Sabbath Rest
THIRD QUARTER 2021
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #10
SEPTEMBER 4, 2021
“SABBATH REST”
Read for this week’s study: Genesis 1:26, 27; Genesis 9:6; 2 Peter 2:19; Romans 6:1-7; Exodus 19:6; John 5:7-16.
Memory Text: “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3, NKJV).
The issue of the Sabbath, as a part of God’s Law, is of course central to end time events, in Seventh Day Adventist understanding of Bible prophecy. It is also a direct result of the Biblical presentation of the Creation account, of the truth that God rested on the Seventh day, and then blessed and sanctified it as a Holy Day for all mankind.
The recent objection to the Sabbath is based on the attempt to interpret Hebrews 4 as saying Christ is our Sabbath Rest, thus eliminating the day which was supposedly a symbol of that rest. We will discuss that issue during this Lesson.
I would like to first respond to a more common objection, which is based on Deuteronomy 5:15.
- Deuteronomy 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm: therefore, the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
The idea is that the Sabbath was to be observed ONLY by those who were redeemed from Egypt.
- Let us look at a few other verses to investigate this thinking. First, let us study Deuteronomy 15:11. “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore, I command thee, saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” This is followed by Deuteronomy 15:15 which says, “And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore, I command thee this thing today.”
The logic would then follow, ONLY those who were redeemed from Egypt are to care for the poor. Does that seem correct? Let us look further.
- Leviticus 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Leviticus 11:45 “For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
The logic would be that ONLY those who were redeemed from Egypt are to be holy. Yet, the NT tells us, in 1 Peter 1:15 “But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.
1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, be ye holy; for I am holy. Obviously, the call in both the Old and New Testaments is to reflect the character of God.
- Leviticus 19:35 “Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.” Leviticus 19:36 “Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
The logic would be that ONLY the ones redeemed from Egypt should use accurate weights and measures.
It is obvious that these issues and moral issues apply to all people, not merely the Israelites redeemed from Egypt. They were redeemed from oppression and a pagan environment so that they could practice their own faith, but their faith was not exclusive, but inclusive, as we read in Isaiah 49:6 and Isaiah 56:1-7.
Isaiah 49:6 “And he said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isaiah 56:1 “Thus saith the LORD, keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.
Isaiah 56:2 Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil.
Isaiah 56:3 Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from His people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree.
Isaiah 56:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant.
Isaiah 56:5 Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant.
Isaiah 56:7 Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon my altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.”
Some have argued that Paul went into the synagogue on the Sabbath, seen in Acts 13, 16, 18, merely to evangelize the Jewish people, and was already observing Sunday as a part of the “New Covenant.” Let us look at Acts 13:46, which is indicative of the end of the 490-day prophecy of Daniel 9, and the end of Jewish probationary time.
Acts 13:46 “Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.
Acts 13:47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”
Paul turns to the Gentiles, finding the Jews “unworthy of everlasting life. Jesus, of course, in Matthew 21:43 said “Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.” The Gospel then went to the Gentiles, YET, in Acts 16 and 18, Paul is still observing the Sabbath. He continues to try to win individual Jews as well as Greeks, but the Jewish nation has lost their calling, and the evangelistic work was taken over in the New Testament period by Gentile believers. The Jews obviously could not bring “salvation” to the world, as they denied the Messiah, the bringer of that salvation.
1 Corinthians 7:19 “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.” Paul believed that a faith which works by love will be demonstrated in loving obedience to God’s Law, for His honor and glory.
THE SABBATH IN CREATION
The Seventh day of the week is, of course, blessed and sanctified by God after He rested on that first day of 24 hours, in the completion of, and celebration of His finished creation, with the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of His creative work. The other things mentioned in creation are meant for all mankind, such as vegetation, the animals, marriage, etc. Obviously, and logically, the Seventh Day was also meant for all mankind.
Mark 2:27 “And He said unto them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mark 2:28 Therefore the son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”
The word for “man” is ANTHROPOS which refers to mankind.
The reason why there is no command for Adam and Eve to keep the first Sabbath is that it was not established on that first day. God rested from His creative work for those 24 hours, showing His desire for it to be a day of rest and contemplation of His work in Creation, and then the day was blessed and sanctified, and thus they observed it on the second Saturday, and it has remained as God’s memorial of Creation.
SUNDAY
The Sabbath is the one commandment in which we are told to “remember” it. Some argue that the term “Sabbath” is not in the creation account, but the Fourth Commandment of Exodus 20 of course links the terms Sabbath with the Seventh Day of the week in Creation. (See Exodus 20:8-11.)
We were created in the Image of God, as Genesis 1:26-27 and Genesis 9:6 point out. We not only worship our Creator, but we have been given a special responsibility to have “dominion” over creation. We care for God’s creation, for in doing so, we show respect for the Creator, and we show our mutual responsibility to each other.
THE SABBATH IN HEBREWS 4
This chapter is the one used by those who claim that Jesus is our Sabbath rest, instead of actually observing the day. The flow of the chapter and the key point of the chapter is extremely important.
Hebrews 4:1 “Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
The point of these first verses is that the Israelites in the wilderness experience did not enter into a GOSPEL REST, because they did not respond with faith to the preaching of the Gospel. The first REST in Hebrews is the Gospel Rest.
Hebrews 4:4 “For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works.
Hebrews 4:5 And in this place again if they shall enter into My rest.
