As one of my mentors, the late Bob Hoops, declared, the weekly Sabbath is a miniature or foretaste of the annual Sabbath - the Feast of Tabernacles, which is itself a miniature or foretaste to the Kingdom of God in the wonderful world tomorrow, ushering in the New Heavens and New Earth. The Millennium, symbolized by the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles depicts a sanctified thousand years when the world will be at peace, resting from the horrible abuse and mis-governance it had endured for 6,000 years on mankind's tyrannical and irresponsible misrule. Before that Millennium arrives, God's called-out ones, by faithfully honoring God's weekly and annual Sabbaths, are promised much needed tranquil rest and spiritual reinvigoration for our lengthy and arduous spiritual journey.
In this sermon, Richard made two illuminating points (a long-ranged point and a short-ranged point) about our striving to enter God's rest, as referenced in Hebrews 4:1-11, one of our lead-off scriptures.
The long-ranged point is that we need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom of God. That is the rest we are looking for. That is when God will cease from His spiritual labors, when we have come into His rest in the Kingdom.
The short-ranged point is in verse 9 of Hebrews 4: There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. That word rest is sabbatismos - the Sabbath rest. In fact, there is another translation that says: We must therefore keep the Sabbath as the people of God.
But the point I am getting at is that the Sabbath is a type of God's rest. Richard continues, We have a weekly, twenty-four-hour period of time when we can be still. God gives us one day in seven as an opportunity to be still and come to know Him. That is one of the reasons we have the Sabbath day. People of God need this one day - to pull out of the world, to take it easy, to get out of the rat race, and to get into communion with God. We need to use this time, on the Sabbath day: to get into the right attitude, to see godly reasoning, to receive instruction, to see God at work, and to get to know Him.
We need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom of God. That is the rest we are looking for. That is when God will cease from His spiritual labors, when we have come into His rest in the Kingdom.
There remains a rest for the people of God. That word rest is sabbatismos, the Sabbath rest. The Sabbath is a type of God's rest.
We have a weekly, twenty-four hour period of time when we can be still. God gives us one day in seven as an opportunity to be still and come to know Him. That is one of the reasons that we have the Sabbath day.
People of God need this one day to pull out of the world, to take it easy, to get out of the rat race, and to get into communion with God. We need to use this time, on the Sabbath day, to get into the right attitude, to see godly reasoning, to receive instruction, to see God at work, and to get to know Him. We have the Sabbath day to be still, but it is not just limited to the Sabbath day.
Those of us who are lucky find time during the week and during the year when we can be still. This time of the year is one when we need it the most, to be still before the Passover to get our minds in the right attitude and get the right instruction so that we are in the proper way of thinking for the Passover and the holy days. It is not restricted just to now.
Also before Trumpets and Atonement, and the Feast, is another time when it would be good for us to find a time of stillness. Any time when we are in need of self-evaluation is a time when it is best to be still.
The Sabbath looks forward to a future rest. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He entered His rest. Christ was resurrected on the Sabbath, when the wavesheaf was cut. These events tie together. By a resurrection from the dead, we inherit and fully enter the Kingdom of God, which we could call the World Tomorrow.
