The Sabbath - Are we doing it right
The Sabbath - Are we doing it right?
Before I address this topic I want the reader to understand that I am not pushing or advocating for a legalistic doctrine concerning the Sabbath but rather an examination of the truth about the Sabbath. The division that has been occurring needlessly in the Church for years over Sabbath doctrines has at times been extremely detrimental to the Body of Christ, so I would like to offer my two cents on the topic in the interest of unity and better understanding. I also want to say that this blog isn’t intended to be a comprehensive Biblical study on the topic but rather to ask and answer some important questions about the Sabbath that really do deserve an answer, and add some richness and depth to the topic.
The inspiration - The other day, while looking at messages on Facebook, I came across the post of a Christian Brother, and he asked a very important question in his post concerning the Sabbath. I was excited to see the post because I have also asked this same question in different ways to other friends who are “Sabbath Keepers”in an attempt to find some common ground with Brothers and Sisters in Christ who have been causing unintended division in the Church over this issue.
Sabbath Keepers? - Before I go any further, I want to take a moment for those that may not be familiar with the term “Sabbath Keepers,” to quickly explain what we are saying when we use this phrase. It may seem obvious and many will say, “those are the guys who go to Church on Saturday instead of Sunday.” Basically that’s right, but there is a little bit more to it than that. The Sabbath is, technically, from Friday night at sundown to Saturday night at sundown and a Sabbath Keeper is usually someone who believes that this is the time each week that we should gather together to worship the Lord. Of course, our question isn’t about whether the Sabbath is Saturday, but rather, are we commanded anywhere in Scripture to attend Church services on this day as a part of Sabbath observance. A Sabbath Keeper is almost always a person, a group of people, or a Church, that believes in keeping the Law the way the Jews were required to in the Old Testament, specifically in the Books of Exodus and Leviticus. They usually, but not always, believe in keeping all the dietary laws of the Law such as abstaining from pork, shellfish, fish without scales, etc. However, they do not believe in the Temple sacrifices of lambs, rams, goats, and bulls, the way that the Law of Moses commanded, but they do recognize that the Blood of Jesus Christ is the only blood of a sacrifice that can cleanse us from all unrighteousness and sin.
They do this because the Sabbath was set as a continual ordinance between God and His people. There is no denying that in Scripture God is clear that He intended the Sabbath to be an ordinance between God and His people forever. We can clearly see this in Exodus 31:12-18. In these verses of chapter 31, the Law concerning the Sabbath was the last thing God talked to Moses about before Moses went down the mountain to bring the Law to the people. As we read, not only this passage of scripture, but other passages such as Exodus 34:21, we can see a couple of things about the Sabbath. 1) There is to be no work done on the Sabbath not even in plowing or harvest time (time sensitive work that is labor intensive). 2) It is an ordinance forever. 3) It is a sign between God, and man that God is the one who sanctifies us and provides for us. By taking our hands off of the work, even when it looks impossible to get done without spending every waking hour with our hand to the plow, and instead putting it all aside for one day to give the Lord our full undivided attention, believing that He will bless the work of our hands if we put Him first in everything. This is the meaning of the Sabbath. It is a perfect way to keep our communication with God and our love for Him alive as life gets busy and distracting….But, it’s not the biggest picture of the Sabbath, and the revelation of it. We are going to discover a major truth concerning the purpose of the Sabbath before this blog post is done. Something many have never before seen or heard.
The Post - Ok, back to the Facebook post that inspired this blog. As I read my friend’s post, I got excited, and began to write a comment, but as usual my comment started to get a little long winded and I saw the opportunity to respond in a better way.
So what was his post? Well, here it is:
“Sabbath - every day for 40 years, the Israelites gathered daily their manna, or bread, but on the Sabbath morning they were told to stay home and rest. Maybe the Sabbath Keepers are doing the opposite when they spend all of their energy and time on Sabbath working when they gather to celebrate. Maybe the Creator actually wanted to them to rest?”
