There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God
Nov 4th, 2008 by Nathan White
“So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” - Hebrews 4:9-10
How do you understand the Bible’s teaching on the Sabbath? Of course, this Sabbath issue appears throughout scripture, first in the Garden of Eden before sin entered the world, then in the Law and Prophets of the Old Testament, but then again here in the fourth chapter of Hebrews. So whether or not you agree that the Sabbath is still a command for New Testament Christians to regularly obey, we cannot get around the fact that the Sabbath is permeated in scripture from beginning to end (literally).
Has the Sabbath been abolished as a Old Testament, ceremonial command? Or do Christians in this age still have a binding obligation to observe a Sabbath? Was the Sabbath simply the sign of the Old Covenant with Israel and nothing more? Has Christ fulfilled this issue of the Sabbath, just as He fulfilled other ceremonial aspects of the Old Testament Law, and thus resting our faith in Christ is essentially perpetual Sabbath-keeping? These questions and more, I believe, can at least be partly answered by a careful study of Hebrews chapter four.
Please, all you Sabbath-skeptics, many faithful brothers in sisters in Christ no doubt, hear me out, and hear this text out, as I attempt to make a few brief points from it:
First, we must understand here that the Sabbath day points to the eternal Sabbath rest, in heaven, for those who have faith in Christ, and that it always has pointed to this.
“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.” - Heb 4:8
Here the writer says that this Sabbath rest, which is the reality and fulfillment of the Seventh day command (per 4:4), was not fulfilled with the rest that Joshua brought in the promised land, but that this ‘day’ is the end and fulfillment of our faith, the eternal age where we rest in the works of Jesus Christ, as He has rested from His. It is a heavenly, eternal rest.
So just as those in the Old Testament were under obligation to obey the Sabbath, looking forward to its fulfillment, we too are likewise awaiting its fulfillment, and are told here in this chapter to “strive to enter that rest” (v11), “while the promise of entering his rest still stands” (v1), for “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (v9). Nothing has changed from Old Testament to New Testament in regards to consummation of the Sabbath, other than the fact that Christ is our Sabbath and has fully accomplished that rest for those who have faith in Him. But we await full consummation just as they awaited full consummation, so abolishing/fulfilling the Sabbath as if it has now come makes no sense.
Secondly, do we not see from this text that that the Sabbath rest remains ‘for the people of God‘? Why is it, then, that those who hold to the fulfillment/abolishment of the Sabbath precisely argue that resting in Christ, by faith, in this life, is our obedience to the Sabbath? How then does this verse make sense? What sense would it make to say ‘faith in Christ is obeying the Sabbath, but there still remains a Sabbath for those who have faith in Christ’?? –For the author here is not telling unbelievers that they have a future Sabbath rest if they have faith, but he is telling ‘the people of God’, those who’ve already professed faith in Christ, that their Sabbath is still future.
So then, our final Sabbath rest hasn’t come just yet, for it is still yet future. This Sabbath rest is ‘for the people of God’. That is, those who have faith in this life will experience the Sabbath rest in the age to come. The Sabbath rest does not find its fulfillment in this life, per the teaching of this text, though we are assured that Christ is our Sabbath and will lead us to the eternal Sabbath at the consummation of His kingdom. This is important as we consider the last point.
Lastly, when we read verse 4 and the subsequent argument to follow, how can we not help but think of other places where this same line of argumentation is used? Consider verse 4:
“For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” - Heb 4:4
The writer of Hebrews is jumping back to Genesis chapter 2 and the original teaching on the Sabbath as a basis for his argumentation to follow.
Parallel this with Ephesians 5, where Paul does the same regarding marriage:
“‘therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” - Eph 5:31-32
Here in verse 31, Paul quotes Genesis 2:24 and essentially sums up his practical instruction on marriage by saying that the marriage relationship ultimately pictures Christ’s relationship with the church. So then, since Jesus Christ and His relationship to us is the final and full reality of this Gen 2 principles of marriage, are we then free to throw out this instruction based upon our faith in Him? Is just having faith in Christ a fulfillment/obedience to the instruction on marriage? Certainly not. Just because fulfillment of typology is affirmed does not mean that the practical instruction of the principle is laid aside. Likewise we see the same with the Sabbath.
