The gift of the Sabbath

SCRIPTURE:

Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Luke 6:5

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” Luke 6:9

Let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink, or in respect to a holy day or the new moon or the Sabbath days. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. Colossians 2:16-17

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11

OBSERVATION:

The law of the Sabbath day was first introduced by God as the fourth of the Ten Commandments and the basic premise of this law was that no one was to work on the seventh day, which was to be a day of rest, since God Himself rested on the 7^th day after 6 days of Creation. It was basically a day when man stopped focusing on their work, but instead turned their attention and worship to God. The Sabbath also one of the things that set Israel apart from all other nations, which worked all seven days throughout the year. The Sabbath was a great blessing for Israel, allowing the people to rest and recuperate before starting the work week again.

However, by the time Jesus came and walked on the earth, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law had turned the Sabbath day into a great burden by introducing all sorts of ridiculous laws as to what did or did not constitute work. For example, under their interpretations, you could not pluck out a grey hair from your head, which was “reaping” or move furniture or wear jewelry on your body which was considered carrying a “burden”. Hence, what God had meant for rest, had instead become a great burden for the people, who had to keep watching themselves and behave unnaturally to keep the Sabbath. Judaism hence became a form of religion without any substance. The Pharisees could not care less about the sick, condemning them for being healed on the Sabbath. There was no love, no concern at all for their fellow Jews.

The Lord zealously went all out against this man-made tradition, healing on the Sabbath before them, again and again. He insisted before them that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath, to save life rather than to destroy.

Interestingly, through the New Testament, there is no commandment for Christians to observe the Sabbath day the way the Jews did. Rather, the apostle Paul exhorts us not to let ourselves be judged by anyone in regard to any holy day or Sabbath day.  The early Christian church however, chose Sunday, the first day of the week, to celebrate and worship the Lord together, as it was on Sunday, that the Lord rose again. Following this tradition, later the Emperor Constantine declared Sunday as a compulsory rest day for the entire Roman Empire and the practice has filtered down to world practice today.

Bear in mind too, that in the early Christian church, the Gentile and Jewish believers continued to work on Sundays, which was a normal working day. Hence, they had to hold their worship services either early in the morning or late at night until Constantine’s Sunday law came to pass in 321 AD.

Remember how Paul mentioned that the Sabbath was only a shadow of things to come, and that the reality has been found in Christ Jesus. The basic principle of the Sabbath is to find rest in God, and because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, we are now able to enter that precious rest of God. We enter into this rest by believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in this rest, we have peace with God and freedom to live for Him.

APPLICATION:

What then is the application of the Sabbath for us today? For one, we are not to judge anyone in regard to which day they choose to worship the Lord. Our Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and it is for us individually to follow our Lord’s leading as to which day we would like to commit to Him as a day of worship. At the same time, we should not think that our commitment to God is restricted to only one day or even only for the period of the church service. . If Jesus is our Lord, He is Lord not only of Sunday or the Sunday service but of every day and every hour of our lives.

Neither should we think that the Sabbath-rest is about staying home in bed or idle leisure. Our Lord Jesus was active on the Sabbath, preaching, teaching and healing the sick. He was doing what was good, serving God among the people. Interestingly, Jesus also said “To this day, my Father is always at work, and I too am working”. Being in rest in Jesus does not mean being idle or doing nothing, but being free to follow Him and do good as He leads us, by His power. There are times of physical rest, but also times of active service all according to His leading.

To follow Jesus as Lord is not burdensome when we learn to yield. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. As we journey with Him, we find that the more we lose our lives to Him, the more we find true life and meaning. The more we rest from our own works and move in Him, the more joyful and restful life becomes. That then, is our ultimate Sabbath objective, to learn to rest from our own works and human efforts and allowing Jesus to work in us more and more, to do God’s will, to do good and bless, even in this precious rest.

PRAYER:

We praise You and thank You, precious Abba Father God, blessed Lord Jesus. We thank You for the beauty of the Sabbath, which You gave to us. We thank You for this precious rest, that You prepared for us and call us to. We thank You, Lord, that in this rest, we can have peace, and cease from our vain efforts and strivings. Help us we pray, dear Lord, to stay and remain in this rest, even allowing You to move and live within us, to do Your will, doing good and blessing others, for Your glory. We praise You and love You, Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.