Seeking Rest: Sabbath

As someone that has grown up in church, I have heard plenty of sermons about the Sabbath, and could probably give you a decently detailed understanding of what it is, where it comes from, and why it is important. Because of this, I was hesitant to write about it, worried that it would feel too much like simply restating facts I already knew. I decided to keep it in my outline for this series, knowing that writing it could still be a great reminder of the topic and what it means for us today. Still, though, I did not expect much.

I have been admittedly exhausted for the last week or so, and so I didn’t go in depth as much for this topic in preparation as I have for the rest of the pieces of this series. I started by looking for the first mention of Sabbath in the Bible and breaking that down, and tracking the different ways the phrase occurs in Scripture. However, I found myself going down a brief yet compelling rabbithole, uncovering a question I had never considered before and how to go about it. Before I get into that, though, I do want to go back to the Sabbath as we see it in the Old Testament, to study how it came to be in the first place.

Origins of the Sabbath

One of the first times that we see the word “Sabbath” appear in Scripture is in Exodus 20 as God gives Moses the Ten Commandments. This is the passage that is used most often to understand the term, simply because this is where God explicitly states what it is to Israel and why it is important for them.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that it within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” (Exodus  20:8-11)

The language that is used for this commandment is in stark contrast to how God lays out the rest of them, simply because there is no usage of the words “thou shalt”. Instead, the action word that is given is “remember”, which intrigues me simply because of the visual contrast when reading through the Ten Commandments. It surprises me that God gave them a command specifically to remember, but then it does break it down into a specific understanding of what Sabbath is. The overarching idea of Sabbath is to keep it holy, which is then explained to set it apart as a day without any work. Where the command exists to do labour the other six days of the week, no work shall be done on this day, even the cattle! This mirrors the six days that God spent creating everything in Genesis 1 before resting on the seventh day. This rest wasn’t a sign of God being tired, but instead an opportunity for him to reflect on what had been done and how good creation was. This created a rhythm that He showed us in order for us to follow in those steps in order to keep this day holy.

Interestingly enough, this pattern is so consistent that it bleeds into the rest of creation, as seen in the book of Leviticus. Here, we see the idea of Sabbath as it relates to the land, and allowing the land time to rest. “When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a Sabbath unto the Lord. Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and father in the fruit thereof; but in the seventh year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.” (Leviticus 25:2-4). This commandment was purposeful, because land that is overused quickly fades. If you do not let the ground rest, but instead choose to constantly bombard it with new crops, it will lose nutrients and decrease in quality, affecting the crops sowed on that land. By surrendering that year of work on the land, it actually ends up providing greater results for the land long-term. This in turn mirrors why rest is so crucial for us. In a culture that prioritizes working until you drop, it feels like a major sacrifice to give up a day every week, but by allowing our bodies and souls to rest away from our normal busy life and duties, it provides greater results later on, if we trust in this rest. This is such a stark contrast to the world’s view, but that idea is actually acknowledged in Exodus 31, saying that “it is a sign between [God] and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:17). Sabbath stood as a sign of the lasting covenant between Israel and the Lord, and how the other nations would understand that they are a set apart people. This commandment was God’s way of encouraging His people to take the time to keep their souls at rest and set themselves apart from the other peoples.

Sabbath in the New Testament

While this is one of the Ten Commandments that is often referenced in Christian spaces, it is important to remember the context in which these commandments exist. There have been countless debates about which Old Testament laws should still be followed after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These debates are actually seen in the New Testament, especially in scenarios where Jews and Gentiles coexist in a specific church body. For example, in Romans 14, some Jewish Christians had always observed the Sabbath, and it felt wrong to stop doing so even after Jesus had come to earth. On the other end, Gentile Christians felt as if they needed to walk in new ways after Christ had come. This caused tensions and disputes, to the point that Paul felt as if he had to address it in his letter to the Christians in Rome. While addressing all the differences that the Jew and Gentile Christians were debating, he said that “one man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5). Here, we see Paul’s priority was not to set the record straight for how the Sabbath should be observed. Instead, he understood that the heart towards God is what is most important, while recognizing individual people’s convictions. The Jews were convicted because it felt wrong to stop recognizing God in this way, whereas the Gentiles never had this experience that connected them to the Sabbath. Because of this, Paul explained that there is value in respecting people’s convictions, putting that over ruling Sabbath as either still practiced or not.

Similarly, in Colossians, Paul acknowledges these concerns in another church, in addition with issues such as what to eat and drink like other Old Testament laws. Paul says this on the matter: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.” (Colossians 2:16-17). Here, Paul prioritizes the unified body of Christ over these matters. He is not by any means saying that this is not a matter we should think about, but instead shows that there are more important things. We see a pattern throughout the New Testament of Jesus explaining that the heart behind Old Testament rules is what is most important, and Paul seems to have a thorough understanding of this. With all that to say, I have not found a clear answer as to whether this is something we are commanded to follow or not. However, that does not mean that we cannot learn from it.

Practicing the Sabbath

Even though we may not be under the same commandments of the Old Testament, the Sabbath is still definitely an idea that bears the same spiritual fruit as it always did. This is especially true in our current culture, because I know that I personally feel such a pressure to work until I drop and glorify the exhaustion that goes along with it. Taking a day every week away from this to rest and instead prioritize our relationship with God is a practical way that we can realign our priorities and show that we are set apart from that of the world. It also provides us an opportunity to learn how to trust God, because it definitely is a sacrifice giving up a day of work to put God first. In addition, it pushes us to be honest and hardworking in those six days, because the Lord does specifically tell us to labour those days. It is important to work hard in all that you do, and by knowing you have this Sabbath to rest, we can give it our all in our work, whether it be a job, school, or even different chores and errands. The most helpful thing is to create a specific routine of when your Sabbath is, and what you intend to do, because I know how easy it is to let it slip past if we do not set specific expectations of the boundaries that you will have during that day. Doing this intentionally will allow you to put your relationship with God above the seemingly neverending stream of tasks, and set us as believers apart from this world’s culture.