Sabbath Rest

Colossians 2 

⁶ Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, ⁷ God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts.”

⁸ For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. ⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; ¹⁰ for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. ¹¹ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

We looked this week Sunday at how the Sabbath is about restoration.  Being restored to where we are meant to be, to who we are meant to be.  The writer of Hebrews gives us a sense of this as well.  Continuing the thought of Sabbath as the rest that is still coming.  The complete Sabbath rest of resurrection.  Where we lay down the burdens of life now, the work we have done now, and at that resurrection coming we will be renewed in a way that we cannot fully understand and may not have the imagination to grasp at this time.

But what does that do for us in looking at Sabbath today, before the resurrection?  We do not yet have the eternal rest of Sabbath.  But we have this limited experience of Sabbath rest.  Similar to how we have limited experiences and understandings of our place with God in events like the Lord’s Supper and Baptism.  God bringing grace and belonging in the sacraments.  And we speak of receiving a glimpse, or a fore-taste, of what we will yet receive.

Our experience of Sabbath in life now is seeing that God makes a place for us to be renewed and restored by him.  We no longer limit it to a day, but we see that each day is a gift of God and belongs to God.  We see that each day is an opportunity for us to receive grace and to give grace.  We can be healed by God and give healing to others.  We receive good things from God and we can offer good things to others as well.

Which day is it today?  Today is the day the Lord has made.  Remembering the words of Psalm 118, pointing to the coming Messiah, Jesus:

²² The stone the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone;
²³ the Lord has done this,
    and it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴ The Lord has done it this very day;
    let us rejoice today and be glad.