New Testament Reading

“Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.” (Acts 6:1–7, ESV)

Introduction

Brothers and sisters, I will begin by asking this question: where is Christ at work in the world today?

Everywhere

In the lives of individuals

In our families

But particularly in his church

His church is called:

The body of Christ.

The temple of the Holy Spirit.

How important it is, therefore, that the church be found faithful:

Faithful in our doctrine.

Faithful in our government.

Faithful in our discipline.

Faithful in our love for God and for one another. 

Remember the opening vision of the book of Revelation.

Remember the words that Christ spoke to the seven churches.

He spoke to those churches and he expressed his concern for them.

The New Testament is a church book from beginning to end…

Who belongs to the church?

The church is made up of those who credibly profess faith in Christ, who have been baptized upon profession of faith. These are to gather each Lord’s Day to worship God, to give attention to his word, to pray, to break the bread, to fellowship with one another. 

Considered in this way there is no distinction within Christ’s church. To quote Paul, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, ESV).

But considered from another vantage point, there is some distinction within Christ’s church. 

First of all, we have gifts that differ from one another, don’t we? These gifts, whatever they may be, are to be exercised for the common good. 

Secondly, some within Christ church are called to serve as officers, so that the church consists of officers and members. 

Chapters 26 of our Confession, Paragraph 2 provides a rather general definition of the local church when it says, “All persons throughout the world, professing the faith of the gospel, and obedience unto God by Christ according unto it, not destroying their own profession by any errors everting the foundation, or unholiness of conversation, are and may be called visible saints; and of such ought all particular congregations to be constituted.” ( 1 Corinthians 1:2; Acts 11:26; Romans 1:7; Ephesians 1:20-22 )

In paragraph 8 we read,  “A particular church, gathered and completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members; and the officers appointed by Christ to be chosen and set apart by the church (so called and gathered), for the peculiar administration of ordinances, and execution of power or duty, which he intrusts them with, or calls them to, to be continued to the end of the world, are bishops or elders, and deacons.” ( Acts 20:17, 28; Philippians 1:1 )

And so the local church, when she is “completely organized according to the mind of Christ, consists of officers and members”. And what are the two offices of the church? Elders (which may also be called pastors, overseers or bishops) and deacons.

How do we know that there are to be these offices in Christ’s church?

Elders, overseers, shepherds, or bishops are mentioned very often in the New Testament.

For example, in Acts 20:17 we read, “Now from Miletus [Paul] sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him.” And when they gathered he said to them, among other things, “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28, ESV).

In 1 Peter 3:1 we read, “So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:1–3, ESV). 

In 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 we find qualifications for the office of elder.

1 Timothy 3:1 says, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:1–7, ESV).

Brothers and sisters, how important it is for the office of elder to be held by men who meet these qualifications. Notice, the standard is not perfection. But notice also that there are standards. These qualifications must be met in order for a man to be called to this office. And these qualifications must be maintained in order for a man to remain in this office. 

Because this is not a sermon on the office of elder, I will say no more. Instead, this sermon is focused upon the office of deacon.

The word “deacon” means servant. In the greek the word διάκονος is used many times in a generic way to refer to a person who is a just that – a servant. Rulers are called servants, angels are called servants, Christ is our servant, and all Christians are to be servants. Christ said, “It shall not be so among you.But whoever would be great among you must be your servant…” (διάκονος) (Matthew 20:26, ESV). So, there is a sense in which all Christians, young and old, male and female, are called to be deacons. All Christians are to love and serve one another. 

But the word “deacon” is also used in a more specific way to refer to an office within the church. There is the office of pastor, elder, overseer or bishop, and then there is the office of deacon. Obviously this office has something to do with “service” and with the meeting of practical needs within Christ’s church, given the basic meaning of the word. But when taken in this more specific way, not all are called or qualified to hold the office of deacon. 

How do we know that there is the office of deacon, and not just servants in general? Well, in 1 Timothy 3 immediately following the list of qualifications for the office of elder we find a list of qualifications for the office of deacon. There are no qualification to meet in order for you to serve others, but there are qualification that must be met if you are to hold the office of deacon. 

1 Timothy 3:8: “Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not addicted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain. They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience. And let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. Their wives likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things. Let deacons each be the husband of one wife, managing their children and their own households well. For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 3:8–13, ESV).

Clearly, the word deacon is being used here not to refer to “servants” in general, but to an office. Do you wish to serve? Then serve! There are no qualifications to meet to serve! But there are qualifications to meet in order to hold an office in Christ’s church. 

Deacons are to be “dignified” (σεμνός, ή, όν: pertaining to appropriate, befitting behavior and implying dignity and respect—‘honorable, worthy of respect, of good character. (LouwNida, 747.))

Deacons must not be “double tongued” (two faced; hypocritical).

They must not be “addicted to much wine” (not a drunkard).

The must not be “greedy for dishonest gain”. This is especially important given that deacons have the responsibility of handling and distributes funds. 

Deacons “must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience”. Calvin explains this as meaning, that a deacon must  hold “the pure doctrine of religion, and that from the heart, with a sincere fear of God.” So no, it is not only required of elders that their doctrine be pure, but of deacons also! 

Deacons are to be tested first. They are to prove themselves blameless. 

Notice that “their wives also must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.” Isn’t this interesting? Not only must the deacon be “dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things”, but so too, his wife is to possess these qualities. Brothers and sisters, Christian ministry is a family affair. Though the wives of pastors are not pastors, they play a very significant role in the ministry of the pastor given that they are in one flesh union with the man. And so it is with deacons! Though the wives of deacons are not deacons, they play a very significant role in the ministry of the deacon given that they are in one flesh union with the man. Friends, the significant role that the wives of elders and deacons play within the church can hardly be overstated. How important it is that they be “dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, faithful in all things.”

Deacons are to be the husband of one wife. It should plane to all by now that deacons are to be male, and that these men are to be faithful to their wives. They are to be a one woman man. It is the opinion of the eldership of Emmaus that a man may still be qualified to serve as a deacon even if he has been divorced, or has divorced and remarried. However, grate care should be taken here to know what led to the divorce, and to know the character of the man presently. 

Notice that deacons “are to manage their children and their own households well.” Holding an office within the church and being the head of a household share many things in common. If a man cannot manage his children and his household – if he cannot lead his family effectively and tenderly, in a Christlike manner – then he has no business leading as an office bearer within Christ’s church. Leading within the church, though it shares similarities with leading within the home, is a far more complex task. A man must prove himself competent in the realm of the home before he be given the responsibility of office bearer in the realm of the church. 

And lastly, notice in verse 13 that “those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.”

It should be clear to all that there are two office within the church – not more, not less – they are the office of elder and deacon. 

The office of deacon is not a stepping stone to the office of elder – it is simply a different office. 

The importance of the office of deacon should not be minimized, friends. Did you notice that the moral qualifications for elders and deacons are basically the same. In fact, did you notice the word “likewise”  at the beginning of verse 8? “Deacons likewise must be dignified…” In other words, because the office of elder and deacon are of great importance the men who hold these offices must be godly and mature men. 

The qualifications for the two offices differ where it pertains to the uniqueness of the offices. Notice that elders are to be “able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2, ESV), whereas no such requirement exists for deacons. 

Deacons are to serve (and facilitate) service within Christ’s church (as the name implies), whereas elders (or overseers) are to take up the task of prayer, preaching and teaching, shepherding, and the general oversight of the church. 

The roles of elder and deacon may be discerned by drawing together all that New Testament has to say concerning these offices, but nowhere is the office of deacon exhibited more clearly than in the passage that was read at the start of this sermon: Acts 6:1-8. 

Most commentators will agree that what we have in Acts 6 is a description of the appointment of the first deacons of the church. They are not called “deacons” in this passage, but it is clear that the men were appointed to deacon work. These men were called to διακονέω (serve) tables so that the apostles might devote themselves more thoroughly to the ministry of the word and prayer. 

Let us say something about the situation that gave rise to the deaconship. 

In Acts 6:1 we read, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.”

It should be pointed out that never has church been free from trouble and without controversy. Sometimes Christians will speak with fondness concerning the days of the “early” or “apostolic” church, saying, “we need to get back to how things were in the book of Acts or in the New Testament.” Have you read the book of Acts? Have you read the New Testament? It is not hard to see that the church has always had to deal with trouble and with controversy. Do not be discourage, brothers and sisters, when we face troubles and controversies of our own. But do pray that we do right in the mist of them, to the glory of God and for the good of his church. 

In Acts 6 we learn that in the earliest days of the church favoritism was being shown to those who were Jewish and Christian over those who were non-Jewish and Christians, or at least that was the accusation. We should remember that many of the first Christians were of Jewish decent. Jesus was a Jew. His disciples were Jews. The gospel would soon go the to Gentiles, but not without difficulty. Here the Gentile Christian came to the Apostles and complained, saying, our widows are being neglected while the Jewish widows are being being cared for. 

It should not be overlooked that the church does have a responsibility to care for the needy in their midst. 

In 1 Timothy 5:16 we read, “If any believing woman has relatives who are widows, let her care for them. Let the church not be burdened, so that it may care for those who are truly widows” (1 Timothy 5:16, ESV).

In Galatians 6:10 we read, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10, ESV).

Deacons Are To Care For Physical Needs

What did the Apostles do when this complaint about favoritism arose? They called for the appointment of deacons – they called for the appointment of men who would oversee the benevolence ministry of the church.

Here is the first of three aspects of the deacon’s ministry: Deacons are to care for physical needs (I should say that these three observations were made by Mark Dever in his book entitled, “The Church” and I am indebted to him). 

In Acts 6:2 we read, “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers [and sisters], pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” (Acts 6:2–3, ESV)

Notice a few things about this call for the appointment of deacons:

One, the Apostles did not appoint them, but called the church to pick them out. “The twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said… pick out from among you seven men of good repute…” 

Two, notice that qualifications were provided by the Apostles. Granted, it is not the full list of qualifications as we find them in 1 Timothy 3, but they are here in summary form. The men had to be “men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom.”

Three, notice that Apostles called for a certain number of men, presumably to correspond to the need at hand. It may be that there is some symbolism to the number seven, just as there is symbolism to the number twelve. But is seems more likely that the Apostles determined that seven men could get the job done.

Four, notice that it would be the Apostles who would ultimately appoint the men. “Pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.” In verses 5-6 we see this play out: “And what they [the Apostles] said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them” (Acts 6:5–6, ESV). The church selected seven men according to the qualifications given to them by the Apostles. They set these men before the Apostles, and then the Apostles “laid their hands on them, which means that they prayed over them and commissioned them to fulfill their ministry. 

Why do I make these observations? Well, is this not our practice? The elders of the church have called for the nomination of deacons (2 or 3 will do). The church is to select these men according to the qualifications established by the Apostles of Christ as recorded in scriptures. An these men are to be presented back to the elders of for commissioning. 

 What will these men do? They will, among other things, care for physical needs. In the case of Acts chapters six the seven men were to oversee the churched benevolence ministry to widows to insure that no favoritism be shown to one group over another, but that cases be handled justly and according to wisdom. 

Deacons Are To Strive For The Unity Of The Church

The second aspect of the deacon’s ministry is to strive for the unity of the church.

This observation might be less apparent than the first, but can you see it? The church was being threatened with division, not over doctrine, but over the proper care of its members. Christ cares for his people physically and spiritually, and how important it is for the church to reflect the love that God has for his people in her practice. The church should never neglect the spiritual needs of the saints, nor should physical needs be neglected. The neglect of either can lead to division, and the deacons in particular are to ensure that churches physical needs are met, thus promoting the unity of the body of Christ.  

Deacons Are To Support The Ministry Of The Elders

The third aspect of the deacon’s ministry is to support the ministry of the elders.  

The office of Apostle and the office of elder are not the same, but they do correspond to one another. Apostles were eyewitness of Christ in his resurrection. Apostles were appointed as such by Christ himself. There are no Apostles today. Today there are elders. The office of elders and Apostle differ in that elders do not speak or write with same authority that the Apostles had. The Apostles wrote and spoke the inspired word of God just as the Old Testament Prophets did. Pastors and elders do not speak with this kind of authority. Pastors speak the word of God only so long as they are faith to the word Christ, his Apostles and Prophets. But the office of elder and Apostle are similar in that both are called to prayer, to the ministry of the word, and to the oversight of he church of God. 

in Acts 6 we learn that that Apostles viewed the task of caring for the physical needs of widows as being extremely important. The Apostles were ultimately responsible to be sure that it get done. But notice that they did not see it as their primary task. 

Verse 2: “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word’” (Acts 6:2–4, ESV).

No, it was not that the work of serving tables was beneath the Apostles, as if they were to good for it. This was not the way the Lord had taught them. Jesus said to them, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you” (John 13:13–15, ESV). The work of serving tables, and overseeing the serving of tables was not beneath the Apostles. But they understood that overseeing this ministry would require them to neglect the primary thing to which they had been called, namely the ministry of the word and of prayer. 

And so we have deacons. Deacons are to support the ministry of the elders in their work. 

Application  

Have you humbled yourself to allow Christ to serve you?

Are you humble enough to allow others within Christs church to serve you? Are you willing to admit your need and to receive support, encouragement, even godly exhortation from others?

Are you a servant? In the home, in the public arena, in the church? Oh, how we enjoy the good things of this life if we would only take the position of a servant!

Would you be willing to think and pray about who to nominate to the office of deacon at Emmaus?

If you are desirous of the office of deacon, would you also be content to serve within the church without holding the office? May it be true of all of us that we would be content to use the gifts that God has given to us discreetly, for the good of others and to the glory of God!

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Acts 6:1-7
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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3 and Isaiah 58

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

“Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. [The people ask God] ’Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ [God answers] Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’” (Isaiah 58, ESV)

Introduction

Dear brothers and sisters, what I have taken seven sermons to say concerning the biblical doctrine of the Sabbath, our Confession of Faith says in one succinct paragraph. The Second London Confession chapter 22 paragraph 7 states, 

As it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

I hope that you have grown convinced (if you were not convinced already) that this is indeed what the scriptures teach concerning the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is as old as creation. The Sabbath has been kept by the people of God from Adam to this present day and to the end of the world. Prior Christ’s finished work the Sabbath was to be kept on the seventh day, indicating that there was work to be accomplished if man was to enter into God’s rest. From the resurrection of Christ to the end of the word the Sabbath day is to be kept on the first day of the week (also called the eighth day), indicating that the work has been finished by Christ (the second Adam), that he has entered into rest and that all who are in him will enter that rest when he comes again. 

Today I will cease from the work of convincing you that this is what the scriptures teach concerning the Sabbath day.  But I will enter into another kind of work – the work of application. I hope that you are convinced that the Lord’s Day Sabbath is to be kept holy unto the Lord. But now the question is, how are we to keep it?  

This is what paragraph 8 of chapter 22 of our Confession addresses when it says,

The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

Again, I believe that our Confession provides a wonderful summary of the teaching of scripture. 

Prepare

First of all, notice that our Confession urges men and women, boys and girls, to prepare to keep the Sabbath day holy. Keeping the Sabbath holy requires preparation. “The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand…”

To keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord it is necessary to have your life in order. 

Diligent in our work on the other six days.

Careful planning.

Finances.

Prepare to say no to those activities not fitting for the day. 

To keep the Sabbath holy unto the Lord it is necessary to have your heart prepared.  

Begin to prepare for worship on Saturday night. 

Read the scripture text for the sermon.

Get to bed on time.

Wake up early enough to come to worship on time without being frantic. 

Come to worship with thankful, worshipful hearts ready to receive the word of God. 