This is a simple, straightforward, and excellent point. When we read all of the laws concerning the Sabbath then the Sabbath can be summed up in the command found in Exodus 35:2 (also see Ex. 34:21) which says:
“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of complete rest to the Lord; whoever does any work in it shall be put to death.” Exodus 35:2 (NASB)
A couple of immediate observations, 1) the Sabbath is a day of rest, but gathering for Church services of any kind are never specified. 2) If we were to keep the Biblical ordinance the way that it is written in our Bibles, then why don’t we put people to death who don’t keep the Sabbath? Though I believe in honoring the Lord on the sabbath day, I do not believe, nor does any Christian I know, that we are to be putting anyone to death for any reason. So, if we are keeping the Sabbath as an ordinance forever, obviously at least one major detail has changed. But why?
In addition, when you read Exodus 31:12-18, we can see in verses 13,16, and 17, that this ordinance was to be kept as a perpetual ordinance throughout all of their generations.
My response to the post - “It’s so funny to listen to folks, who believe they are ‘doing it right’, because they go to building on Saturday instead of going to building on Sunday, when we were never told to build a building anyway. They also have stages, and pulpits, and worship teams, in their buildings and services just like the Sunday guys do. All of those can be good things, but we are also not commanded, and definitely not instructed from the Lord, that these things be included concerning the physical design of a Church system, or as a part of the observing of the Sabbath. God has given us a lot of mercy, and grace on much of this.”
I actually said a couple more things in the response, which are included in this blog just put in a little bit better spot. What we are seeing is that the Sabbath issue isn’t just about the day, but for many its also about the place, and this is the detail that has been a source of division and separation for many years in the Church world wide.
The Church and the Sabbath - In order to talk about this topic, even on a basic level, their is no avoiding the fact that this issue is largely denominational. There are a few large Church denominations that believe that the day to “worship”, meaning to have Church services, is Saturday. Some denominations even believe that if you have Church on Sunday, which was the day instituted by Constantine (no way am I getting into all that), then you are engaging in pagan worship because Sunday is not a Biblical day of worship. Some denominations even believe that “Sunday Worship” is the mark of the beast. But, the question is; Was Saturday ever instituted by God as a day to hold Church services? Were Church services, or worship services ever commanded by God to fulfill the ordinance of the Sabbath? We aren’t questioning whether or not the seventh day is the Sabbath, we are questioning those who hold Church services on Saturday, and believe that they are “doing it right” and that everyone else is “doing it wrong.” This doctrine has caused a denominational division in this Nation and throughout the world for many years. So then, are the ones causing the division observing the Sabbath in the way that the Bible tells them to?
The Church and the Sabbath - I want to talk, very briefly, about a topic that would literally be a book before I was done writing about it. I want to talk about what the Church is, and what the Church is not, in clear terms. And, of course, I want to identify what the Church’s role is where the Sabbath is concerned.
We are the Church - One of the most popular Christian memes on social media these days, is a meme that says something to the effect of, “Going to Church makes you a Christian like standing in a garage makes you a car.” Another meme might say, “we were not called to build a Church, we were called to be the Church.” Of course, there are many other memes and quotes that follow this same line of reasoning.
We really do need to examine the simple fact, that Jesus never commanded us to build buildings, stages, pulpits, sound systems, lighting, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with any of those things from a face value, and in fact, as 1 Corinthians 14 points out, that we are definitely to assemble in larger groups. However, how often that happens and on what day is never specified.
Are the buildings the definition of a “Church,” or were they a practical solution, made by men, intended to facilitate Church meetings built in the pattern of Synagogues? I mean, if anybody had the right to point to a building, and say, “God told us to build this,” it was the Jews, and even those buildings were condemned to be destroyed by Jesus in Matthew 24 (Mark 13, Luke 21, Luke 19:44)
The Jews were told to build the Tabernacle, and the First and Second Temples in exacting detail (Ex. 25, 1 Kings 5, & Ezek. 40), the Third Temple, as outlined in Revelation 11, was not commanded, but prophesied as a key prophetic event, of the end times and the last days.
If anyone had a mandate from God, recorded in the Word of God, that commanded them to build a house of God, it was the Jews. Many miracles, and events, happened in, around, and with, the Temple in Jerusalem. The original Tabernacle of Moses had such signs, wonders, and the power of God falling on it, that at one time, the Priests could not even enter the House of God because the Glory was too strong. In the Tabernacle of Moses, the first sacrifice was consumed by fire that God sent straight from Heaven. However, the significance of the Temple was all found in the testimony of Jesus, and that would be a volume of books to explain, but wow, what a testimony and what revelation!
