9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
To tell followers of Jesus Christ about the importance of Sabbath unleashes a torrent of varied responses. Some will argue that the Sabbath is the rest of the 7th day given to Israel at Mount Sinai. “It is the identifying sign of God’s people,” they will argue, and there is some validity to their argument.
Others will say that Sabbath is Sunday, saying that the day was “transformed” at the cross. Again, there is some validity to what is being said. Still others will say that it is another day or any day as long as you keep one. All these people have valid arguments about why their day, any day or no day is appropriate as a Sabbath.
Whatever that day is, God tells us in the section of Hebrews 4 above that we must enter into it. So what day are they talking about? Are they talking about any day? What is this scripture telling us?
Anyone who knows me well enough knows that when it comes to studying the Scriptures I am always talking about context. The context from which a Scripture comes means looking at where that section is placed in relation to the whole story that is being told. It means also looking at the subject of section and the object of the section. In other words, what is it talking about and to whom is it talking?
This section from Hebrews 4 is in the middle of a dialogue about Jesus Christ, the subject of the book of Hebrews. Hebrews was written (though it is unclear who wrote it, another interesting study) by Jews to Jews. It was written to explain the superiority of Jesus Christ, himself the fulfillment and fulfilling of the promises to Israel, to the old Mosaic covenant. Let me be clear, it is not about the superiority of Christianity to Judaism, it is about the superiority of Jesus Christ to an entrenched religion. Frankly, you can substitute any religion, including Christianity as we know it, in the place of Judaism here. So Jesus is both the subject of Hebrews because it is about his fulfilling of the shadow of Mosaic and Talmudic laws with the light of God’s very presence among men.
Any discussion about the Sabbath then has to proceed from this reality. This book is about a person, Jesus Christ, and his superiority over all things. (Hebrews 2:7-8) It is in this context that we should look at what is said. There is a rest for the people of God and it is not a day, it is a person. Let’s look.
Whatever the Sabbath is and was, it was to be an everlasting sign for the people of God. Now the Sabbath day was given to Israel and Israel was commanded to keep the day, but what are we to make of that in light of Jesus?
In Hebrews Chapter 1 we find that all things created have a period of existence and then they are worn out, obsolete, they die or are destroyed. It says:
“10He also says,
“In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.
11They will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
12You will roll them up like a robe;
like a garment they will be changed.
But you remain the same,
and your years will never end.”
Notice that it doesn’t replace any days. There is no shifting of one day to the next. There is no replacement of the Sabbath day, Saturday, with the Lord’s Day, Sunday. Yes it is true that most of the first century Christians worshipped on Sunday. But that is not proof and this is not talking about swapping days. It is taking the focus off something that is every bit as Created as you and I, namely a day, and replacing it with something eternal, namely the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity.
It was He who became flesh (John 1:14) and it is into Him that we must enter. He is superior to any day for he is uncreated and eternal. Only in Jesus do we find rest. It is only in the one who himself is in the Father and the Father in Him that we can find rest from our work. We find rest from our suffering and pain, our frustrations and fears, our worries and our striving.
To not enter into Jesus means continuing with our struggle to find out what this life is all about. We must worry about what to eat, drink or wear. We must worry about appearances. Even those who tell us they don’t worry about appearances towards others must worry that their appearance is not like others. Even the hermit worries about what to eat or where to sleep. Even the monk has a set of rules and standards he must live under.
But in Jesus Christ we find rest from all that for he is the one who does all things for us. He gives us life and breath. He gives us the ability to earn a living. He gives us the knowledge of how to create and how to live in community with others. He shares his love that we may love someone.
The rest that He offers, the Sabbath He gives us, is one that asks, “Do you believe that I am doing and will continue to do all this for you? Do you believe that I will sustain you and provide for you? Do you believe that I am here with you and nothing that happens will ever decrease my love for you?” This is lasting rest. This is meaningful rest. Not the observance of days or rules, rituals and religions.
Only Jesus can give us the rest we have searched for all of our lives. If we really want to find true rest, we must enter into that kind of trusting relationship. We must enter into Jesus as our Sabbath rest.
The Great Dance 
August 1, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Frank,
You and I have had this discussion–perhaps that is what prompted this blog. I still contend that the author is referring to two Sabbaths–the Sabbath in Christ to which you write, but also a Sabbath-rest, not tied to a legalistic observance of a day, but an spiritual principle linked to our hearts. (“10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.”) Christ lived, died and was resurrected amidst a great empire that was contrary to God’s Great Empire (Kingdom). Much of the New Testament is written in a language that is counter-empire. Christ was the antithesis of Caesar. Skipping over a significant amount of background, I think there is a message in these scriptures in Hebrews that as we enter God’s rest (the Sabbath in Christ) we are not to focus only on the WHO of Jesus, but to put our hearts to the WHAT (i.e., the teachings of Christ, the Word, the Gospel, etc.) of Jesus amidst a culture that is contrary to this message. A Sabbath rest from our labor and our own pursuits is for our benefit–hence, “the Sabbath is made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” It is not a legal obligation necessary for salvation, but it is a gift that promotes our freedom in Christ.
