– 14 Min Read
The Hebrew word for sabbath is שָׁבַת (shaw-bath’) and it means “to cease,” “to desist, “to rest.” It is the word used in Genesis 2:2-3 when God rested from His works. The word Jesus used in Matthew 11:28 is ἀναπαύω (anapauō) which means “to cause or permit one to cease from any movement or labor in order to recover and collect his strength”. God’s rest in Genesis 2 was a rest that He acted in on His own. No one allowed or permitted God to rest from His work. God did it on His own accord, by His own will, and by His own power. God in Genesis 2 created rest, for it had never been done before.
Remember Jesus’ words; “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). God brought “rest” into existence in Genesis. Then we see Jesus offering something that no one has the power or right to give: rest. Could Jesus be talking about a type of rest that anyone can provide? Or could He be talking about a greater, more glorious rest? We know that He is because of the next verse.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.”
– Matthew 11:28-29 (emphasis added)
Jesus is quoting straight from Jeremiah;
“Thus says the Lord, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you will find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ 17 “And I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’ 18 “Therefore hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. 19 “Hear, O earth: behold, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their plans, because they have not listened to My words, and as for My law, they have rejected it also.”
– Jeremiah 6:16-19
Jesus is offering something that all of us have forfeited by our sinful rebellion, a rest for our souls. Jesus is offering us a rest that He offered to Israel in Jeremiah 6 and all we have to do to obtain it is come to Him. Unlike the Hebrew word for rest in Genesis, the Greek word used by Jesus is a verb. Jesus says that He will grant to us, cause us, permit us to have, make us rest. This rest will not be enjoyed by our own accord but by Christ’s. This is a spiritual rest for sure, but it has an immediate taste and experience now. Jesus is telling them that if they come to Him they will be given rest from the law. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matt 11:30)
In contrast to the yoke of the Pharisees, Jesus’ yoke is easy and light. Jesus is where we find immediate rest from the requirements of the law. The law that condemned us as sinners and only brought more awareness of our sinfulness, is taken by Jesus and placed upon Himself so that we might have rest. Not only do we experience it now, but the saints who wait in the intermediate state are experiencing it as well. The same word is used in Revelation chapter 6.
“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest (ἀναπαύω) for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
– Revelation 6:9-11
Even before the presence of God in the intermediate state, there is still a longing for that final rest. Whether you are on earth or in heaven you still anticipate the final resting place where your cleansed soul meets its resurrected body.
“There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body”
– 1 Corinthians 15:40-42
The rest of the Old Testament Sabbath is nothing like the rest of the New Testament Lord’s Day. Those of us who are in Christ can experience true rest now, knowing that our sins are forgiven and our resurrection is sure. When we do assemble together to remember the day and to keep it holy, we can rest all the better, more than Israel ever could, because we have read and heard of Christ’s victory over death. We have read and heard of His resurrection, and that same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in us.
“But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
– Romans 8:11
And by the Spirit dwelling in us, we are granted a glorious rest. Yet, we still anticipate the Spirit’s final work left to do in us, raising us from the dead and taking us into our eternal rest. As believers, part of our earthly schedule is to enjoy a Sabbath rest on the Lord’s Day while we all corporately worship the Lord and long for His coming.
“The Sabbath was first of all a reflection of the pattern and rhythm of creation: work and rest. And its abrogation would imply that there is no longer any rhythm to our life. Weekly rhythms are important. God blessed one day in seven so that His people might “keep it holy” (separate, different, special). And what is remarkable is that the early Christians began almost immediately to change the rhythm but not to abandon the principle–to begin each week with a rest day and follow it with days of work. As Christians, we need to recapture this outlook by abandoning the secular rhythm of the weekend.”
– Derek W. H. Thomas [1]
Sometimes it is hard to see exactly how much the secular culture has influenced our thinking. The affections of our hearts far too easily run away from the Lord. All the more reason to establish a healthy, godly, biblical rhythm in your week. Set boundaries in the scheduling of your week so that you may remember the Lord’s Day and keep it holy. Whatever needs to get done during the week, get it done. Make time and effort to complete all your work and chores, so that you may enjoy the day of worship and rest. There are so many easy, practical things to do in order to keep the day holy unto the Lord, I just want to highlight a few.
1) Family: Some people will forsake the assembly on the Lord’s Day so that they can spend time fellowshipping with their unbelieving family members. The typical scenario is a family member who is visiting from out of town, (or one who lives in town), and wants to get together at a time the church assembles. Or maybe it’s a family member who claims to be a believer. Either way, this should not be happening. Remember the words of Christ:
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
– Matthew 10:37
“Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
– Luke 12:51-53
This is the way it is supposed to be. We are going to be divided from our unbelieving family members. The more they hear the gospel come from our mouths and the more they are told that we cannot forsake our true family, our church, they will get tired of it. The gospel is offensive to the unbeliever. Telling an unbelieving, family member that you cannot skip church to hang out with them will hurt them. But this is what Jesus said would happen.