So if the Church isn’t a building, what is it? - I think the most simple answer is found in Matthew 18:20. If you read Matthew 18:15-20, you can see that there is instruction, given by Jesus, to Christians on how they are to deal with each other concerning sin, in a very practical way. At the end of these few passages, Jesus gives the most basic description of what a Church is, when He says; “for where two or three have gathered together in my name, I am there in their midst.”
Jesus wasn’t speaking about that particular moment in history, because He was in human form, and was not omnipresent yet (everywhere all at once). It was unlikely that two men praying in Jerusalem, would be visited by Jesus, while Jesus was on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. Although, as Jesus proved, it definitely wasn’t out of the question. However, I believe that it is easy to assume, that Jesus meant that this would be the condition, after He left the Earth, to be seated at the right hand of the Father, continually interceding for us.
The Church is a gathering of true believers, it is also the community of believers. All who truly follow Jesus are family, and a Church, no matter how many miles separate us physically.
Just like the Word of God the Church is living and active. - Many of us are familiar with the passage of scripture in Hebrews 4:12, that says: “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword.” I point it out to say, that the Church was also designed to be living and active. We were never meant to memorialize a doctrine with a building, and then spend years attending a building that supports our doctrinal views of scripture. We were meant to be a living example of the life that Christ gave us, and we were called to be the Living Word of God on Earth, as a Witness and Living Testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s a lot to say, but basically, a true Christian is alive in Christ, and the Church is a gathering of people who share that life in Christ. Not a building full of people who agree on Biblical doctrine with a secondary degree in potlucking.
The Church is constructed with Living Stones, not bricks and boards - I’m not going to spend as much time here as a I should, but lets just take a quick look at 1 Peter 2:1-10, 1 Corinthians Chapter 12, and Revelation 21:14. Upon reading these chapters, and passages, we can see that not only are followers of Jesus referred to as “living stones,” but we are called living stones, in relation to Jesus. He is the Chief corner stone of a building that is not built with human hands, but is rather a supernatural building, constructed of true believers, with the Apostles and Prophets as foundation stones, the 12 Tribes as the gates, and Jesus being the Chief Corner Stone. We are also called to assemble, and function together, as one body of believers being comprised of Christians who have all kinds of different spiritual giftings, yet they are all under one Lord, that being Jesus Himself.
As far as denominations of Churches go, Paul the Apostle addressed this clearly in 1 Corinthians 1:10-17 which says:
“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”
It makes my head spin, that we went and did it anyway, and the Church has suffered for it ever since the division began, weakening our testimony, and causing us to be ineffective for the Gospel, and as a Church.
The sin of not attending building - The Church I grew up in as a kid was what you would call, a typical American Church. We were a Pentecostal denomination, but other than a couple of moments during any given Church service, you would have never known we were Pentecostal. We were more like a bigger Community Church, with a Pentecostal influence. One of the things about the Church that always bothered me, was that you could live your life however you wanted to, but as long as you kept your sins a secret, and you showed up for Church every Sunday, then it was assumed you were right with God, and walking with Him as a follower of Jesus. Yet, if you missed a couple of Church services and didn’t tell anyone where you were going, it was assumed that you had been backsliding and falling away from Christ. I definitely have my own testimony, of the times I experienced this very thing.
When you would ask Church Members why they felt this way, of course, they would almost always quote, Hebrews 10:25, which says:
“do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as ye see the Day approaching.”
Inevitably, somehow, the translation of this became, “go to building on Sunday, or your being a naughty backslider.”
Regardless, this word, “assembling,” simply means to “gather.” I would also submit, that this assembling is in the spirit of 1 Corinthians 12, where we are compared to parts of the body, and that this body does not function unless it is “assembled.” Or in another example in the case of 1 Peter 2:1-10, we are “living stones,” who are being “assembled,” and being “built up” as a “spiritual house” for a Holy Priesthood. I would also like to look at the example of 1 Corinthians 14, where we are instructed as to what a Church service can look like when the Body of Christ assembles. If you read the chapter, you will find a much different Church service than most Christians in America have ever experienced. Of course, this was instruction for a prophetic Church gathering and not all gatherings were created for that purpose. Sometimes, the Church is assembling to pray, and wait on God for extended periods of time, the way they did in the upper room waiting for the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2. Other times, there are hours of teaching, as Paul outlined in his many ministry journeys.
