In the Old Testament, God told his people to observe the Sabbath day. Keeping the Sabbath was one of the Ten Commandments.
“Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death (Ex. 35:2).
The Sabbath is Saturday (Mark 15:42).
Observing the Sabbath day primarily meant doing no work.
Each Saturday, God’s people couldn’t light a fire (Ex. 35:3).
They couldn’t gather wood (Num. 15:32).
They couldn’t buy or sell (Neh. 10:31).
They couldn’t carry anything (Jer. 17:21).
If someone did any work on the Sabbath day, he or she had to die.
What Does the New Testament Say About the Sabbath?
Under the New Covenant, Christians do not need to literally observe the Sabbath day. Instead, we learn from its symbolism. The New Testament says that the Sabbath is a shadow or symbol that reveals Jesus Christ.
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ” (Col. 2:16-17).
Since Jesus came, the shadows of the law passed away, surpassed by the glories of Christ. Food restrictions, dress restrictions, and Sabbath regulations in the Old Testament are no longer in effect.
We don’t need to follow Old Testament holidays literally. Instead, we need to learn from their symbolism.
For example, Passover symbolizes being born again. The blood of the lamb symbolizes the blood of Christ that sets us free from slavery to sin and protects us from God’s wrath. Pentecost symbolizes being filled with the Holy Spirit. The Feast of Tabernacles symbolizes the fullness of God dwelling with his people.
When the Holy Spirit enlightens our eyes about the rich symbolism of the Old Testament, we learn more about the fullness of Christ.
Christians are instructed not to celebrate Old Testament holidays. In fact it’s dangerous to literally observe them. It creates demonic bondage.
“How is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (Gal. 4:9b-11).
Paul told the Galatians that if they celebrated holidays, his ministry among them would be a waste.
The Sabbath Symbolizes Resting in Christ
The Sabbath day represents something powerful for Christians. The symbolic meaning of the Sabbath is revealed in the book of Hebrews. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). The word rest means literally a keeping of the Sabbath.
Just like Jesus raised the meaning of adultery from a physical act to something in the heart, so he raised the meaning of the Sabbath from a literal one day a week physical rest, to a continual spiritual rest.
“For he who has entered into his rest has ceased from his own works as God did from his” (Heb. 4:10).
To keep the Sabbath in the New Testament sense, we need to stop our own works.
God created everything in six days and on the seventh day he stopped his work – he rested. In the same way, God calls us to stop our own works and rest in him.
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).
Resting with Jesus doesn’t mean sitting around doing nothing. Instead, it means doing the things God wants us to do rather than doing our own will.
When we do the things that God wants us to do, speaking his words and fulfilling his will, then we have stopped our own works and are doing God’s works. We have entered into Sabbath Rest. Our strength is not our own strength but God’s strength.
“Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest” (Heb. 4:11a).
We must labor to enter the Sabbath rest. We must discover the will of God and then do it.
Doing the Work of God
God has prepared works for each one of us to do.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
The Sabbath in the New Testament means doing God’s will all the time – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s about resting in God and doing his will every moment of every day.
In the the Old Testament the penalty for working on the Sabbath was death. This represents that our own self-effort brings death to ourselves and others. (This is especially true in church and ministry.) Our own efforts will exhaust ourselves and others, and they will do more harm than good.
When we do God’s works rather than our own works, we feed ourselves spiritually and bless others (see John 4:32).
False Christian Views of the Sabbath
Some Christians believe that Christians need to rest on Saturday. This is false.
Some believe that the Sabbath has been changed from Saturday to Sunday. But the Bible never says this. Jesus didn’t make this change. His apostles didn’t either.
Some believe that they should keep the Sabbath by having church on Saturday. But this idea is not found in the Bible. The early Christians met for church on Sunday (Acts 20:7, 1 Cor. 16:2). In addition, there is no indication in the New Testament that meeting for church has anything to do with keeping the Sabbath.
Conclusion
Jesus has set us free from literal observance of the Sabbath day. We are not spiritually blessed by not working one day a week. In fact, we are commanded in the New Testament not to observe the literal Sabbath day. Rather than keeping the literal Sabbath, we learn from the Sabbath that we are to rest in God all the time, doing his works rather than our own.
Bethel Cornerstone 