Rest From Worldly Employment And Recreations 

Secondly, notice that our Confession urges men and women, boys and girls, to in fact rest (or cease) from worldly employment and recreations on the Sabbath day. Keeping the Sabbath holy requires that we cease from that which is common to engage in that which is holy. Our The Christian should “observe [a] holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations…”

The word “worldly” does not mean sinful here, but it refers to those activities that have to do with life in this world. Worldly activities that are otherwise good and appropriate on the other six days of the week should be set aside on the Sabbath day, for the day is to be kept as unto the Lord. The Sabbath day is to be approached as a day that is distinct and different. It is a holy day – a day set apart for a particular kind of activity.   

The Lord’s Say Sabbath is not a day for common work. Yes, God’s will is that we work diligently and for his glory, but we are to cease from our work on the Sabbath day to engage in a different kind of activity. 

In Deuteronomy 5:12 we find the fourth of the ten commandments: “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work…” The people of God are to rest from their worldly or common employments on the Sabbath day, and they are to acknowledge their God, worship him, and demonstrate their faith in him that he will provide for all of their needs. 

I want for you to also notice that the fourth commandment continues on in Deuteronomy 5:14. After saying, “On it you shall not do any work”, the text also says, “you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you”. 

I do wish that Christians would think more carefully about this portion of the fourth commandment. Not only does the fourth commandment command you to cease from your ordinary labors, but it also forbids having others work in your place. No, parent, it is not right for you to rest but to have your children work on the Sabbath day. It was not right for the Israelite to rest, but to have their servants or the foreigners in their midst work in their place. The Israelites were to even give rest to their beasts of burden on the Sabbath. Rest was to be promoted amongst animals and men. 

Now, granted, we do not live in Old Covenant Israel. We live as exiles in Babylon instead. But doesn’t the principle still apply? If we are truly concerned to honor the Sabbath day wouldn’t we want to keep it ourselves and also encourage others to keep it? Put differently, if you have truly been convinced of this doctrine, that the first day of the week is now the Sabbath day, then why doesn’t it grieve you to see others working on this day? Their work on the Sabbath day is in essence a denial of God as Creator and Christ as Redeemer. And I am asking, why would you want to have anything to do with causing that person to work on the Sabbath? Why would want to stand across from them at the register knowing that, in that moment, it is your business that has them working instead of resting and worshipping on the Sabbath day. Who knows, perhaps that person is a brother or sister in Christ who wants badly to have the day off, but must work, in part, because of the decisions of fellow Christians. It seems rather inconsistent to me. Brothers and sisters, I am encouraging you to do your shopping and your eating out Monday through Saturday so that you might honor the Sabbath day yourself and encourage it amongst others also. Fill up your car with gas on Saturday, friends. Change your shipping settings on Amazon so that deliveries are not made on the Lord’s Day. I am saying that we should not participate the in the sins of others by causing them to work for us on the Sabbath day. The fourth commandment seems rather clear on this point. I can hear the critics now: “that’s legalism!” Is it? Or is it is simply a constant application of God’s holy law? 

Think about it, friends. I’ll leave it to you to decide. I know that good Christian men and women differ on this point of application. I will not be following you after church to see if you go out to eat or to the store. And I will admit that it has taken my family some time to come to this conclusion, but by in large (whenever possible) I would encourage you to rest and to cease also from causing others to work for you on the Sabbath day. This seems to be what the fourth commandment is calling for. This seems to be a consistent application of the doctrine of the Sabbath.

The Lord’s Say Sabbath is not a day for common work, and neither is it a day for recreation. 

I do not believe that our confession is forbidding you from playing catch with your kid on the Sabbath day. I do not believe that our confession is forbidding you from taking a bike ride or a hike with the family on the Sabbath day. The point it is that the Sabbath day is not a day for work, nor is it a day for recreation. Recreation is not the purpose of the day – rest and worship is. It may be that playing catch with your, taking a bike ride, or a hike with the family would serve to promote the purpose of the Lord’s Day, but it is possible that these things be a distraction from the purpose of the day too. Wisdom is needed here. Certainly we would be missing the point if we allowed the Lord’s Day to be consumed by golf, the NFL, or NASCAR.

Your beginning to see, no doubt, how difficult and unpopular keeping the Sabbath day in this culture will be. There are so many things in our culture that will pull us and pressure us to forsake the day, and yet the Christian should be resolute. 

Worship Publicly and Privately

Thirdly, notice that our Confession urges men and women, boys and girls, to worship publicly and privately on the Sabbath day. Worship is the central activity of the Sabbath day. God is to be worshipped by his people on the Lord’s day. 

Remember that the Sabbath has always been a day for holy convocation. It is the day on which the people of God are to convene to worship. 

With your heart prepared, engage in worship. 

Worship God through your singing.

Ephesians 5:19 says that we are to address “one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with [our] heart…”

Worship God through your prayers. 

The Sabbath day is a day to give thanks to God. Indeed, everyday is a day to give thanks to God, but we are called to give thanks especially on the Sabbath day. 

Worship God through hearing and applying the word of God. 

Worship God through the observation of the Lord’s Supper. 

How imprint it is for us to continue in private worship after the public worship concludes. 

Do you remember the words of Chrysostom (347-407a.d.) that I quoted to you a couple of weeks ago. In the 4th century A.D. he was urging Christians to continue with private worship after the public worship of God:

For we ought not, as soon as we retire from the Communion, to plunge into affairs… unsuitable to the Communion, but as soon as we get home to take our Bible into our hands and call our wife and children to join us in putting together what we have heard and then, not before, engage in the business of life… When you retire from the communion, you must account nothing more necessary, than that you should put together the things that have been said to you. Yes, for it were the utmost folly, while we give up five or six days to the business of life, not to bestow on spiritual things so much as one day or rather no so much as a small part of one day… Therefore let us write it down as an unalterable law for ourselves, for our wives and for our children, to give up this one day of the week entire to hearing and to the recollection of the things which we have heard.

Hear the word in public worship. Recall and apply (or put it together) it in private.

Find readings for the Sabbath. Talk of God. Pray. 

Get Perspective

Fourthly, notice that our Confession urges men and women, boys and girls, to gain perspective on the Sabbath day. The Sabbath day is a day to set the mind and heart upon God, Christ, and the world to come. Our Confession is right to say the Sabbath is to be kept “unto the Lord”.

The Sabbath day is a day to gain perspective.

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1–4, ESV)

The Sabbath day is a day to do business with God. The Reformers referred to it as the market day of the soul. 

May I encourage you read Psalm 92 this evening? Notice that the title is “A Song for the Sabbath”. And notice how the Psalmist ponders life. He compares the wicked and the righteous in light of the truth of God’s word. He gains (and gives) perspective. This is good to do on the Sabbath day. 

Do Acts Of Mercy

Fifthly, notice that our Confession urges men and women, boys and girls, to do acts of mercy on the Sabbath day. It is appropriate to do works of mercy on the Lord’s Day. Christ himself made this clear in his teachings when, after being criticized for healing on the Sabbath day, said, “Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:11–12, ESV)

The Sabbath day is a wonderful day to do acts of mercy. 

Visit the sick on the Sabbath. 

Show hospitality on the Sabbath.

Help those who are in true need. 

Do Acts Of Necessity

Sixthly, notice that our Confession permits men and women, boys and girls, to do acts of necessity on the Sabbath day. There are activities that are simply necessary and are permitted on the Lord’s day.

It is right for you to prepare meals on the Sabbath.

It is right for you to clean up from those meals on the Sabbath. 

It may be that you find other activities necessary on the Sabbath day.

In my experience, it is easy to misuse this principle and to begin to call activities that are convenient, “necessary”.

Difficult Cases

Seventhly, and lastly, I will acknowledge that there are difficult cases that arise when determining what activities are right and lawful to be done on the Sabbath day.

It may be that your profession involves doing acts of mercy or necessity. In such cases, you do not violate the Sabbath when you work on the Lord’s Day. I have in mind emergency room doctors, nurses and staff. I have in mind police officers. I have in mind even water district employees. 

My recommendation to those of you who employed in professions such as these is to ask for the day off and to take the day off as much as possible. Don’t be seduced by the promise of overtime or extra pay. If you must work, then be mindful of the Sabbath day as much as possible. Do do not work unnecessarily on the Sabbath day. Get it off if you can. 

I must say that I do have a sympathy for those who’s employers insist that they work on the Lord’s Day even though their work is not associated with things of necessity and mercy. I have in mind here restaurant and coffee shop workers, etc. 

Because we do not live in Old Covenant Israel or in a society that has respect for the Sabbath day Christians do run into difficulties like this. Employers will sometimes insist that you work on Sundays. Here would be my advice to you.

One, make it clear to your employer that it is your religious conviction to honor the Lord’s Day. This takes courage. This requires faith. 

Two, if your employer consistently makes you work on the Lord’s Day even though you have asked for it off, I would advise you to look for another job. 

Three, if no other job can be found, and if you simply cannot afford to quit that job, I would have a hard time viewing you as a breaker of the Sabbath. I would urge you to consistently honestly and look for a solution, but I wonder if this would not be considered an act of necessity to work on the Sabbath to provide for yourself and your family when truly no other option is available to you. I’ve thought often of the Christian’s who were slaves to Romans in the days of the early church. I would imagine that some them were not allowed to rest and worship for the whole day, and yet I doubt the Lord viewed them as guilty. 

In my experience, however, the Lord usually does provide a way. Employers are usually willing to work with those who have religious convictions. If not, the other job opportunities do usually present themselves. 

Let us do everything in our power to keep the Sabbath day holy unto the Lord.  

Conclusion

Baptist Catechism 

Q. 63. What is required in the fourth commandment?

A. The fourth commandment requireth the keeping holy to God one whole day in seven to be a Sabbath to Himself. (Lev. 19:30; Deut. 5:12)

Q. 64. Which day of the seven hath God appointed to be the weekly Sabbath?

A. Before the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath. (Gen. 2:3; John 20:19; Acts 20:7; 1 Cor. 16:1,2; Rev. 1:10)

Q. 65. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified?

A. The Sabbath is to sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days, and spending the time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy. (Lev. 23:3; Isa. 58:13,14; Isa. 66:23; Matt. 12:11,12)

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Genesis 2:1-3
Comments Off on Sermon: The Sabbath: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy: Genesis 2:1-3 Posted by Joe

Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Hebrews 3:7-4:11

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’’ Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’ For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, ‘As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’’ although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’ And again in this passage he said, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 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 as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.’” (Hebrews 3:7–4:11, ESV)

Introduction

One of the arguments that you will hear from those who are opposed to the idea that there is still one day out of seven that is to be kept holy unto the Lord is that the New Testament never explicitly says so. In other words, one of the arguments of the anti-Sabbatarians is that the New Testament does not directly say, thou shalt keep the Sabbath day holy, the practice of Sabbath keeping, therefore, does not remain from the people of God under the New Covenant. They will admit, of course, that Old Testament did require the Old Covenant people of God to keep the Sabbath day, but they reason that if the New Covenant people of God were to keep a Sabbath day, the New Testament must say so directly, and they claim that it does not. This is one of the arguments that the anti-Sabbatarians (as I am calling them) will make to defend their position. 

And hope that you do understand that many, many Christians today are anti-Sabbatarian. It is difficult to find pastors and churches who will confess that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath.  Most churches do still meet for worship on Sunday. They will even call Sunday “the Lord’s Day”, but if you press them for an answer as to why they meet on Sunday, they will say “tradition” or “preference”. Indeed, they will probably say something about Christ raising from the dead on that day, but few will make the connection between Sunday, the Lord’s Day, and the Sabbath command instituted at creation and reiterated at Sinai. 

One way to find out if a pastor or church is anti-Sabbatarian is to ask the question, does a Christian sin when he or she violates the Lord’s Day Sabbath by working (unnecessarily) or by neglecting to gather for worship (not being providentially hindered)?  Those who believe that the Lord’s Day is the Christian Sabbath would have to say yes to this question! To go on working (unnecessarily) or to neglect to gather for worship (unless providentially hindered) is a violation of God’s moral law given at creation, reiterated on Sinai in the fourth of the ten commandments, and written on the heart of the Christian through regeneration. To refuse to cease from ordinary work or to neglect the worship of God is to commit a sin of omission. It is a failure to do that which God has commanded. An anti-Sabbatarian would probably not be willing to admit this. They will say that a Christian should go to church for his or her own good (and I agree). They might even say that skipping church is bad idea (I also agree). But they will not call treating Sunday as if it were a common day a “sin” because they refuse to recognize the connection between the Lord’s Day and God’s moral law given at creation, on Sinai, and written on the heart of the Christ follower by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. 

Another way to tell if a Christian is an anti-Sabbatarian is to ask, would it be right for the church to gather for corporate worship on another day besides Sunday? Now please here me, I am not referring to, let’s say, a Wednesday night prayer meeting or worship service in addition to the Sunday service (the church may gather as often as she pleases), but to the church being called to gather for worship – that is, for prayer, the singing of songs, the preaching of the word, and the breaking of the bread – on another day of the week besides Sunday. I would imagine that a lot of Christians today would say, this would be just fine. We may gather for worship on any day we choose. Whatever works! Whatever is practical. After all, we are free in Christ! 

No, we are saying that the church is to worship according to the command of Christ. God has prescribed in his word that he is to be worshiped and how he is to be worshipped. Is there freedom in Christ? Of course there is great freedom in Christ!  But it is not freedom to disobey God’s word. 

Brothers and sisters, it is our view that the New Covenant people of God do actually sin a sin of omission when they fail to keep the Lord’s Day Sabbath. It is our view that there is a particular day that is to be viewed as holy unto the Lord having been set apart by God and blessed by him. The people of God are to cease from their ordinary work and are to worship together on this day according to the command of Christ.

As I have said, many are opposed to the idea that a day for Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God today. And one of the arguments that you will hear from them is that the New Testament never explicitly commands us to keep the Sabbath, and therefore the Christian is not obligated to keep it.

Three questions should be asked of those who reason this way. 

First of all, who decided that a truth or commandant must be explicitly stated in the New Testament in order for it to be believed or obeyed by the New Covenant people of God? Where did this idea come from? Who invented this principle? Who decided that that Old Testament and New Testament are to be divided up in such an extreme way so that truths communicated in the Old Testament cannot be carried over into the New Covenant era, but must be stated anew and afresh in the New Testament in order to be believed? 

Indeed, our view is that both the Old Testament and the New are God’s word. The New Covenant people of God are to give heed to both Testaments. The New Testament scriptures do not start fresh, but are a continuation of the Old Testament scriptures, showing that Jesus the Christ is the fulfillment of the law, the prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24). If all that we must believe and do has to be stated explicitly in the New Testament then I ask, why would we need an Old Testament at all! Brothers and sisters, we do need the Old Testament because the New Testament is a continuation of it and can only be rightly understood with it as our foundation. 

Secondly, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to say that the New Testament must provide either an explicit statement or a theological rationale for doing away with some truth or commandant in the Old Testament before we are free to dismiss it as belonging only to the Old Covenant era? In other words, our impulse should be to assume that things will only change when God says they have changed, or when their is some undeniable reason for the change. 

Indeed, the New Testament does explicitly say that some things (even many things) changed with the passing of the Old Covenant to the inauguration of the New. There are many things that were required of the people of God under the Old Covenant that are no longer required of the people of God under the New. Under the Old Mosaic Covenant the people of God were to worship at the temple – not so under the New. Under the Old Mosaic Covenant the people of God were to abstain from certain foods – not so under the New. Under the Old Mosaic Covenant the people of God were to observe a whole complex of holy days, festivals and Sabbaths – not so under the New. Under the Old Mosaic Covenant the people of God were to worship by sacrificing animals through the mediation of the priesthood – not so under the New. Did things change for the people of God with the passing away of the Old Covenant and the inauguration in of the New? Yes! Many things changed. But the New Testament either explicitly states the change or provides us with the theological rational for such changes. 

