What is the Sabbath Day in the Bible and is the Sabbath keeping a Christian Law?
Let's make this simple, very simple: God finished HIS WORK in 6 days. On the 7th Day (Sabbath Day) He entered His Rest. But before entering His Rest the Bible says: Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. God did not enter His rest before making everything very good. That means when He entered His Rest it was all good, no need for another extra hour, no need for another work, and no need for waiting for a time. His Work was finished. Hebrews 4 says, although the Work was FINISHED from the foundation of the world, man did not enter His rest, but continued in his own work, trying to establish his own rest.
Even to this day there are debates among Christians about what day of the week is the real Sabbath day, is it Saturday, or Sunday...many have questions like "should Christians keep the Sabbath Day?" Well, without relating the Work of Creation and the Rest that followed to the Work of Redemption and the Rest that follows, these debates will continue. But the truth about Sabbath Day is this: The Work Jesus did, known as the Finished Work of the Cross is that which now has left us a Rest to enter. But what is this rest and how we can enter it?
In my previous post we talked about what faith according to the bible. We opened up the major understandings of Faith, as our true origin and identity. That faith is not something to have, is who you are. In this post we will also talk about how this "FAITH" can enter of into the Sabbath Rest of God
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What is Sabbath Day Rest?
I am going to talk specifically about rest and the Sabbath day rest that is being spoken about right from the beginning in Genesis chapter 1 where it says He finished His work and then He entered into His rest. Later through the ten commandments of Moses, He gave a commandment to keep this Sabbath day. Fast forward to the time of Christ in the epistles spoken by Paul who I believe wrote the book of Hebrews, and he says that right now there is a rest for us. Chapters 3 and 4 in the book of Hebrews are entirely dedicated to rest and in fact around fifteen times this word ‘rest’ is being used.
So what is the Sabbath day and what is rest and why did God give a commandment regarding the Sabbath? To this day people are still referring to whether the Sabbath day is on Saturday or Sunday and question who changed it from Saturday to Sunday. It’s amazing how ignorant we are to what is being written in the bible, especially in the book of Colossians where he asks why you allow someone to judge you still about days, new moon, Sabbath and all feasts and stuff like that. Those fleshy commandments have no part in Christianity, in fact, when I say Christianity I don’t use it exclusively what I mean is the truth that is being revealed in Christ.
- Don’t we know that everything that was before Christ was only a prefiguring of what was to come, or don’t we know that everything that was before Christ was only a mere shadow of what was to come?
- Doesn’t Hebrews chapter 10 say that law was only a shadow of the good things to come?
It wasn’t the very image of things because the image of things is Christ himself. He is the image of God. And you and I are one with Him. And now the reality of awakening into the same consciousness changes us forever and we can begin to enter that rest. So this is what rest is but let’s understand this in the context of the New Testament and by the Spirit of Revelation I trust you will also come to a greater understanding than what you had before.
Where does this idea of Rest come from?
First of all, in Genesis chapter 1, it says that in six days God created the heavens, earth, sea and everything that was in heaven, in the earth and in the sea; And all the trees, all the beasts of the field, everything and finally man on the sixth day. Then around verse 31 of Genesis chapter 1, it says that God saw that everything was good and then He entered into His rest.
What does that mean: God didn’t enter into His rest BEFORE He made sure,that everything that He had done WAS very good!
The New Testament language for ‘very good’ is the word ‘perfect’. Now you can understand why the book that talks about rest the most which is the book of Hebrews, is also the book that talks about perfection the most, because rest comes after perfection.
God wasn’t feeling 'tired' to enter into His rest.
God did something perfectly and He realized:
Now I can celebrate what I have done!
The other day I was sharing with somebody that I made a 9-minute motivational video about the 'incorruptible seed' and what that means. It took two full days to make that 9-minute video because it consists of several videos with background music where I cut a 1-hour message down to 9-minutes. Then I had to put it all together with consistency so those who view it can enjoy it.
After it was done I was so proud of the finished work. I was watching it and just enjoying what I had made and that is what God says when He saw that everything was good and then He enjoyed it. He saw that it was so good and He enjoyed it. It was His pleasure to even introduce this to others, similar to where I want to show everybody that video so they can watch it and also enjoy it and that’s what God says concerning mankind and His image in them.
Stop Laboring like Adam!
Hebrews chapter 4 says, the moment you see perfection you will cease from your works. In fact, it says you will enter into God’s rest and you will cease from your own works. What does that mean? If God said it was very good and then He entered into rest. And we are being encouraged, and we are being admonished, and we are being commanded to also enter into that rest. What does that mean?
