God's Rest

Intro

The idea of a sabbath Rest is a concept that has been argued about for ages, ever since the time of Jesus and before. In Laura Ingalls books she tells the story of her grandpa and what the Sabbath was like during their time.

Her grandpa and His brothers had just built a new sled and they really wanted to try it out. But by the time they finished it and they where done their chores it was time for the Sabbath (Saturday night till Sunday Night). They where not allowed to do anything but sit and read the bible quietly or get a spanking. On the Sunday after church after they built their sled they looked and saw their dad was asleep. They tiptoed out of the room through the back door. George looked at Grandpa and George tiptoed after James. And Grandpa looked fearfully at their father, but on tiptoe he followed George and left their father snoring.

"They took their new sled and went quietly up to the top of the hill. They meant to slide down, just once. Then they would put the sled away, and slip back to their bench and the catechism before their father woke up. "James sat in front on the sled, then George, and then Grandpa, because he was the littlest. The sled started, at first slowly, then faster and faster. It was running, flying, down the long steep hill, but the boys dared not shout. They must slide silently past the house, without waking their father. "There was no sound except the little whir of the runners on the snow, and the wind rushing past.

"Then just as the sled was swooping toward the house, a big black pig stepped out of the woods. He walked into the middle of the road and stood there. "The sled was going so fast it couldn't be stopped. There wasn't time to turn it. The sled went right under the hog and picked him up. With a squeal he sat down on James, and he kept on squealing, long and loud and shrill, 'Squee-ee-ee-ee-ee! Squee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee!' "They flashed by the house, the pig sitting in front, then James, then George, then Grandpa, and they saw their father standing in the doorway looking at them. They couldn't stop, they couldn't hide, there was no time to say anything. Down the hill they went, the hog sitting on James and squealing all the way. Needless to say they got a spanking for that one.

There has been extremes on both end of the spectrum when it comes to observing the day of rest and what it means. But what we are going to learn is that:

HBI - As followers of Jesus, God does not expect us to live by Israel’s laws. However, the wisdom of these laws remains, and the law of the Sabbath is rich with significance for us today. Sabbath is not a commandment we are bound to; it’s a promise we’re invited to enjoy.

Revelation - Insight into God’s Character

as usual we start out by digging into the base text to see what the 10 commandments has to tell us about the character of God.

Exodus 20:8 CSB

8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy:

Exodus 20:9–10 CSB

9 You are to labor six days and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your livestock, or the resident alien who is within your city gates.

The term Sabbath that we see here comes from the Hebrew verb Shabath which means to rest or to cease from work.

This is a moral law that requires us to take a portion of our time and energy and dedicate it to the worship and service of our God. But part of it is ceremonial in the sense that it prescribes a day set aside to do this. We see the seventh day of the week they where to set aside of the Lord.

This day was given to the Israelite's for them all to follow as a sign of their devotion to the Lord and their trust in Him. It was also supposed to be a witness to the pagan nations around them to whom the seventh day of the week was just another day. Even though they rested when they could be working, God would always provide.

The early church made this the first day of the week, the day of the Lord to honor the Sabbath that God imposed.

But we learn more about the sabbath as we read the last verse in the passage.

Exodus 20:11 CSB

11 For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy.

We are given an example to follow as to why we should do this, Because God Himself rested on the seventh day.

The emphasis on the last day of creation is on God’s rest. Previous to this, we are told that man is made in the very image of God and if that was the case then we can reflect God in the way that he set the example, to spend time dedicated to “resting in Him.

God did not need to rest, He is God after all. God sanctified the seventh day signifying that he had set it apart as something special for mankind.

If we go ahead a little bit in Exodus we learn a little about the seriousness of the commandment.

Exodus 31:14 CSB

14 Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it must be put to death. If anyone does work on it, that person must be cut off from his people.

It was a serious thing to disobey the commands of the Lord, so why don't we kill people now for working on the Sabbath? well we are going to look into that. There where lots of things that where not allowed to be done on the sabbath, but what work is in these verses is never reaLLY DEFINED.

But what we do see in the structure of the Sabbath commandment is that God Lead by example. He rested from work (shabat) and then He dwelt with His people. So we get the idea of resting in God and dwelling with Him.

What this tells us about God is that He desires a relationship with us, one in which we trust in Him. We can not hope to rest from work without complete trust in the Lord God. To rest, to trust, to dwell with the Lord God tells us that our God is a Holy God andf He desires a a relationship with us, one in which we give ourselves to Him. He is our creator and our sustain-er.

Instruction - The New covenant

I want to switch up the order of this a little bit. Before I get into what this tells us about ourselves and what we struggle with I think it prudent to see what the New covenant has to say about this.

Some background though, Work was never really defined, though there where some things they where told not to do and to do on the sabbath it was always meant as a way to draw closer to our creator. The pharisees and religious leaders started to add to what God had said and make laws about what and was not allowed.

Between the Pharisees and the religious leaders, though they did not agree on all of it, there where 39 categories of things that where not allowed. And then things not to do under those categories. Always adding more and more things to do that where not actually in the Bible.

Jesus came and kind of turned things on their head. We read about this in the book of Mark 2:23-24

Mark 2:23–24 CSB

23 On the Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to make their way, picking some heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

The Pharisees caught Jesus doing what they called work on the sabbath. Reaping was not allowed. But Jesus called them on it. Their hero, King David also did something that was not allowed on the Sabbath, He ate food from the temple, and then gave some to his companions as well. He was not struick down by God, and Jesus informed them of something.

