We’ve talked a lot about the spiritual intent of the 10 laws, the positive and negative, spiritual and
physical, internal and external applications of them. But we’ve almost completely ignored one of those
laws – the Sabbath.
The Hebrew Sabbath fell on the 7th day of the week, and the Hebrew word shabat literally means
“rest”. This is because the day of rest specifically commemorates God’s work of creation (Exodus
20:11).
But was this just created for the Jews? Is it an ancient and meaningless ritual? Or was it just as full of
meaning – and just as important for us today – as “thou shalt not steal” and “thou shalt have no other
Gods before me”, its fellow commandments?
Remember Lesson 1–6; which of these commandments was done away? Not the sacrifices, not the
temple, not the priesthood; they each changed and applied internally! This is true of EVERY single law
and observance in the OC. So why would the Sabbath be different?
The laws of the OC changed, their external observance replaced with internal observance – the sacrifice
of a beast, for example, was no longer done externally, only internally – by sacrificing your selfish
nature.
But the Ten Commandments are greater than that law, and none of them was changed. Instead, they
each GREW and applied BOTH internally and externally! Again, why would the Sabbath be the
exception?
THE LETTER VS. THE INTENT
One of the primary things Jesus came to teach – besides the fact that all the law was based on “Do Unto
Others” – was that the spirit or meaning of the law was greater than the letter. The Pharisees derived
great comfort from slavishly observing the exact WORDS that were said, often missing the POINT of
the law entirely.
For example, Matthew 12:1-14. The letter of that law was spelled out in Exodus 20:8-11. And that
was pretty explicit – NO work was to be done. This is, by definition, an external action – working. The
Jews, as always obsessed with the letter and ignoring the spirit, spent a lot of time arguing over just
exactly how far you could legally walk on the Sabbath and whether you could eat hot food or cut a bad
spot out of an apple.
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But was that really what God had in mind when He wrote the commandment? Did the Sabbath exist so
that men could argue about how to observe it… or did it exist to benefit mankind, and teach him
something? Mark 2:27.
The Jews focused only on the “outside of the cup” – the external things – and missed the point of the
law altogether (Matthew 23:25-26). As with adultery, idolatry, and oath-breaking, Jesus came to
explain the internal side of the law to us, and wipe away the clutter created by the traditions of men.
So in Luke 13:13-14, when people came to Jesus on the Sabbath to be healed, the Jews were angry
because that violated their laws (NOT God’s laws, but their interpretation of God’s law!). So what did
Jesus do? He went back to the greatest law! Do unto others! Verses 15-17.
They untied their animals on the Sabbath day, and led them to water; so how was it wrong to free a
woman who had been tormented by Satan, and lead her to the Water of Life? If they loosed the
bondage of their animals, how dare they criticize God for loosing the bondage of His children on the
Sabbath day? That violates the golden rule, which is the definition of hypocrisy.
Go back to the letter of the law again. Notice that it says “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all THY
work” (Exodus 20:9). Notice that in those six days you do all YOUR work! Work for YOURSELF!
The next verse shows the opposite side of the law: “But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy
God…” (verse 10).
If in the first six days you work for YOURSELF, then the mirror image of that law would have to be
that on the seventh day you work FOR GOD! “Sabbath” means “rest”… But rest from what? Hebrews
4:10. So if you rest from YOUR works, as God rested that first day after creating Adam, then you are
no longer seeking YOUR pleasure, but GOD’S works, and God’s pleasure! Isaiah 58:13-14.
The Jews were trying keep only the letter of the law, without understanding the spirit of the law! And
because of that, they were in fact breaking the law (John 7:19)! Breaking its true spiritual intent, at
the very least!
But rather than judge the letter, or the APPEARANCE of the law, they should have been meditating on
the spirit of the law as David did, and as you’re doing now! Then they would have been able to judge
based on the MEANING of the law!
