You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the LORD. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death. [Exodus 35.2]
What does a "Sabbath day of complete rest" look like?
For starters, it looks like Jesus. Nothing else matters but Jesus. If we can see it, God has presented this "Sabbath day of complete rest" to us in Christ Jesus - He has presented this "Sabbath day of rest" by His grace to those, and only those, who will believe.
It is interesting that "complete rest" in Christ is actually quite busy:
Jesus traveled through all the towns and villages of that area, teaching in the synagogues and announcing the Good News about the Kingdom. And he healed every kind of disease and illness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” [Matthew 9.35-38]
The word "complete" becomes very important then. By faith, we enter complete rest in Christ. Nothing of our own life or identity has significance - only Christ, and Him completely. This is the significance of Jesus healing on the Sabbath! In Christ, the Sabbath is not a day, but a Way - the Way of life in Christ Jesus directed by the Holy Spirit:
“The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favor has come.” [Luke 4.18-19]
So important is this "Sabbath day of complete rest" that it made "the Big Ten [Commandments]". God wasn't joking around when He sent Jesus. If we will just stop and see it, the Ten Commandments weren't about rules. They were about Covenant! They were, and are, about Jesus. - stop and think about that for a moment ...or a day...
Moses remained there on the mountain with the LORD forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the LORD wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets. [Exodus 34.28]
Wow! Wow! Wow!
But our minds tell us is that we have to work to eat - to make a living - to pay our bills... A "Sabbath day of rest" sure sounds nice, someone has to pay the bills! And, what does our "Sabbath day of rest" identity Person have to say about that?
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. [Matthew 6.33]
Now, it all comes down to whether or not we truly believe we have entered that "Sabbath day of rest" doesn't it? How can we know for sure? We can know for sure when our lives "completely" look like Christ. Look at this:
God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. [Hebrews 4.1-3]
This is serious business!
Jesus said:
Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [Matthew 11.29]
This puts a whole new light then on what Paul told the Church of Ephesus:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2.8-10 NKJV]
Look at it like this:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of [your six days of] works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for [His Sabbath day of rest] good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. [Ephesians 2.8-10 NKJV]
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