1. The meaning behind the
Sabbath
Laindon Bible Class – 23rd January 2013

2. What we plan to cover (God willing)
• Our key note – beginning to get to the meaning
• Relevant Hebrew and Greek words
• The Sabbath Stage
– in Creation [originated]
– in the Law [established]
– in the Histories [neglected]
– in Jesus’ Ministry [wrested]
• The Future Sabbath of Rest [fulfilled]
• The Lesson of the Sabbath for us

3. Our key note
• Not a day of idleness1...
Hebrews 4 v 4, 10
4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did
rest the seventh day from all his works.
10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from his.
• God ordained the Sabbath that man might
rest from his own works (doing God’s instead)2
• This a fitting parallel to the Creation sequence
1 How would this be a glory to God? 2 Giving God both glory and pleasure

4. Israel’s failure to comply
Isaiah 58 v 13-14 NRSV: “If you refrain from trampling the sabbath”
13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my
holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and
shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride
upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob
thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
5 Is it such a fast [Day of Atonement] that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his
soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under
him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the
heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast
out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide
not thyself from thine own flesh?

5. Psalm 92 – for the Sabbath
A Psalm or Song for the Sabbath day. it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
8 But thou, Lord, art most high for evermore.
1 It is a good thing to give thanks unto the 9 For, lo, thine enemies, O Lord, for, lo, thine
Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O enemies shall perish; all the workers of
most High: iniquity shall be scattered.
2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the 10 But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn
morning, and thy faithfulness every night, of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh
3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and oil.
upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a 11 Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine
solemn sound. enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire
4 For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through of the wicked that rise up against me.
thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm
hands. tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
5 O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy 13 Those that be planted in the house of the
thoughts are very deep. Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.
6 A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a 14 They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
fool understand this. they shall be fat and flourishing;
7 When the wicked spring as the grass, and 15 To shew that the Lord is upright: he is my
when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

6. Relevant Hebrew and Greek words
‘intermission’ (Str.)
‘(specifically) the Sabbath’ (Str.)
‘to repose’ (Str.)
‘to desist from exertion’
(Str.) Sabbath(s) 110 ‘the Sabbath’ (Str.)
‘to cease’ (BDB) another 1 ‘the seventh day of each
‘to keep or to observe week’ (Thayer)
the Sabbath’ (BDB) First appearance: Exodus 16 v 23
Sabbath (day) 59
cease(d)(eth) 47 week 9
‘a sabbatism’ (Str.)
rest(ed) 11
‘Sabbath observance’ (BDB)
various other 13 First appearance:
Matthew 12 v 1
First appearance: rest 8
Genesis 2 v 2 a Sabbath 3
First appearance: Exodus 16 v 23

7. The Sabbath – in Creation
Genesis 2 v 1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on
the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested
from all his work which God created and made.
• Day is “blessed” and “sanctified” Heb. shabath
(i.e. made holy or clean)
• This the basis of the provisions in the Law
• This was the first new day after the creation of
man (the culmination of the work)

8. The Sabbath – in the Law
Exodus 16 v 23-30 seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there
23 And he said unto them, This is that which
shall be none.
27 And it came to pass, that there went out
the Lord hath said, To morrow is the rest of
some of the people on the seventh day for to
the holy sabbath unto the Lord: bake that
gather, and they found none.
which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye 28
And the Lord said unto Moses, How long
will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay
refuse ye to keep my commandments and my
up for you to be kept until the morning.
24 And they laid it up till the morning, as
laws?
29 See, for that the Lord hath given you the
Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was
sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth
there any worm therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is
day the bread of two days; abide ye every
man in his place, let no man go out of his
a sabbath unto the Lord: to day ye shall not
place on the seventh day.
find it in the field. 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the
Deuteronomy 8 v 2
3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live
by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live.

