After the fall of man in the garden, the world and mankind were under curses. Due to the curse placed on the earth, man's toil for his daily existence would be endless. Each person is also under a personal curse due to his own sin. His toil to earn God's approval by his good works is also endless. However, God provided an end to man's struggle. He gave the Sabbath as a temporary end to man's toil for survival. The rest of the seventh day was a temporary redemption from the previous six days of labor, and it pointed to the ultimate redemption from our attempts to earn God's approval by our good works. This use of the sabbath to point to redemption is shown in:
DEU 5:12-15: "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 'Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God. . .And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day."
In other words, the Sabbath pointed to Jesus, our Redeemer. Let's examine the scripture, as Jesus points to the 'rest' He offers and contrasts it to the 'rest' of the Sabbath. The Bible teaches the Sabbath 'rest' was not the ultimate 'rest', but pointed to it. Jesus spoke of His 'rest' in:
MAT 11:28-30: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."
Jesus was gentle, but the Pharisees were strict and harsh with their use of the Sabbath.
MAT 12:1-6, "At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath through the grainfields, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, 'Behold, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.' But He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did, when he became hungry, he and his companions; how he entered the house of God, and they ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath, and are innocent? But I say to you, that something greater than the temple is here."
COMPASSION VS SACRIFICE
The life and ministry of Jesus demonstrated His compassion, but the use of the Sabbath demanded sacrifice.
MAT 12:7-8, "But if you had known what this means, 'I desire compassion, and not a sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
The use of the Sabbath as a legal observance demands sacrifice to it, and thus Jesus stated that He is above the sabbath commandment. Jesus showed humility, but the sabbath commandment resulted in attitudes of arrogance.
MAT 12:9-14, "And departing from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, {there was} a man with a withered hand. And they questioned Him, saying, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?' - in order that they might accuse Him. And He said to them, 'What man shall there be among you, who shall have one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it, and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand!' And he stretched it out, and it was restored to normal, like the other. But the Pharisees went out, and counseled together against Him, {as to} how they might destroy Him."
EASY VS HARD
Jesus said His yoke is easy, but the sabbath, as well as other laws were shown to be difficult to bear.
ACT 15:10-11, "Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are."
LIGHT VS HEAVY
The load Jesus has for His followers is light, but the Sabbath commandment and other laws used by the Pharisees proved to be very heavy.
MAT 23:2-4, "saying, 'The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say {things,} and do not do {them.} And they tie up heavy loads, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves are unwilling to move them with {so much as} a finger."
DO GOOD VS DO HARM
The 'rest' given by Jesus results in our changing from working for ourselves, to working for others. This results in 'good' to others. The 'rest' of the sabbath was simply quit work. This resulted in harm to those who need our help.
MAR 3:4-5, "And He said to them, 'Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill?' But they But they kept silent."
REDEMPTION VS BONDAGE
While the 'rest' given by Jesus results in our redemption, the Sabbath commandment resulted in bondage, as shown by the following account. The episode of the healing of the crippled woman brings out rather clearly the relationship between the sabbath and the Savior's saving ministry. Notice the same verb was translated 'to free', 'to untie', and 'to loose. The verb is first used by Jesus in addressing the woman, 'you are freed from your infirmity.' The ruler of the synagogue was mad about Jesus' healing act. His reaction shows the result of the outward observance of a law, instead of being motivated by the love in a person's heart. For the ruler, the sabbath means rules to be obeyed, while Jesus was motivated by love and compassion for the needy.
To clarify the difference, Jesus twice again used the verb 'to free.' First, by referring to a customary concession: 'You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?} And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?' Jesus demonstrated that what the sabbath commandment resulted in, was not what God had in-tended. An ox could be legitimately untied on the sabbath for drinking purposes, but a suffering woman could not be released on such a day from the shackles of her physical and spiritual infirmity.
Let's quote the whole account of this healing.
