Sabbath in the Book of Hebrews
Sabbath in the Book of Hebrews
Reflecting on the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost: One Day after Sunday (Year C)
Scripture (semicontinuous)
Psalter: Psalm 10
Old Testament: Jeremiah 7:1-15
Epistle: Hebrews 3:7—4:11
Scripture (complementary)
Psalter: Psalm 109:21-31
Old Testament: Ezekiel 20:1-17
Epistle: Hebrews 3:7—4:11
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Prayer
God of power and justice, like Jeremiah you weep over those who wander from you, turn aside to other gods, and enter into chaos and destruction. By your tears and through your mercy, teach us your ways and write them on our hearts so that we may follow faithfully the path you show us. Amen.
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Reflection
An unknown author wrote the book of Hebrews to an audience primarily made up of Jewish believers in Jesus who were under persecution for their faith in Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah. Their forefathers, the ancient Israelites, fresh out of four centuries of slavery, had second thoughts about their newfound freedom. As they wandered in the wilderness, they began to wonder if God rescuing them out of Egypt had been a big mistake.
In the same way, the first generation of Jewish believers in Jesus was having second thoughts. Would it not be better to return to the temple, the Levitical priesthood, and the Law that we have known all these centuries? The author of Hebrews wrote this epistle to encourage them to hold fast to their faith in Jesus. And he did so by demonstrating the many ways that Jesus and the New Covenant are far superior to Moses and the Sinai Covenant.1
Along the way, this book has some important things to teach us about the Sabbath and its connection to Jesus. The author points his readers back to the unbelief of their forefathers to make his point. He warns them of the dangers of doubting and encourages them that God’s promise to them still stands. In doing so, we see some crucial dots connected between the Old and New Testaments.
The author of Hebrews isn’t teaching that Christians today can gain access to the physical Promised Land that the Israelites entered 3,500 years ago. That’s not our goal, and it’s not what God is calling us to under the New Covenant. So what is the point of his illustration? If the faith of the Israelites determined whether they would enter the Promised Land, what does our faith in Christ allow us to enter? The book of Hebrews points out that the Promised Land was called God’s rest.
Jesus is our rest. He is our Promised Land. He is our salvation. The author of Hebrews is saying that the promise of rest that God gave to Israel in the Promised Land remains available to us today in Christ. And he continues his illustration.
The rest that he’s been talking about is explicitly referred to as a “Sabbath rest.” That certainly would have gotten the attention of his Jewish readers! And he adds that “whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” In other words, in the same way that God rested from His creation work on the seventh day because it was completed, we who have entered God’s rest today can rest because Christ has completed our salvation.
The rest we have available to us now if we believe —and that we will one day have in its fullness if we continue in our faith—is eternal life. An eternal membership in God’s family, resting in His presence. And there is only one way to enter that rest: through faith in Jesus. The book of Hebrews teaches that God’s promise to enter His Sabbath rest is still available to us through Christ. Our Sabbath rest is in Him. Yeshua is our Shabbat; Jesus is our rest, our Sabbath. The Torah Sabbath is not our Sabbath. That Shabbat pointed us to Christ, to the real Sabbath, to our ultimate rest.
PRAYER: Move us to praise your gracious will, for in Christ Jesus you have saved us from the deeds of death and opened for us the hidden ways of your love. We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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