1. “Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall cease from work so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and the son of your female servant and the sojourner may be refreshed” (Exo. 23:12; see also Deut. 5:14).
God wanted the Israelites to keep the Sabbath so that they would have an actual day of rest once every seven days. On the seventh day all the Israelites, both free men and slaves, and even their beasts needed a rest. This is a good ordinance for the health of both men and beasts; it is beneficial and necessary. As those who are under the new covenant, we do not need to keep the Sabbath as a matter of law, but it is still good to keep the principle of resting one day out of seven. From the point of view of our physical health, this principle that God ordained is beneficial and necessary.
God wanted the Israelites to keep the Sabbath in a strict way. All who were in the land, including men, women, children, servants, animals, and even sojourners, had to rest completely on the Sabbath and not do any work (Exo. 20:10). They even had to rest during plowing and harvest times (34:21). On the Sabbath they could not even light a fire to cook their food (35:3). Larger tasks like collecting firewood, pressing wine, carrying burdens, moving things, and buying and selling products also were not permitted (Num. 15:32-36; Jer. 17:21-22; Neh. 13:15-22; 10:31). Later, the Israelites thought that even walking long distances, carrying things, picking ears of grain, and healing illnesses were not allowed on the Sabbath (Acts 1:12; John 5:10; Matt. 12:1-2; Luke 13:14). They had to sanctify, respect, and honor this day; they could not tend to their own matters, carelessly follow their own will, or speak idle words (Isa. 58:13). If any of them worked on this day, he was to be put to death (Exo. 31:14-15). Whoever did not keep the Sabbath in a strict manner was a sinner who offended God. Under the law, God wanted the Israelites to strictly keep the Sabbath in order to signify that man was absolutely incapable of obtaining God’s full rest through his own works. Just as man could not keep the law in order to be justified, he could not keep the Sabbath in order to obtain rest.
1. “The appointed feasts of Jehovah, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations...Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation” (Lev. 23:2-3; see also Col. 2:16).
The law that God gave to the children of Israel in the Old Testament consisted of moral laws and ritual laws. The moral aspects of the law were contained in statutes concerning how to act, how to deal with God, and how to treat others. The ritual aspects of the law were contained in ordinances concerning how to worship, how to offer sacrifices, and how to keep the feasts. The Ten Commandments consisted of nine moral laws and one ritual law. Only one commandment, the fourth commandment concerning keeping the Sabbath, was a ritual commandment (Exo. 20:3-17). Leviticus 23 shows that the Sabbath in the Old Testament was a feast to God, just as the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles were feasts to God. Since the Sabbath was a feast, it was a matter of ritual. Thus, the law concerning the Sabbath was part of the ritual law. All the items of ritual law are types of New Testament realities; they were all shadows of things to come in Christ (Col. 2:16-17). Thus, when the reality came in the New Testament times, all the Old Testament shadows, the ritual laws, passed away. Although believers in the New Testament age are no longer under the law, having been discharged from the law (Rom. 6:14; 7:4, 6), the moral statutes of the Old Testament law remain as matters to be fulfilled in spirit, even though the letter of the law has passed away. However, the statutes of the ritual law have passed away in both letter and spirit. If we were to say that any aspect of the spirit of the ritual laws still remained, the most we could say is that the reality of all these types have been fulfilled in Christ.
In the preceding sections we saw how the Israelites kept the Sabbath in the age of the law. We also need to see how the Lord Jesus acted with respect to the Sabbath. In examining this matter, we must be clear about the Lord Jesus’ status when He was on the earth. In His humanity the Lord Jesus was a perfect Israelite when He was on the earth, so He kept God’s laws and ordinances in the Old Testament. In His divinity He was the Lord of the Sabbath with authority over the Sabbath. As the Author of the new covenant, He had to terminate the things in the old covenant in order to establish the new covenant. Therefore, to see how the Lord Jesus acted with respect to the Sabbath, we must remember His different statuses in order to have an accurate understanding.
1. “According to His custom He entered on the Sabbath day into the synagogue and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16).
When the Lord was on the earth, He kept the proper ordinances for the Jews because He was a Jew. At that time the Jews had a custom of assembling every Sabbath day in synagogues. In the synagogues there would be reading and teaching from the Old Testament Scriptures. This excellent custom became the Lord Jesus’ custom when He was a man among them. Although the Lord Jesus went into synagogues on the Sabbath according to His custom, He did not do things in accordance with custom; instead, He seized the opportunity when Jews were assembled together in the synagogue to preach the gospel to them based on Old Testament Scriptures. Thus, He entered synagogues to carry out His work of preaching the gospel, not to keep the Sabbath.
2. “He taught them on the Sabbath” (Luke 4:31).
The Lord wanted to preach God’s word to the Jews. The best day for Him to do this was on the Sabbath, and the best place to do this was in Jewish synagogues since most of the Jews gathered in synagogues on the Sabbath. Therefore, the Lord frequently taught them on the Sabbath. In so doing, He was not keeping the Sabbath, even though it was the Sabbath day; rather, He was taking the opportunity to preach the gospel and teach the people.
3. “It is lawful to do well on the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:12).
