Sabbath Rest

Entering God's Sabbath Rest Truly the perils of the last days have come upon this world. Jesus spoke to a large group of Christians: “take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares.” Luke 21:34 “Cares, riches, pleasures, all are used by Satan in playing the game of life for the human soul.” COL 55 Since the world is in unrest, confusion, and strife, how do we separate from our very surroundings and find rest and peace in our troubled hearts? Jesus Christ is the source of all rest. Jesus says, -- “Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Matthew 11:28,29 Only at the foot of the Cross of Christ can we find peace with God. “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 By abiding in Christ, drinking deeply from the well that never runs dry, we can find assurance that our sin stain lives have been reconciled to the One who alone can complete His work in us. This world is passing away and the lust there of, but “the kingdom of God is …righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:17 We can choose to carry a load of cares around on our weak feeble shoulders or we can receive Jesus Christ who is our “Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption.” 1 Corinthians 1:30 By humbly submitting to the fact that we are nothing and meekly kneeling at the foot of the cross pleading for mercy, which we are unworthy of, we can allow God’s work in us to be completed. Christ finished work then brings of necessity peace, quietness and assurance. By yielding to Christ, we experience God’s completed work in us, which brings order, harmony, and togetherness. “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.” Isaiah 32:17 Jesus, The Lord our Righteousness is our only source of Rest and Peace. (Jeremiah 23:6, Isaiah 32:17) By faith we sit at rest in the assurance of Christ completed Salvation for us. “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us… hath raised [us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ Jesus:” Ephesians 2:4,6 By faith in Christ we are able to enter into His rest. “For we which have believed do enter into rest.” Hebrews 4:3 Sabbath comes from the Hebrew word meaning: “to cease, desist, rest” – the very opposite of works. On the typical Day of Atonement the children of Israel were instructed that “no work” be done. (Leviticus 23:28,30) The humbling fact is that we can contribute nothing to that which God has already obtained for us in Christ. * The High Priest alone accomplished the cleansing. Those who heeded the command, their names were retained in Israel. Just so, in the final Day of Atonement, Our Great High Priest alone will accomplish the objective. – “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” Isaiah 13:12 The one work, which is required of us in Christ, is spelled out. Jesus said, --“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment (Gr.); but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24 Our “life is hid with Christ in God” so that “when Christ shall appear,” we shall “also appear with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:3,4 “It will avail nothing for us to do penance, to afflict the body for the sin of the soul, or to flatter ourselves that by our good works we shall merit or purchase an inheritance among the saints. When the question was asked Christ, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" he answered, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." We are not to do something in order to purchase our entrance into heaven; for the Lord gives us heaven through the merit of Jesus Christ, and not through any merit of our own. Good works are the result of faith and love; for, conscious of the debt of love and gratitude which we owe to God for the infinite sacrifice made in our behalf, we show forth the praises of him who hath called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Every one is under bonds to God to manifest obedience to all his commandments, relying fully on the righteousness of Christ for his acceptance with God.” Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895 Creation week ends with the pronouncement, “behold very good.” “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, [it was] very good.” Genesis 1:31 The heavens and the earth were finished, in perfect righteousness, history on earth begins. “The LORD [is] righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.” Psalms 145:17 “The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.” Psalms 97:6 Adam and Eve closed the first day of their lives, (the sixth day of creation week) together. Adam lived most of the sixth day of the creation week as His first day, Eve lived but a few hours before entering the seventh day. Their second day was spent in communion with the Lord God. Neither, had lived a full day before they entered into rest with God. It was God who “rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” It was God who “blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” (See Genesis 2:2,3) Jesus is The Lord our Righteousness, Jesus is the