Sabbath Rest

 

What does God command about the sabbath and what does it mean to obtain "Sabbath Rest"?

~~ Watch the Video ~~

Outline:

• Introduction
• Traits of Wholeness
• What is the Sabbath?
• The Sabbath was Designed Into Creation
• We Need To Rest
• To Rest is a Form of Faith
• The Sabbath is a Holy Blessing
• The Sabbath is A day to Remember
• The Sabbath Was Made for Man
• The Sabbath Was a Sign of the Future
• The Israelites Never Experienced the Rest
• As Christians We Can Obtain That Rest

Scripture:

• Hebrews 4:9-11
• Leviticus 23:1-5
• Genesis 2:1-3
• Leviticus 25:3-5
• Exodus 16:22-30
• Exodus 20:8-11
• Deuteronomy 5:12-15
• Mark 2:23-28
• Colossians 2:16-17
• Genesis 3:17
• Hebrews 3:16-19
• Psalms 95:10-11
• Hebrews 4:1-11

Introduction

Hebrews 4:9-11

9Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.

• There remains a Sabbath rest

What is the Sabbath?

sabbatismos: a sabbath rest

• Only occurrence in the bible

1. keeping sabbath.
2. the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians

Rest

Rest is cessation of work or movement in order to relax or recover strength.

Rest is freedom from anxiety or disturbance.

Traits of Wholeness

We are in our series called Seeking Wholeness

How can we be  _______ healthy

• spiritually
• emotionally
• mentally

Dealing with life’s current stresses and also being healed from experiences/wounds of the past

We’re not just supposed to have eternal life

• We’re supposed to have: joy, peace, patience, and self control here on earth

Traits of Wholeness

• Authenticity
• Honesty
• Kindness
• Not seeking external approval / validation
• Living by values and principles
• Setting Boundaries
• Taking ownership of your responsibilities
• Living with purpose and passion
• Optimism
• Confidence
• Healthy relationships with others
• Not losing control of your emotions
• Free from addictions
• Addressing Conflict
• Vulnerability
• Not critical or Judgmental
• Not jealous
• Genuinely applaud the success of others
• Forgive those who have wronged you in the past
• Know that you’re worthy of receiving love
• Not afraid to fail
• Able to manage irrational fear, worry, and anxiety
• Selfless encounters with others
• Not manipulating others trying to control their actions/reactions
• You care about how others feel
• Patient
• Don’t give into peer/social pressure
• Can communicate directly
• Don’t take responsibility for other people's emotions
• Take responsibility for your own emotions
• Being led by the Spirit

What is the Sabbath?

The Hebrew Bible repeats the commandment to observe the Sabbath 12 times

Leviticus 23:1-5

1 The LORD spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD’S appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations--My appointed times are these: 3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwellings. 4 ‘These are the appointed times of the LORD, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 ‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the LORD’S Passover.

• God commanded that it be a day of complete rest
• They are not supposed to work on that day

In the Jewish culture the Sabbath started Friday night and ended Saturday night and you weren’t supposed to do any work.

Story: Shabbat elevator

Does the Bible Say to Gather on the Sabbath?

convocation

miqrâʼ, mik-raw'

something called out, i.e. a public meeting (the act, the persons, or the place); also a rehearsal:—assembly, calling, convocation, reading.

There’s No Record of Early Christians Obeying the Sabbath

Acts 2:46 records the early Christians meeting every day. The Bereans studied the Scriptures every day (Acts 17:11). Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2 both mention Christians meeting on the first day of the week. There is no evidence in the New Testament that the apostles or the early Christians in any sense observed the Sabbath day as the prescribed day of worship.

Why We Meet On Sunday

Traditionally, Christians have held their primary corporate worship services on Sundays, the first day of the week, in celebration of Christ’s resurrection, which occurred on a Sunday (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2; Luke 24:1; John 20:1). It is important to understand, though, that Sunday is not the commanded day of corporate worship, either. There is no explicit biblical command that either Saturday or Sunday be the day of worship. Scriptures such as Romans 14:5–6 and Colossians 2:16 give Christians freedom to observe a special day or to observe every day as special.

The Bible doesn't command to meet on Sunday.

The Sabbath was Designed Into Creation

Genesis 2:1-3

1 And so the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their heavenly lights. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

God made a point to let us know that He rested

Leviticus 25:3-5 3For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its produce, 4but during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the LORD; you shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap your harvest’s aftergrowth, and you shall not gather your grapes of untrimmed vines; the land shall have a sabbatical year.

