As the holidays approach and the frenzied schedule that often goes with it, I am increasingly aware of my own longing to slow down and rest. Is there such a thing as a rest that will leave me refreshed and refueled for the grind that lies ahead? What about the Christian Sabbath? Does it hold such promise? Is it even applicable today?

Often times we let our practice determine our theology and I think our current practices on the Sabbath are a prime example. Most American church-going Christians treat the Lord’s Day no differently than any other day (with the exception of going to worship on Sunday mornings), and consequently see no real applicability of the commands in Scripture regarding Sabbath keeping. A few can point to the passage Colossians 2:16-17,

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.

and close the case on Sabbath keeping. It must not be relevant since Christ came. But is this really the case? There is more to the Sabbath than we realize. The sad thing is that it is considered a burden rather than a blessing. But let’s consider this passage again briefly.

Anytime you’re seeking to understand a passage of Scripture, you must always look at its context (you wouldn’t want someone to take your words out of context). The Sabbath day that Paul speaks of is included among “what you eat and drink”, “religious festival”, and “New Moon celebration.” All of these are related to Jewish Ceremonial practice and were commonly thought of as identifying marks to being a Jew. Paul is writing to a church with gentiles in it, showing that these Jewish cultural practices are not required to be a Christian. Ceremony in the Old Testament points forward to their fulfillment in Christ (verse 17). Ceremonial law was fulfilled by Christ and no longer served a purpose because they were shadows to be fulfilled. Going back to ceremonial practices (such as the dietary laws or the sacrificial system for that matter) would be a return to shadows when we have the real thing to enjoy – it would be a return to something less than we enjoy in Christ.

The Sabbath, while part of the ceremonial law of the Old Testament (there was more than just a seventh day rest associated with ceremonial Sabbath keeping), is also part of the moral law revealed in the Ten Commandments. Ceremonial law is not part of the Ten Commandments. We still today seek to keep the Ten Commandments. In terms of Christ fulfilling things of the Old Testament (like the ceremonial laws), we know the Moral law was also fulfilled by Christ but it still serves a purpose. It shows us the character of God and explains how we are to live in the Kingdom of God. Christ fulfilled the requirements of the moral law not so that we would be free from keeping them but free from judged for not keeping them, AND ENABLED more and more to keep them.

The ceremonial aspects of the Sabbath (as they identify the Jew) were certainly fulfilled by Christ. But the command to remember the Sabbath (4th commandment) is part of the very thing Christ’s death and resurrection enable us to do as we enjoy in a more realizable way the rest we have in the Lord. The rest that the Jews in the Old Testament enjoyed was a shadow of the rest they looked forward to in the land of promise. It was a remembrance of God’s work that was pointing them to a future reality. Today, that future reality is “already here”, in one sense, and “not yet here” in another. It is “already here” in the sense that Christ has paid the penalty of our sin, thus cleansing us from all unrighteousness in the eyes of God (which is what the ceremonial law depicted). It is “not yet here” in the sense that the Kingdom of God is not yet fully come. We still await the New Heavens and the New Earth and we look forward to resting from the inner struggle that wages in our souls between the spirit and the flesh.

The practice of Sabbath-keeping – resting from our work activities and actively remembering the work of God’s creation and redemption – is needed to quiet that inner voice of condemnation, that voice of self-reproach that otherwise lingers in the back of our minds and drives us to win the approval of others. The real rest that our souls long for takes work to reach. It sounds a bit ironic to say that Sabbath keeping is work, but those inner voices are hard to shut down. It is the proactive practice of Sabbath-keeping that quiets the voices so that we might hear the sound of God’s work that proclaims Shalom to us. Real rest belongs to those in Christ. Let us work at Sabbath-keeping that we might enjoy a real rest for our souls.

Shalom,
Carter