0:13
So, I'm not sure I would personally want to reread that study. Um, I'm not sure I would agree with myself looking at it now. Um I think at the time we looked at it very much I looked at it very much as
0:23
as most evangelicals do and that is um how do they apply to us today and the one of the ones that is the most controversial in terms of how it applies
0:34
to us today is the fourth the um Sabbath. And and so we want to talk about that. But before we do that, I I want to kind of lay some groundwork
0:47
regarding what is known as the sacred. And we'll talk more about this next week when we talk about the land, the land of Israel and um the implications of the
1:00
promise and its fulfillment and then the exile and then how all of this was read as we've talked about many times how all of this was read by the writers of the New
1:14
Testament. And oftentimes the writers of the New Testament do not write like modern evangelicals. uh they they don't write about the land. They don't write about the Sabbath the
1:26
way many modern writers do. Uh and so I think there might be a problem but not with the writers of the New Testament. They they were inspired. So I think that
1:37
we may be we have may we may have missed the exit somewhere um in in terms of of these things that were so vitally critically important to Israel and to
1:48
the old covenant. As we look at how that moves into the new covenant, new covenant, I think we've made some assumptions that are are not borne out by the teachings
1:59
of the New Testament. Now, having said that, that means that that what I'm going to say will probably step on more toes than you actually have. Okay?
2:11
And and traditions um and some held very vehemently within the church. Um, and as I said last week when when asked point blank, you know, do you believe that we should observe
2:22
the Sabbath? My answer was no. Do not think we are obligated to observe the Sabbath. I also don't think that the Lord's day is the Sabbath or ever was meant to be the Sabbath. The Sabbath is
2:35
established as sacred time. And we're going to talk about that tonight. You can't take a word and apply it to something different and still
2:46
carry the meaning. And nowhere nowhere in the New Testament is the first day of the week ever referred to as the Sabbath. It's referred to as the Lord's
2:57
day. Okay? We've talked before, and this is more principial and hermeneutical. We've talked before about the tendency that we have in modern evangelicalism, especially reformed evangelicalism, to
3:10
try to find a replacement, a replacement for the Sabbath, of course, is the Lord's day. A replacement for circumcision is baptism, according
3:20
to some. A replacement um for the Passover is the Lord's supper. See, we have to replace things. That's also a hermeneutical principle that is not found in scripture. In other
3:32
words, no one in the New Testament says this now replaces that. Baptism now replaces circumcision. Passover now replaces I'm sorry, the Lord's supper
3:45
now replaces Passover. See, this is something we've developed as a hermeneutic and that's become a guiding principle by which we filter what we're reading and
3:58
this is how we interpret it. We interpret it according to our framework without often going back and examining the framework itself and finding that
4:08
it's not biblical. So if we run the Bible through a non-biblical framework, we're liable to come up with non-biblical conclusions. It's like running a light through a prism. We
4:19
don't we don't actually get out what went in. So I think that's very true with regard to the Sabbath. And I think that's borne out by the New Testament
4:30
treatment of the concept of Sabbath as well as the time Sabbaths that we refer that we read in in the New Testament.
4:41
But I want to speak about two well really one concept
4:55
the idea of the sacred. Now this is an idea that is uh prevalent in the in the ancient world not so much since the enlightenment of our modern era but the idea of the sacred is still kind of hold
5:09
sway in a lot of people's minds. If you take a for example, if you take a ostensibly Christian trip to the modern
5:21
state of Israel, where are you going? You're going to the Holy Land, right? You're going on a Holy Land tour. And
5:33
it's very much to to many people a pilgrimage. Now of course Roman Catholics add other places like Fatima and Lord you know the
5:45
places where they've seen Mary crying um and those are their pilgrimages and we say well we don't have pilgrimages as as Protestants but yet there are many uh
5:57
many who are helping to finance these holy land tours who are themselves Protestant. If you look it up you can get the Catholic version or you get the Protestant version. Okay? or you can
6:07
actually go on a Catholic one that that you can select a non-atholic itinerary. Anything for a dollar, anything for a shekele. Um, but the idea of sacred is
6:19
not entirely lost upon modern man, but it certainly doesn't hold the same influence that it did in the ancient world. And so what we're talking about here is not just Israel. It's it's a
6:29
concept that pervaded humanity for many, many millennia. And of course the sacred is that where God is. Whether it's a low lowercase G or our capital, whether it's
6:41
Yahweh, whether it's a Bal, whether it's uh any of the, you know, the pagan gods, the p the place where God is is the sacred. So the sense of of the
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psalm when it when the psalmist cries out, oh that you would bow the heavens and come down. You know, the idea of
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right there. That's the sacred. And we think first of all generally
7:33
of sacred space and we're going to talk about this in detail next week because ultimately to the old covenant people the supreme sacred space was the land
7:44
the promised land which remarkably if you think about it according to the biblical chronicles Israel possessed the land for roughly
7:55
40 years 40 years about the time that Solomon reigned. That was it. So out of 1500 years from Mount Si to uh
8:10
Golgtha, Israel possessed the fullness of the promise for about 40 years. That little promise is bearing a lot of weight and it still does today. both
8:25
Israelis. You do know the difference between an Israeli and an Israelite. An Israelite is a third less filling. Okay, that's a joke.