Mark 2:27–28 CSB

27 Then he told them, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So then, the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

They missed the point!

As followers of Jesus, God does not expect us to live by Israel’s laws. However, the wisdom of these laws remains, and the law of the Sabbath is rich with significance for us today. Sabbath is not a commandment we are bound to; it’s a promise we’re invited to enjoy.

“Christ’s first coming did not abolish rest; it ushered in a deeper kind of rest than the Sabbath could ever offer.” According to Hebrews 4, Israel’s Sabbath day always pointed forward to a far greater day: the still-future day when all creation will enter fully into the rest foreshadowed and promised in Genesis 2:2–3, the very first seventh day. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). The ultimate Sabbath rest is coming, when God’s people will enjoy work without toil, hearts without sin, and an earth without thorns.

So what the Sabbath we learn in the new covenant, points to is the time when we will rest in God, and be in His presence for eternity. That is if we are His Children.

So, should Christians keep the Sabbath? In one sense, no: under the new covenant, no Christian is bound to the fourth commandment as such. We may still decide to rest one day in seven — and indeed, wisdom seems to support the practice of imitating God’s own 6-and-1 pattern.

In the Old Testament the literal physical rest of the Sabbath pointed to future rest; but since Christ has brought fulfillment in terms of salvation rest, it is the present enjoyment of this rest that acts as the foretaste of the consummation rest which is to come. In other words, it is the celebration on the Lord’s Day of the rest we already have through Christ’s resurrection that now anticipates and guarantees the rest that is yet to be. Without regularly experiencing this kind of rest — and with special power every Lord’s Day — it matters little how much rest we give our bodies. Our rest will be restless, and our work will become a desperate attempt to secure for ourselves the rest that we have not found in Christ.

Not so with those who have heard and heeded Jesus’s invitation to The world and the devil would have us work even while we rest. But Jesus would have us rest even while we work. And here, in this Christ-saturated resting and working, we live out the Sabbath today.

Matthew 11:28–29 CSB

28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

We find our Sabbath rest in Jesus. Jesus said to come to Him, I am your rest. We learn that the Sabbath rest is much more then going to church on Sunday, it is resting and trusting In Jesus, it is worshiping Him, it is taking time out of our day to spend with Him.

Although there is something to be said about the 6 and 1 pattern passed down to us. This is a pattern of rest that was shown throughout the OT not just for the people but for land and other things as well.

Growing up the only work besides cooking meals that we did on a Sunday was feeding the cattle. Other then that we did no field work or anything like that, even on a warm day when we should have been out in the field. Sunday’s where for worshiping God together in Church and visiting friends ad family.

But Romans has some great insight into this.

Romans 14:5 CSB

5 One person judges one day to be more important than another day. Someone else judges every day to be the same. Let each one be fully convinced in his own mind.

Some people feel the need to do this and set one day aside, others do not and that is okay. but what can we take from this?

Confrontation - Insight Into Our Character

Now it does not follow from this that the Sabbath has no significance for believers. It is a shadow, as Paul said, of the substance that is now ours in Christ. Paul’s argument is that believers now belong to the age to come and the requirements of the old covenant are no longer binding.Believers are not obligated to observe the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the sign of the Mosaic covenant. The Mosaic covenant and the Sabbath as the covenant sign are no longer applicable now that the new covenant of Jesus Christ has come. Believers are called upon to honor and respect those who think the Sabbath is still mandatory for believers. The Sabbath pointed toward eschatological rest in Christ, which believers enjoy in part now and will enjoy fully on the Last Day.

Hebrews 4:9 CSB

9 Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people.

But the idea is we are to dedicate our lives to God, dedicate time to God, whether you take a literal day to worship God and rest and trust in Him or not. The worship of God in Church remember is not a part of this, that is another command separate from rest.

we see those that never take time apart to rest and trust work themselves to stress and worry. But we fail even in this, we fail in separating time apart to be with God, we fail at resting in Him. This promise we have of resting in God, that we are invited to enjoy we do not do.

Though it is an invitation, it is also a command that we have as well. we must learn to rest in Jesus, to look forward to our future rest, to set aside time for God in our lives, to worship together.

Though we fail at this, we are promised that we can come to Jesus still, to ask forgiveness for what we have done and rest in Him, cast our burdens on Him.

so we must remember that we are called to a few things here.

Are we resting in God?

This commandment shows us who God is and why he is deserving of our time and everything that we are. What this tells us about God is that He is our creator and sustainer and the Sabbath rest tells us that He will provide for us as we spend time resting in Him. God is Holy and separate yet calls us to rest in Him.

Are we looking forward to future rest?

Though we are no longer held to the 6 and 1 style of sabbath that came in the Mosaic law, it is a pattern handed down to us by God. I think that we have swung back and forth on the importance of it over the years but there is something to be said about taking time away from work and resting in God regularly. What this does show us is that God is the great sustainer, he will provide for us.

but what this model of rest does do for us is point us to the future when as God’s children we will be with Him for eternity. It is a practice we get into now as we prepare to be with God in person. So I challenge you, if you do not know Jesus turn to Him.

Are we no enjoying the promise of the rest of God? Are we continually giving of our time to God as we trust in Him to provide for our daily needs? Are we trusting that He is Lord of all and bringing our cares to Him? Are we faithfully looking forward to the day where we will be with Him?