4 September Exodus 35

Jesus, our Sabbath rest

Exodus 35:1-2 (NIV) Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, “These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do: 2 For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord.

The Hebrew word Shabbat means "to rest or stop or cease from work. God used the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. The Sabbath day was established so the people would rest from their labours, only to begin again after a one-day rest.

Hebrews 10:12 (ESV) But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Just as Jesus rested after making the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and stopped His work because there was nothing more to do. Because of what He did, we no longer need to work hard at following the law to be right with God. Jesus was sent so that we could find rest in God and in what He has provided.

Mark 2:28 (NIV) So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” Jesus is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. Jesus came to free us from trying to earn salvation through our efforts. We no longer rest for one day; we stop trying to earn God’s favour through our work. Jesus is our rest now, just as He is the way to heaven, where we will rest in Him forever. This is confirmed by Hebrews 4:9-11 (AMP) “So there remains a [full and complete] Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labours, just as God rested from [those labours uniquely] His own. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness].

Ultimately, those who believe in Jesus will spend eternity in a "Sabbath rest" with Him. Jesus is our Sabbath rest because He frees us from earning salvation through works. Instead, His sacrifice paid the price for us. We accept salvation as a gift from Him, finding rest in Him now and forever in His presence as portrayed in the following verses:

Ephesians 2:8-9 (ESV) 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Hebrews 4:16 (ESV) Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Because of Christ's finished work, we can confidently come before God and receive mercy and grace in our time of need.