For example, Peter the Jew was commanded by God in a vision to “raise, kill and eat” foods that under the Old Covenant were unclean to him (Acts 10). Paul the Apostle plainly declares that circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing under the New Covenant (1 Corinthians 7). Jesus assured the Samaritan woman that particular mountains and temples would have no importance at all in the New Covenant era (John 4).  And Paul explicitly says that the holy days of the Jewish church are not binding on the New Covenant people of God, when he says, “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths” (Colossians 2:16, NKJV). Paul is here referring to the festival days added to the weekly Sabbath under Moses as recorded in Leviticus 23. The New Covenant people of God are no longer bound to observe the Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths, or any other festival day. These were given only to Israel under Moses. These pointed forward to the Christ, were fulfilled by him, and were thus taken away. 

The point that I am making here is that this cannot be said about the weekly Sabbath. Never does the New Testament explicitly say that it has been taken away. And neither does the New Testament imply that it has been taken away by providing a theological rational for it’s removal. The festival days, the a new moons and the sabbaths (notice the plural in Colossians 2:16 – the “sabbaths” or “sabbath days”, referring to the  Passover, the Feast of Firstfruits, etc.) have been taken away because they were given specifically to Moses and to the people who lived under the covenant which he mediated. They pointed to Christ and were fulfilled by him, but the weekly Sabbath was given, not to Moses, but Adam. It points, not only to Christ, but to the rest that he has earned, entered into, and has promised to bring to us. That rest is not here in full, but is yet future. Therefore, the practice of Sabbath keeping must remain for God’s people. This is the conclusion that one must come to when reasoning theological concerning the Sabbath day. What I am saying is that there is neither an explicit statement nor a theological reason provided by the New Testament that would suggest that the obligation to honor the Sabbath day has been removed for the New Covenant people of God.

The third question that must be asked of the anti-Sabbatarian is the one that we will elaborate on the most today, and it is this: doesn’t the New Testament in fact say that the practice of Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God today? In other words, the New Testament does clearly, directly, and unambiguously say that the New Covenant people of God are to keep the Sabbath day. It is wrong, therefore, to even claim that the New Testament does not explicitly teach the doctrine of the Sabbath, for it certainly does! 

The text is Hebrews 4:9. It says very clearly, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9, ESV).

A.W. Pink comments on this verse saying, “Here then is a plain, positive, unequivocal declaration by the Spirit of God. ‘There remaineth therefore a Sabbath keeping.’ Nothing could be simpler, nothing less ambiguous. The striking thing is that this statement occurs in the very epistle who’s theme is the superiority of Christianity over Judaism; written to those addressed, as holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.’ Therefore it cannot be [denied] that Hebrews 4:9 refers directly to the Christian Sabbath. Hence we solemnly and emphatically declare that any man who says there is no Christian Sabbath takes direct issue with the New Testament Scriptures” (Pink, An Exposition of Hebrews). 

I agree with Pink that this statement in Hebrews 4:9 is clear, plain and unambiguous. It teaches that the New Covenant people of God are have a Sabbath day to keep.

I also agree with Pink when he says that it is remarkable that this statement is found in the letter to the Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is the book of the Bible that most clearly explains how Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant. Christ is greater than Moses, the writer to the Hebrews says. Christ is greater than the Old Covenant priesthood. Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant sacrificial system. Because the Christ has come these things have passed away. The letter to the Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were tempted, for one reason or another, to go back to the Old Covenant forms of worship, and the writer to the Hebrews says, no, Christ is superior! Christ is better! Christ advances Moses and the Old Covenant. Do not go back to the Old Covenant ways! To go back would be to choose the shadows over the thing of substance. If any book of the Bible were to teach that the Sabbath has been removed it would be Hebrews. But instead we find that the writer to the Hebrews is insistent that “there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” living now under the New Covenant.

I agree also with Pink that those who say “there is no Christian Sabbath [take] direct issue with the New Testament Scriptures”, for here in Hebrews 4:9 the matter is put most plainly. 

Let us now take a moment to consider Hebrews 4:9 in detail. 

“Sabbath rest…”

First of all, notice that the writer to the Hebrews is referring to the practice of Sabbath keeping when he says, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9, ESV).

The word translated in the ESV as “Sabbath rest” is in the Greek “sabbatismos”. 

This noun is a very rare word appearing only in this one place in the Bible. 

In the Greek literature is the word is found only in Plutarch’s writings where he uses it to refer to the practice of religious rest. 

Although the noun, “sabbatismos”, is found nowhere else in the Bible, the verbal form of the word, which is “sabbatizo”, is used a number of times in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The word “sabbatizo” is always used to describe the idea of Sabbath keeping. For example, Exodus 16:30 says “So the people rested (sabbatized) on the seventh day.”

The Greek dictionary, Louw Nida, says that this word (sabbatismos) refers to “a special religiously significant period for rest and worship—‘a Sabbath rest, a period of rest.’” 

The point is that this noun used by the writer to the Hebrews in 4:9 refers to the religious practice of Sabbath keeping. The practice of sabbath keeping, or the of keeping a sabbath day remains for the people of God living under the New Covenant. 

If the writer to the Hebrews meant to communicate that the people of God still have a hope in or expectation of future rest he would have used the word “rest” that is used throughout this passage (katapauō) . But it not the hope or expectation of future rest the writer to the Hebrews is here referring to, but to the present practice of Sabbath keeping. That is what remains for the people of God – the practice of keeping a sabbath day holy unto the Lord.

“Remains for the people of God…”

Secondly, notice that the writer to the Hebrews is insistent that the practice of Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God in the New Covenant era. 

Much has changed. Much has been taken away with the passing of the Old Covenant and the inauguration of the New. But this thing remains. 

I am also reminded of what the writer to the Hebrews will say later in his epistle regarding the assembling together of God people. Remember that in Old Testament times the Sabbath day was a day for holy convocation (or gathering). And Hebrews 10:24 the writer exhorts the New Covenant people of God to continue this practice:  “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24–25, ESV). “The Day” – the Day of the Lord’s return, and the Day of consummate and eternal rest is still in our future. The people are of God are to assemble together on the Lord’s Day Sabbath as that day draws near and until it comes. 

“So then…”

Thirdly, notice that this instance concerning ongoing Sabbath keeping is the conclusion of a line of theological reasoning that began in Hebrews 3:7. Here I am honing in upon the words “so then” found at the beginning of Hebrews 4:9. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” The words “so then” indicate that the writer is now coming to some conclusion based upon his prior reasoning. It is for this reason that a Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God.

And what is the reasoning? The writer to the Hebrews simply argues that because the rest that is symbolized by the Sabbath day has not yet come in full there must, therefore, remain the practice of Sabbath keeping. The argument of Hebrews 3:7-4:8 is that the people of God have not yet entered into the fulness of the rest of God to which the Sabbath day points.  

Did the people of Israel experience a kind of rest after Joshua led them into the land of promise to take possession of it? Yes! Those who had faith in God experienced a kind of rest, but it was not the fulfillment of the Sabbath day. It was a type of rest, but it was not full and eternal rest. If it were the rest to which the Sabbath day pointed then why, the writer to the Hebrews reasons, did David write so many years after Joshua and the conquest of Canaan these words in Psalm 95: “For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways.’ Therefore I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” (Psalm 95:7–11, ESV) David, in writing these words so long after Joshua, was clearly declaring that the people of Israel did not enter into God’s rest when they took possession of the promised land. The rest of God was still future for them, and so the practice of Sabbath keeping remained for them. And the fulness of God’s rest is still future for us, and so the practice of Sabbath keeping remains for the people of God today. 

Listen to the reasoning of Hebrews 4:8-9: “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:8–9, ESV). 

So long as the answer to the question, have we entered into the fulness of God’s rest? is no, then the answer to the question, is there still a Sabbath day to be kept? will be yes.   

“For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.”

Fourthly, notice that Sabbath keeping under the New Covenant is to take place on Sunday, the first day of the week, which is the Lord’s Day because on that day Christ rose from the dead and entered into God’s rest. 

This principle is communicated in verse 10 where we read, “for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:10, ESV). Please understand that the “whoever” of verses 10 is a reference to Christ. I believe that the KJV and the NKJV translate this verse a little more clearly when they use the word “he” instead of the word “whoever”. The NKJV says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10, NKJV). 

I do not have the time to argue for this interpretation. You can read John Owen in his Hebrews commentary if you’d like a thorough argument for the “he” or “whoever” of 4:10 referring to Christ. For the sake of time I will simply say that the meaning of the verse is this: Jesus Christ has entered into the rest of God and has ceased from his work in the same way that God himself entered into rest when he ceased from his work of creation.

A sabbath keeping remains for the people of God because the fullness of God’s rest is still a future reality for us. But there is one who has entered into the fulness of God’s rest and has ceased from his works – Christ Jesus our Lord. 

On which day are we to keep the Sabbath under the New Covenant? It is on Sunday because on this day our Redeemer was finished with his work and did enter into the rest.  

“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”

Fifthly, see that it is in Sabbath keeping that New Covenant people of are to persevere in the faith until they enter into the fulness of rest which is typified by the Sabbath day. 

Listen to the way in which the writer to the Hebrews exhorts the Christian in verse 10: “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11, ESV)

What disobedience is the writer referring to? He is referring to the disobedience and unbelief of the people of Israel. He is warning the Christian, do not fall into the same sort of disobedience. Persevere, in other words. Strive to enter the fullness of God’s rest by preserving in the faith. And how are we to do this? In part, by keeping the Sabbath day which remains for the people of God.  

Application

I want to conclude by stressing this connection between honoring the Sabbath day and our perseverance in Christ. 

Keeping the Sabbath day helps us to persevere. The activities associated with public and private worship on the Sabbath day are good for the soul. They help to keep the heart centered upon Christ 

Keeping the Sabbath day indicates that we are persevering. It is a sign that we are abiding in Christ, trusting in his sacrificial death, his victorious resurrection and hopefully that we will one day enter into the rest that he himself has entered into through faith in him. 

There is a reason why pastors and elders grow concerned when people are absent from the fellowship. It might be that they have been providentially hindered. But it also might be an indicator that something has gone wrong with their faith. When Christ is at the center, when our love for him is strong and true, we keep his commandments. But when we begin to drift, when our faith falters and our hearts grow heard, it is evidenced by disobedience. And one of the first signs of a drifting heart, in my experience, is the neglect of the assembly on the Sabbath day. 

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:19–25, ESV)

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Genesis 2:1-3; Hebrews 4:9
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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 12:1-14

“At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.’ He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.’ He went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, ‘Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.” (Matthew 12:1–14, ESV)

Introduction

It was Genesis 2:1-3 that prompted this prolonged study on the Sabbath day. There we learned that God, after making the heavens and earth in six days, rested on the seventh, blessed that day, and made it holy. This he did, not for himself (for he did not need to rest nor did he need a day to be blessed therein), but as a pattern for man to follow. Man, from the beginning of time, was to work six days, and on the seventh cease from his ordinary work to devote himself to rest and worship. Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man, so that men and women would be blessed in it as they approached the day as holy.

Adam and Eve were to keep the Sabbath day while in the garden prior to the fall. It was a symbol of their faithfulness to their Marker. It was a sign that they were living in obedience to him and for his glory. The Sabbath day was also a type for them. It was a picture of the quality of life that they would enter into should they faithfully preform their God-given task of filling the earth and subduing it to the glory of their Maker. Having completed their work (symbolized by the six days) they would enter into consummate and eternal rest (symbolized by the seventh, which is without end). The Sabbath day communicated these promises even to Adam and Eve.  

Adam fell into sin, as you know, but the Sabbath day remained. This was by the grace of God. The message was that a pathway to eternal and consummate rest remained opened for Adam and his posterity. Adam could no longer earn the rest, for he was fallen. Neither could his children born according to the flesh, for they were born in sin. But the promise was that God would provide a Savior. A Redeemer would come who would earn the rest that Adam failed to earn. We know him as Jesus the Christ. Adam did not know his name as we do, but he hoped in him. He believed upon the promise of God concerning his eventual coming, and so did many of his descendants. These kept the Sabbath day. It was a sign of their faith. It was a symbol of their obedience to God. The Sabbath day was a kind of token or badge for the children of Adam indicating that they believed upon the promises of God and lived for the glory of their Maker. 

And so a Sabbath day remained in the world from Adam to Moses. And in the days of Moses the Sabbath was given to Israel. That moral and natural law which was written upon the heart of Adam and Eve in the beginning was written on stone by the finger of God and delivered to Israel through Moses. Ten Commandments contain God’s moral law, and the fourth is “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, ESV). The same law given to Adam (having been written upon his heart) was given also to Israel, but for them it was written on stone. 

The Sabbath day was made more rigorous under Moses, as you know. It was made more rigorous, not because the law was essentially changed, but because civil and ceremonial laws were added to the moral law in those days and for that people. The penalty for breaking the Sabbath under the Mosaic Covenant was death. Many other Sabbath days were also instituted under Moses. These civil laws and these ceremonial laws were for the Jewish people living under the Old Covenant which Moses mediated. These Mosaic laws have been fulfilled by Christ and taken away. 

All of these things have been considered in previous sermons. This was review. As we move further into the history of redemption we come to the life of Christ. We have considered the Sabbath as it was in the garden. We have considered the Sabbath as it was from the fall of Adam to Moses. We have considered the Sabbath as it was under the Old Covenant from Moses to Christ. And now we must consider the Sabbath as it was observed by Christ prior to his resurrection.

The question is, how did Jesus approach the Sabbath day, and what did he have to say concerning it?  This question should be of great interest to us given that Jesus himself is the cornerstone of the foundation upon which the New Covenant church is built. 

And where in the Bible can we go to find the answer to the question, how did Jesus approach the Sabbath day, and what did he have to say concerning it? It is to the Gospels that we must go, for they contain a record of the life and teachings of Jesus. 

If you were to read through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you would find that they actually have a lot to say about the Sabbath. This is very significant, for the Gospels are not bear history as if they were written for propose of telling us everything that Jesus did and said. No, to the contrary, the Gospel writers were selective in what they reported. Remember what John said at the very end of his Gospel. “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25, ESV). So the Gospel writers did not report all that Jesus said and did. Rather they highlighted certain events and certain teachings of Jesus that would be of particular usefulness to the church. The Gospels are theological histories. They contain true history, but Gospel writers reported on those things which would be of use to the New Covenant Church. 

A question that I must pose to the one who claims that the Sabbath day does not apply to the Christian is why do the Gospel writers place such an emphasis upon the Sabbath day in their writings?  If the Sabbath day were not to be kept by the New Covenant church, why such an emphasis upon the Sabbath day in the Gospels? 

There are number of places that we could go in the Gospels to highlight Christ’s view of the Sabbath day. Mark chapters 2 and 3, Luke chapters 4, 6, 13, and 14, and John chapters 5, 7 and 9 would be good places to go. But today we will give our attention to Matthew chapter 12. 

As we consider this passage three truths will emerge concerning Jesus and the Sabbath day. One, we will see that Christ kept the Sabbath perfectly. Two, we will see that Christ corrected the legalistic teachings of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath. And three, we will see that Christ claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath. Let us now take these points one at a time.  

Christ Kept The Sabbath Perfectly 

First of all, see that Christ kept the Sabbath perfectly. 

Before getting too far into this first point we should remember that Jesus lived and died, not under the New Covenant, but under the Old. It was his resurrection from the dead, his ascension to heaven, and his sending of the Holy Spirit which marked the beginning of the New Covenant. And so when I say that Christ kept the Sabbath perfectly I mean that he kept the Sabbath as it was given to Adam and also as it was given to Moses, for Christ lived and died under the Mosaic Covenant. So please understand that Christ kept the Old Covenant, judicial, Jewish and seventh day Sabbath perfectly. 

