The Sabbath Is More Than Just Saturday

[Mercy Shown]

I realize that I have missed the point of the Sabbath all these years by thinking it was a special day that I kept that helped ensure my salvation. As it turns out, I now understand that “keeping the Sabbath” was a very subjective exercise with myself, of course, being the correct judge of how it should be kept and thus giving myself a gold star on my metaphorical salvation chart.

Now before I go on don't think that I've abandoned keeping the day it's way too wonderful for that after all, it is made for us by God. But the Sabbath is only a shadow of things to come and deeper things that we can lay hold of now. The real Sabbath is resting in the grace of Jesus Christ who took all of my sins upon himself and died in my place.

There will be people who have religiously kept the day and yet still in the end will be lost and there are many who will have never kept the day and yet partook of the rest in Jesus Christ God affords us and will be saved. The Sabbath, along with the rest of the law has no power to save me for salvation is a gift of God to me, it is not of myself lest I should boast. When I understood what the real Sabbath was all about it absolutely blew open the deeper meanings in the scripture concerning salvation and what God did in order to secure it for me. Consider the following verse.

Isaiah 58:13-14 New Century Version (NCV)
“You must obey God's law about the Sabbath and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day. You should call the Sabbath a joyful day and honor it as the LORD's holy day. You should honor it by not doing whatever you please nor saying whatever you please on that day.

In the past, I read this and decided how I should not please myself and what I could and could not do on Saturdays and submitted it to God as my own righteousness which deserves Salvation. I wore my morals like a thorny crown. But now I look at it and understand that I have a choice between two gods, the first being self which can be very pious if it serves its purposes or I can submit to Jesus Christ and God the Father and admit my total inability to find any righteous thing within my flesh. In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

The first is to do my own pleasure but the second is to call God's salvation joyful, holy, and the very thing I desire more than anything else. You see, I realize that not only will I go to heaven doing whatever I want, but that will be absolutely necessary for anyone desiring to be there. This is because the Lord enters a person's heart and changes what they want. If one is keeping the Sabbath but really doesn't want to there is no righteousness in that. We're only as righteous as Jesus Christ makes us and as we submit to Him. In us, there is no good thing.

So, the Sabbath represents our Salvation in Jesus Christ, our assurance of his righteousness, our belief that we now have no condemnation and that he is able to secure that which he is purchased with his blood. Oh, what blessed Bliss is ours if we accept it by faith and enter into his rest.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I realize that I have missed the point of the Sabbath all these years by thinking it was a special day that I kept that helped ensure my salvation. As it turns out, I now understand that “keeping the Sabbath” was a very subjective exercise with myself, of course, being the correct judge of how it should be kept and thus giving myself a gold star on my metaphorical salvation chart.

Now before I go on don't think that I've abandoned keeping the day it's way too wonderful for that after all, it is made for us by God. But the Sabbath is only a shadow of things to come and deeper things that we can lay hold of now. The real Sabbath is resting in the grace of Jesus Christ who took all of my sins upon himself and died in my place.

There will be people who have religiously kept the day and yet still in the end will be lost and there are many who will have never kept the day and yet partook of the rest in Jesus Christ God affords us and will be saved. The Sabbath, along with the rest of the law has no power to save me for salvation is a gift of God to me, it is not of myself lest I should boast. When I understood what the real Sabbath was all about it absolutely blew open the deeper meanings in the scripture concerning salvation and what God did in order to secure it for me. Consider the following verse.

Isaiah 58:13-14 New Century Version (NCV)
“You must obey God's law about the Sabbath and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day. You should call the Sabbath a joyful day and honor it as the LORD's holy day. You should honor it by not doing whatever you please nor saying whatever you please on that day.

In the past, I read this and decided how I should not please myself and what I could and could not do on Saturdays and submitted it to God as my own righteousness which deserves Salvation. I wore my morals like a thorny crown. But now I look at it and understand that I have a choice between two gods, the first being self which can be very pious if it serves its purposes or I can submit to Jesus Christ and God the Father and admit my total inability to find any righteous thing within my flesh. In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

The first is to do my own pleasure but the second is to call God's salvation joyful, holy, and the very thing I desire more than anything else. You see, I realize that not only will I go to heaven doing whatever I want, but that will be absolutely necessary for anyone desiring to be there. This is because the Lord enters a person's heart and changes what they want. If one is keeping the Sabbath but really doesn't want to there is no righteousness in that. We're only as righteous as Jesus Christ makes us and as we submit to Him. In us, there is no good thing.