It means: SEE YOUR PERFECTION.
See your perfection and understand how perfect and how wonderful you were made because the moment you see this you will stop trying to become something.
Your soul will stop laboring like Adam. Your soul will stop trying to justify itself, rather it will start seeing how justified he is. Just as Romans chapter 5 says, having been justified by Him we have peace with God having been justified. What does that mean?
I also talk about this subject in one of the videos called: FROM FAITH TO FAITH Scale of Righteousness.
Being made righteous means to have the same weight as God and to share in the same likeness as God, to share in the same image as God as a scale that is balanced. If you see this perfection you will stop your labor.
Now, this is what we are told in Hebrews chapter 3 when he says, today if you hear the Holy Spirit do not harden your heart as they did in rebellion. This is what he is saying, remember the story of the nation of Israel and understand what happened so you can benefit and you won’t do what they did and you would experience what they did not experience. What they did not experience was REST.
Their Story doesn't have to be our Story!
Now, this is the story, there was a land called Egypt in which the whole nation of Israel was in bondage. God came through a man called Moses and redeemed them and brought them into a place called the wilderness but He didn’t bring them to the wilderness so they could just be in the wilderness! But there He spoke to them and He said I will take you to a land that I promised to your forefathers; so they were going into Promised Land and Moses we know didn’t enter. The man who actually brought them from the wilderness to the Promised Land was named Joshua.
They remained in the wilderness that was supposed to be an eleven-day journey for 40 years and there they labored. What does that mean and what caused them to remain in this place? He says it was something called ‘rebellion’. But what does that mean when we say ‘rebellion’? It means they hardened their hearts and they did not believe.
So their rebellion was unbelief, this IS the rebellion of unbelief. So it says, what caused them to remain in this wilderness was their unbelief, had they believed they would have entered into the Promised Land. How do we know this? When God said to get up and go into the land they chose twelve spies. And the spies went into the land (Numbers chapter 13) and later at the end of the chapter it says they returned and they were divided into two groups. The twelve spies are divided into a group of ten and a group of two. The ten had an evil report and the two had a good report.
The ten had this report: We saw giants in the land and in our own sight we saw ourselves as grasshoppers compared to them and so we saw ourselves as grasshoppers in their sight. So basically, what we see about ourselves is what they see about us.
There we saw the giants; and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.[Numbers 13:33]
So what was the unbelief?
- Basically, they saw inferiority in themselves
- They saw lack in themselves
They didn’t see how redeemed...
- How saved
- How released they were from bondage
The Sabbath is in the Conscience!
The land of Egypt, which was actually the land of bondage, was the place that they came out of but when they came out Egypt their consciousness had not changed.
This brings us to the book of Hebrews which uses the word conscience more than any other book of the bible. Do you think it’s a coincidence that we have a book that talks about conscience, rest and perfection more than any other book in the bible? No, it’s not, because they are related.
This is what God is saying: If your conscience sees your perfection you enter into your rest but if your conscience does not believe what God says about you then you will not enter into rest.
This is the rest that He speaks about just as God in the past extended this day, which is today if you hear His voice do not harden your heart.
He has extended that day forever, so that today, finally for you, it happens.
This means there would be a day that when you hear you would no longer harden your heart and I understand this had been gradually happening in some areas, maybe better than other areas, but let’s understand the concept.
He says in hearing what the Holy Spirit says we would enter into REST;
So guess what the Holy Spirit should be speaking to us about:
It is PERFECTION!!!
What does that mean? He would bear witness of how perfect you and I are in our conscience. (Romans 8:16) and that stops us from the way that Adam lived, which was trying to make himself something because he saw himself naked. He wanted to justify himself, cover-up himself, and put something around himself so the lack that he was seeing in himself would not be seen by God. What did God do? God covered him! Why, because God didn’t want to see Adam naked? Absolutely not, but He wanted Adam NOT to see himself naked. What does that mean?
God didn’t want humanity to see imperfection in them because the moment you see imperfection you respond imperfectly
But the moment you see perfection you respond perfectly, or in perfection.
That’s why the language in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, when it speaks about the glory of God, is the language of reflection! He says we behold and we reflect the same glory or the same image, from glory to glory. We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. What does that mean? The moment you see God you reflect Him.
It has changed from Your Side not from God's Side!
Why? Because the moment you see Him, you hear His voice. What does He say? He says, I said, let us make man in our own image, in our own likeness and I say that has never changed from my side but it has changed from your side. How you see yourself has changed you into another image, into a corruptible image, the image of corruptible man (Romans 1:23). So you changed the glory or the image of God with the glory of the image of a corruptible man. But why would you do that?
