Sabbath: Creation And Redemption

Reading through the Pentateuch again has been helpful. I have been seeing a number of things in a new light. One of those things, something I knew was there but never really thought through, is the two explanations for the Sabbath. While the substance of the Decalogue is the same in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, there are different explanations given for certain commandments. The explanations given for the fourth commandment in each account a
re the most different:

“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. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 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 20.8-11

"Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day." - Deuteronomy 5.12-15

There is much that can be said about the Sabbath from these commands. The Exodus account is rooted in creation. God did his work of creation and then on the seventh day he rested from his work. This was the pattern that was handed down to Israel at the foot of Sinai. The Sabbath is a creation ordinance. The Deuteronomy account deviates from this. Creation is not referenced, rather redemption is referenced. God brought Israel out of bondage and is bringing them into rest in Canaan. The land God is giving the people is to be a land where they rest, where they allow each other to rest. The Sabbath is a redemptive ordinance.

We know from Hebrews that the Sabbath was pointing to the eschatological rest. Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 work in harmony with each other. We do not have to look at the two accounts separately wondering what each of them is supposed to teach us. When we take them together they show us a marvelous truth. The same eschatological rest that Adam and Eve were supposed to attain after the Eden probation is that same rest that the redeemed sons of God will attain in the new heavens and new earth. In short, the two accounts of the Sabbath command teach us that both creation and redemption have the same telos (end, goal, purpose) in mind: Jesus Christ and the rest that he gives as Creator and Redeemer.

In Jesus Christ the original creation came into being. The patterns and laws rooted in that creation include the Sabbath. In Jesus Christ the new creation comes into being: it has already arrived and it is still yet to arrive. The wisdom and laws of God that are our delight in redemption also include the Sabbath. In Jesus Christ we have rest. Enter that rest.