However, assembling was never talking about the regular attendance of a building specifically. So what is my point in bringing up “the building?” My point is simply this, that many believe that they are Biblically honoring God, and His Law, to attend a building on Saturday or Sunday, and yet I am asking, “were we ever commanded to attend a building at all? Of course, there is nothing wrong with having your Church assemble at a set location, but we were definitely never commanded to build those buildings, or create the social structures that they produce. In many cases you don’t have a Church at all, you just have a social club with a cross on top of it.
We are the Church - 1 Corinthians 12:12-13 says: “For just as the body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.”
And verse 27 of the same chapter says, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.”
We must begin to seek God together, as believers in Christ, realizing that we may not agree on every issue. Yet, if we can agree on the Gospel of Jesus Christ: that Christ is the only way to salvation, that His Blood washes us from our sins as we repent for our sins, and turn from the world, and follow the will and the way of God. Separating and dividing the Body of Christ over elemental issues, was the very concern that Paul had in Galatians chapter 3.
Jesus is the revelation of the Law and the Prophets - Ok, now we are getting to the fun part because revealing Jesus, really, is our one and highest calling. As Proverbs 25:2 says, “
“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
Sometimes, it’s easy to spend too much time “exposing” what we see as wrong in the Church, or in the world, and we forget that our highest calling is to “reveal” Christ. Of course, Ephesians 5:11 is clear that we should expose the evil deeds of darkness, and I agree. Nonetheless, if we are great at exposing what we see as evil, and yet at the same time we are rarely revealing Christ to anybody, then we will fall into a trap, and our testimony will die down to a small insignificant fire while the door to a religious spirit will swing wide open. If you want to defeat any religion you might have in your life, then live your life revealing Christ, and the life that you will live as a result will be an affront to any religion trying to reside in you. Believe me, it will also be an affront to any religious spirit around you, just look at what they did when Jesus revealed Himself.
I find it interesting that Jesus identified Himself many times, and even asked His own Disciples to identify who He was in Matthew 16. Even the demons knew His identity, and would call it out in front of people before Jesus would silence them, and cast them out. One of the biggest and most surprising times Jesus identified Himself in a defining way, was Matthew 5:17, when He said,
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”
Jesus literally identifies Himself as the fulfilling of the Law, and the Prophets. In fact, we are really going to get into that before this blog is done. Many different Church denominations understand this to mean, that Jesus did not do away with the Law of Moses, but rather, He was telling us to follow Him by keeping the Law of Moses and that this is the “fulfilling.”
Of course, they further this idea, and the seriousness of what they believe Jesus is commanding by adding verses 18-20 which say,
“For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
“For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
So if by “fulfilling” the Law Jesus did not mean that He wanted us to continue living by the Law, then what did He mean when He said, “I did not come to abolish but to fulfill?” This is an important question, and our answer could literally be the difference between spiritual power or spiritual bondage.
An examination of Christ as the fulfillment of the Law. - I want to start by examining Christ revealed in the Sabbath. To do that I want to first ask a couple of questions.
* (Matthew 5:17) - “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.” How is Jesus the ‘fulfillment’ of the Law?
* Read Mark 2:23-28 - How is Jesus “Lord of the Sabbath” since He wasn’t identified as our Lord and Savior until after the Sabbath was instituted?
The Revelation - At this point, I want to cut right to the chase, and just plainly explain what I believe Jesus is saying when He says that, He is “Lord of the Sabbath,” and that He came to ‘fulfill’ and not ‘abolish’ the Law.
