Closer To Heaven
|
|
|
You can view an in-depth discussion of Jesus, The Giver of Rest in the Hope Sabbath School class led by Pastor Derek Morris. Click on the image to view:
With thanks to Hope Channel – Television that will change your life.
(0)The post 5: Jesus, The Giver of Rest – HopeSS Discussion Video appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-jesus-the-giver-of-rest-hopess-discussion-video/
This video is produced by the South Pacific Division Discipleship team.
(1)The post 5: Jesus, The Giver of Rest -SPD Discipleship Video appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/5-jesus-the-giver-of-rest-spd-discipleship-video/
I was listening to a preacher on the radio talking about the Sabbath. He explained that the weekly Sabbath pointed us to the rest we have in Christ, so we no longer need the weekly Sabbath because we now have Jesus. He sounded sincere, and I really appreciated Him pointing people to Jesus and resting their faith in Him, since the grace of Jesus is the only way to be saved.
Photo by William Earnhardt
As a matter of fact the Sabbath is a sign that we are resting our faith in Jesus’ grace and not our works. God explicitly set aside that day as a sign of His covenant with His people – a sign that He sanctifies His people, in contrast to attempted sanctification by works. That’s why I find it ironic when people accuse me of trying to get to heaven by my own works by keeping the Sabbath.
The radio preacher was correct that the Sabbath pointed us to the rest we have in Christ. However, he apparently did not realize that the Sabbath is also a sign of God’s New Covenant in which He promises to write His law within our hearts:
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Jeremiah 31:33
Do you see that the New Covenant is the Lord’s promise to sanctify us? A promise to write His law in our hearts, so we would serve Him from the heart? And that’s exactly the meaning of sanctification of which the Sabbath is a sign. Sanctification means to make holy, and God wants to make us holy by writing His law in our hearts.
Some other things we need to consider:
Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Genesis 2:1-3 NKJV
While the feast days and ceremonial Sabbaths, such as the Passover, were not instituted until sin came into the world, we have the weekly Sabbath made holy (sanctified) before there was sin and the need of a Savior. Paul says in Colossians 2:16-17 that the ceremonial feast Sabbaths were done away with at the cross. 2. Some people say we should still keep the feast days. They don’t seem to realize that we are literally living in what the feast days symbolized! We no longer need a ceremonial Passover because Jesus dying on the cross was the real Passover to which all the other Passovers pointed. We no longer keep the ceremonial Day of Atonement because, beginning in 1844 we are living in the real Day of Atonement. So those feast days that point us to the cross are done away with, but the Bible nowhere indicates that the weekly Sabbath was a “shadow of things to come.” The weekly Sabbath was there before our need of the cross, and the Bible tells us that it will still be there after the cross.
While Paul tells us the ceremonial Sabbaths were done away at the cross, He continued observing the weekly Sabbath.
And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. Acts 18:4 NKJV
The weekly Sabbath was not a Jewish custom. He met with the Greeks also.
Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, Acts 17:2 NKJV
I have heard people argue that the only reason Paul was at the synagogue on Sabbath was because that’s the only day he could meet the Jews there to talk about Jesus. However, we just saw in Acts 18:4 that in the New Testament, Greeks were worshiping on Sabbath as well, and Paul was persuading them all about Jesus as they continued keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. In Acts 17:2 we see Sabbath keeping was still Paul’s own custom even after accepting Jesus.
The Sabbath was not just made for the Jews. The gentiles were keeping the Sabbath as well. Jesus Himself said that the Sabbath was made for mankind, which included Jews and Gentiles alike.
The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Mark 2:27 NKJV
Nowhere does Jesus or anyone else in the Bible say the weekly Sabbath was made for Jews. Jesus says it was made for mankind. Not only was the Sabbath made for everyone, it will be kept by everyone even in the new earth.
And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. Isaiah 66:23 NKJV
The weekly Sabbath was instituted before sin and remains after the cross. The Sabbath was given to all “flesh” and “mankind.” “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”-Hebrews 4:11.
Will you enter into the Sabbath rest that remains since the creation of the world? Will you keep God’s holy day as an outward sign of your inward faith in Christ as both your Creator and Redeemer? Let us remember that only sanctified people can really keep a sanctified day. So let us enter into that rest by letting Jesus be Lord in our lives.
