How to Keep the Sabbath

 As we’ve proven in some recent posts, the Sabbath serves as a sign between God and His people. It’s also pretty important to God. A life and death matter, in fact.

So how should we keep the Sabbath?

Folks have debated and quarreled over the Sabbath more than probably any other law of God. Like the ancient Israelites, most self-proclaimed Christians today rebel against God’s Sabbath command.

But even among the few who understand that God expects us to keep the Sabbath, there’s considerable disagreement. Some folks go far beyond God’s instructions and turn the Sabbath into a burden; others view the Sabbath as little more than a day to go to church, and suppose that they can do whatever else they please on that day.

So let’s examine what God’s Word tells us about keeping the Sabbath, and see what God really expects of us. Too many folks think of the Sabbath as a restraint, as something that stops them from doing other things they’d rather be doing. So I’d like to present the Sabbath in a little different light — as a wonderful blessing from our Creator.

A Day to Remember

The fourth commandment doesn’t begin with a restraint, but with a command to do something. Here’s Ex. 20:8: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Deut. 5:12 words it a little differently: “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Remember the Sabbath. Observe the Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath holy. These three things establish the framework for all else.

“Observe” is translated from the Hebrew word shamar (Strong’s # H8104), which means “to keep, to watch, to guard, to preserve.” If you own something precious, you try to take care of it and protect it. If you bought a shiny, new car, for example, you might wash and wax it regularly and park it in your garage to keep the rain, hail, and snow off it. So it is with the Sabbath. God tells us to watch it and guard it like a precious possession.

As for “remember,” it’s translated from the Hebrew word zakhar (Strong’s # H2142), which means “to remember, recollect, bring to mind, be mindful, consider.” It implies that we aren’t merely to remember the Sabbath’s existence, but that we also need to be mindful. We don’t merely go through the motions of keeping the Sabbath, but we also consider and pay attention to what we’re doing.

What do we remember? What should we be mindful of? To keep the Sabbath holy. As discussed in a previous blog post, “holy” means “set apart.” The Sabbath isn’t just another day; it’s a day set apart and dedicated to our Creator. It’s a day for us to spend time with our heavenly Father.

But this isn’t all we need to remember and keep in mind on the Sabbath.

In Ex. 20, the Sabbath command concludes by remembering Creation: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex. 20:11). So we need to remember our Creator’s great works and the fact that all good things come from Him (Jam. 1:17).

In Deut. 5, the Sabbath command concludes by remembering Passover and Israel’s deliverance from Egypt: “And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day” (Deut. 5:15).

Israel’s Passover in Egypt, of course, foreshadowed Jesus’ own Passover sacrifice around 1,500 years later. Just as the death of the Passover lambs delivered Israel from death, so Yeshua’s death as our Passover Lamb delivered us from damnation. And just as God delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt, so He delivered us from the bondage of our sins.

So on the Sabbath day, we need to remember all that God has done for us. We owe Him everything! But this isn’t all. There’s something else for us to keep in mind.

Col. 2:16-17 tells us that the Sabbath foreshadows something to come, and Heb. 4 reveals that something to be the Kingdom of God. The Sabbath pictures our ultimate goal: eternal life with God the Father and Jesus Christ. It pictures the end of all our earthly labors, the end of struggles and suffering. Here’s Heb. 4:11: “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience” of ancient Israel.

So the Sabbath serves not only as a reminder of all that God has done for us, but as a token of the reward that awaits us if we remain faithful. The Sabbath tells us where we’ve come from and where we’re going.

But what should we do, or not do, to keep the Sabbath holy — set apart and dedicated to our Creator?

A Day Set Apart

In addition to the three instructions we’ve just seen, God gives us several more guidelines for the Sabbath. Like all His laws, they teach us spiritual principles, as we’ll see shortly. But first, let’s take a quick glance at these other instructions.

As we do, let’s keep in mind that God intended His laws as basic guidelines and not an exhaustive list of dos and don’ts. Some have been known to examine each law in minute detail and split hairs over what’s allowed and what isn’t. That’s a foolish exercise that misses the whole point. As the apostle Paul wrote, “But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and useless” (Tit. 3:9).

With that said, let’s see what God instructs.

Cease from work and business. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates” (Ex. 20:9-10).

The word “Sabbath,” or shabbat in Hebrew, means “to cease or desist” (Strong’s # H7676, H7673). On the Sabbath, we cease and desist from our labors “as God did from His” (Heb. 4:10; Gen. 2:2-3). As presented in a previous blog post, this means we cease and desist from work, business, and commerce. This obviously doesn’t mean we can’t attend to the basic needs of our children, our animals, and ourselves; we should do these things.

