Sabbath Day Part 1
There are many mysteries in our Father’s word and they are secrets until an individual tries, with Gods’ help, to resolve those secrets from the writings revealed in His word.
Mark 4:11, “And He said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the Kingdom of God; but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables”.
The key word here is, they that are without. Without what? That answer would be faith of course.
John 3:16, (called by some the true foundation of Gods’ love for all men is written to believers), “that whosoever believeth in Him”.
If it is any consolation, no one has a head start as far as God is concerned according to His purpose, not by royal birth, rich or poor, male or female, etc.
To get a better understanding of God’s Sabbath, we cannot lack faith and belief. Whenever the human mind thinks of the word day, it assumes automatically that it is a reference to a day of the week. However, is it? To get a better understanding of the Sabbath day, we must go to the source of the one that created the Sabbath.
Genesis 2:4, we read, “ These are the generations of heaven and earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and heavens”.
The days it took of renewing heaven and the earth are talked about as one day. As we continue this study, we will understand how God uses the word day throughout His Word.
Numbers 7:11 “And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar”. verse 84, “ This was the dedication of the altar , in the day when it was anointed by the Princes of Israel: Twelve charges of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold”.
The twelve days of this chapter, for the dedicating of the altar is referred to as a day.
A careful study shows that these events, no matter what length of time, are referred to as a day. One needs to know the difference between a twenty four hour period and an all encompassing event.
Isaiah 11:16, “And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like it was to Israel in the day that he come out of the land of Egypt”.
We see that the whole period of the Exodus was written here as a day( an all encompassing event).
In the writings of the book of Jeremiah, our Father tells us of the covenant period of the Exodus to the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai as a day.
Jer. 11:4, “ which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey My voice and do them according to all which I commanded you: so shall you be My people, and I will be your God”.
Our Father continues His dressing down of the people to verse 8. Does any reader of Fathers word believe that Adam died the day (24 hour period) he was disobedient to the command given him in the garden of Eden?
Gen. 2: 16, “ And the Lord commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat”: verse 17, : “ But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”.
Yet Adam lived 930 years( Gen. 5:5). These verses tell us that God’s use of the word day is not always the way we would think of the word day, as a 24 hour period. Peter gives us God’s interpretation of the length of this day concerning Adam.
Peter 2:8,But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.
Adam lived 70 years short of a thousand years, so he did die within the time frame according to scripture.
In the new testament, the ones who rebuked Jesus concerning the Sabbath were the religious leaders. Jesus disciples never asked a question concerning the Sabbath. They didn’t bring up a name or a number of a day of the week. Evidently, they understood the Sabbath .
Jesus uses the word day, John 11: 9, “are there not 12 hours in the day. And at another time He refers to the 3 days and three nights He would be in the tomb. The duration of time in those cases are an exact time frame. But what of the reference to the Day of the Lord, the day of visitation, or the day of Salvation etc:, when there is no inference to a length of time used with the word day? Those terms could determine a time period of indeterminate length. When 7th day is used, it implies all proceeding days leading up to the 7th day. What was done to bring about the seventh day?
Heb. 4:11, “Let us labor therefore to enter that rest(Sabbath) lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief”.
Paul uses the word labor. How is labor tied to bringing about a rest? To grasp what he is referring to we need to go all the way back to Exodus the 16th chapter. After leaving Egypt, the people had their part to do.
Exodus 16:4, Then said the Lord to Moses, “behold I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My Law or no”.
The subject here is manna. They had their part to do, that gathering of manna was required to bring about their rest and on the seventh day they didn’t have to gather any manna. Of course, that manna was a for runner of what was to come.
John 6: 31, “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, “He gave them bread to eat”. And verse 32, Then Jesus said unto them, “ verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven”. And verse 41, “The Jews then murmured at him because He said I am the bread which came down from heaven”.
Scripture tells us that we need to work to enter into Father’s rest.
2nd Tim. 2:15, “ Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
That’s our work today and the key to the understanding of God’s Sabbath. Some think that Father wants us to rest from our physical needs that sustain us in the flesh, like being an electrician or a computer operator, or housewife etc:, we can get physical rest from these at any appropriate time we choose. Jesus set us a example of knowing when to give our physical bodies rest.
Mark 6: 31, And He said unto them, “ come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while:” for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.
Father expects His children to use their heads and take physical rest when they are exhausted. The manna that the people were expected to eat is described in
Ps. 78: 24, “And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven”. And verse 25, “Man did eat angels’ food”.
John gives us an account of Jesus talking to the woman at the well.
John 4:23, “But the hour is cometh and now is that the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him”
The rest that Father describes to us is a spiritual rest, not a physical rest.
Revelation 7: 3, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
What’s in our foreheads? Our brain of course. This sealing protects the elect during the great tribulation.
Matt. 24:31, “ And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
1 Corinthians 16:2, “ Upon the first day of the week, let every one lay by in store, as God hath prospered him, That there be no gatherings when I come.
Many just assume that the first day of the week referred to is Sunday as in the Roman calendar and it is not. The first day of the week referred to is the start of the counting of the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost from the waving of the sheaf offering. ( Lev. 23: 15-16). Jesus sacrifice would be a first fruit of the harvest that would follow. These would be gathered to Christ because He was accepted as a perfect offering.