For Christ the Sabbath day was the seventh day, for he lived and died under the Mosaic Covenant which was a kind of republication of the Covenant of Works, of which the seventh day Sabbath was a sign. Christ kept the seventh day Sabbath and also all of the other Sabbath days that were added to it under the law of Moses. He observed the Passover, the Feast of First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks, along with the other feast days mentioned in Leviticus 23. This he had to do in order to be sinless. Christ, being a Jew born under the Mosaic Covenant, had to keep the Law of Moses perfectly. If Christ were to have violated the weekly Sabbath, or any of the other feasts or festivals given to Israel through Moses, he would have been a law breaker – a sinner –  and therefore could not be our Redeemer. 

Remember that Christ did not “come to abolish the Law or the Prophets…  but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17, ESV). He kept the law perfectly so that “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4, ESV). Christ obeyed the law in every respect and was righteous. This he did for himself and for all who believe upon him. It should be obvious to all, therefore, that Christ never broke the Sabbath as it was given to Moses, but kept it perfectly. This he had to do to save lawbreakers like you and me. To die as a substitute for the guilty, Christ had to be innocent. 

In Matthew chapter 12 verse 1 we read that“Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat” (Matthew 12:1, ESV). As this story unfolds we will see that the Pharisees, who were religious leaders and teachers amongst the Jewish people in that day, accused Jesus and his disciples of breaking the Sabbath by plucking heads of grain to eat. According to them, that constituted work. According to the Pharisees the disciples of Jesus were harvesting grain and were therefore violating the Sabbath commandment as it was given at creation and under Moses. 

The question is, were they correct? Were Jesus and his disciples violating the law of Moses? Was Jesus at odds with Moses? Was he breaking the law of Moses when he plucked those heads of grain on the Sabbath day?

You would think that all Christians would be quick to answer saying, “No! Jesus never broke the law of Moses but kept it perfectly!” But in fact many Christians today assume that Jesus was doing something contrary to the law of Moses when he and his disciples plucked heads of grain on the Sabbath day. In fact this seems to be the predominate view today, that what we have here in Matthew 12 is an instance where Jesus’ opinion is different than that of Moses. The law of Moses forbids picking heads of grain on the Sabbath, but Jesus picked them because he saw things differently – at least that is what many say today. It really is a ridiculous idea. Again, the culprit is dispensationalism which pits the Old Testament and the New, the Old Covenant and the New, Christ and Moses, against one another in a  radical way. 

Is Jesus Lord of the Sabbath? Yes he is, as we will see! Did Jesus have authority to change the law and to change the Sabbath day? Yes he did, as we will see! But this he could do only after he faithfully fulfilled the Old Covenant law and inaugurated the New Covenant by his death burial and resurrection. It was only then, after Christ finished his work of new creation, that a new law with a new Sabbath day could be instituted. First, Christ had to keep the law of Moses, including the judicial Sabbath perfectly. Had he sinned against it, he could not have been our Redeemer. Had he sinned against it he would have failed to keep the Covenant of Works just as the first Adam failed. Did Christ bring changes to the Old Covenant Sabbath? Yes he did! But only after keeping it perfectly! Christ, having kept the Covenant of Works, and having instituted a New Covenant – the Covenant of Grace – in his blood, then brought changes to the Sabbath day, but not a moment before. No friends, what we find here in Matthew 12 is Christ keeping the Sabbath – that is, the Old Covenant judicial Sabbath – perfectly.  

Christ Corrected The Legalistic Teachings of The Pharisees Concerning The Sabbath

Secondly, see that Christ corrected the legalistic teachings of the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath. 

That is what we see going on here in Matthew 12. Jesus is correcting the Pharisees who had a wrong view of the Sabbath. To put it differently, this is not Jesus against Moses, but Jesus against the Pharisees who interpreted Moses wrong. This is not Jesus against the law of Moses (or the moral law), but Jesus against legalism. This is not Jesus changing the Sabbath as it was given to Adam and Moses, but Jesus providing the proper interpretation of the Sabbath law.

If you were to read through the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John you would find that Jesus was often at odds with the religious leaders of his day over the proper observance of the Sabbath. They accused him of breaking it, but he labored to show that their view of it was flawed. 

When the Pharisees saw Jesus and his hungry disciples plucking the heads of grain on the Sabbath day “they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:2, ESV).

Now pay attention to how Jesus answered them. He did not say, “well that was Moses opinion, but I have mine”, nor did he say, “I am doing away with the Sabbath, it does not apply to my followers”, but instead he appealed to the Old Testament scriptures themselves to demonstrate that his actions were indeed lawful. Their interpretation of Moses was wrong, and his was right. 

Jesus had three things to say to the Pharisees, and when he said them he made it clear that there were three activities appropriate for the Sabbath day: acts of necessity, acts of worship, and acts of mercy. 

The first remark is found in verse 3: “He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?” (Matthew 12:3–4, ESV). 

Jesus is referring to a story that is recorded for us in 1 Samuel 21:1-6. David (before he was king David) and his men were on the run. They were fleeing king Saul, who wished to take David’s life. They were hungry. They were destitute. They were desperate. And when they came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest, David asked for bread for himself and for his men, but there was no common bread, only holy bread. Under normal circumstances it would not have been lawful for David and his men to eat the holy bread, but given the unusual circumstances it was given to the men, and rightly so. Evidently the ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant could be broken when human life was threatened. Evidently the law was flexible enough to bend so that mercy could be shown to those in need. Ordinarily David and has men would have broken the law were they to have eaten the holy bread which was for the priests alone, but given the circumstance it was right for them to eat it so that life might be preserved. It was necessary that they be given the bread given the circumstances. 

Jesus and his disciples were in a similar situation. Being poor they were hungry and in need of food. They were not engaging in the work of harvesting, but were only plucking what they needed to eat given their circumstance. Jesus’ argument was that the Pharisees were too ridged in their interpretation of the law of Moses. They encouraged obedience to the law (which was good and right) but left no room for dealing with things necessary for life. 

The second thing that Jesus had to say to the Pharisees is found in verse  5. Again, Jesus does not oppose the law of Moses, but appeals to it, saying, “have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?” (Matthew 12:5, ESV). 

Here Jesus refers to the work that the Old Covenant priests were to do on the Sabbath day to carry out the worship of God. Read for yourselves in Numbers 28:9-10  or 1 Chronicles 9:32 and see that the priests had work to do in the temple on the Sabbath day to make the worship of God possible. Were they guilty of violating the Sabbath by their work? No! They were “guiltless” because their work promoted and made possible the worship of God. Remember that Sabbath day was and is a day for holy convocation. It was and is a day where God’s people are to gather for worship. The priests under the Old Covenant (and elders and deacons under the New) have a certain kind of work to accomplish on the Sabbath day to make the corporate worship of God possible.   

I hope you are beginning to identify the error of the Pharisees. It’s as if they were concerned only with keeping the details of the Sabbath law while missing entirely point of it. They were committed to the idea of rest (ceasing from work) while missing the fact that there is a kind of work that is appropriate for the Sabbath day. Remember, God rested from his work of creation on the seventh day, but he did not enter into a state of idleness. He entered into the contemplation of his finished work, the enjoyment of it, and he continued in his work of providence as he upheld the universe that he had made. It was as if the Pharisees were trying to promote idleness. Jesus corrected them by making it plain that there are activities appropriate for the Sabbath day, namely acts of necessity, and worship.

David and his men were guiltless when they ate the holy bread because the circumstance made it necessary for them to do so. Also, the priests were guiltless when they labored in the temple on the Sabbath day, for their work made the worship of God possible, which is the central activity of the Sabbath day. They labored in the temple and were guiltless, and Jesus remarked, “I tell you, something greater than the temple is here”, referring to himself as the thing greater than the temple (Matthew 12:6, ESV).

The third thing that Jesus said to the Pharisees is found in verse 6 where he made it clear that the Sabbath day is a day to show mercy. There he is heard saying, “And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless” (Matthew 12:7, ESV). 

The Sabbath day is a day to show mercy to those in need. Christ and his disciples were need. How wrong it was for the Pharisees to condemn them as the plucked the heads of grain. Instead of criticizing them, they should have shown them mercy.

The story of the man with a withered hand in verses 9-14 is positioned here in order to illustrate the principle that the Sabbath day is a day to do acts of mercy. 

“[Jesus] went on from there and entered their synagogue. And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’—so that they might accuse him. He said to them, ‘Which one of you who has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him” (Matthew 12:9–14, ESV).

The Sabbath day is indeed a day to cease from our labors, but it is also a day for holy activity. On it we are to engage in worship. On it we are permitted also to engage in acts of necessity and mercy. 

Indeed, our confession is correct when it speaks to activities proper to the Sabbath day. Chapter 22 paragraph 8: “The sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.” Matthew 12:1-13 is listed as a proof text. 

Christ Claimed To Be Lord Of The Sabbath

Our third and final answer to the question, how did Jesus approach the Sabbath day, and what did he have to say concerning it? is that Christ claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath. 

What does it mean that Christ is Lord of the Sabbath? 

One, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath because he was the one (the eternal Word of God come in the flesh) who instituted the Sabbath at the beginning.

Two, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath because he was the one (the eternal Word of God come in the flesh) who gave the law (including the Sabbath law) to Moses. 

Three, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath because he was the one who would finish the work given to him by the Father and enter into the rest typified by the Sabbath day.

Four, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath because he is the one who has opened up the way to the eternal rest typified by the Sabbath day for God’s chosen people. 

Five, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath and therefore has the right to institute a new Sabbath day. I will reiterate what I said before: Christ changed the Sabbath day, not before to his death and resurrection, but after it. Prior to his death and resurrection Christ was obligated to obey the law of Moses. He was not free to alter it, only to obey it. This he had to do in order to fulfill the righteous requirement of the law on behalf of his people. That said, Christ did have the authority to change the Sabbath day once he kept the covenant of works and instituted the New Covenant, which is the covenant of Grace. Christ, having finished his work of new creation, and having established a new covenant, instituted a new Sabbath day, for he was indeed Lord of the Sabbath. And what is this new Sabbath day called? It is appropriately called the Lord’s Day. It is the day that belongs to Christ Jesus our Lord, for on that day – the first day of the week – he rose from the grave.   

Application

What should we do in response to these things?

One, let us truly believe that a Sabbath rest remains for us today.

Two, let us understand that Christ, being Lord of Sabbath, did change the day from the event day to the first as a commemoration of his resurrection, wherein he finished his work of a new creation.

Three, understand that the Lord’s Day Sabbath is a day for rest, but it is also a day for holy activity. The Lord’s Day is a day to cease from our work so that we might come together and worship. 

Four, let us allow for some flexibility in our Sabbath keeping. It is a day for rest and worship – this is true – but acts of necessity and acts of mercy are also permitted. The rigidity of Pharisees in their approach to the Sabbath day was inapropriate,  

Five, though it is true that we must  guard against legalism, it is also true that we must guard against antinomianism, which is a serious problem in our day (and region). Friends, it is a sin to break the Lord’s Day Sabbath. God’s law is still to be kept. It is a sin to forsake assembling together for worship on the Lord’s Day without good reason (being providentially hindered).

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Genesis 2:1-3 Matthew 12:1-13
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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 31:12–18

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ” And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.” (Exodus 31:12–18, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Colossians 2:16–17

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” (Colossians 2:16–17, ESV)

Introduction

Brother and sisters, I want to be clear concerning my objectives in this brief sermon series on the Sabbath. 

My first objective is to convince you that our confession of faith is correct in what it says  concerning the Sabbath day. I believe that our confession (the Second London Baptist Confession) provides a faithful and true summary of the teaching of Holy Scripture concerning the Sabbath day, and my objective is to convince you of this.

And what does our confession teach about the Sabbath day? 

First of all, it asserts that the law of nature – or the moral law written on man’s heart at creation (see Romans 2:15) – shows that a proportion of time is to be devoted to the worship of God. Listen to chapter 22 paragraph 7 of our confession where is says, “it is the law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God’s appointment, be set apart for the worship of God…” This Adam and Eve knew naturally. This they knew, having been made in the image of God. They knew that they were to give worship to their Maker and that a proportion of time should be devoted to it.

Secondly, the confession rightly teaches that God has appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him. Paragraph 7 continues “…so by [God’s] Word, in a positive moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him…” 

Notice that Sabbath command is said to be “positive”. In other words, man, by nature (that is, by virtue of his having been made in the image of God) knew (and knows) that God is to be worshipped. Man also knows by nature that proportion of time is to be devoted to the worship of God (simply look at how every world religion worships according to some calendar). But God did not leave man to wonder, or to invent for himself, what proportion of time is to be devoted to worship. He positively declared what time was to be devoted to worship, namely one day out of every seven. This command was added to the natural law written upon man’s heart from creation, and so it is called a positive law.

When did God do this? When did he “[appoint] one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him”? Answer: He did it at creation when he made the heavens and earth in six days, rested on the seventh, blessed the seventh day and made it holy. All of this he did, not for himself, but as a pattern for man made in his image to follow. The seventh day was blessed by God so that man would find blessing in it. The day was set apart as holy so that man might approach it as holy – a day unique from the other days, set apart for the worship of God. And so the pattern of six and one was established by God at creation. 

How long will this pattern of six and one remain? Our confession is right to say that it is “perpetual”. This pattern of six and one will remain until the end of time. 

And who is bound follow this pattern? Again or confession is right to say that this commandment is “binding [on] all men, in all ages”. How can this be so? Well, it is so because God instituted the Sabbath, not in the days of Abraham (as if it were for his offspring only), nor in the days of Moses (as if it were for Israel only), nor by Christ (as if it were for the Christian only), but at creation. All who descend from Adam, therefore, are obligated to worship their Maker in this way. All people ought to worship God, who is Creator of all things in heaven and earth! And they are to worship him, not according to the inventions of men, but according to the word of God. 

All men ought to keep the Sabbath day, but we should not be surprised when the non-believer does not. What should surprise us is when the one who claims to belong to God through faith in Christ violates the Sabbath day by neglecting to gather for worship with the saints, and by approaching the day as if were common, being consumed with ordinary work and ordinary pursuits on that day. 

Indeed, the unchanging moral principle at the core of the Sabbath commandment is that God is to be worshiped by all, and that one day in seven is to be devoted to rest (that is ceasing from ordinary work) and to worship.

We must then ask, which day of the seven is the Sabbath day?  

Again, our confession correctly summarizes the teaching of holy scripture when it says, “from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day] was the last day of the week…” So from Adam to the resurrection of Christ the seventh day – Saturday – was set apart as the Sabbath day.  

And our confession is also correct when it says, “… and from the resurrection of Christ [the Sabbath day] was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.”

I have grown to love our confession of faith, brothers and sisters. I believe, as do you most of you, that what it says is true. It provides us with a good and faithful summary of the teaching of holy scripture on major points of doctrine. 

Indeed, the Old Covenant seventh day Sabbath has been abolished, having been fulfilled by Christ. This is indeed true! The Old Covenant Sabbath that was given fist to Adam and the again to Israel is no more! Saturday is no longer the Sabbath day because Christ finished his work, entered into his rest when he raised from the dead and ushered in a new creation. The Old Covenant Sabbath, therefore, is gone! But a Sabbath rest does remain for the people of God. The pattern of six and one continues, though it has undergone change. Who change the Sabbath? Christ did by his finished work, his resurrection from the dead, and his work of a new creation. 

Indeed our confession is right in what it says. At the resurrection of Christ the “Sabbath was changed into the first day of the week…”  It is now “called the Lord’s day: and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.” 

