The Sabbath - Is A Sign

The speaker begins by recounting two incidents where individuals questioned the importance of keeping the Sabbath. He then discusses the misconception that the Sabbath and other laws of God were part of the Old Covenant and became obsolete with the New Covenant. The speaker emphasizes that the Sabbath existed before the Old Covenant and is a creation ordinance. The Sabbath symbolizes the kingdom of God and is separate from the holy days. The speaker refers to Genesis 2-3 as the foundation for the Sabbath and explains that God completed his work on the sixth day and ceased on the seventh day. The Sabbath is a memorial of both the physical and spiritual creation. The speaker refutes the idea that the Sabbath is only for Israel and argues that it is a universal ordinance. The speaker concludes that the Sabbath remains unchanged, regardless of the presence of different covenants. Well, good evening, everyone. Always a pleasure to be with you on GoToMeeting. The subject tonight, yes, it's the Sabbath, it's a sign. But the incident that prompted my message tonight goes back a long time ago, and I believe I've mentioned the incident to you maybe two or three times. But it bears repeating, because it shows that we need foundation. And so many people never really got the foundation of the Sabbath way back 1972, to be precise. I was terminated from the Ambassador College by employment, gone with the wind. So anyway, I was in the office of the individual who was ushering me out, who was taking care of the processing. And of course, the most important thing he asked for me was a severance check. I like that. But it's interesting, because no sooner had he given me all my paperwork, he got up, closed the door, sat down beside me, and he asked, he said, you're more alerted than I am. Can you please tell me from the Bible, really, why I should keep the Sabbath? How do I know I should? Now, I'm thinking, here is an individual who spent six or seven years in Imperial High School there in the Pasadena area, who went through four years of Ambassador College, and he doesn't understand why he should keep the Sabbath. He can't demonstrate from the scriptures. That really puzzled me. But not only that, some years later, an individual that I knew from Ambassador College, he was a sophomore, I was a freshman, he then became an evangelist. And during the topsy-turvy days, some of you remember them, in the late 80s and early 90s, when the church was really struggling, like a tornado going through it, he said from the pulpit, I was there in a congregation, why didn't somebody tell me that the Sabbath was part of the Old Covenant? And I'm looking at him, and I'm thinking, you're asking that type of question? See, the reason he was asking that question was because he fell prey to the old Protestant position, which was this, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, and most of the laws of God came under the jurisdiction of the Old Covenant. They derived their authority from the Old Covenant. So therefore, when the Old Covenant went by the lords, was superseded by the death of Christ, remember the curtain was just torn asunder, and now the New Covenant was begun. Now we could go directly to the Holy of Holies. We didn't have to have a human priest. And yet, all those days, all those laws, yes, at one point they were under the Old Covenant, but they existed before the Old Covenant. And he didn't seem to know that. I began to realize they were never really taught. All they heard messages, they heard sermons, shall we say. They were in class and had lectures, but the foundation was never delivered to them. Looking back at my time, I realize the same thing. But what I'm going to try to deliver to you this evening, I really didn't get from Ambassador College. Oh, I got the Sabbath all right, yes, we got to keep the Sabbath, yes, Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. Well, I knew that from the time I was a kid growing up in the Jewish world. But to understand the foundation, to see it as a, what can we say, a creation ordinance, which many scholars denied, they didn't get. So now tonight, we're going to take our time and go through the Sabbath with its foundation. We may only get through three or four solid biblical scriptures tonight, that's okay. I find that I'm going to have to speak two more times before the end of the year, so what we don't finish tonight, we'll finish later. Okay, we have the Sabbath. The Sabbath is perhaps the most important doctrine in the entire church. It is so because it symbolizes and really consists of the kingdom, the reign of God, family of God. The holy days hang on the hook of the Sabbath. The Sabbath can exist apart from the