The Sabbath is the seventh day that God blessed and made holy when He rested from the work of creation.
In the law it was given to Israel as a sign of the covenant: six days of labor, one day set apart to the Lord.
Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. He fulfilled what the day pointed toward and offered rest for the soul.
The church lives in the good of that rest while it still waits for the Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God.
In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy. At Sinai He commanded Israel to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, and to do no ordinary work. The Sabbath was a sign between the Lord and Israel, a gift of rest, and a test of trust. The prophets rebuked those who trampled the day for profit. Jesus entered the synagogues on the Sabbath, healed the sick, and declared that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. The Pharisees accused Him of breaking it; He answered that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. After the resurrection the first day of the week became the day the church gathered to break bread and to remember the risen Lord. The writer of Hebrews says that a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God, and that whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works. The Sabbath therefore runs from creation, through the covenant with Israel, through the ministry of Jesus, to the rest that is already tasted in Christ and will be complete in the age to come.
- The Sabbath begins in creation: God rested, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy.
- In the law it was a covenant sign for Israel—holy time given by God, not invented by man.
- The Sabbath was made for man; it is a gift before it is a burden.
- Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and did good on that day without sin.
- The rest the Sabbath pictured is found in Christ, who calls the weary to Himself.
- A Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God.
- Holy time belongs to the Lord; the heart of the day is trust, worship, and mercy.
- Creation Rest – God finished His work and rested on the seventh day.
- Covenant Sign – Given to Israel as a sign that the Lord sanctifies His people.
- Holy Time – A day set apart from ordinary labor for the Lord.
- Made for Man – Designed as gift and mercy, not as a trap.
- Lord of the Sabbath – Jesus has authority over the day and reveals its true purpose.
- Rest in Christ – The weary find rest for their souls in the One who finished the greater work.
- Rest That Remains – The people of God still look toward the full Sabbath of the age to come.
- Genesis 2:2-3 – “And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
- Exodus 20:8-11 – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God… For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
- Exodus 31:13, 16-17 – “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.’… It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
- Deuteronomy 5:12-15 – The Sabbath command is also grounded in Israel’s deliverance from Egypt.
- Isaiah 58:13-14 – “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable… then you shall take delight in the Lord…”
- Mark 2:27-28 – “And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.’”
- Matthew 12:8, 12 – “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath… So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
- Luke 4:16 – “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.”
- Luke 13:15-16 – Jesus heals on the Sabbath and asks whether a daughter of Abraham should not be set free on the Sabbath day.
- John 5:16-17 – “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’”
- Matthew 11:28-29 – “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me… and you will find rest for your souls.”
- Hebrews 4:4, 9-11 – “For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’… So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest…”
- Colossians 2:16-17 – “Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.”
- Romans 14:5-6 – “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.”
- Acts 20:7 – “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them…”
- 1 Corinthians 16:2 – “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up…”
- Revelation 1:10 – “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…”
- Ezekiel 20:12, 20 – “Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”
- Nehemiah 13:15-22 – Nehemiah contends with those who profane the Sabbath by buying and selling.
- Isaiah 56:2, 6-7 – Blessing is spoken over the one who keeps the Sabbath and holds fast the covenant.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. God rested, blessed the day, and gave it as a sign. The Sabbath was made for man, and the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. The shadows pointed to Christ; the substance belongs to Him. Come to Him, all who labor and are heavy laden. There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. Do not turn holy time into a burden God never intended, and do not treat rest in Christ as an excuse for a heart that will not stop and worship. Delight in the Lord. Rest from your own works. Do good. The God who finished creation and the Son who finished redemption still call their people into rest—and the full Sabbath is yet to come.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.