Genesis 4
[Trouble sitting still, RLS, etc illustrations.]
For some of us it’s hard to sit still. For some of us it’s hard to just stop and rest. But there’s a solution to that, it’s called Nyquil! (A couple slugs of that and you’ll sit still.)
But seriously, God didn’t intend on us being busy and working all the time. He knows we need to have time to rest and to reflect on things. And just getting your eight hours of sleep a night isn’t enough. We all need to take a break. We all need a day of rest. We all need a Sabbath. A Sabbath just like the one that God took on the first seventh day of the week.
So what we’re going to do tonight is look at how the Sabbath got it’s beginning. We’re also going to follow it’s journey through the Scriptures, and through the ages, and see how the Sabbath’s journey isn’t done yet. And the amazing thing is that throughout time, the Sabbath’s principles and purposes pretty much stay the same. So let’s look at the first Sabbath or the:
I. Edanic Sabbath
[Read Genesis 2:1-3.]
1. God completed all His work, 2:1, (finished creation)
2. God rested from His work, 2:2, (ceased)
3. God sanctified the seventh day, 2:3, (appointed the Sabbath to be a day of rest)
So after creating this incredible universe the Lord decided that He would stop His work
and take a Sabbath.
Now, what did the Lord do? Was Saturday His day off? Did the Lord let the angels handle things while He rested? Did He not answer prayers or work miracles on Saturday back then? Does He still rest on the Sabbath?
Well I don’t think the Lord ever stops loving His creation and taking care of us. And I don’t think the Lord ever looks at the Sabbath through the eyes of legalism like many did in the past and still do today. I think the implication of the Scripture simply means that the Lord stopped working on the seventh day and probably reflected on His work.
[Read Genesis 2:3.]
I happen to think that as the Lord had this all planned out before the seventh day. He in eternity past had decided that in six days He would create the universe and on the seventh He would rest. Rest from all His work, and reflect on the work He had done. Not in the same way that we reflect, but rather reflect in enjoyment of what He had created.
I can’t see the Lord creating the universe and then just walking away without appreciating what He had done. It’s not like us when we leave work and want work to stay at work. This was His creation. Something that He would love and sustain and nurture. I think as He rested He reflected on the work of His hands.
- Principle: Rest and reflection
- Application: Seventh day of every week, no work, reflect on creation, pattern for man
Now, did Adam and his descendants continue to follow God’s pattern of the Sabbath? I happen to think so. Especially since the Lord sanctified, or appointed the seventh day of the week to be the Sabbath. After all, Adam and Eve were instructed to work the garden and rule the earth. But just like the Lord, they would take off on Saturday, rest and reflect on the Lord.
But like everything else, the Sabbath started to get off track after the fall of man. So the next time we see the Sabbath mentioned in Scripture it’s when the Lord has to lay down the law through Moses. (Get it, lay down the law, etc.) So the next phase of the Sabbath is the:
II. Mosaic Sabbath
After the Lord had delivered the Israelites out of Egypt they were on the move in the wilderness. Food and water was an issue. The people started to complain because things were getting tough for them in this area. So the Lord said that for six days of the week He would provide food for them with the manna in the mornings and the quail in the evenings. But only for six days because the Sabbath was still to be a day of rest.
[Read Exodus 16:22-26]
The Lord did this not only as a means of providing for His people, but as a way of testing their obedience to Him.
[Read Exodus 16:4]
You see, if the Lord says He will provide in a certain way, then we need to trust Him. The people needed to trust Him that six days of work was enough to provide for seven days in a week. I tell you what, this is a principle that we need to heed today. If we feel like we need to work ourselves to death to provide for our families, then maybe we aren’t trusting the Lord to provide for us.
[Mom and Dad working different schedules to provide story.]
So God is trying to get them to trust in Him. It shouldn’t have been that tough of a sell. After all, He had just provided deliverance from Egyptian slavery!
[Read Exodus 16:27-30.]
Well, it sounds like that for at least a while the people followed the Sabbath. They would gather food, or work, for six days and then they’d rest on the seventh. But it seems that this only lasted for a while as the people started to depend more on themselves instead of the Lord. So the Lord had to lay down the law. (Get it, lay down the law, the law, etc…)
[Read Exodus 20:8-11.]