Because your conscience is NOT allowing you!
In the book of Hebrews, he says therefore we know about this nation that they finally entered into the Promised Land but who brought them into the Promised Land? First of all, those who entered were not the same people that came out of Egypt; those all died in the wilderness.
It was their children, who in the book of Numbers had NO knowledge of good and evil and they were led by Joshua and Caleb and they entered into the Promised Land.
So they finally entered the Promised Land and we read about this in Hebrews 4:8, that if Joshua had given them rest after they entered the Promised Land, God would not have spoken of another day, saying today if you hear His voice do not harden your hearts. That means the nation of Israel; even those who were born in the wilderness were not in rebellion like their parents. Yet, even though they entered this land they did not experience rest. What does that mean? That means the promise that God has given us is the promise of REST. And what does that mean?
Please hear me, please focus and let this go deep into your heart,
The promise of rest to you is the promise of God proving to you:
THE WORK IS FINISHED!
What does Rest have to do with Perfection?
Again, the promise that God has given humanity, the promise of rest and the book of Hebrews says as long as it is called today and for God that never changes; so as long as it is called today the promise remains, which is, today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts but believe that you may enter into this rest. This promise was that God would persuade every heart that has unbelief into a heart that is being persuaded of what God has spoken and what God has spoken is: ‘perfection in mankind’.
When He says He entered into His rest that means He saw how perfect man was. This is contrary to what the Israelite's saw because it says they saw themselves as grasshoppers, so what is a grasshopper?
Look at how bad the situation was that their self-esteem was as a grasshopper.
They had nothing else.
What they saw was how weak, in lack and without help they were,
But God’s language was: YOU ARE PERFECT!
If it’s hard to believe I will share a few verses so you can understand. Hebrews 10: 11 every priest, speaking of old covenant people, (1) stands ministering daily and (2) offering repeatedly and (3) the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. So now under the old covenant, there were priests that were doing a work in the temple and it was for the sake of the people and what was that work? It was to take away sin or take sin away from them. They were doing this (1) daily, (2) repeatedly, (3) the same sacrifices.
- Doesn’t that sound like work?
- Doesn’t that sound like ‘NO rest’?
So without rest, they were doing this and every year they were doing this and never entered into REST. But look at what we see after this, the logic that God shows us and look at the reasoning that God makes with us and look at how He’s going to persuade you, me and the whole humanity concerning this truth: But this man (Jesus) after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, Remember they were doing the same sacrifices repeatedly and daily, but this man, one sacrifice for sin forever SAT DOWN. What does that mean He ‘sat down’? REST! What does that mean? The work is FINISHED!
Why are YOU still bringing Sacrifices?
When we say the cross where a sacrifice was made that sacrifice is not going to be repeated. And that sacrifice is forever. And that sacrifice means there would never be another sacrifice. And that means there would never ever be again a need to stand daily ministering the same offering over and over. That means it is done. It is finished. No longer any other sacrifice! NOTHING!
The sacrifice is done and what was necessary for a laboring soul that was trying to do it himself, day after day, is being done by somebody else. And that somebody else is Jesus. And He says what was necessary for you to see and never again see yourself, was see the sacrifice that was made for you.
Not your sacrifice but His sacrifice that was made for you.
It says that HE then sat down at the right hand of God. This sounds like entering into rest because only those who stand like the old covenant people are laboring but the one who sits is not laboring, he is at rest. What does that mean? This one who is also a priest, a high priest, when He sat down saw how perfect His sacrifice is and He no longer needs to make another sacrifice and He no longer needs to tell the ones that He is mediating for to bring another sacrifice.
Look at the ‘bearing witness’ of the Holy Spirit, God Himself, and what he says after this in Hebrews 10:14 for by one offering He has PERFECTED, this word ‘perfected’ is the word that we have been talking about, by one sacrifice perfected. Remember God said that it was ‘very good’ in Genesis 1:31 and entered into His rest. The ‘very good’ means ‘perfected’. Now He says the work of redemption is perfected and is done for YOU! That once you fell, so what the Adam did in YOU Jesus came to redeem you from that and HE redeemed you perfectly from that and then He sat down because the work is finished.
Now He has perfected YOU forever.
But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us for after He had said before. [Hebrews 10:15]
So not only what WE bore witness of ourselves, with our eyes we saw the Christ on the cross but it was written by the Holy Spirit in the scriptures before. And today Holy Spirit brings that to our remembrance bearing witness to us.
