Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Matthew 12:1-9 | Date: April 3, 2011 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Matthew chapter 11 is where we’ll begin. Matthew chapter 11, beginning with verse 25. And I’ll read through chapter 12, verse 8. The title of the message this morning is, “Jesus, Lord of the Sabbath.”

Matthew chapter 11, beginning with verse 25:

At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”

At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. Or, haven’t you read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day, and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Let’s look to the Lord in prayer.

Our Father, we’re grateful for the blessings already this morning to be reminded and encourage our hearts and thoughts of your great grace and love for us in Jesus Christ. How good it is to be reminded that you have given to us all that you require of us in Christ, that the work that saves is a work that you have done on our behalf. Father, we rejoice in your kindness to us, your patience with us. We rejoice in your grace and your mercy, and we praise you for it. We ask that you will enable us now to grasp, perhaps a bit more, further aspects of your kindness to us in Christ through this passage. We ask that your Spirit would be our teacher. We ask in His name. Amen.

The Sabbath as the Sign of the Covenant

The Sabbath command given to Israel in the Old Testament was, in one respect, one of the most important commands of all the laws that were given to ancient Israel. And what I mean by that is that we are told explicitly in Exodus chapter 31 that the Sabbath command was important precisely because it was the sign of the covenant.

Now, we’ve studied a little bit on the covenant so far, and so you’ve been able to see already that typically in the Old Testament covenants, there would be a symbol of the covenant. So, in the Noahic covenant, the sign of the covenant is the rainbow. In the Abrahamic covenant, the sign of the covenant is circumcision. In the New Covenant, we’ll see, the sign of the covenant is the Lord’s table: “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood.” Also, in the Old Covenant, as it is called—the Mosaic covenant, the Sinaitic covenant—the sign of the covenant was the Sabbath.

The various kinds of laws were given in the Mosaic Code to define how that day was to be kept and honored and how the rest was to be observed. There was to be no plowing, no harvesting. There was to be no bearing of burdens. There was not even to be merely the gathering of sticks for the fire. There was not to be a lighting of the fire for cooking. Any violation of the Sabbath law in the Old Covenant was a very serious matter, worthy of death, precisely because, if nothing else, it was the sign of the Covenant. And to violate the Sabbath was to violate the Covenant.

I’ve often illustrated it this way: If my wife and I, for example, were to get in a big fight, and I were to take off my shoe and throw it at her, well, that’d be bad enough. But if I were to take off my wedding ring and throw it at her, it would be something more serious. Now, the ring’s not as big as a shoe, but in a sense, that would hurt more. It’s a sign of the covenant. It’s a symbolic thing. And so, a violation of the Sabbath in the Old Covenant was a very important and a very serious matter because it was the sign of the Old Covenant.

A Commemorative and Prospective Outlook

More than that, then, we find that the Sabbath day in the Old Covenant was more than just a weekly ceremony in itself. We find that it had a ritual or ceremonial character to it that served as the foundation for virtually all of Israel’s festivals. We find in Exodus 23 and Leviticus 23 that the Sabbath command forms the rationale for the Sabbath year. The weekly Sabbath command forms the rationale for the Year of Jubilee. You remember, when debts are forgiven, prisoners are released. The weekly Sabbath forms the rationale for the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement. It forms the rationale for the Feast of Tabernacles. All of these festivals in the Old Covenant were called God’s Sabbaths, and built into the Sabbath and into observing the Sabbath from the very beginning was both a commemorative and a prospective outlook.

It’s commemorative in the sense that in Exodus chapter 20, when the command is given on Mount Sinai, it is given: “Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy, rest on that day, for, because, in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.” And so it’s commemorative of creation and God’s rest. But more than simply being commemorative of creation, it is, as I say, commemorative of God’s rest. And God’s rest in Genesis chapter 2 of creation week, the seventh day, was itself, it seems—and particularly as we read through the scriptures we find—it was itself prospective of something bigger.

