God's Sabbath: Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and present ministry

All that we as Christians experience stems from the beautiful fact that God put us into Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are corporately connected to Adam and also to Christ (Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:22). What Adam did affected the entire human race. Likewise, Christ’s act of mercy miraculously affected the entire human race; “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16 emphasis added).

Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and present ministry in heaven are gifts (Ephesians 1:3-2:10). When we say yes to these realities, Christ’s history becomes our history through experience. We totally identify with Him, because He totally identified with the human race. Our life of heartfelt faith becomes a continual expression of “not I, but Christ” (Galatians 2:20).

Therefore, by faith in Christ we keep the Sabbath (Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:1-13). To knowingly not keep the Sabbath is to deny our standing in Christ; to say “no” to the reality of us in Him (Titus 1:16).

Christ is the source of all creation (Colossians 1:16). The seventh-day Sabbath was instituted at the end of the Creation week. Christ blessed it, ceased from His creative work, and set the seventh day apart from the other six workdays (Exodus 20:8-11, Deuteronomy 5:12-15).

Christ rested not because He was tired, but because His work was perfect, complete, and finished (Genesis 1:31, 2:1-3; Hebrews 4:4). The Sabbath belongs to God and was made for all humanity (Mark 2:27). Had Christ designed humans to simply keep any one of seven days, He would have given the Levites another day of rest for they worked the hardest on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath and marriage covenants both were made before the Fall. Had sin not occurred, the whole world would yet be keeping Christ’s rest, and not practicing divorce. Both of these covenants have been sadly mistreated.

The Sabbath was Adam and Eve’s first full day of life. Adam started his life by resting or entering into what Christ had already created. Adam was healthy, happy, and totally dependent upon Christ for everything. From this Biblical perspective the Sabbath rest becomes the very foundation of the glorious truth of righteousness by faith. By resting in Christ, on Sabbath, we say “Amen” or “Yes” to Christ’s new covenant (Jeremiah 31:3, Ezekiel 36:26-27, 2 Corinthians 1:20-22). We gratefully become 100% dependent on Christ.

Redemption is the same as Creation. Christ came to Earth to show His unconditional, unselfish, unchanging, agape love (Romans 5:6-10). He did His Father’s work with us in Him (John 17:4). On the Friday, He cried, “It is finished” (John 19:30-31). Just as Christ finished Creation at the end of the sixth day and rested the seventh day, so He also finished redemption on the cross on the sixth day and rested in the tomb on the seventh day. The Sabbath, then, is more than a day of physical or mental relaxation, or even a day of worship. It is directly connected with Creation, redemption, and Christ’s Gospel.

The real issue behind Sabbath versus Sunday keeping is a heart issue. Many Sunday-keeping Christians are totally resting in Christ for their salvation; they are keeping a non-Biblical rest-day for the right reasons. Many sincere Sabbatarian Christians are keeping the Biblical rest-day for the wrong reasons. Both stand to be corrected by Christ who sets us free (John 8:32, 16:13). Both need the law completely fulfilled in their hearts (Hebrews 10:16, Romans 13:10).

The Sabbath is like God left a post-it-note on our refrigerator that says, “My children, I checked my daytimer and I noticed that I have this Sabbath totally free. How about you and I spend the entire day together! It will be like a blood transfusion of life for both of us! Signed, God.”

With this in mind, let us keep Christ’s seventh-day Sabbath because Christ is our Creator, our Redeemer, and the heartbeat of our lives!