Jesus always warned His followers to be careful to what you listen to and who you listen to. That many false teachers would come in His name deceiving many.
Matt. 24: 5, “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many.
2nd Peter 3:18, “But grow in Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”.
What makes a day Holy? Only the presence of God in that day and that day should be every day.
The word Sabbath in the Hebrew dictionary is 7676 and 7673 and means to repose, cease, or rest. When we consider the seventh day Sabbath, the word seven is from the root ( savah ) to be full or satisfied. What caused the seventh day to be full or satisfied? To get a proper understanding we would need to examine the law as it appears in the ten commandments.
Exodus 20: 4, “ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”. 9, “Six days shalt thou do thy labor, and do all thy work:” 10, “ But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shall not do any work, thou thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor the cattle or the stranger that is within thy gates: 11, “ for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them , and rested the seventh day, and hollowed it.
Exodus 20:4-11, these scriptures are a reference to the 1st and 2nd chapters of Genesis to the work that God did.
Genesis 2:2“And on the sixth day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had made. 3, and God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made.
The fourth commandment is the longest commandment with explanation given to us so it must be important. The word sanctified in verse 3 is number 6942 and means to be, make, pronounce, or observe as clean.
God is telling us that His creation is perfect and satisfying to Him and perfect for the first phase of His creation . The second phase and continuation of his creation doesn’t commence until after He had rested. First came the work and then came the rest.
The nation of Israel, were the only people that had the teachings of God given to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Being in bondage under Egyptian rule caused them to forget God’s law until He called them out of Egypt.
Hosea 11:1,When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and Called My son out of Egypt.
Mount Sinai was the place where God would echo His law to bring attention to the creation itself, that it was good and that it would, upon obedience, bring blessings to them and others who they would come in contact with. But what of the people’s attitude at Mount Sinai?
Exodus 20:18, And all the people saw the thundering and lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19, And they said to Moses, “ Speak thou with us yourself and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
What did God think of the people who He brought out of Egypt?
Psalms 78: 7, speaking of future generations“ That they might set their hope in God , and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. 8, And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; A generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
Why did God did give them a weekly and other Sabbaths in their forty year journey? The people were chosen to be His treasure in the world. They were the first who were to set an example as the people of God to others who they would come in contact with. What went wrong?
When Moses was on Mount Sinai the people rebelled against him as well as God. God then took the office of the people from them and gave their responsibilities to the tribe of Levi. They didn’t want to be led by a God that they couldn’t see so God had to give them ordinances that would not profit them.
Colossians 2:14, “ Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us , nailing it to the cross.” Verse 16, “ Let therefore let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or respect of a holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days. 17, “which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Ordinances were put in place because of the lack of faith of the people. These ordinances were like a parent having to spoon feed a child. God had to give them physical deeds to do that were a shadow of better things to come. Who was nailed to the cross? It was Jesus Christ.
There were more blood sacrifices of animals on the physical feasts days than at any other time.
Hebrews 10:1, For the law (of blood ordinances ) having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these sacrifices which they offered, year by year continually, make the comers perfect.
Before the law was given at Mount Sinai, God wanted to speak to the people directly.
Exodus 19:5, “ Now therefore if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people, for all the earth is mine”.
They were to be God’s treasure hid in the world. Why don’t we read anywhere that the people ever entered God’s rest (Sabbath)? God was leading the people from Egypt to the promise land. In doing so, the journey would encompass three of God’s Feasts along the way. They were Passover (justification) Pentecost (Sanctification ) and Tabernacles (glorification ). The people rebelled and didn’t have the faith to continue their journey.
The Apostle Paul tells of the people’s rebellion.
Hebrews 3:7, Wherefore, as the Holy Spirit sayeth, Today if you hear His voice, 8, Harden not your hearts as in the pro-vocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness. 9, When your fathers tempted me, and saw my works forty years. 10, Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do always err in their heart; And they have not known My ways. 11, So I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest.
How about today? Is there a rest for the people of God?
Hebrews 4:1. “ Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.” 2, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.” 3, “ For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, “ as He swore in My wrath, If they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” 4, “ For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, “ And God did rest on the seventh day from all His works.
Notice how the gospel was preached to them and the word preached to them did not profit them, not being mixed with faith.
Hebrews 4:8, “ For if Jesus (Joshua ) had given them rest then would they not have spoken of another day.” 10, “ For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.” 11, “ Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
If we want to enter into God’s rest or Sabbaths, we would need to work in the same manner as God did. We need to consider that just as God rejuvenated the earth in the first chapter of Genesis, we need to do the same. We are all made of the dust of the ground therefore we are all like little earths. We all need to work on ourselves and labor toward the rest that we are promised.
11. Timothy 2:15, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Jesus Christ is our rest, (Sabbath ) and not for only one day a week. We can experience the warmth, comfort and security of trusting in Jesus Christ (God’s Savior ) every day.
Matthew 12:28, “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heaven laden, and I will give you rest .” 29, “ Take My yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls.
In six days God worked to prepare man’s glory in the earth. Men work six days (Biblical number for man while we are in the flesh) to glorify God in the earth. God is already glorified in heaven, now His plan is for Him to be glorified in the earth. That’s us and He is our true rest.
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