In Part 1 we discussed that the Sabbath command was intended specifically for Israel, as a memorial of God rescuing them from Egypt. This would be important to remember during both times of trial and prosperity, knowing God didn’t abandon His people. In Part 2 we looked at 3 biblical reasons why Christians today aren’t required to keep the Sabbath. Now we will talk about the most important aspect of the Sabbath: Jesus Christ.
Always pointing to our savior
From the very beginning, God set the Sabbath apart as something unique. The last day of the week was to be one of rest, where humans cease from their constant labor, at least temporarily. Yet even from creation, the Sabbath has always been so much more.
Throughout the Old Testament, we see things called “shadows” that God establishes as a picture of His future plans to save us through His Son. A shadow isn’t an object, but merely the result of light shining on something solid. Likewise, many Old Testament institutions weren’t valuable by themselves but were merely a shadow being cast by the coming savior.
Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17)
Here we see that the Jewish holy days weren’t, themselves, substantial to do anything. Like the rest of the law, these days were established to point the world to Christ. The weekly Sabbath, like the monthly new moon or the annual Passover, were outlines of Christ. They were always showing a form of something the people couldn’t see. Yet when Christ came, we finally had the true substance.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. (Galatians 3:23-25)
The shadows had served their purpose because they were always standing by in anticipation of Christ. The Old Testament wasn’t meant to be over us forever, but to guide the world and show how unrighteous we are until God’s ultimate plan would be revealed. The whole law, even the entire Old Testament, was always pointing forward to our savior.
Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. (Luke 24:27)
In a day where people are trying to “unhitch” Christianity from the Old Testament, Christ Himself shows how very important it is to understand Him. Christ wasn’t part of a long list of God’s failed attempts to stop us from sinning. Christ Himself explained how He was the ultimate purpose of Israel’s entire history.
Lord of the Sabbath
And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees were saying to Him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?” Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:23-28)
You may remember the last verses from our discussion in Part 2. While it explains the general idea that the Sabbath wasn’t meant to be a burden, it also establishes Christ’s rights over the Old Testament law. The word “Lord” here is best translated as “master,” and that’s exactly what Christ is. He has the right to dictate the purpose and requirements of the law.
In this passage, the Pharisees are in a huff because people are violating their idea of the Sabbath. Despite people being hungry, the Pharisees were insistent that nothing was to be done on the Sabbath, no matter how important it may have been. Yet after pointing out their hypocrisy, Christ shows that He establishes the Sabbath’s purpose, and He clearly says that the Sabbath was a gift. God established it for man, yet man had twisted it into something demanding, not restful.
Christ is our Sabbath rest
So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:9-11)
Throughout the Old Testament, God’s people were constantly working. They had to follow a host of laws regarding behavior, cleanliness, diet, and so much more. Of course, no one was perfect enough to keep all of these laws, thus God established repeated sacrifices for God’s people so they could find temporary forgiveness for sins. Again, we see the shadow of God’s ultimate plan.
Christ, however, perfectly obeyed the law. He did what no one could ever do, living a life perfectly pleasing to God and in no need of sacrificing for His own sins. That was crucial, because 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us what happened at the cross.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Our sinless savior took the punishment for our sin. He “became sin,” taking on every sin you and I will ever commit, and God punished His son for it in our place. Because God is good and just, He will not punish sin twice. Our “fine” for breaking the law was paid, leaving no punishment left for us.
When Christ took on our filth, He replaced it with His righteousness. When God looks at us, it’s as though we lived the perfect life of Christ. Of course God still deals with us in the here-and-now, correcting sin and pushing us towards becoming more like Christ. However, our position before God is one of sinlessness.
This matters for so many reasons, but for our purpose, we’ll consider what that means for the law. If people had to constantly work to earn righteousness, and that law was a shadow, then they would be looking forward to a Sabbath, literally translated “rest,” from their work. As we see in Hebrews 4:9-11, that Sabbath rest is found in Christ.
That’s why the New Testament is so insistent that we don’t earn our salvation. Salvation, our rescue from sin and the law, is a gift from God. Working to earn it is the complete antithesis of Christ’s purpose. He didn’t die so we could keep working – He died to set us free!
We’re free from the punishment of sin, and with that we’re free from the law that condemned us. Although the Sabbath served a purpose, we now have the person who was casting that shadow. Christ isn’t a temporary rest from work, enjoyed for a moment until we pick our work up again. Not only did Christ do the work of righteousness we could never do, but He gives us a rest we could never deserve. He’s our eternal rest, in this life and for eternity.
For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near…. He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10: 1-2, 9-10)
Want to read more? Check out Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.
