What is Real

Sabbath helps us sort things through. That is to say a period of rest gives us time and opportunity to contemplate our life and actions. When we take time off from everything we can talk and remember together. Time off puts work and productivity into perspective, especially when we are compelled by someone else to rest when we would rather be doing something. God gave Israel two explicit reasons for observing the Sabbath – Creation and Recreation.

“For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.” (Exodus 31:17) One might think that God didn’t really need to rest; that he was finished with all his work anyway; that his fence wasn’t broken; or whatever one wants to think about why God’s rest is different from the rest he commanded his people to take, but the point is still the same – God is saying he set an example for people and then commanded them to follow it: remember the rest and consider that time differently than any other time.

“Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:15) God had re-created Israel as a sovereign people from out of slavery because of his purposes for them and his promises to Abraham. Here, God instructs them: Keep the rest of God because you used to be slaves to labor, receiving only tenuous rewards for it, but as my people, I will provide for you and give you rest.

Sabbath is an important gift from God because it reminds us of what is real. God created us in his image to work and to be restful with him. God has re-created us further into his image by the work of Jesus, our Savior, so that we might find restfulness in him. The work we accomplish here will end and pass away, but our rest in God is more real. It is with God and in God; it transforms us out of this world and into his.