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Commentary on "The Sabbath and Worship"
Day 6: Thursday, July 14, 2011 - Resting in Redemption
Entering That Rest
Therefore, while the promise to enter His rest remains, let us fear that none of you should miss it. For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith (for we who have believed enter the rest), in keeping with what He has said:
So I swore in My anger, they will not enter My rest.
And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world, for somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way:
And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.
Again, in that passage He says, They will never enter My rest. Since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, again, He specifies a certain day — today — speaking through David after such a long time, as previously stated:
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. Hebrews 4:1–11
This passage is what led me to enter into Christ and His completed work. It allowed me to cease my own works to gain my salvation, it allowed me to rest in faith in my savior. This Rest in Christ is the better Sabbath Rest, it is what the Sabbath Rest is but a Shadow of, Christ died to liberate us from the Law so we could enter into an eternal Sabbath Rest in the Lord of the Sabbath.
The statements made about this better rest today in the quarterly greatly disturb me, and if they disturb my Spirit that much I'm certain they disturb God even more.
You denigrate the Rest in Christ, which superceeds the Sabbath Day by saying blithely that anyone can say they are resting in Christ.
This statement is flat out disgusting, while anyone can say they are something it doesn't mean that they are. Many people say they are Born Again, I suspect that if the Rapture happened today a great many would be surprised to find that they Hadn't heard the Call of Christ to Come out of the earth and meet Him in the air.
Many people at the Great White Throne Judgment will find that they never really truly knew God, we will be shocked at some of the people we were sure were life long Christians who had never in fact done more than put on a facade for years and years.
The Day of worship is NOT anywhere near as important as WHO we worship.
Just as the Rest in Christ is far greater than a weekly Sabbath DAY prefiguring it.
You mention the emotional need for the Sabbath, you compared the Sabbath to marriage and stated that the Sabbath is the Vertical Intimacy between us and Christ.
The emotional need for the Sabbath is just another way of saying this day has become and idol for us, let us worship this day.
The vertical intimacy of Christ is not represented by the Sabbath- it is represented by The Cross- it doesn't get any more intimate than that.
Christ's victory on the cross that fulfilled everything, including all of the law and the prophets, on the cross Christ became our sabbath rest.
If we don't enter that rest by being born again, then we will never see the Kingdom of Heaven.
It's time to worship the reality of the fulfillment of the Sabbath our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and stop idolizing a day.
In the same way, after supper He also took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant established by My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 1 Corinthians 11:25
Christ says to Remember Him, that's more than enough for me.
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