To the first-century Hebrew Christians, the apostle Paul wrote: “There remains a sabbath resting for the people of God. For the man that has entered into God’s rest has also himself rested from his own works, just as God did from his own. Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest.”​—Hebrews 4:9-11.

Getting back to Paul’s statement in Hebrews, we note that he pointed out that “there remains a sabbath resting for the people of God,” and he urged his fellow Christians to do their utmost “to enter into that rest.” This shows that when Paul wrote those words, “the seventh day” of God’s rest, which had started some 4,000 years earlier, was still in progress. It will not end until God’s purpose regarding mankind and the earth is completely fulfilled at the end of the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ, who is the “Lord of the sabbath.”​—Matthew 12:8; Revelation 20:1-6; 21:1-4.