A perfect example is John 7:22-23. The Jews circumcised someone on the Sabbath, to avoid breaking
Moses’ law (which required circumcision on the 8th day from birth, even if it was a Sabbath). So Jesus
pointed out that they apparently had to break the letter of one law to keep the letter of another law.
God would not create two laws that contradict each other! That would be too sloppy for the
Architect of the Universe! You will NEVER have to break one law to keep another! Either one will
not apply to the situation, or a greater law will show the deeper meaning behind both of them – and
point out the obvious thing to do.
In their minds, healing someone broke the Sabbath. So Jesus pointed out that by that logic,
circumcision also broke the Sabbath – which they were okay with. But Jesus implied that neither
actually broke the Sabbath, and then criticized them for judging based on the appearance (verse 24).
Why that? Why that particular criticism at this particular time?
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Because anyone who judges by appearance alone is automatically judging only the EXTERNAL law!
And true righteousness cannot be had by judging only the external negative side of the law! Jesus
showed that the SPIRIT of the Sabbath commandment was deeper than what they were seeing!
Judging His actions based on what God INTENDED to be done on the Sabbath, on what the Sabbath
was MEANT to be used for, Jesus obeyed the Sabbath far better than they did! That does NOT mean
He broke the Sabbath. It means He kept it the way it was meant to be kept all along!
ONE WEEK
You’ve heard a lot about the plan of God; you know WHAT God is trying to do. You know a lot about
HOW God is trying to do it. But we haven’t yet discussed HOW LONG God has to work in. Is this an
ongoing plan, with no particular end? Is God saving mankind for millions of years? Or is there a
definite period which God has set aside to save mankind?
Daniel 9:27 gives the simple answer when it says, “He shall confirm the covenant with many for one
week” – the context shows it is the Messiah who will do this (verse 25). When Jesus came, He brought
us the New Covenant which He made with us in His blood (Matthew 26:28).
Certainly the most direct meaning of this prophecy involved the literal week Christ died and the weekof-
years Christ died in. But there is a broader meaning that encompasses both of those meanings and
goes beyond them!
How long is a day to God? 2 Peter 3:8. When God looks at a thousand year period, how does He
perceive it? Psalms 90:4. Is a week always a literal week? Genesis 29:20, 27. And is the Sabbath only
referred to as the seventh literal day? Leviticus 25:8.
In Hebrews 3 Paul makes an example of the ancient Israelites, and shows how their lack of faith kept
them out of the promised land. He calls our attention to an odd phrase that God used at the time in
Hebrews 3:11 – “they shall not enter into my rest”.
Remember, this book was written to the HEBREWS! In their language “Sabbath” and “Rest” are
synonymous! They couldn’t have missed the point that so many Christians today have missed – that
Paul is talking about the Sabbath… in fact, He was speaking of more than one TYPE of Sabbath!
So why would God say, “They shall not enter into my rest” when He clearly meant they would not
enter the promised land? Because the promised land was a physical type of the Sabbath rest that is still
in our future! (Hebrews 4:8). And God was speaking of the spiritual type as well as the physical!
(as He always is!)
So, Paul asked, why didn’t the Israelites get access to God’s rest/Sabbath? Hebrews 3:17-19. It was
their lack of faith that kept the Israelites out of the promised land/rest/Sabbath! Then in Hebrews 4:1,
he said WE have the opportunity to enter that same rest!
When God said “They shall not enter into my rest”, Paul has proven that God meant they would not
enter into the physical promised land of Canaan – and ALSO that they would not enter into another,
spiritual promised land later!
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What He said was true in the external, literal sense AND in the internal, spiritual sense! And what is the
land we are all promised? Revelation 5:10. When does that happen? Revelation 20:4. So this
promised land they are given is the Earth, lasts a thousand years, and is given to the first-resurrection
saints!
And what is one of the most basic requirements for entrance into the promised land – the Kingdom of
God? Hebrews 11:6. Faith! And that is precisely what ancient Israel lacked! (Hebrews 4:2). That’s
why they weren’t part of the first resurrection! But now read on in Hebrews 4:3-5, and you’ll see
Paul brings up the seventh day – the weekly Sabbath! Why would he do that? Because that’s what he’s
been talking about all along!