But notice this: our confession is just that – a confession. It is a very brief declaration of what we believe the scriptures teach. But it does not provide an explanation of these doctrines. It is not called, therefore, an explanation of the faith, or even a defense of the faith, but a confession of faith. It states succinctly the primary doctrines contained within holy scripture. And it is indeed very useful! But these doctrines which are so beautifully stated in our confession do also need to be explained and defended from the word of God if they are to be believed.  

And so my first objective in this brief sermon series on the Sabbath is to explain to you from the scriptures why it is that we believe what we confess to believe concerning the proper worship of God and the Sabbath day. 

My second objective in this series is to then motivate you to keep the Lord’s Day Sabbath holy and unto the Lord. It is important that this be the second objective, and not the first. How important it is for you to, first of all, believe from the heart that the Sabbath is to be kept, and then afterward to go on keeping it! 

Notice that this is the order in which things are stated in our confession. Paragraph seven of chapter 22 states what we believe concerning the Sabbath day (this I have already read to you), and then paragraph eight states how we should keep it. There we read, 

The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

This statement is also right. But teaching on the practical side of things will need to wait a bit longer, for I am still occupied with the first objective, which is to explain to you from the scriptures why it is that we believe what we believe concerning the Sabbath day. 

A few very important truths have been established already in this sermon series. They are foundational truths and most be remembered. 

One, remember that the Sabbath was instituted at creation. 

Two, remember that the Sabbath was made for man so that he might be blessed in the keeping of it as rested from his labor to draw near to God in holy worship. 

Three, remember that the Sabbath symbolized God’s rest and also pointed forward to the rest that man was to enter into by accomplishing his work to the glory of God. The positioning of the Sabbath day on the seventh days was, therefore, very significant. Adams faithful work would lead to eternal rest, should he do it.  

Four, remember that the Sabbath day continued after man’s fall into sin. In Genesis 4 we see evidence that Adam’s children knew that they were to worship God and they did so “in the course of  time”. Also, in Exodus 16 we learn that the Sabbath ordinance was known to the people of God prior to the giving of the Ten Commandments through Moses. The Sabbath was therefore kept in the world from the days of Adam to the days of Moses. There is no way to know how many kept it, but it is clear that the Sabbath day was preserved from Adam to Moses. 

 Five, let us remember that the Sabbath is in some ways unchanging, and yet it is also flexible. That one day in seven is to be approached as holy unto the Lord will never change – not until Christ returns and we do enter into the rest that the Sabbath typified from the beginning. But the Sabbath ordinance is also capable of undergoing change. For example, the Sabbath for Adam in the garden held forth the promise of eternal life should Adam accomplish his work to the glory of God. After the fall the Sabbath day took on new meaning. It reminded Adam and his posterity that they had come short of that rest. But it also brought with it the good news that eternal rest was still a possible. It would be earned, as we know, not be sinful man, but by Jesus the Christ, who is the Savior promised from long ago.   

And so the Sabbath has been considered now from the time of creation up until the days of Moses. But what about under Moses? What should we say about the Sabbath day from the time of Moses to resurrection of Christ?

Can you see what I am doing in this series? I am following the Sabbath ordinance through the pages of Holy Scripture and I am attempting to explain how it developed along with the progression of the history of redemption. That some things about the Sabbath remained the same is undeniable. And that some things about the Sabbath changed is also undeniable. But I want for you to see that the changes were not random, nor were they man made, but they were ordained by God to correspond to the work that he was doing to accomplish the salvation of his people. In other words, the Sabbath day has always been linked up with the particular convents into which God did enter with man. With every covenant there is a Sabbath day, but the Sabbath day does also adjust to match the peculiarities of the particular covenant.

I have five brief observations to make concerning the Sabbath as it was from the days of Moses onward. We are here considering, what some have called, the judicial Sabbath, called such because it was the Sabbath in the days where the people of Israel were governed by the law of Moses. Sometimes it is referred to as the Jewish Sabbath, for it is the Sabbath as it was given parculiurly to the Isr. It is the Sabbath as contained within the law of Moses. The Sabbath was instituted at creation, it continued in the world from Adam to Moses, but in the days of Moses the Sabbath did undergo change. 

Under Moses The Sabbath Day Remained Substantially The Same

Notice first of all that under Moses the Sabbath day remained substantially the same as when it was given to Adam in the garden.

Here I am highlighting the fact that the Sabbath remained on the seventh day under Moses just as it was from the time it was instituted by God at creation, and for good reason. 

Shortly after God created man he entered into a covenant of works with him. “Do this and you shall live” was the principle under which Adam lived. And the Sabbath day corresponded to and signified this covenantal order. “Do this work and enter into rest”. The seventh day Sabbath given to Adam agreed with the covenant of works which God into with Adam shortly after he created him. 

Notice also that the covenant into which God entered with Israel after he rescued them from bodge in Egypt was a covenant of works. “Do this and you shall” live was the principle under which Israel lived. The Mosaic covenant was a kind of republication of the Covenant of Works that was made with Adam in the garden. I am not saying that it was exactly the same, for Israel could not earn their salvation through obedience to the law, but only blessing and life in the land which God would give them. Also, it is clear that the grace of God was present and active within the Mosaic Covenant. It had to be! For if the grace of God was not present and active Israel would not have lasted a day! But the grace of God was present and active through the promise that a Messiah would one day come. The people of Israel were saved by believing the promises of God. True as this is, the Mosaic Covenant was substantially a covent of works. “Do this and you shall live” was the principle that governed them. And their seventh day Sabbath corresponded to that principle – work leads to rest, obedience leads to life, do this and you shall live. 

Eventually we will come to deal with the question, why did the Sabbath day change from day seven to day one? And in part the answer will be, the day changed because the covenant changed. We are not under a covenant of works as Adam was and as Israel was, but we live under the Covenant of Grace. The paedobaptists who say that the Covenant of Grace was instituted shortly after the fall are wrong. The promise of the gospel was given shortly after the fall. The grace of God was present and active in the world from the time of the fall to the resurrection of Christ (how could it not be?). But the Covenant of Grace was inaugurated by the Christ. The New Covenant ratified in his blood is the Covenant of Grace. The seventh day Sabbath fits hand in glove with the Covenant of Works under which Adam and Israel lived; the first day Sabbath fits hand in glove with the Covenant of Grace under which we now live. The principle is we live by is not, do this and you shall live, but you live because Christ has done it. 

I have said it before, and I will say it again: the seventh day Sabitarians, though they claim to have Jesus as Lord and to be partakers of the Covenant of Grace with their mouths, do in fact deny him and the power of his resurrection by continuing in their observance of the seventh day Sabbath which has the works principle at its core. While claiming to be New Covenant Christians living under the Covenant of Grace, they wear the badge of the Old Covenant and the Covenant of Works when they gather for worship on the seventh day.  

Friends, please recognize that under Moses the Sabbath day remained substantially the same as when it was given to Adam in the garden, and this because the Mosaic Covenant was a kind of republication of the Covenant of Works made with Adam in the Garden, of which the seventh day Sabbath was a sign. 

Under Moses The Sabbath Day Contained A Gospel Promise And A Word Of Condemnation

Secondly, notice that under Moses the Sabbath day contained both a gospel promise and a word of condemnation just as it did for Adam and his descendants after the fall.  

I will not spend much time on this point given that I elaborated on it in the previous sermon. The point here is that with each Sabbath observance under the Mosaic economy there was a reminder, one, of the fact that the people of God still had come short of the rest typified by the Sabbath day, and two, that the rest of God was still open to them and in their future. In this was the Sabbath day functioned both as a law which condemned and a proclamation of the gospel. 

It was as if God were saying to Israelite on the Sabbath day, remember that you have fallen short of the rest and glory of God, and also, remember that I have been gracious to you and will provide rest for you despite your sin! This we know would come by way of a Redeemer, the second Adam, Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Under Moses The Sabbath Day Was A Day For Convocation

Thirdly, notice that under Moses the Sabbath day was a day for holy convocation. A convocation is a public gathering, or an assembly of the people for religious worship. The people of God were to assemble together to worship God on the Sabbath day.

Listen to Leviticus 23:1-3. “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.’” The first of the feast days, or days for holy convocation that the Lord mentioned was the weekly Sabbath. Verse 2: “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places” (Leviticus 23:1–3, ESV).

I am not saying that this was not unique to the days of Moses. It was true before, I’m sure, and it is certainly true now. The people of God were (and are) to gather together in holy convocation on the Sabbath day to give worship to God.  

This is why the writer to the Hebrews says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24–25, ESV). The Sabbath day is day for holy convocation. On it the people of God are to gather for worship. 

I have noticed that many Christians today give little thought at all to the Sabbath day. And among those who do consider it I have found that many have turned it into a highly individualistic thing. Many have misconstrued the words of Christ when he said, “the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”, to mean that the Sabbath is day is their day. It is a day for them to rest, and nothing more. This was the tradition that many of us came out of. The teaching concerning the Sabbath was, Christians do not need to keep the Sabbath on a particular day but they should still make a practice of taking a break from work. In other words, the whole point of the Sabbath given at creation and written in stone on Sinai was to provide man with some rest from his toils. What a shallow understanding of the Sabbath! It should be plain to all that the Sabbath is about more than you taking a break from work. No! It is filled with symbolism, as we have seen. It is to be observed on a particular day according to the command of God, for the day is significant. And it is to be observed, not by you alone, but by us together. It is a holy convocation. Please don’t ever say what I heard others say in the tradition that we came out of – “I don’t take my Sabbath on Sunday, but on Thursday. Thursday is my day of rest.” Is Thursday a day off you? Great! I hope you are able to rest on that day. But it is not the Sabbath. Not for you, and not anyone. Only Sunday, which is called the Lord’s Day is the Sabbath day now that Christ has risen from the dead. 

Indeed the Sabbath day is a gift for man. God did bless the Sabbath day so that we might find blessing in it. But there is blessing found in the Sabbath day only when we approach it aright. The Sabbath day is not our day but it is the Lord’s Day. It is a day, not for idle rest, but of holy activity. It is not to be observed by the individual, but as a community. Though it is a day to rest from our ordinary labors and pursuits, there is a kind of work to be done on the Sabbath day. Remember that God rested from his work in creation, but he took up the task of reflecting upon his works to take pleasure in it. God’s people are to convene on the Sabbath day. Worship is to be offered up to God. Our thoughts are to be directed towards his so that we might take pleasure in him and in his works of creation and redemption. It is on this day that we are to give special attention to his word, to hear it, to reflect upon it and to apply it to our lives. It is a day for the people of God to enjoy God and to enjoy one another. This it was in the days of Moses, and this it is today.  

“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places” (Leviticus 23:3, ESV). Do not neglect to “meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25, ESV).

Under Moses Sabbath Observance Was More Rigorous

Fourthly, notice that under Moses Sabbath observance was, in some ways, made more rigorous. 

Now, we must be careful here. Many imagine, I fear, that Sabbath observance was substantially different for Old Covenant Israel than it is for New Covenant Israel, that is, all who believe upon Christ today. I would imagine that this idea arrises from peoples incorrect reading of the gospels where Christ is often found confronting the Jews concerning their incorrect observance of the Sabbath day. The error in interpretation arrises when people assume that Jesus was attacking the teaching of the Old Testament when he was confronting the Jewish leaders. No, Christ  never opposed the Old Testament, but only the religious leaders of his day who wrongly interpreted it. The Pharisees, for example, heaped layers upon layers of man made laws and traditions upon the Sabbath ordinance. Christ was confronting their traditions and their extra scriptural laws, but never the actual scriptural  teaching concerning the Sabbath day. Jesus had a lot to say about the Sabbath in his teaching. And he said what he said to rescue the Sabbath. He never opposed it, but sought to restore to its proper place. This he did, not so that he might throw it in the trash when he rose from the dead, but so that he might give it to his people all shinned up and restored with the gunk of man made religion having been striped away. 

When I say that “under Moses Sabbath observance was made more rigorous”, I do not mean that the Sabbath was essentially different, but that the law of Moses, which added to, expanded and strictly enforced God’s moral law, made Sabbath observance more rigorous. 

The law that God is to be worshipped, and that a proportion of time is to be devoted to worship, namely one in seven, is moral and unchanging. But under Moses judicial or civil laws were also given along with a whole host of ceremonial laws. This is what Paul is referring to when he says, “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary” (Galatians 3:19, ESV). Why the law (here he is referring to the law of Moses)? His answer: “It was added because of transgressions…” The law of Moses was added (to the moral law which existed from creation) to make our sin most obvious and our need for a savior most clear. 

The moral principle at the core of the Sabbath command was not itself made more rigorous in the days of Moses, but the civil laws which were given to Israel along with the ceremonial laws did add to the rigor of the Sabbath day. 

Take, for example, the text that we read from Exodus 31:12: 

And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’” (Exodus 31:12–17, ESV)

What has changed here with the giving of the law of Moses? Not the Sabbath ordinance itself, but the enforcement of it. For the Israelite to Sabbath breaking was punishable by death. This was not so from Adam to Moses, nor it so for us today, but it was so for Israel under Moses. So here is what I mean when I say that under Moses Sabbath observance was more rigorous. 

Something similar can be said about the ceremonial law that was given to Israel. Israel was to keep, not only the weekly Sabbath, but also a whole host of Sabbath days that were added to it. Read, for example, Leviticus 23 in its entirety sometime. There, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts” (Leviticus 23:1–2, ESV). And what is the first thing that he mentions? God first mentions the weekly Sabbath. It is called a feast and a holy convocation. But then after this the Lord also commands that Israel the Passover, the Feast of First Fruits, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. The feast days were days of convocation that were added to the weekly Sabbath which was instituted at creation. 

Will you please pay special attention to this. To whom was the weekly Sabbath given? Not to Israel alone, but to Adam, and thus to all of humanity. But to whom was the law of Moses given, which included the moral law written on Adams hear along with man other civil and ceremonial laws? The law of Moses was given to Israel. This simple observation is so very important. 

For the purpose of our study here I want for you to recognize that while you are bound to keep the weekly Sabbath, you are not bound to keep the law of Moses, for you are not under the law, but under grace. 

Sabbath keeping was made more rigorous under Moses, not because the Sabbath principle itself was changed, but because to the moral was added the law of Moses with all of its demands. 

Some have referred to the Sabbath under Moses as the judicial or legal Sabbath, and I think this right and helpful. 

Under Moses There Was An Expectation That The Sabbath Would Remain And Yet Be Altered With The Coming Of The Messiah And The Establishment Of The New Covenant

Fifthly and lastly, see that the prophets who ministered under the Mosaic Covenant taught that with the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the New Covenant the Sabbath would both remain and the Sabbath would be altered. 

This might sound contradictory at first, but it is not. It is the clear teaching of the Old Testament and it corresponds perfectly to what we see happen in the New Testament – the Sabbath remains, but it is significantly altered. 

First, understand that Old Testament prophets taught that the Sabbath would remain under the New Covenant. Consider, for example, Jeremiah 31:31. There we read,

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31–33, ESV)

What would happen when the New Covenant was instituted according to the prophet? Among other things, God would “put [his] law within [his people], and… write it on their hearts.” Which law? Here he is referring to the ten commandments written on stone at Sinai by the finger of God. There at the ratification of the Old Covenant God wrote on stone. Under the New Covenant God would write that law on the hearts of his people.  And what is the fourth of the ten laws? “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8, ESV). 

There is no reason at all to think that the Sabbath commandment passed away with the establishment of the New Covenant. 

Second, understand that the prophets did speak of day when the Sabbath would be altered and even abolished. Consider Hosea 2, for example. There the Lord is speaking of the judgements that would come upon Israel in the future. God would divorce Israel for her spiritual adultery, for her continual breaking of the convent. And in that context he says, “And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts” (Hosea 2:11, ESV).

