The meaning of the Sabbath of God

Introduction

In Christian tradition, and especially that of the Western church, the creation event is generally presented as only a six days’ work, while the completion of creation on the seventh day is much neglected, or even overlooked altogether. Therefore it is necessary to present a more complete perspective on the Sabbath as presented in the Biblical creation narrative, the history of Israel in the Old Testament, and that of the church in the New Testament.   This perspective is in correlation with the progressive revelation of God as seen from Creation, the Fall, the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Return of Christ, up to the eternal heavenly rest of God (Sabbath).

In order to deal with this threefold view, the Sabbath is divided into three categories:   

• The Creation Sabbath (Creator – Creation narrative).
• The Covenant Sabbath (Israel – Old Testament).
• The Atonement Sabbath (Church – New Testament).

The intention is not to differentiate between three different and autonomous Sabbaths, but to appreciate the one Sabbath of God from these three phases or accentuations in the progressive revelation of God:

1. The Creation Sabbath (Creation – Creation narrative)

Context: Period from Creation to the Fall

The Creation Sabbath has a specific reference to God as Creator. He has rested on this day, and He blessed it and made it holy:

Thus the heavens and 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. And 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

1.1. God rested

The reference to God’s rest on the seventh day does not mean that He was exhausted or tired. God is not a human being that became weary and fatigued. Even the anthropomorphism in Exodus 31:17, where the Sabbath observance is backed up by the astonishing statement that the Lord paused to “get His breath back” (ינפש – jinnāphash) on the seventh day, does not refer to God as being exhausted, but rather invigorated. It is like someone’s gasp for breath after seeing a beautiful work of art, and should therefore rather be read in unison with God’s pronouncement after each act of creation: And it was very good!

In terms of the Creator God we read in Isaiah 40:28:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

The Hebrew word “shabbat” as being used in relationship to God, has a twofold meaning:

• It refers first of all to God seizing or stopping his creative activities. This meaning of the word “shabbat” is found for example twice in Isaiah 14:4: How the oppressor has come to an end (shebat)! How his fury has ended (shabetah)!

• Secondly, the Hebrew word “shabbat” refers to “rest” as found in most translations of the creation narrative.

Here we have the deeper meaning of “shabbat” as being used in connection with God in Genesis 2:3. “Rest” refers here to the “manner” or “state” of God’s being, seen from human perspective. It is an eternal rest of God that speaks of perfect love, peace, goodness, holiness and all that could be connected to the marvel of God’s existence and his Kingdom. Where there is perfect love, peace, goodness, holiness, etc., there is also perfect rest.

This complete rest of God also includes his sovereign rule in creation. Nothing can threaten God; He is at full rest. By subduing their enemies, Yahweh granted Israel rest from their adversaries (Deuteronomy 3:20; Joshua 1:13-15; 23:1). He gave also rest to David (2 Samuel 7:1, 11) and Solomon (1 Kings. 5:4; 8:56; 1 Chronicles 22:9). In this sense “rest” refers to safety, stability, and absolute control over circumstances, as it will realize in its full consequences in the hereafter where there will be complete rest with no conflict or threats. God’s kingdom and his sovereign rule in man’s life, has therefore nothing to do with autocratic manipulation, but with perfect rest. 

1.2. Temporal-spatial beginning with no ending

In his creative actions, the eternal God (no time) made the heavens and the earth in of six days (with time). The seventh day however, stands in contrast to the other six creation days in the sense that the six days are presented as demarcated periods of time with a specific evening and morning. The seventh day has however, a temporal-spatial beginning, but no ending. In other words, the first six creation days describe the manner in which the eternal God created the heavens and earth with time. The seventh day, however, has (like the other days) a beginning in time, but no end. It has an “openness” that flows into eternity. In this sense it speaks of the connection between time (it has a beginning) and eternity (it has no end), or the connection between the eternal God and the temporal creation.

This is a connection between time and eternity that spells out the deepest goal of God with creation. It has to realize from the eternal God into and with time, but eventually debouch again out of time into God’s eternal Kingdom where He would be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things (Romans 11:36).

