What is Sabbath according to the Bible?

What exactly is the Sabbath?

For many Christians, the word “Sabbath” sounds a little old-fashioned.

Perhaps you think of strict rules about what you can and can’t do on a Sunday.

Or perhaps you’ve never really thought about it at all.

But the Sabbath is actually a big deal in the Bible.

It appears right at the beginning of Scripture, when God rests on the seventh day of creation. It is included in the Ten Commandments. The Israelites are repeatedly told to observe it. And Jesus himself observed the Sabbath and taught on it during his time on Earth.

So what is the Sabbath actually about?

Is it simply a day when Christians shouldn’t work?

Is it still relevant today?

And why did God give his people a day of rest in the first place?

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says…

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1. Sabbath is part of God’s original design

While the word “Sabbath” does not appear in the Bible until the book of Exodus. The concept of “Sabbath” goes right back to creation…

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” – Genesis 2:2-3 (NIV)

The Sabbath isn’t something God invented because people were struggling with burnout in the 21^st century. It is woven into the creation story itself.

Sabbath is part of God’s original design

God created the heavens and the earth in six days and on the seventh day he rested.

This tells us something important:

Rest is not a mistake in God’s design.

We weren’t created to work endlessly.

Trying to live as though we can work, achieve and produce indefinitely without stopping is like trying to ignore the way God designed us.

In fact, it’s worse than that. Trying to work seven days a week is essentially saying we know better than God, we are stronger than God, we are cleverer than God…

2. Sabbath means stopping work

One of the clearest things the Bible teaches about Sabbath is that it involves stopping work.

In Genesis 2:2 is says: “on the seventh day he rested from all his work”.

And in Exodus 20, the fourth commandment says:

“Six days you shall labour 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.” – Exodus 20:9–10a (NIV)

The Sabbath isn’t simply a day when you work slightly less.

It is a day when you stop.

The word “Sabbath” (Shabbat in Hebrew) literally means “to stop”.

This is hard to do in the 21^st century.

While it’s relatively easy to avoid going into the office, in today’s “always on” culture, “work” follows us everywhere…

Work emails
Work WhatsApps
Work-related social media
Thinking about work
Checking analytics / KPIs
Catching up on paperwork
Doing the household jobs you’ve been putting off because the week is so busy
Running errands
Sorting out life admin

Even things that aren’t technically “paid work” can easily turn a day of rest into a day like any other – another day of “getting things done”.

3. Sabbath is holy

The Bible doesn’t just describe the Sabbath as a day off.

It calls it holy.

In Genesis 2:3, it says:

“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy.”

The word “holy” in Genesis 2:3 is the Hebrew word qadash,

Qadash means:

Set apart as sacred
Distinct from ordinary things
Consecrated
Dedicated for a special divine purpose

In other words, the Sabbath isn’t supposed to be simply another ordinary day.

It is “set apart”.

Different from the other six days.

Set apart from our normal work.

And, ultimately, set apart for God.

This is important because it changes the way we think about Sabbath.

If Sabbath is merely about getting a break from work, we might treat it exactly as the world treats a day off: a nice long lie in, a boozy brunch, doomscrolling all afternoon, a Netflix binge in the evening…

But if Sabbath is a holy day, a day set apart for God, we will ask ourselves:

“How can I use this day to make space for God?”

Sabbath is about stopping.

But it is also about redirecting our attention towards God.

4. Sabbath is a command

The Sabbath is not merely a nice suggestion in the Bible.

It appears in the Ten Commandments:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)

The Israelites were instructed by God to work for six days and rest on the seventh.

This wasn’t phrased as an optional extra.

This was a commandment.

It’s funny how, this is the one commandment that Christians in the 21^st century feel it’s OK to break!

We don’t think it’s OK to murder, commit adultery, steal, lie or worship idols…

So why do we think it’s OK to treat the Sabbath like any other day?

Now there is some debate here…

Some Christians believe that the New Testament changes how the Sabbath command applies under the new covenant. They point to passages such as Romans 14:5–6 and Colossians 2:16–17.

(You can read more about that view here >>> Do Christians HAVE to keep the Sabbath?)

But personally, I believe that view completely misses the heart of God.

God’s heart was not to give us this Sabbath rule to make our lives worse.

This commandment to work six days and rest on the seventh day was not given to us because God is a party-pooper and wanted us to have a boring, joyless, day of drudgery each week.

God commanded the Sabbath because he is a good father who loves to give good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11), which leads me neatly on to…

5. Sabbath is a gift

One major misconception of the Sabbath is it is supposed to be some boring, pious day of endless “don’t” and no fun.

But that is not at all how God intended the Sabbath to be!

God intended the Sabbath to be a gift to his people…

It says in Exodus 20:11 “the Lord blessed the Sabbath day”

And in Isaiah 58:13-14, it says the Sabbath should be a day of “delight”, “joy”, “feasting” and “celebration”. I like how The Message puts it..

“If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so!” – Isaiah 58:13-14 (MSG)

God intended the Sabbath to be a gift to his people…

Think about that for a moment.

God could have made us work seven days a week.

He didn’t.