The Lord entered into a synagogue on the Sabbath day and met a man with a withered hand. Some tested Him and asked Him if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. They wanted to accuse Him because they thought it was not lawful to heal on the Sabbath (Luke 13:14). The Lord answered them that it was lawful to do well on the Sabbath; then He healed that sick man. What the Lord said and did in this instance was somewhat different from what the law said about keeping the Sabbath. According to the law, no work could be done on that day, but the Lord said that it was lawful to do well on the Sabbath. This shows that He was beginning to make a change concerning the Sabbath, changing it from what it had been under the Old Testament.
4. “The Sabbath came into being for man” (Mark 2:27).
During the age of the law, the Sabbath was very restrictive to man. For example, those who did not prepare food the day before the Sabbath would go hungry on the Sabbath day. Those who had sick and dying relatives could not visit them on the Sabbath if they lived more than a Sabbath day’s journey away (about three-fourths of a mile). Those who were walking in a wheat field on the Sabbath could not break off some ears of wheat to eat; instead, they would have to remain hungry amid a harvest of wheat. Those who became ill could not go to see a doctor. God originally wanted man to keep the Sabbath so that he could rest and be refreshed (Exo. 23:12; Deut. 5:14), but these ordinances seemed to sacrifice this rest for the sake of honoring the Sabbath. It seemed as if man had been made for the Sabbath, not the Sabbath for man. However, when the Lord was on the earth, He defined the Sabbath by saying that the Sabbath came into being for man, not man for the Sabbath. When the Lord gave this definition, He overturned the concepts of all those under the law and began to help them understand the first purpose of the Sabbath, which was that God did things for man, not that man did things for God. The Sabbath means that God is for man. Man should enjoy what God has done rather than doing something for God. This is the principle of grace, not the principle of the law. Thus, the Lord’s word concerning the Sabbath brought them back to the original meaning of the Sabbath. He was bringing them out of the principle of law, which was added alongside (Rom. 5:20), and back to the principle of grace, which was in the beginning. Since the Lord was turning the age from law to grace, He dealt with people according to grace rather than according to law.
5. “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8).
As the Lord was passing through a grain field on a Sabbath day, His disciples plucked ears of wheat and ate them. As a result, some Pharisees condemned them for breaking the Sabbath. The Lord refuted the Pharisees by reminding them that David ate the bread of the Presence in the temple on the Sabbath, and then He implied that He was greater than David and greater than the temple and that God desires mercy, not sacrifice. He said these things because He wanted them to know that He is God. This is the reason that He also said He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Although He is the Son of Man, He is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Although He is a man, He is also God. He is the God who is greater than the temple, the God who desires mercy and not sacrifice, and the Lord who originally established the Sabbath. He can establish the Sabbath, and He can change the Sabbath. He has the authority to establish and the authority to make changes. Since He is the Lord of the Sabbath, the Sabbath should be kept according to His ordination. The Lord revealed that since He is the Lord of the Sabbath, who had established the Sabbath in the beginning, He had the authority to change the Sabbath. He wanted man to realize that the strict restrictions of the law related to keeping the Sabbath would keep man from arriving at God’s rest by his own efforts. Now the Lord wanted people to realize that His changes to the Sabbath were to reinstate the principle of grace, the principle of man resting without doing any work. He wanted to be merciful to man and did not want man to sacrifice to Him; He wanted to be gracious to man and did not want man to work for Him or even give Him anything. This was His original intention. During the age of the law, God wanted man to try to keep the Sabbath by working for His rest, because man did not know God’s grace or realize his own impotence in attaining God’s rest by his own strength. After man had failed and suffered from his efforts to keep the Sabbath, and also after man had gained a sufficient understanding of his own impotence, God wanted to return to His original intention and be merciful and gracious to man so that man could obtain His rest without working by his own efforts.
6. “Jesus answered them, My Father is working until now, and I also am working” (John 5:17).
The Jews persecuted the Lord for healing on the Sabbath a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. He then said to them, “My Father is working until now, and I also am working.” His word exposed their thoughts that their work for God—hence, God’s work—was done. His words seemed to say to them, “You think that you can rest, but actually you cannot, because My Father is working until now, and I also am working. A person can rest only when the work is done (Heb. 4:10), but My Father is working until now, and I am also working. This is not a time for rest because My Father and I are still working.” The implication of the Lord’s word is very deep and broad.
After creation, God ordained a rest. In this rest God enjoyed man, and man enjoyed God; God and man, man and God were harmoniously at rest, and their hearts were both happy and peaceful. However, this rest was damaged by man’s sin. Once man sinned, a cool breeze began to blow in the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:8), which blew away the warm atmosphere between God and man; therefore, the harmonious rest that God and man enjoyed was destroyed. From that time, man was required to toil all the days of his life (v. 17), live by the sweat of his face (v. 19), and groan and travail (Rom. 8:22). After the fall, there was groaning but no rest. When man fell, God immediately began to work to redeem and save man. This work of redemption and salvation could be accomplished only through the Son, and so at the time that the Lord spoke these words in John 5, His work, and that of the Father, was not done. Thus, the Father was still working, and as the Son, He also was working to complete the work of redemption on the cross. When the Son completed His work to redeem and save man, resolving all man’s problems, He brought in rest when He rose from the dead so that in His rest man could enjoy God and be satisfied.
Thus, with respect to the Sabbath, the Lord Jesus responded to the Sabbath in three ways: (1) as an Israelite keeping the Sabbath; (2) as the Lord who had the authority to change the Sabbath; and (3) as the Author of the new covenant who accomplished redemption and brought in the true Sabbath rest.