Jewish farmers got better results than their neighbors following this advice

Science eventually agreed with this showing that you need to let the land rest periodically

God was showing that they would get better results by trusting in Him

We Need To Rest

The bible is the Basic Instruction Book Before Leaving Earth

One of the instructions is that we need to occasionally power off or reboot

We can’t run at full speed all the time and expect to function at 100% with no damage

Sleep

“Our bodies function on an internal schedule, from

• hormone release to
• body temperature to
• cognition

 and sleep is linked to them all.”

  -- Chris Winter, M.D., president of the Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine

Most people need 7 - 9 hours of sleep

• A very few people have a gene that allows them to only need 4 hours

When we sleep we

• Store our long term memories

Lack of sleep is linked to

• Heart disease
• Impaired memory
• Overeating
• Car accidents

Daylight Saving

Spring forward

Research has linked Monday after the switch to daylight saving time

• Increase in car crashes
• 24% increase in heart attacks
• 5.7 percent jump in workplace injuries

Lack of proper sleep can exacerbate depressive feelings, anxiety, irritability, and mental exhaustion.

Sleep pattern matters

“You can’t treat someone for depression if they have an irregular sleep cycle”

  --Jordan Peterson (clinical psychologist)

Sleep is Self Care

Who has been doing more self-care more starting to take this series?

Yes self-care looks like:

• taking a bubble bath
• getting a massage
• taking a vacation

But it also looks like

• Getting enough sleep every night
• not spending money you don’t have
• going to the gym
• not eating something that is unhealthy for you
• taking your medicine
• Getting out of bed and taking a shower
• Cleaning up your space

What would you do if it was someone who you were caregiving for?

Is someone being a good parent by letting their small children stay up as late as they want?

To Rest is a Form of Faith

The Israelites in the desert

Exodus 16:22-30

22Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person; and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. 23He said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD’; bake and boil what you will bake and boil [today], and all that remains left over put aside for yourselves to keep until morning.” 24They put it aside until morning, as Moses told them, and it did not become foul nor was it wormy. 25Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. 26Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none [in the field].”

27Now on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you [people] refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions (laws)? 29See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you the bread for two days on the sixth day. Let every man stay in his place; no man is to leave his place on the seventh day.” 30So the people rested on the seventh day.

• God gave them manna from Heaven to feed them
• It fell for 6 days
• On the 6th day they were supposed to gather enough for two days
• There was no bread on the 7th day
• It was designed to allow them to rest

Rest is a form of faith

• “if I’m still… You will still feed me“
• If I stop… I won’t die
• I will trust that God will provide for me

Resting says I’m not dependent on my own effort for my provision

Sabbath is akin to sacrifice

• You are sacrificing your future provision/income

Sabbath is akin to tithing

Example: Chick-fil-A

Who knows some restaurants that went out of business during the pandemic?

Did you see any restaurants with long drive-thru lines during the pandemic?

• Christian restaurants
• Chick-fil-A
• In-and-Out

It takes faith for Chick-fil-A to be closed on Sunday

"I trust that God can do in 6 days what most restaurants can't do in 7"

The Sabbath is a Holy Blessing

Exodus 20:8-11 (Ten Commandments)

8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

• Some claim that verse 11 is God first creating the Sabbath??  

A day for you to rest without worry

•  About provision

Both Blessed and Holy

Bless [barak]

to kneel; by implication to bless God (as an act of adoration)

- with the antithetical meaning curse

set it apart as holy [qadash]

to be set apart or consecrated

 to be clean (ceremonially or morally) -- consecrate, dedicate, hallow

The sabbath is both blessed and holy

• Blessing are usually for humans
• To make holy is to set apart for God

The Sabbath Is Holy

To give it to God.

Example: 

• Sacrifice
• charam

Limited use / respect it

• “Take off your shoes you’re on Holy ground”
• Take off your hat in church

Blessed and Holy

God said I’m blessing this day and making it holy

To bless… Is a word of giving

To make holiest to take… God is taking it out of circulation

If something is made Holy on to God that means you can no longer have it

God is saying… He is going to give by taking away

He is adding to you… By taking away

The Sabbath is A day to Remember

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (10 Commandments)

12 ‘Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 ‘For six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your resident who stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. 15 ‘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 an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to celebrate the Sabbath day.