holy days. Go back to Genesis 1, Genesis 2, we have the Sabbath, but you don't have the holy days until Exodus, that's a couple of thousand years later. So the Sabbath is going to exist apart from the holy days. The holy days show us how to get to the kingdom. They hang on the hook of the Sabbath. There's the Passover. Well, yes, to get to the kingdom, we need to get rid of sin. Someone's got to pay the price for our sins. The Lamb of God comes as a sacrifice, and His blood pays our penalty, pays for our sins. But then, we have to get rid of sin. We have to get some out of it, or get rid of it out of us, however you want to look at it. Days of unleavened bread. Then we go to Pentecost, the giving of the law, the giving of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection, down to the sea of glass, or as I like to think of it, the sea of crystal, because to me, crystals were beautiful. Who knows? Glass or crystal, I'll accept whatever God gives us. Well, then we have the Yom Teruah, the Day of Boiling. This is the descent from the sea of glass down to earth, and Jesus Christ begins His reign. But sin has to be completely gotten rid of, Day of Atonement. We can't have the kingdom without getting rid of all the sin. Then of course comes the Feast of Tabernacles, the actual millennial reign of God, where millions of people are going to learn. And finally, the last great day, when the billions of people who've never had a chance get their opportunity. And it shows us the plan. But the Sabbath is the kingdom. The Sabbath is the family of God, if you can see it that way. So, let's really begin. What is the Sabbath, anyway? Oh, I said it was the kingdom, but down to earth now. Well, the Sabbath is part of the cycle of sevens, and is the seventh day of a week, seven-day week. Now, the interesting thing is, we can't find it anywhere else. So I have with me here three volumes, plus my own notes, and I'm going to be pulling them in to give us, hopefully, a good synopsis of what I'm talking about. Now the first volume I want to point out is here. It's from Sabbath to the Lord's Day. Now, this is not the book by Shivali Bakayohi, the seventh-day Adventist scholar. His was from Sabbath to Sunday. This is a book of my scholars. Donald Carson is the editor. It's not written in, what shall we say, gobbledygook. It's 400 pages, but you do have to wade through it, because scripture after scripture after scripture is used to either prove or disprove something. So let me read a couple of selections for you, and see what we find. However, their conclusion, if I can get it here for us, just have to get to the proper page, and here we are. In brief, Israel kept the Sabbath according to the letter of the law, but no convincing evidence has been produced that locates the concept of the Sabbath in extra-biblical sources. In other words, apart from the Bible, apart from God's Word, you'll find a seven-day week. Some civilizations had five-day weeks. Egypt had a ten-day week. Where oh where is a seven-day week? I remember when I was sitting in the University of Judaism, and we were discussing this, and we were talking about where did Israel get its doctrines, where did it get its theology? And in terms of the Sabbath, well, none of the other civilizations or cultures had it, and since Israel didn't have it, where did Israel get it? So, it didn't have an answer. But obviously, it had to originate with Israel. But, of course, there was another source that gave it to Israel. So let's continue here. The biblical evidence is that the Sabbath was inaugurated for the people of Israel to be celebrated as a weekly sign of the covenant. When we find the week, you see where they're all, they're right and they're wrong. Let's read that again. The biblical evidence is that the Sabbath was inaugurated for the people of Israel to be a weekly sign of the covenant. Yes, but it existed long before that. But that's as far as they see and understand. The Sabbath is not viewed as a universal ordinance for all mankind, but as a specific institution for Israel. Well, to use colloquially, rongo bongo, not so. But this is their starting point. This is their assumption. Now, let me give you another quote or two from here. As a sign of the covenant, the Sabbath can only be meant for Israel with whom the covenant was made. It has a perpetual function for the duration of the covenants. See, a perpetual duration, but only for the lifetime of the covenant, which was the old covenant and derives its importance and significance from the covenant itself. Not so. You see, this is what happened to the church in the 80s and 90s. They had the concept that all the laws of God were part of the old covenant, deriving the authority from the