Creation and the Sabbath - Hebrews 4:4

Samuele Bacchiocchi continues his defense of the creational origin of the Sabbath by looking at Hebrews 4:4.

Bacchiocchi sees this as the most explicit reference to the creation Sabbath found in Hebrews because two Old Testament texts (Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 95:11) are welded together. Geneses 2:2 traces the Sabbath back to the creation and Psalm 95:11 "includes the blessings of salvation" that are found in entering God's rest. (Hebrews 4:3, 5, 10).

The key is that the book of Hebrews traces the sabbath back to creation when "God rested from God's works." These works are the works of creation, according to Bacchiocchi, because Hebrews 4:3 states that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Thus God rested from God's works that were finished from the foundation of the world. Bacchiochi notes that in this text the Sabbath is assumed to be creational and that is used as a "basis for understanding God's ultimate purpose for His people."