8:36
Israelite, of course, is what we call the ancient people of Israel. Today, we call them Israelis and that's what they call themselves. So, somebody somewhere made the distinction between the two.
8:48
Um, and it doesn't have to do with the calories. All right. So just as an example, this sacred space,
9:01
you remember Jacob's dream, the latter. And when he awoke, he built an altar and he said, "God is surely in this place
9:12
and I will name this place Bethl, the house of God." Okay. So sacred space is not what the church makes sacred. And it's not even where miracles happen
9:23
like Fatima or Lord or those places. Sacred space is where God touches the earth. And and that's really the vision. Now, of course, Jesus uses that with
9:35
Nathaniel and he says, "You're surprised that I saw you under the tree. What if you see the son of man ascending and descending and angels ascending and descending upon basically Jacob's
9:46
ladder, the point of contact between heaven and earth? was Jesus himself. He was claiming to be sacred space. Actually, he's a third category sacred
9:56
person and he's basically the only one. Um but the idea then is that sacred space, we we could say um the burning
10:08
bush in the wilderness or in the um Midian, take off the sandals from your seat for the ground on which you stand is holy. which is basically the same
10:20
thing as sacred. Uh it was a presence of God. Mount Si very vivid uh it is it is sacred space. Now it's it's interesting that that
10:32
these did not become the the local of where God made his name to dwell. Sinai actually doesn't factor much into subsequent history in
10:44
scripture. Once they leave Sinai, Sinai represents Torah, the law, but they don't go back to Sinai. Si doesn't become a pilgrimage site. U that
10:56
Jerusalem is going to become that. That's going to become the the holy city where God will cause his name to dwell. But but we could say Mount Si.
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And as we talked about in the Leviticus study, that sacred space is is going to become mobile in the tabernacle. Okay.
11:27
Now, does anybody know, and I'm not sure my my opinion is definitive, but why did it take so long
11:37
for the temple to be built in Jerusalem? Well, no, that's the sec that's actually the second one. That's the second one.
11:50
David had it on his heart to build the temple, but we're talking the the whole period of the judges, the reign of Saul and the reign of David. So quite a long time. I don't think the
12:01
judges were necessarily end on end. I think what you're looking at there is many contemporary because they were basically tribal. I'm glad for you to
12:12
disagree with me on that, but I don't know that we can take the numbers of the judges and figure out how many years because I do think some of them were uh overlapping but in different areas of Israel. Erin,
12:38
they were not. There was no There was no illustrative cause for a temple of stone. Yeah. And I don't think that needs to be an opinion because the scripture tells
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us in first Chronicles that it was in the reign of David that the that the territory of Israel stretched from the river Euphrates to the river of Egypt. That is exactly the
13:01
language of Genesis 15. Okay. The reason the temple couldn't be built earlier is because they did not have possession of the land. And in in many of the cases they did not have the
13:12
possession of the land because they were Oh, he will tell him where to build it. But but the timing
13:23
um you know it was going to be Jerusalem. Yes. Um but the timing of it is what I was wondering. Why did it take so long? I think it's be I I would say I agree with Aaron. It's because they were
13:34
not they were not they were still sojourners in a sense. they were still in the wilderness because they had not taken possession of the land which they were told to do and that if they didn't
13:45
do it the land would become a snare for them. By the time they actually took it, it had already become a snare to them and they didn't hold it long. They started losing it almost right away.
