My Soul Rests in God (Gen 2:1-3)

Do we still keep the [Mosaic] law? Some of you may want to offer a caveat, drawn from your personal study, a message, or a Sunday School class. You conclude, “we do not keep all the law of Moses.” Through Moses, God divided the law into three parts: moral, civil, and ceremonial. You might respond, “we don’t keep the ceremonial or civil, but we keep the moral.” Most clearly seen, God synthesized the moral law in the ten commandments.

So then, do we keep the moral law? Do we keep the ten commandments? You may reply, “yes.” But do we actually still follow the fourth commandment which consists of “remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God” (Ex 20:8-10). From creation, the Sabbath was on Saturday. We don’t observe the Sabbath in the same way God did following creation and we don’t observe the Sabbath in any form similar to the Jews on Saturday.

“Okay, we still observe the Sabbath, but in the New Testament, the Sabbath rest was moved to Sunday.” But was it? And even if it was, do we observe it the way God intended for us.

What should our Sabbath rest look like today?

Purpose statement. On the seventh day of the creation week, God established the ideal of rest that would manifest in both physical rejuvenation and spiritual delight.

God establishes a Sabbath rest.

God ceased from His good and complete work.

God did not rest because he was exhausted and needed a nap. When Moses writes of how God “rested on the seventh day,” he does not imply God exhausted himself by working hard for six days. Rather, God’s work came to an end. God ceased working.[1]

God completed his task and paused to fully appreciate his finished and perfect work.[2]

God blessed and consecrated the 7th day.

God blessed the 7th day. God typically blesses people. In this case, uniquely, God blesses a day. In doing so, God determined and declared the 7th day to be a blessing and to set aside for a noble purpose.

Piper. What does it mean for God to bless a day? I think it means that he makes the day a time of blessing. When God blesses a man, the man becomes rich with blessings. When he blesses a land, the land becomes rich with blessings. So when he blesses a day, that day becomes rich with blessings.[3]

The noble purpose? The sabbath blesses man by offering a day for man to (1) rest from his work, and (2) revel in the perfect and complete work of God.[4]

Israel displays sabbath rest (and sabbath breaking).

Manna: the precursor. God offered a precursor to Israel’s sabbath observation in outlining how to gather manna (Ex 16:22-30). After outlining the method of collecting twice as much manna on the sixth day, Moses explains to the people the reason for the Lord’s command, “Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord” (Ex 16:23). In so doing, Moses connects their day of rest to a day set aside for holy purposes – that being the worship of God.[5]

The Law: Sabbath rest codified. Four chapters later, in Exodus 20, while the people gather at the bottom of Mount Sinai, God delivers the Law to Moses. Part of this law – the fourth commandment – God codifies Israel’s observance of the Sabbath. Moses writes “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates” (Ex 20:10).

Sabbath intended to provide rest and refreshment. Again, in Exodus, Moses further explains the purpose of the Sabbath rest. He writes, “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest (tisabbat); that your ox and your donkey may have rest (nahat, rest), and the son of your servant woman, and the alien, may be refreshed (napas, take breath, refresh oneself)“ (Ex 23:12).

Sabbath intended to allow for worship. Moses reveals this aspect of sabbath worship in a couple text. (1) In Exodus he declares “the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death” (Ex 31:15). (2) Also, in Deuteronomy, he informs Israel God commanded the Sabbath rest so that Israel “shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut 5:15). In Genesis, God ceased from his work and celebrated this good and completed work. In Deuteronomy, Moses adds a good work which Israel should celebrate on the Sabbath – God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt.[6]

Captivity: sabbath rest ignored. Israel suffered serious consequences for ignoring God’s sabbath rest.

Israel’s seventy years of Babylonian Captivity offer one such dramatic example. Jeremiah warned Judah that their whole land would “become a ruin and a waste” due their idolatry. Babylon, sovereignly directed by God, would come and take Judah captive for seventy years (Jer 25:11-12)[7]. Why seventy years? The author of 2 Chronicles answers that question. He writes, “to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years” (2 Chron 36:21). For 490 years, Judah had chosen to not observe the sabbath rest for the land. Judah should have allowed the land to rest every seventh year. They refused. As a result, God removed them from the land for 70 years, allowing the land to rest.[8]

These dramatic consequences likely offer a backdrop to the legalism surrounding the Sabbath during the life of Jesus. History offers evidence that the Jews learned to observe the Sabbath. During the intertestamental period, foreign invaders chose to attack on the Sabbath, in part, because they knew the Jews would be “at rest and quietness” and would not be prepared to defend themselves on the Sabbath.

