The Lord Of The Sabbath

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD your God… for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day: therefore, the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11).

This is the only one of the Ten Commandments not repeated in the New Testament for good reason. The sabbath celebrated the completion of the first creation, but Jesus’ death and resurrection began a new creation. Jesus arose on a Sunday morning, therefore, throughout the rest of the New Testament, the people of God gathered “on the first day of the week,” celebrating The New Covenant, built on better promises.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day made ridiculous, unbiblical, added rules for not working on the sabbath day. Jesus rebuked them and said He was the Maker of the sabbath day (Mark 2:27,28). Through it He gives an important truth of salvation explained in Hebrews 3-4. Adam and Eve took no part in the work of creation; they only delighted in the finished work Jesus had made. In the same way, we have no part in the work of salvation, we can only enter it, through repentance and faith, to rest in what Jesus has done for us through His blood. Only in Christ do we find true “rest” for our souls (Matthew 11:29).

The Bible assures us, “There remains therefore a rest (Sabbath of all sabbaths) to the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9). Every Sunday morning, in the light of Christ’s resurrection power, we celebrate the “rest for our souls’ now, while anticipating with joy, our great Sabbath rest to come.

(Devotional by Lisa Cataford)