old covenant. Therefore, when the covenant was superseded, all those laws were superseded. No. Why didn't they know that the Sabbath had its basic foundation going back to Genesis 2-3? Now, we're going to cover that. We are really going to delve into Genesis 2-3 and Genesis 1-31, but we need a few minutes to get into that. Here is an amazing statement, and I want to read it to you. Talking about the number seven, all right? The number seven runs contrary to every known astronomical measurement of time. There are no sevens in astronomy. There are no sevens in the mathematical calculation of the stars and planets. It doesn't exist. No. We have seconds. We have minutes. We have hours. We have numbers to calculate them. We have years. We have months. But no sevens. No. Seven came from God. God is the author of the seventh day Sabbath. He is the one who did it. Now, what they're trying to tell us, and let me go to Exodus 20. You'll turn to Exodus 20 with me. Here is the giving of the Sabbath to all of Israel. Now that much we know. Exodus 20, and we'll pick it up in verse 8. And we read, Remember the seventh day to keep it holy, six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it, you shall not do any work, nor your son, nor your servant, your daughter, your maid servant, your livestock, or the stranger within your gate. Four. What? Four and six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. And he rested the seventh day. So first, God says, Remember. Well, you can't remember if it's first inaugurated here. Oh, they acknowledge that in Exodus 16, we may not really go into Exodus 16 tonight. We don't. We'll do it next time. It's true with manna on the Sabbath, the seventh day. What they're emphasizing here, see, yeah, it goes back to Genesis 2, but you see, it's really inaugurating here, and God is using that as an illustration of some kind. No, that's not so. It really isn't. So one thing we want to do now is go to Genesis 1. Let's take our time and go to Genesis chapter 1. In verse 31, and here we find God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was exceedingly good. Now, you go back to Genesis 1, and you'll find six times verses, and this, and this, and this, and it was good. And God did this, and this, and that, and it was good. But not here. This is not told good. This is told not good. Look how we have it translated. It was exceedingly good. In other words, it was par excellence. It was magnificent, because God did it. It was perfect. This was going to be perfection to get the earth ready for a human, starting the inauguration of God's kingdom, his plan to develop humans into God being. Now here is another loan which I have, and it is called the Pentateuch and Haftoraz. Now, you have to forgive me for its condition. I bought it back in 1963, so it's a little worse for wear, you know, but it still serves me well. And it's edited by Dr. Hertz, who was the chief rabbi of the British Empire in the 30s and 40s. And look how he translates chapter, verse 31, and it was exceedingly good. And then the heavens, the host, the earth were finished. And this is what he says, we're finished. The Hebrew word implies not only completion, but perfection. This was done to perfection. That's why above it says, told my own, exceedingly good. Now, it was so good, what are you going to say, God took a bow? He really did. Now, you may think that God would say, gosh, shucks, or nothing. It's what I do. I create. I was just doing my job. Well, it's true, he was doing his job all right, but oh, how he did it. God replaced her with me to Psalm 104. And look at a little different picture of that. Psalm 104, and if I can soon get to it there, verse, should be verse 19, Psalm 104, if I'm sorry, verse 30 or 31, notice verse 30 of Psalm 104. You send forth your spirit. They are created. This harkens back to creation of which, remember the spirit of God hovered over the waters. That's what it's talking about here. They are created. Yes, the earth and all the forms on the earth, all the rocks, nooks and crannies and life. And you renew the face of the earth. Clearly, it's referring back to Genesis 1. But look at verse 31. May the glory of the Lord endure forever. The Lord shall rejoice in his works. Great satisfaction is what the Hebrew really is telling us. In fact, if I may go out on a limb, God is almost saying, now that's a piece of work, glorious piece of work, if I do say so myself. Sounds too, what, too gratuitous? No. This is God. And he takes satisfaction in his work. And whatever he does is perfect. And this is just taking satisfaction in perfect work. So, after that, you don't want to bring this up, yeah, as I said, the major mistake that scholars make, that the church