Scripture: Genesis 2:2–3; Exodus 20:8–11; Deuteronomy 5:12–15; Matthew 11:28–30; Revelation 1:10

Introduction

Let me start our time today with a question: When was the last time you finished your to-do list? If you’re anything like me, the answer is… never. Every time we check something off, something else gets added. Life is always moving, always demanding, always pressing for more.

We live in a culture that celebrates busyness, that praises hustle, and that measures a person’s value by how much they accomplish. And in the middle of all that noise, there’s one of the Ten Commandments that God gave that our culture seems to think is negotiable: Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.

Think about it — we would never treat the other commandments this way. We agree that murder is wrong. We know lying is wrong. We teach our children to honor their parents and to avoid envy. But somehow, when it comes to the 4th commandment, we nod our heads in agreement… and then act as if God didn’t really mean it.

But in Exodus, God puts it right in the middle of the Ten Commandments, and in Deuteronomy, He repeats it with even deeper meaning. The Sabbath isn’t a suggestion. It’s not an optional “if you can fit it in.” It’s a holy command, given for our good — and when we ignore it, we don’t just break a rule, we step outside the rhythm God designed for our lives.

That’s why today we’re going to take a journey through Scripture — from the very first time God called something holy, all the way to the final book of the Bible — to see that rest is not weakness, and it’s not laziness. It’s a spiritual command, a gift, and a declaration that God is God… and we are not.

In the creation story, God speaks galaxies into being, fills the seas with creatures, shapes humanity from the dust… and then… He stops.

Exodus 1:

¹² The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

¹⁷ God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

²⁵ God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

³¹ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

He could have kept going. There were more stars to make. More worlds to form. But on the seventh day, God did something surprising—He rested. And He didn’t just rest. He called that rest holy.

Point 1: Rest Is the First Thing God Called Holy

Key Takeaway: God blessed the pause before blessing anything else.

Genesis 2:2–3 tells us: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy…”

• The Hebrew word for “rested” is shābat—to cease, to stop.
• The word for “holy” is qādāsh—set apart, sacred, unlike the ordinary.

When was the last time you considered your day off to be holy?  Did you set it apart as something sacred and unlike the ordinary?  My guess is no.  So many times we treat our Sunday as another day and that church is something to “check off” our to-do list in the morning so we can get to the rest of our day.

On occasion we will set our Sunday afternoon’s aside for family and friends.  To get together, to fellowship but many times it’s used for that yard work that still needs to be done or the errands that never seem to end.  For some it’s spent prepping for a productive week ahead.  When we approach our Sabbath that way we don’t treat it as holy, we treat it as another day for production.

If we take time to rest and maybe take a nap on a Sunday afternoon its most likely because we are exhausted.  Completely spent from a week of production and running from work to one event and another. And yet in the example that God gives us on the 7^th day of creation God didn’t rest because He was tired. He rested because the work was finished. In blessing that pause, He taught us that rest isn’t weakness—it’s worship.

Unfortunately whenever we follow one of the Lord’s commands; especially one that will draw us closer to Him, we need to be careful because whenever we are in a state of worship, that is when the Enemy wants nothing more than to distract us and keep us from worshiping the Holy God of the Universe. 

C.S. Lewis was one of the most influential Christian writers of the 20th century—but he didn’t start out that way. Born in Belfast in 1898, he grew up in the church but walked away from the faith in his teens and became an avowed atheist. Over time, through the influence of close friends like J.R.R. Tolkien and his own wrestling with truth, Lewis came to Christ in his early thirties—a conversion he described as being “dragged into the Kingdom kicking and struggling.”

In 1941, in the early years of World War II, Lewis began writing a series of short, fictional letters for a newspaper. Each was a satirical piece written from the perspective of a senior demon named Screwtape who was advising his nephew and apprentice Wormwood on how to keep a human “patient” from God. These letters, published weekly in The Guardian, became so popular that they were later compiled into the book we now know as The Screwtape Letters.

Through his unique wit and irony, Lewis shows us the enemy’s strategies—reminding us that temptation often comes, not through shocking evil, but through distraction, busyness, and a steady noise that keeps us from hearing God’s voice and entering His rest.

In The Screwtape Letters, the senior demon Screwtape gives advice to his nephew Wormwood on how to keep humans from following God. He says one of the easiest ways is not to tempt them with huge sins, but simply to keep them distracted. Fill their minds with noise. Keep them busy. Let them be always moving, always reacting, never still long enough to notice the quiet voice of God.

In the 4^th letter, Screwtape says, “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”

And in another passage, C.S. Lewis has Screwtape describe the world as a “kingdom of Noise.” In Letter 22, Screwtape boasts, “We will make the whole universe a noise in the end. The melodies and silences of Heaven will be shouted down in the din… Wherever there is prayer, there is danger of God’s voice being heard… We will fill the world with noise… until no one can hear the music or the silence of Heaven.”

