Divinely instituted, the Sabbath comes to us from creation and is sustained throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation.
Sabbath: Ignored, neglected; too busy to observe, too many plans for interruptions. Sabbath: Good intentions awry. Conscience pricked from weekly reminder of appointment with God. Sabbath: Old-fashioned, out-moded. Impossible in our modern age. Sabbath: Despised. Attacked. Sabbath: Old Testament. Jewish. Nailed to the cross. Done away with; replaced by grace. Such selective views on inspiration and the authority of the Scriptures belie Protestant claims to base their faith on
sola scriptura rather than tradition. No other prominent theological tenet, a divine command no less, is muted by Christians with as much silence on the subject. Except to demean the day and encourage disregard for the Sabbath, you will not find titles in Christian bookstores on this clear Scriptural teaching. We seem afraid to discuss the issue. What do we fear? For over thirty years I have served as an Army chaplain, yet today is the first time a chaplain not of my ecclesiastical endorsement has publicly addressed the topic; my commendations to Chaplain James King for his openness and honesty. I deeply appreciate him risking dialogue and sharing his pulpit with me this morning.
Divinely instituted, the Sabbath comes to us from creation and is sustained throughout the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. What does s
habbath mean? Simply put
shabbath means "ceasing" or "resting." In the textual passage of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4, the Greek words translated "rest" convey four aspects of resting. Paul recounts Israel's quest for rest from their slavery and wilderness wanderings to the Promised Land. Like the Children of Israel, we too, seek physical rest, deliverance from labor. In a world that promises so much relief from work, that has so many conveniences and labor-saving devices, and provides abundant leisure time, the need for rest seems strange. The truth reveals the opposite. Americans work more and enjoy it less. While many Europeans average 34 hours on the job, Americans laborers spend 44 and managers over 50+ hours per week working. We are a people driven by our obsessions and resulting depressions. The need for relief from our endless search for satisfaction and security turns many to chemical dependency and revolving relationships. Our disbelief in God's remedy of
shabbath/sabbatismos, resting, prevents the divine cure for our spiritual insomnia.
Second, Paul observed that the Children of Israel, once they had been established in Canaan as a nation, also failed to enter the rest of relationship God intended for His chosen people. God's purpose in choosing the Israelites as His people was not based on their merits anymore than our being chosen for salvation is based on our deserving such status. Listen to how Moses and Peter say virtually the same thing.
The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers...
Deuteronomy 7:7 - 9:29. You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
I Peter 2:9,
10.
Israel turned their status inward. Rather than proclaim the living Creator as the true God to the world, they twisted God's blessings into evidence of their own righteousness and made His provisions for their spiritual development an exclusive system of distorted legalism. Their rejection of the rest God intended for the benefit of the whole world resulted in idolatry and captivity. Though Christians would never fall into that same trap, we have swayed on the pendulum to the other egocentric extreme and determined for ourselves what part of God's plan and will agrees with convenient tradition and preconceived opinions. Then we dare call our arrogance faithful service to God. Silence is not always consent; sometimes its passive aggression, spiritual rebellion.
Drawing lessons from the past, Paul admonishes Christians to accept Christ's invitation to spiritual rest, "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. The greatest cause of weariness is not physical labor or mental exertion. Emotional distress, conflict and spiritual uncertainty drain and tire our souls most. Jesus understands our human burdens and trials. He experienced them all. Sorely tempted far more than we can ever comprehend, Jesus persevered and conquered the devil using only the same powers available to you and me - trust in God's Word and obedience to His Father's will. Yet, unlike you and me, Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us our Saviour and Lord never sinned. That is why we can approach the "throne of grace with confidence," not in ourselves, but in His perfect righteousness, and find peace and rest.
Fourth, Paul affirms again the sovereignty of God as Creator and Ruler of the universe. As man's source of life, the Creator knows what is best for the creatures He has made. And even if resting is unnecessary for divinity (after all, God does not get tired from a little creating), the divine declaration that the Sabbath is set aside as holy, sacred time for man is sufficient justification for obedient observance. Whether or not man thinks God's rest is arbitrary or convenient does not abrogate the Sabbath remaining for the people of God. "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 (Israel's) example of disobedience."
Hebrews 4:9-11.
What does the Bible teach about Jesus and the Sabbath? From my study five principles stand out. Briefly stated those principles exemplify the relationship between God and man. They are non-negotiable.
1. The Sabbath defines who we are. We are created beings, made in the image of the Creator for His honor and glory. Creatureliness implies; nay, requires a creator. Hence, man's innate desire to worship. In denying his divine origin, man turned to self-worship and sought some rational basis for existence by developing so-called scientific theories like
evilution. Believing in evolution requires more faith than accepting biblical creationism. My son was a research hydrologist . As one of the few creationists at his work-place, he was keenly aware of evolution's unscientific subjectivity and futile attempts to explain life. Evolution proudly asserts humanity's independence from God; no savior needed. The Sabbath testifies weekly of our origin; it commemorates Creation and the Creator.
Genesis 2:1-3 and the Fourth Commandment explicitly establish
yom, Hebrew for a literal 24-hour evening and morning day, as the Sabbath to be remembered, observed as sacred time for remembering our Creator and resting in His care.
2. As a measurement of time, the week is unnatural. Its source is creation and it is marked by the Sabbath. All other measurements of time are derived from known astrological events. Attempts to change the seven days weekly cycle have ended in failure. The Sabbath is God's gift of time to man given for the purpose of enhancing relationships with the Creator, the Lord's people and families. Any other use violates holy time and the Lord's purpose for us on that day. Profaning the Sabbath keeps us from receiving the full blessing the Lord wants to bestow on us.
If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy (rest) in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:13 and
14.
3. The Sabbath symbolizes salvation. All religion uses symbols to teach and convey spiritual truths. Christianity is the most temporal of all religions. As a master teacher, Jesus used everyday things of this world to illustrate the kingdom of heaven. Fourteen times He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like..." By refraining from his own works of taking care of himself six days man demonstrates practical faith in dependency on God's saving/sustaining power. Secular worldly pursuits are replaced with worship, devotional study/prayer, fellowship with one's family and church, and learning about the Creator by studying nature. The Sabbath pause halts the frantic pace of life and provides time for inspired reflection, renewal, reconciliation and redemption. It restores the whole person spiritually, relationally, volitionally, emotionally, mentally and physically.
4. The Sabbath is eternal. Neither Jesus Christ, the Apostles, nor the Scriptures abolish the Sabbath. Just because the Church has neglected teaching the sanctity of the Sabbath does not make it right to ignore or forget to keep the day holy. Jesus often took to task the theologians of His day for their transgressions. He said, "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."
Mark 7:6,
7. "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
Matthew 7:21. Speaking of the new earth for the redeemed, the prophet Isaiah describes all mankind worshipping before the Lord "from one Sabbath to another." Then three words are added showing that this prophecy was not some human prophet's fanciful dream, "says the Lord." From earth's creation to re-creation of the New Earth, and throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity the Sabbath continues as acknowledgement of God's creative and redemptive power.
5. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Referring to Himself, Christ declared, "The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Mark 2:28. As its author, the Sabbath testifies of Christ. All of the above principles have their foundation and focus in Christ. The fundamental teaching under-pinning Christianity declares Jesus Christ to be the Son of the Living God. Though you and I can never fully understand the Incarnation, that mysterious blending of divinity and humanity, we accept on faith Jesus was who the Scriptures declare God to be.
Source: Gary R. Councell (2010) Creation Sabbath
Creation Sabbath | Jesus and the Sabbath
