Our solar calendar and the way we track time has its origin in creation. A day is the amount of time it takes for the earth to do a complete rotation on its axis and a week has seven days because of the model God set forth in creation. Genesis 2:2-3 says, 2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
God completed all the work of creation in six days.
- Day 1 – Space and matter (a place to put things and the stuff things are made of), light and energy
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
3And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- Day 2 – Earth and sky (separation of waters into that above and that below)
6And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.”
- Day 3 – Separation of dry ground from water (land and seas) and plants (vegetation)
9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.”
11Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.”
- Day 4 – Heavenly bodies to mark seasons and give light (sun, moon, stars)
14And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years,
- Day 5 – Sea life and winged creatures (birds and insects)
20And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
- Day 6 – All types of animals (those that crawl along the ground, wild animals and livestock) and man (male and female in God’s image)
24And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.”
26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”
Rest
When God was done creating all that he had planned to make, he rested from his work. This set up a model for measuring a week: six days of work and one day set apart as holy for rest. God confirmed this model when he gave the Ten Commandments to Moses.
The fourth commandment says, (Exodus 20:8-11) 8“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Work is something people do both to provide for themselves and also to advance and improve their lives. Without having been commanded to take a day of rest, many people would probably work continually every day without stopping. This would not be good as both the body and mind need rest or they wear out.
Sabbath Day
God made the Sabbath holy. He set it aside as a day for him. If a day weren’t set aside as holy to worship God then a person’s mind would tend to focus solely on the things of the physical world and shut out God.
The Jews (God’s chosen people) set aside Saturday as the Sabbath. Most Christians have set aside Sunday as their holy day of rest but there are some who observe Saturday as the Sabbath like the Jews do.
The earliest Christians were Jews. They would observe the Jewish Sabbath and go to the synagogue as was their custom on that day, then on the next day (the first day of the week) they would meet together as a Christian group to learn about Jesus their Savior. As Gentiles (non-Jews) were converted to Christianity they would attend these Christian meetings with the Jews who believed in Jesus. (Acts 20:7a – On the first day of the week we came together to break bread.)
The Gentiles didn’t go to the synagogue on Saturday because they weren’t Jews and they wouldn’t have been accepted there. In this way the first day of the week (our Sunday) became associated with the Christian worship of God. The first day of the week also had special meaning to Christians because it represented the day of the week that Jesus rose from the dead. It shows us that when we come to Jesus we have a new beginning. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! That is an important idea to think about every Sunday when we come together to worship God on the first day of the week.
Honoring the Sabbath
To honor the Sabbath we want to show God that he is our Lord and that we don’t put others things before him. We want to demonstrate that we are devoted to God above all other things. God wants us to love him whole-heartedly, more than anything else so that we want to honor him on the Sabbath. He wants us to do what Psalm 100, the Psalm we reflected on last week, says to do.
1Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Think about how the things Psalm 100 says to do would honor the Sabbath.
- Shout for joy to the LORD
- Worship the LORD with gladness
- Come before him with joyful songs
- Know that the LORD is God
- Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise
- Give thanks to him
- Praise his name
Responding to God with joy, gladness and gratitude are all part of honoring him. If we were to do that on the Sabbath, we would be truly refreshed each week.
- Overview Questions: Why is a week seven days long? What did God do on the seventh day of creation? What does God want people to do on the Sabbath? What day of the week is the Christian Sabbath? Why? What day of the week is the Jewish Sabbath? Why? What does it mean to honor God? How do we honor God on the Sabbath?
- Thought Questions: Does it honor God if we come to church out of obligation instead of love? Why not? Why does honoring God have to come from the heart? Is our focus generally on God or the things of the world? Why? What are activities that can interfere with honoring God on the Sabbath? Why do we let these interfere with our worship of God?
- Prayer: Pray that you would be whole-heartedly devoted to God and worship him above all other things. Pray that he would show you the ways that you honor other things above him.
- Week’s Memory Verse: Exodus 20:11
11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
What is the Sabbath?
On the seventh day God rested and called it holy.