To accentuate this connection, we read that God has identified himself with the Creation Sabbath (He rested), and He blessed and sanctified it (Genesis 2:3).

1.3. Day seven

We have already said that God has identified with the seventh day and its message of connection by making it holy. The meaning of the word “holy” is first of all to set apart for God. The number seven appears more than seven hundred times in the Bible and speaks of the fact that the holy God is involved in creation and that He has connected himself with it.

In addition to the fact that God rested on the seventh day, there are also the following examples of the importance of this number:

• Animals should at least be 7 days old to be suitable for a sacrifice (Exodus 22:30).
• Joshua had to walk 7 times with the Israelites around Jericho before the walls collapsed (Joshua 6:3-4).
• There were 7 golden lampstands in the temple (Exodus 25:37; Revelations 1:12).
• Naaman had to wash himself 7 times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10).
• Nebuchadnezzar had to live like an animal for 7 periods (Daniel 4:32).
• Jesus commanded Peter to forgive 7×70 times (Matthew 18:22). 

In the book of Revelations the number 7 appears more than fifty times with distinctive symbolic meaning. The reason for this is that seven was possibly used in later times (especially in the apocalyptic material) as specifically 3+4. The number 3 was an indication of God (the Trinity), and 4 an indication of the earth (the four points of the compass – north, west, south and east). The number 7 spells in this context the connection between God and earth out. That could be the reason why both Matthew and Luke wrote Jesus’ genealogy in terms of groups of 7 generations (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38).[1] The genealogies underscore the truth that God’s connection to this world is in Jesus Christ: … No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6).  

The connection between God and creation realized according to John 3:16 in a very exceptional way: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. By sending his Son to the world so that we may receive eternal life (eternal rest), accentuates God’s absolute identification with the goal of the seventh day in terms of temporal man and creation being connected to the eternal God. This is a clear indication that the doctrine of Deism (God has separated Himself from creation) is unacceptable.

1.4. The glory of God

The six days and the Sabbath’s connection with eternity designate unmistakably God’s glory as the authentic principle of creation. The climax of the creation story is not the creation of human beings on the sixth day, but the day of rest that follows with its connection to God’s eternity and glory. On the Sabbath, the world and its Maker have rejoiced in the beauty of the good creation that speaks first of all of the glory of God. The anthropocentrism that characterized some theologies of creation, underestimate the importance of the seventh day.

There is in this regard a problem with the division of the biblical chapters of the creation narrative (a division that was finished in the 16^th century and not made by the writer of Genesis).  Verse 31 of chapter 1 marks the end of day six, while the next sentence (2:1) begins a new chapter that includes the Sabbath. The effect is a devaluation of the Sabbath and an exaltation of humanity that runs counter the narrative of the creation story.

Creation was not only made for human benefit but first of all for the glory of God. Also Paul sees the glory of God as the highest principle in Christian conduct (cf. 1 Cor. 10:31). It is not about man, not even what he has achieved, but all about a creation that glorifies God. The Creator’s identification with the seventh day and its sanctification speaks without a doubt of the intimacy between God and this day.

The Creation Sabbath does not indicate a demarcated day. It rather indicates the completion of creation and its connection to the eternal glory of God. It is a day that started in time like all the other creation days, but it flows into God’s eternal rest. The accent is therefore not on a demarcated day, but on a day without end. The seventh day therefore, points to an “event” by which finite creation was connected to infinite rest. The creation of heaven and earth was not completed without this “event” of connection.

Thus, to the Creation Sabbath the following concepts are connected:

• Complete rest
• Contrast between the other six creation days
• Connection to eternity
• Goal of creation
• God’s identification with the seventh day
• The glory of God

2. The Covenant Sabbath (Israel – Old Testament)

Context: Period from the Fall to the Incarnation of Christ

The Creation Sabbath speaks of God’s identification with the seventh day, but the Covenant Sabbath speaks of Israel’s identification with this day.

We read about this in Exodus 20:8-11:

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you should labour and do all your work, 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 manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and 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.

