IN THE BEGINNING PART 10

The Disciples, Pharisees, and the Sabbath

See Matthew 12:1-8...

Deuteronomy 23:25 “If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain.”

Luke 6:1 “On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands.”

Mark 2:27 “And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

The Sabbath was designed to be a time of rest for God’s people. It was a time to remember that God was their creator and redeemer. It was a day to worship Him in light of these truths. It was a reminder that they were dependent on the Lord and He would provide for them. These man-made traditions had taken a day that was supposed to be a blessing and made it a burden.

Matthew 12:11-12 “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.””

Jesus here reaffirms that the Sabbath was given for God’s glory and for man’s welfare. It was never intended to restrict the expression of love through deeds of necessity, service to God, or acts of mercy.

Matthew 15:7-9 “You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ””

John 5:8-9 “Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.”

John 5:16-17 “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.””

New Testament Teaching on the Sabbath

See Hebrews 8:1-13… (Jeremiah 31:31-34) Especially verse 5 and 13.

Matthew 5:17-18 ““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

Hebrews 9:8-10 “By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.”

Hebrews 10:1 “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.”

Hebrews 10:9 “then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.”

Hebrews 7:18-19 “For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.”

Colossians 2:16-17 “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.”

Galatians 4:9-11 “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.”

Romans 14:4-7 “Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 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. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself.”

Acts 15:10-11 “Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.””

Acts 15:19-20 “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.”

A Sabbath Rest for the People of God

See Hebrews 4:1-11...

God’s true rest comes not through a Moses or a Joshua or a David. It comes through Jesus Christ.

Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.””

Revelation 14:13 “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!””

And so, rest – the true rest, the true Sabbath – is salvation. We could say this: the Mosaic Sabbath, the prescripted Sabbath in the Ten Commandments was a dim reflection of Eden’s perfect rest looking back, and of salvation’s perfect rest looking forward. In the Mosaic Sabbath, the sinner faced his need of true rest – rest from the weariness of guilt and shame and struggle. The rest of Hebrews is the salvation of God with all of its delights fulfilled in the glory of that eternal heavenly Eden. And once you’ve entered into that rest, which is provided by the new covenant, the external Sabbath of the old covenant has no more meaning.