Lets take a journey to a time more than 4000 years later and ask did He continue to rest on the seventh day when He came to earth as a man? As His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Luke 4:16. What day is the Sabbath, that Jesus Christ kept as His custom? We will find this answer in the Ten commandments.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11
Since we have already identified Jesus as the one who made everything and rested on the 7th day. Lets look at this commandment again replacing the name LORD with the name of Jesus Christ.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jesus Christ. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days Jesus Christ made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jesus Christ blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:8-11.
The Sabbath Jesus rested on as He walked this earth was the same seventh day He rested on at creation. The fourth commandment honors Jesus Christ and reminds us that Jesus made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. The fourth commandment says that resting on the seventh day follows the example Jesus gave when He rested the seventh day at creation. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten that declares we ought to follow the example of Jesus. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. John 13:15.
Yesterday at creation Jesus rested on the seventh day, Today in this present world Christ repeated his example of resting the seventh day, in fact it was His custom. What about in the New Heavens and the New Earth? Is Jesus the same yesterday today and forever when it comes to His custom of resting on the seventh day Sabbath? As we read this next verse lets remember All things were made by him (Jesus); and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD (Jesus Christ), so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD (Jesus Christ). Isaiah 66:22,23.
All flesh will worship Jesus Christ and honor Him every Sabbath in heaven. Everyone who goes to Heaven will be keeping the seventh day Sabbath forever. Jesus kept the seventh day Sabbath yesterday at creation. He continued this custom today in this present world as he walked in Palestine. Forever in the New Heavens and the New Earth Jesus and all the saints will always remember to rest on the seventh day Sabbath. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Hebrews 13:8. For I am the LORD, I change not. Malachi 3:6.
As we already discussed earlier all Ten Commandments are a call to rest from the works of the flesh. Keeping the Sabbath does require rest from manual labor, but to truly rest on the Sabbath man must rest from all the works of sin. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder to take inventory of our souls to make sure we have repented of all sin. Earlier we also discussed how all Ten Commandments are a call to love God supremely and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Sabbath is no exception. Notice how the Sabbath is designed by the Lord to change our selfish hearts and take our eyes off ourselves. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 58:13,14.
Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24. The Sabbath is a special day for us to learn self-denial from doing thy pleasure on my holy day
not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words. The Sabbath is set apart to do what gives Jesus pleasure, for doing His ways, and speaking His words. Of course we are to do this 7 days a week. The Sabbath is the one day we are asked to put aside our own pursuits, and business. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all THY work: But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work. Exodus 20:9.
Jesus spent His Sabbaths honoring His Father and loving His neighbor. He gave us the perfect example of how to keep the Sabbath. It was Christ custom to go to the synagogue or church and read the Bible. He visited the sick and healed them. The Sabbath is a day for families to be together, a day to worship God at church and help those with infirmities. The Sabbath is a day for us to learn more of what it means to Love God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
The religious leaders accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath in the WAY He kept it. In the final days religious leaders will accuse those who keep the commandments of breaking the Sabbath because of the DAY they keep it. Was the way Jesus kept the Sabbath unlawfully violating the Ten commandments?
And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And when he had said these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. Luke 14:13-17.
On another occasion Jesus healed a man there which had a withered hand. Mark 3:1. Jesus defended His actions declaring what He had done was lawful and right saying, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? verse 4. The religious leaders who accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath accused Him falsely. The way Jesus kept the Sabbath according to scripture led the religious leaders to seek to have the government put Him to death for the very first time. Jesus believed that His example of how to keep the Sabbath was so important to us that this did not detour His actions.
And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. Mark 3:4-6.
The Herodians were a group of Jews mixed up in politics. They were friends of Herod the King. The Pharisees bitterly hated the Herodians because they aligned themselves with the Romans. Just as the Dragon is wroth with those who keep the commandments of God (Rev 12:17), the Pharisees felt enmity against Christ for the WAY He kept the fourth commandment. So much so that they went to the Herodians and allied themselves with them to work toward the destruction of Christ. The Church and State united against Christ seeking a death penalty because He kept the Sabbath in a different way than the religious leaders taught how to keep the Sabbath.
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