It’s significant when you look at the Genesis account that God created the world in the six days, and on the seventh day he rested. It’s interesting, certainly important, that on that seventh day, God rested, and that day was never closed. And it leaves open the question: what is the significance of His rest? What is the significance of His rest for mankind? What’s the significance of His rest for the rest of the Bible story? What’s the significance of God’s rest in terms of His purpose for humanity that He’s just created? What is the significance of His rest on that seventh day?

Later in the Old Testament, we begin to read expressions like “His rest,” or God speaking, “My rest.” And then we find, as the Israelites enter the Promised Land, they are entering into their rest, or God’s rest, God’s rest that He had provided for them. Interestingly, when the Israelites are carried off into captivity in Babylon, we read that they found no rest there. And then later, we find in Psalm 95, for example, God calls His people—this is the passage that was recalled in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 that we read earlier this morning—Psalm 95 calls God’s people: “Today, today, enter God’s rest.”

Then we read in the prophets, still later, that there’s a coming day, a coming age, an age of the Messiah, when God’s servant will come. David, God’s servant, will come, and so on. And closely associated with that great hope of that Messianic age is this note that that day will be marked by rest. It will be a day of rest. It will be a day of peace. It will be a day of the Messiah’s blessing. The sabbatical year, and especially the Year of Jubilee that I’ve mentioned already, just shouts of this idea of a prospect of rest. Debts are forgiven. The prisoners are set free. The slaves are set free.

So, the Sabbath day was, from the very beginning, a symbol of rest that God would provide for His people. It’s reminiscent of God’s rest, which itself is prospective of a rest that is to come. And that weekly reminder, that weekly Sabbath that was imposed upon Israel, was a reminder that the toil and the labor imposed on man by sin and a curse will at last one day give way to a day of rest that the Messiah will bring in.

It’s interesting in that regard that in the so-called second giving of the law, in Deuteronomy chapter 5, when the Ten Commandments are issued again, when the fourth command is given—”Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”—the command is not, in Deuteronomy, reaching back to creation (“for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and so on, Sabbath day rested”), but rather, in Deuteronomy, it says, “Remember that Sabbath day, keep it holy, for you were slaves in Egypt and God redeemed us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with a mighty arm.” That is, the Sabbath is commemorative of redemption. And we begin to get the feeling, running through the Old Testament even, that the Sabbath is prospective of this day of redemption, this day of rest to come. In fact, for fallen sinners, rest is redemption.

And we find all of this built into the Old Testament. Hints of it dropped everywhere throughout the Old Covenant Scriptures. The Sabbath was a sign of the Covenant. It was a day of rest, a day reserved for rest, and that with redemptive and even eschatological overtones. It is not a human rest merely, but a divine rest in which humanity will one day share. And so the Sabbath speaks of grace, it speaks of divine provision, and it speaks of redemption. And so these Sabbaths, these rests which God had given to Israel as a sign, a token of the covenant, were to be duly honored and observed. And on pain of death, the Sabbath was not to be profaned by man’s work.

Conflict with the Pharisees

Now, of course, in time, the Mosaic law became overlaid by laws of Israel’s own making, the so-called Oral Law. The traditions of the rabbis, the teaching of the rabbis had come along, and overlaid the Sabbath laws with all kinds of restrictions as to how the Sabbath day is to be observed. Various categories of work were outlined, and within those categories, lists of things that were forbidden to be done on the Sabbath day. And the oral law had come now at the time of Jesus, and this had dominated in the teaching of the Pharisees. And this, of course, is what brings the conflict with the Pharisees that we find in Matthew chapter 12.

I’ve often thought that the Pharisees must have seemed to Jesus and the disciples like a nagging headache. It seems they’re always watching and trying to trap Jesus and trying to find some way that they can pounce on Jesus and, “Aha! We’ve got you this time!” And that’s the kind of thing we have going on here in Matthew chapter 12.

On this particular Sabbath day, Jesus and His disciples are taking a stroll one Sabbath afternoon, and they’re walking along the edge of a grain field, and the disciples pick some heads of grain in their hand. You can see them as they walk by, just rubbing them off the end of the grain, and then—again, Luke adds a comment that they do this in their hands—you know, blow away the chaff and throw the seeds in their mouth, and they eat.