So why do some men say we have no obligation to keep the Sabbath since Christ is the ultimate fulfillment, and yet they do not argue the same concerning the commandments surrounding marriage?
The writer of Hebrews, far from annulling, abolishing, or setting aside the Sabbath commandment as duty to be obeyed, instead points the Hebrew church to its full, final, and ultimate reality: faith in Jesus Christ and the future Sabbath rest we will enjoy in Him. The fact that Christ is the final fulfillment of the Sabbath in no way relieves us from the obligation, and yes the weekly duty, to faithfully observe it in obedience.
You see, we have a gracious God who has revealed His will to us. Part of the order of creation involved the institution of the Sabbath, and part of God’s moral law concerned being obedient in Sabbath-keeping. But far from giving us abstract rules or regulations to burden us, He has instead revealed His plan and purpose behind it all. The Sabbath Day is one such gracious revelation of God. He has pointed us to its reality, and in our faithful obedience to the Sabbath, He offers us a weekly taste of what the eternal reality will be like.
We do not have an intellectual, abstract faith that is somehow strengthened by giving intellectual assent to the fact that Christ is our Sabbath –that is a perversion of what this text is teaching us. No, we were given the revelation of the future Sabbath rest and the exhortations to strive to enter it so that our Sabbath-keeping would be a means of grace, and a hopeful expectation for the final fulfillment of the typological sign.
Brother you are on to something here. The whole concept of setting aside the commandments just because HE kept them perfectly makes no sense. Since it is Christ in us the hope of glory, and HE works in us both to will and to do for HIS good pleasure; and furthermore that we are saved by grace through faith, and not of works lest any one should boast, for we are HIS workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works that HE prepared BEFOREHAND that we should WALK in them. John says in 1st John that we “should walk as HE walked.” Yeshua said to not think that HE came to destroy the Torah and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Paul says in Romans 8, that because HE has done this, the righteous requirement of the Torah can be fulfilled in us who walk according the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Jesus further said in Matthew 5 that those who do and teach Torah are the blessed ones. HE said in Matthew 7 that those who will be cast out into outer darkness, who profess to know HIM, are those who practice lawlessness. Rev 22 says that those who have the right to eat of the Tree of Life are those who keep the commandments. Elsewhere in Revelation it says that those who don’t succumb to the enemy are those who have faith in Jesus and keep the commandments.
Jesus fulfilled the ordinances of the priesthood. That is the main point of Hebrews, according to the writer in Chapter One of Hebrews Nine. HE is the great eternal High Priest and HE is greater than the Levitical priesthood. The fault, according to Hebrews, was with THEM, not the Torah. It goes on to tell us that the New Covenant is that HIS Torah is to be written on our hearts, put in our minds, so that HE can CAUSE (grace) us to walk in HIS commandments. See Strong’s definition of grace - charis, “especially the divine influence on the heart with the reflection in the life.” This is what is spoken of in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, and I believe the point of Deuteronomy 29. It is definitely what HE was saying in Exodus 19:5-6, Revelation 1:4-6, and Revelation 5:9-10.
Some things to chew on, if you like. Check out http://torahperspective.com and or http://messiahfellowshiponline.com
You will find a video series on the Messiah Fellowship site done by me and my pastor. We used to be in fellowship with Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, CA, but our fellowship was disfellowshipped because we believe we are to observe Biblical Sabbath. We are thriving, meeting on Saturday evenings, at the close of Sabbath, with a community meal (1 Corinthians 11) worship and Bible discussion. It is a DELIGHT.
E-mail me if you would like to talk. Be blessed as you seek HIM apart from man’s traditions. Jesus told the Pharisees, “You set aside the commandments of God that you might keep YOUR traditions.” The problem wasn’t that they were telling people to keep Torah. The problem was telling people to follow the directives of the Rabbis who had added to and subtracted from the Torah, in violation of HIS explicit commandment to not do so. We see the same exhortation in Revelation 22.
BK–
Thank you for your comment. Let me say however that although I do believe in the validity of the Sabbath commandment, I also believe scripture teaches a radical shift in how it is obeyed from OT to NT. I also believe that many today pervert the 4th commandment to mean something that the NT clearly does not intend in its teaching on the subject.
