Sabbath – What Does This Mean?

Christ’s Sabbath Rest in the Tomb

Encore Post: Jesus died late in the afternoon on Good Friday, just before the Sabbath was to begin at Sunset. Two of his secret disciples asked Pilate for his body — Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. They gave him a hasty but rich man’s burial. Several of the women closest to Jesus followed them to the tomb. Joseph rolled a large stone in front of the entrance and they left him there. Later, at the request of the priests, Pilate set a guard and sealed it to prevent the theft of the body. As the second day Jesus was dead began, he was finally at rest.

As God rested on the seventh day of creation, so now Jesus rested on the first Sabbath of the new creation. By his sacrifice on the cross, he destroyed sin and the power of the devil. Soon, when the Sabbath ended, he would break the power of death as well.

As Christians prepare for a joyful Easter celebration, we often miss this moment of quiet and peace. Soon, when sunset comes, the third day will begin. Sometime between that Sunset and Dawn, Jesus rose from the dead, descended to Hell to complete his victory of Satan and become the first to rise into eternal life. The Church will begin its Vigil of Easter at sunset and sing again the songs of Resurrection.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Concordia Theological Seminary
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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The Sabbath Rest

Encore Post: The Sabbath rest is ancient. God himself rested on the seventh day, just after he created the world in six days. When God gave his law to his people the command to rest on the seventh day made the top ten. God knew that working without rest would damage his creatures. So he built it in — rest every night and the seventh day. It provided time for his people to worship and to meditate on his word.

Yet for Christians the day they worship — and rest — is a matter of freedom. It belongs to the civil law, the law for the nation of Israel. It is not a part of the moral law, the law for all people. We know this because Jesus called himself “the Lord of the Sabbath” and St. Paul describes that freedom in Romans and Colossians. Still the church chose from the beginning to rest every Sunday, the first day of the week, to remember the Resurrection of Jesus.

While Christians should worship God every and any day, resting on Sunday brings with it the opportunity to hear God’s word preached, to receive his gifts of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, to meet with each other and pray for each other and to study the Word of God. It not so much that we have to go to church than that we get to go to church. At many times and in many places that freedom does not exist.

So we honor Sundays and Holy Days. We use the opportunity to receive the forgiveness of sins and bread for our daily lives. We rejoice to honor our Lord Jesus, who died for us, rested in the tomb three days and rose again, so that we might rest with him forever.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Sabbath as the Day of Salvation

I have been thinking about the Sabbath and how the Israelites are to remember how the Lord brought them up from the land of Egypt, the land of death, by his mighty arm .

What a wonderful thing to think about every Sabbath, every week, to never forget what the Lord has done, saving them from slavery and death. But we know the story all too well. They did forget. They didn’t listen to the Lord’s word. They despised it especially when the prophets were sent to call them to repentance. And eventually because of their disobedience and faithlessness they were exiled, and the temple was destroyed.

While we were not there in Egypt with the Israelites at the time of the Passover, we too have been brought from the land of death. It is through the work of Christ. The act of the Lord on behalf of Israel pointed forward to the greater act of salvation, Christ’s saving the world from sin by his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. The Lord Christ went into the land of the dead and was victorious over sin and death for you and me. That is something to get excited about and hear on a weekly basis. We need it because there is plenty of things that take our time. There is always plenty of “work” to do. But on the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day we get to be fed and nourished with the Word of God, where we hear again the wonderful news of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us and for our salvation. Not only that but we get fed with Christ’s own body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of our faith. So don’t miss out. Come and remember what the Lord has done for you in bringing from death into life.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter Lutheran Church, La Grange, MO