To do that I will just say this, that the Law was not just a set of rules for the behavioral modification of Gods people, it was much more than that. In fact, the Law was given so that men might be able to have a relationship with God, to know God’s heart, God’s mind, and God’s desires. It was given so men would know what things pleased the heart of God, and what stirred up Gods wrath. The Law also outlined instructions on sacrifices, that would atone for the sins of those who followed God, which would be necessary until the time Jesus became the sacrifice for the entire world. If you were to study the sacrifices, the feasts that God gave the Jews, and the Law itself, you would find Jesus prophetically represented in all of it. Unfortunately, because it is rare to find a Nation of people who’s heart’s are truly after God’s own heart, then the holy character and nature of God had to be spelled out in the law. This is so that those who’s hearts are far from God will know what it looks like to follow God, and what God expects from those who say they are His people. As well as, what the rewards and punishments are for walking, or not walking, righteously before the Lord. The Law was needed, not for the righteous, but for the unrighteous, because as we know, the righteous shall live by faith (Hebrews 11). However, to live by that kind of faith, you must love God above everything else, which is actually the first and foremost commandment Jesus gave us. In fact, in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus commanded that we first love the Lord our God with all our Heart, all of our Soul, and all of our mind, and that the second commandment was like it which is to love your Brother as yourself. AND, that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. … The Law and the Prophets were actually meant to reveal Christ as Paul said in Galatians 3:24-25 -
“Therefore the Law has become our guardian to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.”
As far as keeping the law to show yourself approved by God, there is a lot of scripture that tells you that you will not be approved by God or receive, and operate, in the things of the Spirit by adhering to the law. Galatians 3:2-5 is a good example of this truth, and probably one of the most important.
There is a very spiritual aspect to the Law that has nothing to do with following ordinances, and if we don’t see it, then we are missing the entire point of the Law. I mean, look at the religious leaders of Jesus day who were excellent law keepers before the eyes of men. These guys studied the Word of God to know the Law, and to be the experts of the Law. Yet, was that the purpose of the scriptures? I would submit that the ultimate purpose of the scriptures was, and still is, to recognize the coming of the Great King. The Jews were supposed to recognize the day of their visitation when Jesus came the first time. There are literally hundreds of Old Testament passages of prophecy, and reference to the first coming of Jesus, His birth, His Life, His crucifixion, and resurrection. Still, the Jews not only didn’t recognize Him, they literally killed Him as an enemy of God, while of course “keeping the law” before the eyes of men when inwardly their hearts were desperately wicked.
Whether we realize it or not we have the same responsibility the Jews, and specifically the Prophets, and Priests had in Jesus’ time. We are to announce the return of the Great King! We are to reveal the events, and signs that reveal the coming of our Lord and King. We are to preach, and teach the Gospel, so that the world might be saved. The only difference, is that when Jesus came the first time the world did not recognize Him, but when He returns this time even the rocks will rejoice to see Him! Everyone will know exactly who He is, which tells me the Church will have done a pretty good job of announcing His return. (e.g. Matt. 24:30)
So, is there any scripture to support the idea that the law, the way it was observed in the OT, is now realized through Christ, and that He Himself is the revelation of that Law? Well, lets just take a look at Colossians 2:15-17 -
“Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon, or a Sabbath day things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
I mean, lets really think about what is being said here. We are told that we should let no one become our judge concerning food, or drink, or new moon, or Sabbath day. So we can see that these are not criteria upon which we should be correcting, exhorting, or rebuking anybody. Instead, the last part of this scripture points out the most important part of the entire scripture, and it is my very point for writing this revelation of Christ as being our Sabbath, and that He is literally, not figuratively, “Lord of the Sabbath.”
When Paul wrote that these things were a “shadow of what is to come” he was writing about something much deeper than many in the Church understand. When Paul said, “but the substance belongs to Christ,” Paul is literally saying that Christ Himself is the realized truth that the law was supposed to lead us to. Yet, how does the Law reveal Christ??? That is the big question, and I admit I am not even going to begin to give that answer the time it deserves, in the interest of not making this blog any longer. In spite of that, this topic could be the source of a volume of books, and is probably one of the most fascinating aspects of the Word of God.
Christ is our Passover and He is our Sabbath.
There is a very interesting verse of scripture in 1 Corinthians 5:7 which says -
“Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed.”
In this passage, Jesus is called “our Passover,” which would have been an insult to the Jews, and especially the religious leaders of the Jews. Yet, what they didn’t see, was that the Passover was a celebration of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. That His Blood would cause death to ‘passover’, and God would exchange the life of His only begotten Son, so that the sons of men might live.
