“Therefore, let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.” Heb 4:11 NASB 

Footsteps #424. Hebrews 4:9-11 is admonishing us to enter the rest of grace where we cease our own efforts for salvation. The Sabbath rest celebrates the fact that God ended, or finished, His work of Creation (Gen. 2:1–3, Exod. 20:8–11) or Redemption (Deut. 5:12–15).  Similarly, Jesus’ enthronement in the heavenly temple celebrates that He finished offering a perfect sacrifice for our salvation (Heb. 10:12–14). Notice that God rests only when He has secured our well-being.  At Creation, God rested when He had finished the Creation of the world. Later on, God rested in the temple only after the conquest of the land He had promised Abraham was completed through the victories of David, and Israel “lived in safety” (1 Kings 4:21–25).  God had a house built for Himself only after Israel and the king had houses for themselves. Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, acknowledging the completed reconciliation that the Sabbath now symbolises. 

The texts in Exodus and Deuteronomy invite us to look to the past.  They exhort us to rest on Sabbath in order to celebrate God’s accomplishments at Creation and at Redemption, which now includes the crucifixion and resurrection. Hebrews 4:9–11, however, also invites us to look to the future. It tells us that God has prepared a Sabbath rest that is in the future. It suggests a new dimension for Sabbath-keeping. Sabbath rest not only memorializes God’s victories in the past but also celebrates God’s promises for the future. The future dimension of Sabbath observance has always been there, but it has often been neglected.  After the Fall, it came to imply the promise that God would one day restore creation to its original glory through the Messiah. God commanded us to celebrate His acts of redemption through Sabbath observance because the Sabbath pointed forward to the culmination of Redemption in a new creation. Sabbath observance is an anticipation of heaven in this imperfect world. It now celebrates our re-creation in Christ.  

Sabbath is for celebration, for joy and thanksgiving.  Paul in Hebrews 4 is telling us that when we keep the Sabbath, we indicate that we believe in God’s promises, that we accept His gift of grace. Sabbath is faith alive and vibrant.  As far as actions go, Sabbath observance is probably the fullest expression of our conviction that we are saved by grace alone through faith in Jesus. 

It is very significant that Paul in Hebrews used the Sabbath rest, and not Sunday, as a symbol of the salvation through grace that God offers us. The use of Sabbath rest in this way implies that Sabbath was cherished and observed by believers. From the second century A.D.  forward, however, we find evidence of a decisive change in the church. Sabbath observance ceased to be considered a symbol of salvation and was, instead, considered a symbol of allegiance to Judaism and the old covenant, one that had to be avoided.  To keep the Sabbath became the equivalent of to “Judaize.”  The old fox we call the devil was not going to leave this symbol of justification by faith alone out of his attacks. The pressure came from two angles: not wanting to appear “Jewish” and the paganization of Christianity and the influence of compromising with these religions. This began in the second century after Christ. It was the loss of understanding of Sabbath observance as a symbol of salvation by grace that led to its demise in the Christian church.