Well, the Pharisees were aghast at it, and since it was Jesus’ disciples, now they find reason that they can call Jesus. Because it’s His disciples that are behaving like this, we have to assume that they’re doing it with Jesus’ approval, and now, “We’ve got you.” They don’t argue that Jesus’ disciples were stealing. Moses’ law actually provided for people walking across the grain of the poor; they could come by and take the edges of the field, and so on. They don’t argue that Jesus’ disciples are stealing. They evidently felt that their actions constituted harvesting, and perhaps winnowing—blowing away the chaff. You’re already laughing. They evidently thought that their actions constituted harvesting and winnowing.

Now, it’s surely significant that these charges were never brought against Jesus formally. They would not have stood up in their own religious court. This is a straining even of the oral laws, this harsh and restrictive interpretation even of their oral law. No biblical passage could possibly be brought to bear to convict them of violating the Sabbath by these actions there. In fact, it’s hard to miss the contrast here between this harsh and imposing interpretation of the oral law and Jesus’ statement in the very previous breath: “My yoke is easy, my burden is light.” And I think there’s a hint of that in verse 7 as well.

A Christological Manifesto

But what’s even more significant—and this is just fascinating, I think, in this passage—what’s fascinating is that Jesus does not answer the Pharisees on these grounds. It would have been very easy. This would have been done and over. Jesus could have said something to the effect of, “Yeah, right, violating the Sabbath, sure.” It would have been over. He could have said, “Look, guys, you know as well as we do that what they are doing doesn’t violate the Sabbath. Take it to court. Let’s see how it goes.” It would never have stood. They know. This is just a harsh and a narrow interpretation of the oral law. They’re trying to find fault.

But, Jesus does not answer on those easy grounds. Instead, what Jesus does is he takes this as an occasion to express his own authority. And he turns this whole situation into an occasion for a Christological manifesto. Watch how he argues with them. Verses 3 and 4 make reference to an occasion in the life of David: “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? They entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread, which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests?”

This incident is recorded for us in 1 Samuel, chapter 21, verses 1-6. And here, you’ll probably remember the incident in David’s life, where he’s running for his life from King Saul, who was after him. And David and his soldiers are famished at this point, and they’re starving, and they stop, then, at the house of God, and they took and ate the showbread, the consecrated bread, that is not lawful for anyone to eat except for the priests. Remember, the showbread is put out, and it’s rotated weekly on the Sabbath, and the priests could then eat of that bread, but no one else.

Well, now, no one has ever questioned that David was in violation of the law of God when he took of the showbread. The Bible nowhere indicates that David was guilty, or his followers were guilty when they ate of it. But David demanded an exception from the priest, and the Bible nowhere condemns him. He’s innocent. Now, on one level, Jesus is merely demonstrating that the Pharisees’ interpretation of the law is too narrow and too harsh and too strict. And the Pharisees now are faced with a kind of dilemma. They’ve got to choose between their interpretations of the law that they’ve just given, on the one hand, and then on the other hand, David, their great and revered king. If they stick with the line they’ve already given, they condemn David. “We can’t do that.” But if I back up now, I’ve exonerated Jesus. “I don’t like that either.” And Jesus got them. What do we do here? How do we answer?

So on one level, Jesus is just demonstrating that their interpretation of the law is too harsh. It doesn’t take into consideration some exceptions that are evident in their own scriptures. But you see, once you’ve said that, you’ve said more, haven’t you? David did something that was formally unlawful. Now, the rabbis had long taught that this happened in the life of David; this incident occurred on the Sabbath day. That’s why the bread of presence was available that day. It very well could have been the Sabbath. Many thought so.

But you see, it doesn’t matter. What David did was not a violation of the Sabbath. It wasn’t something that was wrong because it was on the Sabbath. What he did was something that was unlawful, period, whatever day of the week it was. And David, evidently, constituted an exception to it. And whatever considerations now justified David’s actions applied equally, by extension, to his followers, his men that were with him. Now, how do we explain this exception, then? What is it that made David and his men innocent in violating the law that day?

