Why should we Sabbath?
Mark 2:27-28
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
The last newsletter I wrote covered the Scriptural evidence for when we should observe the Fourth Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. This week will look more deeply into why we should obey this command and the purposes God has in giving it to us.
Jen Wilkin, in her book Ten Words to Live By, spends a whole chapter on each of the 10 commandments. Her chapter on the Fourth Commandment, which she calls "Unhindered Rest," has really affected the way I view the why behind the Sabbath command. Ultimately, she points to the fact that if we are to be image-bearers of God, observing Sabbath rest is essential because it reflects God's own rhythm in creating the world. When God gave Moses and the people of Israel the Ten Commandments, He was asking the people to "remember" something from long ago, how God Himself rested after six days of creating. While we are His image-bearers, we don't possess all the qualities that God does (like unending strength or knowledge). So even though God is all-powerful, and technically doesn't need to rest, He still chose to rest as a model for the way He intended His people to live their lives. How amazing it is that we have such a gracious God to purposefully be an example to us weak, pathetic creatures? He loved his sinful, mortal creation enough to demonstrate to them what could be done to help fight against the toll that work in this world has on us.
So why did God command us to rest and observe the Sabbath day? Because He knows what we need before we ask for it (Matthew 6:8). In one of the passages from my last email, God gives more detailed reasoning for why the Israelites were to observe the Sabbath day: "It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17). When I first started studying this passage, I thought the word "refreshed" just seemed odd. However, when I started looking at different translations of this verse, almost all use the phrasing that God was refreshed. Merriam-Webster's dictionary gives the following definition for the verb "to refresh":
1: to restore strength and animation to : REVIVE
2: to freshen up : RENOVATE
3: to restore or maintain by renewing supply : REPLENISH
I love thinking about how those three R's are the reason why we need to Sabbath. God knew we needed to revive our hearts regularly with His Word and presence. He desires to use Sabbath rest to renovate us, to make us more like Jesus so that we can accurately bear His image. He also knew that we would need spiritual replenishing, to be filled up constantly with Him. God's purpose for us in the Sabbath, to revive, renovate, and restore us, is the motivation behind why we must obey this command.
This week's opening verses are what I ended my last newsletter with: Jesus' words about the purpose of the Sabbath day in contradiction to the Pharisee's teaching to just "not work." These verses come from Mark's account of a time when the Pharisees criticized Jesus and his disciples for picking grain as they walked through a field on the Sabbath. You can find this story also in Matthew 12. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees in Matthew 12:3-7 by reminding them of how King David, when he was on the run from his enemies, entered the tabernacle and ate the consecrated bread, which was "unlawful" for them to do. In verses 9-14 of that same chapter, while at a synagogue on the Sabbath, the Pharisees tried to trap him by asking if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. Jesus goes on to heal a man with a shriveled hand in front of them, after He pointed out that if someone's animal fell into a pit on the Sabbath, they would take hold of it and lift it out. He then said, "Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." So the purpose of the Sabbath is not to just "not work."
All of this teaching from Jesus comes right after some of the most powerful words He uses to describe the heart of God. At the end of Matthew 11, right before this interaction on the Sabbath day, we see Jesus speak beautifully to those He was teaching about His heart (the heart of God). Matthew 11:28-30 says,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Jesus came to give our souls eternal comfort and rest, the ultimate fulfillment of the Sabbath day. I always love thinking about Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount, when He says in Matthew 5 that He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not to abolish them. He alone could grant us rest from our weary, sinful hearts. The Fourth Commandment was given to us so that we may rest physically from work and find spiritual rest in the One True God.
Observing the Sabbath now not only helps us better reflect the image of God, but it also foreshadows our eternal rest in Him. In my next email, I will dive into how we can keep the Sabbath day and make it holy in our lives. My encouragement to you this week as you think about why the Sabbath needs to be observed is Hebrews 4:11:
"Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience."