What Is the Sabbath?

[Arial]

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the Sabbath, largely because in the Mosaic Covenant the Sabbath had laws and regulations attached to it. There is also the the fourth commandment in which the Sabbath is to be kept holy that came before the Covenant Law. And Jesus saying we must keep all the commandments of God.

As a result there are teachings that we are to keep the Jewish Sabbath as Christians, and even that failure to do so removes salvation or prohibits it. It teaches that Sabbath keeping according to Mosaic Law is necessary for salvation But is that what the Sabbath is really all about? Or is it signifying something far greater, even the very purpose of us and our world being created?

To find that answer we must go back to the very beginning and God. In Gen 1 we have God creating our world, and us, completing it on the sixth day. On the seventh day He rested. Gen 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work and all that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he he had done in creation.

Let's consider God for a moment. He is eternal and self existent, and as such is outside of time. There is no time with Him. There are many things about God that our finite minds cannot grasp. We can know because He tells us, but we cannot grasp it, and this is one of them. We know that He is perfect, has all wisdom and knowledge, learns nothing, but causes all things that are to be. Nothing exists outside of Him. That being the case, there is nothing in what He does that is abstract, happenstance or circumstance, but everything was conceived in His being before it ever came to pass.

When He created our world, He created time in it and began numbering the days. Day one, day two, day three etc. It was not arbitrary or without meaning, and it was not that it took Him six days to finish His work, but that He intended for it to be six days, and He intended for the seventh to be a holy day of rest. All of this relates directly to His relationship to us as our Creator. He is communicating to us, so the numbers themselves have meaning in that they signify something. Rather than extend the length of the OP by addressing all of them, the two that specifically pertain to the topic are six and seven, and these I will address. However one through five are significant and this can be delved into as the thread progresses with input.

I will say that five represents God's grace.

Six is related to man and human weakness, the evils of the devil and the manifestation of sin. It is the day man was created.

The number seven as directly applied to creation signifies completeness and perfection, physical and spiritual.

In Hebrews 3 and 4 the author develops the concept of Jesus as our Sabbath rest. He does so by comparing it to the rebellion in the exodus and this rebellion causing those who rebelled to not enter His rest in the land where He was leading them. And in this showing what the exodus signified and the final rest that awaits us in Christ, and that we also have now, resting from our works of the Law. Saved now from judgement and the curse of the law, having through faith obtained the righteousness of Christ. And awaiting the fullness of this salvation, resurrection of our bodies, immortal and as incorruptible. ( 1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.) ( 1 Cor 15:51-53 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible body must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

To be continued.

 

[Arial]

So how does this relate to why God created our world?

It goes directly to Christ's ascension and Eph 4:4-9 There is one body and one Spirit---just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call---one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it says, "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men." (In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above the heavens, that he might fill all things.

Paul is quoting Ps 68:18 You ascended on high, leading a host of captives in your train, and receiving gifts among men, een among the rebellious, that the Lord God may dwell there. I suggest a read of the entire Psalm to get its perspective, which is one of battle and victory over evil. It is looking forward to a future time, whereas Paul relates it to post incarnation and ascension and thus the slight tweak of the victor receiving gifts, and the those in Christ receiving gifts (which Paul goes on to discuss.) In the OT the victor took captives and was paid tribute and the tribute was dispensed to the people.

In the passages quoted is given the reason for this and is so profound, and so above our full comprehension of the meaning of the words, that it is passed over. Christ came, descended, and returned victorious King----that he might fill all things. What on earth does that mean. It is beyond the finite to comprehend I believe, I certainly cannot, but very important to believe. Christ fills all things. Everything. He is not everything but He is in everything. He is not the wind, but the wind does not exist without Him. He is not the sunset or the tree, but they do not exist outside of Him.

Romans 11:36 For from him and through him and for Him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Day One: Gen 1:3-5 And God said, "let there be light" and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and morning, the first day.

One: Independent of any other numeral yet composes them all. In the Bible it centers on the unit and primacy of the God family being one and the unity between God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Six: human weakness, the evils of the devil, manifestation of sin.

Seven: Spiritual and physical completeness and perfection.

The Sabbath rest was always pointing towards our rest in Christ, our Sabbath, our spiritual and physical completeness, and not only ours, but all of creation restored Rev 21: 1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Col 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them on the cross.

He led a host of captives into captivity when He ascended (invisible though they were) to His coronation as King set on Zion (Ps 2) and gave gifts to men. All by Him and through Him and for Him, that He might fill all.

 

[Soyeong]

I will say that five represents God's grace.

Why?

In Hebrews 3 and 4 the author develops the concept of Jesus as our Sabbath rest. He does so by comparing it to the rebellion in the exodus and this rebellion causing those who rebelled to not enter His rest in the land where He was leading them. And in this showing what the exodus signified and the final rest that awaits us in Christ, and that we also have now, resting from our works of the Law. Saved now from judgement and the curse of the law, having through faith obtained the righteousness of Christ.

Jeremiah 6:16-19
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.

God has graciously given us instructions for how to find rest for our souls and the way to find rest for our souls is by walking in those instructions, not by resting from walking in them. Jesus set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in those instructions and in Matthew 11:28-30, he was inviting people to come to him for rest and to learn from him, not inviting people to come to rest from learning from him, and by saying that we would find rest for our souls, he was referencing Jeremiah 6:16-19. Jesus is the embodiment of God's word, so saying that he is our rest is the same as saying that us embodying God's word through following his example of obedience to it is our rest.

