Day of rest

"TGIF", short for "Thank God, It's Friday", is a welcome introduction to a weekend, when one does not usually have to work, but can rest away from the demands of gainful employment. If there is a holiday as well, often the weekend turns into three consecutive days of potential rest. I cannot even imagine what it would be like without weekends.

Our Lord God, who created us, knows exactly what is needed by our body. Our body is not a machine, but a physical body that can exert itself for a while, but needs to be rested and recovered before another round of exertion. Lord God gave us a commandment to rest on the Sabbath, just as He rested on the seventh day after Creation. He said, "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 manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 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)

The commandment extended not only to the people of Israel, but also to the servants and animals (Deuteronomy 5:12-14). All were to rest on the Sabbath and keep the day holy. Even the land was to be rested (Leviticus 25:2-6) and whatever the land yielded without being worked on was to be the food for all in the Sabbath year. If the land was not rested, it would be forced to become desolate and deserted with the people taken away to the land of the enemies (Leviticus 26:34-35).

Besides providing a day to have physical rest, the Sabbath was given as a sign that we are God's people whom God made holy (Ezekiel 20:12,20). It is a day to remember the Lord God as our God. We are to remember that if we keep His commandments and decrees (starting with the commandment to rest), we will live; but if we don't, we will surely be destroyed.

The only work to be done on the Sabbath was God's work -- work that saves lives and work that represented doing good. Jesus declared that the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28) and legitimized doing good and saving lives even on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-12, Mark 3:1-4, Luke 6:6-9, Luke 13:14-16).

Ultimately, God's people can look forward to the eternal Sabbath-rest that they will enter in the kingdom of God (Hebrews 4:9-11). This rest is not just the rest that the Israelites enjoyed on the seventh day, nor in the land of milk and honey that they conquered with Joshua, although these all symbolized the ultimate Sabbath-rest to come. The ultimate rest will come when the obedient will enter the New Jerusalem in the heavenly kingdom of God, where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelations 21:4).

Giving us weekends to rest in is a sign of God's mercy. He knows our weaknesses. Having a day of rest that we keep holy is also a sign that we are His people, whom He made holy and who can look ahead to the eternal rest that we will enjoy in heaven. Thank you, Lord, for the day of rest. Thank you, Lord, for the eternal rest you will give us.