Sermon #1140 God s Rest

Transcription

1 Sermon #1140 God s Rest The Biblical concept of rest begins with the beginning: Genesis 2:1-3, Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. God did not rest because He was exhausted, for as Isaiah said, The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary (40:28). Nor was God s rest a cessation from all activity, for Jesus plainly said that God has been working since the creation, including on the Sabbath day (John 5:16-17). Even the Mosaic Sabbath was not a complete cessation of all activity, indeed, the priests and Levites worked harder since they had extra sacrifices to offer on the Sabbath. Rest, then, is something more. Now, the last thing God did before He rested was He created man in His own image (1:27). Of all earthly creatures that God made, only man was made in God s image, which means that only man was endowed with a spirit capable of fellowship with God who Himself is spirit. Note also that immediately after the statement about God resting on the seventh day (Gen 2:3) comes the more detailed account of the formation of man. We find God s provision of a beautiful garden home for man, complete with everything necessary for man s welfare and happiness, including the tree of life. God s rest should be understood in light of this sequence, for this is the first Biblical clue concerning the meaning of the Sabbath. When God entered into His rest after creating the world, it was with the intention of enjoying fellowship with the man He had made with the capability of that fellowship. God had placed Adam and Eve in a place that was ready-made for them, a place that would sustain them comfortably. All they needed to live was provided for them so they would not be burdened with having to labor for their survival. In such an environment God had made it possible for man to live without giving all his time, energy, and thought to staying alive. With their survival provided by God, Adam and Eve were supposed to direct their attention to God. Given their circumstances, it should have been relatively easy. Adam and Eve had no reason to distrust God, and God s provision of all their needs in a productive, beautiful garden was proof that they could, and should, trust Him. Sadly, the fellowship God wished to have with man did not materialize. Adam and Eve were deceived into distrusting God, they sinned, and they were expelled from Eden. And with what result? Well, not rest! Genesis 3:16-19 "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." One can read all through Genesis and through the first half of Exodus, only a few pages in your Bible but about 2500 years of human history, before encountering the next mention of the Sabbath. The introduction and rise of sin in the world meant that God was unable to enjoy the fellowship with man. When God brought Israel out of Egypt to make them His own people is when we next hear of a Sabbath. The Law revealed at Sinai made the connection between Sabbath and fellowship with God very clear. First commanded in Exodus 20 (at the giving the Ten Commandment), more detailed instructions for the Sabbath come in Exodus 31, immediately after the instructions for building the tabernacle in chapters The juxtaposition of the tabernacle and the Sabbath is an important clue about the meaning of the Biblical Sabbath. The Sabbath was about worship, just as the tabernacle was about 1

2 God s Rest by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 5 worship. Thus, the regulations for the time when Israel was to worship God (the Sabbath) came in the same context as the instructions for the place where God was to be worshiped (the tabernacle). This same juxtaposition of tabernacle and Sabbath laws appears in Leviticus 26:2-9, where God plainly ties the two together when He says, You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary (v 2). The worship character of the Sabbath is further underscored by the fact that on the Sabbath day the priests did not cease from their service of worship in the tabernacle, for the Law required additional sacrifices for the Sabbath day (Numbers 28:9-10). In other words, there was more worship on the Sabbath day than on the other six days, and this highlighted the fact that the Sabbath was a special day for man and God to enjoy each other s fellowship. Leviticus 26:11-12, I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people (2 Cor. 6:16). It was God s intention to have a people and to enjoy His relationship with that people. Amazing thought! God desires our company, and we should desire God s fellowship. God doesn t need it; He doesn t require it, He just wants it! Adam & Eve lost that relationship, though they enjoyed it for a brief time. But God was not content to abandon His intentions and plans for mankind. Rest in the Biblical sense does not mean a cessation of all activity, but instead refers to ideal living conditions in a place of security and prosperity--a promised land where one s activity is not burdensome but is blessed by God and productive. To rest in the Biblical sense, then, was to live in a situation where one s work was pleasurable and productive, enjoying a situation of safety and peace, where one could settle down. Rest, then, involves the ideas of God s provision of one s needs, a resulting freedom from constant attention to one s physical needs which produces both a condition of peace and time for fellowship with God expressed especially in worship, and enjoyment of these conditions over one s lifetime (Deuteronomy 12:9; 25:19; Joshua 1:13; Joshua 22:4). The Biblical Sabbath, then, was not just time off from work. It was rather a time in which God provided for His people s physical needs so they could with trust turn their attention to their relationship with God and worship Him. This is why Amos complained that even though Israel was outwardly observing the Sabbath, they were using the day to plan their dishonesty for the coming week (8:4-6). It was supposed to be a time for God s people to demonstrate the one thing God wanted to see from them most: their faith in Him. The Sabbath was designed to be the time when man and God enjoyed each other s fellowship, the time when man put off physical concerns and came to God in faith, and God enjoyed the heartfelt expression of thanks and adoration from man. It was, in a sense, the time when man and God came together. Like everything else in the old law, the design of the Mosaic Sabbath belied its character as merely the shadow of something greater. The Sabbaths of the Mosaic code were observed only periodically (once every seven days or every seven years). Its periodic character indicated that it was not the ongoing, ultimate or perfect rest itself. A fuller and permanent expression and enjoyment of the God-man relationship was in the works. The Mosaic Sabbath simply bore witness to it. God had offered to Israel what Adam had refused: rest, or an ongoing fellowship, with God. The sad story, however, is that Israel refused that rest as well. In general, Israel preferred fellowship with the false gods of her pagan neighbors over the fellowship of the one true and living God who made her and formed her. Ironically, the worship of those false gods (especially Baal) involved a concentration 2

