In Hebrews chapters three and
four our Lord tells us about the children of Israel who
wandered in the
wilderness for 40 years because they refused to enter His rest, and then He
advises us to not follow their example. His desire is for all of us to enter
His rest.
The unbeliever refuses to
rest by faith in Christ and be saved, and so he never experiences a new birth
in Jesus Christ. Even the believer often refuses to rest by faith in their
Savior and Lord on a daily basis and because of this fails to mature
spiritually.
In writing about God’s
Sabbath rest, I am not saying we should worship on Saturday as opposed to
Sunday. Every believer in Christ should worship every day of the week, not just
on Sunday. Right up front, this article has nothing to do with worshipping God
on any particular day of the week. It is referring to what God means by “Sabbath
rest.”
God told Israel the Sabbath
day (Saturday, the 7th day) is holy because it commemorates their
resting in His works. Genesis 2:2-3 says,
“And on the seventh day God
ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his
work which he had made.
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.”
These two verses are not
saying that God got tired and had to rest. That would be our definition today
of the word “rest.” The Hebrew word (shabath) for “rest” actually means, “Cease
from labor, or desist from work.” He stopped working in other words. He
finished creating. He was done.
So what was God’s message to
Israel in “Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy?” He was telling them to
cease from their own work and depend on Him. His example to them, and us, is in
Genesis 2:2-3.
Anyone who has read the
Gospels will immediately recall how the Pharisees hounded Jesus about the
Sabbath. By the time Jesus began His ministry, this commandment had been
distorted beyond recognition. Here are three examples.
1.
It was unlawful
to wear any jewelry or ornaments on the Sabbath, since this might be construed
as carrying a burden.
2.
An egg could not
be boiled on the Sabbath, either by normal means or by putting it near a hot
kettle or by wrapping it in a hot cloth or by putting it in the hot sand
outside.
3.
It was fine to
spit on a rock on the Sabbath, but you could not spit on the ground, because
that made mud and mud was mortar, and that was work.
Ridiculous! Right? Of course
it was! These silly add-ons had nothing to do with honoring the Sabbath day and
keeping it holy. That had nothing to do with God’s message to them about
resting from their own works and depending on Him.
Remembering the Sabbath is a
message to both the unbeliever and the believer today.
The unbeliever must put their
faith in Jesus Christ instead of their own works if they desire to be saved. They
must cease trying to save themselves and instead depend totally on Jesus Christ
by faith. Yet, most will rely on their own works to save them, and go into
eternity lost.
The believer must live their
life in faith toward Jesus, the same faith they used to become a Christian. This
is what it means to live daily for Christ and is equivalent to walking in the
Spirit. We must cease from depending on ourselves, our works, for spiritual
maturity and depend totally on Him.
Those who rest in their own
works will never please God. They just spin their tires like a car stuck in the
mud. The only works that will ever come from these folks are the works of the
flesh. A sampling of these fleshly works can be found in Galatians 5:19-20.
“The acts of the flesh are
obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft;
hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions,
factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”
And then the warning is found
in verse 21, “I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will
not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The fruit of the Holy Spirit
that can only come from a true Christian are found in Galatians 5:22-23.
“But the fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Now let us not stop here but
include the remaining verses in chapter 5 of Galatians, verses 23-26.
“Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by
the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.”
How does the Christian do
this? We live by faith in Jesus daily, resting from our own works. We depend on
Him throughout the day, every day … by faith.
John Calvin said, “Faith
alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone.” That very accurately
states what the Bible says to us all.
“Faith alone saves” – For the
unbeliever, if you desire to know Jesus as your personal Savior, you must come
to Him … in faith only.
“Faith that saves is not
alone” – For the believer to have fruit of the Spirit in your life, you must
trust Him daily for everything … in faith only. This is the same faith you used
when you trusted Jesus to save you. Now use it every day and enter His rest.
Grant Phillips
Email: grantphillips@windstream.net
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html
