Remember the Sabbath Day, to Keep It Holy (1)
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February 12, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy" (Exodus 20:8-11).
'Sabbath' is a day set aside for rest and worship, and in the New Testament time it is called the 'Lord's Day'.
Keeping the Sabbath is the basic action that shows one is God's child and proves his/her citizenship of Heaven with another basic sign, giving a whole tithe. This is because it is one of the Ten Commandments that God's children should keep.
1. The Origin and Meaning of the Sabbath
Genesis 2:3 reads, "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."
God created the heavens and the earth for six days and rested on the seventh day. He blessed this seventh day and sanctified it. And God gave this commandment about keeping the Sabbath after He delivered the sons of Israel from Egypt as written in Exodus 20.
When God gave the Ten Commandments, He said, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy…For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
By keeping the Sabbath we show our belief in God as the Creator. Furthermore, it means we acknowledge that God is the Owner and Master of the vast spiritual realm as well as the physical world. Namely, to keep the Sabbath holy is the act of acknowledging the spiritual authority of God.
2. The Reason We Keep the Sabbath
In Exodus 31:13, God said to Moses, "But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.'" The people of Israel were set apart as holy people of God by keeping the Sabbath. God protected them from tests and trials and various kinds of disasters.
This spiritual principle is applied in the same way today. We can be protected and blessed only when we belong to God as His children by keeping the Sabbath. Being protected and blessed is important, but the most important thing is the salvation of our spirit.
Exodus 31:14-15 states, "Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people…whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death." It was to tell them that even Israelites, God's elect, had to fall into death from the moment they did not keep the Sabbath because it means they had nothing to do with God.
If we understand the true intention of God in commanding us to keep the Sabbath, we won't feel coerced to keep it out of fear. God commanded us to keep the Sabbath to give us true rest with His love for His children. If we feel the heart and love of God, we may work hard for six days and during these week days we wait for the Sabbath with our hearts, mind, and will. Then on the Sabbath we will worship in spirit and truth, have fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ, and offer up our thanks and joy to God.
3. The Reason We Keep Sunday as the Sabbath
In the Old Testament time, Saturday, which is the seventh day of the Creation, was kept as the Sabbath. But since Jesus, the Son of God, came to the earth in flesh, fulfilled the duty of the Savior, and was resurrected on Sunday, it has been kept as the Sabbath in New Testament times.
Mark 16:9 says, "Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons." Because the seventh day of the week is Saturday which was kept as the Sabbath in the Old Testament time, the first day of the week is Sunday. Jesus was crucified at 3 P.M. on Friday and buried, and He resurrected in the early morning of Sunday, on the third day after the crucifixion.
Genesis 1:3 says, "Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light." This light was spiritual light, which symbolizes the power and authority of God. God proclaimed His sovereignty all over the universe. It was also the proclamation of Jesus Christ's sovereignty because He is the 'true Light' who existed in the form of God and He is the Word who became flesh and came to the earth as said in John 1:9, "There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man."
That is why Matthew 12:8 reads, "For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." It means that our Lord is the true light and He is the lord of the Sabbath. Just as there was light on the first day of Creation, Sunday, the Lord's Day which is the first day of the week, is the day on which the Lord, who is the true Light, shone His light to the whole world.
It was the day on which Jesus overcame death and resurrected to open the way of salvation for all mankind. He became the true light for those souls who were living in darkness and death. From this time we keep the Sunday as the Sabbath, namely as the Lord's Day. Only after the resurrection of the Lord did we come to keep the true Sabbath.
God has already mentioned in the Old Testament that the Sunday will become the Sabbath. Leviticus 23:10-12 says, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD for you to be accepted; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the LORD."
The male lamb one year old without defect given on the day after the Sabbath refers to the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The first sheaf refers to the first fruit of resurrection, which is Jesus Christ as well (1 Corinthians 15:20).
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, after the transgression of the first man, Adam, all people lost true rest God had given them. The spirits of men, that were the the master of men, died. As a result, their communication with God was severed. They even came to have to toil all the days of their lives to eat, and finally they were to fall into Hell the eternal death.
When the appointed time came, however, in the Lord's love in the crucifixion, He overcame death and resurrected, and thereby the way to salvation was open to all people. Anybody who believes Jesus Christ and receives the Holy Spirit as the gift can enjoy salvation, eternal life, resurrection, and hope for Heaven. However, only when we keep the Lord's Day holy and keep God's commandments can we have eternal and perfect rest.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will keep the Sabbath holy and understand the will of God who wants all people to be saved.
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