 Introduction God gave the Sabbath, a special day of rest, to mankind under the Mosaic Law. The Sabbath was not meant to be a constraint or point of bondage for man. Rather, God demanded that man occasionally "rest from his labors". The Law of the Sabbath was given because God truly loves His people, and wants what is best for them. Let's see what the Bible has to say about the Sabbatical Laws.
The Mosaic Law is divided into three codexes:
The Sabbath was outlined and protected under all three codexes. It was morally wrong to break the Sabbath. It was spiritually wrong, as breaking the Sabbath ignored the shadows of Christ presented by the same. And it was socially wrong, as medically all people need to rest from their labor at least once a week. God emphasized the spiritual codex of the Sabbath in Deuteronomy, where He stated:
Man has a tendency to exalt the self-made man, to believe that your own worth is increased by the possessions that you've obtained through your labors. God emphasized that "it was He" that brought Israel out of Egypt, "it was He" that saved them with a mighty hand. On the Sabbath man was to rest and reflect on the fact that "Israel could not save herself, but had to rest on the assurances of God for salvation". When the Israelite observed the Sabbath, he paid homage to the God who saved a stiff-necked people as His own. The Sabbath was a Sunday School lesson from God: "Rest from your labors, and I will do the work of salvation". God also established special Sabbath days within the feasts of Israel to further teach the principals of waiting and resting on His provision:
During the Feast of unleavened bread, established under Moses to commemorate the Exodus, there were two Sabbaths. The Israelites ate unleavened bread because the Exodus bread was hurriedly prepared: there was no time to waste waiting on the dough to rise. The first and last days of the commemorative feast were Sabbath days, days where no work was to be accomplished by man. The feast continued for seven days because seven is the number of God in scripture. The first and last days were Sabbaths to recognize that what God begins in Grace, He will end in Grace. We are totally dependent on Him for our salvation. This is a lesson that had to be repeatedly emphasized to Israel past, just as God has to repeatedly emphasize it to us today. God established a Sabbath to protect the Promised Land:
Israel ignored this Sabbath, and caused the punishing hand of God to descend. For six years the Israelites were to farm the land that God gave them, but in the seventh (Sabbatical) year they were required to let the land lay fallow and untilled. The Israelites felt that this was ludicrous, that to waste a whole year of good cropland was foolish. As a result many Israelites neglected this Sabbath. What they failed to understand is something that man, up until recent times, has now learned. When God demanded the Sabbatical Year, He did it to "allow the land to replenish it's nutrients so it would continue to produce future crops". It hasn't been that long since America saw the epidemic of the "dust bowl" farmlands, where farmers kept planting crops till they depleted the land. Once the land was depleted, wind and erosion destroyed and carried off the topsoil, making the land totally useless. God wanted to protect Israel from this fate, so made it mandatory that the land be allowed to rest one year out of seven. God is obviously a better Farmer than many of us are! Israel ignored the Sabbatical year, so God placed them in a forced Sabbath under Babylon (2 Chron 36.20-21; Lev 25.3-4) until the land had time to rejuvenate.
God gave the Sabbath to Israel for health reasons, spiritual teaching, and to learn obedience. When Israel rejected the Sabbath, she was disciplined under the mighty hand of God. But what about the Church?
The New Testament teaches us, Church Age Believers, that we are "not under the law", but are to be controlled by the Holy Spirit of Christ. The Law was given to Israel to teach her about the coming Saviour. Today we have the Saviour, with all His provisions, and are rescued from the Mosaic Law. Israel's weekly Sabbath started at sundown Friday evening, and continued till sundown Saturday evening. The Church, in contrast, holds her day of worship on "the Lord's day", that is, the day our Saviour resurrected from the grave (Sunday).
As believers we are to daily "rest on the promises" of God, by faith in Jesus Christ. God doesn't need to make us obey a special Sabbath, teaching of a coming Saviour. Our Jesus has already come, and we who believe in Him are entered into the ultimate rest.
Jesus is our rest, our Sabbath. He paid the penalty for our sins, He did the ultimate work that one man can do for another.
Am I saying that you, as a Christian, have no need for a day of rest? No! Physically and psychologically you must cease from labor at least one day weekly, and use that time to reflect on the goodness of God in your life." The writer of Hebrews says it best, though. There does remain a rest for the people of God, and it's not a day, an ordinance, a statute. The rest that remains is the rest of salvation in Jesus. In His Sabbath we cease from our works, our feeble attempts at salvation, and trust in the finished work of the Cross. After salvation, we must labor to grow closer and closer to Jesus, to partake of His rest in our daily walk. This is a rest worth laboring for. "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 
 Send E-mail to Russ: webslave for Christ ( russ@jesuswept.com ) with questions or comments about this web site and it's content. Last modified: Thursday, December 05, 2002 |
