Epistle of Barnabas 15

1Moreover, concerning the Sabbath, it is likewise written in the Ten Words, which he spoke to Moses face to face on Mount Sinai: “You shall make holy the Sabbath of the Lord with pure hands and a pure heart.” And in another place he says, “If my sons observe the Sabbath, then I will bestow my mercy upon them.” He speaks of the Sabbath at the beginning of creation: “And God made the works of his hands in six days, and he finished on the seventh day, rested on it, and made it holy.” Pay attention, children, to what this means: “He finished in six days.” He means that in six thousand years the Lord will bring all things to an end, for with him a day signifies a thousand years. He himself testifies to me about this, saying, “Behold, the day of the Lord will be as a thousand years.” Therefore, children, in six days—that is, in six thousand years—everything will come to an end. “And he rested on the seventh day.” This is what he means: when his Son comes and abolishes the time of the Lawless One, judges the ungodly, and changes the sun, the moon, and the stars, then he will truly rest on the seventh day. Yes, and furthermore he says, “You shall make it holy with pure hands and a pure heart.” Therefore, if anyone is now able to make holy the day that God made holy, even though he is pure in heart, we have gone completely astray. But if it is only afterward, and not until then, that we will truly rest and make it holy—when we ourselves are able to do so after being justified and receiving the promise, when iniquity is no more and all things have been made new by the Lord—then we will be able to make it holy, because we ourselves will first have been made holy. Finally, he says to them, “Your new moons and your Sabbaths I cannot endure.” You see what he means: it is not your present Sabbaths that are acceptable [to me], but the Sabbath that I have made. On that Sabbath, when I have brought all things to rest, I will make the beginning of the eighth day, which is the beginning of another world. Therefore, we also keep the eighth day for rejoicing, on which Jesus also rose from the dead and, after being revealed, ascended into the heavens.