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
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