God's Rest
Have you ever wondered how the Sabbath was a shadow of the
reality that was to replace it, and that reality was Christ? I know it had to be
because Scripture is so clear on this point. Yet, because of my upbringing, it was
difficult for me to see.
Col. 2:16 -- Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or
with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day.
These are a shadow of the
things which were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.
Words could not be stated any clearer, but let us see if
Scripture shows us how this is so.
Gen. 2:2, 3 --
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day
he rested from all his work.
And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the
work of creating that he had done.
Do you see the difference in the account of the seventh
day as compared to the previous six? After each of the six days of creation there is
always this statement to bring each day to an end -- And there was evening and
there was morning -- the fourth day, etc. This statement was omitted
following the description of the seventh day. The seventh day was given no end
point. On this seventh day, following the six days of a completed creation, God
rested.
Adam and Eve entered into God's rest where they were to enjoy a never-ending
personal relationship with their Creator. Supreme love of their Creator and love for
one another was their greatest delight. They were given one commandment --
not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The penalty of breaking this
commandment was death. If they would honor this command, this resting in God's
presence would continue for eternity.
Then sin came in by their eating of the forbidden fruit in violation of this
direct command of God. This brought separation from God, as sin always does.
God's rest for them came to an end and they were driven from the garden.
God has only one way of bringing man back to God's rest and that way is through
Christ. If the Sabbath were a shadow of God's rest in Christ, man could not possibly
be brought into this rest without the shedding of the blood of the paschal lamb which
pointed to the great sacrificial Lamb of God. Accordingly:
the lamb was slain --
the Passover blood is sprinkled --
The Lord brings out His redeemed people --
(set apart and separated from the
Egyptians among whom they lived)
the song of redemption was sung (Ex. 15:1-18) --
the manna from heaven is given --
(representing Christ)
See John 6:58 -- "This [Himself] is the bread that came down
from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread
will live forever." Then, and not till then, is the Sabbath expressly
instituted.
"This is that which the Lord hath said, 'Tomorrow is
the rest of the Holy Sabbath unto the Lord.' "
(See Ex. 16:22-30)
As a shadow of rest in Christ, two things are absolutely essential:
(1)
That it be given consequent on redemption
and for that very reason.
(2)
That it should be given only to those thus redeemed,
as a mark or sign of their redemption.
Ex. 19:4 --
You yourselves [Israelites] have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on
eagle's wings and brought you to myself.
This is speaking of their being redeemed from a life as slaves
in Egypt, into being a special nation to God above all nations. It was to this
redeemed people, and to them only, that the command was given, "remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy."
Deut. 5:15 --
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of
there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore [for this reason] the
Lord has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Could language be any clearer than this? That blood shed
by the paschal lamb had separated them from bondage in Egypt and brought them by type to
God. This was the basis of that statement by God -- "Therefore the Lord
your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."
Of course we have absolute proof that this command is given only to the
Israelites at the time of their sojourn at Sinai, from this text:
Deut. 5:2-3 --
The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb [Sinai]. It was not with our
fathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here
today.
Then from verses 6-21 Moses reads to them the ten
commandments. This, again is so clear that anyone disputing this must of necessity
continue their dispute with the Lord. If God had made known His Sabbath to all men,
and given it to them, this wondrous connection with a completed redemption would have had
no meaning.
Neh. 9:9-14 -- You saw the suffering of our forefathers in
Egypt. You heard their cry at the Red Sea. You sent miraculous signs and
wonders against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of the land ...
By day you led them with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to give
them light on the way they were to take. [He is redeeming them from their
bondage in Egypt.]
You made known to them your holy Sabbath
and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses.
How striking is this type! The real "Rest of
God" can only be known by those who have redemption through His blood, even the
forgiveness of sins. The Sabbath was most strictly a sign between God and His
redeemed Children of Israel.
Eze. 20:12 KJV --
Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that
they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.