The importance of this day for Israel is also accentuated in Exodus 31:14-17, where it is called an eternal covenant between God and them:

Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. … Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant(berīt olām). 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 abstained from work and rested (cf. also Ez. 20:12).

By keeping the Sabbath, the Israelites actually had to identify with eternal salvation of peace and rest as God’s purpose, not only for mankind, but also for creation (Rm. 8:9-23). The fourth commandment should therefore be seen as much more than just an instruction, it is also something to celebrate. The fact that this day was explained in terms of the rest of God himself, prove that it was regarded as a source of blessing of universal significance, and bears witness to the enthusiasm with which the pious Israelite rejoiced in this day of rest as an act of devotion. In fact, this day expresses what salvation is all about, and by denying the Sabbath was to deny God’s plan of salvation – therefore the death penalty (Ex. 31:15). It was quite later that Judaism (a religion of harsh observances) had substituted this blessing to a burdensome duty.

This day of rest for Israel was also seen in a broader context, as the Old Testament speaks of rest in terms of: peaceful living (Deuteronomy 28:65); the promised land (Psalms 95:11); prosperity (Psalms 90:13); joy (Isaiah 14:3). These last mentioned meanings, were all flashing demonstrations of the actual and eternal rest that will, in its full consequences, break through in the hereafter.

The Sabbath should have been celebrated by the Israelites as a covenant between them and God. It is a covenant that speaks of the truth that God is a God for them (His part of the agreement); and that Israel should be a people for Him (their part of the agreement). See in this regard: Exodus 29:45; Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 24:7, 31:33; Ezekiel 11:20. If they were truly a people for God (serve Him whole heartedly and keep His commandments), then they would also pass, like the seventh day, from time into eternity. In other words, the goal of the Creation Sabbath that connects time with eternity, will then realize for them as well.

The Sabbath as a sign of the covenant between God and Israel was of course not only a weekly celebration (a covenant feast), but also a seventh yearly celebration as a sabbatical rest for the land. Then there was also the year of jubilee, after seven times seven years. This year emphasized in particular God’s restorative work not only as Creator but also as Re-creator (cf. Lv. 25:18) by restoring His people and the land on which they lived – the people who became servants were liberated. Land that has been sold in payments of debts had to be reverted to its original owner. Then the Lord said:

Follow My degrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.

Leviticus 25:18-19

This jubilee year highlighted the Sabbath as a sign of the covenant, leading the people to worship the God of the covenant. They worshipped Him as Redeemer and Saviour with its full implications found in the New Testament in Christ who by His redemption and salvation would offer eternal freedom and rest.

Maybe the jubilee year is fulfilled when everybody will receive his or her “land” or “place” in the Kingdom of God.

In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am .  

John 14:2-3

In contrast with the Creation Sabbath that did not indicate a demarcated day but rather an “event” by which finite creation and infinite rest were connected, the Covenant Sabbath is all about a demarcated period (a day or a year) that should be kept and sanctified. Here the seventh day or year becomes a token of the Covenant (similar to circumcision that was also a token of the covenant between Abraham and God) between God and Israel and a symbol of the expectation that finite creation will someday again be united with eternal rest after sin has violated this unification.

Thus, to the Covenant Sabbath the following concepts are connected:

• Covenant between God and Israel
• Israel’s identification with it
• A covenant token or symbol
• Expectation of eternal rest

3. The Atonement Sabbath (Church – New Testament)

Context: The Incarnation to the Second coming of Christ.

As already mentioned, the Creation Sabbath speaks of God’s identification with the seventh day; the Covenant Sabbath speaks of Israel’s identification with this day, but the Atonement Sabbath speaks specifically of the Church’s identification with this day.

It became clear that the Creation Sabbath pointed to the connection between time and eternity, or creation and God. This connection was violated through sin (Is. 59:1), but in Christ restored again. Atonement has come, and it is with this message of reconciliation that the church identifies itself:

God reconciled the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sin against them.

