Did We Move the Sabbath?

(This is part four of a four part series. The rest of the parts will be collected on our Lord of the Sabbath page after they are posted.)

Matthew 11:28

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Today, I want to wrap up our discussion of the Sabbath, and Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, by answering one question I often get. If God commanded Old Testament Israel to observe the Sabbath day on Saturday (Exodus 16:26) and Saturday was the day in the first creation, God set apart as holy and consecrated as the day of rest, why on earth do Christians worship on Sunday? Have we moved the Sabbath day?

Well, to answer that, I’d say no, we didn’t. Because no one has the authority to move or change the Sabbath. Only God has that authority. But in answering this question, there’s something really interesting I want to look at with you today. And that’s generally how God works between the first creation and the second creation. So, for instance, everything he makes in the first creation, he always replaces with something better in the second creation. So, for instance, God gave Adam and Eve holy matrimony in the first creation. (Genesis 2:18-24) With Jesus’ death and resurrection, he gives his church the wedding feast of the Lamb that we look forward to in the new creation. God gave Abraham the covenant of marking God’s people as his own through circumcision. (Genesis 17:10–14) But Christ, after he rose from the dead, commanded that all nations be baptized, thus making them the children of God through water and the word. (Matthew 28:19-20) You have Moses, who is given the covenant of the Passover, (Exodus 12:1-28) which on the Last Supper, Jesus replaced with the better, more glorious meal of God’s feast, deliverance and freedom through the Lord’s Supper. (Matthew 26:26-29, Mark 14:22-27, Luke 22:14-23)

Everything in the first creation is replaced with something new, with something better, with a full, more rich expression of God’s grace to you, in the New Covenant in the New Testament. And you see, the same is true for rest. When we look at the Old Testament Sabbath day that happened one day a week. And as we looked at over the past few weeks, the rest that they were given in the Old Testament, whether it was work being done or holding still or being safe from your enemies, it was never fully completed. But Jesus’ death and resurrection changed all that. With Jesus’ death and resurrection, he gave us rest.

Come to me, you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

Notice this promise isn’t connected to a day of the week, but when we come to Jesus in faith and seek in him our rest. The author of Hebrews explains this he, points to the Psalms that say, today, if you hear his voice, believe in him, and you will find your rest. (Hebrews 4:7-11)

What day is our New Testament Sabbath day? Is it Saturday? Is it Sunday? Both, is the correct answer. Any day we hear his voice and trust in Jesus as our Savior, we have sacred rest. All the work is completed. We have stillness in Christ and we have deliverance from our enemies. But the early church chose Sunday, they called it the Lord’s Day as the day they would worship and gather together to praise God and receive his sacraments because there was something special about Sunday.

Sunday was the day that God began his work of creation. Sunday was the day Jesus rose from the dead and ushered in the new creation. (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1) And Pentecost Sunday was the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out on God’s church, (Acts 2) sealing you as the future participants of the new creation and new Kingdom through Christ. So every time we gather on Sundays, or if we gather a different time of the week to worship, we’re always celebrating the wonderful works God has done for us on that very first day of the week. That reminds us of the first day of the new creation we look forward to in Jesus. Amen.