It is fundamental to see that they were not required to keep the
Sabbath in order to be sanctified. It was a sign that He had, by the death of the
lamb, sanctified, or separated them from the Egyptians to Himself; and they were to keep
it as a sign that they were separated to God. Is it not impossible to say this
Sabbath rest was given to all the world, and then state here, in many places, that it was
a sign that they were sanctified from the world to God? This would produce
contradicting statements. Obedience was not commanded that they might be redeemed,
but because they were redeemed.
Notice how true the shadow is to the reality; the type to the antitype.
In the antitype, none have this sign upon them; peace with God. None enter into His
rest but those who believe; only those who are brought to God through the redemption that
is in Christ.
Anyone who in obedience to the law, keeping the Sabbath, perfecting their
character or any other worthy project to enhance their chance of obtaining salvation are
laboring under God's curse.
Gal. 3:10 NEB --
Those who rely on obedience to the law are under a curse.
Gal. 4:4 NEB -- When you
seek to be justified by way of law, your relation with Christ is completely severed.
In all of the religions of man, he never can, by works, enter
into rest. To cease from works is the only possible ground of entering into
rest. God ceased from His works of creation, and entered into that rest, all being
finished. How much of this creative work that brought on this rest did Adam and Eve
contribute? Nothing, of course, and none was possible or needed.
And did not Christ finish His work of redemption? And has not God raised
Him from the dead? "Who, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on
the right hand of God." All heaven concurs that the work of redemption is
completed. The Redeemer has sat down, and God has crowned Him with glory and
honor. All heaven shouts, "Worthy the Lamb!"
Consider the problem of anyone who, in face of this might say, "No! that
finished redemption is not enough; it alone can never give me peace with God; I must add
my good works, my righteousness, my perfection of character, etc." Does God
give us any lesson in the shadow (Sabbath) to inform us how He views this trying to
supplement His perfected work -- which the shadow pointed forward to?
Remember the man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath -- early in
their sojourn in the wilderness? (Num. 15:32) Inquiry was made, what should be
done to him. The Lord said, "The man shall surely be put to death."
Men may presumptuously deny the testimony of the Holy Spirit to the finished
work of Christ. They may think it a light thing to break that Sabbath, that rest, by
only gathering a few of the rotten sticks of their own works.
Think about this. If the shadow was guarded by the penalty of death, what
will be the consequences to the soul who dares sin against the Holy Spirit, by despising
the great salvation, the eternal Sabbath of rest in Christ!
Now, is there not something very peculiar in the prohibition of all manner of
work on the Sabbath? Here the wages of works is death; not only is the wages of sin
death, but if works are done -- yes, if any manner of works are done for salvation,
for rest, for peace, the wages of such works will be everlasting death. Can anything
be so wicked, so cruel to one's own soul, as to bring in some other gospel of works for
salvation, and thus deny the gospel of the grace of God? Can anything be so
insulting, so displeasing to God, by any manner of works, to deny God's Sabbath of rest in
Christ? How striking a figure, then, is Christ, with the Sabbath in every aspect.
As the Sabbath-day shadow would admit of no burden and no works, so Christ --
the substance -- God's rest -- must stand alone.
Matt. 11:28-30 --
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will
find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
This is "the heart of the gospel." This is Jesus
offering to replace their yoke of the law which represented their righteousness and to
replace it with His perfect righteousness if they would only believe on Him.
Deut. 6:24, 25 --
The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees [Sinaitic Covenant] and to fear the
Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.
And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded
us, that will be our righteousness.
Their righteousness had been based on their keeping of the law --
an impossible task -- one which no one but Christ was ever to fulfill. Not
believing that Christ was who He claimed to be, they refused to accept this marvelous
offer. I'm sure they considered it too easy and simple to be real. Paul says
of these same Israelites:
Rom. 10:3, 4 NIV --
Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish
their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who
believes.