very Righteousness of God. Jesus is therefore the Source of all true rest; hence He is Lord of Rest, Lord of the Sabbath. (See Mark 2:27,28) “The seventh day God has reserved as a day of rest, in commemoration of his rest during the same period of time after he had performed the work of creation in six days.” Signs of the Times, March 20, 1879 The Sabbath; Christ Holy Day defines the living God, the maker of heaven and the earth. The Sabbath was made for all men, in all ages to direct us to our rest, that is Jesus Christ. It is by faith alone in the merits of Christ’s sacrifice that the believer enters into God’s Rest. “For we which have believed do enter into rest.” Hebrews 4:3 It was through unbelief that the children of Israel were prevented from entering into God’s rest. “So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God… So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:11,12,19 (See also Hebrews 4:1,2) The children of Israel rejected Christ, His Promises, His Righteousness and Rest, but went about to establish their own Righteousness, which is an impossibility. “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” Jeremiah 9:1 Separated from Jesus Christ we are worthless, without hope in the world and our hearts are filled with unrest, confusion and enmity. (See Matthew 23:37,38; Luke 19:40-48; DA 587; GC 17,18,21,22) By the inspired writings of Paul we are invited to enter into the redemption rest wrought out for us in Christ. This rest of redemption that the believer has in Christ is the same rest, which the creation enjoyed at the end of creation week before Adam’s fall. “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world… There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.” Hebrews 4:3,9-10 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” Hebrews 4:9 This “rest” is sabbatismos – a “keeping of a Sabbath.” However, he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from His.” Hebrews 4:10 This “rest” is katapausin, being from the same root word as “rest” in Matthew 11:28, where Jesus said – “Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” To enter into the “rest” that Jesus has provided, and is providing in the judgment, means simply that we “cease from our own works.” I can no longer rely on them – those filthy rags of my own righteousness. It must be solo Christo. I can and must do the one work, which God requires of me – “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He has sent.” John 6:29 God celebrated and honored creation rest in the beginning by resting on the seventh day of creation week. “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.” Genesis 2:2,3 (See Hebrews 4:4) At the end of creation week, the heavens and earth were in perfect order and righteousness. The end result of God’s work of creation was the rest of His righteousness. Jesus Christ is Lord of the Sabbath; The Sabbath was made for man and God’s memorial of creation (The Seventh Day Sabbath) remains unchanged as a reminder to us of Christ Jesus completed redemption in our lives. “For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.” Hebrews 4:8 Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and through out eternity, has not given unto us another day as “His Holy Day.” The believer who has entered by faith into God’s true rest ceases from His own works as God has ceased from His. “The just shall live by his faith.” Habakkuk 2:4 (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17; Isaiah 58:13; 66:22,23) The Seventh—Day Sabbath was instituted before the fall, and the entrance of sin. It (The 7th Day Sabbath) is not a type or shadow. “Shadows” or “Types” were things instituted after the fall to point forward to the redemptive work of Christ. The types and shadows specifically pointed forward to the infinite sacrifice made by Jesus on my (our) behalf at Calvary. (See Exodus 25:8,40; Hebrews 8:4,5; 10:1 Colossians 2:16,17) The True (Saturday) Seventh---Day Sabbath as instituted in Eden commemorates the rest of the Atonement between God and His perfect sinless creatures. The same union (at—one—ment) has been restored through the Life, Death and High Priestly ministry of Christ. In Christ, we have oneness with our High Priest; we rest on the same Seventh—Day Sabbath that the creation rest is celebrated. Paul writes, -- “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.” Hebrews 4:11 The Labor here spoken of is summed up by the words of our Saviour, --“ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” John 5:24 Therefore, by faith alone we enter into rest with Christ. It is by the “Faith of Jesus”, which is a free gift, that we are able to find oneness with God. (See Galatians 2:20; Revelation 14:12) It is by the “Faith of Jesus” that we rest in Christ on His Holy Sabbath Day. It is by the “Faith of Jesus” that we receive the Righteousness of Faith, which is not of the Law. The Ministry of Christ in the Final Atonement is to restore to us a perpetual state of rest, peace and assurance. This is to be our experience even today. the unprofitable servant