Think of your most precious possession. It might be a book or a painting, a piece of jewelry that belonged to your grandmother, or a tool used by your grandfather. Perhaps it is a picture album, a pressed flower from your first bouquet, or an athletic trophy. Whether the value is intrinsic or sentimental, its worth pales in comparison to time. Time is the one possession we are constantly losing, consuming, poorly or wisely. We cannot save it, recover it, or duplicate it. We may have a significant amount left on our personal clock, or very little. We check our bank accounts; we cannot check our time. All we know is that each passing minute is a memorial to ever-flowing time, an instant monument to our wisdom or to our folly. Solomon once observed: “man does not know his time.” This is more than a sober reminder of the brevity of life or the unknown hour of death. It is a call to think soberly about time, of its uncertainty, of the need to make wise use of the time allotted to us by our Maker.
Time is important to our Heavenly Father. This is not because he is subject to time, for he is time’s Creator. Rather, he alone fully understands our relationship to time. He has ordained, for example, that human time be regulated according to the pattern of six days of work and one of holy rest. The Sabbath cycle is the clock of man, the key to time. To appreciate the Sabbath cycle, two things are necessary. First, though our Father does not need rest, we must recognize that he created us to need rest, holy re-creation in him. Our very constitution requires it, as is well-documented medically, mentally, and morally by those who have studied the implications of Sabbath and non-Sabbath observance for men and cultures. To reject, ignore, or misspend the Sabbath is to reject God’s clock for man and to throw every area of life into disordered chaos.
Second, as a constitutional aspect of man’s creation in God’s image, the Sabbath is a creation ordinance, which means, among other things, that it is universally and morally obligatory upon man – as man. The Sabbath is not a temporary or culturally limited command. It is a perennial privilege and fundamental duty. Sabbath-keeping is recognition of God’s ownership of time and man’s happiness in imitation of his Creator. It is not a ceremonial command. It is not limited in scope and authority to the Mosaic covenant, though this particular phase in the covenant of grace introduced certain Sabbath practices consistent with its divinely ordained observance in that time period. These should be considered as clarifications and intensifications of the original creation Sabbath ordinance, not as its replacements. They enforce the Sabbath as part of God’s covenant of grace in Jesus Christ and reveal the specifically religious nature of the rest enjoined upon the Sabbath. They show all subsequent generations of God’s people the way to use the Sabbath wisely.
It is certain that we cannot use our time wisely or well if we are not keeping the Sabbath. This was established by God’s example and command during the first week of man’s creation. Experience also teaches us that men and cultures without a Sabbath wear out, morally and physically, commercially and politically. There is no renewal, just exhaustion. There is no refreshing of perspective, just work leading to more work, the unending pursuit of unfulfilling pleasure, or a vicious combination of both. Without a Sabbath, there is no resting in our God, for whom we are made and without whom life is tasteless and meaningless, however much we study devious ways to convince ourselves otherwise. And now that the Son of God has come and established his kingdom, without a Sabbath, there can be no regular celebration of true rest in him, no return to our bread and wine, water and light, life and way. In a fundamental sense, Jesus Christ is God’s Sabbath, for he has removed our fundamental impediment to rest: sin and alienation from God. This does not negate the need for a weekly Sabbath, for not only did our Savior explicitly deny that he came to change the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17-19), but he also enjoins through his apostles that a Sabbath practice remains for the people of God (Heb. 4:9). Our Savior heightens Sabbath, for in him alone do we find rest for our souls. His weekly Sabbath, now called and observed on the Lord’s Day to emphasize that it is only through faith in his resurrection that we can enter into rest, is recovery, restoration, and rest in the fullest Sabbath sense. In every way possible, then, our Father shows his concern for precious time by setting a paradigm for its wise and good use, at the outset of our creation and through the accomplishment of salvation in his Son. His way is Sabbath. He is the master of time. Unless we follow his example and submit to his direction, we become bitter slaves of time – always active but never satisfied, striving but empty.
Men are often heard to say that “there are simply not enough hours in the day.” I suggest that there are plenty of hours. I suggest that our problem is not a lack of time or too many things to do. It is our lack of Sabbath. Keeping the Sabbath, by which is meant a day spent completely free from our normal labors and activities, celebration of salvation in Jesus Christ, and day-long communion with the Lord and his people, would immediately introduce a heavenly perspective in our daily lives. We would be able to better discern the things that are important from the things that are not. There would be renewed energy after time spent with the fountain of life. We would gradually lose our perverse interest in being entertained. Knowing that solemn and joyful communion with our Father has just been enjoyed, with another opportunity coming, would be an incredible stimulus to keep distractions to a minimum, to live more simply, to prioritize our lives in anticipation of communion with our Father. It would also be a barrier for sin, for no man who lives humbly and expectantly in the light of his weekly appearance before his God and Father can habitually give himself to sin. The promise of Psalm 84 would unfold in our lives: “they go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.” Following in this joyful wake are holiness, increased abiding in the life-giving word, assurance of our adoption, wisdom, and courage in living for the glory of God in the world. These blessings are ours if we listen to the master of time, our heavenly Father, who loves and intends the best for us. His best is Sabbath, the organization of life around communion with him in rest and worship.
One hears a great deal of talk about improving society, especially when various man-made crises appear insuperable. Society cannot be improved without Sabbath. Whenever the foundations of any society are cracking, it is pointless to run around plastering each fissure as it appears. It is better to overhaul the foundation. In such times, believers everywhere should think about the basic principles of life. I cannot control the future; in particularly trying times, it is often impossible to develop a workable plan. We can determine if we are living in harmony with God’s structure for human life. Sabbath is one of its most fundamental aspects, individually and collectively. Without Sabbath, everything else we attempt will prove futile. Why? If we do not submit to God’s ownership of time, which, as we have seen, is our most precious gift from him, we have no legitimate expectation of his blessing in any other area. How can we, for example, expect to find wisdom if we are not abandoning our own and gathering at his feet, before his pulpit, in his church, the pillar and ground of the truth? Where is courage to be found if not in his presence, especially in his temple, whereby our lives are reoriented each week around his word and sacraments? How can the family be strong unless each member is committed to returning to the family’s foundation, the Sabbath, in rest and fellowship with the family’s architect? It is no wonder that Isaiah mentions “rebuilding the old waste places” as one fruit of Sabbath. Everything good comes from God. He appoints one day in seven to seek from him all that we lack in ourselves.
How is the clock of your life ticking? Are you tired all the time, worn out, with little hope? Sabbath. Are the current events in your life and culture pressing in upon you, obscuring heaven, frustrating and paralyzing you? Sabbath. Are you floundering? Does the pendulum of your life swing from one extreme to the other? Sabbath. How is your health? Sabbath. Do you need wisdom as a parent or child, spouse or business owner? Sabbath. Are you nervous or fearful? Sabbath. Our Father is the master of time. He knows time, yours and mine. Knowing our weakness, he gives us Sabbath so that we may regularly recover our life, strength, and joy in him. For those who love God, Sabbath is not a burden; it is the key of life. Without this key, time is a tyrant, and we are its fodder. With Sabbath, we live in harmony with the universe, with ourselves, and with our God.