This article looks at the Sabbath and Sunday as a separate rest day for us to enjoy.

Source: Diakonia, 2001. 3 pages.

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Rest or Stress 4th Commandment

Stress. Your work bows you down. Husband and wife both work. With good manage­ment, is there anything wrong with it?

But then both are busy. They only see each other for a moment at mealtime. After that each goes their own way.

A free day. You look forward to it. Shall we go out together? But before you know it, the day is again filled with things that need to be done.

And then it is Sunday. You are exhausted, but you already begin to plan for the coming week. Everything you can think of before hand is a plus.

God gives us a day off. A day of rest. A benefit that you should not allow to be snatched away from you. Still more. God gives rest for all the days of the week! That is what the fourth commandment is about.

A Separate Rest Day?⤒🔗

Is the Sunday still a separate rest day? Is the Sunday a continuation or fulfillment of the Old testament Sabbath? Or are all the days of the week more or less the same?

If you go out from the fact that the Sabbath was instituted in paradise, then you come up against a creational given that holds for al­ways. In Genesis 2 we, however, read that God rested on the seventh day, but not a word that this is a command for people as well.1 Only in the ten commandments do we have a clear command to observe the Sabbath. The reason for this is that God after the Creation rested on the seventh day. That is why He now also gives His people a day of rest. A benefit after the slavery in Egypt!2

Working all the times leads to slavery. That's why a free day – a day of complete rest in which all work must be put aside – is obliga­tory.3 Is it not boring to do nothing? It was a feast, a day of liberation, a day of remem­brance of the Exodus from Egypt! Who works when there is a feast? The people celebrated it with a holy, festive assembly!4

The obligatory old Testament Sabbath has passed away. Paul calls the Sabbath a shadow that has been fulfilled in Christ.5 The Sabbath is indeed not a perpetual creational given.

Jesus and the apostles, however, opened up another day off for us, in a different way than was the case with the Sabbath. The great day of liberation now is the Sunday, a day of remembrance of Jesus' resurrection. Pentecost, the day of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, also falls on a Sunday.6 Peter preaches a penetrating and liberating sermon, which leads to the repentance of thousands of people.

We further read of assemblies that were precisely held on the first day of the week.7 John calls the Sunday the day of the Lord Jesus.8

A day off for God and not for obligatory inactivity. That was neither the case in the Old testament, and certainly not now. But a day to have ample time for the assemblies of the congregation to remember God's deeds of salvation. In the Old testament they had to. But today we may. If you see its festive character, for God and for yourself, and if you are aware how much we need it for our life and work on all days, you do it!9

Rest for All Days←⤒🔗

The Sabbath affected the other days. A day of obligatory rest. Thus, no stress, not on the other days either. For God will take care of things. An assembly on the day of rest, with God's Word in the centre, to live from the whole week. For that reason God has blessed and sanctified the Sabbath day. A day that is charged with beneficial power, for each day.

The rest day was not a day apart. God wanted to return the rest of paradise to all the other days of the week. Egypt with its slavery may not happen again, not even for one day. The more the other days are dominated by the weekly day of rest, the better it would be. It then was a partial fulfillment of the Sabbath, already in the Old Testament itself!

And much more so in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is with us each day, to sanctify and bless us for God. The Old Testament Sabbath is today fulfilled in the work of the Holy Spirit who was given to us by Christ.10

Presently there will be the eternal Sabbath, the Sabbath rest of the new earth.11 Then all days for sure are the same. Satan and sin are elimi­nated. The peace of paradise is restored and perfected. God's Word of the beginning, at the completion of His work of creation is now definitively operative: Everything is very good,12 well functioning in eternal peace.

With this eternal Sabbath, according to Lord's Day 38, I may make a start today. How and when? If "all the days of my life I rest from my evil works, (and) let the Lord work in me through His Holy Spirit."