2 Corinthians 5:19

This is a reconciliation (connection) that realized by:

• Christ’s incarnation
• Christ’s death
• Christ’s resurrection

All these three acts speak of the restoration of the broken connection between God and man. In other words, the connection between God and man (as implicated by the seventh day) will again realized by means of Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection.

3.1.     Christ’s incarnation

Christ’s incarnation was that event by which God connected Himself to a broken and sinful world in a very concrete and tangible way. It was for God an act of pollution and contamination in the most severe sense of the word. Christ’s suffering did not start at the cross, but with his incarnation.  

One should not forget that when Christ became flesh, He never seized being God-Man. He, the eternal God-Man (who is a unity of body, soul and spirit), clothed his glorified body with flesh (“sarks”). By doing that, a new unity of body (clothed with flesh), soul and spirit came into being that is actually unthinkable. Christ was as God-Man polluted and tarnished with brokenness, decay and temporalness that touched Him intensively in body, soul and spirit. No wonder the German philosopher Karl Jaspers said that he is willing to believe in the God of the Old Testament, but not in the God of the Christians, because they have “dragged God through the dust” by the doctrine of incarnation. To make God flesh in Christ is according to Jaspers impossible and blasphemous.[2]

God’s incarnation through Christ is and was also for the Jews unthinkable. The Jews still expect a Messiah that will be greater than Moses, more powerful than David, and wiser than Solomon, but he will be a human being, not God-Man. To expect a Messiah that will be God incarnated in the flesh, will according to the Jews blasphemy. However, by seeing Christ only as an exceptional human being without sin, is a terrible underestimation of the New Testament message of Christ who (as our Saviour) had to become flesh.

After all, only he who is really great, is able to bow low without threatening his greatness. God has bowed low in Christ, without threatening his Godliness:

Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

Philippians 2:6-7

3.2.     Christ’s death

Christ’s incarnation in the flesh however, included more than God’s connection to a broken, sin polluted and degenerating creation. It was also an event that enables Him to heal the violated connection between creation and eternity. That is to restore the message of the Sabbath. This He has done by taking our penalty of sin (death) upon Himself (Romans 6:23). A glorified body cannot die. Golgotha was God’s connection with death accompanied with the necessary and logical outcome of destroying death.

In Hebrews 2:14-15 we read:

Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power over death – that is the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Paul wrote in Romans 6:6:

For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be the slaves to sin.

Like his birth in the flesh, so his death on the cross was something unthinkable. Christ who is God, and therefore life (He does not have life; He is life,that is his identity! John 14:6), had died. This happened in his flesh, but touched Him in totality because body, soul and spirit represent a unity. The depth and the dimensions of the effect this had on Christ as God-Man is far above our comprehension.

Paul wrote in terms of atonement: 

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9).

3.3.     Christ’s resurrection

When in Christ, death came in contact with life, death was destroyed, and Christ rose up from the grave as the glorified One. What exactly happened is again above our comprehension, but through this event, the connection between creation and eternity, as implicated by the Sabbath, was restored.

Christ’s resurrection is something believers already partake in, but it will reach its climax with the day of the Resurrection (at the return of Christ) when our carnal bodies will be replaced with incorruptible and glorified bodies. Paul described it in terms of the metaphor “swallowed up” (katapinō):

For while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal will be swallowed (καταπινω) up by life.

2 Corinthians 5:4

We find the same metaphor also in 1 Corinthians 15:54b:

Death is swallowed up (καταπινω) in victory.  

This metaphor of Paul is founded in Christ who is called the firstling or first fruit (απαρχη) of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20). In line with Paul’s metaphor we could say that when Christ rose from the dead, His carnal and corruptible body did not stay in the grave, but was “swallowed up” by life and victory.

In other words, also in the event of “swallow up” the corruptible (body of flesh) was united or connected with the eternal (glorified body) in a very concrete way by Christ’s resurrection. Consequently, Christ became our Atonement Sabbath who by means of his incarnation, death and resurrection united (atoned) broken and fallen mankind (as well as creation) with eternity (God). He is indeed the realization and restoration of the seventh (3+4) day of creation.   

