The following article was written by a Facebook friend called “Humble Disciple.”
I struggled with this verse in the past. Not because it was difficult to understand. Because it was difficult to explain away.
The book of Hebrews spends chapter after chapter showing what has changed. The Levitical priesthood changed. The sacrificial system changed. The earthly sanctuary pointed to a greater reality. Hebrews is not afraid to tell us when something has reached its fulfillment.
Yet when the writer arrives at the Sabbath, he doesn't say it ended. He doesn't say it was replaced. He doesn't say it became Sunday. He says it remains. Remains. Not remained. Not used to exist. Not fulfilled away. Remains. Something cannot remain if it has ceased to exist.
I was told Hebrews proves the Sabbath was replaced by Jesus. That the rest is now purely spiritual. But the more I read the chapter, the more that explanation felt forced. The author never says the Sabbath ended. He never says it was abolished. He says it remains. Not because the weekly Sabbath is the final destination, but because it points forward to a greater rest still ahead.
What struck me even more was who this promise is for. "There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God." Not for the world in general. For the people of God. The people who hear His voice. The people who trust Him. The people who refuse to harden their hearts. The people who are pressing toward the Kingdom.
Hebrews is using the Sabbath as a picture of something even greater.
The weekly Sabbath reminds us that our work is not our salvation. Every seventh day we stop striving, stop chasing, stop producing, and remember that everything comes from Yehovah. And every Sabbath points beyond itself. Back to creation, where God rested. Forward to the Kingdom, where His people will finally enter the fullness of that rest.
That's why the Sabbath appears everywhere in Scripture. It begins in Genesis before there was a Jew. It is written into the covenant at Sinai. The prophets see it in the age to come. Yeshua kept it. The apostles kept it. Revelation describes a people who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Yeshua.
One story. One God. One people. One consistent witness from beginning to end.
Hebrews 4:9 is a promise:
- A promise that the gift given at creation still stands.
- A promise that the weekly Sabbath still points somewhere.
- A promise that after all the wandering, striving, suffering, and waiting...
- …there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
PS: Many comments say, "Jesus is now our Sabbath rest," so before you feel compelled making that same comment, note, I agree that our rest is found in Messiah.
The question is whether Scripture says that because Messiah is our rest, the Sabbath no longer matters. Hebrews never says that.
The author doesn't conclude, "The Sabbath has ended." He concludes, "There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God."
Messiah and the Sabbath are not competitors. The Sabbath points to Him. It reminds us weekly that salvation is not by our works and points forward to the greater rest still ahead.
That's why I find it difficult to believe the Sabbath was abolished. Yeshua spoke of His followers caring about the Sabbath long after His resurrection (Matthew 24:20). Isaiah sees all flesh worshipping before Yehovah from Sabbath to Sabbath in the age to come (Isaiah 66:23).
The Sabbath points to Messiah. But pointing to something greater is not the same as disappearing because of it.
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