make, was putting all the laws of God under the authority of the old covenant. Well, if that were so, let's read the scripture we've been to many, many times, Genesis 26. Have we read this? Genesis 26, God is talking to Isaac, and he's describing Abraham. And in verse 5, God says of Abraham, because Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandment, my statute, and my law, how could God say that Abraham kept all these laws, these statutes, and these commandments, unless they were enforced to Abraham's face? It didn't start out as part of the covenant. It started out way back when, on creation week. But now, let us go into Genesis 2, and Genesis 2-2 and 2-3. And every time I read this, really, I marvel at it. Genesis chapter 2, and what God has to say about the Sabbath. Genesis 2, verse 1, the heavens and the earth were finished, the host of them. And by the beginning of the seventh day, God finished his work, which he had made. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it he rested from all his work, which he had created and made. First of all, this word for rest is ceasing. God ceased. He wasn't having any rest. Oh, that was a tough, tough job, those six days, you know. I need a little rest. I need to get a nap. Some shower. No, no, no, no, no. All it means is he ceased. He stopped. A cease and desist order. He completed the work in six days. But what we have here essentially are three sentences. Each one of those sentences is seven words in the Hebrew. Seven. There's that number seven. And there are three sentences. Three times seven. Twenty-one. We see God's mention. Elohim. He's mentioned. Three times. God had finished his work. Had finished. Completed. Three times. How many threes and sevens do we need to understand God was signing off on Creation Week? Like composers. They put their names somewhere in the lines there. Paintings. You can find the name. Van Gogh, for example. Now, for me, in modern times, I really enjoy Thomas Kinkade's paintings. He was a marvelous painter. Light. Oh, could he do wonders with light. Unfortunately, he fell to the demon of alcoholism. But nevertheless, he was a brilliant painter. And he put his name there. Well, when God does this, he's putting his name here. Three. That is the number of completion. Finality. And we see this in our common terminology. Three chances. Right? Give you three choices. The first two don't count. Third time's the charm. You know? Three times, three strikes, you're out. Where do we get this from? From the Hebrew. It's filtered down into our society. Three is completion. Finality. Seven is the number of perfection. And also completion. So what is God telling us here? That the Sabbath, that he ended his week of creation. It was a perfect creation. Final. End of story. So really, Genesis 2 ought to begin with verse 4 of Genesis 2. This is the end of the heavens. So it's final. It's perfect. But you will find scholars talking about the Sabbath. And they'll say, man had really nothing to do with the Sabbath. Man was there okay. But you see, Sabbath is a memorial of God's creation. But not just the physical creation that he began. But the spiritual creation as well. Because what is God in the business of doing? Creating. Yes, he created the physical earth. That is, he reformed it, remodeled it in six days. It was not a complete creation. That was a remodeling of it. But there's another creation going on. You and I are growing with grace and knowledge. You and I are growing to become God as he is. That is going to be the ultimate creation. And that seventh-day Sabbath is a memorial of his start of a new creation as well. Remember, it is a complete kingdom of God. It is the reign of God. So it covers us in there. This is the foundation for the Sabbath. It's a memorial of what God has done and what he is doing. Now, it's true. The Old Covenant went by the boards. We can read about it in Exodus 21, 22, and 23. And then in Exodus 24, we have it sanctified, but ratified. True. But ask yourself a question. Does the life, teaching, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth in any man shape or form alter the fact that in six days God renewed the surface of the earth and ceased on the Sabbath? No. So it doesn't matter whether one covenant comes and another covenant goes. The Sabbath remains as it is. It's bedrock in a spud of milk. There's no getting around it. Now, if we want to, we can. Let me give you, and now we're going to go into something else about Genesis 2, but before I do, a couple more sections I want to read. From this Sabbath to the Lord's Day. Something I find very, very interesting. Genesis 2 does not mention the word Sabbath. True. HaShabbat is not there. It doesn't exist. It speaks about the seventh day. Unless the reader equates the seventh day with the Sabbath, what a novel concept. Right. Unless the reader equates seventh day and Sabbath, there is no cultic feast day or institution at all. There is no direct command that the seventh day should be kept in any way. Not according to these scholars. We're told that God finishes creation activities on the sixth day, and that is it. Not true. What we do need to understand is, well, one thing they do have that's true. God did not bless and sanctify the Sabbath. Sound odd? Sound ridiculous? No. What did he bless and sanctify? They do have a point. Let's go back to Genesis. Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2. And by the beginning of the Sabbath, or the beginning actually of the seventh day, God finished his work. And he rested on the seventh day from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day. See, it is the seventh day God blessed. Not a Sabbath. Because a Sabbath doesn't have to be the seventh day. Do we remember a Roman emperor named Constantine? The venerable day of the sun? Well, that was a Sabbath. And the Sabbath was the first day of the week. Because a Sabbath doesn't mean seven. It just means a ceasing. So you can cease one day in seven. You know, you can read the literature of the Puritans and the deeply religious people in England and those who came across to this country, and they talk about the Sabbath. They do. But they're not referring to the seventh day Sabbath. No, no, no. They're referring to the first day Sabbath. Because that's law. Don't we know that Jesus was crucified late on a Friday, was resurrected on Sunday? Hey, we got Easter Sunday. And therefore the first day of the week is the same Sabbath. Now, it doesn't really mean that that's the way it happened, but that's how they look at it. Therefore, they rest on a Sunday. And that truly is a Sabbath. It is. Because it's a day of rest to them. But now let's take a closer look at Genesis 2 here. We're talking about the Sabbath. They're the seventh day. It's an amazing thing. I don't know how many of you have seen or read or have a copy of the critical, experimental, and practical commentary. It is the Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown commentary. Now, if you're looking for the latest updates in archaeology, I don't know, astronomy, and other things that happen, no, this will not do it for you. Because it was written in the 19th century. So we're a couple hundred years or so old. But the Hebrew and the Greek is still very, very good, without question. So, opening it up, we're going to take a look. Now, pardon me if I have to look closely, because it's in fine print. So I apologize for this. The verb to bless carries with it a double idea, that of blessing and also of worshiping, in the particular manner of bowing the knee. These two senses may be united when spoken of man, though the first only can be understood when goddess comes into the picture. Now, this verb may here be better taken in the hitheel than in the peel. Now, we've been talking about different verb patterns in Hebrew. We have the hitheel, the peel, the kal, the hil, the nifl, and bring in all of them. The point is, the one in particular is causative. It's ch. So what does that mean, if we understand it that way? The verb right has a double idea. Here we are, and. And from the well-known power of that conjugation, in order to do a thing, it will signify, God ordered him. This is going back to creation, when God said he blessed the Sabbath and so forth. It was the seventh day. Sorry. You read it. God ordered him to bless and worship adoration. And we can read it this way. And God created on the seventh day from all. God rested, I'm sorry. On the seventh day, from all his work which he had made, God commanded man to bless and worship him on the seventh day and ordered him to sanctify it. The Hebrew can support that. It thus appears, according to these common peers, from the original text that the words were given in the form of a command from God to Adam. And the design of it was to secure not only one day of rest and holiness, but all the others. They understand that. I came across this commentary years and years and years ago. When I first came to Ambassador College, when they said, oh, that's a good commentary. So I figured, well, I should go and get it. And I did. And there it is. So you see, going back to creation, we have a Sabbath. And that Sabbath day was commanded by man. But scholars do not accept. They only accept this idea that was part of the Old Covenant. And that's what was used by all the infiltrators and those who tore down the church. Unfortunately, too many of us just went right along with it. I remember