Have you ever wondered why the Sabbath is still important?
Recently I heard from a podcast listener, who is from Africa, and he wondered if I could do an episode about honoring the Sabbath and why that’s important. That’s what we’re going to talk about today, why the Sabbath matters.
If there’s a topic you’d like me to address on The Bible Speaks to You Podcast, please let me know, and it may just be the subject of an episode in the future. You can contact me here.
So, why does the Sabbath still matter today?
In the world today, lots of people don’t really think too much about honoring the Sabbath. They may be glad to have a day off from work, but they’re not aware of its deep spiritual significance.
Other folks who consider themselves spiritual but not religious, may think it’s just some old-fashioned religious tradition. They may be thinking, “Why can’t we just celebrate and be spiritual however we want to? Why should one day be more important than another?”
Actually, there may be a grain of truth in that last sentiment, and we’ll come back to that in a few minutes.
And some people take a very ritualistic approach to observing the Sabbath.
Now, if you’ve been listening to The Bible Speaks to You Podcast for very long, you know that I focus a lot on how Jesus looked at things. I talk about Jesus’s mindset, how he thought and acted.
So, we’re going to take a look at how Jesus observed the Sabbath, what he did on the Sabbath and what he said about it.
First, the origin of the Sabbath
Now, the whole idea of honoring the Sabbath comes from the Ten Commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor 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 male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.
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 20:8-11 NIV
This last verse is, of course, a reference to Genesis, Chapter 2
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
“Resting” on the Sabbath
The word “rested” in verses 2 and 3 is a Hebrew word, šāḇaṯ, which means to cease or desist from labor. And that’s where the idea of “rest” came from. When you stop working, you rest. Right?
God stopped working because the work was complete. It was finished. He didn’t stop because He was tired and had to rest in the sense of recovering his strength. God rested, or rather took time to appreciate and value all He had done and the fact that it was complete and whole.
The Hebrew word for Sabbath, the day , šabāṯ is an intensive form of the verb, to rest.
Why is this important? Well, all through the Old Testament, the Children of Israel are told to remember the Sabbath, when God’s work was complete and finished. They were to honor this by not doing any work of any kind. It was really a reminder that God had created the world and that His work was full and complete.
But what does the human mind do over time? It makes a ritual out of everything. And that’s pretty much what happened at times in the Old Testament.
God’s rebuke
God rebukes this tendency and talked to the Children of Israel through the prophet Isaiah:
Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts; the incense of your offerings disgusts me! As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath and your special days for fasting—they are all sinful and false. I want no more of your pious meetings.
I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals. They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!
Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.
Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows. Isaiah 1:13, 14, 16, 17 NLT
God is not interested in meaningless rituals just for the sake of the ritual. He wanted people to honor the Sabbath and worship Him, and honor His creation, by caring for the oppressed, the orphans, and widows.
And God says to the people, again through Isaiah, and this gets at what the Sabbath is all about:
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.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken. Isaiah 58:13, 14 NIV
God is saying here the Sabbath is not a time for self-absorption and personal pleasure, but a time to honor God and take delight in all He has done and is doing.
On the Sabbath, are we focused just on what we want or what is pleasing to God?
Jesus and the Sabbath
Now, let’s jump to the New Testament and look at Jesus’s attitude toward the Sabbath. Several things stand out right away.
Early in his public ministry, Jesus went to his hometown.
When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. Luke 4:16 NLT
Jesus went to the local synagogue and participated in the religious practice of his day. And he read from the Scriptures, in this particular case, a prophecy from the book of Isaiah. You can read that whole story in Luke, Chapter 4, starting verse 16, which I just quoted.
Jesus basically sets the standard for religious practice on the Sabbath to read from the Scriptures. That’s a pretty good way to honor God and celebrate the completeness of God’s creation. Don’t you think?
Jesus teaches and heals on the Sabbath
And we start to see a pattern. Jesus goes to the local synagogue, wherever he may be on a given Sabbath and teaches people. The result is healing.
Here’s an example early in his ministry from Mark.
Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting,
“Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered.
At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee. Mark 1:21, 23-26, 28 NLT
No kidding.
Here’s another example of Jesus teaching and healing on the Sabbath, and how different people respond.
One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue, he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!” Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water? This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”
This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did. Luke 13:10-17 NLT
The Pharisees didn’t like Jesus healing on the Sabbath
Jesus was getting a reputation for not just preaching and teaching on the Sabbath, but for healing. The people in general loved it. Some of the religious leaders did not because they thought healing on the Sabbath was not appropriate. So that now becomes an issue whenever Jesus heals on the Sabbath.
Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Mark 3:1-6 NIV
There are lots of other examples of Jesus healing on the Sabbath. And I’m sharing a lot of them because I want you to feel the crescendo of what these healings on the Sabbath really represent.
Did Jesus break the Sabbath by healing?
Once Jesus was at a Pharisee’s home for a meal on the Sabbath and healed a man there
One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.
Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[some manuscripts say donkey] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”
And they had nothing to say. Luke 14:1-6 NIV
The Pharisees don’t agree
Think of the man who was born blind whom Jesus healed on the Sabbath. You can read the whole story in John, Chapter 9.
But take a look at verse 16
Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them. John 9:16 NLT
They had seen and heard of Jesus healing so many people on the Sabbath, they could not explain it away. Some of them began to consider the idea that Jesus was not a terrible sinner breaking the laws of the Sabbath.
Does God ever stop working?
Think of the cripple who was lying on a mat.
Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.
But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” John 5:2, 3, 5, 6, 8-10, 16, 17 NLT
Let that last line sink in, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”
The Jews believed that God didn’t do anything on the Sabbath and that they shouldn’t either. Jesus turns that idea on its head. He says that God never stops working. God is always working. God is always revealing the fullness and completeness of His creation.
The purpose of the Sabbath
I’ve mentioned a couple of times the purpose of the Sabbath is to honor the fullness and completeness of God’s creation. Have you ever wondered what Jesus thought the purpose of the Sabbath is?
Once when Jesus is being accused of breaking the Sabbath, he replied,
Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27, 28 NIV
In other words, man is not a slave to the Sabbath. It should bring us freedom, not hold us in bondage to a ritualistic or legalistic approach to obeying man-made Sabbath traditions.
In fact, once Jesus even reprimanded the Pharisees
Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? Matthew 15:3 NLT
The Sabbath is not about rituals
Jesus never taught nor approved of this ritualistic approach to worship and obedience to God’s commandments.
In fact he said the exact opposite of legalism and ritualism was the way to worship and obey God.
But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. John 4:23, 24 NLT
Jesus was very observant of the Jewish Law, but not all the man-made interpretations of those laws.
Is it okay to work on the Sabbath?
Jesus didn’t have a problem with people “working” on the Sabbath in one sense. He said God was always working, had never stopped working, so how could he as the Son of God not “work” on the Sabbath? And what about all God’s children?
One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.” Luke 6:1-4 NLT
Jesus seems to be saying here that human circumstances are sometimes more important that a legalistic approach to obeying the Commandments.
When the religious authorities today tell what you can and can’t do, should or shouldn’t do on the Sabbath, it’s important to remember how Jesus thought of and practiced the Sabbath.
A more spiritual approach
Jesus is pointing us to a more spiritual approach to connecting with God. He’s prophesying of a time when it’s not about what day or where you worship God. It’s a completely spiritual experience which transcends time and place.
The true spirit of the Sabbath is being aware of, acknowledging, and rejoicing that God’s work is complete and whole.
All the healings that took place on the Sabbath were Jesus’s way of bearing witness to the fullness and completeness of God’s creation. He could see the wholeness of those who needed healing and restored that wholeness to them. This is the epitome of honoring the Sabbath.
Follow Christ
Paul says “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV)
That means we can remember and honor the Sabbath the same way Jesus did by bearing witness to the fullness and completeness of God’s creation and experience healing as a result.
We have the same authority to stand up to the self-appointed religious authorities of today who insist the Sabbath must be honored only in the way they say is correct.
This is nothing new. Jesus had to deal with the traditionalism of his day. So did Paul.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul writes,
So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality. Colossians 2:16, 17 NLT
This sort of sounds like what Jesus meant when he said the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
All the rituals of the way various churches celebrate the Sabbath, however meaningful or dogmatic they may be, they are still only shadows, or hints, at the real substance of honoring and worshiping God. The substance or reality of it all is Christ.
The Sabbath is a state of mind
Honoring the Sabbath is really a state of mind that is always bearing witness to, honoring, and rejoicing in the fullness and completeness of God’s creation. Every moment of every day.
Jesus saw that fullness and completeness everywhere and explained it with these words: “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17 ESV)
The completeness of God and His creation are here right now.
Why could Jesus see God’s wholeness and the fullness of His creation? Because Christ represents the fullness of God.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, [Christ Jesus] Colossians 1:19 NIV
This is what the Sabbath is all about, bearing witness to the fullness of God’s being or nature as manifested and revealed in the life of Jesus 2,000 years ago, and continuing to do so in the presence of Christ today.