Rest does not mean idleness. Adam did not laze about in paradise. Presently on the new earth that will not be the case either. Rest is to be busy in a good way in tandem with God. As Adam did and we presently will do perfectly. Today we may again make a start with this. As much and as often as we in our life and work think about God, there is peace and rest on whatever day, the beginning of the eternal rest.

Enjoy Your Rest←⤒🔗

What do I now have in my hurried life? On Sundays I am free, but even then I still do not have peace? Indeed, apart from Christ you don't. Rest comes as soon as you realize that not you yourself but Jesus makes your life. Without Him you continue to run around, and are worn out and stressed, without a pause in sight, let alone an end.

With Jesus I know: He called out on the cross: It is finished! This completion of my work lies ready to hand in to Him. Or better: in the continuation of His work I may be a little link in the process. And the completion of it is in sight: His Kingdom, the new earth.

Does this work as a remedy, a tranquilizer? For you much needed rest? The Bible is not medicine. It does not take the place of pills and planning. But the thought, the belief, that Jesus is my Saviour, does indeed give me a rest that goes deeper and further than any other means. To be aware of this and feel it, I go to church, as often as there is a church service, and read my Bible. So the Holy Spirit works. And so I know where I am at: there is one Saviour, Jesus Christ.13 I do my work in his service, then it will turn out all right. Too bad that I do not get everything done. Wonderful that Jesus suc­ceeds. Those who believe in Him, have eternal life.

The apostles decided that on the day after the Sabbath there would be the assembly, the reading of the holy books and the offering of the Eucharist, because on that day Christ rose from the dead, and it will be again on that day that He will appear to us at the end, accompanied by His angels. (Addai, late-fourth century)

Endnotes←⤒🔗

  1. ^ Compare H.J. Room, "The rustday in het licht van de bijbel" in H.J. Room and P.L. Voorberg, De Zondag (Bedum, 1995), p. 16f.
  2. ^ In Deuteronomy 5 the reason for keeping the Sabbath is the liberation from Egypt.
  3. ^ Leviticus 23:3.
  4. ^ Leviticus 23, 2, 3.
  5. ^ Colossians 2:16, 17
  6. ^ Acts 2:1. Pentecost literally means the fiftieth day. It is counted from the day after the Passover Sabbath (Lev. 23:15), that is from the day of jesus' resurrection. Pentecost, fifty days (seven weeks) later also falls on a Sunday. In this the first day must be counted as well.
  7. ^ Acts 20:7, 1 Corinthians 16:2.
  8. ^ Revelation 1:10.
  9. ^ Compare Hebrews 10:25
  10. ^ This fulfillment of the Sabbath is pointed out by N. Bruin, "Orientatie in de ethische aspecten van vrijetijdsbesteding" in A.J. Hendriks & N. Bruin, Vrijetijdsbesteding (Delft, 1971), p. 82. Speaking about the Sabbath he writes: "It becomes a holy day, which, as it were, was charged with God's sanctify­ing and salutary power. The fulfillment is, that all days are dominated by it ... An important point now is, that this fulfillment began with the coming of Christ ... The sanctification and blessing, of which the fourth com­mandment speaks, is there every day in the work of the Spirit. There is, therefore, no more reason to assume that one day, in the manner as was laid down in the law of Moses, must give witness to what God intended with his plan of salvation. The elevation of Christ, as with so many other matters of Moses' legisla­tion – also with regard to the question whether one day as holy must be placed above all others – is the deciding authority. This does not preclude, that one day, in connection with the resurrection of Christ on this day, will always be called the Lord's Day and this day is especially used for the assemblies of the congregation. That on this day the powers of the eternal Sabbath work in the congregation is the starting point for the diligent attendance of the assembled congregation. That, however, is also the case, when the congregation-meets on another day to hear God's Word and performs other acts of worship."
  11. ^ Hebrews 4:1-11.
  12. ^ Genesis 1:3.
  13. ^ Acts 4:12.

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