The Sabbath

[Stan]

Sometimes we need to reread things

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it."

We are to worship everyday, the Sabbath is a day of rest.

[Woody]

Quote:

We are to worship everyday, the Sabbath is a day of rest.

Good Point Stan. I wonder if people think that when the Lord made the earth ... that he didn't worship until the Sabbath. No ... I think He did His worship each and every day and then set apart the Sabbath as sacred and a day of rest.

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hi Redwood,

Quote:

Good Point Stan. I wonder if people think that when the Lord made the earth ... that he didn't worship until the Sabbath. No ... I think He did His worship each and every day and then set apart the Sabbath as sacred and a day of rest.

This brought an interesting thought to mind. We know that Jesus kept the Sabbath and worshipped God, but does God worship?

Norman

[ChildofChrist]

In many ways we are like the Father. We have the ability to create but....

When we worship the Father, I believe that He is affected, perhaps like growing in Love towards His creatures.

If He is the Only One, then who is there for Him to worship? He doesn't worship His own creation. Simply put, that would put Him on our level and He would not be the Almighty Father and Lord of ALL.

Satan as Lucifer wanted to be worshiped BUT that wasn't his due.

Jesus always looked up to the Father, although They are One because it was His right to be worshiped.

[Woody]

I think that Jesus as our Creator ... and our example .... gave worship to the Father. Does that not make them equal ??? I don't know. That is getting too deep for me. But then maybe I am wrong and Jesus didn't worship the Father during the Creation days.

Help ... Anyone know ???

[Norman Byers, N.D.]

Hey Redwood,

Jesus, while He was here, worshipped the Father by being obedient. Remember when Paul said, Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? in Rom 6:16? Does being a servant mean worshiping? I beleive it does. Jesus before He came to earth said this, Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Heb 10:7 That tells me that He worshipped the Father before He came here.

I just am not sure and have no scripture for the Father worshipping the Son, but that doesn't mean that He doesn't. God is far more selfless than we can imagine so I really don't know.

I think that married couples can worship each other in certain ways and marriage is an example of what the Godhead is like.

I believe that the Father loves and adores Jesus and likewise He does the same for us. Well God would not worship us that I do know but He would Jesus since He is God.

I'm just typing out loud and really have no answers, just thoughts.

Norman

[John317]

Worship at its most basic, fundamental level is acknowledgment of another's worth. It may also be viewed as giving glory, praise and honor.

However, in the Bible, proper worship is limited to the response of the creature for the Creator, or the inferior for the Superior. To give worship, reverence or adoration for anyone but God is, of course, a profound wrong. As far as God's worshipping is concerned, the divine nature of Jesus did not worship God. Only His human nature worshipped God, as a man and as our example. Notice that Jesus never said, "Our God" or "our father" (except when teaching humans how to pray, because they were designed to be spoken only by mere creatures), but always, "your God," and "my God," "my Father," "the Father," and "your Father." In doing this, Jesus was careful to distinguish His divine-human relationship with the Father, with whom as God He was equal, from our creaturely, human relationship with Him.

The Bible does teach, though, that the pre-existent Christ and the Father were eternally joyful in each other's company, if we can put it in human terms.

The Bible says that the Father will one day sing over those who are saved in His kingdom. If He will sing for us, isn't it likely that He sings, or has sung, over Christ's glorious work and magnificent Person? Of course we aren't to imagine that God's singing over the saved is worshipping; but in singing over each other, we can certainly say that they give one another praise and glory among equals, and if that is worship, then worship they do.

Regards,

"John 3:17"

[Woody]

IF Jesus did not worship at Creation ... then Adam and Eve had no example of how to worship. How would they know how to keep the Sabbath?

[Gerr]

IF Jesus did not worship at Creation ... then Adam and Eve had no example of how to worship. How would they know how to keep the Sabbath?

Do you think the Lord talked to them? Or did He just create them and no communication whatsoever?