So, the Sabbath represents our Salvation in Jesus Christ, our assurance of his righteousness, our belief that we now have no condemnation and that he is able to secure that which he is purchased with his blood. Oh, what blessed Bliss is ours if we accept it by faith and enter into his rest.

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing. I think you make some good points, but also seem to be falling into the popular secular teachings that Jesus is our rest (Sabbath) so we no longer need to keep the Sabbath day or the Sabbath means something other than how God laid it out for us plainly. The Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, so to me that means its not optional or a suggestion.

The Sabbath is the seventh day Exodus 20:10 and it is the day to put aside all work and labors Exodus 20:9 as it is the day to honor God by doing His ways. Isaiah 58:13 meaning the day is about God.

The Sabbath should be a joyous occasion as it is a memorial to God for everything He has created and done for us that didn't require any of our own efforts. He gives us 6 days to get our work and labors done and only asks for one day back in return. The Sabbath is the day He set aside, blessed, sanctified for holy use so we can have communion with our God and Savior because man cannot sanctify themselves, even though many try. Eze 20:12. I agree, if we are not keeping the Sabbath because we want to spend time with God resting in His Word through church, bible study, Christian fellowship, prayer like the examples of Jesus and the apostles, it really won't do any good. We should want to do these things because we love God and it's such a blessing and should never be burdensome. 1 John 5:3

I am not aware of any scripture that says the Sabbath represents our salvation. We are not saved by any law-keeping, we are saved by Jesus through our faith Eph 2:8 because Jesus changes us from the inside out and makes us want to obey Him because we love Him. Obeying God is a fruit of one's faith Rev 14:12 and resting in Christ means one is not in rebellion to God, His Word or His commandments, there is just peace. Isaiah 48:18

God bless!

 

[Mercy Shown]

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing. I think you make some good points, but also seem to be falling into the popular secular teachings that Jesus is our rest (Sabbath) so we no longer need to keep the Sabbath day or the Sabbath means something other than how God laid it out for us plainly. The Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments, so to me that means its not optional or a suggestion.

The Sabbath is the seventh day Exodus 20:10 and it is the day to put aside all work and labors Exodus 20:9 as it is the day to honor God by doing His ways. Isaiah 58:13 meaning the day is about God.

The Sabbath should be a joyous occasion as it is a memorial to God for everything He has created and done for us that didn't require any of our own efforts. He gives us 6 days to get our work and labors done and only asks for one day back in return. The Sabbath is the day He set aside, blessed, sanctified for holy use so we can have communion with our God and Savior because man cannot sanctify themselves, even though many try. Eze 20:12. I agree, if we are not keeping the Sabbath because we want to spend time with God resting in His Word through church, bible study, Christian fellowship, prayer like the examples of Jesus and the apostles, it really won't do any good. We should want to do these things because we love God and it's such a blessing and should never be burdensome. 1 John 5:3

I am not aware of any scripture that says the Sabbath represents our salvation. We are not saved by any law-keeping, we are saved by Jesus through our faith Eph 2:8 because Jesus changes us from the inside out and makes us want to obey Him because we love Him. Obeying God is a fruit of one's faith Rev 14:12 and resting in Christ means one is not in rebellion to God, His Word or His commandments, there is just peace. Isaiah 48:18

God bless!

Do you feel that we need to keep the Sabbath in order to earn some part of our salvation? Or are you saying that as saved children of God we will keep the Sabbath to the best of our knowledge because we love and adore our Saviour and his commands? I would also refer you to Hebrews chapter 4 which I think lays out a good argument for the Sabbath representing rest in Christ.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Do you feel that we need to keep the Sabbath in order to earn some part of our salvation?

No, just like not murdering someone will earn salvation. We do not earn salvation through law keeping, salvation is a gift from God which He gives based on our faith in Him. If we have faith in Him, we are going to have faith in the things He asks of us because we trust they are for our own good, so we keep His Sabbath along with not murdering or coveting etc. because we love Him and want to do what He asks.

Or are you saying that as saved children of God we will keep the Sabbath to the best of our knowledge because we love and adore our Saviour and his commands?

Exactly.

 

[Mercy Shown]

No, just like I do think not murdering someone will earn salvation. We do not earn salvation through law keeping, salvation is a gift from God which He gives based on our faith in Him. If we have faith in Him, we are going to have faith in the things He asks of us because they are for our own good, so we keep His Sabbath along with not murdering or coveting etc. because we love Him and want to do what He asks.