What does the Lord say he will do away with? Now the pattern of one day of rest out seven which was established at creation, but the rather the Mosaic, judicial, Jewish Sabbath along with the feast days that were given, not to Adam but to Israel as recorded in Leviticus 23. 

Friends This is why the New Testament speaks of the Sabbath both as if it has been abolished and yet remains. 

The judicial, Jewish, Mosaic, seventh day Sabbath has been done away with having been fulfilled by Christ. And this is why Paul says, “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17, ESV). By the way, “Sabbath” is in the plural in the Greek. The ESV says, “a Sabbath” – “let no one pass judgment on you in questions of… a Sabbath.” It is not incorrect, but neither is it clear. I think the King James Version is better here when it says, “Let no man therefore judge you… in respect of… the sabbath days” (Colossians 2:16, KJV 1900). Paul is referring, not to the weekly Sabbath given at creation (that certainly has not be abolished), but he is referring to the judicial, Mosaic, Jewish Sabbath along with its feats days, which are also called Sabbaths. All of that has passed away having been fulfilled by Christ.

But the New Testament also teaches that a Sabbath resting remains for the people of God under the New Covenant – “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God…” (Hebrews 4:9, ESV).

Conclusion 

Brothers and sisters, I hope you can appreciate what we are doing in this series on the Sabbath. We are laboring to understand the Sabbath day by starting at the beginning and moving forward from there. Today we have given special attention to the Sabbath day as it was under Moses. True, we do not live under Moses! We live under Christ. We are under the New Covenant and are, therefore, under grace. But it is impossible to understand the Sabbath as it applies to us without first understand why it was given to Adam and how it applied to Moses, and so we have begun there. 

My prayer is that we would understand the Sabbath and come to love the Lord’s Day. My prayer is that we would keep holy from the heart and find blessing in at God has intended. Indeed, the Spirit has written the law of God on our hearts if we are in Christ. May we love his law more and more and keep it from the heart. Christ himself said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). May our love for him increase, and may it be manifest in our obedience to his most holy word. 

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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Mark 2:23-28

“One Sabbath [Jesus] was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?’ And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’” (Mark 2:23–28, ESV)

Introduction

Last week I stated that we were entering into a prolonged consideration of the Sabbath. How long this focus on the Sabbath with last, I’m not entirely sure. 

Of course it is Genesis 2:1-3 which has prompted this focus, for it is here in this passage that the Sabbath principle is first introduced to us. God, having created the heavens and earth in six days, ceased from his work of creation on the seventh day and entered into rest, blessing the seventh day and making it holy. This he did, not for himself, but for man. Man made in the image of God was made to imitate his Maker by working six days and resting from his work to give special worship to God on the seventh day. The Sabbath is as old as creation, therefore. To speak with more precision, the Sabbath is one day younger than man. Man was made on day six, and the Sabbath on day seven. Indeed, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

But why the need for a prolonged study on the Sabbath? I’ll give three reasons:

One, there is a great deal of confusion that exists within the church today concerning the Sabbath. Clear teaching is needed. 

Two, the confusion that exists concerning the Sabbath has led many to neglect the Sabbath day entirely, and this has been going on in our culture for some time. The situation is such that even if one were convinced that the Sabbath day is to be kept, few understand how to go about keeping it. Instruction is needed. First, a biblical argument for Sabbath keeping must be made, and then instructions for Sabbath keeping must be presented. This takes time.

Thirdly, it must be acknowledged that what the Bible has to say about the Sabbath is complex. And by “complex” I do not mean that the Sabbath is impossible to understand, or even exceedingly difficult to understand, but that the doctrine is multifaceted – it has layers to it.

The Sabbath is Simple

At its core the doctrine of the Sabbath is very simple. 

The simple and unchanging moral principle at the core of the Sabbath ordinance is that God the Creator is to be worshipped by his creatures, and that man is to worship in the way that God has prescribed. Man made in the image of God is to worship God in the whole of life by living in perpetual submission to him. Man is to do his work to the glory of God, and man is also to rest and worship to the glory of God. From the beginning, therefore, it was established by God that time be devoted to the worship of God. Man is to glorify God in his work for six days, and he is to rest and offer up pronounced worship for one. This pattern is unchanging – work for six, rest and worship for one.

The symbolism of the Sabbath day is also, in some respects, simple and unchanging. What reality does the Sabbath day point to? It reminds us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and entered into rest on the seventh day. And what does the Sabbath day typify or point forward to? It points forward to a higher form of life for man – life characterized by true and eternal rest. The Sabbath day is a picture, a type, a foretaste of an unending, glorified, and truly restful life. This is what the writer to the Hebrews so clearly teaches when he says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 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 as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:8–10, ESV). We will give more careful attention to this passage at a later time, but for now see that it clearly states that a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. In other words, there remains a Sabbath day or a Sabbath observance for the New Covenant people of God, for this is what the word σαββατισμός means – it refers to a  “special religiously significant period for rest and worship (Louw Nida, 67.185). A Sabbath observance remains for God’s people, why? Because we have not yet entered into the eternal rest that the Sabbath has typified or symbolized from the beginning of time.

And so at its core the Sabbath is simple. God instituted it at the beginning for man. It reminds man of God the creator. It provides man with a pattern to follow. It points forward to the promise of a higher quality of life – life characterized by unending rest. The Sabbath day is a blessed day and a holy day, and has been from the seventh day of creation.

The Sabbath is Complex

But the Sabbath is also complex. 

The Sabbath ordinance is nimble. There are some things about it that will never change, but there are other things about it that are able to adapt and change with the developments of the history of redemption. The Sabbath is both ridged and flexible –  unchanging, and yet able to change. It is complex. 

The pattern of six days of work and one day of rest will never go away – not until God’s people  enter fully into the rest typified by the Sabbath day. But if we pay close attention to what the scriptures say about the Sabbath as it progresses with the history of redemption one will notice subtle, and sometimes radical, changes. These changes are not random and arbitrary but correspond to the development and progression of God’s work of salvation. 

Changes at Resurrection of Christ 

The most radical change to come to the weekly Sabbath was its transition from the seventh day of the week to the first. We will consider the change of days more carefully at another time, but for now let me simply ask, when did this change take place? The answer is that the change took place at the resurrection of Christ from the dead? What remained the same? The pattern of six days of work and one day of rest remained. The Sabbath as a blessed and holy day, set apart for the worship of God remained. The pointing forward to eternal rest remained. But what changed? The day changed! And why? Because Christ ushered in a new creation by his life, death and resurrection. Now the Sabbath day reminds us, not only of the creation of the heavens and earth, but also of our redemption, which the scriptures call, a new creation. He is risen! He is risen indeed. 

Do you see, therefore, that the Sabbath is complex. It is both ridged and nimble. It is both unchanging and yet capable of change.

Changes in the Days of Moses

The Sabbath also underwent changes in the days of Moses after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and upon the giving of the law. Granted, the day did not change then, but remained on the seventh as it was from the time of creation. But the Sabbath did take on greater significance. Begging with Moses the Sabbath day was to remind the people of Israel, not only of God’s creation, but also of their deliverance from Egypt. 

In Exodus 20 we have our first exposure to the ten commandments. And the reason given for Sabbath observance in that place is God’s creation. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy, “for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11, ESV). But when we come to the ten commands as recorded in Deuteronomy 5 we see that the people are urged to “remember” something else when the observe the Sabbath. 

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12–15, ESV)

Here Israel is commanded to remember, not God’s creation and rest, but God’s deliverance. They were “slaves in Egypt” and “God brought them out”, “therefore the Lord [their] God commanded [them] to keep the Sabbath day.” It was not that Israel was no longer to observe the Sabbath on the basis of God’s work in creation and his subsequent rest, but now that Israel had been redeemed the Sabbath day was to remind them also of their redemption!

So do you see that the Sabbath is flexible? The moral principles at the core of it never change – God is to be worshipped, and particular time is to be set aside for work and for rest and worship according to God’s command, specifically one day in seven. But the Sabbath is also able to adapt to take on greater meaning and significance as the history of redemption progresses. Israel was to remember not only creation when she observed the Sabbath day, but also her redemption from Egypt. In the days of Moses the Sabbath day took on greater significance than it had before. 

Changes at Man’s Fall From Innocency

And something similar happened to the Sabbath at the time of man’s fall from innocence and into sin. While the essence of the Sabbath remained unchanged, its significance was altered. Adam and Eve were to work six days and rest and worship for one inside the garden of Eden when they stood upright before God. And they were also to work for six days and rest and worship for one having been expelled from the garden of Eden. But clearly the Sabbath took on a slightly different meaning for man after the fall than it had prior to sin entering the world. 

 

What did the Sabbath signify for Adam and Eve while they were upright and in the garden? It communicated that they were to finish the work given to them by God and thus enter into eternal rest just as God finished his work of creation and entered into rest.

But what did the Sabbath signify after man’s fall into sin? In other words, what did the Sabbath day communicate to Adam and Eve after having been expelled from of Eden because of their sin? 

First of all, the Sabbath day must have reminded Adam and Eve of their sin. When they observed the Sabbath day over and over again it would have reminded them that eternal rest was offered to them and that they came short of it. 

This was not a part of the original function of the Sabbath. The Sabbath did not in any way condemn Adam and Eve in the garden, but only held before them the promise of eternal rest should they finish the work that God gave them to do. I suppose it would be right to say that the Sabbath did threaten Adam and Eve in the garden. It communicated the potential of failing to finish the work. But the Sabbath did not condemn them while in the garden, only held forth the potential of entering into rest. 

But after man’s fall into sin, the Sabbath day reminds us of our sin, for our lives are not characterized by rest, but by toil, trial and tribulation.  Paul says in Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” The Sabbath day from the fall of man into sin on to the second coming of Christ brings with it a very similar message. “All have sinned and fall short of the rest of God”, the Sabbath day now says. Each and every Sabbath day from the fall onward is a reminder that we have not entered God’s rest (at least not in full), but have come short of it.

But in the moment we emphasize the way in which the Sabbath confronts us with having fallen short of eternal rest, we must also emphasize the way in which the Sabbath gives us hope, though we are fallen. 

Indeed, the weekly Sabbath reminds us that we have not entered into God’s rest (in this way it condemns us) but it’s permanent presence in this fallen world also communicates that rest is still possible. Think of it! Though we rebelled against God and fell into sin,  there is still one day in seven that is blessed by God and set apart as holy. On the Sabbath day we are invited to rest from our labors as a foretaste of the rest that will be enjoyed by all of God’s people for eternity. The only reason that a day of rest remains for the people of God after the fall is that God has been gracious to us. By his grace he has determined to provide rest for his people by a Redeemer. 

What do our sins deserve? The answer: no rest at all, but only eternal torment. And indeed this is what those not in Christ will endure – eternal torment. Do you remember how the book of Revelation describes the punishment that those not in Christ – those who worshipped the beast and his image – will endure? Listen carefully to Revelation 14:8ff:

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9–11, ESV)

Contrast that with the way Revelation speaks concerning those in Christ. Revelation 14:12ff:

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!” (Revelation 14:12–13, ESV)

What do our sins deserve? No rest, but only torment. What has God graciously provided? Rest for his people. The weekly Sabbath communicates that this rest is still available. The way to rest typified by the Sabbath day has not been closed off entirely, but is still open.  

 

To put it differently, if God had determined to leave all of mankind in their sin – if God had determined not to save sinners at all – then the Sabbath day would have ceased with Adam’s transgression. Men and women would have been given over to a new pattern of only work, with no rest. But a Sabbath rest remains, which means that it is still possible to enter into rest, by the grace of God, through faith in the Redeemer. 

The Seventh Day Sabbath Pointed Forward to Future Rest 

How appropriate it was for the Sabbath day to remain on the seventh day prior to the death, burial and resurrection of the Christ and his session at the Father’s right hand.  

The Sabbath day was on the seventh day (Saturday) prior to man’s fall into sin, and rightly so. Adam’s faithful work would have lead to eternal rest, and the so the pattern was work and then rest, rest and then rest. The rest was in the future and was to be entered into through the accomplishment of work. 

And the Sabbath day remained on the seventh day (Saturday) from man’s fall into sin up until the resurrection and ascension of Christ, and rightly so. Again, the rest of God could still be obtained, but only through work. The law of God had to be obeyed. Eternal life had to be earned. The obtainment of this west was yet in the future. And so the pattern remained six days of work which would lead to one day of rest. 

And how appropriate it was that the Sabbath day was changed from the seventh day to the first when Christ rose from the grave and ascended to the Father, taking his seat in the heavenly places. Why did the day change from the seventh day to the first? Because Christ entered into rest. He did what Adam failed to do. He kept God’s law, earned rest through his faithful and finished work, and entered into it, being seated in the heavenly realm. 

Conclusion 

The title of this sermon is “The Sabbath: From Adam to Moses”. My desire is that you recognize what wonderful testimony the Sabbath day is to the mercy and grace of God. How wonderful it must have been for Adam and Eve and their children to rest and worship on the seventh day. Yes, it would have reminded them of what they came short of, but how wonderful it must have been for them to observe the Sabbath day and to hear it say, there is still a way. You may still approach God in worship. You may still find rest in him. And the hope of eternal rest has not been be lost, but remains. 

Of course we know that the way to rest is through faith in the Christ. We must be united to him by faith if we are to enjoy the rest that he has earned. He himself did say, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28–29, ESV)

Application

Brothers and sisters, my desire for you is that you would keep the Sabbath day. 

Why should we?

To give glory to God (because it is right). 

For our good (there is blessing in the Sabbath day).

Consider what the Sabbath does for the soul. 

It centers our life upon God and upon Christ. 

It reminds us to diligently work to the glory of God. 

When we observe the day we find a blessing it. 

We find rest for our bodies. 

We find rest for our souls.

Our minds and hearts are directed heavenward where Christ is now seated.

Our affections are directed to the new heavens and earth, where we will enjoy consummate rest. 

Truly, the Sabbath day, which is called the Lord’s Day, is good for the soul. 

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Genesis 2:1-3
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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 2:1-3

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Hebrews 1:1–4

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:1–4, ESV)

Introduction

Today it is important for us to recognize that the seventh day of the creation week was the most important day of the seven, for on it God’s creative activities were brought to a conclusion and were filled with meaning.  

This might sound strange to you at first as you notice that nothing at all was made on day seven. One might wonder, therefore, how the day on which nothing was made can be called the most important day of the creation week? 

This also might sound strange if you consider that man made in the image of God, the pinnacle of God’s creation, was made on day six. Again, one might wonder how day seven could called the most important day of the creation week when the most important thing in God’s creation was made on the previous day?

But true as it may be that nothing was made on day seven, and true as it may be that man made in the image of God on day six was the pinnacle of God’s creation, it is also true that day seven was the most important day of the days of creation. Day seven was the most important day of them all, for it was on day seven that God’s creative activities were brought to a conclusion and filled with meaning. It was on day seven that God entered into rest. It was on day seven that God pronounced a blessing on the seventh day and made it holy. Take special notice this: of the seven days of the creation week only day seven is said to have been blessed by God and set apart as holy. Truly, the creation week would have been left incomplete and unfinished without the activities of day seven. And indeed, the significance or meaning of the creation week would have been lost entirely apart from the activities accomplished by God on the seventh day.

All that I am now saying concerning the work of God in creation can be compared to the work of Christ in the accomplishment of our redemption. We might ask, what was the pinnacle of Christ’s work of redemption? What was the high point of the accomplishment of our salvation? Was it the birth of Christ? Was it his sinless life? Was it his death, his burial, his resurrection? 

