Wells interacts with Exod. 20:8 in less than one page. He offers what in my mind gives the appearance of a cavalier dismissal of this text with these words: “This text, of course, contains the command to keep a Sabbath. It clearly addresses only Israelites and others who live within their land, so it does not seem to be relevant under the New Covenant” (29). He then adds, “Despite that fact many find an argument in the word “remember”” (29; emphasis mine). He assumes that an assertion is a fact. Something seems wrong-headed about that. As far as Exod. 20:8-11 goes, I have found these words by John Frame very helpful.

It is important to ask, what Sabbath does Ex. 20:11 refer to? Does “Sabbath” here refer to God’s rest after creating the world, or to man’s own Sabbath rest? The answer has to be, both. The first sentence of Ex. 20:11 refers to God’s own rest. But “Sabbath” in the second sentence must refer to the same Sabbath as in verse 8, the Sabbath God requires of Israel. Ex. 20:11 sees an identity between these. It teaches that when God took his own rest from his creative labors and rested on the seventh day, which he hallowed and blessed, he also hallowed and blessed a human Sabbath, a Sabbath for man (Mark 2:27). In other words, when God blessed his own Sabbath rest in Gen. 2:3, he blessed it as a model for human imitation. So Israel is to keep the Sabbath, because in Gen. 2:2-3 God hallowed and blessed man’s Sabbath as well as his own. (Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life, unpublished edition)

This is why elsewhere the Sabbath is called God’s, because He instituted it and owns it (cf. Is. 58:13, “…the Sabbath…My holy day…”; Rev. 1:10, “…the Lord’s Day…”), and it is something that was made for man (Mk. 2:27, “the Sabbath was made for man…”). The Sabbath is God’s because of His example and institution of it. The Sabbath is man’s because God made it for him. Surely “the everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary” (Is. 40:28). God did not make the Sabbath for Himself because He was tired and needed rest; He made it for man. His example at creation is imperatival for man and predates the Sabbath as incorporated into Israel’s law.

As far as Ex. 20:8-11 being relevant under the new covenant, I agree with Frame’s interpretation that the Sabbath was instituted at creation and because of this it is relevant for all mankind (see previous posts).

Wells discusses OT prophecy and the Sabbath (i.e., Is. 56:2-5 and 58:13-14). He notes that some Reformed theologians who believe in an abiding Sabbath under the new covenant believe OT prophecy about the Sabbath under the new covenant has to be understood as the prophets utilizing old covenant forms of worship (i.e., Sabbath, new moons, incense, sacrifices, etc.) to describe worship under the new covenant, though not intending it to be understood literally. He says, “Here in the judgment of the men I have cited, they [i.e., old covenant forms of worship in new covenant prophecies] stand for New Covenant realities that would replace the Old Covenant customs in the gospel era” (39). Though I think these men are right, I do not think this necessarily means these texts do not teach that an abiding Sabbath is to be rendered under the new covenant. In other words, I think the prophets utilize old covenant language, but I also think these texts prophecy a Sabbath under the new covenant. I think this for at least two reasons related to OT prophecies of the Sabbath connected to the new covenant. The first reason is because of Jer. 31:33. I think this text implies a Sabbath under the new covenant because the law being referred to is the same law God wrote on stone tablets (I will just assert at this point. Those interested in my exegesis of this text can read my In Defense of the Decalogue).

A second reason comes from my understanding of Isa. 56:1-8. That text says:

Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants — everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant — even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, “Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him.” (Is. 56:1-8)

Several observations will assist us in understanding how this passage prophesies explicitly the perpetuity and continuation of a Sabbath under the new covenant. First, the section of the book of Isaiah starting at chapter 40 and ending with chapter 66 is pointing forward to the days of Messiah and in some places to the eternal state. This section includes language pointing forward to the time primarily between the two comings of Christ, the interadvental days of the new covenant. It is understood this way by the NT in several places (see Mt. 3:3; 8:16, 17; 12:15-21; and Acts 13:34).