Be conscious of God’s fullness
When you are conscious of God’s fullness and completeness, you become aware of the fullness and completeness of God’s creation. And as a result you rejoice. And you are remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to church on the Sabbath, but I’m saying don’t limit the spirit of the Sabbath to just one day a week. For example, instead of getting impatient at a long wait in a store or at a stop light, take a moment to rejoice in the completeness of God’s creation. This becomes a Sabbath moment.
Instead of being so absorbed in your work that you forget everything else, take a moment to thank God for giving you the ability to do what you’re doing and that His work is already complete. This is a Sabbath moment. Let these moments multiply into an attitude of humble gratitude for all God has done.
And don’t forget to include yourself in this process, to thank God for making you whole and complete.
The spirit of the Sabbath
Psalm 92 gives just a hint of what I’m talking about here. And if you read the little bit which is kind of like a heading, it says this Psalm is a song for the Sabbath.
Psalm 92:1, 2, 4 NLT
A psalm. A song to be sung on the Sabbath Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praises to the Most High.
2 It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
your faithfulness in the evening,
4 You thrill me, LORD, with all you have done for me!
I sing for joy because of what you have done.
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and podcaster. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by embracing the mindset of Christ in daily life. Contact him here.
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Bible References
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.
Genesis 2:1-3 NIV
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
3 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.
Isaiah 1:13, 14, 16, 17 NLT
13 Stop bringing me your meaningless gifts;
the incense of your offerings disgusts me!
As for your celebrations of the new moon and the Sabbath
and your special days for fasting—
they are all sinful and false.
I want no more of your pious meetings.
14 I hate your new moon celebrations and your annual festivals.
They are a burden to me. I cannot stand them!
16 Wash yourselves and be clean!
Get your sins out of my sight.
Give up your evil ways.
17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice.
Help the oppressed.
Defend the cause of orphans.
Fight for the rights of widows.
Isaiah 58:13, 14 NIV
13 “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,
14 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.” The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Luke 4:16 NLT
16 When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.
Mark 1:21, 23-26, 28 NLT
21 Jesus and his companions went to the town of Capernaum. When the Sabbath day came, he went into the synagogue and began to teach.
23 Suddenly, a man in the synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit began shouting,
24 “Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
25 Jesus cut him short. “Be quiet! Come out of the man,” he ordered.
26 At that, the evil spirit screamed, threw the man into a convulsion, and then came out of him.
28 The news about Jesus spread quickly throughout the entire region of Galilee.
Luke 13:10-17 NLT
10 One Sabbath day as Jesus was teaching in a synagogue,
11 he saw a woman who had been crippled by an evil spirit. She had been bent double for eighteen years and was unable to stand up straight.
12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Dear woman, you are healed of your sickness!”
13 Then he touched her, and instantly she could stand straight. How she praised God!
14 But the leader in charge of the synagogue was indignant that Jesus had healed her on the Sabbath day. “There are six days of the week for working,” he said to the crowd. “Come on those days to be healed, not on the Sabbath.”
15 But the Lord replied, “You hypocrites! Each of you works on the Sabbath day! Don’t you untie your ox or your donkey from its stall on the Sabbath and lead it out for water?
16 This dear woman, a daughter of Abraham, has been held in bondage by Satan for eighteen years. Isn’t it right that she be released, even on the Sabbath?”
17 This shamed his enemies, but all the people rejoiced at the wonderful things he did.
Mark 3:1-6 NIV
1 Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there.
2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.
3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
4 Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.
5 He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored.
6 Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.
Luke 14:1-6 NIV
1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.
2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body.
3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.
5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child[some manuscripts say donkey] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”
6 And they had nothing to say.
John 9:16 NLT
16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man Jesus is not from God, for he is working on the Sabbath.” Others said, “But how could an ordinary sinner do such miraculous signs?” So there was a deep division of opinion among them.
John 5:2, 3, 5, 6, 8-10, 16, 17 NLT
2 Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches.
3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.
5 One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
6 When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?”
8 Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!”
9 Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath,
10 so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!”
16 So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.
17 But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.”
Mark 2:27, 28 NIV
27 Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Matthew 15:3 NLT
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?
John 4:23, 24 NLT
23 But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way.
24 For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.
Luke 6:1-4 NLT
1 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain.
2 But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?”
3 Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
4 He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.”
1 Corinthians 2:16 NIV
16 we have the mind of Christ.
Colossians 2:16, 17 NLT
16 So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths.
17 For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come. And Christ himself is that reality.
Matthew 4:17 ESV
17 …the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Colossians 1:19 NIV
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, [Christ Jesus]
Psalm 92:1, 2, 4 NLT
A psalm. A song to be sung on the Sabbath Day.
1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
to sing praises to the Most High.
2 It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning,
your faithfulness in the evening,
4 You thrill me, LORD, with all you have done for me!
I sing for joy because of what you have done.