Literally, on the Passover table, according to the design God gave the Jews (Ex. 12:5-14), you have a lamb or goat that is inspected every day for four days to make sure it is pure(blameless). It is interesting, that Jesus was inspected four times, once by Herod, then Pilot, then Caiaphas, and finally by Annas, and none of them could find any fault in Him. Then, when the lamb is slaughtered, they take the blood, and put it on the wooden door posts of their house. Of course, when Jesus was killed, it was on a wooden cross, and as Jesus said of Himself, “I am the door.” When the lamb was placed on the table, it was eaten in haste, and not a bone was to be broken in it. What do you think a whole fire roasted lamb looks like after an entire family eats it in haste? Torn to shreds, as they were to eat the whole lamb on the passover.
As Psalm 34:20 prophesied, there will not be a bone broken in the Messiah during the crucifixion. We saw that realized, when Pilot ordered the Soldiers to break the legs of those that were being crucified, but Jesus had already died, so they did not break his legs, which was in keeping with the prophecy about Him. I could literally go on for pages on how Christ is literally our Passover. In fact, the Passover was all about Him, and His coming to redeem us, and set us free from the law of sin, and death, and from the ‘ruler’ of this world. In this way, Jesus is literally “Lord of the Passover.”
How is Jesus ‘Our Sabbath?’ - So, if Christ “is our Passover”, then this means that He is the revelation of the passover. That He, Himself, is the one who’s Blood causes sin, and death, to passover our households, and families. That He is the one that will bring us out of the hands of the slavery of this world, and into our Promised Land. This actually leads us right into understanding what the Sabbath is, and how Christ “is our Sabbath.”
To show this, I want to go to our last major passage of scripture, which is Mark 2:23-28. In this passage, we see the Religious Leaders, of Jesus time, accusing Jesus, and His Disciples of rolling, and eating grain on the Sabbath which they were doing because they were hungry. The Jews believed it was not lawful because picking and rolling grain is literally ‘harvesting’ and ‘milling’ grain which is labor and work. If Jesus and His Disciples were doing this on the Sabbath, then they were Lawbreakers, and because Jesus was teaching His Disciples to break the law of God, it made Him an unrighteous Teacher. Jesus then goes on to correct them, showing them an example of how King David had eaten the consecrated bread that was intended only for the Priests, but David took it because he, and his companions were hungry and needed food. This also reminds me of the man with the withered hand ,who the Pharisees brought to Jesus on the Sabbath day. They did this knowing, that He would heal the man (something they could not do), and that by healing him on the Sabbath, Jesus would prove that he was a lawbreaker, and not from God at all. However, when this happened, Jesus became very angry, and told them something very important that could be just as applicable to His Disciple's eating the grain, or healing the man with the withered hand. Jesus told the Religious Leaders, that the Sabbath was a day for mercy, and that showing mercy on the Sabbath is as much a part of the Sabbath as resting, and not working. As Jesus says in this passage, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.” In other words, God instituted the Sabbath for our benefit, as a time for healing, reflection, rest, and to focus on the Lord, with no other agenda on the “to do” list. I don’t know about you, but I have gotten ready for Church on both Saturdays and Sundays, then Church, then attending after Church events, I didn’t find it restful. Honestly, singing a few songs, listening to a sermon, and doing a little Bible study, may look like a day of focus on the Lord. However, for many, those are the things they want to get done, so they can get back to doing what they wanted to do.
After saying that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, Jesus said one last thing, in Mark chapter 2, that defines the most crucial point of the Sabbath itself, Jesus said,
“So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
To explain that, I will first point out that the Sabbath being a day of rest, AND the Sabbath being a day to show mercy, have everything to do with what the Sabbath is. This is why it is a “shadow of that which is to come,” and that the substance of that shadow “is found in Christ.”
To do that, I want to point to this verse of scripture that, seemingly, has nothing to do with what we are talking about, and that scripture is 2 Peter 3:8 which says:
“But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
To read that passage, you might think that this is just pointing out that time is nothing to God, and that He is in control of it. However, I think that there is a bit more to it then that, and I want to lay it out in a very simple and straightforward way.