In contrast with the Covenant Sabbath, the Atonement Sabbath (like the Creation Sabbath) represent not a demarcated period (day or year). It speaks of the event of God in Christ who restored the division between perishable creation and eternal rest as a result of the Fall.

The idea of division and restoration is also symbolized in a very striking way by the veil of the temple. Before Christ’s act of atonement the veil in the temple symbolized the division between God and man, but after his act of atonement the veil was torn open from above downwards. This torn veil became a symbol of the restoration of the division between God and man. In other words, the message of Sabbath and connection was fulfilled as symbolized by the torn veil.

Thus, to the Atonement Sabbath the following concepts are attached:

• Atonement in Christ
• Church and atonement
• Incarnation, death and resurrection
• Unification with God (eternity)

With Christ’s incarnation, death and resurrection it became clear that at the core of God’s act of atonement and restoration, is the idea of “connection”. God in Christ has connected Himself substantially with transience, brokenness, decay and death. It was God’s connection to these things that consequently destroyed them – like darkness being destroyed when it is connected to light. God’s free and loving connection with our fallen state and creation has brought forth atonement and restoration. There is no other way in which it could be done. Thus, there is no possibility that Mohammed or the still expected Messiah of the Jews could bring atonement to our world. They cannot restore the message and goal of the Sabbath.

4.        Christ is our Sabbath

We already have mentioned that the seventh day (Sabbath) started within time but flows into eternity. This day speaks therefore of the connection between time and eternity. Christ is the contents and meaning of this connection as expressed by the Sabbath day.

In Christ, as the eternal God-Man, God and mankind are again connected with each other. Only in Christ who became flesh, who died and was resurrected from dead, could we again receive eternal life. Only in Christ the Sabbath of God becomes a reality. In fact, the Sabbath was a shadow image of who Christ would have been for us.

The meaning of, and the connection between the three focuses on the Sabbath could therefore only be understood in terms of Christ.

• As the eternal God-Man and only way to God, He is the Creation Sabbath who connected Adam and Eve before the fall with God.
• As the promised Messiah He is the Covenant Sabbath that gave the Old Testament man hope in the realization of salvation, and the restoration of eternal rest.
• As God-Man who became flesh, died and being resurrected, He is the Atonement Sabbath that connects broken, spiritually dead and sinful mankind to eternal life like a branch that is inoculated into the vine (John 15:1-6).
• As the Sabbath of God, He is indeed the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one can come (connect) to the Father except by Him (John 14:6).

The three focuses on the Sabbath could schematically be summarized as follows:

(a) Creation —-> the Fall (Creation Sabbath)

Man and Creation<—->Connect (Seventh day)<—-> Eternal rest

From God – Through God – To God (Christ = God-Man)

(b) The Fall —-> the incarnation of Christ (Covenant Sabbath)

Man and Creation    // Division (the Fall) //    Eternal rest

Promise + Expectation —->Restoration  (Christ = Messiah)

(c) Incarnation, Death, Resurrection —-> the Second Coming (Atonement Sabbath)

Man and Creation<—->Restoration (Christ)<—-> Eternal rest

Atonement + Connection —-> Sabbath (Christ = 3+4)

5.        The Sabbath and the church

In the New Testament Church were both Jewish and gentile Christians who accepted Christ as their Savior. Some of these Jews did not yet understand the consequences of the relationship between the Old Testament Law and the gospel of Jesus Christ. This has caused confusion. A confusion that was deepened in terms of differentiating between the Covenant Sabbath (Exodus 31:14-16) and the Christian Sunday.

This is underscored by Paul’s words to the Colossian assembly:

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however,is found in Christ.

Colossians 2:16-17

The contrast set by Paul between “shadow” and “reality” is important. It is a contrast set for both Jewish Christians and Gentiles.

Paul did not see a Sabbath that flows or extends into Sunday worship, but interpreted the Sabbath in terms of who Christ is. The Covenant Sabbath is seen a shadow of what later realized in the reality of Christ’s act of salvation. A demand to keep the Covenant Sabbath after what Christ has already done is therefore a demand chasing a shadow. Therefore, when the Covenant Sabbath is still celebrated, it boils down to a denial of “the reality found in Christ” and His fulfillment of the Law (Matthew 5:17).

