“On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all of his work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation.” 2:2-3
The older I get the more I grow to love and appreciate the concept of Sabbath. We often associate the Sabbath with Judaism or with a particular day of the week like Saturday (Sunday in the Bible is called “the Lord’s day”). As the early church began to distance herself from her Jewish roots and worship corporately on the Lord’s day, there was a sense that a significant change had occurred on the cross and that things are now different. It is true that Christ makes all things new and that He fulfilled the law by His death on the cross. We don’t observe Sabbath in the same way Old Testament Jews did, and the laws related to Sabbath were completed in Christ.
Yet, here is the fascinating thing; the concepts that led to the expression of Sabbath Mosaic Law actually date back to the very beginning. Sabbath didn’t begin with the law, it began at creation… and it didn’t end at the cross; the rules were set aside, but those pre-historic principles of Sabbath are more relevant now than ever. God rested on the seventh day, a day of completion, in order to look back and pronounce “finished” on all He had accomplished. He didn’t rest because He was tired, He’s God, He doesn’t get tired. It was a celebration and it was an example to us. He declared it “holy.”
We are the only creatures on the planet who were created in the image of God. We should observe a Sabbath rest because God did and because we were created in His image. Unlike God we do need the rest, but we also need the reflection. We need the opportunity to look back on the week and put brackets around it, declaring that with God’s help we have done our best. We need to also look to the new week with renewed focus and determination… not an endless string of working days that have no end, no reflection and no celebration. Don’t get hung up on a particular day; the apostle Paul makes it clear that it is not as much about the day as it is about Jesus (Col. 2:16-17). The Sabbath needs to be a day of rest, it needs to be a day of worship, it needs to be a day of reflection and solitude where you connect with the God who is there and do more listening than talking. Our need for rest every night and every Sabbath reminds us that He is God and we are not. It puts us in touch with our own humanity and it helps us to consider our work in light of our weakness. Even what we do in the day… whatever we do throughout the week… cannot be accomplished and completed unless God is at work in and through us. Sabbath rest is holy and we neglect it at our peril.
