The seven sabbaths of biblical (as contrasted with talmudic) Judaism outlined in Leviticus 23 were weekly and annual prophetic signposts to the person and mission of the coming messiah. They spoke to who he would be and what he would do.

We begin with the person of the messiah. The first of the sabbaths, the weekly sabbath embedded in the covenant law as the 4th Commandment, tells us who he is – he is God, the Creator of mankind and the Redeemer of Israel. This an important point, so pay close attention. The Decalogue (10 Words) are stated twice in the biblical text, first in Exodus 20 and then again in Deuteronomy 5.

The Exodus 20 sabbath command gives as the reason for its observance the Creation, or to be more exact, the Rest of God in a completed creation. God rested from his creating labors and Israel was commanded to rest from theirs as well. In entering into this sabbath rest, Israel was proclaiming that Yahweh was the creator of all things.

The Deuteronomy sabbath command takes a different track. While the Exodus rationale is that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the Creator of all humanity (and all things), the deuteronomic rationale is that he had delivered Israel specifically from slavery in Egypt. God was the redeemer of his chosen ones.

Both of these reasons for sabbathing are fully met in Jesus Christ. The bible in John chapter 1 states clearly that Jesus is God who created all things. The New Testament also makes abundantly clear that God sent his Son into the world to save (redeem) sinners – men and women held in the slavery of sin. The coming messiah, the One who created all things as God, and the One who redeemed his elect as Man. (We speak of Jesus as fully God and fully Man. He, in his two natures, had the authority of the Creator and the headship of the redeemed race as the second Man.) Thus the weekly sabbath was given to Israel to keep ever before them the person of the messiah.

After establishing the person of the coming messiah, the annual sabbaths there in Leviticus establish his mission – how he would recreate the lost world and redeem the lost humanity.

The first of these annual sabbaths was the Passover. This sabbath is called passover because the destroying angel passed over every house that had the blood of a lamb marking its doorway. The one who brought death to the Egyptians, brought deliverance to God’s elect. John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and cried out, “Behold the Lamb of God!” Like the passover lamb that was sacrificed and eaten every year by the hebrews to commemorate their ancestral deliverance from bondage in Egypt, this Lamb of God would be sacrificed (and eaten) on the day of Passover to satisfy the wrath of God and to deliver all who lay hold of the sacrifice and receive spiritual nourishment from him.

On the third day after the Passover came the Sabbath of First Fruits. This was a harvest sabbath. Those ancient Jews were to bring the promise of a coming harvest before the Lord thanking him for the fuller harvest yet to come. The meaning of this sabbath was met in the resurrection of Jesus on this third day. His resurrection was a promise of the resurrection of all his elect on the last day. But it was not only Jesus who was resurrected on that day. A number of God’s elect were resurrected with him then and ascended into heaven with him when he returned to his heavenly home. They, with him, are that first sheath, the promise of a coming harvest.

The fourth of the sabbaths, and the third of the annual sabbaths was The Sabbath of Weeks or Pentecost (50 days). Having claimed the promise of a coming harvest with First Fruits, now that the summer harvesting was completed, the Jews were to sabbath in celebration of its abundance. Jesus’ work was not completed with his resurrection and those few who rose with him. There is a great harvest of humanity yet to be completed, so on the day of Pentecost after Christ’s ascension, the Holy Spirit descended on his few disciples assembled in Jerusalem and the Church was commissioned to take the gospel into every corner of the globe (if you can have corners on a round planet). The harvest began on that first Pentecost and will continue until he to whom this sabbath points says, It is done!

As the Jewish calendar drew to a close, there were three more annual sabbaths to complete the yearly cycle. The first of these, and the fifth of the sabbaths, was the Sabbath of Trumpets. Trumpets was an unusual sabbath in that its purpose was to warn or notify the people to prepare for the sabbath that was soon to come. It was a call to judgment. This sabbath too points to the work of Christ in the world. There is a day set when he will call the world into judgment, and before that day arrives, he sends his messengers to the world to sound the warning blast that what is is not what will ever be. Be ready to stand before the judgment seat of God.

The sixth sabbath is The Day of Atonement or Judgment Day. This was a sabbath of self-examination and repentance. It completes the cycle begun with Passover. Not all who claimed to be of Israel were of Israel. Anyone who did not afflict his soul on this day was to be an outcast. The final work of Christ is the sorting of humanity. They are to be sorted sheep from goats, good fish from bad fish, those who believed on the Son from those who rejected his rule. Eternal life is given to those who believe, and eternal death to the rejectors of his right to rule.

The seventh sabbath is The Sabbath of Booths. In the jewish order it commemorated their living in tents after their exodus from Egypt. Every year they would go camping for a week to celebrate their freedom and the end of another year. This sabbath caps the ministry (work) of Christ. It’s finished! This sabbath foreshadows the day when we shall dwell at peace in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus is God who created all things and who redeemed his elect for eternal salvation. He atoned for our sins and redeemed us at Passover. He proclaimed victory over death and the grave at First Fruits. He birthed the Church and began its coming to full harvest at Pentecost. He sends warning to the world that the End is coming at Trumpets. He executes final judgment and sorts humanity for heaven or hell on Atonement. And he parties will his redeemed at the marriage supper of the Lamb in Booths. Jesus, in his person and in his work, is the complete fulfillment of the Seven Sabbaths of Judaism.