The Sabbath Rest

Thus the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he [God] rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which he had created and made. (Gen. 2:1-3, Ex. 20) God reminded his people to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. God told us we can work six days, but not on the seventh day, because it is the Sabbath of the Lord our God (not of the Jews as some people teach), but it belongs, to the Creator – God. He created the Sabbath, He hallowed it. The Sabbath is a part of the Ten Commandments; it is placed between the part that shows our love to God and our love to our fellow human beings (Ex 20:8-11). God rested on the Sabbath and was refreshed and this commandment was written with the finger of God himself. This is the only document we find in Scripture written with the finger of God. Amen.

We also read in Hebrews 4:1-4 ‘there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. A sinner cannot be called ‘the people of God’. It must be those that are saved by grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and then we can cease from our own works, labouring, working with our hands for our daily bread over the six days, and rest on the seventh day as God did from his. We may ask ourselves did God work again? Yes, Jesus says he did in John 5:17.

Many people who do not want to keep God’s Sabbath say that the rest in Hebrews 4:10 refers to ceasing from our works of sin. If this was so, what sin did God commit that would cause a need for Him to cease from it, leaving an example for the people of God?

But now let’s look at what the Lord Jesus my Saviour had to say about the Sabbath after the Pharisees found fault with the disciples plucking ears of corn to eat whilst they were on their way to church on the Sabbath (for they were hungry). Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2: 23-28). What Jesus was saying is that man was created on the sixth day and the Sabbath on the seventh (Gen. 2:1-3, 1:26-31). So the Sabbath was made for man to rest with God and His son and the host of heaven. This is proven in Ex. 16:22-31 when God fed the children of Israel in the wilderness. They were told to gather twice as much on the sixth day because there would be none on the seventh day because it was the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Some of the people who were stubborn and disobedient went out as usual and found no manna. The reason was that the manna was angel’s food and the angels rested with God in heaven so they would not open the door of heaven and rain down their food, manna (Psalm 78:25, 78:22-29). God said that in the new heaven and the new earth Sabbath would be there and that all flesh would come to worship him (Isaiah 66: 22-23; Rev21:1-8; Rev 22:11-16). Jesus, who knew that the Sabbath is perpetual, told his disciples to pray that their flight be not on the Sabbath day (Ex. 31:16; Matt 24:19, 28?) and this is when He foretold the destruction of the temple, and this happened in AD70, and AD135.

Jesus, the Son of God kept the holy Sabbath (which He is Lord of, according to Mark 2:28). While He was here on earth redeeming mankind back to the heavenly Father, His custom was to go into the synagogue on the Sabbath day (Luke 4:16). Paul’s manner was the same (Acts 17:2), because he was following Jesus’ example, and in his instruction to the Corinthians, Paul said they should be followers of him, as he was of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). Paul the apostle to the Gentiles knew that the Sabbath of creation is perpetual (Ex. 31:16). That is why in Acts 13:14-19 when the rulers of the synagogue asked him to preach to them, he preached about David, how God raised up a seed from him unto Israel, a Saviour, Christ Jesus (Acts 13:22,23). Then we see in verse 42 that when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles asked that the same words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Please notice it was the Gentiles that asked Paul to come back next Sabbath, the following week. Did Paul say to them that the Sabbath was no more and that Jesus had nailed it to the cross? No, my friends, we see that the next Sabbath day almost the whole city came to hear the word of God. To God be the glory!

Jesus said it is good to do good on the Sabbath day (Matt. 12:9-14, Mark 3:4). He also said in Matthew 5:17-19 that He did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil them. If we break any and teach men to break the least of His commandments you will be called the least in the kingdom, but if you do, and teach the commandments, you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven, so there remaineth a rest to the people of God (Heb. 4:9).

Amen and Amen.

Note: Pastor L A Pinnock

Note: Pastor L A Pinnock