13:57
First thing they did was of course split off into two different kingdoms after Solomon's reign. So I I think that that the there's a sense of of sacred space, but also sacred space is correlated to
14:09
sacred time. sacred time. And that's something we don't really think about very often is this idea of sacred time. We don't think of time as
14:29
in terms of this what I just said. If you if you have any thoughts or objections, just try to hold them till next week because we're going to be talking more about that the sacred space and the land and what it meant and what it means and what it may mean in the
14:39
future. Okay? Because that's another one of those that we're not quite sure what to do with. We're not sure what to do with the state of Israel today. Is it in fact the fulfillment of prophecy or is
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it a political anomaly? You know, there there different ways of looking at it and we'll we'll spend some time talking about that next week. But what I want to, you know, sacred space,
15:02
does anybody really have a mental problem with sacred space, the idea of a particular place being
15:17
Well, yes. And and actually um most churches would call that room up there the sanctuary. the sanctuary. Yeah. Okay. Which is means it's the place that is sanctified. It's sacred space. And I'm sure you you know at some
15:28
point in time maybe not the younger among us, you know, but you you've been in a church where everybody's very quiet. When you go into the sanctuary,
15:38
you're you go in very reverently, which means no talking. No. We don't have that
15:50
particular space. No, just the concept. No, just the concept of it in general. It's it's it's it's a concept that I think seems to be somewhat ingrained in in the human psyche, but sacred time, not so much.
16:04
Um, mainly because we we really don't think of time as a created thing. We we we think of time. Time is not physical.
16:14
Time cannot be measured. Length, width, depth. Um so the dimensions that we are uh spatially aware of don't work for us
16:25
temporally. And and so you know if you ask the question, well question, well what happened before day one?
16:38
What was going on before creation? We we think in terms of time. We think of eternity. We tend to think of it as endless time stretching on without beginning and without end. But
16:50
it's still chronological. It's still sequential. So our our thinking of time doesn't really lend itself to the sacred because
17:02
we don't I don't know we don't really understand that time itself was created along with the rest of creation
17:12
that that God established the lights for the passing of the days the months the years the seasons time was actually
17:23
created. So when we go back and and I I think it's very significant. I'll put this up here a little bit separately. The Sabbath is is presented to us within the decalogue in two places. Exodus 20
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and Deuteronomy 5. The command itself is essentially the same. Six days you shall labor and on the seventh day you shall rest. But in
18:02
the justification or motivation of the commandment takes us back to Genesis. For the Lord rested from his work on the seventh day. seventh day. Deuteronomy 5 doesn't do that. again
18:13
proving it was a completely different source because it it needs to be identical in all respects in order to be the same author. That's the the silly modern
18:36
the reason given is because you were once slaves in Egypt. Now these are not two different sources. The first one points to the Sabbath
18:49
itself. The second one points to the manner in which it is to be observed. The first one is the reason it is to be observed. The second is the manner. And
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that means not only you rest but your sons and daughters, your servants and slaves, the alien who dwells with you and your livestock. Why? Because you
19:12
were once slaves in Egypt. In other words, you once had no control over your time. It was controlled by another. Now it's controlled by me, Yahweh. So, it's
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not two different sources. It's just dealing with two different aspects of the identical command. Does that make sense? You know, why the Sabbath? Well, because creation. Why everyone rest?
19:38
Because you were once slaves. Okay? So, exoggetically, we shouldn't be tripped up by the fact that there are two different like people call them versions. They're not versions. They're
19:50
the same, but one focuses on one aspect of it, the other focuses on the other aspect of it. And together, just like the rest of scripture, we have a comprehensive teaching. So, I want to
20:02
look at the first one. And and you know, I really have never thought of this until I actually read it in a article or a commentary. It was I think it was an
20:13
article, but I never I think it was a Jew. I think it was a rabbi. Um amazing what you can get from rabbis. Most of it you need to put back, but um this one's I thought this was pretty good. You
20:24
think about it. God didn't need a seventh day, did he?
20:35
He created a seventh day. There's nothing necessary about it. He was done, was done, right? I really never looked at it that way. That the seventh day is actually
20:46
created for itself. There was nothing in it but God resting. Now, we know that God wasn't tired, you know, and he didn't just create a
20:57
day in order to to sit around and chill. But I found it fascinating this just the thought that that seventh day was not
21:08
strictly necessary. strictly necessary. It's almost an addendum because there's nothing in it in terms of creation.