Paul wrote to the Galatians: You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace (Galatians 5:4).

Exactly because Christ is the reality of the Sabbath of God, therefore the “rest” of this day is specifically connected to Him:

Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

In the New Testament it is all about an eternal life of rest found in Christ.

In Hebrews 4:1; 9-11 we read:

Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. … There remains, then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God (the Church); for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience (the unfaithful people of God).

Thus, the believers (the Church of the Lord) have to be diligent in entering the rest of God. This rest of God refers to eternal life (united with God) in the hereafter according to the Atonement Sabbath. It is an eternal rest in both a new creation of God, and a new mankind in Christ:

• A new creation.

The risen Christ is the beginning of the new creation, the promised new heavens and new earth.

2 Pet 3:13

• A new mankind.

I declare to you brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50-53; cf. Romans 8:18-25).

1 Corinthians 15:50-53; cf. Romans 8:18-25

The demand of the Hebrew writer that believers should be diligent in entering this eternal rest (Hebrews 4:11), does of course not only refer to the future return of Christ, but also to the present in which we already are able to experience rest in Christ.Jesus confirmed this on the cross by saying in John 19:30: It is finished (τετελεσται). The words “it is finished” remind us of God’s words after He had finished His creation activities (the Creation Sabbath):

The seventh day God finished the work He had been doing (Genesis 2:2). Christ is not only Creator, but as Savior also Re-creator, and as Re-creator He called out on the cross the same words: It is finished! Then He went to heaven and sat at the right hand of God the Father (Heb. 10:12). In other words, His re-creation activities were finished, and therefore we could already participate in the eternal life of being a new creation, although it will only realize in its fullness with the return of Jesus Christ. After all … if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away; the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Summary

Sabbath: the eternal rest of God (Rest = His character +  dominion)

6. The day of the Lord

Jesus Christ is our Atonement Sabbath who has unified us with the new creation of God. This new creation has realized with His resurrection on the first day of the week that also symbolizes the first day of the new creation. This day is called in the Bible “the day of the Lord”.

John said:

On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit (Revelations 1:10).

This assumption is however questioned since the name κυριακη ημερα (day of the Lord) as used by John occurs only once in the New Testament. John is not clear whether he referred to Sunday – the resurrection day of Christ. However, in the Didache and The epistle of Barnabas, κυριακη ημερα (day of the Lord) was up to the second century a technical term fairly widespread used at least in Syria and Asia Minor, designating the first day of the week as the Christian day of regular corporate worship.

The Didache (80-120 AD) states:

On the Lord’s day of the Lord come together, break bread and hold Eucharist – Κατα κυριακην δε κυριον συναχθεντες κλασατε αρτον και ευχαριστησατε (The Apostolic Fathers: p. 330-331).

The epistle of Barnabas (70-132 AD) referred to this day as the eight day:

Wherefore we also celebrate with gladness the eighth day (first day of the week) in which Jesus also rose from the dead – δια και αγομεν την ημεραν την ογδοην εις ευϕροσυνην, εν η και ο Ιησους ανεστη εκ νεκρϖνν (The Apostolic Fathers: p. 396-397). 

The conclusion seems that all of the early missionaries of the Palestine Jewish-Christian churches exported this practice to the Gentile-Christian churches. The day of the Lord became therefore the day of the Church’s worship. It was this day that was put aside by believers to celebrate their unification with Christ through his death and resurrection and the accompanied new life. Furthermore, the influence of the pagan “day of the sun” can therefore be discounted if the origin of Sunday worship is Palestinian.

