A Life in Exile

There was a day, placed within our week by God’s design, on which we were meant to rest. You know what I’m talking about—the Sabbath. In our focus on remembering, this command to remember the Sabbath should be at the top of our list. Before the people entered the Promised Land, Moses reminded them:

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. (Deuteronomy 5:12 CSB)

The provision of the Sabbath was based on three past events, which were to be remembered by the people as they rested.

God rested.

Drawing our attention all the way back to the very beginning, the Sabbath is a reminder of two important things: Everything in heaven and earth was created by God, and God rested after completing the work of creation.

So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. On the seventh day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he rested from all his work of creation. (Genesis 2:1-3)

This seventh day of the week is a reminder that all we have in this life is from God. He didn’t rest because he was tired, because God doesn’t get tired. No, he rested to bless the day of completion of his work. How many times do we press on in work and forget to enjoy its benefits? To say, “it is good”? God had done all he needed to do, and on that first Sabbath day, he could take it all in, resting in the joy of both the creative process and the resulting beauty of his handiwork.

“The Israelites must observe the Sabbath, celebrating it throughout their generations as a permanent covenant. It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” (Exodus 31:16-17)

We are no longer slaves.

Slaves don’t get a day off. They have no rights. But God, in providing a Sabbath day for the Jews to honor, made it clear that he was no slave master. His people were his children, chosen and set apart to show the difference between their God and the gods of the world. They’d lived under the rule of the Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt, but God had brought them out and broken that yoke of slavery. The Sabbath day was a reminder that they were slaves no longer.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:15)

Not only were the people to enjoy this Sabbath rest, but the people among them and even their own animals were to enjoy it as well. Just as God was not a slave master, they were not to be slave masters over those under their supervision.

You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Do not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the resident alien who lives within your city gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do. (Deuteronomy 5:13-14)

They were God’s people.

Just as God had broken the yoke of slavery in bringing his people out of Egypt, the Sabbath would serve as a reminder of one other important point: the Israelites were God’s chosen people, set apart for his glory and to be a blessing to the nations.

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites: You must observe my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, so that you will know that I am the Lord who consecrates you.” (Exodus 31:12-13)

The Israelites would observe the Sabbath, and by doing so, they would show the nations that they were a different kind of people—a people consecrated by the Lord God. They were set apart to live according to his ways and Law. The Sabbath was one aspect of that consecrated life. While the nations around them toiled and labored for food that did not last; while they ran after gods who could not hear, the Israelites rested, knowing that their God provides and hears.

Sabbaths are a preview of the rest to come.

God set apart one day a week for rest, but that was not the only Sabbath the people were to observe and remember. He also included Sabbaths in the festivals and commemorations celebrated throughout the year, Sabbath years of rest for the land, and ultimately, there was the Year of Jubilee, that was a year when the land was restored to its original owners, slaves freed, debts released, and harvest and reaping was to cease. All of these opportunities for rest pointed to the eternal rest received by those who believed in the Messiah.

Our ultimate rest will be from the bondage of sin and death, provided through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary. He did the work that we might rest in his salvation and grace. Just as the Israelites were to not only use the Sabbath for themselves but also for those within their households and for their animals, we too must make Christ known to those around us, telling of the hope we have in a future Sabbath rest for all eternity. Don’t keep it to yourself! Rest and Remember.

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Friday Focus post, click HERE, or start from the Beginning.