Entering God's Rest
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The glorious Creator, after the six days of Creation, rested on the seventh day and instituted the Sabbath for all people as a memorial of Creation. And that was way before there was ever a Jew on this Earth!
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It is because our world so desperately needs the reassuring message of creation that God gave us the Sabbath. God’s last day message calls all humanity back to worshiping Him as the Creator of heaven and earth.
The basis of all worship is the fact that God created us.[1]
The beginning of the Jewish nation started with Abraham as we read in the 12th chapter of Genesis:
Gen 12 (v. 1) Now the Lord had said to Abram, “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. (v. 2) I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great.
Why is this important? Thousands of years before the first “Jewish person,” the Sabbath was already instituted, and it was instituted in the beginning. It was not instituted as part of the covenant God made with Abraham and his offspring….[2]
God blessed the seventh day….an entire day that was blessed and sanctified….He gave, as a wonderful gift, the seventh-day Sabbath for man….The Sabbath was not made for the Jew; the Sabbath was made for man.[2]
Creation is going on in your life. God is creating, in you....every good and gracious thing. And when this is so, your Sabbath-keeping will amount to something, because the Sabbath is a memorial of creation, the sign that he who observes it knows the Creator, and is acquainted with the process of creation.[3]
This day of celebration was never changed in the bible and was to last forever!!
Eccl 3 (v. 14) I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it.
Jesus expected that christians would keep the Sabbath for all time. Note His words of instruction given on an earlier occasion, referring to events yet to come to the Jewish people: "and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath." (Matt 24:20). Jesus expected that about forty years after His death, when Jerusalem was destroyed, christians would still be keeping the Sabbath.[4]
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(27 A.D.) The Baptism & start of Jesus ministry |
(31 A.D.) Death & Resurrection of Jesus |
(70 A.D.) Jerusalem Destroyed by the Romans |
Matt 24 (v. 15) Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet.... (v. 16) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (v. 18) And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. (v. 19) But woe to those who are pregnant and to those with nursing babies in those days! (v. 20) And pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath.
God knew, in the beginning, that keeping the seventh-day Sabbath would enable man to stay in touch with himself, other aspects of God’s creation, and also enable man to recognize and revere the Creator as the Lord of the Sabbath.[5]
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The Sabbath is God’s perpetual sign of His eternal covenant between Him and His people.
Psm 89 (v. 34) My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
I believe that satan is challenging the very heart of God’s authority by attacking creation and the Sabbath. The heart of the Sabbath is relationship, the acknowledgment that God is worthy of our most supreme devotion, our deepest allegiance, and our total loyalty. Sabbath rest is a symbol of a faith experience in Jesus. It is a graphic illustration of our trust in Him.[6]
Joyful observance of this holy time from evening to evening, sunset to sunset, is a celebration of God’s creative and redemptive acts.
Mark 2 (v. 27) Then he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (v. 28) So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
Now, I can’t think of anything that God made for us that we don’t need.
- Air, food, water, earth, sun, plants, animals, people, etc....
And if Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for us, well I guess that pretty well means we need it.
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“The importance of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation is that it keeps ever present the true reason why worship is due to God”—because He is the Creator, and we are His creatures. “The Sabbath therefore lies at the very foundation of divine worship, for it teaches this great truth in the most impressive manner, and no other institution does this.[7]
The true ground of divine worship, not of that on the seventh day merely, but of all worship, is found in the distinction between the Creator and His creatures. This great fact can never become obsolete, and must never be forgotten.”[7]
It was to keep this truth ever before the minds of men, that God instituted the Sabbath in Eden; and so long as the fact that He is our Creator continues to be a reason why we should worship Him, so long the Sabbath will continue as its sign and memorial.[8]
Had the Sabbath been universally kept, man’s thoughts and affections would have been led to the Creator as the object of reverence and worship, and there would never have been an idolater, an atheist, or an infidel.[8]
We did nothing to create ourselves: we received our lives as a free gift. Scripture says in six days the Lord made
the heavens and the earth, and then ceased from His labor and rested on the seventh, there by sanctifying it and making it holy.
In an age of evolution, God has given the Sabbath as an eternal symbol of His creative power and authority. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder that we are not our own. He created us.[9]
We were not made because God needed someone to keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made because God knew we needed something to keep us.
The Sabbath is about laying your burdens at the feet of the cross and forgetting about it for a 24 hour period; spending time with Jesus.
The Sabbath was made for you. So, Don’t miss out on the blessing!!
The New Covenant does not do away with the law, as some teach, but writes it in our hearts (see Heb 8:7-10).[10]
Unfortunately, many Christians limit this Sabbath commandment to only the Old Covenant. However, Scripture does not support such a view. Since the Sabbath has a redemptive significance, it is vitally linked with the New Covenant.[10]
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In this study we will examine what the Bible teaches regarding the Sabbath rest as part of the New Covenant of salvation by grace alone in the redemption that is ours in Christ.[10]
Keeping the Sabbath holy neither saves anyone nor contributes toward one’s salvation. But it is a sign that we have entered God's rest and are delighting in the salvation He gives us in Christ.[10]
Oprah Winfrey accepts the true Sabbath day is on Saturday!! video ref. [11]
References:
1. Mark Finley, (2002). Satisfied: How God can meet your deepest needs, p.69. Pacific Press.
2. Dan Jarrard, (2008). Why I am a Sabbath-keeping Christian, p.7-8
3. Jones & Waggoner, (1995). Lessons on Faith, (from a sermon by A.T. Jones in 1899), p.57. Teach Services.
4. Mark Finley, (1995). Beyond Orion's Gates, p.151, Hart Research Center.
5. Dan Jarrard, (2008). Why I am a Sabbath-keeping Christian, p.9
6. Mark Finley, (2002). Satisfied: How God can meet your deepest needs, p.73-74. Pacific Press.
7. J.N. Andrews, History of the Sabbath, chapter 27. (G.C. p.437)
8. E.G. White, The Great Controversy, p.438, par.1
9. Mark Finley, (2002). Satisfied: How God can meet your deepest needs, p.70. Pacific Press.
10. Savior of the world Bible Course, (2000), Lesson 15, “Entering God’s Rest.”
11. "Oprah Winfrey learns the Sabbath is on Saturday" Online video. YouTube, 26 Aug 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L91NUp5bD0Y
Image #1: Touch of Faith Ministry, (n.d.). The Seal of God, His Mark. Retrieved from http://www.touchoffaith.org/bible%20studies/SBS-17.htm
Image #2: Shabbat Sabbath Messianic Bible, (n.d.). Sabbath is a specific day of the week. Retrieved from https://www.pinterest.com/pin/444519425691445964/
Image #3: Kiko Amat, (2015). Jesus the Creator of the world. Retrieved from https://www.vice.com/es/article/qb93a3/mis-8-flipadas-favoritas-del-antiguo-testamento-aunque-hay-mil-mas-777
Image #4: Grace and Truth, (2014). Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of Passover. Retrieved from https://graceandtruth.me/2014/04/19/jesus-christ-the-fulfillment-of-passover/
Image #5: The Lamb’s Servant, (2015). Torah in the book of Acts of the Apostles. Retrieved from https://lambsservant.wordpress.com/2015/01/11/torah-in-the-book-of-the-acts-of-the-apostles-chapter-13-part-2/
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