Man needs rest. God gave man­kind the Sab­bath day as a bles­sing and a sour­ce of joy. The most im­por­tant mes­sa­ge of the com­mand­ment ”Re­mem­ber the Sab­bath day to keep it holy” is the sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of the holy day. We can take a break from the bu­sy­ness of eve­ry­day life and qui­e­ten to hear God’s word.

The day of rest, that was bles­sed and sanc­ti­fied by God, is im­por­tant. But we may for­get it’s me­a­ning. Even the pe­op­le of Is­ra­el for­got it’s me­a­ning. This is why God had to give a re­min­der in the third com­mand­ment (Exo 20:8).

In the com­mand­ment ”Re­mem­ber the Sab­bath day”, there are two parts: rest and sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on. Both of them, un­ders­tood in the cor­rect way, inc­lu­de God’s bles­sing. Rest is part of a tem­po­ral bles­sing and im­pe­ra­ti­ve for co­ping with dai­ly life. The cor­rect sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of the Sab­bath day inc­lu­des an eter­nal bles­sing, be­cau­se it le­ads us to God’s word. That is the core of the en­ti­re Sab­bath day: God’s word is kept holy eve­ry day. The Sab­bath day is for man­kind, God’s gift to us as a bles­sing and joy.

The bles­sing of rest

The day of rest is part of the cre­a­ti­on or­der: we have been cre­a­ted to need rest. ”For in six days the LORD made he­a­ven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and res­ted the se­venth day: whe­re­fo­re the LORD bles­sed the Sab­bath day, and hal­lo­wed it.” (Exo. 20:11).

The body and mind are ref­res­hed in rest. It is good to stop and think about those is­su­es which might weigh one down. Would there be re­a­son to give up those things on the Sab­bath day so that there would time for rest? Spen­ding time out­doors and in na­tu­re pro­vi­des comp­le­te rest for the body and mind. The day of rest is al­so a great op­por­tu­ni­ty to spend time with fa­mi­ly when there are no pres­su­res from eve­ry­day bu­sy­ness.

With God’s per­mis­si­on and com­mand­ment, we can spend one day wit­hout doing work. On the ot­her hand, it is al­so a qu­es­ti­on of trus­ting in the care of the He­a­ven­ly Fat­her. Is a sixth day of work enough? ”Six days thou shalt work, but on the se­venth day thou shalt rest: in ea­ring time and in har­vest thou shalt rest.” (Exo. 34:21). This al­so su­re­ly inc­lu­des God’s great wis­dom.

The com­mand­ments can ea­si­ly be­co­me does and don’ts, and we might watch to see who comp­lies with them. Can this or that be done on a holy day? In Je­sus’ time, even the Pha­ri­sees used the God-gi­ven Sab­bath in the wrong way to make a law. They made a list of things that were de­nied on the Sab­bath. They be­ca­me the sti­pu­la­ti­ons for sal­va­ti­on. The gos­pels tell how Je­sus of­ten en­ded up de­ba­ting with the Pha­ri­sees over the qu­es­ti­on of the Sab­bath. The points of view were ob­vi­ous. To Je­sus, even the Sab­bath was the gos­pel: the good word and a gift from God. ” And he said un­to them, The Sab­bath was made for man, and not man for the Sab­bath.” (Mark 2:27). One can do good even on the Sab­bath day. We have per­mis­si­on to en­joy the Sab­bath.

God’s word and ne­ver-en­ding bles­sing

The most im­por­tant part of this two-part com­mand­ment is to keep the Sab­bath day holy. The ec­hoing church bel­ls on Sa­tur­day eve­ning re­mind us of the third com­mand­ment, the be­gin­ning of the Sab­bath day and it’s sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on. Lut­her proc­laims in the Lar­ge Ca­tac­hism that the Sab­bath day does not need sanc­ti­fi­ca­ti­on on it’s own. It was cre­a­ted holy. But God still wants us to keep it holy. What does this then mean? Lut­her exp­lains the third com­mand­ment: ”We should fear and love God that we may not des­pi­se pre­ac­hing and His Word, but hold it sac­red, and glad­ly hear and le­arn it.”

Sun­day, the day of Je­sus’ ari­sing and the Chris­ti­an’s holy day, is abo­ve all a day for God’s word. He­a­ring and re­a­ding God’s word con­vey to us the ever-las­ting bles­sing upon which we live and die. The gos­pel, which is pre­ac­hed with the po­wer of the Holy Spi­rit, tel­ls of Christ. It gi­ves Christ as a gift to the lis­te­ner, cle­an­ses the he­art through faith and gi­ves strength.

The Bib­le tel­ls that Je­sus went on the Sab­bath day to the sy­na­go­gue, as was his ha­bit. Je­sus was an examp­le to us: he sanc­ti­fied the Sab­bath day by going to hear the ser­mon. Al­so, the Chris­ti­ans in the ear­ly cong­re­ga­ti­ons gat­he­red to­get­her re­gu­lar­ly for wors­hip ser­vi­ces. It is told of in Acts: ”And they con­ti­nu­ed sted­fast­ly in the apost­les’ doct­ri­ne and fel­lows­hip, and in bre­a­king of bread, and in pra­yers.” (Acts 2:42).

God ser­ves with his word and sac­ra­ments. In this way, the Sab­bath day is al­so cre­a­ted for man­kind. We are to be ser­ved; it is a true place of rest, an oa­sis. A be­au­ti­ful church sanc­tu­a­ry, child­ren’s voi­ces in the ser­vi­ce hall, a po­wer­ful­ly-sung hymn and the Bib­le’s eter­nal mes­sa­ge cre­a­te a holy at­mosp­he­re and al­so make the day of rest a day of ce­leb­ra­ti­on. Al­so, ex­pe­rien­cing the con­nec­ti­on of faith in ser­vi­ces, church, and mee­ting with be­lie­vers feels as a bles­sing and gi­ves strength. The bles­sing of the Sab­bath day flows from God in­to our li­ves through rest and, abo­ve all, God’s word.

The he­a­ven­ly Fat­her has pro­mi­sed through his word that one day be­lie­vers will be ab­le to ex­pe­rien­ce the true Sab­bath day: ”There re­mai­neth the­re­fo­re a rest to the pe­op­le of God. For he that is en­te­red in­to his rest, he al­so hath ce­a­sed from his own works, as God did from his. Let us la­bour the­re­fo­re to en­ter in­to that rest, lest any man fall af­ter the same examp­le of un­be­lief.” (Heb. 4:9-11).

Text Al­bert Ha­lo­nen

Trans­la­ti­on A. H.

Pub­lis­hed SRK Vuo­si­kir­ja Ajan­koh­tais­ta 2013 / Siu­naus

Teks­tis­sä kä­si­tel­lään seu­raa­via raa­ma­tun­koh­tia: Matt. 28:18

Jul­kais­tu eng­lan­nin­kie­li­ses­sä kie­li­lii­tees­sä 11/2014.