Gerry

[rd151]

God has no need to worship, for who would he worship? For there is none greater than the Lord God himself. Secondly, the bible does not teach that everyday is a rest unto the Lord, but rather the Lord set aside the SEVENTH DAY as a holy day unto him and no servile work should be done on that day. It is true that in Jesus, by faith we enter into a spiritual rest, but this is not the same as a physical rest from our labors. That is why God set apart the seventh day Sabbath from the other days of the week.

[Robert]

We are to worship everyday, the Sabbath is a day of rest.

[cricket]

You may find your rest in Jesus.

[Woody]

Good Point Cricket ...

We can accurately combine the two post thus ...

"We are to worship everyday, the Sabbath is a day of rest in Jesus."

It IS all about Jesus. That is why we rest. We rest for Him and In Him.

[cricket]

Maybe this is off topic, but I've been thinking a lot lately about the Sabbath and Jesus. And sometimes I think that the Sabbath was given to us so that we might realize that we are ultimately to find our rest in Him. Hard to explain it really, but it's my thought that we are to "keep the Sabbath (which points to Jesus) holy" by keeping Him holy.

[Woody]

[John317]

Originally Posted By: Stan Jensen

We are to worship everyday, the Sabbath is a day of rest.

I agree that we are to worship God every day. The main aspect of the "rest," I believe, is spiritual. Someone has already brought out the idea that the Sabbath is about resting in Jesus as our Savior. For me the Sabbath has been like a little taste of heaven. My memories of the Sabbath at our house were always joyful, happy ones, even though as a kid I often misused the Sabbath because I wasn't converted; and consequently the Sabbath played a large part in my "coming back" to Christ.

The statement in Genesis 1 that God blessed the seventh-day has reference to an appointment-- in this case, an appointment with the people God had created. God no doubt planned the seventh-day of the week as an appointed time for them to associate together in special ways. It's a day to be devoted to getting better acquainted with God just like we have special times set apart for strengthening our relationship with our spouses or children. With God, of course, that includes worship.

I found the following statement by Ellen White on the Sabbath:

The Faith I Live By (1958), page 35, paragraph 5

Chapter Title: The Word and Works of God

The Sabbath is God's time. He sanctified and hallowed the seventh day. He set it apart for man to keep as a day of worship.

[Robert]

He set it apart for man to keep as a day of worship.

So says tradition.....The Sabbath, for those who understand it, is really a sign of justification by faith. See Hebrews chapter 4. Outside this there is no reason for Sabbath observance in my way of thinking. Oh sure you can bring up a multitude of OT quotes, but I can't see it in the NT.

Robert

[Robert]

I found the following statement by Ellen White on the Sabbath:

The Faith I Live By (1958), page 35, paragraph 5

Chapter Title: The Word and Works of God

The Sabbath is God's time. He sanctified and hallowed the seventh day. He set it apart for man to keep as a day of worship.

And I found this:

BC- CW

TI- Counsels to Writers and Editors

CN- 4

CT- Attitude to New Light

PR- 01

PG- 37

We have many lessons to learn, and many, many to unlearn. God and heaven alone are infallible. Those who think that they will never have to give up a cherished view, never have occasion to change an opinion, will be disappointed.

One could be the reason/motive one keeps the Sabbath.

[Robert]

When the true gospel of righteousness by faith will be fully recovered and preached into all the world, every person will have to make the choice, either for or against Christ [Deuteronomy 30:19,20; Joshua 24:13-15; Romans 9:30-33; Philippians 3:3-9]. At that time, the Sabbath will become the seal of God, representing righteousness by faith. In contrast, Sunday will represent the Mark of the Beast, signifying man’s rejection of God’s saving grace in Christ [Revelation 14:10-11]. Therefore, when the Sunday (blue) law will be legally established, it will indicate the world’s deliberate and ultimate rejection of God’s loving offer of salvation through His Son.

