The word “Sabbath” occurs 62 times in the New Testament in the NASV. How many times do you think it occurs in the Old Testament (which is about 3 times the length of the New)? 114 times.
Most of the New Testament occurrences are in the gospels. Jesus, early on, begins facing opposition from the Jewish leaders because of the things he does on the Sabbath. Mark 2:21-3:6 shows us how Jesus enemies decided to kill him after he healed a man on the Sabbath right there in front of them and right in the synagogue.
Jesus boldly said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” And, “The Son of man is Lord even over the Sabbath.”
Today we are so far removed from this entire discussion. We live in a 24 hour a day, seven day a week, 365 day a year culture of convenience so that when I need to buy something, or go out to eat… breaking the Sabbath is the last thing I think about. In our world the Sabbath is forgotten and foreign. Have we taken this too far? Would you like to know what God says about it?
Jesus words in Matthew and Mark about the Sabbath are used to justify practices that they were never intended to justify. Jesus’ point was not that we should all abandon the practice of Sabbath keeping, but that Sabbath keeping was intended for the good of man as a God ordained rhythm of life. The Sabbath was never intended to hinder our relationship with God, but to enhance it! Jesus was not saying that Sabbath is now an extinct Old Testament regulation. What Jesus was doing was showing the true and God ordained purpose and meaning of the Sabbath.
When Jesus was asked about marriage, he went back to Genesis 1-2. Jesus used the Old Testament to teach and prove God’s true and ordained purpose and meaning for many things. Perhaps we would be wise to return to Genesis to open our discussion about the meaning and message of God concerning the Sabbath.
Let me set this up. First: The witness of Genesis predates the Law of Moses. When Paul wanted to prove that circumcision was unnecessary to Christians, we read in Romans 4 that he doesn’t argue that the Old Testament is invalid, but that the promise of righteousness was given to Abraham before he was circumcised. (This is a chronological argment). This information came from Genesis. In other words, what Genesis said about receiving righteousness through faith as God gave it to Abraham is how we as Christians know that we are not saved by keeping the Law of Moses (particularly concerning circumcision) but by trusting in God and following Him in faith like Abraham did. Galatians 3-4 will also make this point clear.
Second: "Rightly dividing the word of truth" does not mean ignoring all God said in the Bible up to Matthew. 2 Tim. 3:16-17 states clearly that ALL scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching and instruction so that we may be complete. And as Paul said in 1 Tim. 1:8, “The law is good if one uses it lawfully.” None other than Jesus himself said (referring to the law and prophets), “Whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven.” So, Yes Virginia, there is a word from God for us in Genesis.
No part of the Bible has been more debated and disbelieved than the early chapters of Genesis. Yet they set forth principles and state truths that are the foundation and fabric of much of the rest of the Bible. Early Genesis gives us the divine order in the creation and origin of all things, human dignity (made in God’s image and likeness), God’s authority, power and wisdom, the divine and human relationship, marriage, procreation, entrance of evil and sin, disruption of relationship between God and man, the curse, death, pain, bloodshed, worship with sacrifice, etc. Genesis is a gold mine of revelation and instruction just as applicable today as ever.
It is here in the very beginning that we have the first mention of Sabbath. You are probably so familiar with it that it is easy to hit it and move on without much thought. I want to invite you to look at this again with me: Genesis 1:31-2:3. Listen to it. Ask yourself, “Is there any message from God for me here?”
Genesis 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Listen again to 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
Here God introduces us to this idea of a day of rest, and he blesses it and makes it a holy day. Notice that God didn’t sanctify the working days, but the day of rest. This is the first reference to what God later calls the Sabbath day. Greed has reversed that for us today. But we are not the first to do that. Listen to the last Old Testament reference to Sabbath in Amos 8: 4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying,
“When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended
that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
What are these Israelites doing with God's Sabbath?
Much later, after the exile even Nehemiah had the same problem keeping the people of Israel from breaking the Sabbath.
Neh. 13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.”
The purpose Sabbath was given to man was to help us in our relationship with God. When we live according to the rhythms of the Creator in the creation order we have a holy day of rest once a week that is spent in communion with one another and with God. The Bible tells us right at the beginning that after working for six days of creation, God rested on the seventh day. That is significant enough. But the Bible doesn’t stop there. It says that God blessed that day… he blessed the day of His rest. Why did he bless a day? Why? All we have is this: because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had made.
How did God bless this day? He made it holy. He sanctified it. That is, God set this day apart from the others for His own purposes. This is the first time this word is used in the Bible. It is a key word to help us understand the Sabbath. Holiness is used to describe God’s overarching character. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” This is the constant song of the seraphim who serve in God’s presence. What is a holy day? It is a day set aside by God himself and given to man and for man. It is a unique gift from God for mankind. This is what God calls the seventh day. It has an eternal implication in it for all who walk with and work with God. Keeping Sabbath has something to do with keeping in rhythm with and in relationship with God. Breaking Sabbath disrupts that.
Once a week God wants us to rest and reflect on Him together and as we do we build anticipation toward the ultimate rest that awaits all who work with God on the other days. Sabbath keeping is a regular reminder that every day is spent with God, whether working or resting. When our routine or intention is to spend only one day with God a week… we can forget Sabbath. We’ve already broken it.
That is when we become enslaved to another master and there is no Sabbath rest with anyone but God.
