Written on June 6th, 2006 - 9:24PM
Last Updated: June 7th, 2006 - 5:01PM
The Sabbath is not often thought of as a festival of the Old Covenant, but it is called such by God. It is one of the appointments that Yahweh set up with His people, Israel.
1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. 3"'Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no manner of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings. (Leviticus 23:1-3)
Remembering that the words here mean appointment and a holy gathering together, we see also that the Sabbath was not just a day of certain impersonal actions, but of an actual meeting of Yahweh and His people. They would experience His presence as they obeyed Him in observing this day.
This day was instituted long before the Law of Moses was given. At creation, after God finished creating the heavens and the earth, He rested from His work. This was the Seventh Day, after the Six Days of creation. Scripture says:
1The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. 2On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)
Here we see the primary reason for the Sabbath first both being blessed and set apart from the other days of the week: He rested in it from all His work.
Therefore, the Sabbath He gave to Israel to honor was firstly a commemoration of His work of creation and subsequent rest.
10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; 11for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy. (Exodus 20:10-11)
However, there is another reason given by Yahweh for His giving the Sabbath to Israel to be honored. It involved His saving them from Egypt:
14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God: [in it] you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:14-15)
In this record of the giving of the Law, God calls to mind Israel's servitude. They had been servants to the Egyptians, but God saved them with a mighty hand, and delivered them out of there. "Therefore," God says, "Yahweh your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day."
The word for "keep" here is actually the common Hebrew word for "do" or "make," עשה. One can see part of what God is intimating: the Sabbath has been blessed and set apart by God, yet it was up to Israel to "do" it. They were to make the Sabbath in their own, individual life. They were required to cease from their labors, and to rest. They had to enter the Sabbath.
Commandments of the Sabbath
Several things were commanded by God to be observed as part of Israel's honoring and keeping of the Sabbath:
It was to be guarded or watched (Exodus 31:14)(Deuteronomy 5:12). This word brings to mind a watching as a guard, in the sense of protecting. Because the Sabbath was liable to be injured (by not being honored), it needed to be guarded by Israel (by honoring it).
It was to be set apart (Deuteronomy 5:12). This comes from the common words translated "holy," "consecrate" and "sanctify." It literally means to set apart for a special use. Seeing the purpose of the Sabbath, it is easily understandable why God would want His people to set apart this day in their lives. It was truly different than the other days.
No work was to be done (Exodus 31:15)(Deuteronomy 5:14). This word, מלאכה ("work"), is the feminine form of the Hebrew word meaning messenger, commonly translated "angel" in English. Work, in this sense, is that act of coming and going, of doing business, of being engaged in one's occupation. None of this was to happen on the Sabbath.
Instead, the Sabbath was to be done (Exodus 31:14-16). The Hebrew word picture is clear: our occupation, coming and going according to our business, was to be replaced with the Sabbath. Where common translations have "[do] no work" and "[keep] the Sabbath," the same word is used for both "do" and "keep." Whereas we "make or do work" in the first six days, on this seventh day, we "make or do Sabbath." Perhaps not ironically the writer to the Hebrews in the New Covenant says then that we should "be diligent" (often translated "labor") to enter into the rest of the Sabbath (Hebrews 4:9-11).
No fire was to be burned among their habitations (Exodus 35:3). For Israel, this was an example of a literal action not to take as a defintion of "work," but spiritually one can see that we are not to burn our own fire, that is, we should not try to work up our own anointing. We should allow God to create that fire in us, through the giving of His Spirit to us (Acts 2:1-4), and then be diligent to fan that flame within us (2 Timothy 1:6-7) ("stir up" comes from a Greek word literally meaning, "keep blazing" or "stir into flame").
The Penalty for Defiling the Sabbath
Not only do the commandments to do the Sabbath rather than do work on the Seventh Day hold great truth from God, but so does the penalty for disobeying.
14You shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 15Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 31:14-15)
The penalty was for those who "defiled" the Sabbath. That word, חלל, translated defiled or polluted, is related to other Hebrew words meaning diseased, injured or weakened. In this way the Sabbath was seen as having personal qualities, such that it could be injured like a human or animal. Also, this points to the fact that the Sabbath was something powerful, able to be experienced. As seen above, it was to be "done," in the sense of an entering into rest, as God did from His works. When this was not experienced, but work was done on the day, it was weakened. This points to a deeper truth which was not fully evident until the New Covenant of Christ.
