A sign you could see
The Sabbath
One day in seven, Israel was to rest, and that rest was itself a sign. It pointed back to creation and forward to a rest God still holds open.
“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.”Exodus 31:13
The sign
The sign. At Sinai God gave Israel the Sabbath and named it a sign. "Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you" (Exod 31:13). It was to be kept as a perpetual covenant, "a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exod 31:17). The sign was not carved in the flesh or hung in the sky; it was written into time itself, a rhythm of six days of labor and one of rest. Its roots reach back to the first week of the world, when "God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work" (Gen 2:3). For Israel the weekly rest set them apart from every nation around them, marking a people who trusted God enough to stop, to lay down their work, and to remember who made and sustained them.
What it sealed
What it sealed. The Sabbath sealed Israel's covenant relationship with the God who had delivered them and who claimed them as His own. To keep it was to confess that the LORD sanctifies His people, that their life and provision came from Him and not from ceaseless toil. Deuteronomy ties the day to their redemption: "remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence" (Deut 5:15). Slaves in Egypt had known no rest; now they were a free people whose rest testified to their freedom. The Sabbath also held out a share in God's own rest, an invitation to enter the peace He entered when His work was finished. It was mercy for the weary, dignity for servant and stranger and beast alike, all commanded to rest. And it was a weekly rehearsal of trust: to cease from labor was to say that the world would be held by God even while His people laid down their tools.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. The book of Hebrews takes the Sabbath and lifts it to its fulfillment. Israel's rest in the land was only a shadow of a greater rest, "for if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Heb 4:8-9). That rest is entered by faith in Christ, who finished the work of salvation as God once finished the work of creation. Jesus made the offer Himself: "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt 11:28). Paul counts the sabbath among the shadows "of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col 2:16-17). The weekly sign that told Israel to stop and trust finds its substance in the Savior in whom the soul at last ceases from its own works and rests.
Questions people ask
Why is the Sabbath called a sign?
God Himself names it so in Exodus 31:13, 17. It was the sign between Him and Israel that He is the LORD who sanctifies them, rooted in His own rest at creation. Keeping it set Israel apart and confessed their trust in the God who made and sustains all things.
Does the New Testament still require Sabbath keeping?
Christians have long differed on this. Colossians 2:16-17 calls the sabbath a shadow whose body is Christ, and Hebrews 4 presents the true rest as coming to Jesus by faith. Believers hold varied convictions about the day, but Scripture points the sign's deepest meaning to the rest found in Christ.
How does Christ fulfill the Sabbath?
Hebrews 4 says a rest still remains for God's people and is entered by faith. Jesus offers that rest directly in Matthew 11:28. As God rested when creation was finished, the soul rests in Christ when His finished work is trusted, ceasing from its own striving to be right with God.