“Sabbath Rest” (Exodus 20:8–11)

“Sabbath Rest” (Exodus 20:8–11)
Pastor Cameron Jungels
Eastside Baptist Church
Sunday PM, April 22, 2018

Exodus 20:8–11 (NIV)

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

1. The Sabbath’s Significance: What does the Sabbath mean and where did it come from?

a. Sabbath – derived from the verb šbt שׁבת – to cease/stop; be completed; to rest/celebrate.

b. Modeled in creation by God’s ceasing/resting from his creative work

“Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:1–3, NIV)

c. Prefigured in Passover

““This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.” (Exodus 12:14–17, NIV)

d. Granted by Redemption

“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:15, NIV)

e. Practiced in the Gathering of Manna

“He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ” So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.” Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” So the people rested on the seventh day.” (Exodus 16:23–30, NIV)

f. A sign of God’s special covenant with Israel

““Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy. “ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”” (Exodus 31:13–17, NIV)

2. The Sabbath’s Consecration: What does it mean to consecrate the Sabbath Day?

a. Set it apart as holy: separate, distinct, not treated as another normal day.

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy." (Exodus 20:8, NIV)

"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (Exodus 20:11, NIV)

"Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." (Genesis 2:3, NIV)

"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD." (Leviticus 23:3, NIV)

b. The consequences for desecrating the Lord’s Sabbath demonstrate its holiness.

““ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people.” (Exodus 31:14, NIV)

“For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”” (Exodus 35:2–3, NIV)

“While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Numbers 15:32–36, NIV)

c. Special Sabbaths in addition to the weekly Sabbath on the 7th day.

i. Passover (first and last days)
ii. Day of Atonement

““This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.” (Leviticus 16:29–31, NIV)

iii. Festival of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24–25)
iv. Festival of Tabernacles (first and last days; Lev. 23:34–36)
v. Sabbath years (7th year) and Jubilee year (50th year) (Lev. 25).

d. Sabbaths Reclaimed by Exile: The Lord will not be robbed of his honor by having his Sabbaths used for dishonorable and selfish purposes.

“He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” (2 Chronicles 36:17–21, NIV)

3. The Sabbath’s Remembrance: How does one remember the Sabbath?

a. By resting and doing no work – Sabbath is the day when a person suspends or ceases his normal routine of labor.

b. By refraining from buying/selling/trading with merchants on the Sabbath.

"When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts." (Nehemiah 10:31, NIV; cf. Neh. 13)

c. By extending this rest to everyone, slave and free, even to the animals of burden. This demonstrates the social justice and mercy concerns embedded in this fourth command.
d. By observing the Lord’s special festivals/feasts.
e. By worshiping the Lord through the giving of weekly Sabbath sacrifices.

““ ‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.” (Numbers 28:9–10, NIV)

f. By worshiping the Lord in gathering together to sing his praises.

“A psalm. A song. For the Sabbath day. It is good to praise the Lord and make music to your name, O Most High, proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. For you make me glad by your deeds, Lord; I sing for joy at what your hands have done.” (Psalm 92:title–4, NIV)

g. By not treating the Sabbath as an empty day of religious ritualism.

“Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.” (Isaiah 1:13–14, NIV)

h. By not looking forward to the end of Sabbath so that more money can be made through commerce and work.

“Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”— skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.” (Amos 8:4–7, NIV)

i. By taking joy in the Lord in true worship and celebration (not perfunctory or empty ritualism).

““If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13–14, NIV)

The main idea of the Fourth Commandment: Celebrate God as the Creator-Redeemer on the Sabbath through rest.