Mr. Brian Knowles, who I worked for in the booklet department. He was managing editor of the Good News at one point. And he was talking to us one day in particular. And he said, prove all things. We didn't really prove all things. We had one or two items that, oh, stuck to that cross. We weren't sure of it. And once we got those out of the way, we accepted all the else, everything else, as a passive deal. But we didn't really prove it. We didn't say, okay, this is how I know I should do this. Here is the basic foundation for it. Never did. That's why one of my friends I knew very well, when changes were being made in the church, he looked to me and he said, oh, isn't it so wonderful? We don't have to keep those laws of clean and unclean. I can now get a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich and not have to worry about anything. Looking at him, saying, well, what have you believed all these years? Well, you know, the church says. And there was so much of that. There really was. I remember in one of the local congregations, when one of the congregants came up to me, I was ministerial assistant. I was getting a little wet and I told him, oh, that's okay. I was helping. I was learning. And he said, no. If the minister told me to eat pork, I'd do it. And I'm saying, wait a minute. What does God say? God is over any minister. And there was one time I heard the story repeated two or three times by people who were there. So I know it's true. In the old days, the Hewitt C. Merritt Mansion, which became Ambassador Hall, somewhere in the late 1950s, Mr. Herbert Armstrong was addressing a group of the evangelists. And he was a little upset. He said, you're just following me. If I want to show you, and I told you to do this or do that, and it was contrary, you follow me. Well, of course, there was one evangelist whose name was Ron Meredith. And he was just going for it. And according to the story, Mr. Armstrong looked at him and said, well, I know you wouldn't. But too many would. And this is what happened. Their faith, their belief was not in the Bible. They didn't have the foundation. So hopefully we have that foundation. Hopefully we can see the Sabbath goes back to creation. It's a memorial of what God did and what he's going to do. Because we are going to be the ultimate in his creation. And that Sabbath is the kingdom, the family of God. And we're going to be there. So now let's look at one or two scriptures in addition. And, yes, we'll have time for this. Let's look at Exodus 16. And in Exodus 16, we do have the story of the man. Now, this does get to be rather interesting. Because we're going to pick it up in verse 10. And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation, and as they turned to the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared. Verse 12, God says, I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel speak. Say to them, between the two evenings you shall eat flesh. There is going to be bread. And when the layer of dew had gone up, This is in the morning. There was a small, rare thing upon the face of the wilderness. Small is a horror for us. And, of course, they said, what's that? In Hebrew, when you want to say, what's that? You say, manah. That's where manah got his name from, manah. What's it? What is it? Okay. So, Moses goes on to explain that they're going to take as much as they want. But, going back here, on verse 22, And it came to pass, on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much. All the rulers of the congregation, even so Moses. Verse 23, Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you boil. To the scholars, this represents the first time the seventh descent was to be observed. They just assume. They don't go back to Genesis 2. They don't want to go back to Genesis 2. So, there's a very, very interesting quote, if I can get it for you. Make sure I have it here. And I thought this was so cute. I like the way these scholars word certain things. Perhaps give me advice here for you. It talks about the wording, and so here we go. In Exodus 16, 22 to 30, this is what they have to say. The first occurrence of the word and concept of Sabbath is found here. And this is what Protestants believed. And those who took over the church also believed. And because they did and promulgated it, so many. You remember, we had upwards of 140 to 160,000 people keeping the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, you look at today, the various branches, the offshoots of the Church of God. Yes, we have CBCG, our own fellowship. We have United, we have Tabula, Church of God, the World Association. We have Living and some others. They don't even come close, not at all, to what we have. Because they didn't