Among that ’shift’, I believe that the Jewish Sabbath has been replaced with what theologians call the Christian Sabbath. In other words, emphasis on love and mercy instead of bondage, and of course Sunday as the Sabbath (Christ’s resurrection) instead of the the Jewish Saturday. I’ve written much about this and defended these things here if you’d like to read more.
Furthermore, I do hold to Covenant Theology, which would certainly have disagreements with what is now called ‘Messianic’ or ‘Jewish Messianic’ Christianity. In fact, you can probably see how Covenant Theology also affects my view on how the Jewish Sabbath turned into the Christian Sabbath and observing Christ’s resurrection as ONE people of God (no longer Jew or Greek).
But I certainly don’t desire to get into all that now, and I DO appreciate your comments here. I just felt I need to clarify that in case there is any confusion for others who stumble upon this.
Grace and peace,
Nathan
Hey, Nathan, I appreciate the post. Good stuff to think on. I will ponder well (especially some questions I haven’t really considered), and will try to get back and interact on the topic.
BTW, I see you’re reading Brooks’ “Picture” book. Most excellent. It was my initial forray into the Puritans and it completely demolished the stereotype for me. What struck me was how intimate, warm, and pastoral it was.
Nathan,
Good stuff, Maynard
Have you ever considered the Feast of Tabernacles and the eighth day Sabbath? Even though the former has been taken away, there is still a song to be sung in the latter.
Gordan–
Excellent book. I’m reading through it with another brother of mine, and I’m glad we picked this one because it is definitely ‘devotional’ and warm-hearted.
Good day Nathan
Nice topic you’re dealing here. I think there’s just something you missed here about Heb 4. You started your blog with this question: “how do you understand the Sabbath”? Well this is how I see it:
After God finished His work on the 7th day (Gen 2:3) , He seized from it. If you go check out original scripture its not rest as in chilling, but stop doing something. So God stopped creating, for it was very good and He was happy with it. Creation was fulfilled. God even blessed it. Everything that was created was in that fulfilled mode. Creation was the reflection of God’s perfection. Adam and Eve was also living in that perfection. They were in God’s rest 7 days a week. God also blew His Spirit (pneuma = Breath of God) into Adam, which made man alive, immortal and in God’s likeness and image. Adam and Eve had the Spirit of God (mind of God = knowledge of the spirit) inside of them.
What went wrong is that man failed God (sin) and desired knowledge of good and evil above knowledge of Spirit. SO man lost the Spirit and with that God’s likeness and image and immortality. Subject to death and no more rest in God. Man now had to work under a curse (we all know story). Since that day life has been a struggle. From the woman who gives birth in pain to the last breath man gives out and return as dust to the earth.
Since that day man has tried to win favor with God so God will bless man. To cut it really short, man found a recipe how to “become righteous”. The Law. So if you stick to it, you will be blessed, happy and live forever. Only one problem. No one has the capability to keep it. Its just not humanly possible, for no human can do it without being God (or have the Spirit of God that changes man in image and likeness of God)
Don’t worry. Will come to Sabbath now. So Jesus comes in form of man. After receiving the Spirit at His baptism, He starts doing miracles and teaching awesome things. (He even became immortal. 40 days in desert without food or water. When people tried to kill and stone Him, he walked right trough them, and he lost so much blood and so much torture on cross but only died after He gave up the Spirit). Jesus became God in Human form. “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father”. Now check this out: Mark 2:27. “ The Sabbath was made for man, not man for Sabbath. God’s original plan of Sabbath was for man to live in the constant state of perfection as He is and as He created the Sabbath. That’s why Jesus did miracles on Sabbath. Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath by doing miracles. As it is in Heaven, let it also be on earth (Jesus’ prayer).
Now this is exactly what Jesus came to do. He came to restore that what was broken in the Garden of Eden. By Him dying on the cross, He paid for all our sins. Even the sins we are still going to do. Col 2:10 We became complete in Him. Circumcised in Him, Buried with Him, Risen with Him. This is all possible by His spirit. For the same Spirit that was in Jesus and that made Jesus “the Christ” (anointed) is now in us.