Second, Isaiah 56:1-8 speaks prophetically of a day in redemptive history in which God will save Gentiles (see esp. vv. 7 and 8). The language of “all nations” in verse 7 reminds us of the promise given to Abraham concerning blessing all nations through his seed (see Gen. 12:3 and Gal. 3:8, 16). This Abrahamic promise is pursued by the great commission of Matt. 28:18-20. Isaiah is speaking about new covenant days.

Third, in several New Testament texts, the language of Isa. 56:1-8 (and the broader context) is applied to the days between Christ’s first and second coming in the motif of fulfillment (Mt. 21:12-13; Acts 8:26-40; Eph. 2:19; and 1 Tim. 3:15). Compare Matthew 21:13, “My house shall be called a house of prayer,” with Isaiah 56:7, “For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” This anticipates the inclusion of Gentiles in the house of God, a common NT phenomenon. Compare Acts 8:26-40 (notice a eunuch was reading from Isaiah) with Isaiah 56:3-5, which says:

Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD Speak, saying, “The LORD has utterly separated me from His people”; nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. (Is. 56:3-5)

The old covenant placed restrictions on eunuchs. Deuteronomy 23:1 says, “He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the LORD.” Isaiah is prophesying about a day in redemptive history when those restrictions no longer apply.

In Eph. 2:19 the church is called the “household of God” and in 1 Tim. 3:15 it is called “the house of God…” The context of 1 Tim. 3:15 includes 2:1-7, where Paul outlines regulations for church prayer. Now listen to Isa. 56:7, which says:

Even them [i.e., the foreigners (Gentiles) of v. 6a] I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. (Is. 56:7)

The NT sees Isaiah’s prophecy as fulfilled under the new covenant. However, the privileges, responsibilities, and the people of God foretold here (Isa. 56) are transformed to fit the redemptive-historical conditions brought in by the new covenant. The people of God are transformed due to the new covenant; the house of God is transformed due to the new covenant; the burnt offerings, sacrifices, and altar are transformed due to the new covenant; and the Sabbath is transformed due to the new covenant. Isaiah, as with other OT prophets, accommodates his prophecy to the language of the old covenant people, but its NT fulfillment specifies exactly what his prophesy looks like when being fulfilled. Jeremiah does this with the promise of the new covenant. What was promised to “the house of Israel” and “the house of Judah” (Jer. 31:31), is fulfilled in the Jew-Gentile church, the new covenant people of God, the transformed/eschatological Israel of old testament prophecy.

With these considerations before us, it seems not only plausible but compelling to conclude that between the two advents of Christ, when the old covenant law restricting eunuchs no longer restricts them, and when the nations (i.e., Gentiles) are becoming the Lord’s and frequenting His house, which is His Church, a Sabbath (see Isaiah 56:2, 4, 6) yet remains. Isaiah is speaking prophetically of Sabbath keeping in new covenant days. The English Puritan John Bunyan, commenting on Isaiah 56, said, “Also it follows from hence, that the sabbath that has a promise annexed to the keeping of it, is rather that which the Lord Jesus shall give to the churches of the Gentiles.”[1]

The essence of the Sabbath transcends covenantal bounds. Its roots are in creation, not the old covenant alone. It transcends covenants and cultures because the ethics of creation are trans-covenantal and trans-cultural. The Sabbath is part of God’s moral law.

Don’t worry, my review of chapters 3-10 will be much shorter. 🙂

Richard Barcellos

Dr. Richard Barcellos is associate professor of New Testament Studies. He received a B.S. from California State University, Fresno, an M.Div. from The Master’s Seminary, and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Whitefield Theological Seminary. Dr. Barcellos is pastor of Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Palmdale, CA. He is author of Trinity & Creation, The Covenant of Works, and Getting the Garden Right. He has contributed articles to various journals and is a member of ETS.

Courses taught for CBTS: New Testament Introduction, Biblical Hermeneutics, Biblical Theology I, Biblical Theology II.