Consider the facts we know about this Sabbath/rest; it is still in our future (verses 4:6-9). It is about
ceasing from our own works (Exodus 20:9-11). We must labor for a certain amount of time, in order to
enter this “day of rest” (1 Corinthians 9:24). It is a reward promised only to those who are faithful
(Revelation 20:4). It lasts one day (Revelation 20:6).
So the question is simple; what period of time lasts “one day”, is promised only to those who are
faithful and who work to enter into it – and is yet in the future? And the answer is obvious! The
Millennium! The Millennium is that Sabbath of rest!
Now if Paul was talking about the Sabbath God kept with Adam, that was over long ago; if he was
talking about a Jewish day of rest that no longer applies to NC Christians; then why say it is STILL in
our future?
Verses 10-11 then tell us the awesome significance of the Sabbath day, though so few understand it!
This thousand-year-rest in our future is just like the rest that God took with Adam that first week! One
symbolizes the other!
Adam spent that day in Eden, a type of the promised land, resting with God; just as Joshua entered the
promised land and had rest from their enemies; just as the firstfruits will enter the kingdom of God and
have rest from their enemies!
And every week, all over the world today, true Christians take rest from their labors on the Sabbath
day – identifying themselves as true Israelites, with the sign of the servants of God!
A MILLENNIUM OF REST
You already know that when God speaks in metaphor and symbol, a day can mean a day; it can mean a
year; or it can mean a thousand years. And in many cases it means all three in at least one sense.
Likewise, when God refers to a “Sabbath” or a “rest”, He means a daily Sabbath, a yearly Sabbath,
and/or a millennial Sabbath!
This all follows the exact same pattern God set up in the very beginning in Genesis 1 and 2 – six days
of labor, followed by one day of rest! And as we have a week of days, we can also have a week of years
(Genesis 29:27), and as the literal week of creation had a rest, a sabbath, on the seventh day (Genesis
2:1-3), so also those weeks of years have a sabbath on the 7th year (Leviticus 25:2-8).
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Now if that’s true for a literal seven-day week – 6 work days, followed by 1 rest day – and a seven-year
week, with 6 years of working the soil followed by 1 year of rest… then of course it follows that there is
also a 7,000 year week! God’s patterns are always very consistent!
Not only that, but God is very precise with His many symbols; so if God says something about one
Sabbath, it will be true about all of them in some sense. Hebrews 3-4 showed that Joshua gave Israel a
“rest” in Canaan after wandering in the desert their whole lives.
Interestingly, and not coincidentally, Joshua is just the Hebrew form of the Greek name “Jesus”.
Because Joshua leading the Israelites into the promised land, while it literally happened, was
orchestrated by God to be a perfect symbol of Jesus leading the spiritual Israelites into the true
promised land! A symbol of Jesus giving us rest from our labors after wandering in this spiritual desert
our whole lives – rest in the Kingdom of God!
The pattern applies perfectly – and goes far deeper than that. In fact, studying the story of Joshua will
reveal enormous detail about Jesus’ role in the plan of God, but I don’t want to get sidetracked today.
Suffice it to say, the Bible is awesome. In the literal meaning of that word.
This means that mankind has 6,000 years to do all our work, followed by a 7th millennium, 1,000 years
to rest from our physical labors and do God’s spiritual work. In the beginning, God gave man a simple
purpose: Genesis 2:15. And God was going to help us do this – if we obeyed Him, He would gladly
have taught us how to do it properly.
But man ate the forbidden fruit and took it upon himself to choose right from wrong, good from evil.
So God has, at man’s insistence, stepped back and let man do it his way – for reasons laid out in Lesson
1–14 and 1–15 – but God has set a definite time limit!