I am interested to hear what others have to say.
August 2, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Jeff,
Our conversation was not what prompted this post, but learning what it means to be a child of the Father. I really don’t think you can support this “two Sabbaths” idea from the context. Quite the contrary. The author was trying to show how the reality that is in Jesus Christ is superior to anything that comes as a result of Creation. Christ is eternal, not created, so why would I put ANY weight on what is created? In Chapter 1 verses 10-12 it even points to that difference. What is created, including the Sabbath, will wear away, will be “rolled up like a garment,” but “[Christ] will remain the same, [His] days will never end.”
His message and ministry were not about a counter Kingdom because all created kingdoms will eventually end. Jesus came to talk about the ONLY kingdom that will remain forever. He came to talk about what the Father was doing in bringing us into that eternal Kingdom by the Father’s grace.
That being said, anyone who wants to keep a sabbath day is openly welcome to do so. But it has nothing to do with the Gospel, it is not a two-Sabbath message. Even at that, in that “Sabbath was made for man” scripture it talks about Jesus and the Father working on the Sabbath. It places the idea of God’s rest on the Sabbath in a different light. It means that our rest in something greater than not doing physical labor. It is not the idea of labor that is key, though the physical rest is beneficial. Israel was given a double portion of manna by God’s grace so they wouldn’t have to worry about working but so they could focus on the one who provides what is needed when needed.
The key issue behind sabbath-ing is in the trusting, not the not working. When we rest in Jesus it is about trusting Him to provide for us, that the Father really loves us and wants a relationship of love in him “Today.”
Again, keep a Sabbath if you wish. But a day of rest is really not a part of the Gospel message, the Kingdom message in any way.
August 3, 2009 at 12:57 pm
“The key issue behind sabbath-ing is in the trusting, not the not working.”
Frank:
That makes a great deal of sense to me, even going back to the original OT references. If your and your family’s ability to survive and prosper depends on your work – or to put it another way, if your future condition depends on your present performance – then resting from that work may be incredibly dangerous. It puts you and others at risk.
Instructions that one is not to work turn out to be a curse unless there is Someone behind those instructions whose provision is more dependable and worthy of our trust than material cause-and-effect.
Put that way, sabbath really is a challenge to trust. The challenge to trust remains even if the specific instruction does not. I think it’s harder for modern salaried employees to see it that way, but this difficulty is an artifact of our particular circumstances and is indicative of the distance that exists between us and the original context.
Jesus shows us a God who not only is supremely trustworthy, but who has exhibited this supreme trustworthiness throughout eternity. Trustworthiness is fundamental to his relational nature. May we find rest from our fears and anxieties as we come to know and to fully entrust ourselves to him.
August 8, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Frank:
How do you address then the two Greek words translated “rest” in these verses–“sabbatismos” v. “katapausis”? Could it not be argued that if we don’t take a “sabbatismos” rest then we lack the trust element of which you speak and thereby fail to enter the “katapausis” rest?
August 9, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Jeff:
Two things: 1) Sabbatismos as listed in Thayer’s Lexicon states, a) a keeping sabbath or b) the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians. It is used once, in the NT, right there in Hebrews 4:9. So whatever use is intended must come out of that context. The context is that there is a rest that could not come in the observance of the day that Joshua carried with him into the Promised Land. Joshua’s Sabbath could not bring rest. The writer of Hebrews states that we must enter that day called “Today,” the day of trusting in the promises and character of God. Only in that rest, the rest that comes with believing that God really loves us and reconciled us to himself in Jesus. (2 Cor 5:19) Jesus is our Sabbath. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. He is its creator, the one whom the Sabbath reflects. Which leads me to
2) What can you get from a day that wasn’t given to us in Jesus Christ? Having to enter a day makes our salvation a mix of Jesus and something other than Jesus. Yet the entirety of the Scriptures says that all we will ever need or ever be is in Jesus. He is the one who lives in us and transforms us through the Spirit. Can the Sabbath do that?
Like I’ve always said: anyone can keep a day of rest if it helps keep one’s focus on Jesus or physically rest. That is a good thing. But it doesn’t add anything, and I really mean anything, to what is given to us in Jesus Christ. Why wouldn’t Paul, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, emphasize the Sabbath as a part of the Gospel. He said, “I determined to know NOTHING (emphasis mine) except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” The key word when talking about the 7th day Sabbath is sabbaton. It is found in Mathhew 12:8, Mark 2:27, Luke 6:5 and John 5:18. It is used most often when talking about the institution of the observance of the 7th day. Not necessarily a legalistic observance, but of the observance of the command of God from the OT. Keeping it wasn’t wrong, it was turned into something of a spectacle that kept people far from God. But our rest, the true Sabbath, is in Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath. There is not dualism in thought about a day and trust. There is only trust in the true Sabbath.