Josephus on Alexander’s defeat of Jerusalem (323-283 BC). He also seized upon Jerusalem, and for that end made use of deceit and treachery; for as he came into the city on a Sabbath day, as if he would offer sacrifice, he, without any trouble, gained the city; while the Jews did not oppose him for they did not suspect him to be their enemy; and he gained it thus, because they were free from suspicion of him, and because on that day they were at rest and quietness; and when he had gained it, he reigned over it in a cruel manner. [9]

Maccabees on Apollonius capturing Jerusalem (168 BC). Who coming to Jerusalem, and pretending peace, did forbear till the holy day of the sabbath, when taking the Jews keeping holy day, he commanded his men to arm themselves. And so he slew all them that were gone to the celebrating of the sabbath, and running through the city with weapons slew great multitudes (2 Mac 5:25–26).[10]

Jesus expands significance of sabbath rest.

Jesus’ interaction throughout the gospels, indicates a few things. (1) Jesus observed the Sabbath. The gospel authors indicate Jesus’ normal custom of going to the synagogue on the Sabbath (Mark 1:21, 6:2; Lk 4:16, 31, 13:10). Jesus followed the patterns and customs outlined in the OT regarding the Sabbath. (2) The Jews had imposed expectations on the Sabbath beyond what God intended. On several occasions, Jesus purposefully acted in a way that drew the ire of the religious leaders over his observance of the Sabbath: plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath (Matt 12:1-8; Mk 2:23-28; Lk 6:1-5), the healing of the man with a withered hand (Matt 12:9-14; Mk 3:1-6; Lk 6:6-11), a woman with a disabling spirit for 18 years (Lk 13:10-17), Jesus confronting the Pharisees about whether it’s acceptable to heal on the Sabbath (Lk 14:1-6), and the case of a man born blind (John 9). (3) Jesus does not do away with the Sabbath, rather he more fully fulfills the Sabbath. In Mark, Jesus indicates the value of the Sabbath for mankind. Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).[11]

In connecting the Sabbath to Genesis, Jesus extends its value beyond just Israel to all mankind.

At this point, other than possessing an awareness of Jesus resurrection on the first day of the week, we would have no biblical rationale for changing the “sabbath rest” to a Sunday instead of a Saturday. God rested on the seventh day. God commanded Israel to rest on the seventh day. Jesus and his disciples observed sabbath on the seventh day. Based on this evidence, we should be observing the sabbath on the seventh day.

But we do not. We observe the sabbath on the first day. Why?

The church observes sabbath rest differently.

To better understand the shift in sabbath rest, let us consider a few passages through the rest of the New Testament. Before addressing these verses, let’s acknowledge that throughout the NT, we find no command to change the sabbath to Sunday. However, a few verses appear to indicate that the early church made this transition.

[Luke informs the reader of Acts that Paul customarily went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and preached (Acts 13:5, 42, 44, 16:13, 17:2, 18:4). In these passages, Luke references Saturday as the Sabbath, yet Paul’s ministry appears to primarily be spent in preaching in the synagogue.]

Paul practices and instructs the early church to worship on Sunday.

On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. (Acts 20:7).

On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Paul seems to indicate a lessened importance for the seventh day (Sabbath?) in his letter to the Colossians (2:16)[12]. Paul tells the believers to not pass judgment on one another in how each other observes a Sabbath. Again, in Galatians, Paul confronts those influenced by the Judaizers. Some were strictly observing “special days and months and seasons and years” (Gal 4:10). He cautions them from being enslaved to the Mosaic law.

Silva. Much controversy surrounds the question of the proper Christian view of the fourth commandment. On the one hand, it is clear that if the Sabbath is treated only as an element in the Mosaic economy or as a Jewish ritual, those who place their faith in Christ have been freed from it. And certainly the NT writers show no interest whatever in detailed or ceremonial regulations concerning its observance. On the other hand, Christians acknowledge that they are not free to disobey the other commandments of the Decalogue (“You shall have no other gods before me”; “You shall not commit adultery”; etc.). Moreover, the rationale that the Decalogue itself gives for the fourth commandment, far from being ceremonial in nature, involves the great theological themes of creation (in Exod 20) and redemption (in Deut 5)… the eschat. significance of Christ’s resurrection is reflected in the change from the seventh to the first day of the week. At the same time, it preserves continuity with the celebration of a day that calls to mind God’s creative and redeeming work.[13]

If it is true that God intended for the church to practice the sabbath rest differently, what event could have resulted in such a change? Let us go back to the initial institution of this day of rest. God had created all things. His work was perfect and complete. He then ceased from his work and took a moment to celebrate the glory of his complete work.

Similarly, when Jesus accomplished his redemptive work on the cross and then rose from the dead, the day of his resurrection became a significant moment of celebrating the completed and perfect work of God. The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus – his perfect and completed work – becomes the impetus which drives the early church – and consequently the following 2,000 years – of church worship being on Sunday, the first day of the week.