This penalty was two-fold: the souls of those working therein would be cut off from the people, which would lead to death.
One can see from the first result a shadow of life in the New Covenant. Those who work (dead works to attain righteousness) when they should be resting (trusting God for forgiveness and salvation) are cut off from God's people. Their souls have no part with the Body of Christ, the Assembly. They are cut off from their people, just as unbelieving Jews would be cut off their natural olive tree when they rejected Christ (Romans 11:24).
The ultimate result would be death. While a physical punishment, which the children of Israel had to perform themselves upon those who defiled the Sabbath, this punishment was the shadow of the true the result of defiling the Sabbath. When one does not cease from their labors and enter God's rest—finding their salvation which is by grace through faith alone (Ephesians 2:5-8)—the end is death (Romans 6:23). Indeed, those who have rejected God's Son are already standing in judgment, because they have not believed in the Name of God's only Son (John 3:18). They continue to walk in their own labors, disregarding the Sabbath rest Yahweh has given, blessed and set apart. Under this Covenant of Moses, the penalty for defiling the Sabbath was death to provide the type for the spiritual truth underlying. Those who refuse the Lord's rest and refreshing are doomed to death by their own works.
Manna & the Sabbath
The first commandment concerning the Sabbath was given before the Law, when Israel was wandering in the wilderness, living on the manna that was being given by God.
23He said to them, "This is that which Yahweh has spoken, 'Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.'" 24They laid it up until the morning, as Moses asked, and it didn't become foul, neither was there any worm in it. 25Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh. Today you shall not find it in the field. 26Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none." (Exodus 16:23-26)
Each day they were to be gathering up the manna sent, and they could not keep it overnight for the next day, for it would only last one day. However, on the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much as usual, because none would be given on the seventh day, for it was the Sabbath. Even though the manna normally would rot if kept overnight, that gathered on the sixth day in preparation for the Sabbath would keep fresh until the following first day of the week—two whole days.
This was the provision of God. Even so, many Israelis disobeyed and still attempted to gather on the Sabbath, expecting to find fresh manna. But as Yahweh spoke, none was given.
27It happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28Yahweh said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day." (Exodus 16:27-29)
God's people finally listened to His prophet, and no longer went out on the seventh day to find the manna, but rested as commanded.
So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exodus 16:30)
This cycle of gathering manna six days a week and resting on the seventh continued for forty years (Exodus 16:31-36).
The story of the manna and its connection to the Sabbath is important in understanding what it represents.
God grants us sustenance. Although we work, it is He who provides both the seed and the increase. Yet to remind us that He is the source, He has us rest from our labors one day every week. This shows us that our labor is not vital to our survival—it is truly God who gives us life. Even though we rest this day, not laboring as we did through the week, we yet survive by eating that we gathered from His hand the previous day. He allows us to rest and subsist on His nourishment. We see that like Him, we may continue living even without working. Just as He finished the creation in six days, and rested on the seventh, so did the creation continue to operate. His rest did not effect its existence. We too may rest from our labors and see that what we create will continue to exist, according to the power of God.
Finally, the ultimate truth behind this natural story of Israel's living on manna sent from heaven was that there was One who was the True Manna, the Bread of God. He was that which they truly needed. He was the Living Bread that would grant them ageless life. To enter the true Sabbath—that of rest from one's own works for salvation unto God's mercy—was to lay hold of God's Son.
47Most certainly, I tell you, he who believes in me has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6:47-51)
He was God's rest, and the Spirit upon and within Him was the Agent by which they would experience it.
but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." (John 4:14)
37Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink! 38He who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, from within him will flow rivers of living water." 39But he said this about the Spirit, which those believing in him were to receive. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus wasn't yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Christ Jesus is the Manna given to God's people, Who through His Spirit lasts forever once gathered, through the eternal Sabbath of life in Him.
The Prophets & the Sabbath
Yahweh's prophets often spoke of the Sabbath and its importance to Israel; most often Israel was disregarding it, not guarding and doing it, and had to be disciplined by God's servants, the prophets.