He gave us a day to stop…

A day to rest
A day to worship
A day to enjoy his creation
A day to spend time with the people we love
A day to put down our endless list of things that need doing
A day to breathe
A day to remember that we are human beings, not human doings

Sabbath isn’t about God taking things away from us.

Sabbath isn’t supposed to be a punishment!

It’s supposed to be a gift!

It’s supposed to be a day of joy, delight and celebration!

6. Sabbath is a day of delight

We need to get rid of the idea that Sabbath is supposed to be boring.

Because biblical Sabbath isn’t about sitting in a room doing absolutely nothing because you’re terrified of breaking a rule.

Isaiah 58 describes the Sabbath as a day of “delight”, “joy”, “feasting” and “celebration”.

That’s a very different picture than the way Sabbath is so often presented.

Sabbath is a day to enjoy God:

To enjoy his creation
To enjoy his people
To enjoy your family
To enjoy good food
To worship
To rest
To laugh
To walk
To read
To pray
To spend time with friends
To slow down
To notice things you normally rush past
To be “un-productive”

That can feel strangely uncomfortable at first.

We’re so used to measuring our days by what we have achieved.

How much work did I get done?
How many emails did I answer?
How many jobs did I tick off?
How productive was I?

But Sabbath asks a completely different question:

Can you stop?

Can you put down the work?

Can you stop trying to achieve?

Can you make space for God?

Can you receive the day as a gift?

Can you simply enjoy being with God and the people he has placed around you?

7. Sabbath is an act of trust

This is one of the most challenging things about Sabbath.

Stopping requires trust.

This is beautifully illustrated for us in Exodus 16.

God provided food for the Israelites in the wilderness six days a week. On the sixth day, they were told to gather enough for two days because the seventh day was to be a day of rest.

They had to trust God to provide enough.

And in fact, some of the Israelites didn’t trust God enough and they ignored God’s command and went out on the seventh day to look for manna anyway.

(SPOILER ALERT: there wasn’t any!)

But isn’t that so relatable?

One of the biggest reasons for not taking God up on his wonderful gift of Sabbath is we don’t trust God to provide enough:

We don’t trust that six days of work will be enough to get everything done.
We don’t trust that we can stop without everything falling apart.
We don’t believe God will provide everything we need.

Sabbath challenges that belief.

It reminds us that ultimately God is God and we are not.

We don’t keep the world running.

God does.

And sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is stop working and trust him.

One of the times God most challenged me on this was at university. He challenged me to do no university work on Sundays: no coursework, no course-related reading, no revision for exams (even if I had an exam on Monday morning!).

And do you know what? God abundantly blessed that small act of obedience.

I still got a good degree…

But I also got blessed by God every Sunday:

Blessed by being able to go to church every Sunday (usually twice)
Blessed by fellowship
Blessed by great teaching
Blessed by being able to say yes to invitations to come over for Sunday lunch
Blessed by having extra time to pray, study my Bible, worship and listen to God.
And above all, blessed by rest!

8. Sabbath is for everyone

The Sabbath wasn’t just for the head of the household.

It wasn’t just for the people who had “important” jobs.

It wasn’t just for men.

It wasn’t even just for the Israelites themselves.

Notice what it says in Exodus 20:

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labour 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, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” – Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV)

Everyone was included:

Even children
Even servants.
Even foreigners living among them.
Even the animals.

Why?

Because Sabbath wasn’t a privilege reserved for certain special people.

Everyone needs rest.

It’s baked into our DNA.

It also reminds us that we shouldn’t make other people work on the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is for everyone.

9. Sabbath is a sign of God’s covenant

There’s another fascinating dimension to Sabbath in the Bible.

It was not only a rhythm of work and rest.

It was also a sign of the covenant between God and Israel.

In Exodus 31, God says:

“The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.” – Exodus 31:16 (NIV)

The Sabbath marked Israel out as God’s people.

It was a regular reminder:

We belong to God.

This helps explain why Sabbath mattered so much to Israel.

It wasn’t merely about physical rest.

Every week, God’s people were reminded who they were and who God was.

They were his people.

He was their God.

And they were called to live differently from the surrounding nations.

For us as Christians, this has not changed.

We still need that weekly reminder of who we are and who God is.

And we are still called to live differently from the non-Christians around us.

In fact, the Sabbath can be an extraordinary witness to the people around us.

Sabbath is so incredibly counter-cultural.

If you keep the Sabbath, your non-Christian friends and family will notice. And when they ask you about it, what an amazing opportunity that is to tell them about a God who loves us so much that he has given us this incredible gift of a weekly Sabbath day of rest, delight, joy and celebration!

10. Sabbath points us towards God’s ultimate rest

And finally, the writer of Hebrews connects the idea of Sabbath rest with something much bigger:

Hebrews 4 explains that the weekly Sabbath points ahead to a final “Sabbath-rest” waiting for God’s people in Heaven.

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” – Hebrews 4:9-10 (NIV)

One day, the frantic busyness of this life will be over:

No more striving
No more exhausting ourselves trying to prove ourselves
No more endless work
No more unfinished to-do lists
No more feeling like we need to hold everything together

Sabbath gives us a tiny glimpse of that future reality.

A weekly reminder that our identity isn’t ultimately found in what we achieve.

We belong to God.