The Sabbath Rest Exodus 20:8-11 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; 9 six days you shall labor and do all your work; 10 and the seventh day is a Sabbath to YAHWEH your Elohim; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your slave-girl, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. 11 For in six days YAHWEH made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all which is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; because of this YAHWEH blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Deuteronomy 5:12-15 12 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as YAHWEH your Elohim has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor, and shall do all your work, 14 and the seventh day shall be a Sabbath to YAHWEH your Elohim. You shall not do any work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger that is within your gates; so that your male slave and your female slave may rest like yourself. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YAHWEH your Elohim brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm. Because of this YAHWEH your Elohim has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. This passage for a long time was one I could not find another person that saw the passage the same as I saw it, or should I say that was revealed to me. Then I was at a wedding; an outside wedding, we were there along with many others who arrived early, so we had a lot of mingle time. This lady came up to me asking if I was that preacher? Since I was the only preacher there that I knew of, but I wasn t doing the wedding; I said yes. To that she says, you have to talk to my husband, he is also a minister; he has a Doctors degree in theology. She walks me to the reception area with tables and chairs and asks me to sit down and she will go find her husband. I was expecting her to come back with someone and introduce us. After a while an elderly man sits at the table across from me. We both sat there for a bit of time not saying anything, finally he asks me are you that minister? to which I said yes. He asks me, what do you want to talk about? I was a little puzzled, because I didn t ask to talk to anyone, I was told by the lady, you have to talk to my husband who is also a minister. But, I said, the Sabbath! He begins telling me how other denomination hold the Sabbath, then says, but I understand you have a different view of it? I said yes, but I have not found anyone else who sees it the way I do. He says, tell me. I explained my view, he asked a question of a passage to see if I considered it, I said yes, and explained how it works in. Than he shocked me by saying, You are spot on! I asked him, Are you telling me I now know of two people who see it this way? to which he said, I agree completely. Next, he wanted to know if I had a publisher to which I said, not yet. Since then someone else told me, Now you know of three people. So, here we go.
One of the things we find helpful when we are traveling somewhere are signs. If we are traveling to a certain destination along the way we will see signs to let us know we are headed in the right direction. However, when we arrive at the destination there are no longer any signs posted because we have already reached our destination. In the Bible we find places where God has given us signs, to give you an example, there are signs we find in the old testament, for example when we looked at circumcision Abraham was told that the covenant of circumcision was given as a sign, Genesis 17:9-11 9 And Elohim said to Abraham, You shall keep My covenant, you and your seed after you in their generations. 10 This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your seed after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised. 11 And you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. And it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you. In (verse 11) it tells us that circumcision was given as a sign of the covenant God is making with His people, which turns out to be the promise of salvation. In many ways in the Old Testament God has told His people of the future salvation through the sacrifices of animals such a lambs, these are given as signs to show the Son of God as the true sacrifice. We find that the Sabbath is also given to His people as a sign, Exodus 31:12-13 12 And YAHWEH spoke to Moses, saying, 13 And you speak to the sons of Israel, charging them, Only My Sabbaths you shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you for your generation; to know that I am YAHWEH your sanctifier. Also, we are told a couple places in the book of Ezekiel, just to show one of them. Ezekiel 20:10-12 10 I caused them to go out from the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them My statutes, and I made them know My judgments, which if a man does them, he will even live by them. 12 And I also gave them My Sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am YAHWEH who sets them apart. The Sabbath is given as a sign between God and man so that we may know God and know that He sanctifies us. To sanctify is to be made Holy. Although, there are many who use the Bible to discover how to live in the world, the Bible is given to us by God to direct His people to salvation, so His people can be made Holy; Sanctified. The first mention of the Sabbath is just after creation. Genesis 2:1-3 1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their host. 2 And on the seventh day Elohim completed His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. 3 And Elohim blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because He rested from all His work on it, which Elohim had created to make.