have the foundation. They didn't really believe it. They didn't prove it. Do we understand that the Sabbath goes back to creation? It is the kingdom. It is the government of God. And all the holy days show us how to get to that kingdom. Long before any old covenant was ever made. But look at how they word this. I like it. I'm sorry. Sense of humor, maybe. Maybe I have a kind of awful sense of humor. The passage allows the view that the institution of the Sabbath was unknown to the people of Israel at that time. I love this. Allows. Doesn't say proves. Doesn't say demonstrates. But says allows. Meaning that if we come up with this fair-brained idea that maybe the Sabbath doesn't go back to creation, this verse will allow us to say it first began here. Then became part of the old covenant. And then when the old covenant was superseded, voila, it was gone. Oh, I love it. Allows. And you have a ways of words all the way through. No. This is not the establishment of the Sabbath. This is a good reminder of it. Because you notice I don't say the Sabbath was war. Israel doesn't say. What do you mean? What do you mean the Sabbath? They knew about the Sabbath. No, they weren't able to keep it in Egypt. They were enslaved. They had harsh tests. But they knew about the Sabbath. They had to have known. Because the scriptures were there. They had access. Not that everybody had access, of course. But they knew by tradition by what had been taught. But the way it is now. Let me look. I love their scripture. This is going to be Exodus 31. This should be Exodus 31. Yes. The Lord spoke to Moses in verse 12. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak also to the children of Israel. Truly you shall keep my step. For it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations. To know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. God is really laying it down. He says, You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore. It is holy to you. Every one of the files that shall surely be put to death. For whoever does not work on that soul shall be cut off from among his people. So we have verse 15. Six days. May work be done. But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest. Notice it. The seventh day. Whoever does any work on that seventh day or on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Drop down. Verse 17. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For. Once again. What? Look. For. In six days. The Lord made the heavens and the earth. Again. Harkening back to creation awake. Again. We see the foundation of the Sabbath. Now this is really hardcore Sabbath people. But. The basis for it. The theology for it. The exegesis. Goes back. To Genesis 2. That's when God created the seventh day Sabbath. And on the seventh day he rested. And was refreshed. Now this is very, very interesting. The word for refreshed. Because it really does mean. Nafash. You know. Nefesh. Living soul. It means. Rejuvenate. So the picture we are getting here. Is that God created everything in the sixth day. He rested on the seventh day. He chose work. But also rested. It was a resting seat. And he went back. And once again. This is Psalm 104. Oh that's a great piece of work. I did. He was refreshed. He was rejuvenated. He took great satisfaction. In the Sabbath. So. When we keep the Sabbath. Or when we do the Sabbath. However we want to look at it. We should take the same type of satisfaction. Not that we're. Asking some glory. Not that we're thinking more of ourselves than we ought. But to realize. The Son of God. Kept the Sabbath. He created the Sabbath. He made it. He ceased. He set the example that we should follow. Therefore. In the same way. We should keep that Sabbath. In our minds. Cease. Desist. Blow out the cobwebs. Stop extraneous thoughts. Or as in 2 Corinthians 10. We may remember. Cast out vain imagination. Bring every thought into captivity. Especially in God's Sabbath. Relax. Receive joy. So here I think. Was an interesting. Question for you. You may get a kick out of it. I did. In one of my classes at the University of Judaism. We were going through Genesis 2. And we were going through it word by word. And one of the students. Asked the question. Is it okay to go to a concert on Shabbat? The Sabbath. Is it okay to go to the mountains? I'll never forget the Rabbi's reply. Oh it was a beauty. He was sharp. He really was. He replied this way. Are you asking me as a Rabbi? Or as a student of the Bible? If he can get his drift. Because if you're asking me as a Rabbi. No. You need to be in Sabbath services. You need to be reciting the Shabbat. You need to be saying your prayers. Worshipping God. That's a rabbinic answer. Now clearly. We learned back in Genesis 