Part of the reason for this command is that God wants us to stop what we’re doing and spend the day with Him. More on this shortly.

Don’t travel. If we cease from our everyday business on the Sabbath, that implies we also don’t undertake long journeys on the Sabbath. Traveling for purposes other than worship of our Creator isn’t keeping the Sabbath holy. In Mat. 24:20, Yeshua/Jesus told us, “And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.”

Throughout most of history, traveling required walking or riding an animal, as well as carrying whatever supplies one might need along the way. Thus, a long journey was a laborious undertaking.

Modern conveniences, such as cars and airplanes, eliminate much of the “labor” from traveling. Nevertheless, traveling a long distance not only requires doing business, such as spending money for gas or airline tickets, but it also distracts from the purpose of the Sabbath.

Don’t kindle a fire. In Ex. 35:3, we find a statement that might seem puzzling at first: “You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day.” Does that mean we can’t have heat on the Sabbath? Even if we can see our breath indoors, we just have to grin and bear it? Of course not! “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

This verse makes sense when we read the previous verse with it: “Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings on the Sabbath day” (Ex. 35:2-3).

God simply told His people not to work on the Sabbath, and kindling a fire is included in that context. The fire that’s prohibited on the Sabbath is a fire that’s kindled for work.

Don’t bear a burden. This one ties in with work and seems very straightforward: don’t bear a burden on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21-27; Neh. 13:15-19). At face value, this means we don’t do manual labor on the Sabbath. But there’s another dimension to this, and a fascinating one! We’ll see that shortly, too.

Prepare before the Sabbath. In Ex. 16, when God introduced the Sabbath to the Israelites, He taught them to gather and prepare food for the Sabbath on Friday, the preparation day. We read, “Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning” (Ex. 16:23).

Our God is holy and He made the Sabbath holy. We don’t enter His presence haphazardly, but instead we prepare ahead of time. Likewise, if we want to be in His Kingdom, then we must prepare for it.

As an aside, most of the principles for keeping the weekly Sabbath also apply to the seven annual Holy Days. This one is a little different, for God permitted food preparation on the first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:16).

Worship. Under the Old Covenant, God commanded the priests to offer sacrifices on the Sabbath. Here’s Num. 28:9-10: “And on the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering —  this is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering.”

Under the New Covenant, we don’t offer animal sacrifices, nor is there an earthly temple. However, those temple services have spiritual applications, as we’ll see in a moment.

Assemble together. “Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation” (Lev. 23:3). “Convocation” is the Hebrew miqra (Strong’s # H4744); it means, “a calling together, convocation, assembly, recitation, reading.” God calls His people together to assemble before Him on the Sabbath day.

What’s the purpose of this assembly? Several purposes exist, but one is to hear the words of God. In Neh. 8:8, the same word miqra is used for the reading of the law: “So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading [miqra].”

Throughout the Gospels and the Book of Acts, Yeshua/Jesus and His apostles read and taught God’s Word on the Sabbath. Here’s one example: “So He [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16).

Heb. 10:24-25 reinforces the command to assemble: “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Praise God. Another implied purpose of the Sabbath is to praise our Creator for His wonderful works and all He’s done for us. As we’ve seen, the fourth commandment highlights both Creation and Yeshua’s crucifixion. Furthermore, Psalm 92, “a song for the Sabbath day” (v. 1), begins this way: “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.” 

Focus on God. Isa. 58:13-14 reminds us that the real purpose of the Sabbath is for us to spend time with our Father and our Savior:

13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Rejoice. The Sabbath is a day for us to rejoice. As we just read, God tells us to “call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable.” He tells us, “you shall delight yourself in the LORD.”

The Spirit of the Law

Now, all those instructions paint a beautiful picture of how God wants us to keep the Sabbath. But let’s go into a little more detail.

Like all of God’s law, keeping the Sabbath is ultimately about attitude. In Mat. 23:25-26, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and said,

25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.

26 “Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.”

God wants us to obey Him from the heart. He wants to obey Him in spirit and not in letter alone: “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

So what, then, is the spirit of the law? What is the spirit of the Sabbath?

In Mat. 5:27-28, Yeshua/Jesus taught us a basic principle: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

It’s not enough to avoid the physical act of adultery; we must never entertain the thought of committing adultery! If such a thought enters our minds, we should immediately think of something else instead. God hates adultery, so we should, too.

When we obey God from the heart, then we also fight any desire to disobey Him. “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).

When we apply this concept to the Sabbath, then, we must not desire to break the Sabbath. We shouldn’t look for loopholes in God’s instructions. We must not be among those who “draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me” (Mat. 15:8; quoting Isa. 29:13).

