The Sabbath: A 5-Day DevotionalSample

God required the Jewish people to rest from their ordinary work one day per week. This was a gift from God to his people. They were not to think of themselves as oppressed slaves, required to work until the point of exhaustion seven days a week. God gave them a day when they could be free from work, to rest, to worship, and to enjoy the presence of God and fellowship with each other. Here again we notice the difference between the Mosaic covenant and the new covenant. Since the Mosaic covenant has been terminated, New Testament Christians do not have to rest on the seventh day (the Sabbath) or on any other specific day in seven. Yet we still must recognize that we need periodic times of rest. We do not yet have perfect resurrection bodies that will not grow weak or old. Therefore, it is wise (but not commanded) for Christians in the new covenant age also to take regular times of rest from their ordinary work. These times of rest are a gift from God that he allows us to enjoy freely without guilt, just as he gave the Old Testament Jewish people the Sabbath as a gift: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).

Learn more about Christian Ethics: An Introduction to Biblical Moral Reasoning  by Wayne Grudem.