Physical rest in the Bible is an important topic. Read or listen to this chapter from Work and Rest God’s Way to learn the Bible verses about rest.

Table of contentsThe Need for Physical Rest in the BibleTransition from the Seventh Day to First DayThe Need for Sleep in the BibleThe Consequences of Inadequate SleepMortalityDiabetesObesityCardiovascularMentalImmune SystemSocialWhen Science Catches Up with the BibleThe Spiritual Helps Us Rest PhysicallyRest Produced from Obeying the LordRest Produced from the Lord’s LeadingRest Produced from the Lord’s SovereigntyRest in the Bible Requires BalanceFootnotes

The Need for Physical Rest in the Bible

On the surface, work and rest seem like opposites, as though one undoes the other. They appear to be mutually exclusive. To do one must mean that we reject doing the other. There’s a conflict: do we work or rest? The answer is, yes! We’re commanded to do both.

Rest is as much a theme from Genesis to Revelation as work. God introduced the concept of rest at creation. Genesis 2:2–3 says, “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” God is omnipotent. He wasn’t tired. He didn’t need to rest. Instead, He was establishing a pattern for His people to follow.

The Ten Commandments made resting on the Sabbath a requirement of the Law. The fourth commandment in Exodus 20:8–11 reads:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

God said, “Remember the Sabbath,” because it wasn’t something new; it had been around since creation. The command to rest was not an excuse to be lazy, considering they had to work six full days before the seventh. Since the Sabbath preceded the Mosaic Law, we can “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy” as a creation mandate.

Transition from the Seventh Day to First Day

Jesus and the disciples kept the fourth commandment, just as they kept the other nine commandments. But there was a transition.

Jesus instituted the New Covenant at the Last Supper with these familiar words: “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22:20). With the institution of the New Covenant there was a shift from the seventh day of the week (the Sabbath/Saturday) to the first day of the week (Sunday) in honor of Christ’s resurrection.10 Thus, we see the first day of the week emphasized in the New Testament. The phrase “first day of the week” occurs eight times:

Six times in the Gospels identifying the day of Jesus’ resurrection: Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, 9, Luke 24:1, John 20:1, and John 20:19

Once in Acts 20:7 identifying the day the early church met: “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread”11

Once when Paul encouraged believers to set aside something to give financially: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also: On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come” (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). More than likely Paul told them to set their collections aside on the first day of the week, because that’s when they gathered for worship.

If we only had Acts 20:7 stating the early church met on the first day of the week, this would be enough to encourage corporate worship on ...