I would imagine that the impulse of many would be to say that the resurrection of Christ was the pinnacle event! But as important as the resurrection was, Christ’s work was not truly complete until he ascended to his heavenly throne to sit down at the Father’s right hand. It was the session of Christ, as it is called, that brought the work of Christ to it’s conclusion. It was when Christ sat down at the Fathers right hand that he began to rest from his labors, the work of redemption having been accomplished in full. It was Christ seated in the heavenly realm that completed the circuit, as it were. 

True as it may be that the “heavy lifting” of the work of redemption was accomplished by Christ in his life and death, in reality it was his resurrection, and finally his ascension and session at the Fathers right hand that brought the work of Christ to its full conclusion. Christ, the eternal Son of God come in the flesh, descended to the lower parts of the earth to redeem those given to him by the Father. But having made atonement for their sins, “He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things” (Ephesians 4:10, ESV). “After making purification for sins, [Christ] sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV), and is now resting from the work of redemption as he rules and reigns over all things forever and ever. 

The session of Christ, as it is called, marked the very end of the work of Christ. Having descended to accomplish our salvation, he also ascended and entered into rest. And one can understand the true significance of the work accomplished by Christ in his life, death and resurrection only when he considers it in light of his ascension and finally his session. What did Christ do in his earthly ministry? He accomplished our salvation. He conquered the evil one, sin itself and even death and had “bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth” (Philippians 2:9–10, ESV). How do we know that he accomplished these things? We know it because he was raised from the dead, he ascended, and was “seated… [at God’s] right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come” (Ephesians 1:20–21, ESV).

In like manner, God accomplished the “heavy lifting” of the work of creation on days one through six. All that was made was made by God on those days. But on day seven everything was brought to a conclusion. On day seven God, having completed his work of creation sat down, as it were, and rested from his work. On day seven God pronounced a blessing on the seventh day and declared it to be holy. These activities of God accomplished on day seven made clear the significance of the work accomplished on the other six days. 

I have five points to make today. And when all is said and done my hope is that you will agree that the Sabbath was instituted by God at creation, that from the beginning the Sabbath day held out the promise of unending rest to man made in the image of God, and that man would enter into that rest by accomplishing the work given to him by God – namely the filling and subduing of the earth to the glory of his Maker. Man – even man in his upright state and in the garden – was to work for six days and rest for one in imitation of his Creator. Sabbath keeping was, therefore, a sign even for Adam and Eve that they were living in submission to and for the glory of the God who made them. The Sabbath day was also a type for them. The rest that they would enjoy on the Sabbath day typified, or was an small foretaste and example of, the eternal, consummate, full and final rest that was promised to them should they accomplish their work.  

Friends, here is the foundation for our view that the Sabbath, which is now called the Christian Sabbath or the Lord’s Day, is to be kept by God’s people today and until Christ returns. The Sabbath – the pattern of six days of work followed by one day of rest – was instituted, not in the days of Abraham, nor in the days of Moses, but at creation. If it were instituted in Abraham’s day, or in Moses’s day then a case could be made for the Sabbath belonging to the Old Covent people of God alone, but not to those of us who live under the New Covenant. But we must say no, the Sabbath was instituted by God at creation! It is, therefore, for all people at all times. All should worship God. And the Lord ordained from the beginning how it is that he is to be worshipped. Man, made in the image and likeness of God, is to work to the glory of God and in the imitation of God for six days, and he is to rest and worship for one. This pattern is to be maintained until God’s people are brought into the eternal rest of God which is so beautifully typified by the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is the one institution, therefore, which transcends all of human history. Sabbath keeping unites, therefore, all of God’s people living in every age. All of those who belong to God in this world are to  follow this pattern instituted by God at creation – six days of work followed by one day of rest – six and one, six and one. This will go on until the Lord returns when the rest typified by the Sabbath day comes in full. We agree with the written to the Hebrews when he wrote to New Covenant Christians, saying, “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 as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9–11, ESV).

I plan to spend a few weeks on the subject of the Sabbath. It is a doctrine that is found throughout scriptures, from Genesis through Revelation. It is not possible to deal with the subject of the Sabbath thoroughly in one sermon. Today my objective is simply to establish that the Sabbath was instituted at creation. This simple observation has profound implications for us today. 

So here are five points for today:

I. Let us remember that God took six days to create the heavens and earth and entered into rest on the seventh, not for himself, but for man. 

God did not need six days to create all things seen and unseen, but could have created in an instant. Therefore, we should not say that it took God six days to create the world, but that God took six days for our sake. He chose to create progressively in six days in order to reveal truth to man made in his image. 

Also, it should be obvious to all that God did not need to rest on the seventh day. God was not fatigued. He was not panting. He did not perspire when he made heaven and earth. This is what the prophet Isaiah says: 

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. (Isaiah 40:28–31, ESV)

God does no faint or grow weary. He does not need to rest. When the scriptures say that God rested on the seventh, we are to understand that God ceased from his work of creation and transitioned to his work of providence – God now upholds the world that he made! And t he rested, not because he needed rest, but for our sake so that we might find our rest in him.   

II. Similarly, when God blessed the seventh day and made it holy he did so, not for himself, but for man.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV)

God pronounced a blessing on the seventh day, not for himself, but for man. 

This is not the first time that God pronounced a blessing on something in the creation week. God blessed the sea creatures and the birds saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth” (Genesis 1:22, ESV). And “And God blessed [man]. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28, ESV).

But here God is blessing, not a living creature, but a day. It should be obvious that the day is blessed by God, not for God’s sake, nor for the sake of the day itself, but so that man might find a blessing it. The seventh day was blessed by God so that man would be blessed in the honoring of the seventh day as a day for rest – a day to cease from labor to give worship and thanks to God. 

Also, God set the day apart as holy, not for himself, but for man. At the time of creation the first six days of the week were designated as ordinary or common days, but the seventh day was designated by God as a holy day. The seventh day was set apart by God (for that is what the word holy means – to be set a part) as unique and distinct from the beginning.  

It should be obvious that the seventh day was made holy, not for God, but for man made in his image. Man was to approach the seventh day as a holy day – a day unique and distinct – a day to cease from the ordinary and to engage in that which is holy.  

III. Do you see, therefore, that the six days of creation followed by one day of rest provide a pattern for man, made in the image of God, to imitate?

God did not need six days to create. God did not need to rest. God took six days to create realms and to fill those realms with creature kings as a pattern for man, made in his image, to follow. 

Man, having been made in the image and likeness of God, was to do his work of creation in imitation of God. Man was to fill the earth, just as God filled the realms that he had created. Man was to exercises dominion over the world just as God has dominion over all things. How was man to accomplish his work? Like God accomplished his! Man was to work six days, and rest for one, just as God worked for six days and rested on the seventh. This man was to do until his work of filling and subduing was accomplished. 

Adam, even in the garden and before his fall into sin, was to approach the seventh day as a blessed and holy day. On that day he was to cease from his work to give special worship to the God who made him. Eve also was to follow this pattern. So too were their descendants.   

That man was made to imitate God is clear from from Genesis 1. Man was made in the image and likeness of God so that he might imitate God. Man was given work to do similar to the work God had done. Man was to procreate. He was to fill the earth. He was to exercise dominion. Man’s work was to a mirror God’s work. He was to work six and rest one, approaching the seventh day as a blessed and holy day, according to the word of God. 

All of this becomes exceedingly clear when the law of God was given to Israel through Moses thousands of years later. The law of God written upon man’s heart at creation was delivered to Israel on two tables of stone in ten commandments. The first four commandments have to do with man’s relationship to God; the last six have to do with man in relation to man. Commandment one states that God alone is to be worshiped. Commandment two forbids the use of idols in the worship of God. Commandment three prohibits man from bearing or using the name of God in an empty and vain way. And commandment four explicitly states that man is to work six day and rest one. This is the way that God is to be worshipped. It was true prior to the days of Moses, but under Moses this moral law was written on stone. Exodus 20:8:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. (Exodus 20:8–10, ESV)

And what was the reason given for the command to keep the Sabbath day holy? Verse 11: “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:11, ESV).

The command to keep the Sabbath day holy was not new to Moses and to Israel. Indeed, the Sabbath was instituted at creation and it was kept by God’s people in the world up until the days of Moses. Though it is true that not much is known about the people of God from the days of Adam to the days of Moses, the scriptures do provide us with some information. 

For example, the children of Adam and Eve knew how to worship. In Genesis 4:3 we read “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions…” (Genesis 4:3–4, ESV). Here I simply wish to draw attention to the phrase “in the course of time”. Cain and Able knew to bring sacrifices to the Lord as an act of worship at an appointed time.

It also interesting to note that Israel was keeping the Sabbath prior to the giving of the ten commandments. The giving of the ten commandments are recorded for us in Exodus 20, but in Exodus 16 in the passage about God providing manna from heaven for the people of Israel, we find out that Israel was honoring the Sabbath day prior to the giving of the ten commandments. 

Remember that the people were instructed to to gather a days worth of manna each day, and no more. If they tried to keep more for the next day it would rot and stick. But in Exodus 16:22 we read,  

On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” So the people rested on the seventh day. (Exodus 16:22–30, ESV)

Did you notice that Moses did not at first command Israel to keep the Sabbath day, but that some within Israel simply knew to keep it. And as some “naturally” honored the Sabbath day (without Moses first commanding it), “the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses”, and it was then that Moses said, “tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord… etc.”. In other words, Moses did not invent the Sabbath day in that moment, but confirmed that it was right that the people keep the Sabbath, for it was “a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord”, and had been from the creation of the world. 

IV. It should be clear to all, therefore, that the Sabbath was instituted by God, not in the days of Moses, but at creation. 

Indeed, the sabbath is as old as creation. The sabbath was to be kept by Adam and Eve and their descendants in the garden, It was to be kept by the righteous line that proceeded from Eve outside the garden, It was to be kept by God’s people in the days of Abraham and in the days of Moses, and it is to be kept by God’s people today. Indeed, all should keep the Sabbath day, which today is called the Lord’s Day. We should not be surprised  to find that the those without faith do not keep it. What should surprise us it is to find those who claim to be God’s people neglecting the Lord’s Day, which his the Christian Sabbath.

The moral principle at the core of the Sabbath is that the Creator is to be worshipped by his creatures. When God created in six days and rested on the seventh he, by his actions, and by his blessing the seventh day and making it holy, gave a positive command to worship him in this way and according to this pattern.   

V. Let is recognize that the sabbath had symbolic force from the begging. It symbolized God’s rest, and it typified the rest that man was to enter into after completing the work that God called him to accomplish. 

Symbols point to things that as they are now. God finished his work of creation and entered into rest on the seventh day. The Sabbath day has always symbolized this reality.

Types are also symbolic but they are forward looking. They point forward to things yet to come. A prototype is an example of something that will be made in the future. The Sabbath day is a type of the rest to be enjoyed by God’s people at the end of the age. The Sabbath day is a foretaste of the rest to be enjoyed by God’s people in the new heavens and new earth. 

Do you see, then, that rest – eternal, unending rest – was offered  to Adam in the garden. Adam had work to do. He was to rest one day out of seven. But that day of rest typified the eternal rest that he was to enjoy forever and ever once he had completed his work. God finished his work and entered into rest. Adam was to finish his work and enter into rest. 

Later in Genesis 2 we will see that God entered into a covenant with Adam. We call it the covenant of works, the covenant of life, or the covenant of creation, and rightly so, for Adam had to work to keep it, would have earned life had he kept it, and it was made shortly after the creation of man. Two trees functioned as sacraments in this covenant – the tree of life, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We will talk about these things extensively when the time comes. For now notice that the thing typified by the tree of life and the thing typified by the Sabbath are the same. 

The tree of life pointed forward to quality of life not yet enjoyed by Adam and Eve in the garden. They were alive in paradise, but they could fall. Had they eaten of the tree of life instead of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would have entered into and enjoyed that higher form of life. They would have entered into glory.  

Similarly, the Sabbath day pointed forward to a higher form of life – life characterized by rest. Had Adam of faithful finished his work he would have entered into rest – he would have entered into glory. 

Do you see, therefore, that there is a kind of gospel call embedded within the Sabbath day? The Sabbath day, when it is rightly understood and rightly observed, calls us to look forward to eternal rest. This was true for Adam and Eve, but it is especially true for those of us living after mans fall into sin. 

Adam was called by God, and by the Sabbath day instituted by God, to enter into rest, and so are we. The Sabbath day points forward. It holds out the promise of future rest by giving us a taste of it now. But we should remember, and never forget, that the way for Adam and Eve to enter that rest (prior to the their fall into sin), and the way for us to enter that rest now that man is fallen, couldn’t be more different. Adam and Eve in the garden were to enter into that full and final and consummate rest by working. But Adam and Eve after the fall, along with their descendants, including you and me, can only enter into that rest by trusting in another, namely Jesus the Christ. He finished his work. And having atoned for the sins of his elect by his death, he rose from the grave, ascended to the Father’s right hand, where he is now seated. Christ, the second Adam, has entered into rest. All who are united to him by faith will also enter into the rest that he has earned in the new heavens and new earth. This is the rest symbolized by the Sabbath day, which was instituted by God at creation. 

Listen to Hebrews 4:1-2 and 6-11: 

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened… Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.’ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 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 as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. (Hebrews 4:6–11, ESV)

Conclusion 

Brothers and sisters, the more I study the doctrine of the Sabbath the more convinced I am that we ought to keep the Sabbath day. We are not called to keep the Jewish Sabbath, which is on Saturday, but now that that the Christ has come, has risen on the first day, and has entered into rest, we keep the Sabbath on Sunday, the first day of the week, for he is risen! He is risen indeed. We do not keep the Old Covenant Sabbath then, but the Lord’s Day, which is the Christian Sabbath. All of this we will discuss more thoroughly at another time. 

For now, recognize that pattern of six and one, six and one, six and one remains. How could it not? For we have not yet entered into the rest symbolized and typified by that day from the beginning of time. 

Friends, the Sabbath day is a blessed day. The Sabbath day is a holy day. All who belong to God should honor it! And I trust that we will be blessed when we do. May the Lord help us to understand these things and keep these things in the weeks to come. Amen. 

Posted in Sermons Joe Anady Genesis 2:1-3
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Old Testament Reading: Genesis 1:26-31

“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.’” (Genesis 1:26–31, ESV)

New Testament Reading: Matthew 28:18-20

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18–20, ESV)

Introduction

There are three questions of supreme importance to man. One, who is God? Two, what is man? And three, what does God require of man? The Bible begins to answer theses three questions in it’s opening chapter.  There God is first introduced to us, and then man whom he created in his image, and then God’s purpose for man is set forth. It is not hard to see that the answer we give to these three questions – Who is God, what is man, and what does God require of man? – will impact greatly the trajectory of our lives. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1, ESV), but “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight” (Proverbs 9:10, ESV). The denial of God will 

What do we learn in the opening chapter of Holy Scripture except (among other things) that God is. He is supreme, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, including man. We also learn that man was unique in all of God’s creation, being made in the image God. And, as we will see today, man, being made in the image of God, was given the unique responsibility of exercising dominion over the world that God had made. 

Here is the principle that I wish to drive home today: God created man in his image and after his likeness so that man would fill the earth with his offspring and exercise dominion over the created world. God made man to image him on earth. God has authority over heaven and earth, and man, made in the image of God, was given authority on earth. He was to imitate God as one who had dominion. But it is clear that man’s authority was never absolute as God’s is. Instead, man’s authority was, from the beginning, derived from God. Man was given authority, but he was to go on living in constant subjection to and in service of the God who made him. Man was created to be a king, but as king he was to forever serve the King of kings and Lord of lords. Put differently, man was created in the image and likeness of God and was given dominion, not so that he might promote the advancement of his own kingdom, but so that he might further the kingdom of God on earth. Adam and Eve, having been made in God’s image, were to work towards the establishment and expansion of a culture on earth where all of their offspring would worship and serve their Creator,  just as they were created to do. 

