Understanding the Sabbath
Today’s Focus: Historical Understanding of the Sabbath
Scripture: Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
Genesis 2:1-3: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 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.
The rest that God had in this “seventh day” was type of position. Now many people argue the seventh day is Saturday and the church says it is Sunday. According to the Hebrew calendar the seventh day is Saturday. Now I am not here to argue a philosophical point but I am here to tell you that:
The Sabbath Day is neither a particular calendar day such as Saturday and Sunday!
Now check this out is God eternal or from the realm of time? Yes, he is eternal! Ok please keep that in mind because we will use just that to prove that the Sabbath Day is not a chronological day such as Saturday or Sunday.
So many people have made the Sabbath Day someday in the sweet by-and-by and hence we have on tombstones, R.I.P. – Rest in Peace. Can I say unto you this day that this rest is available to you right now because in the sweet by and by you have no need for rest because there is no time in the eternal.
Now the absolute last thing that God created was the Sabbath Day. So if this was the last thing on God’s mind as it pertains to the creation then it obviously has to be the first principal God desires for man. Listen, before man hit the Earth, everything was set for him and operating in a fixed order ordained by God. The Father would teach His son about the mysteries and secrets of the Earth and how to rule righteously in the Earth to bring the Kingdom of God from the Throne to the earth. Noticed in all of the work of Adam before the fall we do not see words such as toil, sweat, curse, strife, confusion. Adam was a man “at rest” while He was ruling. This is a very crucial point to understand. As long as Adam continue to follow the Spirit of God then He would enjoy rest, peace and joy while ruling in the Earth. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it. But when Adam sinned, Adam changed from being a man “at rest” to being a man that would sweat, toil, be cursed, and live in fear. So he would be the complete opposite creature. What changed? The Glory of God has left Adam due to sin. Sin separates us from God and hence no longer do we have rest for our spirit, soul and flesh. Now the fixed order of God is under attack and being influenced and governed by an evil fallen spirit called Satan.
Now God gives the children of Israel a law at Mt Sinai concerning the Sabbath:
Exodus 20:8-11: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.
This was the law to Israel and if you did not keep the Sabbath the penalty was death! God ordained death to the person that did not keep the Sabbath. So to the Lord the Sabbath was a serious day to keep and He intended for it to be kept. Now many people say there you go, case closed, we should keep Saturday as the Sabbath and everyone that worships on Sunday need to switch to Saturday to keep it holy. Not so fast! This of course is the Law of Moses and we are under grace. Well then what about the Sabbath? We will look at this very shortly, but before we do, in the next message we will look at the importance of keeping God’s fixed order in the Earth.
Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
