No Longer – A Special Sabbath’s Rest
May I offer an opinion – a hypothesis, if you will? Everything that is in the Old Testament was written to help us understand more about Jesus and what He was going to do on earth. Since we are to follow the example of Jesus, everything in the Old Testament teaches us about how work and rest as we prepare for our eternity in heaven.
It is the Saturday in Holy Week. We have grown up believing that this was the day that Jesus was in the tomb. He wasn’t doing anything, simply waiting for tomorrow. We spend a lot of our days waiting for tomorrow. I will start eating healthier and exercising, tomorrow. Efforts build a more faithful follower, tomorrow. Discipline molds a better father and husband, tomorrow. Generosity rules my bank account, tomorrow.
We even sing “the sun will come out, tomorrow.” On the Saturday before Easter, we are waiting for tomorrow. Isn’t that what Jesus was doing?
I would propose the answer to that question is “No.” It is the Sabbath. It was the day for Jesus to rest. But not just “rest” from the busyness of the week. It was rest because Jesus “work” was done.
May I ask you to think just a bit differently today? What do you “do” when you finish a huge project? You may not do more “work” but you sit back and drink in what you have accomplished. And if you are spiritual, and the project was spiritual, you ponder how God was threaded through the entire project.
And you worship God through your “Sabbath.”
Listen to what the writer of Hebrews, probably the apostle Paul, had to say.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (Hebrews 4:9-11a).
Throughout the Old Testament, the Sabbath provided man with an opportunity to rest. Rest is active – it is recognizing the work that God has accomplished. Jesus said “I have come to do the work of the Father.” After the cross, Jesus rested from His work.
His work was to secure my salvation.
Jesus’ earthly work was “no longer” – the most amazing Sabbath since creation. This rest allowed you to be a “new creation.” You are to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. As you have ministered and sacrificed and worked, it is time for you to rest – to reflect on what God has done and is doing through you and in you. Jesus’ life and sacrifice set the example for us, and a part of that example was keeps the rest of the ultimate Sabbath.
On the Saturday before Resurrection Sunday, honor Jesus by reading two important passages of Scripture. Read the passage of Scripture about the Sabbath’s rest, Hebrews 4:1-11. Also read Matthew 28:1-10 about the day after the Sabbath.
After all, the Son will come out tomorrow.