In Hebrews 3:18-19, the Israelites did not enter into God's rest because of their unbelief/disobedience, in Ezekiel 20:13, it specifically mentions that they greatly profaned God's Sabbaths, and in Hebrews 4:9-11, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, we should rest from our work as God rested from His, and we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away by the same sort of disobedience. We should live in a way that points to the rest that we have in Christ by following his example of obedience to God's word rather than a way that points away from it.

God has given instructions for how to be blessed, so we do not need to be saved from following them, but from not following them. It is contradictory for someone to want to obtain the righteousness of Christ while not wanting to be doers of the righteousness of Christ in accordance with his example of obedience to God's law.

 

[Arial]

Why?


Jeremiah 6:16-19
Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
17 I set watchmen over you, saying,
‘Pay attention to the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ‘We will not pay attention.’
18 Therefore hear, O nations,
and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
19 Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
and as for my law, they have rejected it.

God has graciously given us instructions for how to find rest for our souls and the way to find rest for our souls is by walking in those instructions, not by resting from walking in them. Jesus set a sinless example for us to follow of how to walk in those instructions and in Matthew 11:28-30, he was inviting people to come to him for rest and to learn from him, not inviting people to come to rest from learning from him, and by saying that we would find rest for our souls, he was referencing Jeremiah 6:16-19. Jesus is the embodiment of God's word, so saying that he is our rest is the same as saying that us embodying God's word through following his example of obedience to it is our rest.

In Hebrews 3:18-19, the Israelites did not enter into God's rest because of their unbelief/disobedience, in Ezekiel 20:13, it specifically mentions that they greatly profaned God's Sabbaths, and in Hebrews 4:9-11, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, we should rest from our work as God rested from His, and we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away by the same sort of disobedience. We should live in a way that points to the rest that we have in Christ by following his example of obedience to God's word rather than a way that points away from it.

God has given instructions for how to be blessed, so we do not need to be saved from following them, but from not following them. It is contradictory for someone to want to obtain the righteousness of Christ while not wanting to be doers of the righteousness of Christ in accordance with his example of obedience to God's law.

You do not understand what God's rest means, even though it's meaning was presented in the OP. The Law is spiritual, that is, within the Law God reveals spiritual principles. A learning which ultimately condemns us. The true Sabbath rest is only shadowed in the Law, just as the sacrifices only shadowed the one true sacrifice that redeems. It is not confined within rules and regulations. It is God's eternal purpose.

 

[harmonicat]

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the Sabbath, largely because in the Mosaic Covenant the Sabbath had laws and regulations attached to it. There is also the the fourth commandment in which the Sabbath is to be kept holy that came before the Covenant Law. And Jesus saying we must keep all the commandments of God.

As a result there are teachings that we are to keep the Jewish Sabbath as Christians, and even that failure to do so removes salvation or prohibits it. It teaches that Sabbath keeping according to Mosaic Law is necessary for salvation But is that what the Sabbath is really all about? Or is it signifying something far greater, even the very purpose of us and our world being created?

To find that answer we must go back to the very beginning and God. In Gen 1 we have God creating our world, and us, completing it on the sixth day. On the seventh day He rested. Gen 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work and all that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he he had done in creation.

Let's consider God for a moment. He is eternal and self existent, and as such is outside of time. There is no time with Him. There are many things about God that our finite minds cannot grasp. We can know because He tells us, but we cannot grasp it, and this is one of them. We know that He is perfect, has all wisdom and knowledge, learns nothing, but causes all things that are to be. Nothing exists outside of Him. That being the case, there is nothing in what He does that is abstract, happenstance or circumstance, but everything was conceived in His being before it ever came to pass.

When He created our world, He created time in it and began numbering the days. Day one, day two, day three etc. It was not arbitrary or without meaning, and it was not that it took Him six days to finish His work, but that He intended for it to be six days, and He intended for the seventh to be a holy day of rest. All of this relates directly to His relationship to us as our Creator. He is communicating to us, so the numbers themselves have meaning in that they signify something. Rather than extend the length of the OP by addressing all of them, the two that specifically pertain to the topic are six and seven, and these I will address. However one through five are significant and this can be delved into as the thread progresses with input.

I will say that five represents God's grace.

Six is related to man and human weakness, the evils of the devil and the manifestation of sin. It is the day man was created.

The number seven as directly applied to creation signifies completeness and perfection, physical and spiritual.

In Hebrews 3 and 4 the author develops the concept of Jesus as our Sabbath rest. He does so by comparing it to the rebellion in the exodus and this rebellion causing those who rebelled to not enter His rest in the land where He was leading them. And in this showing what the exodus signified and the final rest that awaits us in Christ, and that we also have now, resting from our works of the Law. Saved now from judgement and the curse of the law, having through faith obtained the righteousness of Christ. And awaiting the fullness of this salvation, resurrection of our bodies, immortal and as incorruptible. ( 1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.) ( 1 Cor 15:51-53 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible body must put on the incorruptible, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

To be continued.

If it was up your( edited by admin for use foul language)you'd know what it is.

 

[Fred]

If it was up your

You're like school at 3AM.........no class!

 

[Arial]

If it was up your( edited by admin for use foul language)you'd know what it is.

Keep your posts civil and respectful.