The Seventh Day. Hi everyone,

Transcription

1 The Seventh Day Hi everyone, As the sun set and the seventh day began under the light of the moon (the cool of the day, Genesis 3:8) the entire universe (with the natural exception of the rebellious ones, for they wanted to do their own thing) joined with Jesus in celebrating the Sabbath. Such a day had never before been experienced. With the new babies in the family the worry and problems of the past since the fall of Lucifer were temporarily forgotten, and all joined in the rejoicing. Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day [the Son of] God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And [the Son of] God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it [set it aside as special], because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made. That day was not the first Sabbath in the history of the universe, for God s kingdom has always had a rest day, but it was the first in the recently redesigned world and therefore a foundation day for the earth. It was originally a time for every created being to cease from their own desires and share with God that which they had found out during the week. A Parent/child time of great value in the heavenly family. Now the creatures of the universe could see God s kingdom through the eyes of the new additions to the family and gain a new perspective, for Adam and Eve were a completely new race of beings with completely new ideas in their completely new bodies. Built into them during their creation were basic understandings and abilities which were to be needed during the replacement times which lay ahead, for they were the first of the group who were to replace the rebels who had left their first estate. Jude verse 6. The word Sabbath means rest and that is what the universe does on that day, resting from their own ways and learning of God s. When we as Christians 1

2 get to heaven, and when we return to the new world, we will join in with them in observing that time. Isaiah 66:22-23 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another [each month], and from one Sabbath to another, that all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the LORD. We have already seen that the seventh day is the one called Saturday by most of the world. Satan has been tireless in his opposition to it and has successfully turned even the professed churches of God against His day, getting them to accept the first day of the week in its place. In the western world the Saturday has now become synonymous with sport and fun and doing our own thing. From the very beginning Cain, as Satan s agent, changed many of the literal situations of the world. He left the area around the Garden of Eden and God s presence, and journeyed to another land and there built a city. Genesis 4: He was able do this because he was the leader of all the children of Adam and Eve who joined in the rebellion with him and they wanted to congregate together instead of spreading out throughout the world as advised by their Creator. Tradition tells us that Adam and Eve had 97 children and many of them were grownup when this separation took place, mature enough to help build a city. It was named after Cain s son. Genesis 4:17. In the New Testament Jesus used the Pharisee and the publican to represent the TWO GREAT CLASSES into which those who come to worship God are divided. Luke 18: Their first two representatives are found in the first two children that were born into the world. Cain thought himself righteous, and he came to God with a thank offering only. Genesis 4:1-3. He made no confession of sin, and acknowledged no need of mercy or change. In this he worshipped the symbol (the sun) instead of the reality (the Son) and became a Sunday keeper. See Malachi 4:2. But Abel came with the animal blood that pointed to the death of the Lamb of God. He came as a sinner, confessing himself lost. His only hope was the unmerited love of God and in this he was a true Sabbath-keeper. The Lord had respect to his offering, but to Cain and his offering He had not respect, because the sense of need, the recognition of our poverty and sin, is the very first 2

3 condition of acceptance with God. Jesus told us, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven [they ask for it]." Matthew 5:3. What a picture here of the sinner's state! Although surrounded with the blessings of His love, there is nothing that the rebel, bent on self-indulgence and sinful pleasure, desires so much as separation from God. Like the ungrateful prodigal son, he claims the good things of God as his by right. Luke 15: He takes them as a matter of course, and makes no return of gratitude, renders no service of love. As Cain went out from the presence of the Lord to seek his home; as the prodigal wandered into the "far country": so do sinners seek happiness in forgetfulness of God. See Romans 1:28. Whatever the appearance may be, every life centred in self is empty. Whoever attempts to live apart from God is wasting his or her substance. They are squandering the precious years, squandering the powers of mind and heart and soul, and working to make themselves bankrupt for eternity. Those who separate from God that they may serve themselves, are really the slaves of mammon. The mind that God created for the companionship of angels becomes degraded to the service of that which is earthly and bestial as the prodigal served the pigs. This is the end to which self-serving tends. After the Flood, some of the new generations became dwellers on the plain of Shinar, the original site of Cain s city. See Genesis 11. They disbelieved God's covenant that He would not again bring a flood upon the earth. Many of them even denied the existence of God, and attributed the Flood to the operation of natural causes. Others did believe in a supreme being, and that it was He who had destroyed the antediluvian world; and their hearts, like that of their ancestor Cain, rose up in rebellion against Him. One purpose they had in the erection of the tower of Babel was to secure their own safety in case of another deluge. By carrying the structure to a much greater height than was reached by the waters of the flood, they thought to place themselves beyond all possibility of danger. And as they would be able to ascend to the region of the clouds, they hoped to discover the cause of the flood. The whole undertaking was designed to exalt still further the pride of its builders, and to turn the minds of future generations away from God, and lead them into idolatry. On the other hand, Jesus, as the ultimate Sabbath-keeper, does not present to His followers the hope of attaining earthly glory and riches, of living a life free 3