3 God s Rest by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 5 on Israel s physical existence, whereas God had offered to guarantee Israel s physical existence if she would draw near to God through the Sabbath. The author of Hebrews understood that the OT was not a story of a rest achieved, but of a rest unrealized. He makes his case from Psalm 95, which ends with a warning based on Israel s failure to enter into God s rest. King David (according to Hebrews 4:7) had urged God s people to succeed where former generations of God s people had failed. The place of David s warning in the chronology of OT discussions of rest implies that in David s day God s rest was yet unrealized. Neither Genesis 2:2 nor Joshua 21:44 meant that God had achieved his fellowship with his people, for if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that (Hebrews 4:8). Thus the author can say in Hebrews 4:9, So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. That is, since the seventh day of the creation week God had not entered into the lasting fellowship with man He has desired, but God s longing for an ongoing relationship with man is now being fulfilled in the new system of things in Jesus. The goal of creation is achieved through Jesus who brings us into God s rest through His blood. This brings us to an important consideration. Sometimes it is suggested that the Lord s Day (Sunday) has replaced the Sabbath day now that Christianity has come. This, however, fails to see the true significance of both the old Sabbath and Christianity. Remember that the Sabbath came at the end of the week. The days of labor led up to the Sabbath, making the Sabbath a day of completion or, in the Biblical sense, perfection. Thus that old institution by its nature pointed forward. Also, by having only an occasional (even if regular) day that was devoted to the Lord, the old Mosaic system was showing its imperfection. God s rest is achieved not when man gives God one day each week, but when man spends his entire life living in faithful, trusting fellowship with God. When Jesus said seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you, he certainly indicated what is to be the way of life everyday for those in the kingdom of God. Thus the Messianic age is God s Sabbath rest realized. In the Messianic age every day is a Sabbath day, every year is a Sabbath year, and the Messianic age is a spiritual Jubilee to God. Jesus rose from the dead (and we worship) on the first day of the week proclaiming that the time of looking forward to completion had ended. The time when God enters into a lasting fellowship with man has arrived, and those who enter into that fellowship begin each week in the very thing that old Sabbath emphasized: worship. But it would surely be a mistake to think that the formal worship of God on the first day of the week fulfills the old Sabbath. All of life in the Messianic age is to be devoted first to the worship and fellowship of God with the promise that God will take care of the other aspects of our existence. The OT s perspective on rest was summed up by God when He said through the prophet Jeremiah I will come to give rest to Israel (31:2 NIV). The psalmist anticipated the outcome of the story when he testified My soul finds rest in God alone (61:2 NIV). The OT presented a picture of God who desired to rest with man, but whose offer of rest was repeatedly rejected. In Jesus, however, that rest has begun. In Jesus God has made a new Israel with whom His rest is realized. But the story is not yet over, for although the rest has begun, it remains to find its perfect fulfillment in heaven. Introduction from Mark Bailey s commentary on the book of Hebrews (Contending for the Faith series): The Book of Hebrews was written to first century Jewish Christians who were in danger of misunderstanding the nature and purpose of the Law of Moses, but the teaching is still relevant today. Hebrews shows the relationship between the two dispensations: an understanding of the Old Testament is necessary for a full understanding of events in the New Testament. Hebrews further shows the harmony between the two testaments: the Old Testament is the shadow, and the New 3