That is exactly what our culture does today. We carry little rectangles in our pockets that can keep us scrolling endlessly. And while we’re scrolling, we’re not praying. While we’re endlessly refreshing our screens, we’re not listening to God and refreshing our souls. And when we’re not praying and not in tune with God, we cannot hear His voice. You see Satan doesn’t have to get us to hate God — he just has to keep us distracted long enough to forget to talk to Him. All the while, God is inviting us to stop, to be still, to rest — because that is where His voice breaks through the noise.

 

Point 2: Rest Is a Command for the Free

Key Takeaway: Sabbath reminds us we are no longer slaves.

When God gave the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, the command to rest was rooted in creation. God says, “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.”

But forty years later, in Deuteronomy 5:15, the reason shifts: “Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”

The Ten Commandments appear twice—first in Exodus 20 and again in Deuteronomy 5—because they’re given in two very different moments of Israel’s story, each with its own purpose.

When God first gave the Ten Commandments in Exodus, the Israelites had just been freed from centuries of slavery in Egypt. They were camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, stepping into covenant with God for the very first time. This was their defining moment — the foundation of their identity as God’s chosen people. The giving of the law was not a quiet event. It came with thunder, lightning, the sound of a trumpet, and the very voice of God. It was dramatic, foundational, and formative — the moment when God’s people first heard His terms for how they would live in relationship with Him.

Forty years later, everything had changed. The first generation that stood trembling at Sinai had died in the wilderness. A new generation now stood on the plains of Moab, ready to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. Last week we talked about how they had to have faith and listen for the voice of God as they crossed the Jordan; this resharing of the Ten Commandments happened just before they took that step. As Moses felt his life winding down he spoke to them one final time. In Deuteronomy, we hear his farewell — pastoral, exhortational, and deeply reflective. He retold the story of their journey, reminded them of God’s faithfulness, and repeated the commandments, not because they had been forgotten, but because the covenant needed to be renewed.

Why repeat them? Because God’s standards don’t change, even when our circumstances and leadership do. Because every generation must choose for themselves to walk in covenant with Him. And because the God who rescued them from Egypt was the same God who would lead them into Canaan — and they needed to live every day in light of that truth.

There are also slight wording differences between the two, especially in the Sabbath commandment:

• In Exodus, the Sabbath is rooted in creation

Exodus 20:8-11 – Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ You have six days each week for your ordinary work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy

• In Deuteronomy, the Sabbath is rooted in redemption

Deuteronomy 5:12–15 – Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³ You have six days each week for your ordinary work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. ¹⁵ Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.

This shift connects the same law to two core aspects of God’s relationship with His people—creation and salvation.

In Exodus, Sabbath is about imitation — God rested, so we rest.
In Deuteronomy, Sabbath is about liberation — God freed you, so you can rest.

Slaves don’t get a day off. Free people do.

Every time we keep Sabbath, we are declaring:

• My worth is not in my work.
• My value is not in my productivity.
• I am God’s child, not Pharaoh’s slave.

Why This Matters Today

We may not live under Pharaoh, but let’s be honest — some of us live under a boss, a company, a schedule, or even a self-imposed standard that is just as relentless. Emails don’t stop. Chores don’t stop. Our phones never stop buzzing. And in the middle of all that noise, the line between “slave” and “free” gets blurry.

In ancient Egypt, Pharaoh defined a person’s value by how many bricks they could make. In modern America, we define it by how many hours we put in, how quickly we respond, how much we produce. And the Sabbath command is God saying, “I’ve adopted you as my son/daughter and you have a new name. That’s not who you are anymore.”

When we are working constantly, when we never take our Sabbath, we forget our true identity as children of the Living God. We slip back into living like our worth is measured by our output.

Illustration: Gaius Octavius

Imagine an 18-year-old student far from home. His name is Gaius Octavius. He’s bright, ambitious, but no one would call him powerful. He’s been studying in the remote cities and provinces, away from the politics and the intrigue of Rome.

Then news arrives — his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, the most powerful man in the world, has been assassinated. That alone would shake his world. But then comes something no one expected. Caesar’s will is read publicly in Rome… and to everyone’s surprise including Gaius, it declares that Gaius Octavius is now Caesar’s adopted son and legal heir.

In an instant, everything changes. He is no longer just Octavius. He takes the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. By Roman law, everything that belonged to Julius Caesar — his name, his fortune, his political power — now belongs to Octavian. On paper, he is the most important young man in the empire.

But here’s the thing… not everyone believed it. Many in Rome saw him as an untested teenager with no army and no influence. Even Octavian himself didn’t yet carry himself like Caesar’s heir. He returned to Rome with uncertainty. Legally, his identity had changed the moment the will was read — but it took time for him, and everyone else, to recognize and live into what that meant.

In the years to come, Octavian would grow into his new name and new role, eventually becoming Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. But in those early days, he still looked and felt like the same young man he’d been before — even though the truth was already different.

