Truth Of Sabbath (2)

In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to share:

2. The Sabbath was made for man, but man was not made for the Sabbath.

Why did God set the Sabbath? Is it because God is tired from work and needs rest?

Of course not. We are people so we will be tired from work, but God will not be tired forever. The purpose of God to setup Sabbath is for making man take rest. Because God cares for the weakness of man, knowing that man have flesh. If man don't rest, man will collapse.

How can man have rest? We shall come to God and get strength from God. It is as if car needs stop and refuel after many journeys. Man can only have true rest in the presence of God. So Isaiah tells us:

For thus says the Lord God , the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”— Therefore you shall flee! And, “We will ride on swift horses ”— Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift! (Isaiah 30:15-16)

As long as we lie down to sleep we can recover physically. But the most important thing is the spiritual rest. The strain of the soul is so much greater than the strain of the body, so Jesus tells us:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

So God’s setting the Sabbath is for making us rest our souls. For the other six days we have to work to feed our families, and we have to work in sweat abide by God's will. During these six days, we want to rest and come to God, but we can't. On the seventh day, God grants us grace for free and gives us manna to eat, just as how he had led Isreal, so that we can come to God to be spiritually satisfied.

Can we work in the Sabbath?

In the Sabbath, we need to take our burdens off and give them to Jesus. Don’t work for our own good, but to do the holy work.

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. (Genesis 2:1-3)

God actually works on the Sabbath. God rested from all His work for creation which He had done. But actually God has been working until now for upholding all things. Jesus said: my father has been working until now.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” (John 5:17)

Are we doing anything on the Sabbath? Yes, we do. Setting up the halls and preparing meals for brethren all belongs to working , but this kind of working is not for private benefit and profit.

Jesus and His disciples preached and did good on the Sabbath, but they did not go to work on the Sabbath for their private benefit. They work in other days. In other days, they also worshiped and preached.

Likewise, can we eat on the Sabbath?

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!” But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:1-8)

And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27-28)

On the Sabbath, we can eat when we are hungry. We can cook and prepare food for brethren in the church. Who enact these laws? It is God who created all things. God is the Lord of the Sabbath.

Likewise, can we do good and healing on the Sabbath?

Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him. Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. (Matthew 12:9-13)

Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. (Mark 3:4-5)

We can do good on the Sabbath and we can save lives on the Sabbath. The Lord Jesus healed and saved people and did good on the Sabbath for setting people at the rest.

Why did God set the Sabbath? Because God want people to have rest in Him. Jesus said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27-28)

The inhabitants and priests in Jerusalem didn’t enter into rest in their heart. They came to test Jesus with malice because sin dwelled in them. Although they keep the law outwardly, they do sin against the law in the heart. How can a lawbreaker execute the law? How can a sinner judge others? How can the sick man, who suffers on the Sabbath, have true rest? Wasn’t it the good pleasure of God that Jesus set him free on the Sabbath day so that he might rest? Jesus came to bring the true rest. Jesus set us from rest under the law to rest under grace, from a rest of fear and trembling to a rest of peace, freedom and joy.

3. The son of man is the Lord of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath is the sanctified day by the Lord. The Sabbath is the day of the Lord.

If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honourable, And shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord ; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 58:13-14)

As the Sabbath is the day of the Lord, we need to keep it in the way appointed by the Lord.

Some people may say: Since the purpose of the Sabbath is for giving us rest, then I will rest at home by sleeping. Or, I can rest in peace by traveling because travel makes me relax. In fact, these are people's own ideas and meanings.

Isaiah 58:13-14 tells us that what the God’s idea is and how He wants us to keep the Sabbath: to enjoy God on the Sabbath, to think about Word of God, to come to God and be closed to him, not in the secular way. Therefore on the Sabbath, brothers and sisters meet together, pray and sing for praising God, and talk about the Word of God. This is what pleases God.

Bible tells us:

Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. (Leviticus 23:3)

The Sabbath is also the key to our blessing and our curse.

The Sabbath is a day with special blessings from God. We must be blessed by God if we keep from defiling the Sabbath. There are many testimonies about being blessed by God for keeping the Sabbath in the church.

Blessed is the man who does this, And the son of man who lays hold on it; Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And keeps his hand from doing any evil.” (Isaiah 56:2)

Profaning the Sabbath must provoke evil befalling.

If the elect of God do not keep the Sabbath, God must will allow evil befalling. The prophet Jeremiah had warned the people:

“But if you will not heed Me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 17:27)

The elect of God ignored the warning. The temple of Jerusalem was burned. (2 Chronicles 36:19-21, Leviticus 26:34-35)

As the elect of God, we need to remember the lesson of history, and not profane the Sabbath.

Hallelujah. Glory to the Lord Jesus.