Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched Him closely. If He healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse Him of working on the Sabbath. Mark 3:1-2
This week we continue our journey with the Messiah. One word that constantly buzzes around us like bees in a clover patch is the word “Sabbath.” To understand why this day invoked such controversy in Jesus’ ministry, we need to look at it through several different pairs of eyes. First and foremost, we must understand it through the eyes of the One who set the day apart and sanctified it.
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3 NASB
Being a project oriented kind of person, I can truly appreciate the impact of these words. God didn’t stop working until He had completed His goal. Once He had finished His creation, He stepped back to delight in His accomplishment. Was God too tired to go on; did He need rest to continue? No, He was just too satisfied with what He had accomplished to proceed without taking a moment to admire His handiwork.
When Greg and I built the addition on our home, after months of work the day finally came when we parked ourselves on the couches, propped up our feet, and just drank in the finished work. A good night’s sleep would have given us the rest our physical bodies needed, but a day of relaxing and enjoying what we had built brought a sensation that surpassed sleep. It is difficult to express that feeling in a single word! Delight, approval, satisfaction, happiness, contentment, pride, joy, and encouragement for the next project are just a few of the emotions that we experienced on our day of rest. If finishing an almost 600 square-foot addition could do that for us, can we even begin to imagine what God experienced when He completed the heavens and the earth. The Word clearly says that His work was “complete” and He “rested.” The word “rest” does not designate taking a break; it expressly speaks of ceasing the work you were doing. God had finished His construction, He’d taken all the photographs and put them in His album to remember each step of creation; the next step was to start living in what He had completed.
Between the time of creation and the giving of the Law through Moses, we never hear the word “Sabbath.” As a matter of fact, we only find the root word of “Sabbath” mentioned four times before God commanded His people to rest. The Hebrew word “Sabbath” (also spelled “Sabbat”) comes from the word “sabat” which means “to cease, desist, rest.” It would do us good to look at the four occurrences of this root word.
Genesis 2:2-3 NASU
By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Gen 8:22 NASB
"While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease."
Ex 5:5-9 NASB
Again Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now many, and you would have them cease from their labors!" So the same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying, "You are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it. Because they are lazy, therefore they cry out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' "Let the labor be heavier on the men, and let them work at it that they may pay no attention to false words."
I don’t think it is mere coincidence that these are the only references to this word. The first two times it refers to God, the third time it refers to His creation. God created and when He was through, He ceased - He rested. As long as this world He created exists, the Laws of nature He created it upon will never cease. The fourth occurrence is in reference to God’s people who had no rest, and what little they had was taken from them.
When God delivered the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage, God brought them to Mt. Sinai and gave them the ten covenant Laws. The fourth Word (Law) He spoke was
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11 NASB
God told them to remember the Sabbath, so obviously it was something they were already familiar with. You may recall journeying through the pages recounting God’s initiation of the Sabbath, but let’s take time to remember its inception. After the exodus, God made provision for His people. Each morning God caused manna to cover the ground. This flour-like substance could be baked as bread or boiled as a porridge. He commanded the people to gather their portion each morning, but on the morning of the sixth day they were to gather a double portion so that they would not have to go out and gather any on the seventh day. This seventh day was to be a day of rest when they could finally cease from their labors and remember all that God had accomplished for them. The bread they ate on this day was unlike any they had eaten before their journey through the wilderness. They literally ate angel food cake each day of their liberated lives. But the food of the Sabbath was even more extraordinary; this bread was made from eternal manna that did not get wormy in twenty-four hours as the manna did on the other days of the weeks. The first time the Israelites saw manna, they asked an interesting question. Our translations usually read, “What is that?” but in Hebrew, literally the questions is, “Who is He?”
Each Sabbath day, the children of Israel were reminded that God loved them. It was “He” that had brought them out of Egypt and brought them into the land “He” had promised to their forefathers. Their years in Babylonian captivity brought an awareness that God had not forgotten the covenant He had made with them and that the Laws that governed their existence were still in force. But, unfortunately in their effort to keep the Law, they failed to maintain their relationship with the Law-giver and didn’t recognize Him when He stood in their midst. They had forgotten that the Sabbath was all about God giving them rest from their bondage. If ever there was a day to bring healing and relief, the Sabbath would be the perfect time, but the Law had become far more important than the fulfillment of it. In their effort to keep themselves from ever being in bondage again, they actually put themselves in the greatest bondage one could ever experience; they failed to become acquainted with the “He” who was the Manna sent from heaven. The Lord of the Sabbath stood in their midst to give them true rest, but the religious-minded could only see their man-made paths to peace.
I pray that as we walk with the Prince of Peace through the pages of The Book we will reach out our withered hands, pick up our pallets and walk, touch the fringe of His garment and listen intently to His teachings in the synagogues. May we find ourselves bound by His yoke which is easy, walking in the lightness of His burden, and be set free from the weight of the Law.
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