Exactly.

Then you and I agree. But, Hebrews 4 takes us even deeper into the meaning of the sabbath as an Icon of rest in Christ. It is why the Sabbath was such and important command.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I would also refer you to Hebrews chapter 4 which I think lays out a good argument for the Sabbath representing rest in Christ.

I have studied Hebrews 4 extensively and sadly, so many secular churches uses this passage out of context. There is no place where it states the Sabbath commandment represents Christ. Christ is the Creator, not the creation. I am happy to go through it with you verse by verse. There are two rests being referred to in Hebrews 4 which is a continuation of Hebrews 3, there is Christ rest (not the Sabbath) and the seventh day Sabbath rest, which says remains for God's people Heb 4:9 NIV. In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him, so one would be keeping His commandments, not breaking them. In His rest there is just peace. Isaiah 48:18

 

[Mercy Shown]

I have studied Hebrews 4 extensively and sadly, so many secular churches uses this passage out of context. There is no place where it states the Sabbath commandment represents Christ. Christ is the Creator, not the creation. I am happy to go through it with you verse by verse. There are two rests being referred to Christ rest (not the Sabbath) and the seventh day Sabbath rest, which says remains for God's people Heb 4:9 NIV. In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him, so one would be keeping His commandments, not breaking them in Christ rest. On His rest there is just peace. Isaiah 48:18

Not "Christ" but "rest in Christ."
Heb 3
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.15As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." [2]16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed [3] ?19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Then you and I agree. But, Hebrews 4 takes us even deeper into the meaning of the sabbath as an Icon of rest in Christ. It is why the Sabbath was such and important command.

All of God's commandments are important and Hebrews 4 speaks of Christ rest, which is different than the Sabbath rest. In Christ rest one is keeping the Sabbath and all of His commandments, there is no rebellion in Christ rest, that is unrest. In Christ there is just peace, meaning one is in complete submission and obeying everything He asks including the Sabbath commandment. Isaiah 48:18

 

[Mercy Shown]

All of God's commandments are important and Hebrews 4 speaks of Christ rest, which is different than the Sabbath rest. In Christ rest one is keeping the Sabbath and all of His commandments, there is no rebellion in Christ rest, that is unrest. In Christ there is just peace, meaning one is in complete submission and obeying everything He asks including the Sabbath commandment. Isaiah 48:18

Hebrews 4 directly ties the sabbath rest to rest found in Christ. It is the true meaning of the Sabbath. Just as God rested from his work, we are to rest from our work and accept our righteousness from Him by faith. Heb 4:10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

It is a gloriously joyful message to us delivered in a form we can understand. If you love the Sabbath day and look eagerly forward to it each week, you can begin to understand what God has done for us on the cross in giving us rest from our works and sin.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Not "Christ" but "rest in Christ."
Heb 3
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.15As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." [2]16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed [3] ?19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Rest in Christ, Christ rest it is the same thing, which is different than the seventh day Sabbath commandment rest. Jesus is not a commandment or a creation, He is the Creator of all things including the Sabbath commandment given to mankind Mark 2:27 as the day to honor God Isaiah 58:13.

In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him, which is why the Holy Spirit calls us daily to hear His voice and not rebel against Him or His commandments. In Hebrews 4 it is specifically calling us out to keep the Sabbath and a warning not to follow the same path as the Israelites . The Israelites in the wilderness profaned the Sabbath Eze 20:13 Eze 20:21 and we are told not to follow the same path of disobedience so we can enter into our rest in Christ. Hebrews 4:6, Hebrews 4:11 which is why the Sabbath rest (keeping) Hebrews 4:9 NIV remains for God's people. The rest in this verse literally translates into Sabbath keeping.

Hebrews 4:10 shows clearly there are two rests in this passage being referred to.

The rest in Christ and the seventh day Sabbath rest.

Hebrews 4:10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

When did God rest from His works the way we are commanded to?

This very passage tells us... Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works

Which is why the Holy Spirit pleas with us daily to not harden our hearts in rebellion to God. In Christ's rest there is no rebellion to Him, His Word or His commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath that He created to spend time with His people on the day He set aside sanctified and blessed, because man cannot sanctify themselves Eze 20:12.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

Hebrews 4 directly ties the sabbath rest to rest found in Christ. It is the true meaning of the Sabbath. Just as God rested from his work, we are to rest from our work and accept our righteousness from Him by faith. Heb 4:10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

It is a gloriously joyful message to us delivered in a form we can understand. If you love the Sabbath day and look eagerly forward to it each week, you can begin to understand what God has done for us on the cross in giving us rest from our works and sin.

