Is Jesus our Sabbath rest ending the Sabbath?
Jesus cannot give us physical rest. We get this rest by keeping the Sabbath as God Commanded, not how we decide is acceptable. The proponents typically use the passage below but usually stop before verse nine. If they don’t, then they certainly never give you the honest meaning, if any, of the word translated “rest” in the KJV Bible.
Hebrews 4:1-5 “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.” Below is the remainder of this passage.
Hebrews 4:6-9 “Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a [Sabbath] rest to the people of God.”
The word “rest” in Hebrews 4:9 is the Greek word “sabbatismos.” The King James and New King James Version and a few other Bibles render the word as “rest” while the Amplified Bible the ASV, NASB, NIV, RSV and NRSV and several other translations somewhat more correctly render that word as “Sabbath rest.” A few Bibles such as the Darby translation transliterate the word as “Sabbatism.” Its literal translation however, is “Sabbath observance” and “The Scriptures” translated by The Institute for Scripture Research render it as such while the Thayer dictionary and the Bible in Basic English give the equally literal phrase “Sabbath keeping.” See also “the Sabbath from creation to eternity.”
Speaking of the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. which was nearly forty years after the cross, Jesus says pray that you do not have to flee persecution on the Sabbath day. (Matthew 24:20) Why would you need to worry about physically fleeing on the Sabbath if it was just resting in Jesus? See Sabbath in the New Testament or Ten Commandments and the Sabbath in the New Testament for more.
The following facts prove the Sabbath does remain a physically rest and that the excuse Jesus is our Sabbath rest is just one more fallacy from our adversary.
1. The Greek word for “rest” (sabbatismos) in Hebrews 4:9 unquestionably refers to a physical rest and a literal “Sabbath keeping” or “Sabbath observance.”
2. It was more than 30 years after the cross that Luke wrote that when the body of Christ was being prepared, “they rested the Sabbath day according to the Commandment.” (Luke 23:56) The New Covenant was sealed by the blood of Jesus on Friday night when He died on the cross, and yet Luke says they were still physically keeping the Sabbath according to the Commandment and after the New Covenant had begun. Any lawyer and the Word will tell you that it cannot be changed after the death of a testator. This one alone kills this appalling excuse!
3. Isaiah 66:22-23 says we still physically keep the Sabbath in the New Heaven and Earth.
4. Jesus words show that everyone would still be physically keeping the Sabbath at 70 A.D. (Matthew 24:20)
5. The Sabbath cannot be a spiritual rest if one had to worry about physically fleeing on this day.
6. Our Creator knew man needs a physical rest at least one day a week and Jesus as our Lord does not change that requirement.
7. God and His law changes not. Hebrews 13:8, Psalms 111:7-8, Luke 16:17.