LUK 13:10-17, "And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, 'Woman, you are freed from your sickness.' And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and {began} glorifying God. And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, {began} saying to the multitude in response, 'There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day. But the Lord answered him and said, 'You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him?} And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?' And as He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire multitude was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him."
The imagery of loosing a victim bound by Satan, recalls Jesus' announcement of His mission 'to proclaim release to the captives' and to 'set at liberty those who are oppressed' (Lk 4:18).
TEMPORARY VS PERMANENT
The Sabbath rest was a weekly redemption from the previous six days of labor. It pointed to the rest and redemption Jesus would give from the old covenant attempt at salvation by works. The labor of the six days is really endless and is a result of the curse placed on the earth. The attempt to be saved by works is also never ending and is a result of the curse placed on mankind, by his sin.
The Sabbath gave a temporary redemption from the week's labor. Jesus gave a permanent redemption from the attempts of earning salvation by works.
It enables us to quit working for own salvation and begin working for others. This is how God rested. He worked the six days of creation to make things for Himself. He ceased working for Himself and began working for His creation. Jesus pointed out that His Father had not quit working, He had changed the nature of the work.
JOHN 5:17-21, "But He answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.' For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless {it is} something He sees the Father doing; for whatever {the Father} does, these things the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes."
The scripture points out we are to cease working in the same way God did.
HEB 4:10-11, "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through {following} the same example of disobedience."
TYPES AND SHADOWS
The arrival of the new 'rest' from Jesus demanded an end to the Sabbath 'rest' as a commandment. The sabbath was a 'type and shadow' pointing to the 'rest' Jesus would give. When the real thing had arrived, the sign was no longer necessary.
COL 2:16-17, "Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ."
NEW ATTITUDES
This new 'rest' demanded new attitudes. A person's life was not to be centered around an obedience to laws, but around a love of, and service to, God and man. The commandment Jesus gave was to "love one another." He even said if we do not obey this command to love one another, we don't love Him.
JOHN 15:12-14, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you."
Two of the Gospels precede the discussion of the apostles eating corn on the Sabbath with Jesus' words about the need for new attitudes.
MAR 2:21-22, "No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and the skins {as well;} but {one puts} new wine into fresh wineskins."
Compare also with the sixth chapter of Luke.
The Pharisees were willing to suspend the observance of the Sabbath if it conflicted with another law, but not in order to help people. They were unable to see the inconsistency of this.
JOHN 7:22-24, "On this account Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on {the} Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on {the} Sabbath that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on {the} Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment."
A 'REST' PROMISED
Hebrews points out the coming 'rest' that Jesus would give. It shows the Jews did not accept it in Joshua's day, and warned people against rejecting it as they did.
HEB 3:10-12,"Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, 'They always go astray in their heart; And they did not know My ways'; As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.' Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God."
This promise of the 'rest' remained.
HEB 4:1-3, "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, 'As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world."
Why was faith necessary? It is not necessary to have faith in order to rest on the Sabbath. But we receive the redemption and 'rest' from Jesus by "grace through faith."
EPH 2:8-10, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Hebrews goes on to point out that Joshua did not give this promised 'rest' when they entered Canaan.
HEB 4:4-11, "For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh {day},' And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'; and again in this {passage}, 'They shall not enter My rest.' Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,' Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through {following} the same example of disobedience."
Again, to rest as God did, means to quit working for ourselves and to start working for others. How do we always know our motives for doing things. Many times it's not obvious why we do things. The scripture goes on to point out that God's word will point out the difference.
HEB 4:12-16, "For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as {we are, yet} without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."
THE DEVIL DISARMED
When the devil used the pride and arrogance of the Pharisees, he used the sabbath commandment and other laws against the people. Christ removed these laws when He disarmed the devil.
COL 2:15-19, "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day - things which are a {mere} shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on {visions} he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God."
There seems to be a constant tendency to return to those laws.
COL 2:20-22, "If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 'Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!' (which all refer to} things destined to perish with the using) - in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?"
Page created and hosted by
[Home][Guest Book][Prayer Chain][Email]