The Nature of the Sabbath

The Sabbath has a controversial history. Does the Sabbath translate to the “Lord’s Day” in the New Testament? Are we supposed to keep it still? What would “keeping” the Sabbath look like today? How does the work of Christ fit into our understanding of the Sabbath? While such questions abound, my guess is that many of us have given little thought to the Sabbath, other than assuming it was another way the hypocrisy of the Jews was made evident. But it has great symbolic importance and tells us much about the purpose of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Today, as we think again on John 5:1-18, let us try to answer three basic questions about the Sabbath.