No, it doesn't- these are two different rests. This is a popular teaching that we can profane the Sabbath commandment by doing what we want instead of keeping the Sabbath commandment the way God instructed, but it is doing the exact opposite of what this passage is telling us to do. In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him or His commandments, just peace. Isaiah 48:18

 

[Mercy Shown]

Rest in Christ, Christ rest it is the same thing, which is different than the seventh day Sabbath commandment rest. Jesus is not a commandment or a creation, He is the Creator of all things including the Sabbath commandment given to mankind Mark 2:27 as the day to honor God Isaiah 58:13.

In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him, which is why the Holy Spirit calls us daily to hear His voice and not rebel against Him or His commandments. In Hebrews 4 it is specifically calling us out for not keeping the Sabbath. The Israelites in the wilderness profaned the Sabbath Eze 20:13 Eze 20:21 and we are told not to follow the same path of disobedience so we can enter into our rest in Christ. Hebrews 4:6, Hebrews 4:11 which is why the Sabbath rest (keeping) Hebrews 4:9 NIV remains for God's people. The rest in this verse literally translates into Sabbath keeping.

Hebrews 4:10 shows clearly there are two rests in this passage being referred to.

The rest in Christ and the seventh day Sabbath rest.

Hebrews 4:10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

When did God rest from His works the way we are commanded to?

This very passage tells us... Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works

Which is why the Holy Spirit pleas with us daily to not harden our hearts in rebellion to God. In Christ's rest there is no rebellion to Him, His Word or His commandments, including the seventh day Sabbath that He created to spend time with His people on the day He set aside sanctified and blessed.

I got to get to work, but I will reply later. I am enjoying our conversation.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I got to get to work, but I will reply later. I am enjoying our conversation.

Thank you. It's important discussion and sadly so many churches use this as a way to try to justify breaking the Sabbath commandment, when in reality this passage is telling us the opposite.

 

[Soyeong]

I realize that I have missed the point of the Sabbath all these years by thinking it was a special day that I kept that helped ensure my salvation. As it turns out, I now understand that “keeping the Sabbath” was a very subjective exercise with myself, of course, being the correct judge of how it should be kept and thus giving myself a gold star on my metaphorical salvation chart.

Now before I go on don't think that I've abandoned keeping the day it's way too wonderful for that after all, it is made for us by God. But the Sabbath is only a shadow of things to come and deeper things that we can lay hold of now. The real Sabbath is resting in the grace of Jesus Christ who took all of my sins upon himself and died in my place.

The Bible does not state that the Sabbath is "only" a foreshadow of things to come, but rather adding that word puts a diminutive slant on what Paul was saying, but rather he was emphasizing the importance of continuing to keep God's holy days because they are foreshadows of what is to come. We should live in a way that testifies about the truth of what is to come by continuing to keep God's holy days rather than a way that bears false witness against what is to come. It is evident that the Sabbath is more than just the 7th day through the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee, so it is part of a fractal pattern, but that does not mean that the 7th day is not the real Sabbath or that it is not important to testify about resting in the grace of Jesus Christ by keeping the 7th day holy.

There will be people who have religiously kept the day and yet still in the end will be lost and there are many who will have never kept the day and yet partook of the rest in Jesus Christ God affords us and will be saved. The Sabbath, along with the rest of the law has no power to save me for salvation is a gift of God to me, it is not of myself lest I should boast. When I understood what the real Sabbath was all about it absolutely blew open the deeper meanings in the scripture concerning salvation and what God did in order to secure it for me. Consider the following verse.

In Hebrews 3:18-19, they did not enter God's rest because of their disobedience/unbelief, and in Ezekiel 20:13, it specifically mentions that they greatly profaned God's Sabbaths, so that does not support thinking that those who also greatly profane God's Sabbaths partake the rest of Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 4:9-11, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, we should rest from our work as God rested from His, and we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away by the same sort of disobedience. Jesus set a sinless example of how to walk in obedience to God's law, and in Matthew 11:28-30, he invited people to come to him for rest and to learn from him, and by saying that we will find rest for our souls, he was referencing Jeremiah 6:16-19, where God's law is described as the good way where we will find rest for our souls.

Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so while new do not earn our salvation as the result of obeying God's law, living in obedience to it through faith in Jesus is the content of His gift of saving us from not living in obedience to it. For example, keeping the Sabbath holy is the way that Jesus saves us from not keeping the Sabbath holy. In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so again God graciously teaching us to do those things is the content of His gift of saving us from not doing those things.

Isaiah 58:13-14 New Century Version (NCV)
“You must obey God's law about the Sabbath and not do what pleases yourselves on that holy day. You should call the Sabbath a joyful day and honor it as the LORD's holy day. You should honor it by not doing whatever you please nor saying whatever you please on that day.

In the past, I read this and decided how I should not please myself and what I could and could not do on Saturdays and submitted it to God as my own righteousness which deserves Salvation. I wore my morals like a thorny crown. But now I look at it and understand that I have a choice between two gods, the first being self which can be very pious if it serves its purposes or I can submit to Jesus Christ and God the Father and admit my total inability to find any righteous thing within my flesh. In my hand no price I bring, simply to thy cross I cling.

In Proverbs 3:5-7, we have a choice between continuing to lean on our own understanding of right and wrong by doing what is right in our own eyes or trusting in God with all of our heart to correctly divide between right and wrong through obediently relying one what He has instructed, but it is not serving another god to rely on what God has instructed.

 

[Mercy Shown]

The Bible does not state that the Sabbath is "only" a foreshadow of things to come, but rather adding that word puts a diminutive slant on what Paul was saying, but rather he was emphasizing the importance of continuing to keep God's holy days because they are foreshadows of what is to come.

If I "keep" them as a response to God's love and salvation. That is a good thing. But I was making the day an idol a way to earn salvation and feel good about myself. It was a way to feel superior to other Christian brothers and sisters who did not keep the day the way I did.

The reality of all including the Sabbath is found in Christ and not the shadows themselves. I can't tell you how much joy and peace it brings me to call God, "Abba" because I am in Christ.

We should live in a way that testifies about the truth of what is to come by continuing to keep God's holy days rather than a way that bears false witness against what is to come. It is evident that the Sabbath is more than just the 7th day through the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee, so it is part of a fractal pattern, but that does not mean that the 7th day is not the real Sabbath or that it is not important to testify about resting in the grace of Jesus Christ by keeping the 7th day holy.

I will live what I am, it is all I can do. Therefore I must submit to God for the renewing of My heart and mind.

In Hebrews 3:18-19, they did not enter God's rest because of their disobedience/unbelief, and in Ezekiel 20:13, it specifically mentions that they greatly profaned God's Sabbaths, so that does not support thinking that those who also greatly profane God's Sabbaths partake the rest of Jesus Christ.

In Hebrews 3 God's rest was the land of Canaan. The sin was unbelief. If I do not believe that God has erased all of my sins on the cross, in essence, I have refused to enter His rest. To disbelieve that Christ has paid for my sins would be the ultimate profanity against His rest.

In Hebrews 4:9-11, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, we should rest from our work as God rested from His, and we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away by the same sort of disobedience. Jesus set a sinless example of how to walk in obedience to God's law, and in Matthew 11:28-30, he invited people to come to him for rest and to learn from him, and by saying that we will find rest for our souls, he was referencing Jeremiah 6:16-19, where God's law is described as the good way where we will find rest for our souls.

We can only find condemnation from the Law of God for it is holy, just, and good but we are not unless we enter God's rest and rest from all the work we have been doing to try and be holy and instead believe his word to us.

Our salvation is from sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so while new do not earn our salvation as the result of obeying God's law, living in obedience to it through faith in Jesus is the content of His gift of saving us from not living in obedience to it. For example, keeping the Sabbath holy is the way that Jesus saves us from not keeping the Sabbath holy. In Titus 2:11-14, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so again God graciously teaching us to do those things is the content of His gift of saving us from not doing those things.

Good behavior comes from a good heart and we cannot from good hearts. We must look to Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith.

Do you consider yourself saved?

In Proverbs 3:5-7, we have a choice between continuing to lean on our own understanding of right and wrong by doing what is right in our own eyes or trusting in God with all of our heart to correctly divide between right and wrong through obediently relying one what He has instructed, but it is not serving another god to rely on what God has instructed.