Hebrews 4:6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:”
God’s act of resting, or ending His creative work on the 7th Day is then used to point out that some must “enter in”. Enter into what?
God rested on the Seventh Day BEFORE He then blessed and sanctified the day itself as a Holy Day. The Israelites and all mankind need to experience the GOSPEL REST. Thus Hebrews 4:9 says “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” The word is SABBATISMOS, a technical term for a literal observance of the Sabbath.
The Sabbatismos remained, because they never entered in, first, the GOSPEL REST, and thus never appropriately observed the Sabbath. You cannot experience the Sabbath without first resting in the Gospel, just as God did not bless and sanctify the day, before first resting from His creative works. We are to “rest from our works, as God did from His.”
The GOSPEL REST is experienced EVERY DAY. The Sabbath Rest is a special day, once a week, to in a special way walk with God, in celebration of His Creation, and Redemption in the Gospel event.
THE SABBATH AS RELEASE FROM BONDAGE
As Israel was released from literal bondage, or slavery from Egypt, we can be released from the slavery of sin. Genesis 4:7, Hebrews 12:1, and 2 Peter 2:19 all speak of our delivery from the bondage, or weight, of sin. Romans 6:1-7 tells us the wonderful truth that we can claim the promise, and experience the death to sin, and rise to a new life.
The Sabbath is a major key in the victory over sin, as Isaiah 58 tells us.
Isaiah 58:13 “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isaiah 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
If we “die to self” and observe the day truly focused on our relationship to God, we will “delight in the Lord”, and we will be fed with the “heritage” of Jacob. The “heritage” of Jacob is the story of wrestling with the angel, overcoming or prevailing, and thus given a new name, “Israel.” The Biblical principle is “by beholding we become changed.” Isaiah 58 is telling us that the proper and disciplined observance of the Sabbath is key to learning, every day, to “die to self” and live for Christ.
THE SABBATH AS UNIVERSAL
The Commandment itself, as well as other verses, point out that even the “stranger” is to be refreshed by the Sabbath.
Leviticus 19:34 “But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
Numbers 15:16 “One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.”
Exodus 12:49 “One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”
Though we should always keep in mind what the Sabbath represents to us, we should remember, too, what it should tell us about others, as well. In a sense, our resting and relating to our Creator and Redeemer will drive us automatically to look at others with new eyes, to see them as beings created by the same God as we were, loved by the same God Who loves us and Who died for them as well as for us. As we have seen (Exodus 20:10, Deuteronomy 5:14), the servants, the strangers, even the animals should be given a Sabbath rest.
THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH
Jesus has been accused of “breaking the Sabbath. Of course, the accusation was made by the Jews, who did not understand the issues involved, and thus would look with critical eyes and lacking in true spiritual discernment.
John 5:18 “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.”
Jesus taught that service to others is an appropriate way of observing the true meaning of the Sabbath, instead of breaking it. He clearly taught that “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Isaiah 58 is very instructive in ministering to human need as the essence of the meaning of the Sabbath, in our work for others during that day.
Christ’s words are also evidence of the perpetual nature of the Sabbath. Three verses tell us:
1 Timothy 6:3 “If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness.
1 Timothy 6:4 He is proud, knowing nothing.”
John 14:15 “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Matthew 28:20 “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:”
We are told to go to the entire world, in the Great Commission, and teach them the words of Jesus, the commandments of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus. This would include, of course, the Gentile world. Therefore, we are to teach the entire world that it is “lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” His words were not only meant for the Jews, based on the Great Commission.
THE SABBATH AS A SIGN
Exodus 31:16 “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.
Exodus 31:17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed.”
There are those who claim that the Sabbath is a sign of the “Old Covenant” with literal Israel, and not a part of the New Covenant. Of course, Romans 2:28-29 defines a true “Jew” as not one outwardly in the flesh, or in genetic inheritance, but inwardly in the heart. Galatians 3:28-29 defines a believer in Christ as “Abraham’s seed”. The New Covenant in Hebrews 8:10 is made with the “House of Israel” thus indicating the spiritual, universal nature of the term “Israel” to all believers in Christ. The term “Israel” was not first given to a nation but, again, to Jacob, after wrestling with the angel. The term’s original intent was to suggest a spiritual condition of faith and overcoming, and not merely a genetic race. It was given to the descendants of Abraham, for God wanted them to follow in the faith of Abraham, becoming His Covenant people, who would then take His message as a “light to the gentiles.” Hebrews 4:2, mentioned above, obviously indicates that the Old Testament Israelites had the same gospel preached to them as we do today.
The Sabbath remains as a sign of our faithfulness and loyalty to Christ.
God’s Sabbath is a constant reminder of our origins, our liberation, our destiny, and our responsibility to the outcasts and the marginalized. In fact, the Sabbath is so important that instead of our coming to it, it comes to us, every week and without exception, a perpetual reminder of who we are, who made us, what He is doing for us, and what He will ultimately do for us when He makes new heavens and a new earth.
A holy God invites His human covenant partners to consider the rhythm that governs what really counts — the saving relationship between the Creator and Redeemer and His wayward creation. Every week, and with the force and authority that comes from God, we are commanded to enter into the rest that we have been freely given in Christ Jesus, “the Author and Finisher of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2, ).as a sign of our faithfulness and loyalty to Christ.
~Pastor Tom Cusack