The biblical principle of observing a day of rest is rooted in the creation story and reinforced throughout Scripture. In Exodus, the fourth commandment instructs believers to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, while Numbers records the severe consequences for disregarding this command. However, Jesus' words in John 5:17, "My Father is always working," and the teachings of Colossians 2:16-17, which caution against judging others based on Sabbath observance, provide nuance to the discussion. Exodus 35:2 also emphasizes the importance of the Sabbath rest, highlighting its significance in the biblical tradition.
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For six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found the man gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation, and because it had not been declared what should be done to him, they placed him in custody. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death. The whole congregation is to stone him outside the camp.” So the whole congregation took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses. Later, the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout the generations to come they are to make for themselves tassels for the corners of their garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes. Then you will remember and obey all My commandments, and you will be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.”
But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.”
Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a feast, a New Moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the body that casts it belongs to Christ.
On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Since Paul was ready to leave the next day, he talked to them and kept on speaking until midnight.