9. The Sabbath – in the Law (2)
Deuteronomy 5 v 12-15 (see also Exodus 20 v 8-11)
12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.
13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:
14 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any
work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is
within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.
15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy
God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm:
therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Leviticus 23 v 3
3 Six days shall work be done: but the
seventh day is the sabbath of rest, an holy
convocation; ye shall do no work therein:
Heb. asah = ‘to do or make’ (Str.) it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your
NET: “observe the Sabbath day” dwellings.
GWT: “observe the day of worship” Heb. miqra = ‘something called out’ (Str.)
NET: “holy assembly”

10. The Sabbath – in the Law (3)
Leviticus 24 v 5-8 7 And thou shalt put pure frankincense
upon each row, that it may be on the
5 And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake bread for a memorial, even an offering
twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall made by fire unto the Lord.
be in one cake. 8 Every sabbath he shall set it in order
6 And thou shalt set them in two rows, six before the Lord continually, being taken
on a row, upon the pure table before the from the children of Israel by an
Lord. everlasting covenant.
• Also, 2x sacrifices on this day (see Numbers 28 v 9-10)
& circumcisions performed on this day (as John 7 v 23)
• As Jesus taught, this seeming profaning of the Sabbath
was acceptable to God. How so? Because it was doing
God’s works!

11. The Strictness of the Sabbath
• The man gathering sticks (Numbers 15 v 32-36)
• See also Exodus 31 v 12-17 “cut off... put to death”

12. The Sabbath – in the Histories
Nehemiah 13 v 15-22 19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of
15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading
Jerusalem began to be dark before the
sabbath, I commanded that the gates should
wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in
be shut, and charged that they should not be
sheaves, and lading asses; as also
opened till after the sabbath: and some of my
wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of
servants set I at the gates, that there should
burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem
no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
on the sabbath day: and I testified against 20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of
them in the day wherein they sold victuals.
16 There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which
ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
21 Then I testified against them, and said unto
brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold
them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do
on the sabbath unto the children of
so again, I will lay hands on you. From that
Judah, and in Jerusalem.
17 Then I contended with the nobles of
time forth came they no more on the sabbath.
22 And I commanded the Levites that they
Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is
should cleanse themselves, and that they
this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers thus, and did not our
should come and keep the gates, to sanctify
the sabbath day. Remember me, O my
God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this
God, concerning this also, and spare me
city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by
according to the greatness of thy mercy.
profaning the sabbath.

13. The Sabbath – in Jesus’ Ministry
Matthew 12 v 1-8 did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful
for him to eat, neither for them which were
1 At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day with him, but only for the priests?
through the corn; and his disciples were an 5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on
hungred, and began to pluck the ears of the sabbath days the priests in the temple
corn, and to eat. profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said 6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one
unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which greater than the temple.
is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day. 7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I
3 But he said unto them, Have ye not read will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would
what David did, when he was an not have condemned the guiltless.
hungred, and they that were with him; 8 For the Son of man is Lord even of the
4 How he entered into the house of God, and sabbath day. [see addition in Mark 2 v 27]
• How “Lord... of the sabbath day”? Because Jesus did
God’s works on this and every day (thus fulfilling the
Sabbath principle) cp. John 9 v 4. Also see Matt. 5 v 18

14. The Sabbath – in Jesus’ Ministry (2)
• This explains why Jesus did so many acts of
healing on the Sabbath day! ( in total)
1. Man with a withered hand Matthew 12 v 10
2. Man with an unclean spirit Mark 1 v 21,23
3. Peter’s mother-in-law’s fever Mark 1 v 29-30
4. Woman with an 18-year infirmity Luke 13 v 10-11
5. Man with dropsy Luke 14 v 1-2
6. Impotent (lame) man at pool of Bethesda John 5 v 9
7. Man born blind John 9 v 14

15. The Sabbath – in Jesus’ Ministry (3)
Mark 1 v 21-22
21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into
the synagogue, and taught.
22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had
authority, and not as the scribes.
Luke 4 v 31-32
31 And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath
days.
32 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power.
Mark 6 v 2
2And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many
hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and
what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands?

16. The Sabbath and Sunday
• The first day of the week, when we remember
Jesus, was interestingly the first day after the
new creation of man
Mark 16 v 1-2
1 And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of
James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the
sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
Acts 20 v 7 (see also 1 Corinthians 16 v 20)
7And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break
bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his
speech until midnight.

17. The Future Sabbath of Rest
6 days of 1,000 years labour 1 day of
1,000 years
rest
“But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one “There
thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand remaineth
therefore a rest
years, and a thousand years as one day.” to the people of
(2 Peter 3 v 8) God.”
(Hebrews 4 v 9)

18. The (Crucial) Lesson of the Sabbath