Thus, it was on this day that:

• Jesus rose from the dead (Mark 16:9).
• Jesus met with His disciples after His resurrection (Mark16:11-16).
• Jesus appeared to His disciples behind closed doors (John 20:19).
• Jesus has sent His disciples just as He was sent by the Father (John 20:21).
• Jesus blew on His disciples and said: Receive the Holy Spirit (John 20:22).
• Jesus appeared to his disciples behind locked doors a second time and spoke to the unbelieving Thomas who then confessed: My Lord and My God (John 20:26-28). 
• The Holy Spirit was poured out on believers, and the Church was born (Acts 2:1). According to Leviticus 23:16-17 Pentecost was the day after the seventh Sabbath – that was usually Sunday.
• The Church assembled together (Acts 20:7).
• The offerings were gathered (1 Corinthians 16:2).
• God started to give His revelations to John on Patmos (Revelations 1:10).

The mentioned Scriptures cannot support prove that these narratives presuppose Sunday observance in the churches of their time. However, the fourth Gospel may offer some support for such a claim where it refers to the disciples gathering together on this day (John 20:19), but it could not be said with absolute certainty. Maybe when Sunday worship was generally practiced later on, Christians connected these events with the first day of the week as theological support for their observance of this day. It is actually impossible to be dogmatic as to the time of the origin of Sunday worship, but as already indicated, it probably began in the early Palestinian church.

However, the day of the Lord, the first day of the week and by implication of a new creation, is not a possibility without Christ who, as our Atonement Sabbath, united the old creation to the new creation.

• We cannot consider Sunday as the Covenant Sabbath in another form.
• Nor is it a case of Sunday replacing the Covenant Sabbath and that Christians therefore no longer observe the Covenant Sabbath.
• The Covenant Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ, and therefore we do not observe this day anymore.

We do not identify with the Old Testament promised Messiah (that was for Israel), but with the reality of Christ who came as the fulfillment of the promised Messiah. The resurrection day should therefore be seen as the outcome of the Atonement Sabbath that speaks of God’s plan of salvation as realized in Christ.

Every believer should celebrate the meaning of this day. In particular fathers should discipline their families to gather on this day with other believers and worship God for the eternal rest He gave us. It is important that children should see and experience that there are more people serving God than only their family. In fact, the essence of the church is to be a visible testimony and agent of the resurrection at work in the world.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more you see the day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:25

The reference in Hebrews 10:25 “… the day drawing near”, points to the return of Christ and His judgment. That will be the full breakthrough of the new creation of God, and is often called, like the first day of the week, the day of the Lord (1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10). That is the day of the completion of God’s goal with our creation, and when the Sabbath of God in its full consequences is fulfilled for us.

7. Keeping the Sabbath of God

The command to keep the Sabbath day came after the Fall. The first human couple did not keep the Sabbath, because they were without sin and united with God. God’s purpose with creation (as presented by the Creation Sabbath), particularly with man, was not disturbed, and would have debouched into the eternal life with God. Therefore, Adam and Eve already lived in the rest of God by their particular unity with Christ. It is a unity that would have reached its climax in eternity.

In fact, from Adam to Joseph, there is no mention of observing the Sabbath until the Israelites are told in the wilderness not to gather the manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:22-26). The manna was to be collected in double portion on the sixth day so that no work for food would have to be done on the Sabbath.

Perhaps the meaning of the Sabbath became clear to Israel at receiving the Law in Sinai (Exodus 20:1-17). Maybe Israel began to understand that they were the chosen people to bring forth the Messiah. This Messiah who would have been (according to the New Testament) the fulfillment of the meaning of the Sabbath.

Sin broke man’s unity with God and resulted into a need for a Savior and Redeemer to restore the unity between eternity and creation, and specifically between God and man. The promise to fulfill this need is found directly after the Fall in Genesis 3:15. Here the Lord said in regard to Satan:

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

In keeping the Covenant Sabbath the Israelites should have identified themselves with the idea that a Messiah will come and unite them again with God (the meaning of the Sabbath) and fulfill the promise of Genesis 3:15.

Jesus Christ (the Messiah) came and has restored the unity between God and man. The Covenant Sabbath is therefore fulfilled in Christ by the realization of the Atonement Sabbath, and with this Sabbath the Church identifies itself. The Atonement Sabbath does not refer to a specific day as such (like the Covenant Sabbath), but to the fulfillment of the Covenant Sabbath in Christ.

