The Sabbath is not about a day. The Sabbath is about our Rest.

Hebrews 4

In Hebrew, “sabat” means “to rest or stop or cease from work.” In Christianity, it has been easy to get caught up in the Sabbath being about either Saturday or Sunday, depending on one’s denomination. But I’ve come to realize it’s not about a day at all. It’s about our penchant to become captive to working towards something that we want Jesus to do when He’s already done it on the Cross.

When God created the earth, the Word tells us that He did so in six days and on the seventh day, He rested. He didn’t rest because He was tired; He rested because He was finished. Fast forward to the death and resurrection of Christ and we saw that the work that the priests had been doing in the temple through sacrificing and praying for forgiveness of the people was no longer necessary. The veil was torn. Jesus had given us our rest: physically, spiritually, emotionally, eternally. He became our Rest- our Sabbath- in that we no longer needed to work to gain our salvation. It was finished.

In seeking an answer from God for a particular prayer that I had been praying, I began to do all of these “spiritual” things to get Him to “hear” me. I was turning into this zealot by praying and reciting and meditating and everything else I thought was necessary to be seen by Him. Please don’t misunderstand: these things aren’t wrong; however, it’s all about the MOTIVE! I had become captive to working, much like the priests in the temple did before Christ came. They had to follow strict rules and guidelines regarding sacrifices and prayer or God would not receive them. Because I had become captive to working towards making God answer my prayer, I neglected the peace and freedom that the entire fourth chapter of Hebrews speaks about because the prayer had already been answered. Verses 10 and 11 (of Hebrews 4) say, “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.” It came to me that my works were useless and futile. What I was doing was unnecessary. And it was an example of my unbelief.

It is easy to fall into the captivity of doing what we think is necessary to get what we desire from God. But we must come to the understanding that God will not do any more than what’s already been done because EVERYTHING was finished through Jesus! When Jesus uttered the words, “It is finished”, think for a moment what He was talking about. Isaiah prophesied that He would be “wounded for our transgressions…bruised for our iniquities….the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5.) This covered EVERYTHING! He paid it ALL. The key is to break from the bonds of “working” to get a response from God. His response came before we even prayed. The response came when He sent His Son. It was finished.

Prayer for Release: Lord, You worked to make the Heavens and the earth and You worked to form me in my mother’s womb. As long as I receive Your Son and believe in His finished work at the Cross, there is no more labor for me. Help me to rest in that work and have faith in its benefits.