My conclusion: Gal 3:2 Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of faith? In the beginning , Man only Had the Spirit, not the Law. If you have the Spirit, and listen to it, you have the capability in you to fulfill the Law as Jesus did, for it’s the same Spirit that was in Jesus.
Rom 8:1-3There is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION to them which are IN CHRIST JESUS, who walk not after the flesh, but after the SPIRIT. For the LAW of the SPIRIT of LIFE in CHRIST JESUS hath made me FREE from the LAW of sin and death. For what the LAW could not do, in that it was weak through the FLESH, GOD sending his own SON in the likeness of sinful FLESH, and FOR SIN, CONDEMNED SIN in the FLESH.
Through the Spirit of Christ Jesus, you are in the Rest of God. You are in the FINISHED WORK of CHRIST. Jesus said it on the cross with His last words: IT IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!
Johan - Cape Town, South Africa
Hi Johan,
Thank you for your thoughts. I can’t say that I disagree with very much of what you said, but let me clarify a few of my points from this passage by responding to a few things you said:
You said:
I completely agree, but would see different ramifications of this than you do.
First, the passage in Hebrews 4 clearly says that “there REMAINS” a Sabbath rest “FOR the people of God”. In other words, though Christ is our Sabbath and fulfilled this Sabbath, the consummation of this Sabbath “still remains”, thus it would be dangerous/foolish for us to act like the reality is here when we still await that day.
Secondly, again as I pointed out above, we take other Eden-statements very seriously in this present day, so why don’t we the Sabbath? Is Christ our perfect Husband? Yes. Did He fulfill the ultimate end of ‘leave and cleave’ and the ‘one-flesh’ reality of the joining of man and woman? Yes. Furthermore, did Christ perfectly obey the command to not commit adultery where we didn’t and couldn’t? Yes, of course.
But just because we’re not under law doesn’t mean that we can now go out and freely and rampantly commit adultery. Just because the Eden statements/commands on marriage are ultimately fulfilled in Christ does not mean that we can now throw out any application in our lives. You see, adultery for a Christian, though not damning, is definitely a sin, and a sin that God hates.
Likewise, Sabbath-breaking for the Christian, is definitely a sin, and sin that God hates. Thankfully, because none of us are perfect at abstaining from adultery (before or after Christ), and because none of us our perfect Sabbath-keepers, we rest fully on the merits of Christ by faith, hoping in His imputed righteousness and satisfaction of our sins, and we strive to demonstrate our love towards Him by walking in His commandments.
Lastly, you quoted Romans 8:1-3, but you left out a very important conclusion to this passage:
Justification, my friend, leads to law-keeping in those who are justified, and it is fulfilled in us when we walk by the Spirit. We add nothing to our justification, but our love for Him and His work in our hearts leads us down the path of righteousness for His glory.
Nathan,
just a quick note, as your article is excellent. you commented above earlier that part of the change from the Old Testament to the New Testament Sabbath is “emphasis on love and mercy instead of bondage”. Honestly I don’t see this change. I never saw the Old Testament present the Sabbath as bondage. I saw the religious leaders lead the people into bondage by adding all sorts of things to the Sabbath, but all throughout the Old Testament it was a joy, a blessing, a gift, something sacred from God to man. I’m sure you recall several years ago when I would question others in that regard in some blogs and would have that thrown at me, that Christ delivered us from bondage and I think the reason is is because we have heard such shallowness in regards to the Sabbath that all we have known is that it was “bad”. the Sabbath was never bad. It was always holy and good. Men perverted it and that is mostly what, and I speak for myself, I was taught as what the Sabbath was rather than going to the Scripture and seeing what God defined the Sabbath as:) I’m pretty sure you agree, but just in case someone might come along and understand it differently I thought I would throw that in:)
Tim–
Thanks for the comment, and good to talk to you again!
You said:
I completely agree with you. Maybe ‘bondage’ was a poor use of terms on my part. What I was trying to convey is the religious leaders adding to the Law, which made it bondage, and I also meant the punishment (death for picking up sticks) as bondage as well.
Certainly the typological nature of the punishment (physical death symbolizing spiritual death for Sabbath-breakers) remains the same, but we’re ultimately free from the temporal and eternal punishment of the Law by the merits of Christ. And that is good news, for I am far from being a perfect Sabbath-keeper! May the Lord show me grace…
SDG