Reading… and Thinking

“Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths.”

— Ezekiel 20:10-13 (NKJV)

In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus demonstrated that he was Lord of the Sabbath, and stated flatly that he would continue working, as indeed the Father is still working. (Mark 2:27-28, John 5:16-17) The apostle Paul wrote that it’s fine to consider one day above another, but equally fine to consider all days alike—provided that either way the Lord is honored. (Romans 14:5-7) Elsewhere he had strong words opposing those who were forcing believers to keep new moon and Sabbath observances. (Colossian 2:15-16, Galatians 4:9-11)

So we know from the New Testament that the Sabbath laws of the Old Testament are no longer in effect. In the age of grace, God has set aside the regulations which characterized the age of law. And yet, the Sabbath predated the Law of Moses. In fact, it goes right back to the beginning, when God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. (Genesis 2:1-3)

We can all understand the Law of Moses being set aside, but what justification is there for setting aside the Sabbath? Some who have asked themselves this question have concluded that the Sabbath must not have been set aside, and they insist it must still be kept. The New Testament does not support this conclusion, but the question remains valid.

A big part of the answer, I believe, is found in this passage in Ezekiel. God says here that He gave His Sabbaths particularly to Israel. Going back into the law of the Sabbath, we see that God Himself made this point in Exodus 31:13-17, reinforced by Moses in Deuteronomy 5:15. But what does it mean, that the Sabbath was given as a gift to Israel?

God sanctified the seventh day universally after the creation. But there is no record that anyone other than God considered it holy. No doubt God considered this day of rest to be a gift, but like so many of His gifts it was spurned. He let the matter lie, until He chose a nation to bear His name. To them alone He gave His law. Would it not have benefited everyone? Certainly! But it was given only to Israel. This was because of His selection of Abraham and the everlasting covenant God made with him, to work through his posterity for the benefit of all mankind. (Genesis 12:2-3 & 17:4-8, the start of one of the great themes of scripture, which runs through the whole Bible.)

Part of the gift of the just and righteous law, by which a man could live, was the gift of the Sabbath. God took this day that He had set aside, and made it special for Israel. He incorporated it into His law, and (unlike the earlier situation) gave particular instructions about how it should be observed. And in doing so, God made the observance of this day a test—would these people, blessed so greatly by the living God, honor Him by setting aside one day each week in which they did nothing for their own profit? As we know, they failed the test miserably. So the prophets sent to point out Israel’s flaws, such as Ezekiel, put great emphasis on the violation of the Sabbath. Israel had failed the test.

By New Testament times, the Sabbath had been subjected to a different kind of abuse. It was kept all right, but in a mechanistic way, a way that robbed it of all honor to God. The religious leadership had become obsessed with defining “work”, and paid scant attention to actual holiness. So far had they gone away from God’s intent, that the Pharisees were willing to plot Jesus’ death on the Sabbath, because he had done an act of kindness to someone on that day! (Matthew 12:11-14)

Israel, privileged to have this special gift, could never figure out how to use it. As far as the scripture record goes, God never gave it to another people. Wrapped as it was in the Law of Moses, the observance passed with that law.

But there is still a lesson for us in the Sabbath. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:1-10) In the larger sense, the “seventh day” has not yet come. The new creation is not complete. When it is, then God will rest from His labor with us, and we will enter His rest. This is the Sabbath given to us, in the age of grace.