Why Did God Create the Sabbath?

We need to rest.  Can you imagine constantly trying to do something for twenty-four hous a day, seven days a week?  Wether it is work, reading a book, going dancing and so on, this will never happen.  If you attempt to do something for an unlimited amount of time, you will become exhausted.  Even if it is something that you enjoy doing, you will be so tired that you will no longer enjoy it.  You need to lie down in a bed and get some rest.  Even if you get you needed sleep, you still need a day of rest to enjoy God's creation.  However, many of us have a restless heart.  My job requires me to work seven days a week before I have a day off.  I always make plans of what to do when that blessed day comes, including having a time of rest.  however, my plans do not always get accomplished.  I am rushing around trying to get everything done that I had not been able to do during my work days.  By the end of the day, I fall asleep, feeling exhausted and discouraged because I did not actually find time to sit down and rest in God's presence.  While God has sanctified both work and rest, the rest is my biggest need in my life.  

Exodus 16:23  "And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning" (KJV).

The seventh day was set aside as a day of rest.  However, the Sabbath is not named in the Bible until the time of Moses when God gave instructions to the Israelites instructions of how they were about to gather the daily manna.  God made this special day for the Israelites and they knew it was important to observe this day as a day of rest.  No work was to be done on that day.  This day was made holy so that they would worship the creator who gave them everything they needed and not to worship the gods of the pagan nations as Romans 1:18 states:  "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (KJV).  This day of rest also had humanitarian purposes as well so the servants and animals could rest as well as Exodus 23:12 states:  "Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed" (KJV).  Not only was every seventh day was to be observed as a Sabbath day, every seventh year was to be set aside for the land to rest.

Did God create the Sabbath for man or did he create man for the Sabbath?  This is a holy day and some would argue that it would make sense that he created man so they can enjoy the Sabbath with him.  However, it is the other way around;  God created the sabbath for man as Mark 2:27 states, "And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath" (KJV).

God created the Sabbath for the benefit of man.  He knew that man, by working six days growing plots building houses, would be exhausted, fatigued and worn out.  The seventh day of rest would give man a restful and peaceful calm.  He would be able to sit during his leisure time and focus his mind on HGod and meditate on everything he had done and on the Law of God.  With this day of rest, he is able to remember God's divine greatness and goodness.  With a renewed mind he is able fill his heart with gratitude and come to repentance for his sins.

God created the Sabbath to show the relationship between Isreal and God as the following verses states:

Exodus 31:12-17 (KJV)

12 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

15 Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.

17 It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

Nehemiah 9:13-15 (KJV)

13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments:

14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

15 And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.

When the Israelites were kept in slavery in Egypt, they probably did not have any time off to rest.  There were times they asked to be let go for a day so they could offer sacrifices to God.  However, these requests were repeatably denined.  This day of rest, when God provided the law, is connected to their deliverance from Egypt as Deuteronomy 5:12-15 (KJV) states:

12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

Even today many Jewish people celebrate the Sabbath and Passover as a reminder of their ancestors' time and deliverance from bondage.  Not only does the weekly day of rest gives an individual a refreshed and renewed mind, it gave them an idea of the rest they would enjoy in the Promised Land and also gave them a glimpse of the eternal rest they will enjoy in heaven.

Deuteronomy 3:20 Until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan: and then shall ye return every man unto his possession, which I have given you" (KJV).

Deuteronomy 12:10 "But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety" (KJV).

Deuteronomy 25:19 "Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it" (KJV).

Joshua 22:4 "And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan" (KJV).

Deuteronomy 4:37-38 (KJV)

37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

38 To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Eventually-after wandering in the wilderness for forty years-the Israelites inhabinged the Promised Land.  Why would it take that long for then to do this when it is only about a two week travels distance from Egypt?  It is because many of the Israelites did not trust God and disobeyed his.  They constanylt broke many laws, including the law of the Sabbath.  Only two men who were delivered from Egypt-Joshua and Caleb-were able to enter the promised land in the end.  The rest died in the wilderness.  When the Israelites finally occupied the land, they were to kill all the people from the pagan nations.  However, they did not do as God had instructed them and allowed some of them to live.  This eventually led to their decline in spirituality and they stopped observing God's laws and started following the pagan gods.  Time after time they were punished for this.  Time after time they returned to God.  However, their  continued disobedinece led to their exile from Jerusalem and captivity in Babylon.

Take a look at Hebrews 4:1-11.  It brings together the seventh day of creation rest and the Sabbath rest given as a law to Israel.  This ties in with the spiritual rest that people who believe in Jesus the son of God who sacrified himself on the cross so we, Christians, can have eternal life as verses 9-11 state:

9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.

11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief (KJV).

By believing in Jesus and trusting him, we enter a new creation as stated in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (KJV).  When we enter the new creation we also enter the spiritual rest as Matthew 11:28-30 (KJV) states:

28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

By enetering into His new creation and Spiritual rest, since you trust him, you also inherit the special inheritance that he gave His people as the following verses states:

Acts 20:32  "And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (KJV).

Ephesians 1:18 "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (KJV).

Colossians 1:12 "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light" (KJV).

Now as Christians, are we under bondage to observe the Jewish Sabbath-resting on the seventh day-and all the other laws of the Old Testament?According to Galatians 5:1, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (KJV), we are not required to observe the law.  That is because as we yield to him, the Holy Spirit fulfills the righteousness of the Law as Romans 8:1-3 (KJV) states:

 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Does that mean that we do not have to observe the Sabbath Day?  Take a look at Acts 2:46.  "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart" (KJV).  These were the first Christians and they did have fellowship and worship.  They set aside a day of the week to celebrate Jesus resurrection from the dead.

John 20:19 "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you" (KJV).

John 20:26  "And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you" (KJV).

Acts 20:7  "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight" (KJV).

1 Corinthians 16:2 "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (KJV).

It shows that even many years ago, the new Christians kept the Sabbath day and conduct worship and fellowship like we do today.  Many Cristian churches hace mass services on Sundays, which symbolizes the beginning of a new week.  This is a Christian Sabbath and is different from the Jewish Sabbath.  The Jewish Sabbath symbolizes the old creation.  This occurs at the end of the work week, where they work for six days and rest on the seventh.  In the new creation, at the beginning of the week, Christians express their faith and belief in God.  Then they work the rest of the week as Ephesians 2:8-10 (KJV) states:

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The Jewish Sabbath is no longer binding because Jesus Christ fulfilled the laws when he suffered and died on the cross.  Therefore, it is no longer binding on God's people as Colossians 2:16-17 (KJV) states:

16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

While it is not a requirement to observe the sabbath, we can still choose to keep this day holy.  If one person decides to honor this day and another person chooses not to, the ones who do are not to judge or condemn the ones who do not.  As Romans 14:1-15:7 states, we must accept what other people do or do not do and give each one liberty to do what they feel is right.

Revelation 1:10 "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet" (KJV).