The righteousness that comes from God following the resurrection
of Christ is a free gift to everyone who believes on Him. Anyone who tries to
enhance this righteousness for salvation, whether by obedience to the law, Sabbath keeping
or any other worthy cause, is in God's sight as guilty as the man picking up sticks in the
era of the shadow. (Sabbath)
Let us reconsider that this rest which was demanded, in association with the
Sabbath, was a physical rest and was extremely strict even to minor acts (picking up a few
sticks). Bearing any type of physical burden was interdicted:
Jer. 17:21, 22 --
This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath day or
bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. Do not bring a load out of your houses or do
any work on the Sabbath day.
In the face of these commands to carry no burden on the Sabbath,
the actions of Jesus in healing the invalid of 38 years is remarkable (John 5:1-18).
His was a chronic complaint of long duration and no emergency. Jesus could have said
to him "Rise" and he would have been healed. But to make a point he also
said, "take up thy bed and walk." He was asking this man to deliberately
break the law. Jesus was not demonstrating a correct way to keep the law, but to
show that the law was in the process of coming to an end and that He had the authority to
bring this about.
John 5:18 --
For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; Not only was he breaking
the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father.
This was a charge that he never denied. In another episode
of healing a man who had been blind from birth, Jesus could have restored his sight by one
word, but notice how he did it:
John 9:6 --
. . . He spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man's
eyes. "Go," he told him, "wash in the Pool of Siloam."
This is another non-emergency and done on the Sabbath with work
involved by both Jesus in making the mud from spittle and the man required to make a trip
to the Pool of Siloam to wash off the mud.
Again, this was not a lesson to demonstrate proper Sabbath keeping as demanded
by the law, but to show them that the shadow (Sabbath) was being replaced by the reality
(Christ) which the shadow was pointing forward to. At the cross this replacement of
the shadow by the substance was completed.
Col. 2:13-17 --
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God
made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code [Sinaitic
Covenant] with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he
took it away, nailing it to the cross...
Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by
what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration or a
Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality,
however, is found in Christ.
This should settle the question forever. When it comes to
abolishing one's cherished beliefs, even the Word of God at times does not seem to be
sufficient -- to our everlasting shame. Notice again:
Rom. 14:5 --
One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day
alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Can you visualize Paul's preaching and using this text at the
funeral of the man in Numbers 15:32-36 for picking up a few sticks on the Sabbath?
It should cause us no difficulty in seeing that a drastic change has taken place in the
rules regulating conduct during the dispensation of the shadow, the weekly Sabbath with
its physical rest; compared with the continual rest, in God's spiritual rest, in the
completed work for our salvation by Christ on the cross.
The hallowing of the seventh-day was the expression of God's rest in a finished
creation, and was a type of God's rest in a finished redemption.
Now, consider this. What part had man in creation? Exactly the same
amount could he have in redemption. In the case of Israel, redemption was God's own
work. The sending of bread from heaven was God's own work; and as the recipient of
God's grace, the Sabbath was then given to Israel. In no other way can you be
brought into God's rest in Christ, but as a debtor to the boundless grace of God, that
spared not His only begotten Son.
In the Book of Hebrews we have important information relative to this Sabbath
rest in the dispensation of the New Covenant.
Heb. 3:7-15 --
So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where
your fathers tested and tried me and for 40 years saw what I did.
This is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, "their hearts are always
gone astray, and they have not known my ways." So I declared on oath in my
anger, "They shall never enter my rest."
See to it, brothers, that none of you has
a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one
another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened
by sins deceitfulness.
According to the words here by the Holy Spirit these unbelieving
Israelites, during their wandering in the wilderness, would never enter God's rest because
of their rebellion and unbelief. This can't be speaking of the weekly Sabbath rest
as demanded of the shadow as they entered into that faithfully every Sabbath day.
This is the Holy Spirit speaking to us who are living in the dispensation of the New
Covenant. This couldn't be speaking to those of previous ages because only at the
cross of Christ did the law with all its regulations including the Sabbath reach its
fulfillment.
Here we are encouraged into God's rest, which is as was the rest that Adam and
Eve entered following creation; a spiritual rest every day. It is "that
rest" which gives us peace with God in the knowledge that our redemption through
Christ was completed at the cross. We are to encourage one another daily, as long
as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sins deceitfulness.