Isaiah gives Yahweh's exhortation to Israel to do justice and righteousness, for that man is blessed—the same man who guards the Sabbath from being defiled, and guards his hand from doing evil.
1Thus says Yahweh, Keep you justice, and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. 2Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. (Isaiah 56:1-2)
Here we see many of the same words used in relation to the first commandments given concerning the Sabbath.
This blessed person "guards" the Sabbath from being polluted. We saw earlier that those who disobeyed the commandment to do the Sabbath were said to "defile" it. This person keeps watch over the Sabbath so that this injuring does not happen to it.
At the same time, this person "guards" his own hand from "doing" evil. As the commandment was to "do no work," so this man "does no evil." He keeps watch over his hand that this does not happen, the hand being a scriptural symbol for power in action.
God, through Isaiah, goes on to promise those who guard the Sabbaths an unending heritage, even though they be foreigners or be physically unable to bear children (Isaiah 56:3-4). Yahweh promises a name (memorial) greater than children, an eternal Name within His own house and its walls (Isaiah 56:5). They will come with joy to His holy mountain, having their offerings and sacrifices accepted (Isaiah 56:6-7). Although in the Law these foreigners and eunuchs were prohibited from serving as priests, to offer the sacrifices upon the altar (Leviticus 21:16-23), now He promises to bring them into His house unto His altar, and their sacrifices will be honored by Him. Clearly this points to a new Covenant, wherein all have been redeemed to a place of serving God intimately (Isaiah 56:8).
Isaiah also speaks of the fast in which God delights (Isaiah 58:6-12), and ends his exhortation by speaking of the Sabbath:
If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, [and] the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking [your own] words: (Isaiah 58:13)
Here is the basic nature of the Sabbath revisited: it is a departure from doing one's own business, to rest in the day that Yahweh has blessed. God says they should turn away their foot from the Sabbath. They should not trample upon it, making it common. They should not do their business on it, as was their sinful custom. Rather, they should do as the Lord had commanded: do no work, but rather do the Sabbath. They should rest, as God had rested. The result would be:
then shall you delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)
Here is another reference to eating in respect of the Sabbath. When we honor the Sabbath and its intention, we will then delight ourselves in Yahweh, and He will raise us up. He will feed us as He has promised. As the manna was given enough to be kept for two days, so that it would not need gathered on the Sabbath, so we will be provided sustenance by God Himself if we honor the Sabbath by doing no work.
The Sabbath was a powerful appointment between Yahweh and Israel, wherein they would cease from their physical labors, their businesses and occupations, and instead rest. It was a memorial of God as the Savior, Who delivered them out of Egypt, and a memorial of His resting on the seventh day after creation the heavens and earth in six days.
The Sabbath & the New Covenant
The spiritual truth underlying the commandment to do it in the Law of Moses is fairly evident from studying its place in the Law.
God desires us to cease from our own labors. He wants us to recognize that He is Sovereign, and that even without our labor, we continue to live. We may lay down our instruments of work, and enter rest.
In the New Covenant this experience is to be sought after each moment (Hebrews 4:9-11). It is a constant ceasing from the works of the flesh, and of entering into the rest of life in God's Spirit by faith. It is a relying upon Yahweh's grace, poured out through His Son Christ Jesus, rather than upon our own works (Romans 4:4-8). The rest given by the Holy Spirit—through prayer by His language (Isaiah 28:11-12)(1 Corintians 14:21)—is what God intended to teach us when He set apart the Seventh Day. We cease from our own labors. Then begins the new week upon the following first day: this is the new life of the Spirit, which we live as members of God's Son, Jesus Christ, Who rose again on the first day (Mark 16:9).
In the Sabbath we can see a preview and shadow of Christ (Colossians 2:16-17), that of ceasing from our fleshly, dead works and of turning to the rest of God given through Christ by the Holy Spirit. We see a new beginning upon that following first day when we with Christ are raised in new life by the same Spirit, after having rested from our own labors. We then enter into the spiritual work of Christ, who yet works as does His Father.
16For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, so I am working, too." 18For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:16-18)
In the Sabbath we learn to emulate God, and in so doing, we may then do the works of God in that following "spiritual week," which begins on the "first day" of our new life in Christ.
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