Stop in the Name of God: Remembering THE Seventh Day Sabbath

Stop in the Name of God: Remembering THE Seventh Day Sabbath

Friends, we are living in an age of exhaustion.
Not just physical exhaustion — spiritual exhaustion.

We are busy, but rarely at peace.
Connected, but rarely present.
Productive, but often empty.

And into this restless world, God speaks a command that sounds almost offensive to modern ears:

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”

Not suggest.
Not consider.
But remember.

Today, we’re not exploring tradition or preference.
We are asking a simple biblical question:

Why did God set apart the seventh day of the week — Saturday — as holy, and what does that still mean for us today?

1. The Seventh Day Was Established at Creation

Before there was a Jew or a Gentile…
Before there was sin, sacrifice, or ceremony…
There was the seventh day.

Genesis 2 tells us:

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished…
And on the seventh day God ended His work… and He rested…
Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.”

Notice what Scripture does not say.

It does not say God blessed a concept.
It does not say God blessed rest in general.
It says He blessed the seventh day.

Time itself was sanctified.

God did not rest because He was weary.
He rested because He was finished — and He wanted humanity to live from completion, not striving.

The Sabbath was not created for Israel alone.
It was created for humanity.

From Eden forward, the rhythm was clear:
Six days — labor.
Seventh day — rest, communion, delight in God.

2. The Fourth Commandment and the Specificity of the Day

When God spoke the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, He could have said,
“Keep a Sabbath day.”

But He didn’t.

He said:

“Remember the Sabbath day…
Six days you shall labor…
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.”

The command is not vague.
It is precise.

The reason God gives is not culture.
Not convenience.
Not resurrection timing.

The reason is creation:

“For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth… and rested the seventh day.”

This matters deeply.

Because creation precedes Israel.
Creation precedes Sinai.
Creation precedes the ceremonial law.

The Sabbath command points backward — not forward — to Eden.

And notice something else:
The Sabbath command is the longest of the Ten.
It is the only one that begins with “remember.”
And it contains a promise of rest not just for the believer, but for servants, strangers, and even animals.

The Sabbath reveals God’s heart:
No one is expendable.
No one is owned by productivity.
No one works endlessly in God’s kingdom.

3. The Sabbath as a Covenant Sign — Not Abolished

In Exodus 31, God calls the Sabbath:

“A sign between Me and you… throughout your generations.”

A sign of what?

That God is the Creator.
That God is the Sanctifier.
That His people trust Him enough to stop.

Some argue that because the Sabbath was a sign, it no longer matters.

But Scripture never says the Sabbath was removed.
It says it was violated — often.
Forgotten — frequently.
But never abolished by God Himself.

In fact, the prophets repeatedly call Israel back to the Sabbath — not as legalism, but as loyalty.

The Sabbath was never about salvation by works.
It was about trust.

Trust that God can provide when we stop.
Trust that blessing comes from Him, not our effort.

4. Jesus and the Seventh-Day Sabbath

Jesus lived His entire earthly life as a Sabbath-keeping Jew.

The Gospels repeatedly say:

“As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.”

That Sabbath was the seventh day.

Jesus never once kept Sunday as a Sabbath.
He never commanded a change of the day.
He never rebuked Sabbath-keeping — He rebuked Sabbath abuse.

When Jesus said:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,”

He was not cancelling it.
He was reclaiming it.

And when He declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath, He wasn’t ending it — He was claiming authority over it.

If Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, then the Sabbath still belongs to Him.

5. Hebrews 4 — A Sabbath That Still Remains

Hebrews chapter 4 tells us:

“There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.”

The word used there is sabbatismos —
A Sabbath-keeping.

Hebrews does not erase the seventh day.
It deepens its meaning.

The weekly Sabbath points to something greater:
Resting from our own works.
Trusting in Christ’s finished work.

But symbols don’t disappear when their meaning deepens —
They become more precious.

The seventh-day Sabbath becomes a living sermon every week:

• God is Creator
• Christ is Redeemer
• Salvation is not earned
• The work is finished

6. “Stop in the Name of God” — A Modern Call Back

In Stop, in the Name of God, Charlie Kirk makes a countercultural claim:

That one of the most radical acts a Christian can take today is to stop.

To unplug.
To rest.
To honor God with time.

Kirk argues that Sabbath is not retreat — it is resistance.

Resistance against a world that says you are what you produce.
Resistance against burnout disguised as faithfulness.
Resistance against endless noise.

And while Christians differ on how they practice Sabbath, the biblical witness remains clear:

God blessed the seventh day.

To honor it today — from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset — is to align ourselves with God’s original design for humanity.

Not to earn favor.
But to live in freedom.

 

Friends, the Sabbath is not a test.
It is an invitation.

An invitation to trust God enough to stop.
To remember who created time.
To declare, once a week, that Christ is sufficient.

The seventh-day Sabbath whispers the gospel every Saturday:

The work is finished.
You are not God.
And rest is holy.

May we have the courage — and the faith — to stop in the name of God.

Amen.