• Everybody got to rest
• To remember God brought you out of Egypt

Just a reminder that God saved them. He redeemed them.

Dry Feet Faith

They didn’t need to perform any effort

They walked across the sea on dry land

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

Mark 2:23-28

23And it happened that He was passing through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. 24The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25And He *said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; 26how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” 27Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”

The Pharisees

The Pharisees revered the sabbath as Holy, but no longer saw it as a blessing

The law says not to work, but is vague on what that means

• The Pharisees came up with their own specific details of what was work and what wasn’t

Examples:

• Wearing jewelry
• Bringing fruit in/outside

Jesus tells us that the primary purpose of Sabbath wasn’t as a day to honor God it was to benefit humans

The Sabbath Was Made for Our Benefit

It was to give us physical rest

Jesus say did you guys are making The Sabbath and oppressive thing when it was supposed to be a restful thing

Man was not made for the sabbath, for he was made a day before the sabbath was instituted.

.

1. He had some regard to our bodies in the institution, that they might rest, and not be tired out with the constant business of this world (Deu. 5:14); that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest.

Now he that intended the sabbath-rest for the repose of our bodies, certainly never intended it should restrain us, in a case of necessity, from fetching in the necessary supports of the body; it must be construed so as not to contradict itself-for edification, and not for destruction.

—Matthew Henry

Since, therefore, the Sabbath was intended for man's "good," the law respecting it must not be interpreted so as to oppose his real welfare. It must be explained in consistency with a proper attention to the duties of mercy to the poor and the sick, and to those in peril. It must be, however, in accordance with man's "real good on the whole," and with the law of God.

  —Barnes Notes

Son of Man

28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.

The phrase “Son of Man” as a reference to the Messiah. This is what made the Pharisees want to kill him.

They interpreted this is Jesus saying he was the Messiah

• Saying He was God

Example: The G.O.A.T

• If Lebron calls himself “the GOAT” basketball fans know what he’s implying

The Sabbath Was a Sign of the Future

Colossians 2:16-17

16 Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day—

17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.

• Don’t judge someone else based on when they celebrate the sabbath

The law said that

• Certain foods were “unclean” and couldn’t be eaten
• Certain days need to be considered Holy

Paul says that no one can judge you on those things

We shouldn’t argue of whether

• You can eat pork
• Drink wine
• Which day is the Sabbath

The religious restraints around these items no longer need to be followed

The substance belongs to Christ

Shadow of What is to Come

The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle was “a shadow” of what was in Heaven

It was a physical representation of what was in Heaven

• The Ark of the Covenant represented the Throne of God
• The menorah was a representation of the 7 churches
• lamps upon it represent the Holy Spirit

Jesus became the Tabernacle

The Tabernacle was what allowed God to commune with man

Jesus now is our mediator and the Holy Spirit dwells within us

“Shadow” means that it’s a physical/natural representation of a Spiritual reality

Sabbath Rest is a Shadow of Life in The Kingdom of Heaven

The Sabbath gave us a taste of what it was like to live in the Garden of Eden

Genesis 3:17

Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; With hard labor you shall eat from it All the days of your life.

As a result of the fall, man had to labor to get food

Mankind didn’t have to work for food prior to the fall

On the Sabbath you get to experience that.   You can live without having to work.

This is just a taste of the lifestyle we’ll live in Heaven.

God was teaching us that we can take it easy and enjoy one day

This is the promised Sabbath Rest

The Israelites Never Experienced the Rest

Hebrews 3:16-19 

16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Israelites were promised to go onto this land where they were live in houses that they did not build and eat food that they did not plant who are you on

Psalms 95:10-11

10“For forty years I was disgusted with that generation,

And said they are a people who err in their heart,

And they do not know My ways.

11“Therefore I swore in My anger,

They certainly shall not enter My rest.”

• This is the verse Paul is referring to

This is 400 years after the Israelites were in the promised land. The prophet David is saying that there will come a time of rest.  

As Christians We Can Obtain That Rest

Hebrews 4:1-11

1 Therefore, we must fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also did; but the word they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened with faith. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

“AS I SWORE IN MY ANGER,

THEY CERTAINLY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,”

although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; 5and again in this passage, “THEY CERTAINLY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” 6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who previously had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7He again sets 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.”

8For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that.

• Joshua and Jesus are the same word (one Hebrew one Greek)

9Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.

