Yesterday, we looked at creation and how God established rest in the order of creation, then he modeled rest for us. Today, we’ll see that rest and worship are part of the 10 commandments and point us to the final restoration and redemption.
You shall labor six days, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
Exodus 20:9-10
Growing up, I remember feeling that family rules for no shopping and work on Sunday were more of the bother and inconvenience than showing worship to God.
When I learned the 10 commandments, I thought it just meant that we shouldn’t work on the sabbath and we should this use this time for worship and fellowship with God. But the verse has a deeper meaning.
Looking at the footnotes in Bible (Reformation Study Bible), the editors comment that in Hebrew sabbath means to cease. Work was to cease on the sabbath, the command is linked to creation and God’s rest on the seventh day.
Later in Deuteronomy 5:15, the command is linked to remembering the Exodus and God saving his people from bondage.
In context of the Exodus and Deuteronomy, the day of rest reminds us of God’s care for us and future redemption from sin and eternal rest that he will provide.
As we rest on the sabbath it’s important to remember it’s not just to restore our body physically, but to also look forward to the day when Jesus returns, we will be made a new creation and have rest in Jesus.
The law in the Old Testament points us to the final redemption and restoration in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Rest on the sabbath points us to the final rest we will receive when our work is finished and we are with God forever.