Well, many have tried to argue on humanitarian grounds. They’ve argued they were famished, they were starving, and so mercy takes precedence over the formal requirements of the law. I can’t buy that for the life of me. Can you imagine God making an exception on any of the other laws like that? It certainly doesn’t fit with Jesus’ scrupulous attitude toward keeping the law. And more to the point, bringing you now to this occasion, Jesus’ disciples were not starving. They’re not starving. That’s not the point here. Now, Matthew says they were hungry. Of course they were hungry. That’s why they ate. What else would you eat? He’s not saying they were starving. The point here has got nothing to do with keeping people from dying or anything like that.

It seems that Jesus is simply saying here: David was an exceptional case. So am I. The argument was not humanitarian; the argument was Christological. If David had a right to set aside legal requirements, Jesus is saying, “I have more.” The unexpressed premise in all of this is that a greater than David is here. And apart from that underlying premise of Jesus’ superior authority to David, the argument doesn’t work. It fails. It’s a non-sequitur. There’s no argument. The unexpressed premise is a greater than David is here.

Now, if they didn’t quite catch that yet—I imagine they’re getting a little nervous at this point already—but if they didn’t quite catch that yet, Jesus presses it further. The same argument, you see, continues in verses 5 and 6: “Or haven’t you read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day, and yet are innocent? I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.”

Now, this reference here, of course, is to the activity of the priests, who violate the Sabbath in a technical way. They violate the Sabbath every week, continuously. Every Sabbath they violate. There’s not a Sabbath that goes by that the priests don’t violate it. Why? Because they’re working. They’re working in the temple. But it’s okay. It’s not really a violation of the Sabbath, because God has ordered that, right? God ordered that in the law, that the priest who prompts on the Sabbath—although in that respect it’s a violation of the law—the temple takes precedence over the Sabbath. And ministry in the temple, then, is okay on the part of the priest because God has ordered it. So the exception is allowed simply because of who they were—the priests—and because of the institution they’re serving—the temple. Put it bluntly: the temple prompts the Sabbath.

So, the point has to do with prioritization. More important laws take precedence over the less important laws. God Himself prescribed these laws in such a way as to make that plain, and some men break the Sabbath every week, and yet they’re innocent because that is what God has prescribed in the service of the temple. The service of the temple supersedes even the Sabbath. And so Jesus’ point, then, is the same as what He said in reference to David. Like the priests, He has authority to override the Sabbath law. And unless we miss that point, He says it bluntly in verse 6: “I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.”

One greater than the temple is here. You see this kind of talk in Jesus all the time. Who is this man, greater than the temple? We’ll find it later in chapter 12, if you want to look down at verses 41 and 42: He’s greater than Jonah, too. He’s greater than Solomon, too. And if you want, you can look down at chapter 22 later, and you’ll find that He’s greater than David! In John chapter 5, another Sabbath controversy with Jesus, His answer is, “I do on the Sabbath what God does.” What do you do with a man who talks like that?

And Jesus’ argument in verses 5 and 6 is very simply: if the priests who serve in the temple on the Sabbath are innocent of wrongdoing because the temple takes precedence over the Sabbath, how much more, then, are these disciples innocent who are serving one who’s greater than the temple? And back to verses 3 and 4: as David’s followers were innocent when they ate the consecrated bread, so also the disciples are innocent of Sabbath-breaking because they’re serving and following one who is greater than David.

Lord of the Sabbath

And just in case they still haven’t got the point, Jesus caps it off with this amazing statement in verse 8: “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” Mark, in his gospel, gives us the full account of it, and it reads, “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” An extensive use there. He’s Lord even of the Sabbath. And notice the explanatory conjunction at the beginning of verse 8: “For.” The disciples are innocent for, or because, they were hungry? No. The disciples are innocent because the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. That is what renders this an exceptional case.