And I think that’s a picture of what can happen to us spiritually. The moment you came to Christ, you were adopted into God’s family.

• Your debts were cancelled.
• Your name was changed.
• Your inheritance was secured.

But if you forget who you are — if you never stop to remember it — you can go on living like nothing has changed. That’s what Sabbath is for. It’s the weekly reminder that you are no longer a slave. You are no longer defined by your work. You are a child of the King. And it’s time to live like it.

Point 3: Rest Is Found in Christ and Continues into Eternity

Key Takeaway: Sabbath is fulfilled in Jesus and remains our eternal rhythm.

Jesus makes an extraordinary promise in Matthew 11:28–30:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The Greek word here for “rest” is anapausis — not just physical relaxation, but deep, soul-level renewal. This is rest that restores the core of who you are. Jesus isn’t offering us a better work-life balance or a more efficient calendar. He is offering Himself.

Jesus Practiced What He Preached

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus modeled rest:

• He withdrew to pray (Luke 5:16).
• He napped during storms (Mark 4:38).
• He refused to rush even in urgent moments (John 11:6)

 

His life was anchored not in the demands of the crowd, but in the presence of the Father.

Sabbath as Resistance

If Jesus is our Sabbath, then honoring Sabbath is not just about recharging — it’s an act of resistance against a world that says your worth is in your productivity.

Dr. Walter Brueggemann, professor of Old Testament and Dean at Eden Theological Seminary, wrote: “Sabbath is resistance. It is a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. Sabbath is not simply the pause that refreshes. It is the pause that transforms… an acknowledgement that what is needed is given and need not be seized.”

In a world that is focused on production, our resistance is our outward sign of our priorities and identity.  When we are willing to stop and listen to the voice of God, we tell the world that we won’t be forced to conform to it’s version of the truth and that our worth is not in production.

John’s Faithfulness on Patmos

Now picture John — the last living apostle. He has walked with Jesus, stood at the cross, outrun Peter to the empty tomb, preached for decades, and shepherded the churches of Ephesus.

Under Emperor Domitian, Rome finally decides to silence him. Tradition says they try to kill him in Rome by lowering him into a vat of boiling oil. Miraculously, he survives unharmed. When they can’t kill him, they exile him to a barren rock in the Aegean Sea — the island of Patmos.

By now John is in his 80s or 90s. Patmos is harsh, windswept, and lonely. Prisoners work the stone quarries, living in caves or crude shelters. John has no friends, no congregation, no pulpit.

But here’s what he writes in Revelation 1:10: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.”
Even after Rome tried to kill him… even after stripping him of his freedom… even after isolating him… John still kept the Sabbath. He still entered into worship.

And it was in that sacred rhythm — in the Spirit, on the Lord’s Day — that Jesus gave him the Revelation, the final prophetic vision of Scripture.

The Timeline of Rest

By this point, John has already written the Gospel of John in Ephesus, proclaiming Jesus as the eternal Word. On Patmos, he writes Revelation. After his release, he returns to Ephesus and writes 1, 2, and 3 John — letters filled with assurance, love, and confidence. That is not the voice of a man crushed by exile. That is the voice of a man who has received the soul-deep rest Christ promises.

Sabbath in the Final Book of the Bible

In the very last book of Scripture, we still see the Sabbath honored. We see that the rhythm God set in Genesis 2, commanded in Exodus and Deuteronomy, embodied by Jesus, and taught by the apostles — is still present at the close of the biblical story.

John’s example tells us something vital: Sabbath is not a temporary cultural practice. It is the eternal rhythm of God’s people — one that will carry us through hardship, sustain us in isolation, and prepare us for the eternal rest to come.

Hebrews 4:9 reminds us: “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.” One day, in the presence of Christ, we will live in that rest forever. Until then, every Sabbath we keep is both an act of resistance and a rehearsal for eternity.

Conclusion

From the first pages of Genesis to the final visions of Revelation, God calls His people to rest — not as a luxury, but as a holy necessity.

In Genesis 2, rest is the very first thing called holy. In Exodus and Deuteronomy, rest is commanded — first because God rested, then because His people were free. In the Gospels, Jesus offers Himself as our rest, and in Revelation, John models it even in exile.

Rest is not retreat. Rest is revelation. It is the sacred space where we remember that God is God and we are not. It is the weekly declaration that my worth is not in my work, my identity is not in my productivity, and my life is not defined by the demands of this world.

Sabbath is more than a pause in our schedule — it is an act of resistance against the noise and hurry of a culture that never stops. It is the posture of trust that says, “Lord, the world will keep spinning without me, because You are the One holding it together.”

And if John could keep the Sabbath on a barren rock in the Aegean Sea, if Jesus could step away from the crowds, if the God of creation could rest on the seventh day, then so can we. So must we.

Because every Sabbath we keep now is both a protest against the tyranny of busyness and a rehearsal for the eternal rest promised to the people of God. One day, we will live in that rest forever. Until then — stop, be still, and hear His voice.