"There Remaineth Therefore a Rest..."
Hebrews 4: 9-10 1.14.13
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people
of God. For he that is entered into his (Jesus')
rest hath ceased from his own works as God
did from his."(kjv) Hebrews 4: 9-10
Whatever happened to the seventh day of the
week as the Sabbath? It says in Genesis that
God rested from all His work" on the seventh
day and in Genesis 2: 3, "Then God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because He
rested from all His work which God had cre-
ated and made." There is also a command
ment in Exodus about keeping the Sabbath
holy to the Lord.
The Jews have always revered this day and
kept it especially to the Lord, but we "gentile" believers without the Law, know of no such
devotion to a certain day of the week. We do,
as a whole, attend worship on the first day of
the week, the Lord's day. We no longer honor
the seventh day as a Sabbath and our worship
on the first day in no way resembles the obser-
vance of the Sabbath of the Jews.
What has changed? Is this no longer a priority
for God's Children; should we be concerned
about it? Having never heard this explained to
my satisfaction by any theologian, and giving
it some study, there is a line of reasoning that
may shed light on this apparent discrepancy
between Law keepers and the beneficiaries of
grace. The passage addressing the question is
in the book of Hebrews,Chapter 3:4-8 and 4:8-
11, are the first mention of the "rest" of which
we speak. There was a rebellion in the wilder-
ness amond the Children of Israel.
"For if Jesus had given them rest, then would
he not afterward have spoken of another day.
"There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the
people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works
as God did from his. let us labour, therefore
to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief." Hebrews 4:8-11
The result was a pledge by the Lord God that
they would never enter His rest. The rest, is a
picture of entrance into the Land of Canaan,
the Promised Land. Because of unbelief, they
were kept out and wandered in the wilderness
for forty more years, until the adults involved
in rebellion were dead. There were two adults
excepted, Joshua and Caleb, because of their resistance to the rebellion. This entering into
the Land is a picture of the rest into which a
present day believer may enter through Spirit-
led obedience to his Lord. Entering into this
rest, typifies the entering into Christ by faith,
and Christ entering into the believer, who is
not rebellions, but obedient to the call of God.
Therefore, the believer has ceased from his
own labor, in the flesh, and Christ is doing
his work in the believer thru the Spirit of God.
It may be said of this individual, that he has
entered into the rest of the Lord God in Jesus
Christ. What follows in my personal deduc-
tion from Scripture and life. I have no autho-
rity on which to base the remarks, outside of
Scripture concerning the life of Christ and his
teaching; "The Sabbath was made for man,
not man for the Sabbath."
In the Jewish, or pre-church economy, the
Sabbath was observed weekly beginning about
dusk on Friday evening, having strict ritualis-
tic practices. There were other Sabbaths to
observe, and many considered to be especially
holy. There is no such understanding in the
New Testament, concerning this practice for
the Church of Jesus Christ. The Law has not
been rescinded, but the elements referring to
personal purity and righteousness, as impor-
tant as they are, can in no way cleanse from
dead works. Those living in the grace of our
Lord, Jesus Christ live daily in a state of His
grace and a state of rest from works of the
flesh, having no need to observe certain days.
Every day is lived as a Sabbath to the Lord
by believers, who are recipients of His rest.
The theme throughout is that one who is in
Christ lives daily in a state of rest in our Lord,
Jesus Christ and has no particular need to ob-
serve certain days. Every day is a Sabbath to
the Lord, as a recipient of His grace, in which
he stands. The Apostles, after the resurrection
of Christ, began observing the first day of the
the week as the Lord's day along with the Sab-
bath day. They were eventually barred from
Temple worship. (Believers live in a state of
"Grace."
Things changed for the followers of Christ.
The believer is held to a different standard;
every day we live as unto our Lord, nor does
he observe seasons, days or festivals of the
Jews.
We have entered into that rest promised
those who have their faith in God, through
his Son, and are not depending on works of
the Law, in the flesh. We must recognize,
however; that not one "jot nor tittle" of the
Law has been annuled by Christ. He did,
however; fulfill the law for that one who has
faith in Him, and Him alone. If one is not
"in Christ " he is obliged to keep the whole
Law, and that to no good effect. He is still
under the condemnation of God's Law as
a "Lawbreaker." (1 Timothy 1:9)
Of course there are sects; Seventh-Day Baptist, Adventist and the World-Wide Church of God who attempt to observe the "Jewish" Sabbath. None of these have the answer for me, since I disagree on their doctrine with respect to Jesus Christ and their observance of the Sabbath is in no respect like that
in the Old Testament. (I have been conflicted on the matter for over 30 years and have recently settled it
in my own heart and mind. I trust this post is not too
confusing to anyone who holds differing views, and
just because we have differences in doctrine, we will never condemn another. We may have differences and still be born again. "For whoever calls on the
name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:13 (Read all Chapter 10)
As I may have said before, scholarship is far from me and these remarks should not be taken as autho-ritative, but should be used as a springboard for one
to search for the truth of the matter. Teaching I have
experienced, has left me with no definitive sense of
this issue. In retrospect, there may be good reasons
for one to be circumspect when it comes to this kind
of thought. We must take God's Word seriously and never dismiss any as less than relevant. The Lord
God is so serious about His Word, of God the Son, Jesus Christ, it is said, "the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, the
glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
(This piece was posted with trepidation after
several previous attempts to find peace with it.
These remarks are solely thoughts of an author,
who believes we must follow Scripture even
when we settle on something controversial. I
trust it will not be divisive nor confusing. Dog-
matism is unacceptable to believers except as the Scripture is very plain.
Thank's for your kindness as you respond with
email to:
jlrsbnch@msn.com.
In the name of Jesus Christ my Savior...
donporter,sr 1.14.13
Romans 14:5 says: One man esteemeth one
day above another. Another esteemeth every
day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded
in his own mind. (6) He that regardeth the
day, regardeth it unto the Lord: and he that
regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth
not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the
Lord and giveth God thanks. He that eateth
not, to the Lord he eateth not and giveth
God thanks.
Whether the passage applies to the question
at hand is not perfectly clear to me, but it
seems to deserve consideration.
Edited 11.07.14 donporter,sr
Personal Note:As you might have seen, the Scripture
quoted on this blog is mainly from nkjv and from the kjv. We have seen research made about the question of the Sabbath and it seems inconclusive. If you are
aware of research seeming to be objective and defi-
nitive, let me know. For the time being we will quote from the two translations to which we have referred.
Thanks for taking time to consider this.
donporter,sr...revised 7.25.14, 12.16.14, 8.03.16
(This post will most likefully be edited again and
again. God bless you as you follow Him, Jesus
the Christ, God the Son, the Word who was
made flesh.)
"Likefully" was coined by my younger son as a pre-teen. He is now
50 years old.)
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