Heb. 4:1-11 --
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that
none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did [speaking of the Jews
hearing the gospel from Jesus]; but the message they heard was of no value to them,
because those who heard did not combine it with faith. [They refused to accept
Christ as the Messiah.]
Now we who have believed enter into that
rest, just as God has said, "So I declared in my anger 'They shall never enter my
rest.' "
Just as the Israelites who had been redeemed from slavery in
Egypt, and their descendants, were entitled to the physical rest of the weekly Sabbath, so
that spiritual rest (God's rest) is limited to all who believe on Christ and have had
their sins cleansed by the blood of Christ on the cross. They have been redeemed
from the world and set apart and enter into God's rest. This rest is peace with God
in the assurance of eternal life through Christ.
Heb. 4 (Cont'd) --
And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world.
For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh-day in these words: "And on the
seventh-day God rested from all his work." And again in the passage above he
says, "They shall never enter my rest."
It still remains that some will enter
that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because
of unbelief.
This has to be those unbelieving Jews at the time of Christ
because the gospel was first presented by Jesus at that time. They were keeping
"the rest" of the Shadow on every Sabbath day, but they did not enter into God's
rest as presented in the new covenant due to their unbelief. He is just as surely
speaking of those at the present time who, blending good works, obedience to the law,
Sabbath keeping, etc. to assist in assuring their salvation, fall into this same
classification and cannot enter into this rest.
I love the following statement, but can't remember the source. --
False religion says, "Good behavior results in salvation," while true
religion says, "Salvation results in good behavior."
Heb. 4 (Cont'd) --
Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later
he spoke through David, as was said before: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not
harden your hearts."
Therefore God again set a certain day. What day had he
previously set? It could only be the Sabbath. Which day was the day referred
to as "God again set a certain day"? This according to the text above, can
only be Today. This was the perfect opportunity for God to specify if another day
had been solemnized to become a different Sabbath day. This He didn't do because the
original Sabbath was a shadow of Christ and when He replaced the Sabbath at the cross,
that day had served its purpose and now all our attention is to be returned to Christ
instead of to any particular day.
The day we choose to come together to worship Him on a regular basis is left to
the church to decide, but their decision, even though agreeable to the Lord, does not make
it into a holy day. All the holiness of that day was transferred to Christ and none
of it to be shared by another day. The day He chose was Today and everyday as long
as it is called today.
Heb. 4:8ff --
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another
day. There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for anyone who
enters God's rest also rests from his own works, just as God did from his.
Is it not becoming crystal clear that the Sabbath rest under the
new covenant cannot be referring to the rest associated with the shadow? At the
cross, Christ paid the all-sufficient price for our salvation. Nothing more is
needed and nothing more is acceptable. Those who believe on Him are cleansed from
their sins by His blood and they are sanctified or set apart from the world.
Just as Christ rests from His completed work on the cross, the redeemed also
enter that rest. The rest that they enter is a rest from works to achieve any part
of salvation as this has been fully and freely bestowed. The Holy Spirit comes into
the life of the redeemed and causes us to produce the works of the Spirit; not in any way
to secure our salvation but because it has been already achieved through Christ.
Phil 2:13 --
For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
To one who has not ceased, and will not cease, from his own
works, these thoughts will be really shocking. To speak of the Sabbath as a past
shadow could not be endured by any but such as have been brought into God's presence and
eternal rest in Christ. Paul leaves us with no reason to doubt that the law as given
at Sinai has been replaced.
2 Cor. 3:7-11 --
Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters of stone
[the 10 commandments] came with glory . . . will not the ministry of the Spirit be even
more glorious?
If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that
brings righteousness . . .
And if what was fading away came with
glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!
Before anyone is tempted to think of ways to wiggle out of the
obvious conclusion this text is demanding, consider these verses that follow:
2 Cor. 4:2-4 --
We do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by
setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the
sight of God.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
The god of this age [Satan] has
blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ.
I trust that these words will not be speaking of any who should
be reading this booklet.
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