I lived among and was one of those who echoed these sentiments also and yet held diametrically opposed views on how to keep the Sabbath. In the end, each person became their own judge and said they kept the Sabbath. Yet some would never dream of shopping on sabbath yet would buy electricity on credit every sabbath. Others might bird-watch on the sabbath but never go scuba diving to watch fish. Our good works appear to be lagging indicators rather than causes.

 

[Mercy Shown]

No, it doesn't- these are two different rests.

I can't just believe this because you say so. I think one is the foreshadowing of the other because Hebrews talks about it in that way.

This is a popular teaching that we can profane the Sabbath commandment by doing what we want instead of keeping the Sabbath commandment the way God instructed, but it is doing the exact opposite of what this passage is telling us to do. In Christ rest there is no rebellion to Him or His commandments, just peace. Isaiah 48:18

The issue is not whether we judge ourselves as keeping God's commandments since keeping them in any way other than perfectly counts for nothing. I doubt either you or I would stand up and say we perfectly keep God's commands at all times and therefore our "keeping" of the commandments is as filthy rags compared to Christ's keeping of them. That is why I will accept Christ's righteousness and give Him my own.

Now I am free to keep God's commands the best I can out of love and devotion without fear of judgment or failure. If I am flaunting them and disregarding them it is because I am in rebellion and have no saving relationship with him.

 

[Soyeong]

If I "keep" them as a response to God's love and salvation. That is a good thing. But I was making the day an idol a way to earn salvation and feel good about myself. It was a way to feel superior to other Christian brothers and sisters who did not keep the day the way I did.

The reality of all including the Sabbath is found in Christ and not the shadows themselves. I can't tell you how much joy and peace it brings me to call God, "Abba" because I am in Christ.

Again, living in obedience to God's law is part of the content of His gift of saving us from not living in obedience to it, not something that we do in response to our salvation. According to Titus 2:14, we do not need to first those works in order to earn our salvation and we do not need to do those works as the result of having first been saved, but rather God graciously teaching us to do those works is itself part of His gift of saving us from not doing those works. There are many reasons for why we should want to do those works, such as faith and love, but we are nevertheless still obligated to obey God. The foreshadows testify about Christ and we should live in a way that testifies about him rather than a way that bears false witness against him. For example, our good works testify about God's goodness, which is why they bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:13-16). Likewise, in 1 John 2;6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked.

I will live what I am, it is all I can do. Therefore I must submit to God for the renewing of My heart and mind.

In Hebrews 3 God's rest was the land of Canaan. The sin was unbelief. If I do not believe that God has erased all of my sins on the cross, in essence, I have refused to enter His rest. To disbelieve that Christ has paid for my sins would be the ultimate profanity against His rest.

In Hebrews 3-4, it connects their unbelief with their disobedience and connects their rest in the land of Canaan with God's eternal rest. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law is the way to believe in what Jesus accomplished through the cross (Acts 21:20).

We can only find condemnation from the Law of God for it is holy, just, and good but we are not unless we enter God's rest and rest from all the work we have been doing to try and be holy and instead believe his word to us.

The Bible does say that our rest is from obeying God's law, but that obeying God's law is the way where we will find rest for our souls. This rest for our souls comes from having faith in God to guide us through obeying what He has instructed, not from taking a break from following God. Again, Hebrews 4:11 says that we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away from the same sort of disobedience, not that entering into God's rest is taking a break from our obedience. God's law is God's word to us, so obeying it is the way to believe His word to us.

You can't quote where the Bible says that we can only find condemnation from the law, but I can quote from Deuteronomy 30:11-20 where it says that God's law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! Likewise, in Deuteronomy 6:24 and 10:12-13, it says that God's law was given for our own good. Furthermore, the Psalms repeatedly state that they loved God's law and delighted in obeying it, which Paul also did (Romans 7:22), so the view that we can only find condemnation from the law is incompatible with the view that the Psalms and the NT books that quote the Psalms are Scripture.

Good behavior comes from a good heart and we cannot from good hearts. We must look to Jesus, the author, and finisher of our faith.

Do you consider yourself saved?

Jesus is the embodiment of God's word, so us embodying God's word is the way to look to him as the author and finisher of our faith.

Indeed, I have been saved from the penalty of my sin, I am being saved from continuing to live in sin, and I will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord.

I lived among and was one of those who echoed these sentiments also and yet held diametrically opposed views on how to keep the Sabbath. In the end, each person became their own judge and said they kept the Sabbath. Yet some would never dream of shopping on sabbath yet would buy electricity on credit every sabbath. Others might bird-watch on the sabbath but never go scuba diving to watch fish. Our good works appear to be lagging indicators rather than causes.

