Genesis 1:31 God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day. 2:1 he heavens, the earth, and all their vast array were finished. 2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had done; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. 3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work of creation which he had done. WEB
Sabbath defines who the Jews are as a people. They orient their week in terms of movement from the last Sabbath until the next Sabbath and have an elaborate system of rules that must be complied with in order to properly observe the Sabbath. (Note that at this point, there is no command to keep the Sabbath. On the other hand, since we are made in His image Sabbath seems like something that should be an integral part of us, as well). God blesses the Sabbath as He blessed man in Genesis 1:28.
A question arises in many of the Christian translations as to the use of “the” versus “a” when talking about the first 6 days of creation. The case can be made to translate each of the first 6 days as “a” day with “the” being used for the seventh day as the World English Bible does. Translating in this manner makes the seventh day stand apart from the others, a distinction that is not that necessarily significant to us but of great importance to the Jewish people.
Christians, particularly Protestant Christians, have a tendency to refer to Sunday, the Lord’s Day as the “Sabbath”. Our Jewish friends would take issue with this.
Exodus 31:16 And the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbaths, to observe them throughout their generations. 17 It is a perpetual covenant with Me and the children of Israel, it is a perpetual sign with Me; for in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, and on the seventh day He ceased, and rested. Brenton Septuagint
Deuteronomy 5:12 “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you may labor, and do all your work; 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, your ox, nor your donkey, nor your livestock, your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. NHEB
The earliest Christians were nearly all Jewish up until the conversion of Cornelius in Acts 10. They were keeping the Sabbath and celebrating the feasts. In Acts 2, they are all gathered at the Temple to celebrate Pentecost (a Jewish holiday) when suddenly the Holy Spirit comes upon them. The epiphany that God loves all (and not just the Jews) occurs with Cornelius and his Gentile household coming to faith and receiving the Holy Spirit in Acts 10. Without the experience of practicing Judaism, these customs and practices just didn’t mean much to the new Gentile Christians. Many were also getting together early on Sunday morning to sing hymns and take communion before going to work. As Christianity became more Gentile oriented, things began to move toward Sunday as the day of worship. Once Rome became involved, Sunday became the official religious day.
There are four perspectives. First is that the Sabbath is Saturday, always has been and always will be. A second is that from the time of Constantine on, many Christians have considered Sunday as the Sabbath. While it may be like the Jewish Sabbath in some ways, there is nothing in the New Testament that would define Sunday as the Sabbath thereby replacing Saturday. The third approach is that not so much about a single day as it is about finding rest in our lives. The fourth view is to look at the actions of Jesus such as in Matthew 11. Jesus is poking the Sabbath in the eye as He deliberately does things that go against the way the Jews of that time were keeping it with their human created rules and regulations.
Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” NHEB
At the beginning of Matthew 12, Jesus is walking through grainfields when the disciples begin to pick and eat the grain. When the Pharisees complain about the group breaking the rules of the Sabbath, He responds with a teaching about David and his companions eating the show bread of the Temple. He then teaches:
Matthew 12:6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 9 And He departed from there and went into their synagogue. 10 And look, there was a man with a withered hand. They asked Him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse Him. 11 And he said to them, “Which one of you who has one sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a person than a sheep. Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” NHEB
Jesus institutes a change in verse 11:28 as those who labor and burdened are to find their rest in Him rather than in the day. He backs this up with the authoritative claim of being the Lord of the Sabbath. On the surface, this appears to be a significant change however Jesus may simply be turning Sabbath back to the God’s original purpose. The Jews of that time were working awfully hard to show God just how well they could keep from working. Instead as Jesus shows us, Sabbath is about God giving us rest.
Hebrews 3:10 Therefore I was displeased with this generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they did not know my ways;’ 11 as I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.'”…16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? No, did not all those who came out of Egypt by Moses? 17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Was not it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18To whom did he swear that they would not enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief. NHEB
Hebrews was written to a Jewish Christians before Jerusalem was conquered. This group appears to want to go back to being Jews again since Christians are being persecuted more. The question for them is what do they really lose by going back?
Rest in these verses from Hebrews 3 refers to the rest God intended for His chosen people to have in occupying the land in Canaan. Through their unbelief and disobedience, it was denied for forty years. Jesus says I have come to give people rest (Sabbath) and with that rest comes access to a much greater Promised Land.
Hebrews 4:1 Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into His rest. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard did not profit them, because they were not united by faith with those who heard. 3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest, NHEB
Rest pops up about a dozen times in Hebrews 4 and it refers to final salvation – and the work that God does to redeem us. (Rest is the idea that we stop striving and fall into the arms of God). This is what Paul discusses in Ephesians 2 in terms of being saved by grace through faith. Yet although we are saved by grace through faith, we are also instructed by Jesus to will keep His commandments. Of interest here would be the 4th Commandment, particularly whether we should observe the Sabbath on the seventh day of the week. As you ponder that, consider these verses as well as the teachings by Jesus regarding the meaning of Sabbath:
Romans 14:5 One person regards one day holier than other days, and another regards them all alike. Each must be fully convinced in his own mind. NET
Colossians 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you about food and drink, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, 17 which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ’s. NHEB