We have been talking about our work of evangelism for a while, so this Sunday I plan to look at the idea of rest. Our sermon text will be Exodus 16, where God first teaches Israel to observe the Sabbath as a way to rest on God’s promises. The Sabbath is a difficult topic, because Bible-believing Christians often disagree on how the Sabbath applies to us today. I hope to focus less on the disagreements and more on the joyful rest we have in Christ. But, just to get your mind working on the idea of the
Sabbath, here are nine observations I’ve made in my preparation so far:

Resting on the seventh day is a matter of conscience.  Romans 14:4 states, “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” We are free to observe a day of solemn rest, and we are free to treat all days the same. We should not look down on those who disagree with us. (See also: Colossians 2:16-17, Galatians 4:10-11.) Interestingly, the early church did not treat Sunday as a day of rest, since many of the earliest Christians were slaves and laborers who would have been required to work form dawn to dusk. They were committed to corporate worship on Sunday, but most likely gathered sometime
between midnight and sunrise.

The Sabbath was first commanded in Exodus 16. While Genesis 2 records God’s rest on the seventh day, we don’t find any command for people to observe the Sabbath until after the exodus from Egypt.  In fact, I would argue that the Exodus 16 account indicates that the practice of Sabbath rest was new and unfamiliar to the Israelites at that point in their history.

The Old Testament did not command public worship on the Sabbath—simply rest from work. While the priesthood carried out specific sacrifices and rituals every Sabbath, the Old Testament are no clear instructions for holding public worship on the Sabbath. It would have been virtually impossible for the entire nation to gather at the temple for a worship every week. Scholar Craig Blomberg concludes, “If all we had were the Hebrew Scriptures, we might never guess that a day of rest eventually also became a day of worship.”

The Sabbath was the sign of the covenant God made with Israel on Mount Sinai. The various covenants we see in Scripture tend to have “signs” that accompany them. The rainbow was the sign of the covenant with Noah, and
circumcision the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham. Exodus 31:13 identifies the Sabbath as the sign of God’s
covenant with Israel: “Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, am the one who sanctifies you.” (See also Ezekiel 20:12, 20.)

The Sabbath was a good gift.  Exodus 16:29 says God had “given” Israel the Sabbath, just as he “gives” the manna. Most ancient near eastern cultures refrained from work on the Sabbath because they viewed it as a bad day, when the
spiritual forces of the world might cause business or labor to go poorly. By contrast, Israel was to view Sabbath as a good day, given by a good God who provides for their needs.

Sabbath rest was a way for Israel to remember to God’s glory as Creator and Redeemer.  The Bible contains two accounts of the Ten Commandments. It is interesting that each account gives a different rationale for the fourth (Sabbath) commandment. In Exodus 20:8-11, the pattern of God’s creation sets the pattern for Israel’s Sabbath rest. In Deuteronomy 5:12-15, the Sabbath is described as way for Israel to remember how God brought her out of Egypt. By putting these commandments together, we see that the Sabbath was a way for Israel to honor God as both Creator and Redeemer.

The Sabbath included care for others. Slaves, resident aliens, and even animals were granted rest on the Sabbath. Just as the Sabbath set up a weekly pattern for remembering God’s grace to the Israelites, it also set up a weekly pattern for Israel to extend the same grace to others.  The gift of Sabbath rest was given to be shared.

The Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ. Few things seemed to have irked the religious establishment as much as when Jesus healed people on the Sabbath. In response to the ire of the Jewish leaders, Jesus proclaims himself to be “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:8), and  he says that he is working just as the Father is working (John 5:17). While he doesn’t explicitly abolish the Sabbath during his earthly ministry, he does make it clear that the Sabbath must be reinterpreted now that the Messiah has come.

The Sabbath points to our rest in Christ. This article is already too long for a full explanation, but Hebrews 3-4 teaches us to strive to enter God’s promised, seventh-day rest, and the way we strive to enter that rest is to “hold fast our confession” (4:14). In other words, through persevering in our faith in Christ, we enter God’s rest.