In the previous sermon I attempted to give an answer to the question, what does it mean that man is made in the image of God? Today I wish to walk through the text of Genesis 1:26-31 with you more methodically to show that man was made in the image of God so that he might fill the earth and have dominion over it, all to glory of God the Creator of all things seen and unseen.

“Let Us…”

Notice, first of all, the words “let us” at the beginning of verses 26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’” (Genesis 1:26, ESV).

The question we must ask is, who was God speaking to when he said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’” The use of the plural “us” and “our” is striking, isn’t it? It grabs your attention.

We have heard God speak throughout the creation week – this is not new – but so far we have heard declarations, and not deliberation. 

“And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Genesis 1:3, ESV). “And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters’” (Genesis 1:6, ESV). “And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” (Genesis 1:9, ESV). Etc. etc. These were the declarations of God. God spoke the heavens and earth into existence, and God formed the world by the power of his word.

But here we encounter, not a simple declaration from God, but God engaged in deliberation. In verses 26 God is heard speaking to someone as if he were making a proposal concerning the creation of man. When God says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…” it is made very plain and clear that when man is made, he will be made, not by a singular person, but by a plurality of persons. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”, God said.

Who is God speaking to? 

Some very good men have claimed that God is here speaking to the angels, that is, to the heavenly counsel. 

Indeed, God created the heavenly realm and the angels prior to the creation of the earthly realm (see Genesis 1:1). So it is true that the angels we there to witness the creation of man (see Job 38). But according to this view God is counseling and deliberating with the angels when he says, “let us”. If this view were taken then we would have to say that man is made in the image of God and of angels, for when man is made he is indeed made in the image of the persons referred to by the pronouns “us” and “our” of verses 26. 

Though possible, I do not believe that this view holds up to close scrutiny. I will not take the time to argue against this view extensively. But a simple and brief argument can be made by saying two things. One, nowhere in scripture is man said to be made in the image of angels. And two, in verse 27 it is explicitly stated that man was made in the image of God. There we read, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). The plural pronouns “us” and “our” in verses 26 are indeed striking – and they are meant to be. They grab the readers attention and cause us to ask, who is God speaking to? If God were speaking to the angels – to the heavenly counsel, so called – verse 27 would be the place to answer that question by saying, “So God created man in his image and the image of the angels…”. But verses 27 is emphatic that man was made “in the image of God.” “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV).

Who then was God speaking to? 

Though mysterious and difficult for our minds to comprehend, the answer is that God was speaking to himself. Man was created in the image of God – the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I am not saying that we find a fully developed doctrine of the Trinity in Genesis 1, but the certainly the Trinity is evident. What subsequent scriptures texts say directly matches perfectly with the creation narrative of Genesis 1. In the beginning  God the Father created through the God the Word, or Son, and by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, who in the beginning created the heavens and earth, is Triune. He is one God eternally existing in three subsistences or persons, Father, Word and Holy Spirit. Nowhere is this more clear in Genesis 1 than when it comes to the creation of man, for it is here that God deliberated and counseled within himself. The counsel, therefore, is not the heavenly counsel (angels), but it is the divine counsel (the Triune God taking counsel with himself). 

A further question that we might ask concerning the “let us” of verse 26 is, why did God need to deliberate prior to the creation of man? When God created all other things, there was no deliberation – there was no “let us…”, but only “and God said…” Why the need for deliberation when it came to the creation of man? 

The answer, of course, is that God did not need to go through a process of deliberation in order to create man, but that he deliberated so that he might reveal truth to us – truth concerning himself, truth concerning man and his purposes for us. So, just as God did not need six days to create the earth, so too he did not need to deliberate. Clearly the process of creation and deliberation is not for God, but it is for us. 

Calvin puts it this way in his commentary on Genesis: 

Hitherto God has been introduced simply as commanding; now, when he approaches the most excellent of all his works, he enters into consultation. God certainly might here command by his bare word what he wished to be done: but he chose to give this tribute to the excellency of man, that he would, in a manner, enter into consultation concerning his creation. This is the highest honour with which he has dignified us; to a due regard for which, Moses, by this mode of speaking, would excite our minds. For God is not now first beginning to consider what form he will give to man, and with what endowments it would be fitting to adorn him, nor is he pausing as over a work of difficulty: but, just as we have before observed, that the creation of the world was distributed over six days, for our sake, to the end that our minds might the more easily be retained in the meditation of God’s works: so now, for the purpose of commending to our attention the dignity of our nature, he, in taking counsel concerning the creation of man, testifies that he is about to undertake something great and wonderful. (Calvin, Commentary on the First Book of Moses Called Genesis, 91–92).

“Make Man…”

Secondly, let us consider the word “man” in verse 26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…’” (Genesis 1:26, ESV).

As this text develops it will become clear that when God said, “let us make man in our image” he meant, let us make mankind in our image, and not, let us make the male humans in our image. 

The word man, as you know, can be used to refer either to male humans in particular or to humankind more generally. The same is true in the Hebrew language. The word translated “man”, which his adam in the Hebrew, can be used to refer to “a male, any human being, or generically the human race (The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament, 15). Here the meaning is clearly the more generic one. Man is to be understood as a reference to human beings, male and female. Look with me again at verse 27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27, ESV). And so in the beginning God created a male adam (human), and a female adam (human). 

It is important to recognize that both men and women were created in the image of God.

In Genesis 2 we will encounter a more up close and personal account of the creation of man. There we see that Adam (the male human) was formed by God first from the dust of the ground, and then Eve (the female human) was formed by God from Adam’s side. This order is important and it should not be ignored. Christ and his Apostles do make reference to the order of the creation of man and woman when speaking to the role of men and women, husbands and wives in the family and in the church. 

The differences and uniqueness of men and women should never be minimized or ignored, but neither should we ignore what the two share in common. Men and women are both made in the image of God. They are both image bearers. Similarly, men and women are equal in Christ. They are co-heirs, and therefore, stand on equal footing before God in Christ Jesus. This is why Peter warns husbands, saying, “husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered” (1 Peter 3:7, ESV). Men and women are therefore the same in some important ways. They are both human. They are both made in the image of God. They are both heirs of the grace of of life found in Christ Jesus. This is why Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28, ESV). Paul is not here denying the uniqueness of men and women. He is not denying the specific roles that they are to take in the church and in the home. Were he doing this he would be contradicting what he says so plainly in other places, namely, Ephesians 5. Instead, in Galatians 3:28 Paul is emphasizing what males and females share in common. “There is… no male and female, for [they] are… one in Christ Jesus.” They are both human beings, made in the image of God, fallen, but then redeemed, the image of God having been restored in them through faith in Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. 

It is amazing how difficult it is for us to get this right. It seems that throughout the history of the world, and even in our culture today, men will tend to emphasize either the differences between men women, or their essential oneness. How common is has been for men to domineer women, to abuse their God given power and authority within the church and home and thus do violence to women made in the image of God and co-heirs in Christ. The opposite error is being made in our day when oneness or sameness of the male and female is being emphasized, to the neglect of the particular roles assigned to them by God at creation to be fulfilled within the church and family until the Lord returns. Indeed, our sinful natures do fight against the word of God at every turn. In fact, things are far more perverse in our culture. Not only are the God given roles of men and women being ignored, but even the fundamental distinction between male and female is in our day denied. Lord, have mercy on us.

It should be noticed that man was not divided by God into species as the plant and animal kingdoms were, but only by gender. The animals and plants were created by God “according to their kinds”, but there are no “kinds” within the human species, only male and female, and they are both fully human, image bearers. It should be plain to all that the scriptures leave no room at all for racism, that is, hatred or prejudice against people on the account of race. In the beginning God made two human beings, one male and one female, and from them the whole human race did descend. 

It should also be noted that the unity and diversity that exists within God is reflected by the unity and diversity that exists within creation, and supremely within man. God created trees, and there many kinds of trees. God created birds, and yet their are many kinds of birds. And God created man, male and female. One can clearly observe unity and diversity within creation and supremely within man, and this reflect the unity and diversity that exists within the Triune God. Man is one, and yet man is many. God is one, and yet God is many. 

Baptist Catechism Q. 8. Are there more gods than one? A. There is but one only, the living and true God.

Baptist Catechism Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead? A. There are three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one God, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.

While it is true that each individual human is an image bearer of God, it is also true that humanity in it’s entity, consisting of males and females, does collectively image the Triune God. 

“In Our Image, After Our Likeness.”

Thirdly, let us say a brief word about the phrase “in our image, after our likeness”, found in verse 26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”

Some think that there is a great difference between the meaning of the words “image” and “likeness”. Clearly the words are different and, therefore, carry a slightly different meaning. But if we consider the way that the words are used in reference to man in the rest of scripture we will find that they are nearly synonymous. To be made in God’s “image” is to be made in his “likeness”, and to be made in his “likeness” is to be made in his “image”. When man fell from innocence, both the image and likeness of God were in some way retained by man, and yet both were greatly marred and distorted leaving man in need of redemption and renewal. Does man still possess the image of God? In general, yes. But it is all bent out of shape and distorted by sin from birth. Does man still possess the likeness of God? In general, yes. But it is all bent out of shape and distorted by sin from birth. The image and likeness of God in man are renewed through faith in Christ who is the image and likeness of God. 

Anthony Hoekema in his book, Created in God’s Image, says,

Although these words are used generally as synonyms, we recognize a slight difference between the two. The Hebrew word for image… is derived from a root that means “to carve” or “to cut”… When it is applied to the creation of man in Genesis 1, the word… indicates that man images God, that is, is a representation of God. The Hebrew word for likeness… comes from a root that means “to be like”. One could therefore say that the word [likeness] in Genesis 1 indicates that image is also likeness, “an image that is like us”. The two words together tell us that man is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects. 

“And Let Them Have Dominion”

Fourthly, let us consider that man made in the image and likeness of God  was given dominion over the earth which God had made. 

Verse 26: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26, ESV).

Verse 28: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth’” (Genesis 1:28, ESV). 

The fact that man was made in the image and likeness of God, and the fact that man was given dominion over all the earth are intimately related. And here is how: man was made in the image and likeness of God so that they would exercise dominion over all the earth. Put differently, man was made in the image and likeness of God in order that they might imitate and image God on earth through the process of filling, and ruling and reigning over the earth that God had made and placed under their authority. Just as God himself had created realms, filled those realms with creatures, and then faithfully rules over those realms and the creatures that he placed there, so too man, made in the image and likeness of God, was to faithfully fill the earth and rule over the earth all to the glory of the God who made them.   

Notice that man was created, therefore, as a responsible person. Man was created with the capacity to make true and real decisions. Man was created with the capacity to rule over his domain. Man is not an animal being driven by instinct, but is higher than the animals. Certainly he is not a robot. Those free-willers who accuse the Calvinists and the Reformed of denying freewill should take note of what we are saying here. Man was created by God as a rational creature capable of making free choices. He, like God, is a person. He, like God, is capable of ruling, reigning and having dominion. 

Listen to our confession in Chapter 9, which is has the title “Free Will”, paragraph 1: “God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty [freedom] and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.” 

Where does our confession begin except by asserting that man, as a person, has free will. He makes real choices. He, therefore, is capable of exercising dominion. Of course we are talking about man prior to the fall here, as he came from the hand of God. But even after the fall I would still say that man has freewill. He still possess that “natural liberty [freedom] and power of acting upon choice”. He, as an image bearer of God, still has the capacity of having dominion, of ruling and reigning. The trouble is that, with the heart, mind and willing having been darkened by sin, he does naturally choose that which is evil. Having lost true knowledge, righteousness and holiness, man does not rule and reign, not to the glory of God, but to the glory of self. He labors, not for the kingdom of God, but for the kingdom of this world. He has, not God as Father and Lord, but Satan, to quote the words of our Savior.

God, in the beginning, created man in the image of God with the capability of functioning as a king upon the earth. 

But in the moment we emphasize man as person created by God to freely rule, we must also remember that man is a creature. Man is not God. Man was not given authority over all things in heaven and on earth. Man’s authority, therefore, has never been supreme. But man was to from the beginning rule and reign upon the earth, fill and subdue, as an under lord to the King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Man’s subordination to God is made clear throughout Genesis 1. One only has to remember that God is Creator and man is creation. But man’s subordination to God is also made clear in this text, for it is here that we read of God’s continual provision for man, and man’s continual dependence upon God. Verse 29: “And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food’” (Genesis 1:29, ESV). Man was to rule as king, but living in constant dependence upon the King who is far greater than him. Man was not created autonomous. He was not created to live independent of God. God gave him life in the beginning, and God would also sustain the life of his vassal king. It was as true in the garden as it is today. It is in God that we “‘live and move and have our being’…For we are indeed his offspring” (Acts 17:28, ESV). Therefore Adam and Eve were to pray to God in the garden of Eden, saying, “give us this day our daily bread”, just as we pray this prayer living now east of Eden. Gordon Wenham notes in his commentary on Genesis that this stands in stark contrast to the Mesopotamian view in which man was created to provide for for the god’s. No, according to God’s word it is not God who stands in need of provision, but man. God created man. And God also sustains man day by day.

It is true that God created man a responsible person capable of ruling and reigning by free choise. But it is also true that God is supreme over man. He is sovereign. His will will be done. Man is not purely autonomous, therefore, but lives continuously under the sovereign will and plan of the Almighty. Here is where the Arminian stumbles and falls. When emphasizing the freedom of man he goes too far and makes man absolute, supreme and autonomous, while at the same time denying the absolute, supreme and autonomous nature of God. 

Man was created in the image and likeness of God so that they might exercise true dominion upon the earth under God’s authority and to his glory. God’s kingdom was to be advanced on earth. The worship of God was to be promoted. The service of God was to be maintained. Were they kings? Yes! But they were created to function as kings living for the glory of the King of kings and Lord of lords. 

Adam and Even and their offspring were given dominion.  They were to fill the earth (expand God’s kingdom) and subdue it. But how were they to exercise dominion? How were they to go about the process of subduing? They were to do so, not harshly, but tenderly, carefully, and faithfully. The nature of man’s dominion – He would be Lord of all must be servant of all. It was as true in the garden and before the fall as it is today. What did our Lord say concerning the exercise of authority? “Whosoever would become great among you, shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you, shall be servant of all. For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:43–45, ASV 1901). Adam and Eve were to have dominion over the world, but never were they to exploit it or abuse it. 

Application

Look how far we have fallen/come short of the glory of God.
When we come to the account of the fall in Genesis 3 we will see that it was, at it’s core, a failure to subdue and exercise dominion.
We do not live in Eden. Instead we see sin and rebellion manifest in every realm.
Man is harsh, irresponsible and misguided in his:
Relation to God.
Relationships with others. Parents, spouses, pastors, bosses, etc.
Relationship to the earth.

This is renewed in Christ.
A Christian should:
Have s proper appreciation for and use of the created world.
Seek to promote God’s moral law within society.
Pursue godly marriages, godly offspring.
Promote the proper worship of God.

The Great Commission
This cultural mandate that was give to Adam and Even in the garden cannot be accomplished by the simple expansion of culture now that human culture is fallen.
Culture, and the men and women who fill it, must first be renewed and redeemed.
This is accomplished through the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Spirit.
This is accomplished through the planing of churches.
Filling and subduing the earth is now accomplished through the fulfillment of the Great Commission.
“My kingdom is not of this world”, Jesus said! 

Do you long for he new heavens and new earth when the earth will be filled with those who live in ongoing submission to the King of kings and Lord of lords?

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