Lord of the Sabbath

DEVOTION

EXODUS

LORD OF THE SABBATH

Ex 31:12-18

12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.   14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people. 15 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. 16 The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. 17 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 abstained from work and rested.'" 18 When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

NIV

So here we are at this Sabbath thing and about working six days and resting or not working on the seventh day, the Sabbath. At least this is the command to the Israelites, the covenant God made with them. Are we to take this same approach to our lives? Of course the Sabbath was the seventh day which was considered as from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday, Sunday being the first day of the week. So then we have either rejected the whole idea of this command or we have perverted it for our own brand of religiosity. Of course we use Sunday as our Sabbath because it was the day the Lord rose from the grave. This also seems a little strange, but in the sense of Friday before sundown was one day, Saturday, the full day, and Sunday sometime in the morning he arose from the grave. So in the strictest sense he was in the earth three days as he said he would be.

Matt 12:40-41

40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

NIV

But it seems it was only two nights. Not sure how we justify that, however that is not the point of this passage. The idea here is the people were to consider the Sabbath as holy and do no work on that day. When we come to the time of Jesus, we see the Pharisees had perverted that by adding all sorts of regulations to this meaning. They only permitted a man to take only so many steps on the Sabbath. They actually had to count their steps, which would, in the strictest sense be work. But the idea here was that work six rest one and keep that one holy, or set apart for God. Do we need to abide by this command? It is one of the Ten Commandments.

Ex 20:8-11

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

NIV

We do not do this at all. First the Sabbath here is Saturday and we have converted it to Sunday. Yes it is because of Jesus. He even said he was the Lord of the Sabbath.

Matt 12:6-8

 7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." 

NIV

But then even if we are alright in calling Sunday our Sabbath day, then what about the other six? Who works six days in this culture? It is unheard of. So then are we in complete disobedience to one of the Ten Commandments. Just because we attend church on Sunday morning doesn’t mean we are in compliance with this command. Then there are those of us who work at jobs that require us to work on Sunday. How then do we observe the Sabbath? Could we be alright if we worked six and then rested on the seventh? But then we would have to work six and most of our employers would not allow us, or pay us to work six days.  Maybe our work around the house could count as working six days, like mowing the lawn, cleaning, laundry, washing windows, fixing things, etc. Maybe this doesn’t mean only our employment opportunities. Nevertheless we should be doing none of that at least one day a week and spend that entire day in consideration of the Lord. But how do we do that? Maybe because Jesus said he was the Lord of the Sabbath and it was in the context of the Pharisees charging his disciples were working on the Sabbath because they were picking and eating grain in a field, that he fulfilled that law, that command and therefore being with him, it did not apply. Then we could jump to the fact we are in Christ and he fulfilled all the Ten Commandments and therefore we, being in Christ have already fulfilled them and therefore need not live by them, but rather by Christ. Oh boy, that is a real jump in theology. But how else can we justify ignoring the work six, rest one command? Then also we have to ask for how long do we have to comply? Can we comply only till we are sixty five or whatever age we retire from our employment? What then if we are not working at all, or are unemployed or retired? How do we comply with the work six, rest one command? It seems it would be easy enough to keep one day apart and do no work of any kind on that day, but what about the other six and shouldn’t we be doing this until the day we die? Strange how we mingle our culture and God into a form of religion we can live with, that satisfies our concepts and ideas of what Christianity is all about. But what does God consider the right way for us to live? Do all our work for six days and rest from all work on the seventh and keep it holy. Then can we say this was only for Israel? But what do we do the fact that the true Israel is made up of those who have circumcised their hearts, not just their flesh?

Rom 2:28-29

28 A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. 29 No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise is not from men, but from God.

NIV

So then we are, in fact, real Jews, having circumcision inwardly, of our heart. Therefore this work six days, rest one and keep it holy applies to us as we are the generations to come of this lasting covenant. Are we in trouble? No, we are in Christ. Somehow that has to be our fulfillment of this command, yet then we still cannot dismiss it either. So we find ourselves in somewhat of a dilemma. We think we observe the Sabbath on Sunday, but we dismiss the working the other six days and we dismiss the toiling the ground for our needs all the days of our lives. Are we halfhearted about faith? This is a hard one, and we could go on forever and ever about this. Yet we do need to ponder about this, seeking the Lord for clarity. We need a true Sabbath, we need Jesus.