Ep. 38. Exodus 31 | The Sabbath

EPISODE 38

THE SABBATH: EXODUS 31

The Sabbath is one of the most important concepts in the Bible, and sadly, it keeps a lot of Christians trapped in the works of the Law. I've already pointed out, but it bears repeating, that the Sabbath was a weekly observance for the Hebrew people where they refrained from all manner of work. Even during the forty years in the wilderness, they were not given manna on the Sabbath to keep them from working for their daily bread. There was also a Sabbath year every seventh year where the people were forbidden from sowing or harvesting any crops. Every fiftieth year was a Sabbath year called the Year of Jubilee. Again, they were banned from planting or harvesting, but they were also required to return debts, land, and houses and set free servants.

The penalty for breaking the Sabbath was strict: death for the violator. The purpose of the Sabbath was to show that God was the one who made men and women holy. In the New Testament, Jesus was regularly accused of breaking the Sabbath, when his disciples picked grain on the Sabbath, when Jesus healed the crippled on the Sabbath, or even setting someone free from bondage to a demon. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and reminded them that the priests work on the Sabbath and do not violate it by their work. He furthermore reminded the people that even a good man would pull his animal from a pit or lead his animal to the water on a Sabbath day. He declared that it was lawful to do good on the Sabbath. These things seldom figure into people's conversations on the Sabbath. But it gets more interesting.

The instruction for Sabbath observation is part of the Law of Moses. As is the Aaronic priesthood, the tabernacle, various washings, animal sacrifice, acceptable and unacceptable foods, and hundreds of other things. Not one of us people of faith is looking for the next priest in the line of Aaron. Jesus is our High Priest. We are not looking for an earthy temple, as our hope is firmly set in heaven. Not one of us is looking to purification rites, as Christ has made us clean. Not one of us considers this food or that unclean since Jesus declared all foods clean. Not one of us is seeking to reinstate animal sacrifice for sin since Jesus is the perfect sacrifice. My question is simple: if all of these other points of the Law have their fullness in the work of Christ, why do we still insist that the Sabbath is about taking a day off? (soap box rant redacted so you'll still love me tomorrow) Where, or better yet, how is the Sabbath fulfilled in Christ if it is only about me taking a day off? Why does Paul refer to Sabbath days as a shadow and Christ as the substance if the Sabbath observance is only about taking a day of rest? Aaron was a shadow of Jesus, the lamb a shadow of the cross, and the tabernacle a shadow of heaven; what then is the Sabbath foreshadowing?

Thankfully for us, the answer is easy and can be uncovered by understanding Hebrews chapters three and four. These two chapters in the New Testament reference the people who wandered in the wilderness for forty years. To them, God swore, "They shall not enter my rest." It is important to see that the author of Hebrews references Psalm 95 on five separate occasions between these two chapters. That's a bit excessive, but he had a point to make. Key in on the word "rest." "They shall not enter my rest." These were the people who did not enter the Promised Land, and the reasons they didn't were because of "unbelief," "disobedience," and lack of faith. Pay attention to "lack of faith." We know that righteousness is through faith, and these people were kept from entering into God's rest because they didn't believe the "good news" by faith. Note Hebrews 4:2, "For good news came to us just as to them (the wilderness crowd), but the message they heard didn't benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest." Please tell me you see that. "We who believe ENTER THAT REST." Therefore, the rest of God is entered into by belief.

Now, you may think this has nothing to do with the Sabbath, but bear with me a bit longer. God has said, "'As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest,' although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way; 'And God rested on the seventh day from all his works." There it is; this conversation of entering into God's rest is now a conversation of the Sabbath. Still not convinced? Let's keep going. God appointed a day, "'Today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on."

Let's try to make sense of this. Most of the people died in the wilderness, but there was a new generation that entered "God's rest" as they went into the Promised Land. It seems like the conversation should be done, but it isn't. Roughly 400 years later, David wrote the 95th Psalm. (I arrive at that by adding six years of conquest in the Promised Land, roughly 350 years of Judges, 40 years of King Saul, and then the reign of David) The author of Hebrews tells us that if God had given the people rest, God would not have had to mention another rest in the prophetic words of David four centuries later. David is appealing to people to believe in God and not to harden their hearts against him as the wilderness travelers did. David, through the Holy Spirit, prophesies that there is still a rest for the people to enter into that is not the land of Canaan (which became Israel).

Look at Hebrews 4:9, "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." In other words, the Sabbath rest we are invited to is not simply a day off from work but entering into the completed work of God through Jesus Christ. We no longer have to come to God through the works of the Law. We don't have to labor any more for righteousness. We enter, by faith, into the completed work of Jesus, and we find rest for our souls. It makes me think of Jesus' entreaty to the weary people under the Law of Moses, "Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Rest! "Be still and know I am God." Or "Cease striving and know I am God." Psalm 46:10.

What was the penalty for not observing the Sabbath in the Old Testament? Death! And what is the penalty for anyone who does not come to God through the completed works of Jesus? Also death. What was the purpose God gave for the Sabbath? It was given to show that he is the one who makes us holy. So we see that our works do not make us holy, but the finished work of God, through Jesus, received by faith. And now, we see how the shadow of the Sabbath has its fulfillment in Christ.

Look, if you need a day off, take a day off. But the Sabbath we observe is a daily Sabbath of resting in the work of Jesus, resting in him.

ADDITIONAL READING: Hebrews 3-4; Psalm 95; Psalm 46:10; Matthew 12:1-12; Mark 2:23-28; Mark 3:1-4; Luke 6:1-9; Luke 13:10-16; Luke 14:1-5; Colossians 2: 8-17; Isaiah 58:13-14; Matthew 11:28-30