On Sunday mornings, preachers, teachers and praise leaders speak of the day as being the Sabbath. But is Sunday the Sabbath? What is the Sabbath? It is called the Lord’s day and the day of rest. In Exodus twenty verse eight it is written, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” What is to be remembered? Some say that our Lord rose from the dead on Sunday morning and that is why there is a new Sabbath day. Is there still a Sabbath?
In Hebrews chapter four in verse four it is written, “For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.” The author is referencing Genesis chapter two in verse two, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Continuing in verse three, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
Exodus twenty in verse eleven reads, “For in six days God made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hollowed it.” The author is paraphrasing the first chapter of Genesis and the second chapter of Genesis verses one through three. The creation week begins in chapter one verse three and the amount of time that lapsed between verse one and verse three is unknown, but that is a subject for another time. The point to be made now is that God created the Sabbath. On that day it is to be remembered that God created everything.
Did the resurrection of our Lord change the Sabbath day to Sunday? In John chapter twenty in verse one it is written, “Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” In John nineteen verses thirty through forty-two we read how Jesus died and was quickly put into a tomb before the high Sabbath, which began at sunset. The Lord was in the tomb for three days and three nights, and any that say He was not is also saying that He is not the Christ (a subject for another time). He went into the tomb in the evening and so He also rose in the evening. On Sunday morning it was discovered that He had risen.
Our attention returns now to Hebrews chapter four beginning in verse five. “… and again in this place: They shall not enter My rest.” Paul was referencing Psalm ninety-five verse eleven. The verse is speaking of the forty years in the wilderness and the children that did not enter into the promise land. Paul goes on to write referring to the rest of God as being a release from works into grace, “For he who has entered His rest has himself ceased from his works as God from His.” As we have moved from law, that is sin and punishment, to love, that is God’s word and grace, the Sabbath has become every day. What was created has not ceased, but the works. Instead of the works of a day it is grace and mercy everyday. Instead of entering the Lord’s rest one day a week, we live in it continually.