Now, at this point, we have to begin asking some questions. Surely there’s something of further significance here. Jesus has not abrogated the Sabbath at this point. He’s asserted His lordship over the Sabbath. But now think about that. Who instituted the Sabbath? God did. Where’s the Sabbath law found? Well, it’s the law of Moses, which God gave. What is He saying, then, when He says He’s Lord of the Sabbath? We find it all through the Old Testament: “My Sabbath. My Sabbath. His Sabbath.” This is God’s Sabbath. And Jesus comes along and says He’s Lord of the Sabbath. What are the implications of all that? It’s just impossible to understand verse 8 at all, except in terms of Jesus asserting His superiority over the Sabbath, His authority over it.

That is to say, He can do with the Sabbath what He pleases. That’s what lordship over the Sabbath means. He can do with it as He pleases. The Son of Man controls the Sabbath. The Sabbath does not control Him. As Lord of the Sabbath, He is entitled to define it, to transform it, to define the way it is kept, even to abrogate it if He pleases. He’s Lord of the Sabbath. His authority is superior to that of Moses’ law. He has authority to reinterpret its demands just as He did in regard to the temple, just as He did in regard to the priesthood, just as He did in regard to the sacrifices. So in His hands, the Sabbath—He has authority to interpret it.

And what’s interesting here is that at the end of the episode, Jesus is not concerned at all to carefully adjudicate what kind of action is allowed on a Sabbath and what kind is not. That’s not His intention here. No, He draws our attention entirely away from the law to Himself. He’s Lord of the Sabbath. So, the point at issue is one of authority. This, again, is just the point that is pushed all through the Gospel. In our latest Bible study, we’ve seen this now through the Gospel of Mark, the question that keeps recurring in one form or another: “Who is this man? Who is this man?” That’s surely the whole point of the Gospels, isn’t it? Who is this man? He raises the dead. He heals the sick. He calms the storms. He heals the blind. He heals lepers. Who is this man? He not only tells you that He’s going to die and then He’s going to rise from the dead, He tells you when He’ll rise from the dead. Who is this man that can do that? He says He’s greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon, greater than David, greater than the temple, greater than the Sabbath. Who is this man that can talk like this? Don’t you love it?

The issue, then, is one of Jesus’ unique authority. And it’s not a coincidence, I’m sure, that it falls in the same context, then, with this in verse 25 of chapter 11, which is the Christological high point of Matthew’s Gospel. The Gospel of John is known for teaching Jesus’ deity, and the rights and prerogatives that He has as deity. But there’s nothing in the Gospel of John that surpasses what we have in Matthew 11:25 and following: “No one knows the Son except the Father. No one knows the Father except the Son.” They have mutually exhaustive knowledge. The unshared Sonship of Christ, an exclusive right that He has to make the Father known. And it is in this context, still, that Jesus is asserting His rights as greater than the temple and Lord of the Sabbath.

Now, Jesus does not indicate here what He will do with the Sabbath. He claims authority over it, but He doesn’t tell us what He’s going to do with it. But as a matter of fact, He does not abrogate the Sabbath here. But in redirecting attention away from the law and to Himself, He sets in place a principle that the early church then would use to guide them in their departure from Sabbath observance. You can imagine what a revolutionary thing it was in that Jewish context when the church began worshiping on the first day of the week instead of the seventh. How could they do that? Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. That’s ultimately where it comes, isn’t it?

The Shadow and the Reality

Now again, we have to ask, what’s the point of all of this? What’s the point in His expression of authority over the Sabbath? Could it be that Jesus is announcing a covenantal shift? Well, it’s interesting, in Mark’s Gospel, we have right in this context—the very preceding verses—we have Jesus giving these funny little parables about new wine, old wineskins, a new piece of cloth, and an old garment. An old garment tears, you don’t put a new piece of cloth into it and sew it in; it’ll shrink and make it tear even bigger. You just don’t do that. You don’t put new wine in old wineskins, it’ll burst those. And there’s this explicit teaching, parabolic, but explicit teaching: the old forms are fading, and the new order is coming in.