You see, when God originally created the earth it took six days ,and of course, I believe those are literal days as it is ridiculous to me to suggest that it was too much for God to create everything in this specific amount of time. I actually think, He was holding back, and could have done it all instantaneously, but rather what He was doing, He was doing intentionally.
If I take the scripture in 2 Peter, and look at how that applies to the creation, and the end of the earth (Alpha and Omega), then I can see how the time it took to create the Earth directly corresponds with the time it took for the Earth to be ready to receive its King. So, if a day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day, AND creation was completed in six days, and then God Himself rested (does God need rest?). It starts to become clear, that the “work week” of the time of men on earth, before the return of the King, would be six thousand years. Two thousand years from Adam to Abraham, two thousand years from Abraham to the resurrection of Christ, and two thousand years until the return of the Great King.
That’s right a six thousand year work week! And what comes after the work week? That’s right, a one thousand year rest that we call the “Millennial Reign of Christ”! It is a day when toil, labor, struggle, striving, pain, suffering, sin, death, all of it, will end, and the people of God, all who are found with Him, will rest from their labors (Rev. 14:13). In this way we fully understand why Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, and that the Sabbath is perfectly celebrated in mercy.
The final point - This last point, I think, fully embodies the way God tries to show us deep things about Himself that transcend the realm of human understanding. Yet it seems, as soon as we see it, we try to grasp what God is showing us, to build an earthly kingdom FOR God, rather than taking what He has given us to help build the Kingdom OF God.
To make this point I want to go to Matthew 17:1-8 which says,
“Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James, and his brother John, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter responded and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.” And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.”
To start off with, I just have to say, I don’t know how the Disciples knew that who they saw with Jesus was Moses, and Elijah, but somehow they knew. I mean, those guys had left earth a long time ago, and photography wasn’t great back then, so how did they know?
Anyway, to get to the real point, you not only have to read the words written in the Word of God, but you must read them prophetically, or symbolically, as much of the Bible is written this way.
Let me show you what I mean.
Jesus took His Disciples to a ‘high place’ that was both physical and spiritual. Has God ever taken you to a high place with Him? In this place, the Disciples see Jesus as they had never seen Him before. Isn’t that what happens to us whenever God takes us to a spiritually ‘high place?’ That’s right, we see Jesus like we have never seen Him before. Then, they see Moses, and Elijah, in heavenly bodies, standing, and talking with Jesus. Who are Moses and Elijah? Well, Moses would be the one God used to bring the Law, which many, even still today, call ‘the law of Moses.’ Elijah is the one that became a pattern for all the prophets that would prophecy in Israel, including the last “old testament” prophet John the Baptist. In this way, Moses has become synonymous with the Law, and Elijah with the Prophets. So the Disciples saw Jesus, the ‘Law’, and the ‘Prophets,’ in a new way…and, what was the reaction of Jesus Disciples to witnessing this?
Their reaction was the same reaction the Church has had for the entirety of the Church age.
The Disciples, specifically Peter, but the others in agreement said,
“Lord, it is good that we are here. If You want, I will make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
That’s right, the Disciples wanted to build buildings around their new revelations of the Son of God, the Law, and the Prophets.
As soon as they did this, God Himself rebuked them audibly saying,
“This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified.
Then Jesus came to them and said,
“Get up, and do not be afraid.” And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.”
Do you see that! After God rebuked them, because they were in error, they were so terrified that they fell to their faces on the ground(humility and submission) then after Jesus touched them, and told them to get up and not be afraid (this part is important), then they saw nothing except Jesus Himself alone!
For too long, the Church age has housed the revelations that began denominations that God never commanded to exist, in buildings God never commanded to be built. We have used erroneously understood doctrines to keep each other separate, and to keep the division of the Body of Christ as a continual iniquity.
If we would stop trying to build a house for God, and instead, become a part of the House of God, and focus on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, then the Church might actually live out the original command Jesus gave it, which was to go into all the World and preach the Gospel to all creation. I personally believe that what I call “the Church age” has ended, and that the Age of the Bride has come(Rev. 19:7-8). We have a lot to do as a Church moving forward, and we are not going to do it well divided.
In His Service,
Daniel Paul