Jesus’ Model Sabbath

A child of God should have godly rest. But many of us, even though we go to church and follow the things we should, we don’t experience this rest. The Jews observe Sabbath day which is a day of rest. When they break the sabbath they have a big celebration with dance and song. Whenever the Holy Spirit is present, people tend to celebrate in dance.
However, there are also people who prefer to stand solemnly as well. But the Jews had a practice of aggressively worshipping and celebrating the breaking of sabbath. 

Sabbath was just one day in the Old Testament. But in the New Testament, every day is sabbath because of the rest we receive from Christ. This is the sabbath lifestyle. There is a celebration in sabbath life. Even in uncertain circumstances, we have God’s rest because we know that He takes care of us and provides for us. We have no need to worry. We need to enter into this sabbath lifestyle. In Genesis 22. 8, Abraham told his son Issac that God would provide the lamb. He experienced God’s rest because he trusted God to provide. We must rest in Christ and His works now and not when we die.

Jesus is the Lord of the sabbath. When He was on earth, he did good deeds during the sabbath. He was not inactive and taking full rest, instead He healed the sick and performed miracles. Seven out of the 32 healings that Jesus did were on sabbath days. In the Old Testament, Sabbath violators were killed. But Jesus came under the Law to fulfil the laws 

Psalm 127:2 (TPT) “It really is senseless to work so hard from early morning till late at night, toiling to make a living for fear of not having enough. God can provide for his devoted lovers even while they sleep!  

Luke 14:1-6 “One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. 2 There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. 3 Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?” 4 But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way. 5 Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?” 6 And they had nothing to say.”

They saw Jesus as a sabbath day violator. They were unhappy that Jesus was doing things on the day of rest. The Jews take complete rest on sabbath, they avoid even pressing buttons in the lift or lifting things. But Jesus explains that instead of thinking religiously and being bound by it, they should realise the true meaning behind it, which is that on sabbath, the people should do only good. 

Luke 6:9 “Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?””
 
Luke 6:5 “Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath”

John 5:16,17 “16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defence Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.””

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. It is not a day to do nothing, it is a day to do good and praise God. He gives us rest and He always does good for His people, constantly