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds, I will write them," 17 then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." [Hebrews 10:16]
Look at this, God says I don’t remember their sin! What does that mean? You would bring a sacrifice for sin and God says I don’t see any sin. If He doesn’t see any sin what does that mean?
That means NO sacrifice is required!
And if He doesn’t see sin what does He see in you?
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. [Romans 3:23]
But when God doesn’t remember sin and doesn’t see sin what does He see in us? Glory! What is glory? Glory is God’s opinion about us. Glory is God seeing His own image in us, so when we see what God sees, we enter into this rest.
It doesn’t mean you have to wait to finally see this one day.
We Can Change our Language!
Remember it was about what you hear and what you believe. It’s about changing your language. It’s about changing your conversation from speaking imperfection like nobody’s perfect or nobody can be perfect, NO!!! Change that language and do not allow words to come out of your mouth that didn’t come out of the mouth of God.
If God doesn’t see sin in us, what kind of false humility is it for us to see sin in ourselves?
- Why should we see ourselves as grasshoppers?
- Why should we see ourselves as the ones who carried the same mindset of bondage and slavery as though we are still in Egypt?
Don’t we see how God powerfully accomplished our redemption from the land of Egypt out from bondage? Don’t we see how free we are from this?
If we are not mindful of what He did, then we won’t be mindful of the rest and we will be in a wilderness like they had in this story and we will also have the same experience and we will not experience rest.
So the soul that has been working and laboring and trying to make itself something, at some point it became a city called Babylon (Genesis chapter 11). Finally, that soul needs to come out of labor. Jesus said come to me all who are heavy laden and I will give you rest for your soul (Matt 11:28).
The soul that has been seeing itself inferior is also trying to exalt itself.
When you do not see yourself in the position that you are supposed to be in, you try to put yourself in that place. But God through Jesus Christ, He raised us (Ephesians 2:6) and He seated us with Him. What does that mean? Rest!
God has spoken in the man Christ Jesus, the highest, and the most honorable, the most glorious words that He could speak concerning us.
The most honorable words that could ever be spoken in the entire planet about anything or anyone God has spoken about us: saying we are seated with Him in the highest place of honor and glory and authority.
And this must give us rest from our labor.
Let’s look at a few verses to see the depth of this, Hebrews chapter 1, God in the past spoke through the prophets prophetically but in these last days He has spoken in the son in fulfillment. What God promised is being fulfilled.
If you don’t believe this you will wait for another day while God says TODAY IS THAT DAY.
And if today you hear His voice you would enter into this rest.
Says this son in whom God has spoken He being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person and upholding all things by the word of His power when He had by Himself purged our sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.[Hebrews 1:3]
He says He sat down after He purged our sin. When is the purging of sin done? When a sacrifice is made and the high priest takes the blood of that sacrifice into the temple, the tabernacle on the mercy seat. So Him sitting down, first of all, shows that the work is finished. But what does 'Him sitting down' mean? Where did he sit down? At His right hand!
Where is the right hand? The throne of God, the place of executive authority, the place that God executes His commands, executes His orders, executes His power, and executes His word that comes out. He says that place (Hebrews 4:16) is called the throne of grace where we can receive mercy because it’s the mercy seat of God. So He says right now when we say speaking of mercy that means being washed by the blood in our conscience.
Forget your former image!
So finding mercy when you come to the throne of grace means you forget your former image of a grasshopper the language used in Numbers 13. The language of the New Testament is to let go of sin consciousness. You let go of your imperfection.
When you come to the throne of grace what you experience is the man that is seated declaring the work is finished so why do you labor?
- Why is your soul still trying to get into that motion?
- Why is your soul not enjoying union with Him and sitting in the same place?
- Why is your soul not realizing that this place was actually yours the day that I raised from the dead and I ascended and I was seated?
So right now our rest is our sitting with Christ, being where He is, seeing us the way He is.
This is the story of rest. This is the story of Sabbath day and I hoped this helped you. We will continue with this topic in the coming video episodes so we can get into the depths of what is now the finished the work and what that means. What is the finished work of the cross? What is the term Jesus used when He was on the cross and He said, it is finished and what really happened. He says the moment He said that the veil of the temple, the earthly temple, was torn from top to bottom what was stopping people from going from the holy place to the most holy place was no longer there. So when Jesus declared it is finished, the earthly representation of what is in the true temple of God, which is the human body, happened and the door is open. The door to be in the most holy place without any sense of sin consciousness, without any sense of inferiority is open. That door is open. That veil is torn and we’re going to see what that veil is. What does the book of Hebrews say about this veil and what does that even mean? I hope this was helpful.