People can agree that followers of God should follow what He has commanded in accordance with the example that he set for us to follow while disagreeing about the correct way to do that. It helps when there is a central authority that we can submit to, such as when Jesus said in Matthew 23:2-4 that the Pharisees sit in the Seat of Moses and to do everything that they said.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

I can't just believe this because you say so. I think one is the foreshadowing of the other because Hebrews talks about it in that way.

The issue is not whether we judge ourselves as keeping God's commandments since keeping them in any way other than perfectly counts for nothing. I doubt either you or I would stand up and say we perfectly keep God's commands at all times and therefore our "keeping" of the commandments is as filthy rags compared to Christ's keeping of them. That is why I will accept Christ's righteousness and give Him my own.

Now I am free to keep God's commands the best I can out of love and devotion without fear of judgment or failure. If I am flaunting them and disregarding them it is because I am in rebellion and have no saving relationship with him.

What we are discussing is not about judging ourselves or about not being possible to keep God's commandments the way God asks, which is not a doctrine I agree with, God would not give us a commandment and then not give us the power to keep them. We do not serve a god of trickery, He said we can overcome through Him, and I choose to believe Him. We have been discussing if the Sabbath rest somehow turned into Jesus and therefore, we no longer need to keep the 4th commandment and there is no scripture that say this in the entire bible. Jesus is not a day or a commandment, He is the Creator. Jesus did not command Himself to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy so we can go freely and profane it, this is not a doctrine of scripture or from Hebrews 4, if you spend some time looking at the scripture references you will see Hebrews 4 is not doing away with the 4th commandment at all, in fact it tells us the exact opposite.

There are two different rests being referred to in Hebrews 4 as Hebrews 4:10 NIV clearly shows, but I am happy to go through it with you. Not every rest is the Sabbath rest (commandment), scripture dictates this, not us.

There are two rests referenced in Hebrews 4.

Lets start with the very first verse... it establishes what His rest means which is found throughout this passage. Note, we should fear to come short of His rest, which later establishes is rebellion/disobeidence to God.

Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.

This is the Greek Word for rest here and found throughout the passage with the exception of Hebrews 4:4 and Hebrews 4:9

katapausis: rest
Original Word: κατάπαυσις, εως, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: katapausis
Phonetic Spelling: (kat-ap'-ow-sis)
Definition: rest
Usage: (in the Old Testament of the rest attained by the settlement in Canaan), resting, rest, dwelling, habitation.

This whole passage is taking us back to the days of the wilderness when the Israelites were in their test trying to get to the land of Canaan to get their promised rest and inheritance. The writer is contrasting the Israelites and bringing it back to today and telling us not to follow their example of disobedience Hebrews 4:6 Hebrews 4:11 so we won't be consumed from our trial that is today. This is why Joshua is mentioned and another day because the Israelites rest was delayed due to their disobedience. Hebrews 4:6 Hebrews 4:8 David is mentioned because he references the trial in the wilderness and Hebrews 4:7 quotes David verbatim Psalms 95:7-8 saying "today" if you hear His voice do not harden your heart in rebellion like the Israelites which again this whole passage is warning us of not following their example of disobedience Hebrews 4:6 Hebrews 4:11

What did the Israelites rebel to in the wilderness?

If we allow scripture to interpret itself it does....

Eze 20:13 Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.

Which is what this whole passage is leading up to....

In Hebrews 4:9 it switches from "Christ rest" to the "Sabbath rest" which we are clearly told it remains for God's people, meaning it did not change. The rest in this verse literally translates into Sabbath-keeping and is completely different than Christ's rest as shown previously.

Hebrews 4:9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God;

The definition of rest in this verse.

sabbatismos: a sabbath rest
Original Word: σαββατισμός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: sabbatismos
Phonetic Spelling: (sab-bat-is-mos')
Definition: a sabbath rest
Usage: a keeping of the Sabbath, a Sabbath rest.


Hebrews 4:10 shows clearly there are two rests in this passage being referred to.

The rest in Christ and the seventh day Sabbath rest.

Hebrews 4:10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.

When did God rest from His works the way we are commanded to?

This very passage tells us... Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works

In Christ rest these is no rebellion to Him or His commandments including Sabbath-keeping, which remains for the people of God.

