Christmas Day, Valentine’s Day, Veteran’s Day—you’ve heard of them. Do you know about National Pie Day (January 23) or International Talk Like a Pirate Day? People create “holidays” to celebrate who we are, what we value, and shared customs or interests. Very few of these special days dotting the calendar are true “holy days.” Today we will look at how God designed the Sabbath as a holy day to remind us of our identity in Him.
The Sabbath Command
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” —Exodus 20:8
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines holy as “set apart to a sacred use.” God expands on His purpose in creating the Sabbath in Exodus 31:13:
“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.”
Like the word holy, the word sanctify means to “set apart.” In studying the Sabbath, we see that God sets Believers apart as created, saved and sanctified.
Created to Imitate the Creator
In the beginning, God spoke everything into being, except for Adam and Eve. He formed man and woman in His image (Genesis 1:27). Like our Creator, we work. We take charge and manage creation, using our God given talents and abilities to fashion a life lived in cooperation with God and as worship to God. Paul addresses our God given work ethic:
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. —Colossians 3:23-24
We not only imitate God’s work ethic, but we honor His command to rest: “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). We rest because God rested. He gives us the Sabbath for our health and well-being. God calls us to rest from our work and enjoy Him and His creation. The Sabbath reminds us of our created identity and that we are set apart to imitate Him.
Saved to be God’s People
Since humanity’s rebellion in the Garden of Eden, God has been the Rescuer of His people. Each rescue pointed to the time when Jesus, “once for all,” saved all those who have and will believe (Romans 6:10). God set apart the Sabbath day from all the other days of the week, so we would remember that He is the God who saves:
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 5:15
Shedding additional light on God’s purpose for the Sabbath, an article on the Sabbath from JewsforJesus.org states, “God’s intention in giving the Sabbath was for Israel to be a microcosm of redeemed humanity, a community beginning to live out the ‘rest’ of a people in intimate fellowship with Him, despite their continued struggle with sin.” God not only saved the Israelites from slavery, but He rescues us from sin and saves us from death, so we can be His people.
Scripture About Our Rescue From Sin and Death
Rescue From Sin: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order 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 8:1-4).
Safe From Death: “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:10-11).
God saved the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to be a nation set apart for the Lord. He provided the perfect sacrifice for sin, Jesus, so we could be in relationship with Him as His people. He conquered death, so His people can dwell with Him forever. The Sabbath is sanctified from all other days to remember God’s saving work.
Sanctified for the Kingdom of God
The Sabbath and it’s keeping was a covenant between God and His people: “. . . this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you” (Exodus 31:13). God set aside a day for His people to find renewal as they sought His call and purpose.
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” — Deuteronomy 7:6
The nation of Israel was created to be an instrument through which God would bring salvation to the world. God called and re-called them to a life sanctified to God through the Sabbath.
Likewise, the Holy Spirit teaches, trains, and convicts us of sin, so we can do what God has planned for us since the beginning (Ephesians 2:10). To this end, we pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Sanctified by the Sprit and The Word, God’s people are called to join God in building His kingdom. The Sabbath points to our identity as sanctified. Becoming more like Jesus, we are His ambassadors to the nations.
In Conclusion
No matter your practice of Sabbath, God has given it to us as a reminder of who we are in Him. He has provided the Sabbath to set us apart as created, saved and sanctified. May God bless you as you live out your identity in Him.
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