The question has been asked, “is Jesus our Sabbath rest? Did Jesus fulfill the Sabbath?” Hebrews chapter 3 and chapter 4 is used to justify this teaching. Jesus our Sabbath rest is a concept which basically teaches that Christ freed humans from the works of the Law. Is this true? Let us walk through the bible to discover the real truth to this bible question!
What text is directly used to teach ‘Jesus is our Sabbath Rest’?
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” Hebrews 4:9-10
Note: Many understand, “..he also hath ceased from his own works” to mean we are to cease labor from the ‘works’ of the law(Sabbath being one).
What example did God leave of ceasing his labors?
“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” Hebrews 4:4
Answer: We see here on the seventh day, which today we know to be Saturday, God ceased from his works.
What were the works God ceased from?
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” Genesis 2:1-2
Answer: We see clearly it was the works of creation. So from the very beginning before the disciples, before the Jews, God’s Sabbath had been instituted.
Is the Sabbath a special Day?
“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Genesis 2:3
Sanctified: kaw-dash’ means: to be or keep Holy, also means hallow.
Dictionary definition of sanctified: Made holy; consecrated; set apart for sacred services.
What works are we to cease from as we enter into the Sabbath rest?
“But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.” Exodus 20:10-11
Answer: We are to cease not from keeping the law but from our 6 days of work and labor that on the 7th day we may enter into Rest with our Creator.
What is the Sabbath a sign of?
“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” Exodus 31:13
Answer: God’s true seventh day Sabbath is a sign that it is the Lord who saves us, and not ourselves.
In the Catechism of the Council of Trent, “The Church of God [Catholic Church] has thought it well to transfer the celebration and observance of the Sabbath to Sunday!”–p 402, second revised edition (English), 1937. (First published in 1566)
Note: Man instituted the change of the Sabbath to Sunday which means keeping a day the Lord did not sanctify instead of God’s seventh day Sabbath will be righteousness by works! We are to be obedient to the simple instruction the Lord has given to us.
But wasn’t the Sabbath fulfilled or done away with at the cross?
“When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)” Matthew 24:15 ” Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” Matthew 24:16 “But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:” Matthew 24:20
Answer: Jesus was crucified in AD 31, and we see in the above text that at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) which is 39 years after the cross, Jesus instructs his disciples in Keeping the Sabbath.
Nowhere in scripture was the Sabbath or God’s 10 commandments done away with, but instead the ceremonial law which pointed to Christ was made void. Jesus is indeed ‘the Lord of the Sabbath'(Mark 2:28) and just as He instructed the disciples, He is instructing us today that we are to still Keep His Sabbath which is to be a blessing to us (Mark 2:27). Would you Partake of the blessing in observing God’s Seventh-day Sabbath rest?