We have only six days to wreck this Earth, kill one another, and rebel against God! And that time is
nearly up! And when it runs out, God is going to come back and take possession of the kingdom
personally, and give the power in that kingdom to those people who in this life chose to follow God’s
way, in spite of what other men said!
Most Bibles have a chronology in them, and it shows the events of Genesis 2-3 taking place
approximately 4,000 BC. That’s not quite right, but close enough for now. 4,000 years later Jesus came,
which was almost 2,000 years ago. So it is now nearly 6,000 years – six days, as God reckons time! –
since Adam was created! The work-week is almost over! The real Sabbath is coming soon! The rest
for this sin-weary world!
And when Jesus returns, as will very likely happen in your lifetime, what will He do? Set up a kingdom
and give it to the saints (Daniel 7:22)! Which fulfills the promises God made to Abraham of LAND on
the Earth! Just as Joshua did, in type, when he led Israel into the physical land God promised
Abraham!
After which they had REST from their enemies! (Deuteronomy 25:19) – and in the spiritual promised
land, when the saints receive their inheritance, they have REST from their own labors! Because on
them, the second death has no power (Revelation 20:6)! But it will also be the beginning of their
SPIRITUAL labors, for on this day the Father, Jesus, and WE – the kings and priests – will be working!
(John 5:17).
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It will usher in an era of world peace, world REST, because we will have world government that is
righteous, noble, and incorruptible, with God as its head – not a one-world government run by fallible,
weak, power-hungry mortals!
The first day of the week could never fit that prophecy! The first day of the week is the day man
chose to follow Satan’s advice and eat the forbidden fruit, which is why Satan has deceived the entire
world into observing it, to commemorate HIS success with Adam and Eve!
But the seventh day pictures the time when Satan is bound, helpless, cast into a bottomless pit for a
thousand-year day! (Revelation 20:3). So of course he hates it, and does his best to deceive anyone
who will listen into keeping another day – ANY other day – holy!
THE SPIRIT OF THE SABBATH
If you read Daniel 9:27, you’ll notice it doesn’t say He will make the covenant with EVERYONE in
that week – just with “many”. Because most people will not keep the covenant with God in that week –
only the firstfruits!
The rest of the dead do not begin to make a covenant with God until AFTER the seventh day is over!
And if you consistently apply the patterns God gave us, that begins a new week of work! So consider
the analogy God gave us to work with; if you gather the firstfruits of your grain one week, how much
time does it take to harvest the full crop of grain?
If God devotes one week to working on the firstfruits, how many other “weeks” might He devote to
working on the REAL harvest, the bulk of all mankind who can be saved? Future lessons will answer
this question; for now – just think about it. This week is not the end of God’s plan – it’s only the
beginning!
Now that you have this background, we can revisit John 7:22-23. The Jews only understood the most
superficial meaning possible of the Sabbath day – “thou shalt not work”. They spent their time trying to
debate what exactly God meant by that, rather than trying to understand what exactly God meant by
that!
In other words, they spent their time arguing over what, exactly, constituted work – rather than arguing
over what, exactly, God wanted us to learn from the Sabbath day! Rather than listen to the words,
they spent their lives defining, debating, and redefining them!
Jesus came to Earth and flagrantly broke their interpretations of the Sabbath. Does this mean Jesus was
greater than the law and didn’t have to keep it? Or merely that He understood it better than they did?
That He understood its INTENT, as we are to understand it?
So in John 5:8-18, Jesus’ answer was that on the Sabbath day, the priesthood worked, and were
blameless; and that His Father worked, and was blameless. And that Jesus worked, and was blameless.
Jesus understood this much deeper meaning of the Sabbath day – and so when He healed someone, or
they circumcised someone, Jesus understood that those things didn’t break the Sabbath.
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Why? Because the PURPOSE of the Millennium will be about circumcising men’s hearts
(Deuteronomy 30:6). Therefore, circumcising a man’s flesh on the Sabbath doesn’t break the
Sabbath, it symbolizes the fulfillment of the true purpose of the Sabbath!
