Exodus 20:11 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
I would like to challenge all Sabbatarians to really read this verse. Who did the resting?
The sabbath is not a memorial to God creating the earth. It is a memorial to Him resting, or more correctly, ceasing. As in ceased from creating. He was not tired, and therefore needed a rest….He had finished the work. The work was creation, and it was finished.
The sabbath was a sign to the children of Israel. It was a sign to them of the covenant between them and God. It was to be a reminder to them that God rested on the seventh day, and it was to be a reminder to them of Where they would get their perpetual rest, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The sabbath was to be a reminder to them that God redeemed them from slavery, and it was to be a reminder to them of Where they would get redemption for sin and death, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The fourth commandment spoke initially of the seventh day sabbath, but included the seventh year sabbath, and the Jubilee sabbath, both of which spoke of rest and redemption. Both of which also pointed forward to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The sabbaths were also a time keeping for them. A calendar if you like. Back in Genesis, God gave humanity the sun and the moon for keeping time. Here, the Children of Israel had been redeemed from slavery in Egypt, where there was a ten day week, and they had seen the worshipping of false gods on their “holy days”. They were moving into the region where people kept a seven day week, but likewise worshipped false gods on their “holy days”. So instead of worship, He called for rest on His holy day. Rest which prepared them for the Saviour who would rest in the tomb on His holy day. Rest where they could eat their manna which they had collected the day before and which stood for the Saviour, the Bread of heaven. And they were taught this holy day was the seventh day, the day on which God rested….ceased from creating.
The sabbath included the sabbath year, where the land had rest, and the Jubilee year, which was a time of redemption of ownership and property, debts would be forgiven, and slaves freed. It was the year after seven lots of sabbath years.
Six days shall you labour and do all that you have to do. Six days shall you gather manna. Manna, the bread of heaven. Jesus the Bread of Heaven.
Six days the Children of Israel laboured for their manna. And rested the seventh, and were given no bread. This pointed forward to the death of their Bread, when He would lie in the tomb. Sabbath foretold the death of Jesus.
The sabbath was not given to anyone before the Children of Israel. Neither was it given to any races or tribes living at the same time as the Children of Israel. It hasn’t been given to anyone since that time, because it was taken away, as God warned. Hosea 2: 11And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.
And the sabbaths have been taken away. The seventh day, the seventh year, the Jubilee, and all gone. The sabbaths kept by sabbatarians now are not the “real” sabbaths. Neither do we need sabbaths now, because our sabbatismos, our sabbath rest, comes from and through Christ.
Sabbath was never a memorial to creation. It was never salvific. It was always to a memorial to rest and redemption and a memorial FOR rest and redemption. It was never a sign of God. It was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel. That covenant is now obsolete.
Notice anything here? The sabbath pointed to and from rest and redemption. It was the sign of the old covenant. The covenant is now obsolete. Sabbaths have been done away with. The signposts have gone.
But what they were pointing to has not gone. He is alive, and His work is finished. He has redeemed us, He has given us eternal spiritual rest, He has saved us.
Why do we look for a shadow, when the Reality is with us? Why do we look for a signpost when what it was pointing to is with us?
Sabbatarians celebrate the death of Jesus every week.
Christianity celebrate the victory of Jesus over death every Sunday.
He is risen! Alleluia!
Light of Christ 