The Sabbath and God's Creation Rest

When I discuss the Sabbath with antisabbatarians, one of their frequent responses is to claim that the Sabbath was created by the Fourth Commandment, which, they assert, means that it ended with  the abrogation of the ceremonial law at the completion of the cross work of Jesus. 

First, let me say that I agree that the ceremonial law was abrogated exactly because it was completed in the coming, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. However, no, the Sabbath was not part of the ceremonial law. Nor did it begin with the giving of the Fourth Commandment. Were murder, adultery, or thievery merely ceremonial prohibitions because they were framed in commandments? I hope that no one would say so. 

In response to that assertion, I say that, even if that abrogation applied to any of the commandments, it would not apply to the Sabbath, because, contrary to the assertion of the antisabbatarian, it was not created by the Fourth Commandment. God initiated the Sabbath day in Genesis 2:2-3, when He rested from creation work: "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." In response, I usually get something like, "But that doesn't say Sabbath; it was a onetime thing." 

Really? 

That response shows that the antisabbatarian has rarely made any effort to to study the matter. Rather, he is just repeating slogans that he has been given to dismiss the discussion. 

We find this in Exodus 31:13-17: "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. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between Me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'" 

God Himself explicitly ties the continuing Sabbath to His rest from the six days of creation. 

The Bad News Points the Elect to the Good News

"Be as sensible of your deformity and unworthiness as you can, and walk humbly under the sense of it. But let it not slacken your pace nor abate your hope. if anything may render you worthy, that is, a suitable object of mercy, it is your coming boldly to the throne of grace with all your unworthiness about you. It is a disgustful [sic] modesty to be shy in accepting from those above us. it looks as if we would not be thought to need their kindness, or else as if we thought they needed our requital, or, at least, as if we were unwilling to be obliged by them. Much more unbecoming it is to be backward in accepting the grace from so great a person as our Lord and Redeemer." -Elisha Coles, "A Practical Discourse of God's Sovereignty" 

There are some men who feel such shame of their past sins that they believe that they are beyond the help of Jesus's blood. Coles addresses such people in the quote above. It is exactly because of our unworthiness that He came and extends His mercy to the elect sinner. 

This Puritan writer makes the same point in everyday language what Jesus taught in the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14): "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt: 'Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I get. But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to Heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner! I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." Just like the hypothetical sinner in Coles' account, it is the one who knows his inherent unworthiness that can truly turn to Jesus alone for redemption. Anyone who imagines an inherent worthiness in himself, as does the Pharisee, disqualifies himself. 

As Jesus also says (Luke 5:31-32), "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." 

We also have the testimony of the Apostle Paul (Romans 5:8): "God shows His love for us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

The amazing thing about the biblical Gospel is that it is the opposite of what the world expects. While the world looks to the upright and virtuous as those who are worthy of Heaven, and to the wicked as those who are unworthy, that religion is backwards. It is for the sinner, the one who knows himself to be helpless, hopeless, and doomed, that Jesus gave Himself on the cross. For the one who falsely imagines that he has any worthiness within himself, Jesus disdains to extend a hope of salvation.