We’ve mentioned earlier already that there are suggestions already in the Old Testament that the Sabbath was prospective of the Messianic age. It was meant to be a type, a symbol, a symbolic reminder ahead of time of the rest that the Messiah would bring. And, in fact, we have a hint of that here in this passage as well. Look at Matthew chapter 11, verse 28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” And notice the explicit link in chapter 12 and verse 1: “At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields…” and we have this Sabbath episode. And we have in this last paragraph of chapter 11, and the initial paragraph of chapter 12, a linking of the themes of Jesus’ authority, Jesus giving rest, Jesus’ yoke. The idea of divine redemption is built into the passage, isn’t it?

An interesting parallel sort of to this is in Luke chapter 4. You remember Jesus goes into the synagogue in Nazareth and he takes the Isaiah scroll and he reads that passage from Isaiah chapter 61: God’s anointed has come to proclaim the good news, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord—the Year of Jubilee, the year of rest has come. He rolls it back up and says, “This day, the saying is fulfilled in your hearing.” Again, the idea of divine redemption is not foreign to the idea of divine rest, but it’s of a piece with it. For fallen sinners, rest is redemption.

And this is exactly then the point that was made in Hebrews chapter 4. We don’t have time to go to it now, but we read it earlier. You remember the whole argument in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 turns on its historical reading in the Old Testament. These are eyes for promised rest, and they entered the land, but that one generation couldn’t enter. And centuries later, the psalmist comes along and says, “There remains a rest. Today! Today! Today, you can enter rest!” And the writer of the Hebrews simply says, “Look, if centuries later, the inspired writer can say, ‘There still remains a rest! Today!’ that wasn’t it! There remains a rest! Be careful that you don’t miss it, like they did, by unbelief.” And the whole point is to show that this whole Sabbath rest theme has as its focus a Christological fulfillment, that our rest has come in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s take the time to look at one passage, and you see this where Paul says this explicitly: Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. Colossians 2, verses 16 and 17. I’ll wait until you all get there, once you see this. Colossians 2:16: “Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to religious festival, a new moon celebration, or Sabbath day.” Why? “These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ.” There it is. These old forms were shadows, casting a shadow ahead of time to a reality that is realized in Christ.

And so, in other words, just as Jesus brought about the reality of what was symbolized in the priesthood, and just as Jesus brought about the reality of what was symbolized in the temple, and just as Jesus brought about the reality that was symbolized in the sacrifices, and just as Jesus brought about the reality that was symbolized in the Passover, and just as Jesus brought about the reality of all that was foreshadowed in all these institutions, so also Jesus brings about the reality that was symbolized in the Sabbath. It foretold, it prophesied of a rest to come. And just as the prophets echoed that over and again of this time of rest brought in by the Messiah, so also now Jesus has brought about the reality of what was pictured in these old forms, including the Sabbath.

And so, Paul can write recklessly in Romans chapter 14: there are no holy days today. Well, okay, there are holy days—every day is holy. If one man wants to observe one day as holy and not another, well, that’s up to him; let him make up his own mind. But these are irrelevant non-essentials. As Lord of the Sabbath, He has rendered the Sabbath irrelevant as a day; its relevance has to do with what He has done and the rest that we have in Him. Ultimately, the Sabbath was not about a day. Ultimately, the Sabbath was about a rest that is brought about in Jesus.

And so the inspired New Testament writers speak of the old Sabbath in just reckless ways precisely because, in the Lord Jesus, the Sabbath day had been transformed entirely. The shadow had given way to substance. And so Paul can write in Galatians, for example, “Don’t go back to Sabbath keeping. That’s the weak and beggarly elements of the world. I wonder if I’ve labored on you in vain. Don’t you realize the reality has come about in Christ? Why would you go back to that?” The sign of the Old Covenant has given way to the reality of Christ in the New Covenant. And the Sabbath no longer has significance as a day. Its significance is in that to which it pointed. It was a prophetic symbol that found its fulfillment in the redemption and the Redeemer who brought rest for His people.

In coming to the Lord Jesus, we—what?—we cease from our works and rest, and come in Him to share in God’s rest. And so, like the entire old covenant system, it was a shadow that now gives way to the reality that’s in Christ.

