#DailyDevotion Have You Entered The Sabbath Rest Of God?

Easter Week 2 Friday

Read Ex 31:1–18

Exo 31:13  “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you…17  It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'”

The Sabbath day was more than just a day of rest. It was a sign. A sign of what? That the Israelites were a peculiar people. They were God’s people and they were to do what the Lord himself did as they lived out their lives. The Lord rested on the seventh day and set that day apart as holy for the Israelites. It proclaimed the Lord was the true God who made the heavens and the earth. There were no other creator gods out there. So resting on the Sabbath showed and professed the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was the one true God.

Now what about we Christians? Why don’t we observe the Sabbath day? Because in Christ, we have entered the eternal Sabbath day. In Genesis, you will note, there was no end to the seventh day. All the other days ended with, “There was evening and there was morning” but not the seventh day. Jesus is our Sabbath. The book of Hebrews goes much further into this in chapter four. For now we have this, Heb 4:1  Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it…3 For we who have believed enter that rest…” Through faith we have entered God’s rest.

Now St. Paul also tells us, Rom 14:5 “One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.  (6)  The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord.” Now the one who esteems all days alike treat every day as holy and other observe days set apart for holiness. We should not judge one another based on holy days. But it might be observed since the times of the apostles the Church has set apart Sunday, the day of our Lord’s resurrection as a day to gather, rest, hear God’s Word and receive his gifts. We could choose another day or days in Christian freedom. Indeed, it appears Wednesday has become a day for the gathering of God’s people over time, at least here in the States. We are free to do that. The thing is we still separate ourselves from the rest of the world to worship the one true God and to receive from him rest from all our works.

Heavenly Father, ever grant us such faith in your Son Jesus Christ, that we may be found worthy to enter into your rest and find refreshment at your right hand to sustain us as your holy, peculiar people until such time as we experience your Sabbath fully on the day of the Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.