Conclusion

Let me outline the few overriding principles drawn from this brief study. (1) God gifted man the sabbath in order that man (and animal) may rest and be physically refreshed. (2) God always intended for the sabbath to be an opportunity to pause in order to marvel and celebrate the amazing, perfect, and completed work of God. (3) God intended for the sabbath to be a delight not a duty.

Some cautions. (1) Our inability to rest displays a lack of trust in God. (2) If you observe the sabbath rest as a duty, you have completely misunderstood its intended purpose. If you consider the worship part of Sunday as an inconvenience, keeping you from the pleasures of this world, you need to pause for a while and consider your imbalance. (3) If God is not part of your sabbath rest, you have completely missed the purpose. The sabbath is intended to provide physical refreshment for man but also includes worship of God. If all you is rest you are missing one of the two primary components to the sabbath.

Footnotes

[1] Ross, 113–14. Walton, Genesis, 146. Victor P. Hamilton, “2323 שָׁבַת,” Harris, Jr, and Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 902. | Ross. The word actually means “cease,” more than “rest” as understood today. It is not a word that refers to remedying exhaustion after a tiring week of work. Rather, it describes the enjoyment of accomplishment, the celebration of completion. | Walton. Lexicographers and commentators have reached a consensus that the Qal of the verb šbt means “to cease” rather than “to rest.” | TWOT. The basic thrust of the verb is, when transitive, “to sever, put an end to,” and when intransitive, “to desist, to come to an end…The translation “to cease, desist” can be illustrated in the following verses: “Day and night shall not cease” (Gen 8:22); “The seed of Israel shall cease from being a nation (Jer 31:36): “So these three men ceased to answer Job” (Job 32:1).

[2] Walton, Genesis, 147. | the lexical information suggests that the seventh day is marked by God’s ceasing the work of the previous six days and by his settling into the stability of the cosmos he created, perhaps experiencing refreshment as he did so. By blessing it, he extends his favor to it.

[3] John Piper, “Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy,” from Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007). Message was preached on October 6, 1985.

[4] James G. Murphy, Notes on the Old Testament: Genesis (Boston: Estes and Lauriate, 1873), 70–71. | Murphy. he blessed the seventh day. Blessing results in the bestowment of some good on the object blessed. The only good that can be bestowed on a portion of time is to dedicate it to a noble use, a peculiar and pleasing enjoyment.

Piper, “Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy.” | And what does it mean that he hallows the day? “Hallows” is the same word as “sanctifies.” It means set the day aside for special focus on what is holy, namely, God and his holy works.

[5] Wenham, Genesis 1-15, 1:36. | “Exod 16:22–30 suggests that Israel first learned about the Sabbath in the wilderness, though Exod 20:8, like this passage, asserts that the Sabbath idea is as old as creation itself. In observing the seventh day as holy, man is imitating his creator’s example.”

[6] Victor P. Hamilton, “2323 שָׁבַת,” Harris, Jr, and Waltke, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 903. | TWOT. Exodus then connects the Sabbath with creation described in Genesis and Deuteronomy connects the Sabbath with deliverance from Egypt described in Exodus. Thus every Sabbath, Israel is to remember that God is an emancipator, a liberator. The early Christians were on target, it seems, when they connected the day of rest with the remembrance of Christ’s resurrection. He is the one who gives freedom.

[7] This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, making the land an everlasting waste. (Jer 25:11–12).

[8] Bryan C. Babcock, “Sabbath,” John D. Barry et al., Lexham Bib le Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012). | The events described in Nehemiah likely occur in the fifth century bc after some Israelites have returned to Judah from exile in Babylon. Apparently, many people had abandoned the celebration of the Sabbath and many of God’s ordinances. The passages in Nehemiah stress the importance of the Sabbath celebration (9:14). Nehemiah 10:31 reiterates a prohibition against commerce on the Sabbath as well as the sabbatical rest for the land and the remission of debts every seven years. Nehemiah 13:15–22 specifies the prohibition against commerce includes: treading wine, loading, transporting, selling grain, grapes, or figs, buying goods from foreigners. These acts are said to “profane the Sabbath” and were part of the reason for God’s prior judgment upon Judah.

[9] Titus Flavius Josephus, The Works of Josephus: Complete & Unabridged, trans. William Whiston (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1987), 308.

[10] The Apocrypha: King James Version (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995), 2 Mac 5:25–26.

[11] Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology and Exegesis, Volumes 1-5 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014), 225–26. | The material discussed so far leads us to conclude that, though Jesus broke through the rabbi[nical] traditions about the Sabbath, he was not seeking to annul the observance of the day. In the pericope treated above under (a), moreover, we find a positive statement by Jesus regarding the Sabbath. According to Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Here its institution is stated to have been for the good of humanity, and it would seem that there is at least an indirect ref. to the account in Gen 2:1–2

[12] “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” (Col 2:16–17).

[13] Silva, 227.