The Now and the Not Yet

It struck me this week, thinking through all of this again, what a fitting picture of salvation rest is. If anything marks humanity in its fallen state, it is that it is in a condition of unrest. Restlessness. In every dimension that you look at it, the very created order is marked by upheavals of every kind. We’ve seen it recently: the earthquakes, the tsunamis, the volcanoes. Restless. Geopolitically, it’s the same thing. It’s like a raging sea out there. Wars, violence. Nationally, societally, it’s the same thing. Oppression, violence, division. And all of that because, personally, there is deep within each of us, apart from Christ, a deep feeling of unrest and a deep feeling of loss—a deep feeling that there’s got to be something else that can give us fulfillment, something out there that can give us rest.

And out of the turmoil of all of that, humanity in its lost state, in its unrest, in its restlessness, having missed God’s rest way back at creation, in the garden, having failed to enter into God’s rest, having fallen under a curse—out of the midst of all of that kind of restlessness, the Lord Jesus stands with a call of grace and says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I’ll give you rest.” Don’t pick up a stick. Don’t light a fire. Don’t do anything to add to this work. You’ll ruin His offer. You come to this ceasing from your works and resting in a work that He has done and enter into His rest. And the call of the gospel is exactly that: cease from your works and come to the Lord Jesus who alone can give rest.

Here is one whose greatness surpasses all others. He’s greater than the temple. He’s Lord of the Sabbath. He’s greater than David. He’s greater than all of that foreshadowed in the Old Testament. He’s the reality that brought it about. And here is one who has offered Himself in place of sinners, and has borne their curse, so that they can enter into rest.

But there’s still more, and we can’t chase it any further except just briefly to mention it. We observe the Sabbath today as we turn from our own efforts and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. But there’s still more. There’s more to come. We observe the rest today. We enjoy God’s rest today. But then again, we do not. Isn’t that right? We have forgiveness of sins. We have access to God. We enjoy God’s presence by the indwelling Spirit. We have a sense of God’s love for us as His children, shed abroad in our hearts by the Spirit. We’ve entered into rest, certainly. But then again, we have not. There’s more to come. There’s both the “now” and the “not yet.” What we have today is just the first installment of it all.

And so, as we said, the prophets speak of a day of rest that is coming, a day of peace, a day of safety in which we dwell in the immediate presence of God. We’re there now. The New Testament writers go to pains to tell us we’re there now. But it’s quite evident that we’re not quite there now after all, are we? We’re not there fully. There’s the now and the not yet. And in fact, we find then in the book of Revelation, we who have followed the Lamb—I love this statement, Revelation 14 verse 13—we who have followed the Lamb will one day find rest from our labors. And that, in contrast (verse 11) to the wicked, who in the end will have no rest, day or night, forever, but suffer continuously under the torments of divine judgment.

In contrast, we find rest for our labors. Don’t you love that? And Revelation describes for us what that looks like, in some ways. No more pain, no more crying, no more sickness, no more tears, no more curse. And we find there that we will rest in the very presence of God, and we’re told there that one thing that is not there is the temple. The temple is not there because God and the Lamb are its temple. And resting and basking in the presence of God Himself, at last we will have found ultimately this to which the Sabbath pointed.

So the Sabbath then pointed forward to a rest-giver, a redeemer, one who would usher us into the joy of God’s rest. He came, He did the work Himself. We dare not work. We rest in the work that He has done, and we do that with an eye to heaven in anticipation of a fullness of rest to come. And so the cry of the church remains, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” Amen.

Let’s pray.

Our Father, what a feast for us you have in your Word. We love to see ever more and more the wonderful presentations of the Lord Jesus that you have for us. We come by it all to love and appreciate Him more, and to trust Him more firmly. We thank you, Lord, for the rest that we have in Him. What a glorious thing it is for us to be able to rest in a work that He has done and, in a very real sense, enter into your rest. How we look forward to the day when that rest will be in full. We ask that you would hasten that day. In Jesus’ name we ask, amen.