And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. (Exodus 31:12, 13 ESV)

Did you catch that last line?

…that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you.

Don’t miss that. Apparently the Sabbath was more than just a structured nap time for the nation of Israel. God ordered the Sabbath so His people would remember that He sanctifies them; that He is the One who makes them holy.

But why would God order an entire day of rest just to remind His people of that point? How did He expect them to be holy if they were forbidden from doing the things of the law they did every other day?

God’s logic isn’t too hard to follow.

As an Israelite, when you take a day off from your typical day of work (offering animal sacrifices for you and your family, discerning whether or not that pig touched you and made you unclean, living in perpetual fear of breaking God’s commandment not to covet your neighbor’s new chicken) you take a day off from striving to obey all of God’s requirements for holy living. For an Israelite, that meant doing absolutely nothing for fear of God’s wrathful judgment. But if you were idle for an entire day, how could you become holy? Certainly obedience to God’s command to rest was not worth as many holy points as fulfilling other aspects of the law! How were the Israelites to become righteous?

This applies to us as well. The Sabbath was not just given to Old Testament Jews. It was given to all of God’s people as a reminder of His work in creation and His grace in redemption. But what are we to do with a whole day to rest? It seems sinful to take time from our crazed schedules and church functions and bible studies! How can we become holy if we are caught resting? Why is it such a big deal to God?

I think God’s point (as always) is to communicate His character through His gospel. We ask, How we can become holy when we are idle? God replies, “You cannot.” He would even take it a step further: “Not only can you not become holy when you’re idle on the Sabbath, but you also cannot become holy when you’re actively striving to obey other aspects of the law every other day of the week.”

Only through Christ’s perfect obedience to the law are we made holy. It is by His merit and not our own. It is the Father’s grace to grant righteousness on account of Christ to all who believe upon Him. The Sabbath was given to remind us of our total dependence on His grace; on His work and not our own.

Our intentional acts of obedience may be used by God to display our growth in holiness, but it is only by His Spirit and His grace that we are able to be obedient at all. Giving the Israelites a day off from work reminds us that we’re not the ones really doing the work at all. God is the doer. He is the main actor in our work. It is God who sanctifies. In fact, it is His will to sanctify (1 Thess. 4:3). Just as Moses recorded in the verse above: it is God and God alone who sanctifies, and He wants us to know it!

The question is, Will you take the time in 2012 to rest in God’s grace for your sanctification? Will you trust that Christ has already done enough for you? I pray that you will.