When God had put everything in its place: the heavenly host, the creatures populating the water and dry land, he ceased from his labors. All was perfect. The human beings were directed to take hold of the potential of what God had made and use it wisely for creation’s benefit and God’s glory. Alas, they were not content with what had been granted them and they rejected God’s story for their own. But God always has the first word and the last. He intends to re-establish, and even surpass, that original peace when he dwelt in perfect harmony with all that he had made.
To carry out that plan he initiated covenants. Promises made to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David, all led to the coming of the Redeemer, the one “born of the seed of the woman.” The particular covenant made with Israel had a unique component. They were told to keep the Sabbath, not doing any work on the seventh day, for the LORD “blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11). God gave two rationales for expecting this of them: he had ceased from his work on the seventh day, and they were to remember that he had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. As such, the Sabbath represented on the one hand the rest that had been scorned and on the other the gracious hope that had been set before them in the gospel. When they obeyed the Sabbath, they declared to all the world that they knew where history was headed.
When the promised Redeemer came, he declared himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28). His lordship was evident in his correcting the accretions to the command made by the Pharisees. Most importantly, his lordship over the Sabbath was realized in his being the one to whom the command pointed, for the hope of dwelling in perfect harmony with God is possessed by all who believe in him (Hebrews 4:11). In the blood of the Promised One a New Covenant was initiated. And as the redemptive purpose of the Sabbath had been fulfilled, its demands were nailed to the cross.
Though the Sabbath no longer binds the people of God, the consummation that it pointed to is yet to be realized. The church, like Israel before her, has an obligation to direct people’s eyes toward the end of all things. Our faithful participation in the worship of the Lord of the Sabbath, and our persistent pursuit of our new selves, will direct our watching neighbors to the reality of the hope set before them in the gospel. Let us not, therefore, neglect “to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25).
