The Sabbath: So Much More Than Nap Day

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1-3, ESV)



At the end of 2010, I reviewed a book entitled Sabbath by Dan Allender. I enjoyed the book much more than expected, with the biggest takeaway being that it forced me to look at the Sabbath with fresh eyes.



As a result of reading the book, my family and I made a few changes to how we observe the day, and it has been such a blessing. We prepare a large Sabbath meal for the first evening. (This provides enough leftovers for the following day.) We make it a special and intentional event, with an emphasis on remembering what God did at creation, at the cross, and what He's currently doing to prepare a place for us in heaven.



Another result from reading the book was the decision to do a more in-depth Bible Study on the subject. I hope this is beneficial to you as well.



1. The day is blessed by God.

The original Hebrew actually means "He is blessing," which carries with it a continual deep joy and satisfaction.



2. The day was made holy by God.

Again, the original Hebrew suggests an ongoing and present action with "He is making holy." "Holy" means set apart and unique (in other words, different from the other six days).  The seventh day is the only day of the creation account that doesn't end with the evening-followed-by-morning refrain. Some theologians believe the omission signifies that the seventh day continues.



For further study, read Exodus 20:8-11 and Hebrews 4:3-11.



3. God "resting" doesn't imply that He was tired or that His work was finished.

All of the creation account in Genesis 1 points to the ease with which God created the universe ("And God said . . . And it was so").



God's work of creation was completed, but His work wasn't (John 5:17). God continues to work to this day.



For further study, read Isaiah 40:28 and Psalm 121:4.



4. The Sabbath was instituted as a memorial to God's rest at creation AND as a remembrance of the deliverance from slavery.

The Exodus account of the Ten Commandments points to creation, while the Deuteronomy account points to the deliverance from Egyptian slavery for the Hebrew people. The correlation for Christians is our deliverance from sin slavery through the redemptive work of Christ on the cross.



It's also important to note that God's resting and the deliverance from bondage aren't the subject of the Sabbath. It's a holy day to God simply by virtue of the fact that He blessed and hallowed the day. He finished His work with delight, and that delight flowed over into blessing on the day and on His creation.



I love this Matthew Henry quote: "God did not rest as one weary, but as one well pleased . . . . The Christian Sabbath which we observe, is a seventh day, and in it we celebrate the rest of God the Son, and the finishing of the work of our redemption."



See Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15.



5. The day wasn't meant to be kept in a legalistic way.

There's nothing like a bunch of additional rules tacked on to God's law to zap every ounce of beauty from the Sabbath (2 Corinthians 3:4-6). The restriction given for the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments was to cease work. No one was excluded, and everyone benefited.



Under the old covenant, those who observed God's day of rest were promised blessing and spiritual nourishment (Isaiah 56:1-7; 58:13), but failure to keep the day brought destruction (Nehemiah 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21-27).



6. Keeping the Sabbath shows a commitment to the covenant relationship with the Lord.

Observing the Sabbath requires that we organize our week around the Lord. It also serves as a testimony to a dying world that we've entered the eternal rest of God.



See Isaiah 56:2-8 to see that the day also included refraining from evil. Exodus 31:12-17 mentions the observance of the Sabbath was a sign of the covenant between God and His people. See also Ezekiel 20:12.



7. Most of Jesus' run-ins with the Pharisees revolved around the observance of the Sabbath.

In each situation, Jesus didn't challenge the Sabbath law, but the Pharisee's interpretation of it. Since Jesus was God with flesh on, His interpretation of the law was entirely accurate. He is the Lord of the Sabbath and declared that it was right to do good on the Sabbath. Note that He never lessened or did away with the Sabbath, but did clarify its purpose when He mentioned that the Sabbath was made for man and not the other way around.



See Matthew 12:1-12 and Mark 2:27-28.



8. Keeping the Sabbath (or any of the Ten Commandments, for that matter) isn't a means of salvation.

I know this probably goes without saying, but our salvation comes only because of God's amazing grace and our faith in Him.



See Hebrews 10:11.



9. In Biblical times the day was celebratory, with rejoicing and delight.

To view the Sabbath as a weekly vacation or afternoon nap is to miss the grandeur of the day. The Israelites observed it as a holy day with corresponding offerings (Numbers 28:9). It was also a day of celebration (Hosea 2:11) and delight (Isaiah 58:13).



10. The purpose of the Sabbath is to point to God's rest.

As earth creatures, we're under the curse brought on by the fall of man. But God, in His boundless grace gave us the Sabbath as a picture of future glory and eternal rest. 



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Additional Thoughts:  I'm certainly not suggesting that anyone should feel obligated to celebrate the day as I do. In fact, a couple of verses in the New Testament could possibly be interpreted to show that a Sabbath day celebration is an individual decision (Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:16-17).



I can only speak for myself, but the deliberate and intentional celebration of the Sabbath day each week has been a true delight, and the day is so much more than nap day (though naps are always appreciated)!