On the seventh day God entered His rest. The number seven is a number for complete. God has completed His work of creation, which includes setting up the way for His people to be made Holy. There is no more He must do, the way of salvation is already in play, so God entered His rest, the rest He entered is a Holy eternal rest. In many places throughout the Bible God speaks of His rest, we read in the Psalms. Psalms 95:1 1 O come, let us sing to YAHWEH; let us shout to the Rock of our salvation. (salvation: Yahshua) In this verse the word salvation is actually the name Yahshua however, for the sake of those accustom to reading the word salvation in the English Bibles, I went ahead and put in the word salvation, but at the end of the verse I show in italics that salvation is Yahshua which is the Messiah. I didn t want to leave it as something else, so when you see this, as in this case Yahshua, you can if you want, in your head replace salvation with Jesus or Yahshua. But you see how (Psalms 95) is speaking of God s salvation of mankind. Now let s continue. Psalms 95:2-6 2 Let us come before His face with praise; let us shout for joy to Him with songs. 3 For YAHWEH is a great El, and a great King above all gods. (El: short form of Elohim) 4 The deep places of the earth are in His hand; the summits of the mountains also are His. 5 The sea is His, and He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before YAHWEH our Maker. It is continuing to show that God is the creator deserving of our praise. We will continue in this Psalm and see how we need to hold Him as our savior. Psalms 95:7-11 7 For He is our Elohim; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your heart as in the day of strife, as in the day of testing in the wilderness. 9 When your fathers tried Me, they tested Me and they saw My work. 10 For forty years I was disgusted with that generation; and I said, They are a people who err in heart; and they do not know My ways, 11 to whom I swore in My anger, They shall not enter into My rest. We see in (verses 7-8) saying, today today, if you will hear His voice. Do not harden your heart as in the day of strife. In other words, do not harden your hearts and miss His salvation. The sign the Sabbath is pointing to is salvation through the Son of God. The time God entered His eternal rest, also the Messiah, after He finished His work of crucifixion also entered the same eternal rest as God did and making the way possible for all the people who are saved to enter the same eternal rest. Which is the time to enter the true Sabbath rest that all the Sabbaths during the Old Testament era pointed to as a sign, because at the crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled it. He fulfilled the time to enter God s rest. This is what the sign pointed to. As I said before, after you arrived at the location you don t see anymore signs of the place in the future. So, also there is no place in the New Testament where it is repeated to remember the Sabbath day. There are plenty of cases where Jesus healed on the Sabbath, and the apostles went into the temple or synagogue on the
Sabbath because that is the time they would find the religious leaders there, so they could reason with them. But not for the observance of the Sabbath Day Law. When they worshipped among themselves they often met on the first day of the week; Sunday. We can worship any day of the week we want. Romans 14:5-6 5 One indeed judges one day above another day as Holy; and another one judges every day alike. Let each one be fully assured in his own mind. 6 The one esteeming the day above another, he esteems it to his Master. And the one esteeming every day alike, esteems it to his Master. The one eating meat, he eats to his Master; for he gives thanks to Elohim. And the one not eating meat, he does not eat to his Master, and gives thanks to Elohim. Whether you hold a day as Holy above another or you hold every day alike (every day is Holy); do it to honor and praise the LORD. But if your heart is hardened and you miss entering the Sabbath Rest of God by missing salvation. You shall surely die, because you missed entering His eternal rest. That is what the sign pointed to. Salvation. Continuing now to the New Testament, the writer of Hebrews picks up on what we previously looked at in (Psalms 95) about Today. Hebrews 3:7-11 7 Because of this, even as the Holy Spirit says, Today, if you hear His voice, 8 do not harden your hearts to provoke Him, as the murmurers did in the day of temptation in the wilderness, 9 there where your fathers tempted Me, even though they saw My works for forty years. 10 Because of this, I was angry with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know My ways. 11 so I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter into My rest. The rest they will not enter is the Eternal Sabbath Rest of God that He entered when He finished the creation of the heavens and earth. The same Eternal Sabbath Rest Jesus entered after He finished His work at the crucifixion. John 19:30 30 Then when Yahshua took the vinegar, He said, Behold, it is finished. And bowing His head, He delivered up the spirit. After (Chapter 3) of Hebrews it continues the subject of God s Sabbath rest and the entering of His people into that same rest in the next chapter of Hebrews. Hebrews 4:1-11 1 Therefore, let us fear, while the promise of entering his Holy rest remains, lest some among you find that they are falling short from entering. 2 For, indeed, we have had the good news preached to us, even as they also; but the Word did not profit those hearing it, not having been mixed with faith in the ones who heard.