2. Commentary. That. Doing the Sabbath that way. Putting a blessing on it. Sanctifying it. You're setting it aside. For a religious purpose. To worship God. But then. Is it wrong? For any other vacation? Over a weekend? You know. In California. Here in Southern California. My favorite national park. Is Yosemite. I love Yosemite. Been there many times. All you can get lost in Yosemite. Same thing for Sequoia. Or Glacier National Park. Or any of the other national parks. You can really get close to God on a Saturday in one of those parks. But. Not as a general rule. So. The point of my bringing that out was. Are we thinking in terms. Of rabbinic thinking? Of church thinking? That we have to be in church. Every Sabbath? No. As long as God is on our focus. So I thought his answer. Was very clever. Are you asking me as a rabbi? Or a minister? Or are you asking. As a student of the Bible. What does the text say? Does the text say. I have to be in a house of worship? No. Look at Adam. Was there a house of worship for him? We don't know. How about Abraham? Abraham was in the tent. Or he was out working the fields. For example. Digging a well. I don't know that he was in any house of worship. Now if Melchizedek. Happened to be operating in the area. And delivering sermons. It may well have been. But again. The Sabbath. Mind. Body. And thought. Honoring. God. Looking. To him. Because he is the one. Who is going to raise us from the dead. He is the one. Who. Wants us to be. As he is. In a scripture. That has always. Blown my mind. And this. Is what the Sabbath pictures. Please. Turn to John. Chapter 17. John. Chapter 17. This is the night. Of the Passover. Where Jesus is. Instructing his disciples. For the last. Time. And in John 17. This is what. He says. In verse 20. 21. He said. I do not pray for these only. But also. For those who shall believe in me. Through their word. So. If we ever get down from. We ever feel bad. Low. I don't know. I'm alone. Am I really good enough. Does God really love me. That type of thing. Jesus already prayed. For us. Did God would be with us. Does God hear the son. Does God listen. To what his beloved son. Says. Says today. Oh. You get it. So. But here. Verse 21. Is the culmination. Of the Sabbath. The kingdom of God. The reign of God. The divine. Ruling. Family of God. Jesus. Says. Jesus said. That they all may be one. That's you and me. That we all. May be one. Even as you father are in me. And I in you. Okay. I understand that. You and I are to be one in spirit. Pray for each other. Talk to each other. Encourage each other. All well and good. I know about the son. And I know about the father. And they're one. But what blows my mind. When I really think about it. Is the next section. That they. Also. May be one. In. Us. That's equality. You cannot be one. With Christ. And the father. Unless you are. They. Are. We won't turn to it. But remember Romans chapter 8 verse 16. Where Paul is talking about. Suffering. And says. We. Are heir. And joint heirs. With Christ. Now I'm in the income taxes. And I deal with inheritances. I mean I'm not the attorney. I don't deal as the attorney does. What are the tax consequences? And I know what a joint heir is. If you've got three siblings. And they're joint heirs. They're equal. They get an equal amount. Of the corpus. Whatever the inheritance is. Well if we inherit what Jesus inherits. That means we're his heirs. And we're going to be. And as I commented on before. I really enjoy. And I haven't read it in a long time. That swashbuckling novel. The Three Musketeers. By Alexander Duvall. Remember that? All for one. And one for all. The father. The son. And us. All unified as one. This. Is the culmination. Of Shabbat. The Sabbath. Which indeed. Means the kingdom of God. The reign of God. The rule of God. The divine ruling family. Of God. And the memorial. Of that. Creation. Is that there. Genesis 2. Verses 2 and 3. That Shabbat. That Sabbath day. Is the memorial. Of God's creation. From beginning. With the humanoid. With the man. Adam. Cleared through. To whenever Christ returns. And all the holy days are fulfilled. And the father comes down. And we are in Jerusalem. And we are all. At one. That's. What the Sabbath. Points to. That. Is. The seventh. Day. Let us. Never forget. Because. That's. What keeps us going. Seeking. That unity with God. Commemorate. By the seventh day. God resting. To give us. To give us time. To reflect. On the meaning. Of that. Seventh day. Glory. Glory. Glory. As the angels cry out. Lord. God. Almighty. Holy. Holy. Holy. So let us try. To reverence. The Sabbath. Let us ask. God. For more guidance. And direction. And understanding. So we will see. Greater aspects. Of the magnificent. Seventh. Day.