The Sign of the Sabbath Text: Exodus 31:12-17
Introduction: The Rhythm of Holiness
We live in an age of exhaustion. Our culture is defined by two equal and opposite errors. On the one hand, we have the frantic idolatry of work, the constant hustle, the tyranny of the urgent that leaves men burnt out and families neglected. On the other hand, we have the frantic idolatry of leisure, the desperate weekend binge of entertainment, consumption, and distraction. Both are forms of slavery. Both are attempts to find meaning and rest apart from God, and both inevitably lead to a deeper weariness. We have forgotten how to rest because we have forgotten the God who gives rest.
When modern Christians come to a passage like this one in Exodus, they often treat it with a kind of embarrassed awkwardness. It seems severe, archaic, and frankly, irrelevant. The death penalty for gathering sticks on a Saturday? What are we to do with that? And so, we are tempted to file it away under "Old Testament curiosities" and move on to more palatable subjects. But this is a profound mistake. This passage is not an outdated regulation; it is a revelation of the very character of God and the rhythm of the reality He has made. The Sabbath is not a burden; it is a banner. It is not a rule to be resented, but a sign to be celebrated, a sign that points to the very heart of the gospel: our sanctification in Christ.
God places this command here, right after the detailed instructions for the tabernacle and right before the golden calf incident, for a very specific reason. The tabernacle was the place where God's glory would dwell, and the Sabbath is the time when God's people would cease their own labors to contemplate that glory. The work of building the tabernacle, as glorious as it was, was not to override the principle of Sabbath rest. Even the best work, holy work, must be laid down. Why? Because the central lesson of our faith is that we are not saved by what we do for God, but by what He has done for us. The Sabbath is a weekly, enacted declaration of that foundational truth.
The Text
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely keep My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy. Therefore you shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to Yahweh; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant.' It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
(Exodus 31:12-17 LSB)
A Sign of Sanctification (vv. 12-13)
We begin with the purpose of the Sabbath.
"But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely keep My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy.'" (Exodus 31:13)
The Sabbath is designated as a "sign." A sign is not the thing itself, but it points to the thing. A wedding ring is a sign of a covenant of marriage. A flag is a sign of a nation's sovereignty. The Sabbath is a sign of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. It is a visible, tangible, weekly reminder of who they belong to. It distinguishes them from the surrounding pagan nations who either worked themselves to death in service to their false gods or engaged in debauched fertility rites in the name of "rest."
But what does this sign signify? The text is explicit: "that you may know that I am Yahweh who makes you holy." The Hebrew word for "makes you holy" is meqaddishkem. It means to be set apart. The Sabbath is God's chosen instrument for sanctification. By ceasing from their own labor, their own attempts at self-justification and self-creation, Israel was to learn a fundamental truth: holiness is not something they achieve. Holiness is something Yahweh does to them. He is the one who sets them apart.
This strikes at the very root of all false religion. The essence of paganism and every works-based system is the belief that man can make himself holy. Through enough effort, enough ritual, enough work, man can ascend to God. The Sabbath declares the opposite. It says, "Stop. Cease your striving. Your work cannot save you. Your work cannot make you holy. Rest in the one who does." The Sabbath is a weekly gospel drill. It is a forced stop to our delusions of self-sufficiency.
The High Treason of Profanation (vv. 14-15)
The severity of the command underscores its importance.
"Therefore you shall keep the sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people... whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death." (Exodus 31:14-15 LSB)
The modern mind recoils at this. The death penalty for working on a Saturday? This seems utterly disproportionate. But we think this way because we have a low view of God's holiness and a low view of covenant. To profane the Sabbath was not like committing a modern misdemeanor. It was an act of high treason. It was a public declaration of rebellion against the covenant Lord.
Imagine a soldier in the midst of a battle who takes down his nation's flag and tramples it in the mud. Imagine a husband who takes off his wedding ring and throws it in his wife's face to go after a prostitute. This is the gravity of profaning the Sabbath. It was to reject the sign of the covenant. It was to say, "I will not be set apart by Yahweh. I will not acknowledge Him as the one who makes me holy. I will make myself. My work, my provision, my identity comes from my own hands." This is the sin of Adam, all over again. It is the creature attempting to declare independence from the Creator.
To be "cut off from among his people" was to be excommunicated, to be put outside the covenant community. The death penalty was the ultimate expression of this. This was not about an angry God looking for an excuse to smite people. This was about a holy God preserving the integrity of His covenant people and teaching them, in the starkest possible terms, that the path of self-reliance is the path of death.
An Everlasting Covenant (vv. 16-17)
The command is not temporary, but is rooted in the permanent order of creation.
"So the sons of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as an everlasting covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." (Exodus 31:16-17 LSB)
The Sabbath is an "everlasting covenant." This means the principle does not expire. But how does this square with the New Covenant? The key is to see that the Sabbath is not grounded merely in the Mosaic law, but in creation itself. "For in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth." The Sabbath is woven into the fabric of the cosmos. The rhythm of work and rest is God's design for human flourishing.
The reason God gives for His own rest is not that He was weary. An omnipotent God does not get tired. The text says He "rested and was refreshed." This speaks of the delight and satisfaction of a craftsman looking upon his completed work. God ceased from His work of creation to enjoy it. The Sabbath, therefore, is not simply about stopping work; it is about entering into God's joyful satisfaction. It is a day for celebration.
Under the New Covenant, this everlasting principle finds its fulfillment and transformation in Christ. Jesus declared Himself to be the "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28). He is our true Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9-10). We cease from our dead works of self-righteousness and rest in His finished work on the cross. And this changes the day. The old covenant Sabbath was on the seventh day, at the end of a week of work, looking back on the finished work of the first creation. The New Covenant Sabbath, the Lord's Day, is on the first day of the week, the day of resurrection. We begin our week by celebrating the finished work of the new creation. We do not work toward rest; in Christ, we work from rest.
Conclusion: Resting in Our Sanctifier
So what does this mean for us? It means the fourth commandment is not abolished. It is fulfilled in Christ and transformed into the Lord's Day. To neglect the gathering of the saints on the Lord's Day is to neglect the primary sign of the New Covenant. It is to despise the very means God has appointed to sanctify us.
Our frantic, exhausted, and distracted world has no category for this kind of holy rest. It knows only the slavery of work and the slavery of escapism. But the Lord's Day offers a third way. It is a day to be deliberately set apart. It is a day to stop our own labors, our own projects, our own ambitions, and to remember that we have a God who makes us holy.
It is the day we are re-calibrated. We feast on the Word preached, we are nourished at the Lord's Table, we sing His praises in the great congregation, and we enjoy fellowship with the saints. Each of these is an act of resting in God's provision. We are declaring, by our actions, that our life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions or the success of our careers, but in Christ alone. We are declaring that He is Yahweh, our sanctifier.
The Sabbath is a sign, a banner planted in the soil of our week that declares our citizenship is in heaven. It is a foretaste of that final rest, when the work of redemption is complete and we will enjoy the refreshment of God's presence forever. Do not treat it as a burden. Celebrate it as an everlasting covenant. Keep it, for it is holy to you, and it is the means by which our covenant Lord sets His people apart for Himself.