Genesis 2.1-3Sabbath

Genesis 2.1-3 NET: The heavens and the earth were completed with everything that was in them. By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

ש ד� to set apart for God’s purposes = ק�[to sanctify; to make holy]

Exodus 20.8 NET: “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy.”

Leviticus 23.3: Have a holy assembly for worship and scripture teaching.

Deuteronomy 5.15 NET: “Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

Genesis 2.3 NET: God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.

Israel was to reflect God’s image, setting apart this day as holy.

God

Israel

Nations

Exodus 20.8-11 NET: “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.”

Exodus 34.21 NIV: “Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.”

Exodus 31.12-17 NET, The LORD said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘Surely you must keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. So you must keep the Sabbath, for it is holy for you… The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the Israelites forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”

Summary of Sabbath Blessing & Equipping:

Keep us rested and healthy physically, intellectually, and emotionally

Keep us connected intimately with God and specify a time for our worship

Keep us thinking accurately about our relationship with God, so we stay spiritually rested and healthy

Sabbath Limitations:

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from labor, sales, transportation of goods

Sabbath Limitations:

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from labor, sales, transportation of goods

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from cooking

Sabbath Limitations:

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from labor, sales, transportation of goods

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from cooking

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from shopping

Sabbath Limitations:

Refrain from providing for yourself: rest from labor, sales, transportation of goods, cooking, shopping

Feel free to worship, teach about God, help people

Mark 2.27 NET: “The Sabbath was made for people, not people for the Sabbath.”

The Church and the Sabbath:

Sabbath never commanded for the church

Sabbath specifically not required for the church

Sabbath not on Sunday [sundown Friday to sundown Saturday]

Goals of Sabbath remain important, but we have freedom in the New Covenant as to how/when

Pastoral Guidance about the Sabbath:

Take one day each week to. . .

refrain from work and chores, so you can rest, worship, bless others

honor and praise God, remembering who is in control, how he has blessed us so much; reiterating your trust and faith in him, serving him in ministry

remember our covenant relationship with God as individuals and as a church, both set apart to be holy as his image