God gave the commandment that we are “to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy” in Exodus 20:8. This was not just a suggestion but a command. What is the Sabbath, and why is it important to the Lord? Is it relevant to Christians today?
What Is the Sabbath?
Strong’s Concordance describes how the Sabbath was used and its meaning in the Bible. Sabbath was “originally observed simply by abstinence from labour,” but it could also point to a longer period of time than just one day.
In Leviticus 25:6, God commands his people to provide the land with rest for an entire year. According to David Guzik, “Israel was to do this as a radical demonstration that the land belonged to God, not to them.[...] Israel declared their belief that God would meet their needs. This was truly living by faith, and God wanted His people to live trusting Him.”
John Piper isolated five notable features of Exodus 20:8-11: remembering, holiness, regularity, position, and inclusivity.
1. Remember the Sabbath — “Don’t forget to take a day off,” in Piper’s words. Remembering can mean “bring to remembrance,” “boast,” “confess,” or “preserve.” “Remember” or zakar in Hebrew features seven times in Leviticus alone.
2. Sabbath is set apart, holy, set apart as different from the other days. Piper points out that Sabbath rest “is not to be aimless rest, but God-centered rest. [...] Keep the day holy by keeping the focus on the holy God.”
In other words, the day is not especially holy but the purpose of the day. Remember that the purpose of the Sabbath is to put aside every other activity and pursuit and focus on who God is.
3. Regularity, or habit forming, establishes a rhythm. Doing something so different just one day of the week, though important, is difficult. But in busyness comes forgetfulness, particularly forgetting God.
Forming a habit in itself is not indicative of a heart posture, but setting that rhythm is an important step towards creating space to worship without distractions. “The command is simply work six, rest one. Every seventh day should be a sabbath.”
Piper is reminding believers that the day of the week is not as important as the rhythms of work and rest.
4. Sabbath resets one’s position in relation to God as a humble and needy child. The Lord wanted His people to think about Him, about what he had done for them, his promises, and his instructions with the inferred expectation that they would forget.
Sabbath, in this sense, is about a habit of resetting heart and mind in humility towards the Lord once more.
5. Everyone is included in Sabbath, young and old, servant and master, foreigner, and Israelite. One cannot carve out rest for his or herself by putting others to work.
In our modern day, the equivalent is saying, “I will not cook dinner,” and then going to a restaurant where someone else has done the work. This does not promote Sabbath inclusivity.
Is Sabbath a Duty?
The Sabbath is a day of rest from work and striving. “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done” (Genesis 2:2). Rest is so important to God that he made it a commandment.
Yet, a commandment is an expectation, and there can be a disconnect between the pressure of fulfilling this duty and the joy of obeying God. What was God’s intention — did he intend for his laws to be oppressive?
A key to understanding God’s intention is in Jesus’ exchange with the Pharisees in Mark 2. He and the disciples were walking through fields of grain, plucking the heads because they were hungry.
The Pharisees objected, saying, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” Jesus reminded them that David ate the Bread of Presence when he and the men in his company were hungry.
Jesus explained to the Pharisees that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath” (vv.27-28).
Sabbath was designed as a part of worship, pointing to God, yet Jesus said that the day is for man. This seeming contradiction is easily answered when we understand how worship while pointing at the Lord, is also good for his people.
Piper said worshiping leads to more blessing. If you get caught up in the secular world, busyness, and striving for temporal success, you will not find happiness. “And (the reverse) when you seek your blessing in God rather than in the products of human labor, you hallow him and honor his holiness as the greater wealth.”
This does not mean that God will give people all the earthly things they want if they keep the Sabbath day holy or if they worship him according to certain religious rules. God’s blessing is his presence since “all true blessing comes from his grace, not our labor.”
Blessing, as Jesus explained in his Sermon on the Mount, comes to those who suffer and mourn because He is the blessing, and he is with everyone who sufferers for the sake of his name.
What about Economic Needs?
Like the Jews, Christians are being asked to trust God with their physical needs by placing themselves in God’s hands with the expectation that he will look after them. Is it, then, a sign of distrust to work on Sundays (or on Saturdays for certain groups of Christians)?
Do we sin if we fail to rest completely on a given day each week? What if a Christian must work on Sundays in order to remain employed, or a Christian who runs his or her own business cannot take days off?
Sabbath is not about selecting a day, Sunday or Saturday, and calling that a holy day. One Bible expert commented that the day of the week or even the particular rhythm of rest and work is not the point but that one recognizes and fulfills the need to have both.
“We need [] a proper rhythm of work and rest, which together are good for us, our family, workers, and guests. The rhythm may or may not include twenty-four continuous hours of rest falling on Sunday (or Saturday). The proportions may change due to temporary necessities (the modern equivalent of pulling an ox out of the well on the Sabbath [...], or the changing needs of the seasons of life.”
To that end, one might work the Sabbath into each day by setting aside a single restful hour for prayer and reflection, sipping coffee, and enjoying the Lord’s company. This is a reset, an example of prioritizing time with the Lord each day over the hustle of ordinary life.
The Real Rest
A day off from work can be restful or not: that depends on where one finds rest and what that means to the individual.
For the Christian, a rest day or Sabbath is designed as an opportunity to seek God intentionally and without as many distractions or time pressures as one faces in the day-to-day routine of employment, parenting, and other obligations (although some of these are difficult to turn off and on at will).
The rest we seek, however, is not about the cessation of work; it is the shalom of Christ. He is trustworthy to fulfill every need, including the need for comfort and rest.
Rest is found in being able to trust him for our personal welfare, completeness, and peace, knowing his presence is real, and finding deep satisfaction in that reality.
For further reading:
How Is Jesus Our Sabbath Rest?
Are We Remembering or Forgetting the Sabbath?
How Do We Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep It Holy?
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Daniel de la Hoz
