What about the sabbath?
To honor the Sabbath means to “keep it holy,” and holy simply means “set apart.”
Most of us are overworked and utterly exhausted, so the concept of Sabbath could not be more important. To honor the Sabbath means to “keep it holy,” and holy simply means “set apart.” Our Sabbath should look different than the other six days of our week.
What Sabbath Is
Genesis 2:2–3 is where we see the first mention of the concept of Sabbath. God, the Creator, had just finished all of the creation work He’d been doing, and that’s when He rested. In the original Hebrew language, the word for “rested” is shabbat, and it means to stop working. And that’s exactly what God did. Not because He was tired or weary, for creating the world didn’t take a toll on God. He simply rested, because the work He’d done for the previous six days was complete. Thus, the concept of Sabbath began.
Let’s fast-forward many centuries to Exodus 20. In this chapter, the Ten Commandments were given to Moses for the Jewish people. Out of those ten listed, the fourth had the most detailed description. It says:
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. Exodus 20:8–11 NASB
To honor the Sabbath means to “keep it holy,” and holy simply means set apart. So, our Sabbath should look differently than the other six days of our week. When we strive to keep the Sabbath, it’s ultimately for our benefit.
Rest looks differently for everyone. Maybe you’re not the type of person who wants to lay around on your day off, but prefer to be active or spend time with friends. Or maybe you don’t need as much physical rest, but mentally and emotionally could use a break. Then, make the choice to unplug from anything that causes you to stay connected to what has drained you for six days. Whatever is restful for you, then that’s how you spend your time on your Sabbath.
Spend some time thinking about what it is that refuels you after spending six days working. And don’t worry if you don’t “get it right” every time. God’s not mad at you for not keeping the Sabbath. It’s not for Him, it’s for you! Just keep practicing how to rest on your Sabbath.
What Sabbath Isn’t
Keeping the Sabbath was a big deal in the Jewish faith. Jewish scholars debated about this for years. Instead of resting and spending time with their Creator, they were more concerned about how it looked that they obeyed the law.
When Jesus came to earth, He actually launched his public ministry on the Sabbath. Not only did His entrance into the world not meet the expectations of some of the Jewish religious leaders, called Pharisees, but He completely disrupted their Sabbath rules.
There’s quite a lengthy discussion about the Sabbath in Matthew 12. In it, Jesus and His disciples were walking through some grainfields and they were hungry. So, they fed themselves. They picked some grain and ate what they picked on the Sabbath. No problem, right? Wrong. This constituted “harvesting” in the Pharisees’ eyes, and that was strictly forbidden on the Sabbath.
Jesus addresses their accusation by referring to a story in the “scriptures,” or Old Testament, where King David and his friends were hungry and ended up breaking the law and eating the bread that only the priests could eat. He finished by saying, “For the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” (Matthew 12:8 NLT)
If picking grain on the Sabbath wasn’t enough to upset these religious men, Jesus’s next move would be. He went to the synagogue and saw a man whose hand was shriveled up. Jesus told the man to hold out his shriveled hand, and when he did, it was restored. Just like that. Instead of being in awe of Jesus’s power, the Pharisees decided it was time to plan His death.
The Pharisees were so concerned about the “rules” Jesus was breaking on the Sabbath that they completely forgot about people. They seemed to miss the whole point of the Sabbath, and saw it as just another rule to follow, and didn’t see it was for their benefit. In reality, it was a gift from God for them to participate in. God gave them an entire day to rest and enjoy the world that God had created, yet they didn’t care.
In Exodus 20:10, the Hebrew word for work is mela’kah, and it means occupation or business. The Sabbath was about not working. It doesn’t mention anything about not helping people. To the Pharisees, keeping the Sabbath was far more important than seeing anyone healed. Yet, Jesus gave no commands or restrictions against doing good in people’s lives. Their eyes were on the “how to” part of why God provided it and commanded it. But, resting from work doesn’t mean that good things stop. God is good and He does good…even on the Sabbath.