21:19
of creation. Creation happened in six days. We believe that. But then I've never really thought about the fact, okay, creation was in six days. Why the seventh? Well, for the only reason
21:30
that God rested. So, he created a day to rest. That's an actually incredibly important
22:06
Okay. All right. Yeah. Well, he absolutely doesn't need a day off, which makes it even more important that he created a day to be off. Okay. That's that that's not we don't we don't outthink God. We think a day
22:20
was not strictly necessary. And don't make don't misunderstand me when I say not strictly necessary. What I'm saying is he had already finished
22:32
the work of creation. Oh well, everything he everything he creates is for himself and his glory. Everything he creates is for his glory.
22:44
And the Sabbath is not created in Genesis 2 for us. Nowhere is the Sabbath mandated or even suggested for man in
22:58
Genesis 2. rest. No, he didn't. He rested, but he didn't tell us to rest. Not in Genesis 2.
23:11
Yeah. Well, we have to stay. No, we have to stay in Genesis because that's where we taken by Exodus. If if we're given we're given two explanations to justify the fourth commandment. One is creation.
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The other is Egypt. We have to go there. Not forward but backward. That's that's how we treat. You don't
23:34
don't I understand that we have a lot more revelation. I I'm going to go there. Okay. I'm going to go there. But we don't start there. I mean that's something I've been trying to teach for many many years. Don't start with the
23:47
accepted conclusions of today. Go with the scripture back. If the scripture in Exodus 20 takes us to Genesis to
23:57
creation, that's where we go. And we go to the passage itself and nowhere else. For now, please for now. I'm not I I
24:09
know what you're I think I know what you're thinking. you're thinking. And I think that for the most part, I agree with it. But I also think that there have been some errors that have
24:20
entered into the church because we start way down here with so much more revelation, but the text itself is actually taking us backward.
24:32
Does that make sense? We're just going with the text in Exodus 20, which says that on the seventh day, God rested. So when we go to that text, it it is
24:45
assumed that God intended Adam to observe the Sabbath. We must accept that that is an assumption for which there is no
24:58
evidence up until Mount Si. Is that fair? Again, I I told you I'm going to step on more toes than you have. So, please try to stay with me and and if possible not
25:11
be offended. I'm just going with the scripture. We do not have the Sabbath enjoined upon anybody until Exodus 20.
25:25
Now, that's not entirely true because in Exodus 16, the the um the Exod were told not to gather mana on the Sabbath.
25:36
Okay? So it it kind of shows up a little bit as a prequel before we get the actual fourth commandment in Exodus 20 that they were to gather twice as much on the preparation day and don't go out
25:48
looking for any mana on Saturday. They still did or they tried to keep it, you know, and either the Lord was angry or it rotted. So anyhow, that that was
25:58
before Sinai. But the actual statute of the Sabbath shows up in Exodus 20.
26:11
I personally believe that there was a pattern of worship. We see it for example in Job who after the seven-day period now it's this whole
26:22
seven-day period of his sons throwing a party every day. Job would end that cycle with prayer and sacrifice. Okay, we're told of of Cain and Abel
26:35
that after the passing of days, they brought an offering to the Lord. Okay, we're not told how many days passed. So I do think in the sense of sacred
26:49
time that God resting on the seventh day that he created in which to rest did indeed set a pattern that most likely the righteous would
27:04
follow. But were they commanded to follow? No. At least not explicitly. Not that we can say. And inference I don't think is good
27:15
enough here. Am I making sense? Okay. So I'm not saying that they did not know because he does say remember the Sabbath, right? He doesn't say oh by
27:28
the way here's the Sabbath. Let me explain it to you. No, he says remember it in Exodus and he says observe it or honor it in Deuteronomy. Okay. So yes, I
27:38
do think that concept remained as a as a vestigual memory in the minds of the righteous,
27:50
but it was not a commandment. And I think it's it's anacronistic and misleading to read the commandment of Exodus 20 back into Genesis 2.
28:03
Okay? And I also think that's an important concept because if it was observed while not being a commandment,
28:14
perhaps it is still to be observed while no longer being a commandment.
