Appointed Times: Give Me a Break ~ Part 2

"You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a _______ between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you." Exodus 31:13


Why did God choose the Sabbath to be a sign between Himself and His people?


To answer that, we need to do a bit of digging.  

Let's go back to the garden...The Garden of Eden.


Genesis 2:15 tells us that God "put" Adam into the garden to work it and keep it.  


Let's look at that word "put" in Strong's Concordance: Click here


What did you notice about that word "put" in the "outline of Biblical usage?"


In Hebrew, we see that God gave Adam REST in the Garden of Eden.


Ahhhh....Rest!


But Adam and Eve fell from the garden.  And we as their human ancestors, must toil and work until it is restored.  So...


Let's revisit our question:  Why did God choose the Sabbath to be a sign between Himself and His people?


I believe He gave it as a sign to His people as a gift.  It is a little piece of the Garden of Eden each week.  A place in time where one does not need to toil in order to be fed on the Bread of Life...a place where the Living Water of Jesus flows freely.  It is a shelter from the stresses of the world.  It is a promise of good things to come, as Revelation 22 shows the complete restoration of The Garden of Eden...and guess who will be there?  


Yes, those of us who put our faith in Jesus Christ!


Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. 

Revelation 22:14


But we don't have to wait...  


Each week, we can testify that we believe that the restoration has been sealed by the work of Jesus.


Each 7th day, we can act in faith, knowing that God will provide our needs.


Each Sabbath, we can show heaven and earth that God is faithful.


The weekly Sabbath is a first-fruit of what is certain to be!


Rest

A Gift

A Foreshadow

A First-fruit

A Promise


Why would we choose not to participate?


One reason is that many of us have been taught that Sabbath is for the Jews.  


And it is...


But not exclusively!


Paul teaches in Romans 9:6-9 and 11:16-27 that gentile believers in Jesus Christ are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.  That does not mean that Christians become Jews.  It means that both Jew and Gentile become part of the same "olive tree" that represents God's people throughout the scriptures.   


Paul is clear that God has not "cast away" His people:  


"I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew...."

Romans 11:1-2a


May we not boast as "grafted in" branches, as we can easily be removed!


But back to our topic....


As seen from the scriptures above,  a misunderstanding of our identity in Christ is one reason most Christians do not celebrate the weekly Sabbath.


Another reason has to do with the new testament perspective about the law.  


While many new testament believers have been told that the law has been nailed to the cross...scripture tells us that it is the PENALTY of the "handwriting of the requirements that was against us" (our sins and failures!) that have been nailed to the cross through the sacrificial and atoning work of Jesus Christ: 

"....by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross."

Colossians 2:14  

Praise God!!!


Let's look at Jesus' words in Matthew 5:17:


"Do not think that I have come to _______ the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to _______ them but to _______ them."


What did we find?


"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."


The new covenant verbiage of Jeremiah 31 supports this as well.  Jeremiah tells of days coming when the Torah will no longer be written on tablets of stone, but on our hearts 💖


"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Jeremiah 31:33


I'm not sure if Jeremiah knew exactly how that would play out.  But 10 days after Jesus ascended into heaven, The Holy Spirit would fall onto the early believers.  He has been convicting of sin and guiding the hearts of His people ever since!


So, Jesus didn't come to tell us that the commandments (like keeping the Sabbath) were no longer important.  He came to keep them perfectly, and to offer Himself as the acceptable sacrifice.  This means that when we are unable to keep God's commands to perfection, we receive God's grace 

Because Jesus Took Our Penalty!!!  


ꜛ Take that in with me for just a moment 


Can we keep the law perfectly today?


Typically not.  We live in Babylon.


Can we try and do better than if we had not tried at all?


ABSOLUTELY!!


Is there grace through Jesus Christ for when we fall short?


ABOUNDING GRACE!!


Is gaining back 1,248 hours of rest during any given year worth the effort?


It has been for me.


The Sabbath is not bondage...it is a gift of freedom!


I hope you will join me in testifying to both heaven and earth that Jesus is coming soon, and that He will give us REST in the Garden of Eden.  


And as a pledge, we can experience a tiny bit of that rest now.  


Are you exhausted?


Join me!


  Happy Sabbath-celebrating, and I always love it when you...

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