The Kingdom is Upon Us

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit

• That’s here on earth

Jesus promise that if we are living in the kingdom then we don’t need to worry about

• what we eat
• what we drink
• what we wear

Being free from worry and anxiety

So that rest is not just something for a future Heaven

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is upon us

With the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we can enter into that rest

A Rest From Works Salvation

The Old Testament Sabbath was a rest from physical work

The New Testament Sabbath is a rest for spiritual work

In spiritual terms rest means primarily to cease from one's works with the idea of release from anxiety, worry and insecurity. This rest is offered to all and is freely available by grace through personal faith in Jesus Christ (Mt 11:28, 29, 30). Only in Christ is our soul fully and truly at rest. In this context rest means to be done with self-effort as far as salvation is concerned. It means the end of trying to please God by our feeble, fleshly works. In short, God’s unmerited perfect rest is a rest in free grace which can only be entered into or appropriated by faith.

Jesus gives us the ability to rest from depending on our own effort

We don’t have to do works to achieve salvation

We don’t have to do works to be loved by God

How do you know if you have entered into the Sabbath rest

• Are you laboring?
• Are you trying to live holy and do the right thing in exchange for an answered prayer?

• Saving your love one
• healing your body
• material gain

• Do you think that if you do good things, God in return will answer your prayers?
• Have you ceased from trusting in your works?

Or are you trusting in a finished, complete work from God?

Do you believe you have to do this and this and this to get God to do something?

Just like the Israelites didn’t have to work the escape Egypt, you don’t have to work to achieve eternal life

Rest Is Based on Faith

Rest is based on obedience to the Holy Spirit

The sabbath was a display of faith

They didn’t gather manna on the 7th day trusting that God would provide

They didn’t grow their crops for a year trusting that God would provide

That was a display of faith

The New Testament Sabbath is also based on faith

Faith that Jesus died for your sins

Faith that allows us to not worry about tomorrow

• What we will eat
• What we will wear

If we enter into the promised rest of the Kingdom ...

• All worry and anxiety goes away
• We get peace
• We get a joy that’s not based on our circumstances
• We realize that we don’t have to prove ourselves to God
• We will experience true rest

Instructor: Michael Leadon

References

Sabbath: a rhythm of rest

Passion city church DC

https://www.preceptaustin.org/rest_in_hebrews_4

Matthew Henry commentary

Daylight saving time: 4 surprising health effects of 'falling back' (nbcnews.com)

Our Sabbath rest part one

Andrew Womack

What is the Sabbath Day?

GotQuestions.org

Extra

Isaiah 30:15

For this is what the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, has said: “In repentance and rest you will be saved, In quietness and trust is your strength.” But you were not willing,

Isaiah 58:13-14

13If you turn your foot from breaking the Sabbath,

from doing as you please on My holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight,

and the LORD’s holy day honorable,

if you honor it by not going your own way

or seeking your own pleasure or speaking idle words,

14then you will delight yourself in the LORD,

and I will make you ride on the heights of the land

and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.”

Ezekiel 20:21-24

21But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness. 22 But I withheld My hand and acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

23However, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. 24For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.

Penalty For Breaking the Sabbath

We often think of the Pharisee’s dispute with Jesus as being over laws that they added that weren’t in the bible/Torah

The Sabbath is in the 613 Jewish laws as well as the 10 commandments

Exodus 31:12-18 (NASB20)

12 Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 “Now as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You must keep My Sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 ‘Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. 16 ‘So the sons of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a permanent covenant.’ 17 “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.” 18 When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.

profanes

1) to profane, defile, pollute, desecrate,

a) ritually

2) to be polluted, be defiled

1b)  to profane, make common, defile, pollute

1b2) to violate the honour of, dishonour

1b3) to treat as common

The Bible is clear that if you break the Sabbath you should be put to death

Anyone who works on the Sabbath should be put to death

• One of the reasons they wanted to kill Jesus
• He also profaned the sabbath

Jesus Healed on the Sabbath

After this Jesus went to the temple and healed the man with the withered hand (Matthew 12:9-14)

Jesus healed the guy who couldn’t walk on the Sabbath.  

Jesus was saying did you guys rest on the Sabbath but God doesn’t. He was saying that he is God and therefore doesn’t need to rest on the Sabbath.

Jesus showed up in Jerusalem on the day of atonement… The ultimate Sabbath day.  

Jesus went on the cross on the day of atonement.  Jesus went into the grave on the Sabbath day.