Also, what kind of testimony are you giving them by so easily forsaking your church and the worship of your Lord? Only then to call them to faith in Christ – the Christ you serve halfheartedly. The Christ you skipped out on to go rendezvous with your unbelieving family members and friends at the mall. How bright is the light that you are displaying to them? Not bright at all. Imagine if every time they ask you to fellowship with them you say, “I cannot, for Christ commands me to assemble with my brothers and sisters on His Day of worship.” One day they may say, “Wow, they really do love this Christ whom they claim has saved them.”
But let’s say they are believers, or at least they claim to be believers. Here is an opportunity for you to disciple them. To encourage them to obey Christ and come to church with you, while they are in town or whatever scenario it may be. Christ is first in your life and the testimony of the church hinges on your submission to His words.
2) Godless Content: Now I want to guard myself and us from potential legalism. I do not think there is anything sinful about having a TV or a smartphone. They can certainly be used for glorious things like communicating the gospel to others, sending encouraging messages to fellow saints, education, calling the authorities in times of crises, enjoying Riot and The Dance, and many other things. But we all know the dangers of them by the opportunities they present. Jesus was given Satan in the wilderness for 40 days and 13-year-olds are given smartphones. Christ can sympathize with our weaknesses though He was without sin. I am convinced that smartphones and televisions are Satan’s favorite tools to tempt the church with.
On the Lord’s Day, keep it holy by setting boundaries for yourself and your family. Plan out what you may do on the Lord’s Day with your free time. After the corporate worship is finished, the fellowship of the saints is done, have an idea of what you and your family will do to enjoy the Lord. I say this because sometimes we do not even realize what we are doing when we are “bored”. We pull out our smartphones, we turn on the television. It is supposed to be a day of rest, not “sluggerdness” and slothfulness or as we like to call it “vegging out”. That certainly does not please the Lord.
We should govern our Lord’s Day behavior around what Paul says to the Philippians:
“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
– Philippians 4:8-9
Meditate on pure, honorable things during the Lord’s Day. All the more reason why attending the morning service to hear God’s glorious word preached to you. It calibrates your mind to be directed towards God and His mercies. Dwell on God’s goodness all day long. Talk about it over lunch. Think about it while you rest. Read more of it. Discuss it with your family. Catechise your children. Forsake godless content.
3) Recreational Activities: This is another common one for some people. Some families forsake the assembly and do not keep the day holy to the Lord because of their children’s travel sports. There are a lot of parents that worship their children and love their children more than God. The idea of telling their children they cannot commit to a particular sport or hobby because it will have them violate the commands of scripture, petrifies some parents. Who is Lord over your life? Is it your children or their recreational hobbies? No, of course not.
The idea that parents act surprised when their children grow up forsaking the Lord, while the whole their whole childhood they were encouraged to forsake the assembly, is mind-blowing. The parent has to instruct and train their children in the Lord (Eph. 6:4). Use the Sabbath as an opportunity to do that. Doug Wilson says to parents, that it’s too late to complain about what you planted when it comes time to harvest. [2]
And he’s right. Parents, what is important is your children’s souls, not their athletic achievements. Little Jimmy’s plastic baseball tournament trophy will burn up before the Lord along with his soul. The day of judgment is coming and our children are going to have to stand before a holy God and have to give an account for their lives. Handing that thrice holy God a baseball trophy is not going to cut it. Little Jimmy needs to approach God clothed in the righteousness of Christ to escape God’s wrath.
Parents, let us stop playing games with our children’s souls. Let’s say the child is a genuine believer and does not know any better, but listens to his mom and dad and plays travel ball. Well, Jesus does not have kind words for parents who do this to their children.
“Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
– Matthew 18:3-6
The Lord is not playing games with us, so we need to stop playing games with our children. One day, parents will have to stand before God and give an account for how they led, or did not lead, their children in the ways and words of the Lord. There certainly is a time for recreational activities on the Lord’s Day, but fulfill your Christian duties to Christ and His church first. Take a long walk with your family. Take a short walk with your family. Enjoy the creation God has blessed us with. Thank Him for it while you are enjoying it. After corporate worship, drive down to the beach and contemplate God’s majesty. Remember, the Sabbath is more about how to enjoy many good things and less about what you can’t do.
The people who obsess over all the things they can’t do if they hold to the Fourth Commandment are the very people that the Fourth Commandment is for. God reminds us to rest and He knows our needs better than we do.
Read Next: The Christian Sabbath Part 12: Conclusion
Works Cited
[1] Derek W. H. Thomas, Let Us Worship God: Why We Worship The Way We Do. (Sanford, FL, Ligonier Ministries, 2021), 24.
[2] Douglas Wilson, Excused Absence: Should Christian Kids Leave Public Schools? (Moscow, Idaho, Canon Press, 2020).