The church’s identification with the Atonement Sabbath means that we are again united with the Triune God through faith in Christ’s work of salvation. Therefore, we have already entered the eternal rest that will break through in its full consequences with the return of Christ. Thus, to keep the Covenant Sabbath as was done in the Old Testament, would boil down to a denial of that what Christ has already done for us in the fulfillment of the Covenant Sabbath. In this particular sense, we identify also with Adam and Eve before the Fall who did not live under the obligation of the fourth commandment.

As sign that we have indeed entered this rest, we celebrate the resurrection day of Christ (Sunday) as the day of the Lord, by corporate worshiping, partaking in the sacraments and preaching. That is to celebrate the Sabbath or rest of God in its fulfillment. In other words, it is not a case of deleting the fourth commandment, but to celebrate it as it is fulfilled in Christ. This corresponds with the Lord’s words in Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.    

We also celebrate this day as the first day of the beginning of the week of the new creation in Christ by living every following day of the week an inner life of rest in the Lord. This rest gives us a great gift, especially if in this rest, we respond to the divine invitation to come to Him. In Him we become our true selves. Loved children of God who are able to share that love with others, and realize that we are beloved lovers.

The goal is therefore not only to live the values of a resting day once a week, but also to bring these values into every day’s rest in the Lord. Each time we live a day specifically dedicated to God and holiness, we have the opportunity to bring some lasting effect into our daily lives. In fact, it should be our goal to bring the message of the Atonement Sabbath to the reality of each day.

Although this is a lifestyle that refers in the first instance to our inner life, one cannot neglect the reality of being bodily as well. Our bodies need also to come to rest, and the first day of the week ought to be (if possible) a day of bodily rest. While we rest in a way different from the people in the ancient world, we can still learn much from understanding the heart behind God’s commandment concerning the Sabbath. We must honor God also by our use of time, in a rhythm of toil and rest, and be reminded that all our time is His gift, to be given back to Him and used for Him. However, it is not keeping the Sabbath, but recognizing the wisdom of resting one day of the week.

In conclusion it could be said:

• The church identifies no longer with the Covenant Sabbath (it is fulfilled in Christ).
• The church identifies with Christ who is the Atonement Sabbath that speaks of a new lifestyle and of rest in God.
• The church lives with the expectation that eternal rest will reach its climax with the return of Christ.

8. Conclusive remarks

The three accents on the Sabbath as presented in the creation narrative (God’s identification with the Sabbath), the life of Israel (Israel’s identification with the Sabbath), and the church of the New Testament (the church’s identification with the Sabbath) helped us to distinguish between the Creation Sabbath, the Covenant Sabbath, and the Atonement Sabbath.

These accents and differentiates helped us to appreciate and deepened our understanding of the meaning and goal of the Sabbath as especially reflected in God’s goal with creation. It also gave us a universal view on the process of God’s actions of restoration in terms of the intention and goal of the Sabbath after being mutilated by the Fall.

The three accents also helped us to appreciate Christ as the focal point, contents, and connection between the Creation Sabbath, the Covenant Sabbath and the Atonement Sabbath as actually one Sabbath of God in Christ. With this Christocentric perspective on the Sabbath, it became clear how the church should position itself to the Sabbath, and how it should relate to the Old Testament commandment to keep it. It also encourages the Church to embrace God’s invitation to rest with and in Him, accompanied with faith in the marvel of His existence that speaks of perfect love, truth, righteousness, goodness, holiness, and all that is ascribed to Him in His self-revelation to us.

A very literal translation of 2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 is:

It is righteous for God to repay those who afflict you with affliction, and to give to you and to us rest (ανεσιν/anesin = rest) when the Lord is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting punishment on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  

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[1] See: Groenewald E.P. 1973, Die Evangelie van Lukas, N.G. Kerk uitgewers, Pretoria. (p. 51)

[2] See: Jaspers, K. 1969, Philosophy, Volume 1, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago. (p. 298).