(1)The post If Jesus Is Our Rest, Do We Still Need a Weekly Sabbath? appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/if-jesus-is-our-rest-do-we-still-need-a-weekly-sabbath/
Both the Sabbath commandment in Exodus 20:8-11 and Moses’ restatement of it in Deuteronomy 5:12-15 invite us to remember what God has done for us. As we have seen, what God wrote on tablets of stone point us to the finishing of His work of Creation (Exodus 31:18; Exodus 34:28). In Deuteronomy Israel is commanded to keep the Sabbath in view of God’s finished work of deliverance, from Egyptian bondage.
Image © Bible Adventure Collection at Goodsalt.com
The Exodus from Egypt pointed forward to the ultimate work of deliverance from sin that Christ would accomplish on the cross when He said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). So the Sabbath is doubly blessed and, in fact, is especially meaningful for Christians.
The Sabbath rest celebrates the fact that God ended, or finished, His work of Creation (Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11) or redemption (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). Similarly, Jesus’ enthronement in the heavenly temple celebrates that He finished offering a perfect sacrifice for our salvation (Hebrews 10:12-14).
Notice, God rests only when He has secured our well-being. At Creation, God rested when He had finished the creation of the world. Later on, God rested in the temple only after the conquest of the land He had promised Abraham was completed through the victories of David, and Israel “lived in safety” (1 Kings 4:21-25, ESV; compare with Exodus 15:18-21, Deuteronomy 11:24, 2 Samuel 8:1-14). God had a house built for Himself only after Israel and the king had houses for themselves.
| How can we enter into His rest even now? That is, how can we, by faith, rest in the assurance of the salvation that we have in Christ, and not in ourselves? |
(2)The post Wednesday: Entering into His Rest appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-entering-into-his-rest/
The unbelief of the desert generation prevented them from entering into the rest God promised. But God kept urging His people to enter this rest and not to harden their hearts. Paul repeats several times that God’s promise “remains” (Hebrews 4:1, Hebrews 4:6, Hebrews 4:9, NKJV). He uses the Greek verbs kataleipo and apoleipo, emphasizing that “the promise of entering his [God’s] rest still stands” (Hebrews 4:1, ESV).
Image © Krieg Barrie at Goodsalt.com
The fact that the invitation to enter this rest was repeated in the time of David (Hebrews 4:6-7, referring to Psalm 95) implied both that the promise had not been claimed and that it was still available. In fact, Paul suggests that the experience of true Sabbath rest has been available since the time of Creation (Hebrews 4:3-4).
God invites us “today” to enter into His rest. “Today” is a crucial concept throughout Scripture. When Moses renewed Israel’s covenant with God at the border of the Promised Land, he emphasized the importance of “today” (Deuteronomy 5:3, compare Deuteronomy 4:8, Deuteronomy 6:6, etc.). It was a moment of reflection to recognize God’s faithfulness (Deuteronomy 11:2-7) and a time of decision to obey the Lord (Deuteronomy 5:1-3). Similarly, Joshua called on the people of his time to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15, NKJV).
In the same way, “today” is a time of decision for us, a time of opportunity, as well as danger, as it has always been for God’s people (See 2 Corinthians 6:2). “Today” appears five times in Hebrews Chapters 3 and 4. It emphasizes the importance of listening to God’s voice (Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:15; Hebrews 4:7) because failing to listen and believe God’s word leads to disobedience and the hardening of our hearts. It could even delay our entrance into the heavenly Canaan, just as it kept the wilderness generation from entering the earthly Canaan.
But Jesus has defeated our enemies (Hebrews 2:14-16) and inaugurated a new covenant (Hebrews Chapters 8-10). Thus, we can “come boldly to the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:14-16). The appeal “today” invites us to recognize that God has been faithful to us and has provided us with every reason to accept His invitation right away without delay.
| What spiritual decisions must you make “today,” that is, not put off for another time? What have been your past experiences when you have delayed doing what you knew God would have you do right away? |
(0)The post Tuesday: Today, If you Hear His Voice appeared first on Sabbath School Net.
Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/tuesday-today-if-you-hear-his-voice/
Intercer is a website with biblical materials in Romanian, English, Hungarian and other languages. We want to bring the light from God's Word to peoples homes. Intercer provides quality Christian resources...[Read More]