The Lord tells the people that they will keep the Sabbath day to rest from their labors and to reflect on the Lord. If it was important to Him to have a Sabbath, it should be important to them to have a Sabbath.
- Principle: Rest and reflection
- Application: Seventh day of every week, no work, reflect on the Lord
But then a few centuries later a man came on the scene and everything changed. Jesus showed up and this Jewish teacher seemed to have a different take on the Sabbath. Now we’re going to call this application of the Sabbath the church-age Sabbath because the way Jesus looked at the Sabbath is the way we should look at the Sabbath. (Even though the church didn’t technically start until after Jesus’ resurrection. So, let’s look at the:
III. Church-age Sabbath
[Read Mark 2:23-28.]
Now this is a typical example of the Lord’s attitude towards the Sabbath. Yes, it was to be a day of rest. Yes, it was to be a day of reflection. But it wasn’t to be a day of legalistic observances to prove your self-righteousness. The Sabbath was for man – not man for the Sabbath.
The Pharisees had determined that man was obligated to keep the Sabbath in a ritualistic way instead of a heartfelt way. They had also added many rules and regulations as to how you were supposed to act on this day.
- Couldn’t travel more than 3,000 feet away from home
- Couldn’t rub gain in your hands to prepare to eat, (form of threshing)
- Couldn’t heal on the Sabbath unless it was life-threatening
[Ice cream man in Seventh day Adventist town story.]
You see, Jesus didn’t do away with the Sabbath. And He didn’t break any of the truly Mosaic rules for the Sabbath. But He wanted people to get back to the principles of what the Sabbath was for – rest from work and reflection on the Lord.
Many, many time in the New Testament you see the Apostles keeping the Sabbath in the sense of resting from work and worshipping the Lord.
- Principle: Rest and reflection
- Application: Seventh day of every week, no work, reflect on the Lord
Should we keep the Sabbath today? Yes we should. But not as some kind of legalistic ritual that earns favor with God. But as a time to rest from work and reflect on the Lord. I think your Sabbath can be any day that you set aside for that. But I do think it’s very important to do so. After all, don’t we trust the Lord that six days is enough work for anybody? Don’t we feel like we need to rest? Don’t we feel like we need to reflect on the Lord? Sure we do. So, set aside a day to rest and reflect on the Lord. Not because of legalism, but because of love.
Now Paul took this concept a little further as the Lord revealed to Him that the Sabbath wasn’t just to reflect on what the Lord had done, but on what the Lord would do in the future.
[Read Hebrews 4:1-11.]
The writer of Hebrews is drawing a parallel from the Israelites that looked forward to entering the promised land as entering into their rest. The promised land would be the reward or the rest for the obedient children of God. Now as we know, that rest didn’t come for many because they chose to not truly follow the Lord. Many didn’t enter into that rest. But the obedient ones, the true followers, entered into the promised land. They entered into their rest.
[Read Hebrews 4:8-9.]
For the true followers of the Lord there will be a final Sabbath. The:
IV. Eternal Sabbath
The Sabbath we have now during the church age is just a mere shadow of the eternal Sabbath to come.
[Read Colossians 2:16-17.]
The time we set aside to rest and reflect now is just a shadow of our eternal rest in Heaven. There will be a final rest. A place where we’ll cease from the works of the earth and be able to reflect on the Lord face-to-face! Oh what a Sabbath that will be! So our eternal salvation is very much a Sabbath from our earthly lives.
But also, I happen to believe that the eternal Sabbath will be very much like the Edanic Sabbath where it all started.
Remember, in the beginning, God took a Sabbath and set it aside to be a pattern for man to follow. Rule and work the earth for six days and then rest and reflect on Him.
In eternity, the Bible talks about us having responsibilities in the kingdom. In essence, we’ll be working as we rule and reign with the Lord. Will we still take off the seventh day to rest and reflect? I sure think so. So the principle and the purpose continues to stay the same.
- Principle: Rest and reflection
- Application: Seventh day of every week, no work, reflect on the Lord
Redeemed humanity, in its glorified, perfect state, will be facilitating life on earth, and worshipping the Lord face-to-face. Very much like in the Garden of Eden where the Sabbath Day all started.
So as you set aside time now on earth to rest. Use that time, that Sabbath to not only reflect on what the Lord has done in the world and in your life, but also reflect on what the Lord will do some day as the faithful will one day enter into their eternal rest, their eternal Sabbath!