Not only should we cease our daily business on the Sabbath, but we also shouldn’t dwell on worldly activities on the Sabbath. We aren’t “missing out” on the world’s “fun” by keeping the Sabbath; we’re spending time with our Creator and our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2). As we read earlier, God tells us, “Turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words” (Isa. 58:13).

If you go out on a date, would you want your date to spend the whole time texting instead of talking to you? To ignore all your attempts to start a conversation? Of course not. God doesn’t want that type of behavior from us, either!

On the Sabbath, we set aside the cares of this world. We focus on God’s words, not ours; His pleasure, not ours; His ways, not ours. Why should we do this? To draw closer to our Creator, to refresh our souls, and to give us rest from the burdens of this world.

Remember, God tells us not to bear a burden on the Sabbath. Applying this spiritually, we don’t need to worry about our everyday business on the Sabbath. We don’t need to bear our worldly burdens on the Sabbath.God gives us rest.

Got a big exam coming up at school? The Sabbath isn’t the time to worry about it. Under a lot of stress at work? The Sabbath isn’t the time to worry about it. Going through a personal crisis? The Sabbath isn’t the time to worry about it.

Give these things to God. Pray to Him. Let Him take care of your troubles. You’ll often find that, when you step away from all the cares of this world on the Sabbath, you’ll approach them with a much clearer mind once the Sabbath has ended. God’s commandments have built-in blessings that come to us when we obey.

If we feel the need, we can also share our troubles with our fellow brethren. Part of the reason we assemble together on the Sabbath is to encourage, uplift, and pray for each other. This, too, gives us relief from our burdens on the Sabbath.

In Mat. 6:30-34, Jesus Christ taught us,

30 “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.

33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

Before studying this topic, I never thought to apply these verses to the Sabbath, and yet they do apply! When we love and obey God, He will take care of us. The Sabbath is a day to cease from our labors and set aside our burdens, not only physically, but also mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Now that we’ve covered the Sabbath rest in a little more detail, what about the temple services? How can we apply the sacrificial laws today?

Under the Old Covenant, animal sacrifices foreshadowed Yeshua/Jesus’ sacrifice: “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12). The burnt offerings on the Sabbath, too, pictured Jesus’ sacrifice, and thus we see yet another reminder of God’s deliverance.

Building on this, we find in Heb. 13:15, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” So when we thank and praise God for His mercy and deliverance, we’re offering a “sacrifice of praise.”

And shouldn’t we offer the sacrifice of praise on the Sabbath, above all other weekdays? Of course we should! “Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing” (Psa. 107:22).

The apostle Peter wrote, “You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:5). These spiritual sacrifices are those same sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. Peter continued, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet. 2:9).

These spiritual sacrifices ought to be part of our worship each Sabbath. The sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving.

Now there’s a great Biblical example of what worship ought to look like on the Sabbath and Holy Days. It happened on the Day of Trumpets, and we find it in Nehemiah 8.

In Neh. 8:1-2, all the people of Judah assembled before God on the first day of the seventh month, the Day of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24). The priests read from God’s Word to the people, while the Levites helped them to understand (Neh. 8:1-8). They also “blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen!’ while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground” (v. 6).

After hearing and understanding God’s law, the people wept (v. 9). But the priests and the Levites told them not to mourn on God’s holy day, but rather to rejoice (vv. 9-10).

Continuing on to vv. 10 & 12, we read,

10 Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them.

And so, after being taught out of God’s Word, the people spent the rest of the day rejoicing, fellowshipping, and sharing their meals with those brethren who had none. What a beautiful example of how to keep God’s Sabbath and Holy Days!

Conclusion

When God set apart the Sabbath, He bestowed on us a wonderful blessing. A delight. He truly created it for our good.

It’s a day for us to rest and be refreshed, to lay aside the cares of this world. It’s a day for us to spend time with our Creator and with our fellow brethren. It’s a day for us to rejoice, to learn from God’s Word, to praise Him, and to thank Him.

The Sabbath is a day for us to remember and to bear in mind what God has already done for us, and what He’s reserved for us if we obey Him. Therefore, let us be mindful of all that we do on the Sabbath, so that we worship and praise our Creator, not out of habit, but with our whole hearts.

If we obey our Creator’s instructions, including the Sabbath, with our whole hearts, then we’ll not only rejoice in the Sabbath, but we’ll also get to rejoice in His Kingdom that the Sabbath pictures! Not because we could ever earn it, but because of God’s mercy and because of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.

13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken. (Isa. 58:13-14).