of man in his sin, and in his guilt and shame. He does not enjoy daily mental sabbath and rest of soul. Isaiah said - "the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest." (Isaiah 57: 20 KJV)

"Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast? For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there." Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people, to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"—but they would not listen. So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there—so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured." (Isaiah 28: 9-13 NIV)

Instead of finding rest in God's word, many find God's word nothing but a bunch of rules and work requirements!

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it." (Isaiah 30: 15 NIV)

Friends, if we are not trusting in Christ, and not resting in the Lord, and in the person and work of Christ upon the cross, then we will not be saved. This matter of truly resting spiritually is intimately connected with salvation.

"...who led them through the depths? Like a horse in open country, they did not stumble; like cattle that go down to the plain, they were given rest by the Spirit of the LORD. This is how you guided your people to make for yourself a glorious name." (Isaiah 63: 13, 14 NIV)

Then those who are thus led to rest spiritually cannot thank themselves, nor any other creature, but the Spirit of God alone, for having found this precious rest in Jesus.

"This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it.'" (Jeremiah 6: 16 NIV)

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11: 28-30 NIV)

"Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—a faith and knowledge resting on the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time..." (Titus 1: 1, 2 NIV)

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." (I John 3: 18 NIV)

What precious words are these to describe the daily mental rest that believers enjoy in Christ!

"Then I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on." "Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." (Revelation 14: 13 NIV)

"And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." (Revelation 14: 11 NIV)

Two destinies are described here. The destiny of the righteous is one of eternal rest, in that land that Canaan's land typified. The destiny of the unrighteous is one of having "no rest forever." I pray everyone who reads this may be included in the former group.