Isaiah 48:18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

There is further study on this in Rev 14:11-12 but we can perhaps save that for another day.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

Thank you. It's important discussion and sadly so many churches use this as a way to try to justify breaking the Sabbath commandment, when in reality this passage is telling us the opposite.

I love your conversation and responses. I just wanted to add that you didn't reference Genesis 2:3. I believe the strongest argument for keeping the Sabbath is the same one used for marriage between a man and a woman. I wish our denomination would move away from using the justification of the law (I can't count the amount of times I've heard "it's lawful to do good on the Sabbath"), towards the fullness of Creation and thanking God for rest in it's fullness in Christ and rest from our labours on the Sabbath. The Sabbath is definitely a "shadow of things to come" and Christ is definitely our rest (Colossians 2:17), however, that does not remove Sabbath as being part of Creation.

It's also worth mentioning that because of our current conception of a weekend the moral nature of the Sabbath is often lost on most of us. If a workplace was to mandate a 7 day work week, what would we all appeal to in order to object against such a mandate?

God bless

 

[Mercy Shown]

Again, living in obedience to God's law is part of the content of His gift of saving us from not living in obedience to it, not something that we do in response to our salvation.

It s something we do because of our salvation. I must have Christ because apart from Him I can do nothing.

According to Titus 2:14, we do not need to first those works in order to earn our salvation and we do not need to do those works as the result of having first been saved, but rather God graciously teaching us to do those works is itself part of His gift of saving us from not doing those works. There are many reasons for why we should want to do those works, such as faith and love, but we are nevertheless still obligated to obey God. The foreshadows testify about Christ and we should live in a way that testifies about him rather than a way that bears false witness against him. For example, our good works testify about God's goodness, which is why they bring glory to Him (Matthew 5:13-16). Likewise, in 1 John 2;6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked.

As God renews our minds we will live more and more according to his will in us. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. Am I obligated? I so desire to do his will that obligation does not come to mind.

In Hebrews 3-4, it connects their unbelief with their disobedience and connects their rest in the land of Canaan with God's eternal rest. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law is the way to believe in what Jesus accomplished through the cross (Acts 21:20).

Jesus redeems us. Jesus purifies us to himself. Jesus empowers us to do good works we were created to do. If we abide in him, we will produce much fruit. All of it is a product of our salvation.

The Bible does say that our rest is from obeying God's law, but that obeying God's law is the way where we will find rest for our souls.

No, our rest is from trying to do works to earn our salvation because it is a free gift.

This rest for our souls comes from having faith in God to guide us through obeying what He has instructed, not from taking a break from following God.

The rest comes in simply abiding in Christ and believing that we stand before God as if we had never sinned because Christ stood before him as if He had.

Again, Hebrews 4:11 says that we should strive to enter into that rest so that no one may fall away from the same sort of disobedience, not that entering into God's rest is taking a break from our obedience. God's law is God's word to us, so obeying it is the way to believe His word to us.

I don't understand what you are trying to say when you talk about a "break from obedience?" Is obedience not the desire of our hearts, the focus of our souls, and the delight of our beings?

You can't quote where the Bible says that we can only find condemnation from the law, but I can quote from Deuteronomy 30:11-20 where it says that God's law is not too difficult for us to obey and that obedience brings life and a blessing while disobedience brings death and a curse, so choose life! Likewise, in Deuteronomy 6:24 and 10:12-13, it says that God's law was given for our own good. Furthermore, the Psalms repeatedly state that they loved God's law and delighted in obeying it, which Paul also did (Romans 7:22), so the view that we can only find condemnation from the law is incompatible with the view that the Psalms and the NT books that quote the Psalms are Scripture.

Here are a few to consider:
Romans 4:15
For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression.

Galatians 3:10
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Romans 3:19-20
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law is just and good but we are not.

Jesus is the embodiment of God's word, so us embodying God's word is the way to look to him as the author and finisher of our faith.

Indeed, I have been saved from the penalty of my sin, I am being saved from continuing to live in sin, and I will be saved from God's wrath on the day of the Lord.

I believe you but I would like to hear exactly why you will be saved from His wrath on that day.

People can agree that followers of God should follow what He has commanded in accordance with the example that he set for us to follow while disagreeing about the correct way to do that. It helps when there is a central authority that we can submit to, such as when Jesus said in Matthew 23:2-4 that the Pharisees sit in the Seat of Moses and to do everything that they said.

There is only one perfect way to keep God's law.