This is the “abomination of desolation” Christ spoke about [Matthew 24:14-22]. Those who will then insist on Sunday rest, in willful opposition to God’s Sabbath rest, will receive the plagues, the wrath of God poured out without mixture [Revelation 14:9-11]. In contrast, those who will stubbornly keep the Seventh-day Sabbath will be manifesting a faith in God that is unshakeable. They will go through the great time of trouble and wash their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

Because of the mixed, confused ideas of salvation, the true controversy between God’s Sabbath and man’s Sunday is today still foggy and not clearly understood. But when the two opposing methods of salvation come into clear focus, then the true importance of the Sabbath will be seen clearly. May God give us, at that time, the grace and courage to stand for truth.

[JS]

[Robert]

Here's my understanding of the Sabbath:

"THEREFORE, let us [the Hebrews of Paul’s time] fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it."

The Jews were already in Canaan - the Promised Land. Therefore Paul was not speaking of “His rest” being the land of Canaan. Then what does Paul mean by “His rest”?

"For indeed we [believers] have had the gospel preached to us, just as they also [the Jews in the time of the exodus]; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard." For we who have believed enter that rest…"

This is very clear language! Those who have accepted the gospel by faith have entered “God’s rest”. Hence the phrase “His rest” is synonymous with “the gospel”. Those who have entered “His rest” have accepted the gospel!

Just as He [God] has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY [THE JEWS OF THE EXODUS] SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

What works were finished from the foundation of the world? “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” [Rev 13:8]

For He [God] has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”

Paul is using the Sabbath of creation to illustrate that God’s work of creation was perfect and it was complete. God didn’t start working on creation again the following week. Hence His resting proved that His finished work was perfect!

and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” Since therefore it remains for some [the unbelieving Jews in Paul’s time] to enter it, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience [unbelief – see Heb 3:18,19]

He [God] again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”

In other words do not procrastinate – do not put off entering His rest – do not harden your heart against the gospel of Christ. Today is the day of your salvation!

For if Jesus [through Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

This one is bit complex and hard to understand. Jesus gave the believing Jews the promised land (Canaan), but this was not the ultimate rest. Heaven is the ultimate rest! So “another day” refers to when believers receive the true heavenly rest in the New Jerusalem at the 2nd coming!

There remains therefore a Sabbath rest [a Sabbath keeping] for the people of God [believers]. 10 For the one who has entered His rest [the gospel] has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

When did God originally rest? After creation. Why? His work was final - it was complete - it was perfect! Is this true now? No! Creation is ruined. Therefore keeping the Sabbath as it relates to a perfect creation is meaningless.

Furthermore Paul only mentioned creation, but his subject is redemption - the gospel. So with this context in mind, what does Paul mean by "the one who has entered His rest [the gospel] has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His?

Remember entering His rest is equated with accepting the gospel. Now for those who have accepted Christ we should also rest from our works as God did from His work of redemption. That's what Paul is saying. And he connects it to the Sabbath. How?

What day did Christ die? Shortly before the Sabbath came in Friday evening. What happened when Christ died?

Romans 5:10 "We were reconciled to him through the death of his Son."

The moment Christ died humanity was legally justified. Why? Because "in Christ" you died to the law in the body of Christ. When One died, all died."

How did God the Father rest? He rested from His perfect work of redemption "in Christ"! What day did He begin His rest? Right, the 7th day. Hence on the Sabbath God rested from His perfection work of redemption "in Christ".

If you believe that you stand justified by faith in the going and dying of Christ, then like God rested you are to rest from your unnecessary work as a outward sign that you agree that God's work is perfect - it is finished and it is complete.

That's my understanding,

Rob

[cricket]

^^Excellent post, Rob!

[Woody]

Thank you Rob. It is beautiful the way you put it.

[Robert]

If you believe that you stand justified by faith in the going and dying of Christ....

That should read: "in the DOING and dying of Christ"....

[Gerr]

You may find your rest in Jesus.

And the most visible sign/evidence that I AM resting in Jesus is to rest on THE day He specifically set aside to signify that rest.

Gerry

[Robert]

Originally Posted By: cricket

You may find your rest in Jesus.

And the most visible sign/evidence that I AM resting in Jesus is to rest on THE day He specifically set aside to signify that rest.

Gerry

Wrong! You are making the sign (in this case the Sabbath) greater than the reality (Christ).