THE PROGRESSIVE REVELATION OF THE SABBATH

Throughout the history of God’s covenant people, the importance of the Sabbath is central to and emblematic of their relationship with God. The Sabbath is a rest, not just a physical rest, but a spiritual rest. And that spiritual nature of the Sabbath is unfolded in the progressive revelation of Scripture.

Sabbath as Sign for Israel

            In the first giving of the Law at Mt. Sinai, the Sabbath commandment was based on the Creation days:

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. "Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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.

(Ex. 20:7-11)

            The Sabbath observance was also a “sign” of the covenant between God and Israel.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.

(Exo 31:12-13)

"It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed."

(Exo 31:17)

            It is vitally important to recognize that the physical observance of the Sabbath day – and observance of other special Sabbaths associated with Hebrew holy days – was part of and central to the Sinaitic Covenant with Israel, what the New Testament calls the Old Covenant (2 Cor. 3:14; Heb. 8:13). God would progressively reveal the spiritual nature of “rest” to His people throughout Scripture, and the outward physical observance would be eclipsed by the deeper, fuller meaning of the Sabbath.

Sabbath as Deliverance from Bondage

            When God gave the Law to the new generation on the banks of the Jordan River, the focus of Sabbath observance changed from the days of Creation to Israel’s deliverance from bondage in Egypt. This is significant. The Ten Commandments were not simply repeated verbatim from the Commandments at Sinai. They were invested with new, fuller meaning.

'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; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. '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.

(Deut. 5:12-15)

            So at the Jordan we get greater insight into the spiritual meaning of “sabbath”: it is a deliverance from bondage. In Egypt the people were well-fed physically (Num. 11:5), but they were not free. Cruel taskmasters controlled their lives. The LORD delivered them from that bondage, but in that deliverance, He called upon them to have faith in His provision. The observance of the various “sabbaths” in Israel – the weekly, the seventh-year, and the special holy day sabbaths – required that the Israelites trust God to provide when they ceased their work. Deliverance out of bondage was a deliverance into a trusting relationship with the LORD. “He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.” (Deut. 6:23)

Sabbath as a Life of Worship and Blessing

            Psalm 95 interprets the entrance into Canaan as the beginning of a continual Sabbath, a life of worship and blessing in the Promised Land. This concept is also seen in Exodus 33:14, Deuteronomy 12:9-10; 25:19 and Joshua 1:13-15; 21:44. Though the Hebrew word for 'rest' in these passages is nuach (repose), rather than shabbathon (sabbath-rest), Deuteronomy 5:14 links the word to the Sabbath observance.

. . . but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest (nuach) as well as you. (Deut. 5:14)

  

            This revelation of the spiritual nature of sabbath foreshadows the fulfillment of the Sabbath in Christ and His salvation. Note the connection in the following passages.

Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest. (Psalm 95:8-11)

            The Hebrew word for “rest” here is m^enuchah and is related to nuach. It means “place of repose.” The New Testament book of Hebrews makes the connection of that repose in the Promised Land with the “sabbath rest” (sabbatismos) of salvation.

Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may 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. For He has 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." Therefore, since 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. So there remains 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. (Hebrews 4:1-10)

            Here the author of Hebrews establishes the “sabbath rest” (sabbatismos) as salvation by faith apart from works. The believer has trusted the Person and work of Christ, and “ceased from his own works.”

           

            So the progressive revelation of the sabbath principle of “rest” has taken us from the Creation to Canaan to Christ. The sabbath rest of salvation far excels any ritual observances, which were but shadows, “but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:17).