Likewise, the Millennium is about healing the Earth (Jeremiah 33:6, Hosea 14:4, etc.). Therefore
healing a man on the Sabbath doesn’t break the law – it fulfills it in a far deeper way than simply
resting could ever do!
For plucking grain to eat on the Sabbath, the Jews accused Jesus of breaking the law. But what is the
Millennium about? John 4:35. Who is that harvest of grain? Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. The firstborn
saints are pictured as this grain harvest! And they will be harvested on the Sabbath day! At the
beginning of that millennium!
Therefore Jesus, by plucking a small amount of grain on the Sabbath day, did not break the Sabbath –
He reminded us of its TRUE MEANING, its spiritual intent!
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
I have said many times in these lessons that all laws can be derived from “Do unto others”. I have this
on the authority of Jesus Himself (Matthew 7:12, Matthew 22:40). Therefore, if you fully understood
that law, you would automatically understand that the seventh day must be kept holy – internally,
externally, positive, and negative.
But I will tell you honestly that I don’t know how to do that. I don’t fully understand the Sabbath’s
place in the 1-2-10 law. Yet. One of the things that makes me different from other teachers is that I
know a simple, but very important truth – that I don’t have all the answers. And I don’t mind telling
you so.
I have many partial answers, but I know that I do not have the full truth yet. I simply know the Sabbath
is a part of the 1-2-10 law, that it is derived from the golden rule, and that it is as binding on us today as
idolatry and lying are, and that’s enough for me – for now. We do not have all knowledge in this life,
and we should realize that – and be constantly growing in grace AND in knowledge (2 Peter 3:18).
I could give you partial reasons; reasons that might touch on the Truth. I could tell you that if you were
God, and had created the world, wouldn’t you want someone to thank you for it by setting aside one
day a week? And that’s not bad, but I’m not convinced. If that’s the only reason, then it seems rather
needy on God’s part.
I could tell you that resting one day a week is good for your health, but that wouldn’t require you to rest
on Saturday in particular. I could tell you that if you are glad you learned the Truth, you should want to
give it to others – and setting aside one day a week to do that is only reasonable. But there again, any
day would do.
I could tell you that if you were a boss, and worked six days a week and every seventh day had a
meeting to discuss the last week and plan the next, wouldn’t you want ALL your employees to show
up? If one wanted to rest on Sunday instead, and was out working on Saturday while you were telling
everyone else what to do in the coming week, wouldn’t he be a terrible employee?
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That’s a better answer. But it’s not the right answer. None of them are. Jesus told us the answer exists,
that ALL the laws, including the Sabbath, could be understood simply by thinking about the greatest
law, “do unto others”. I don’t know how to do that, but He said it can be done.
I could pretend I have all the answers, like most preachers do – and you probably wouldn’t even notice,
at least not for awhile. But I freely admit that I don’t know everything. And because of that, God
continually blesses me with more knowledge (James 4:6).
But just because we don’t understand everything, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep what we do
understand. If you’re going to understand God, and be a true Christian, you must be able, and eager, to
obey Him simply because He said so, even when the reasons aren’t always clear (Hebrews 11:8).
As always, this answer is clearly summed up in a single scripture, one we all know and just never
really read! The only difference is, unlike the other lessons, I myself don’t know where that verse is,
or how I’m looking at it wrong. I just know it exists.
There IS a correct answer, a perfect answer, a forehead-slappingly-obvious answer. But I don’t have to
know that answer to believe Him. I don’t need to know HOW the Sabbath is a part of “do unto
others” to obey the law. Do you?
I don’t have the full, perfect answer on the Sabbath that I’d like to give you. Not today. But I
know that one day, I will. Meanwhile, I am happy to simply trust what Jesus said – that the Sabbath is
derived from “do unto God”, and in turn from “do unto others…”. And therefore that it matters to us
today.
It matters to God – the Bible makes that very clear. Therefore, it matters to me.
So the question is… does it matter to you?
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