By failing to understand that Christ fulfilled the Law, Sabbatarian Christians unwittingly turn the rest into work! The root of the Hebrew for the Sabbath means to rest, "desist from exertion," stop working. In a way that most English translations fail to do, Young's Literal Translation of Scripture makes this very clear. In that translation, we read: "And the heavens and the earth are completed, and all their host; and God completeth by the seventh day His work which He hath made, and ceaseth by the seventh day from all His work which He hath made. And God blesseth the seventh day, and sanctifieth it, for in it He hath ceased from all His work which God had prepared for making." (Genesis 2:1-3, YLT) Likewise, in the Amplified Bible, we read: "So the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts (inhabitants). And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [as His own, that is, set it apart as holy from other days], because in it He rested from all His work which He had created and done." (Genesis 2:1-3, AMP)
Christ understood that he came to this earth to FULFILL the Law, and this commandment more particularly. In short, Jesus did what the children of Israel could NEVER do, and NEVER did do! The one who created the Sabbath was the one who embodied it!
Many Sabbatarian Christians point to the fact that Jesus kept the Sabbath and taught his disciples and the Jewish religious leaders how to keep it and ask, "Why would he bother to do this if he was about to do away with it?" Unfortunately, by asking this question, they demonstrate that they do NOT understand that Jesus wasn't "doing away with" anything - He was FULFILLING it! Moreover, this isn't just a matter of semantics. There is a real difference between fulfilling something and "doing away with it."
In the Gospel of Matthew, we read: "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, 'Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.' He said to them, 'Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, 'Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.' Then he said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him." (Matthew 12:1-14, ESV)
Likewise, the Gospel of Mark adds this to our understanding of Christ's teaching on the Sabbath: "One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples began breaking off heads of grain to eat. But the Pharisees said to Jesus, 'Look, why are they breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?' Jesus said to them, 'Haven’t you ever read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God (during the days when Abiathar was high priest) and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests are allowed to eat. He also gave some to his companions.' Then Jesus said to them, 'The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!'" (Mark 2:23-28, NLT) Christ new that he had created the rest after he had created everything else (including humankind - see Genesis 1). He wasn't tired or weary. He ceased/finished his work and rested for OUR BENEFIT, NOT HIS!
Interestingly, just before this incident with the Sabbath, we read that Christ had said: "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'" (Matthew 11:25-30, ESV)
Now, this is NOT a Lonnie revelation or understanding of Scripture. This is a long-standing understanding of Christ's Church (ekklesia) - the real one, NOT the many manmade organizations which exist and have appropriated its name! Notice some of the excellent quotations from other sources which follow my remarks.
In the Got Questions article "How is Jesus our Sabbath Rest?," we read: "God used the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. In Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God gave the Israelites the fourth of His Ten Commandments. They were to "remember" the Sabbath day and "keep it holy." One day out of every seven, they were to rest from their labors and give the same day of rest to their servants and animals. This was not just a physical rest, but a cessation of laboring. Whatever work they were engaged in was to stop for a full day each week. The Sabbath day was established so the people would rest from their labors, only to begin again after a one-day rest."
Continuing, in the same article, we read: "The various elements of the Sabbath symbolized the coming of the Messiah, who would provide a permanent rest for His people. Once again the example of resting from our labors comes into play. With the establishment of the Old Testament Law, the Jews were constantly "laboring" to make themselves acceptable to God. Their labors included trying to obey a myriad of do’s and don’ts of the ceremonial law, the Temple law, the civil law, etc. Of course they couldn’t possibly keep all those laws, so God provided an array of sin offerings and sacrifices so they could come to Him for forgiveness and restore fellowship with Him, but only temporarily. Just as they began their physical labors after a one-day rest, so, too, did they have to continue to offer sacrifices. Hebrews 10:1 tells us that the law "can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship." But these sacrifices were offered in anticipation of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Just as He rested after performing the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and rested—ceased from His labor of atonement because there was nothing more to be done, ever. Because of what He did, we no longer have to "labor" in law-keeping in order to be justified in the sight of God. Jesus was sent so that we might rest in God and in what He has provided."
The article continues: "Another element of the Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest—the holy, perfect Son of God who sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always." The article concludes with this warning: "There is no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan for us to cease from the labor of our own works. We dare not reject this one-and-only Way of salvation (John 14:6)."
Likewise, in the Bible Hub Topical Encyclopedia article "Christ as Our Sabbath Rest," we read: "The concept of Christ as our Sabbath rest is deeply rooted in the theological understanding of the Sabbath and its fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Sabbath, instituted by God in the creation narrative, is a day of rest and worship, symbolizing God's rest after the creation of the world (Genesis 2:2-3). In the Old Testament, the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel, a day set apart for rest and spiritual reflection (Exodus 31:16-17)."
The article continues: "In the New Testament, the understanding of the Sabbath is expanded and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The author of Hebrews provides a profound insight into this fulfillment, stating, "There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His" (Hebrews 4:9-10). This passage indicates that the true Sabbath rest is not merely a cessation of physical labor but a spiritual rest found in Christ."
The article concludes: "For believers, living in the Sabbath rest of Christ means embracing the peace and assurance that comes from faith in His finished work. It involves a continual reliance on His grace and a cessation from the self-reliant efforts to achieve righteousness. This rest is both a present reality and a future hope, as Christians anticipate the ultimate rest in the eternal presence of God. The understanding of Christ as our Sabbath rest encourages believers to live in the freedom and joy of the gospel, resting in the assurance of salvation and the sufficiency of Christ's atoning work. It calls for a life of faith, characterized by trust in God's promises and a commitment to spiritual renewal and worship."
I highly encourage my readers to read both articles in their entirety. Once again, the notion of Christ as the fulfillment of the Sabbath/rest is NOT a new one. It is one that is deeply rooted in the theology of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures. In Christ alone, we find true rest - rest from ALL of our works for ALL times, not just one day out of seven!
No comments:
Post a Comment