4 from trial. Instead He calls upon them to follow Him in the path of self-denial and reproach, but to accept the same victories. He who came to redeem the world was opposed by the united forces of evil and so will we. In an unpitying confederacy, evil men and evil angels arrayed themselves against the Prince of Peace. His every word and act revealed divine compassion, and His unlikeness to the world provoked the bitterest hostility. So it will be with all who will live godly in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:12. Persecution and reproach await all who are filled with the Spirit of Christ. The character of the persecution changes with the times, but the principle -the spirit that underlies it - is the same that has slain the chosen of the Lord ever since the days of Abel. Genesis 4:8. This is all necessary because only through trial and persecution can the glory - the character - of God be revealed in His chosen ones. The believers in Christ, hated and persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. On earth they walk in narrow paths; they are purified in the furnace of affliction. Matthew 7:14. They follow Christ through sore conflicts; they endure self-denial and experience bitter disappointments; but thus they learn the guilt and woe of sin, and they look upon it with abhorrence. Only in this way will the universe be free from rebellion for eternity. Being partakers of Christ's sufferings, they can look beyond the gloom to the glory, saying, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Romans 8:18. And none more so than the Sabbath-keepers of history. Abel grasped the great principles of redemption and rested as a Sabbathkeeper in God s word. He saw himself a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty, death, standing between his soul and communion with God. He brought the slain victim, the sacrificed life, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been transgressed. Through the shed blood he looked to the future sacrifice, Christ dying on the cross of Calvary; and trusting in the atonement that was there to be made, he had the witness that he was righteous, and his offering accepted. Hebrews 11:4. At the same time he knew that His Saviour had already given him a part of His life, thereby fulfilling the atonement in part. See 2 Corinthians 1: Cain had the same opportunity of learning and accepting these truths as had Abel. He was not the victim of an arbitrary purpose. One brother was not elected to be accepted of God, and the other to be rejected. Abel chose faith and obedience; Cain, unbelief and rebellion. Here the whole matter rested. 4

5 Cain and Abel represent two classes that will exist in the world till the close of time. One class avail themselves of the appointed sacrifice for sin; the other venture to depend upon their own merits. Theirs is a sacrifice without the virtue of divine mediation, and thus it is not able to bring them into favour with God for it is only through the merits of Jesus that our transgressions can be pardoned. Acts 4:12. It is claimed by some that the human race is in need, not of redemption, but of development - that it can refine, elevate, and regenerate itself. This is called by some, evolution. As Cain thought to secure the divine favour by an offering that lacked the blood of a sacrifice, so do these expect to exalt humanity to the divine standard, independent of the atonement. The history of Cain and others like him shows what must be the result. It shows what mankind will become apart from Christ. Humanity has no power to regenerate itself. It does not tend upward, toward the divine, but downward, toward the satanic. Christ is our only hope. "There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." "Neither is there salvation in any other". Acts 4:12. That s what the seventh-day was intended to remind us of. You might enjoy this quote from my library: DLIN page 0031 paragraph 8 Is this an empty boast? No, we feel our weakness and inadequacy keenly, and dare make no rash assertions; but the truth remains, that whoever rejects the Sabbath cannot truly accept the Lord of the Sabbath, for that is Christ's mark of identification. [Matthew 12:8]. He says to the last of the seven churches, "I am the beginning of the creation of God." [Revelation 3:14]. Today, as multitudes are assenting to the evolutionary origin of man, Christ appears before them as their Creator - the Lord of the Sabbath. Will you accept Christ? If so, you must accept His Sabbath. If you reject the Sabbath, you thereby reject its Lord and His righteousness. This equation is not of our inventing. Christ identifies Himself with the day He has sanctified, and to us He assigns the task of proclaiming this everlasting gospel: Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, 5

6 and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Revelation 14:7. See you next week, Ron P. S. I don t know why these strange lines have appeared!! 6