3 For we who have believed, will enter the Holy rest, even as He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest, for behold, the works of Elohim were from the very foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken concerning the Sabbath, And Elohim rested from all His works on the seventh day. 5 And here again he said, They shall not enter My Holy rest. 6 Therefore, sense there was a chance for some to enter it, but they to whom the good news was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 He again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today after so long a time, according as He has said, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Yeshua had given them rest, then He would not have afterward spoken about another day. 9 There remains a Holy Sabbath rest to the people of Elohim. 10 For he who has entered His rest, (Yahshua), has also ceased from his own works, as Elohim did from His. 11 Therefore, let us strive to enter that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience. You see in (verses 4-6) it ties the Sabbath God entered after creating the world with His Sabbath Day Law Rest, if anyone misses entering this Sabbath rest, they will be cut off, the entrance to this Sabbath rest is made possible by the crucifixion of the Messiah. That is what the sign of the Sabbath pointed to, salvation through the Messiah. By the way, I know in the King James Version any way, they didn t quite translate (Matthew 28:1) correctly, for they translated it as. Matthew 28:1 KJV 1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulcher. In the King James Version (KJV) Sabbath is only mentioned once in the KJV the second mention of Sabbath they changed to the first day of the week even forgetting that the New Testament was first written in Aramaic, the Greek also, got it correct. Below is the Aramaic of (Matthew 28:1). Matthew 28:1 1 Now after the Sabbaths, at the dawning into the only one Sabbaths, Mariam of Magdalene and the other Mariam came to look upon the grave. In the KJV the word they have for first in the Aramaic also, Greek is not the word first to look at it in the Greek word mee ah as seen below. μία mia mee -ah 1) only one, someone
It carries two means only one or someone it is not first at all. If you wanted to use the word first it would either be the word in Greek pro -ton as seen below or pay -tros they both carry the same meaning as seen below. πρω τον proton, pro -ton 1) first in time or place 1a) in any succession of things or persons πρω τος protos pro -tos 1) first in time or place 1a) in any succession of things or persons In (verse 1) of (Matthew 28) neither of the above two words that mean first were used. The word used was only one or someone so (Matthew 28:1) would read (Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbaths, at the dawning into the only one Sabbaths, Mariam of Magdalene and the other Mariam came to look upon the grave.) or it would read, (Matthew 28:1 Now after the Sabbaths, at the dawning into someone s Sabbaths, Mariam of Magdalene and the other Mariam came to look upon the grave.) I would think it was only one reading. I can almost visualize the people interpreting the KJV puzzled saying, at the end of the Sabbaths? Well, the next day would be the first day of the week, so, let s change it to that to make better sense for the people reading. Not knowing they are changing a very critical verse. At the finish of the crucifixion Jesus made possible the way for His people to enter the Holy rest God spoke of at the finish of creation and commanded to remember in the commandments. The time which the sign of the Sabbath pointed to. The Sabbath day began at the resurrection of the Messiah and continues until His return. The Sabbath has everything to do with salvation. All through the Old testament time the Sabbath was on a physical level because it had not begun yet, therefore the sons of Israel would have to remember the Sabbath every week by observing the seventh day as the Sabbath of the LORD and there were certain things they would have to observe and the things they would have to observe all related to salvation because that is what the real Sabbath; the spiritual Sabbath is about and it began at the resurrection of the Messiah when He made the way for His people to enter His rest (Hebrews 3:7-11; Hebrews 4:1-11; Psalms 95:1-11). The time allotted to enter God s Sabbath rest began at the resurrection and it continues until the Messiah makes His return. If anyone fails to enter the Sabbath rest, by way of Salvation they will surely die in their sin. Just one other quick note, in the Bible it is certain death for anyone violating the Sabbath no matter how small of an infraction it is. Numbers 15:32-36 32 And while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34 And they put him under guard; for it had not been declared what should be done to him.
35 And YAHWEH said to Moses, surely, the man shall die; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones. And he died, as YAHWEH commanded Moses. This man, all he was doing was picking up a few sticks while he walked, as a result, Israel was commanded to put the man to death for violating the Sabbath. If anyone fails to keep the Sabbath the penalty is death, in the case during the New Testament times this is spiritual death. If we look at it as a violation of observing the one day a week as many believe, especially the Jewish people of today s time we do run into a problem with scripture. Romans 8:35-39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Even as it has been written, For Your sake we are killed all day; we are counted as lambs for the slaughter. 37 But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him loving us. 38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor cherubs, nor rulers, nor armies, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other thing created will be able to separate us from the love of YAHWEH in Messiah, Yahshua, our Master. With the common belief of violation of the Sabbath we run into a big problem. If someone is saved there is nothing that can separate them from the love of God. Yet with the common belief of the Sabbath law, anyone violating the Sabbath, no matter how small the infraction it is certain death; separation from God. How can on the one hand, someone who is saved cannot be separated from God, yet on the other hand, anyone violating the Sabbath law, no matter who, is certain death; separation from God. Do you see the problem we run into? Remember the rule of understanding the Bible. If we run into a contradiction in scripture, it is not the scripture that is wrong; it is our understanding of the scripture that is in error. We need to look again for a different understanding that is in harmony with each scripture passage. In this case our understanding of the Sabbath. If we understand to enter God s Sabbath rest is through salvation that we enter Gods rest, (Matthew 11:28 Yahshua says, Come to Me, all those laboring and being burdened, and I will give you rest. it brings on a new light that is in harmony with scripture. If someone misses salvation, also, nobody works for salvation no matter how small amount it may be, like the picking up of sticks, it means death; separation from God. The same penalty as some understand for violating the Sabbath. As I said earlier, the Sabbath has everything to do with salvation. We will look at some of the things pertaining to Jesus and see how they deal with both, salvation and the Sabbath. Mark 2:23-28 23 And it happened, He went along through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples began to make way, plucking the heads of grain.