4 God s Rest by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 5 Testament is the substance. James D. Bales explains the importance of understanding the relationship between the two testaments: The relationship between the two is one of the proofs of the divine origin of the Bible. Furthermore, it emphasizes the sinfulness of sin, that it was not easy for sin to be forgiven, and that we ought to be very grateful that God has made provision for our redemption (3). This book warns us against apostatizing from the faith. Some Jewish Christians addressed in this book are close to returning to the law of Moses. Although most Christians today are not tempted to go back to the law of Moses, many appeals that come to us today are an attempt to involve us in ceremonialism and carnal ordinances like those found in the Old Testament. No New Testament book has had more background research than Hebrews, and none has spawned a greater diversity of opinion: the authorship, the recipients, the date and place of writing. Despite this, there exists broad agreement about several of the most important things The grand theme of this epistle is the supremacy and finality of Christ. There is also agreement that the author, whoever he was, was a magnificent stylist with an immense vocabulary and a vast knowledge of the Greek Old Testament. A consensus also exists regarding the general identity of the recipients: they were a group of Jewish Christians who had never seen Jesus in person yet had believed. Their conversion had brought them hardship and persecution with the result that some had slipped back into Judaism. And, thus, the purpose for writing was to encourage them to not fall away, but to press on (cf. 2:1ff.; 3:12ff.; 6:4ff.; 10:26ff.; and 12:15ff.). Their Christianity had not been a worldly advantage. Rather, it set them up for persecution and the loss of property and privilege, and now could possibly even cost them their lives. We know they had already paid a price for their initial commitment to Christ. As the writer recalls in Hebrews 10:32-34, But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven. The writer of Hebrews was writing to admonish, encourage and warn his brethren. These Jewish Christians were experiencing trials that were very much like those of their forefathers. In earlier days, their forefathers had been delivered from Egyptian bondage, only to pass through the wilderness, before realizing the promise of the bounty and rest of Canaan. In that wilderness, they experienced thirst, hunger, the enmity and opposition of the Amalekites it certainly wasn t a rose-strewn pathway! These first-century Jewish Christians had been delivered from the bondage of Satan and sin; they had been released from the burden of the Law of Moses, they had lived to see the Messianic Kingdom become a reality that their prophets had said so much about. Yet again, and like their forebears, hard realities set in. There was persecution, often at the hands of people who were family. There was hardship, poverty, tribulations of every description. These Christians were likely asking some hard questions: Doesn t God know what is going on? If so, how could this be happening to them? Did he care? Only God could protect them, but, where was He? Why did He not answer their cries for deliverance? There was a great temptation to fall into the murmuring, complaining, rebellious habits of their forbears, and this they must not do! It is to encourage and warn these people that Hebrews was written. And though we do not face the exact same trials, we do live in a tempting world, we still have a deadly adversary, and we have need 4

5 God s Rest by Brett Hickey, sermon # of 5 of the same perseverance and endurance they needed so there is great value in Hebrews for us as well. Please join us next week as we continue this message. Stay with us for a final word, after our song Thank you for watching Let the Bible Speak. Contact us for a free copy of this message, 1140, God s Rest. You may also request at no cost our new study guide, The Inspired Word of God. Watch videos, hear audio, or read transcripts of 400 sermons at LetTheBibleSpeak.com. Do us a favor: like and share the Let the Bible Speak Facebook page. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to view the weekly message at your convenience. We say with the apostle Paul in Romans 16:16, the churches of Christ salute you. Until next week, goodbye and God bless. Are you searching for the truth of God's word and have a sincere desire to learn about the Bible? Do you want to know what the Bible says about salvation and about Christ and His church? If you are looking for Bible Founded discussion on these topics and many others, then please accept this invitation to explore "Let the Bible Speak" and then contact us for additional studies. We are members of the church of Christ as found in the New Testament. We are not members of a denomination or earthly religious organization. We are a brotherhood of believers, joined by a common bond, Jesus Christ. We try to live and worship following the patterns found in the New Testament. (For manuscripts of other sermons visit: COPYRIGHT Let The Bible Speak. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTICE: Express permission is granted to distribute any video, audio, or transcript of any broadcast message as long as the material is: unedited and attribution is given to Let The Bible Speak; a hyperlink to LetTheBibleSpeak.com is included for electronic distribution; a text reference is included to for printed distribution; and the original author receives attribution. An irrevocable, world-wide, royalty free license for distribution is granted as long as such distribution has the intent of: supporting the truth as presented; giving glory and honor to God; and spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. 5