Lord of the Sabbath

By Stephen Terry

 

Sabbath School Lesson Commentary for February 11 – 17, 2012

 

“…they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” Luke 23:56, NIV

Dynamic in the creation of our world, God blazes forth in the relative calm of space with light and energy to bring together a beautiful blue gem of a world…our world. Verdant and moist, fertile and fresh, it became home to teeming herds, flying flocks, and submerged schools. Not stopping there, God filled the Earth with sustenance for all of life - not artificial, microwavable nuggets, but food fresher than any supermarket produce section.

Anyone who has plucked a vine-ripened tomato fresh from the garden and compared its flavor with that of its pale, supermarket-offered cousin has a hint of the difference between our created Earth and what we have today. Have you ever been very hungry and then been given something tasty to eat? The saliva shoots forth in eager anticipation of the taste to come. Imagine how our bodies must have reacted to the wonderful foods of Eden. Perhaps each bite was an experience in ecstasy.

Yes, God made everything “good” the Bible tells us in the first chapter of Genesis. But then suddenly, everything came to a standstill. The Power that had roared across the heavens became quiet. God stood still. I like to think of it in this manner. God stood beside man and together they enjoyed what had been created. Filled with joy in one another’s presence, a peace entered into the heart of man. This peace came from the knowledge that every need, every want could be safely placed in the hands of God with the full knowledge that as Creator, He would provide all that love could for His creation.

At that beautiful moment, God said “I don’t want this to ever end.” He blessed it and set it aside. He made it holy by His presence then and forever. He knew what was to come and the perversities that would enter men’s hearts. But He said “Remember.” (See Exodus 20:8) He wants us to remember how it was that day. How we stood together in joy, love and peace. He promises that every time we turn aside to remember that day, He will be there as well.

That day is the Sabbath - one day in seven. It is a time to be still, to rest in His presence and remember how it was. In that remembering, a prophecy shines forth as well. It is a promise that no matter how untenable things may become, that close, loving relationship will be restored. We are told that a rest remains to enter into in Psalm 95:11. If it remains, then it is yet future. Paul reaffirmed this in chapter four of his Epistle to the Hebrews. “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9. NIV  This is a hope for mankind, and the weekly remembrance of that special time and presence is the earnest of that hope.

The knowledge of this special day had almost expired from the memory of mankind. After four hundred years in Egypt, the understanding of those who had been called out and set apart by God as His special representatives in a dark and gloomy world had become degraded. Slowly declining from princes of God to slaves whose lot was little better than that of the animals around them, they had little knowledge of their true estate. Those who enslaved them were little better off. They worshipped inanimate objects as gods and felt free to oppress others in service to those mute, deaf and immobile idols. As their worship focused on the material objects around them, their hopes rose no higher than what the material world could provide. They lost sight of the Great Provider who created it all.

After so many centuries of exposure to this, many in Israel had ceased calling on the God of creation and joined with the Egyptians in worshipping the creation instead of the Creator. They were no longer meeting with Him, no longer coming into His presence. The Egyptian slave drivers certainly had no respect for a time of rest to come into God’s presence. Faced with the stark choice of laboring to build memorials to the false gods of Egypt or coming apart to rest with the true God, the Israelites had chosen poorly.

However, as was said earlier, the Sabbath is not just a memorial but also a prophecy of deliverance. God provided that deliverance in Egypt through Moses. Moses understood the importance of coming into God’s presence and the holiness of that act. He had experienced it personally at the burning bush. (See Exodus 3) While we often think that the Sabbath rest was handed down at Mount Sinai to Moses, it goes back to creation. Moses may have learned of this rest from his father-in-law, Jethro, Priest of Midian. He may have presented it to the Israelites when he returned to Egypt. This may have something to do with Pharaoh’s accusation toward Moses, “Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!” Exodus 5:5, NKJV

In any event, whether Moses promoted Sabbath observance before Sinai or not, there could be no doubt of its import after Sinai. Handed down from the mount, the Sabbath was seen as a remembering of what had once existed in the beginning (See Exodus 20:8-11), and a promise of deliverance and restoration (See Deuteronomy 5:15).

Promises are special. For good or ill, a promise is freely given from the heart of the giver. It is given not out of obligation as in a contract, but out of free will. A promise is an assurance of something to come, not something that is. To give someone who is thirsty a glass of water and say to them I promise to give you this glass of water is meaningless because the gift was fulfilled before the promise was given. In the same way, the promise of deliverance in the Sabbath is an assurance of future deliverance for there is no promise of deliverance for those who are already delivered. The rest of the Sabbath is a promise of a future rest.  A rest that is already received cannot be promised, it can only be enjoyed. That our joy is not yet full tells us that just as Paul said, a rest remains.

Therefore we come into the presence of God Sabbath by Sabbath, but we cannot experience that true rest, that true deliverance. We can only experience it now in part. But it will come. God has paid the closing costs in Jesus death. The down payment has been made with His resurrection. We are only waiting for the closing date to receive the gift, a home in the continual presence of God. Until then, we rest in the faith of that promise.

We are told that “…it is impossible for God to lie…” Hebrews 6:18, NKJV  So His promise is sure. This causes us to ask, “Do we believe Him enough to rest in that promise?” If we do, are we willing to proclaim that belief each week by coming into His presence as an evidence of our belief? Are we willing to seek His presence in the day that He set aside in the very beginning?

When God appeared to Moses in the burning bush, the light of that fire drew Moses to His presence. The bush was not burnt up. It became a witness to the power of God’s presence. When we come before God, we are not consumed by that presence either. Instead, like that holy fire of old, it comes into us and becomes a light to draw others into His presence. This is the way it always works, whether it is a simple bush filled with God’s fire, or Pentecostal fire falling on God’s people. The fire is the same and the result is the same. It calls us aside into the presence of God. It is such a wonder to us that if we are willing, we will indeed turn aside to see it.

While that wonder can happen anywhere, an upper room, a centurion’s living room, or even on a desert mountainside, God has promised his presence in the Sabbath for He has made it holy with His presence. We are told, “Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy…” Genesis 2:3, NIV  In that blessing is His presence, and in that presence is the holiness. When we rest on that day, we acknowledge that His presence rests there as well. In that presence we find remembrance. We also find deliverance. In both of those we find peace, hope and joy. Arm in arm, we stand with God and looking upon the hope for His creation, we say together with Him, “It is very good!”  This comes from the knowledge that every need, every want can be safely placed in the hands of God with the full knowledge that as Creator, He will provide all that love can for His creation. That’s His promise.

 

 

This Commentary is a Service of Still Waters Ministry

www.visitstillwaters.com

 

 

Scripture marked (NIV) taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by permission. NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Use of either trademark for the offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent of Biblica US, Inc.

 

Scripture marked (NKJV) taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

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