24 And the Pharisees said to Him, Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? 25 And He said to them, Did you never read what David did when he had need and hungered, he and those with him, 26 How he entered the house of YAHWEH while Abiathar was the high priest and he ate of the bread of the table of YAHWEH which was not lawful to eat except for the priests. And he even gave to those who were with him? 27 And He said to them, The Sabbath came into being for man's sake, not man for the Sabbath s sake. 28 So then the Son of Man is Master of the Sabbath. We ll look first at David as they hungered, they entered the house of the LORD and ate the bread from the table of the LORD. The bread in the house of the LORD Spiritually represents Jesus; He is the bread of life so, they were eating of Jesus. Now the disciples as they walked with Jesus plucked grain rubbing it in their hands and ate. The grain is what they make bread from and Jesus tied what His disciples were doing with what David and his men with him did. Second, as we read (verse 27), The Religious leaders have the Sabbath turned around treating it as though man was created for the sake of the Sabbath. When, the Sabbath came into being for the sake of man. To see this more clearly, let s consider salvation. Was mankind created for the sake of salvation? Or is salvation for the sake of mankind? If it were not because of the sin of mankind there would be no need of salvation, but because of the sin of mankind, salvation has come into existence, so, we would have to say, salvation came into being for mankind s sake. However, remembering it says in the Prophets, seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand. Jesus said, The Sabbath came into being for man s sake. For the Son of man, (the savior identifying with mankind), is LORD of the Sabbath; or salvation. Next, we ll look at someone possessed of an evil spirit who is set free on a Sabbath day. Mark 1:21-28 21 And they passed along into Capernaum. And entering the synagogue, at once He taught on the Sabbaths. 22 And they were astounded at His doctrine, for He was teaching them as having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue. And he cried out, 24 saying, What is to us and to You, Yahshua, Nazarene? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of Elohim. 25 And Yahshua rebuked him, saying, Shut your mouth, and come out of him. 26 And the unclean spirit threw him down, and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And all of them were astonished and were asking each other and saying, And what is this new teaching? For with authority He even commands unclean spirits, and they obey Him. 28 And His fame went out at once into all the Galilean neighborhood. Jesus is in a Synagogue teaching people and it is a Sabbath day. There is a man there who has an evil spirit in him. When we are conceived, we are all possessed by Satan. Not all to this degree,
but there is not a one who is not controlled by Satan from birth. There are some exceptions such as John the Baptist, he was filled with the Holy Spirit while still in the mother s womb. The evil spirit knew who Jesus was and was starting to say when Jesus silenced him because it was not yet Jesus time. Jesus then commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. The evil spirit did not have a choice, he had to come out but, not without crying out in a loud voice. This is an example of a person being set free from Satan s grasp and it was done on a Sabbath day. Another Sabbath, we see a man with a withered hand, which is another lesson, but we will keep a focus on the Sabbath. Mark 3:1-6 1 And again He entered the synagogue. And there was a man who had a withered hand. 2 And they watched Him, whether He will heal him on the Sabbath, that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise into the middle. 4 And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to destroy that which is evil or to give life to a soul? But they were silent. 5 And having looked around on them with anger, being greatly grieved over the hardness of their heart, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched out, and his hand was restored sound as the other. 6 And going out, the Pharisees at once took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. As we just read, on another Sabbath day there was a man whose hand was withered, and they were watching Jesus to see what he was going to do, and Jesus asked them is it lawful to do what is good on the Sabbath or to destroy evil or to give life to a soul. Jesus was equating what he was going to do by healing this man's withered hand he was equating it with giving life to a soul and as destroying evil and doing good and it was the Sabbath. So, Jesus is letting the religious leaders know that the Sabbath is a time for giving life to a soul and destroying evil and doing good. We can look back at the beginning when we had the Sabbath from Exodus and the last verse from Deuteronomy listed, as we reflect back on it we see how much deals with salvation and the Sabbath law, for one, we don't work for our salvation and the Sabbath says there is no work done on the Sabbath. The account from Exodus we are told that God entered his eternal rest that he called the Sabbath. The account from Deuteronomy at the end tells us that Israel was held captive and that God set them free. This all has to do with salvation. By Mark W Chamberlain 2018