The passage about the Sabbath is less about a “how to” and “when to” obey this rule. There’s purpose in the Sabbath, and that’s what our focus should be on. This ushers in the difference between law and principle. The law is strict and forbids. Principles are flexible and bring freedom.
Sabbath Today
You may be wondering, “Do I need to keep the Sabbath? Is it even necessary since it was in the Old Testament?” It’s absolutely necessary! In most cultures, people are busier than ever and spend more time navigating their hectic family schedules. So, rest is essential for us to live healthy, strong lives. Let’s look at a couple of examples of practicing Sabbath rest:
Blue Zone — Loma Linda, California
Author and explorer, Dan Buettner, describes Blue Zones as regions in the world where people live longer. In the United States, the community of Loma Linda, California, is a Blue Zone, and it’s residents live ten years longer than the average person. A large population of Seventh-day Adventists reside in this city and attribute their longevity to things like regular exercise and vegetarianism. But, their first suggestion to people is to “Find a sanctuary in time.” This 24-hour Sabbath allows them to break from daily life and focus on God, family, and friendships, all the while relieving the stress from their daily lives.
A Different Reason for Sabbath
While keeping the Sabbath is typically a faith-based practice, more and more people outside of faith world have adopted it. A large amount of people residing in Silicon Valley, the home to many high-tech companies and the southern part of the San Francisco Bay area, have incorporated an “Internet Sabbath.” They shut down their devices for a day or even the weekend.
The point in sharing both examples is that whether someone is a person of faith or not, God created the Sabbath for us. There is purpose in it.
Legalism would say that we can’t work or do business on a Sunday, which many consider to be the Sabbath. If we’re being technical, the Sabbath in the Bible was Saturday. So, let’s not worry about the particular day of the week that we rest. Instead, let’s set aside one day for the rest that only comes when we cease working, and then allow God to refuel us and give us a deep rest in our bodies, minds, and souls.
The concept of keeping the Sabbath really comes down to a trust issue. We either trust ourselves to handle our lives, or we trust God. If we trust ourselves, chances are good that we’ll end up working ourselves to sheer exhaustion, possibly even an early death. But, if we choose to trust our good God, the One who goes before us, comforts us, and strengthens us, we’ll see more progress in a healthy six days of work than a depleted seven-day work week. Could it be that we don’t rest well because we don’t trust God? Let’s choose to trust God.
Jesus Is Our Rest
If we back up to the end of the previous chapter, we’ll see a popular passage that tends to bring comfort to us as followers of Jesus. Matthew 11:25 starts with Jesus praying to His Father and then in the following verses, He shifts into talking about His Father to the people listening.
Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” Matthew 11:28–30 NLT
For centuries, the Jewish people held tight to their day of rest being the Sabbath. The other six days were for work. In these three verses, Jesus is telling the people that He is their rest, not a particular day of the week.
Each day has its own set of struggles and hardships. We have jobs to do, children to raise, relationships to maintain, people to love, and social issues to rectify. Wouldn’t it be freeing to really take Jesus at His word and actually “come to Him” when we’re weary and burdened? To experience His rest “for our souls”? As followers of Jesus, we can do this anytime and don’t have to wait until the Sabbath.
The principle of the Sabbath is a healthy one that we should implement into our lives. It’s wise to set aside time each week where we stop working to get filled back up. Time where we enjoy the relationships closest to us. But, with Jesus saving us and leading our lives, how amazing is it that at any time on any day in any season, we can experience rest because Jesus is our rest.
Because He is, we can actually experience Sabbath rest a little each day. Here are some suggestions to incorporate it into our daily lives:
Begin each day with Jesus. Spend a few minutes centering yourself with Him in mind, asking Him to guide your day, and giving you eyes to see where He’s working. Consider watching the Verse of the Day Story in the Bible App.
Set aside 15–30 minutes a day to do something that refuels you. Maybe it’s reading a book, spending time with close family and friends, or heading to the gym.
If there’s something that is weighing you down, stop where you are and commit that to Jesus in prayer. Consider praying, “Jesus, I submit this to you because I know Your yolk is easy and Your burden is light.”
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