12:1-8 What does Jesus mean here when He says that He is Lord even of the Sabbath day?

12:1-8 What does Jesus mean here when He says that He is Lord even of the Sabbath day?'

Jesus is teaching here that the Old Testament Sabbath was merely a type or shadow of which He is the New Testament fulfilment (cp Col 2:16-17). The Old Testament Sabbath was instituted by God for the Israelites as a memorial of their deliverance from slavery in Egypt by Moses. It was a day of rest, a cessation from labour (cp Deut 5:12-15).

The example for the Sabbath rest was set by God when He ceased from His labour on the seventh day of His work of creation (cp Gen 2:1-3; Ex 20:8-11). In the New Testament, Sabbath is used only of an eternal rest with God (cp He 4:9). Rest here is sabbatismos, the Greek word for Sabbath.

It means the repose of Christianity (as a type of heaven): rest. This is the rest that God promised to the Israelites in the land of Canaan – the promised land – but He would not let that generation enter in because of their unbelief and disobedience (cp He 3:7-4:10).

We learn here that although God’s rest in the Old Testament remains in the sphere of promise, it is fulfilled for New Testament Christians by faith in Christ (cp He 12:22-26). Christ gives rest to all who come to Him (cp Mt 11:28-30).

The rest that Christ gives may be viewed as both a present possession and a future blessing – the eternal rest that is in God, which is promised in He 4:9 for all who believe in Christ, after the toils and trials of life on earth are finished, in contrast to the Old Testament day of rest – the Sabbath – every seventh day for the Israelites. That is why Jesus said in Mt 12:8 that He was Lord even of the Sabbath day.

(See also comments on Mt 5:17-19, Col 2:16-23, He 4:1-3 and 4:7-10).

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