28:24
That make sense? Okay. All right. Now, that's just an introductory thought. Okay. Well, you know, just kind of a order. Um, but there is a period of time where the Sabbath is apparently it
28:37
exists because we're supposed to remember it. But we have no commandment for it to be observed or any manner in which it is observed. In other words, you shall not work. You shall not do any
28:47
work, nor shall your family, nor your servants, nor the alien who dwells with you. See the specificity of the commandment in ex in in the fourth commandment is is is chronologically at
29:16
Yeah. And that's this one. And that's very important because what we're dealing with here is and and I hope to get to it this evening. Um but what we're dealing with in the first case is
29:28
esqueological and the second is ecclesiological. The first is looking to the future by looking at the past. Scripture does that so much that when
29:40
when God rested on the seventh day, that was at the point where creation was very good. This was the pinnacle of
29:51
God's creation God's creation very shortly after it's all destroyed. Right? And so
30:01
And so the Sabbath day, the seventh day will become known both in rabbitic writings but also in the scripture as the Sabbath of the Lord.
30:18
And it becomes what God's people look forward to, God's rest. God's rest. and he swore in his wrath, they shall
30:29
not enter my rest. So, this is a bigger concept than Saturday or Sunday. Okay, that's where I'm headed. That we're talking about God who does not
30:40
need to rest. Resting, resting after accomplishing a perfect creation with which he was very pleased, but which shortly thereafter will be
30:52
seemingly irreparably corrupted. And I would submit to you that from that point on, we're moving back toward that
31:03
rest. And what will that rest be like? Well, freedom, equality, freedom, equality, uh freedom from economic bondage or
31:16
fear. And that gets even more when you consider the whole concept of the Sabbath because it wasn't just the seventh day. It was also the seventh year. and the 50th year and then the
31:28
high feast days of the ma of the main feasts. There were Sabbaths and they had a central theme and that theme was the um economic equality of
31:42
all God's people. Debts forgiven, bondage released. Okay, it's really remarkable. You'd think this wouldn't work in the capitalist country. Okay.
31:52
Uh, of course we never tried it and sadly neither did Israel. Um, because it was the 70 sabbatical years unobserved that added up to the 70 years of the
32:03
Babylonian exile. And God specifically says the land shall have its rest. You wouldn't give it every seven years. We're taking the whole lump in 70 and
32:14
you're kicked out. So it's obviously an important concept to God, but it's God's rest. Now I think it's very important what Jesus says that the that man was not made for the Sabbath but the Sabbath
32:25
for man. Man was not made after the seventh day. He was made on the sixth day. So the the Sabbath was was something that God made for man. But
32:36
fallen man could not live in the Sabbath. He could merely observe it. And even then he failed. the the the
32:47
observance of the Sabbath was probably never consistently practiced by any Jew. If if anyone would have done it, I would have said Boaz
32:57
because I think there was a man who probably let the rest the the land rest every seven years. That I'm just assuming that. I don't think we we know that. We don't know that explicitly, but he just seemed like the type of guy who
33:08
did it right. In fact, the only one in the Bible that we read of who seemed to do it right except Jesus. Um, no, Boaz was not Jesus, but he was a he was a
33:19
righteous man who obeyed God and God prospered him. So, the the the idea of sacrifice, I don't I don't sow, I don't reap, and yet God will provide for you
33:31
abundantly. It's also a a a huge recurring statement trust. But I think that the reason I say I
33:41
think that it was probably there in the in the minds of the antid-doluvians and I do think that Adam or uh Cain and Abel after the passing of days and Job
33:52
as we read in chapter one I do think those two are are at least elusive. They they they seem to indicate a pattern of days. I I can't remember who it was who
34:04
who said this. Um it's a contemporary writer and he called the Sabbath
34:21
You know, a cadence is a drum beat. Okay, it's what you march to. And and it's it does seem like especially it was moved from Sinai and then into the promised land that God intended the
34:31
whole concept of the Sabbath, the weekly, the every seven years, the year of Jubilee, that this was a cadence. Okay? And I think that's very important,
34:42
too. I do think that, and I can't be dogmatic on this because there's no scripture that says, but I do think there's a very good reason why that has transferred to the Lord's day.
34:54
And it remains a cadence. And I think that cadence is very important for a healthy life. I really do. I think the idea that we could just
35:05
treat any day like I know Paul says some men view all days the same, others view some se special. And I know that there are those who say, "Well, Paul couldn't have been talking about the Sabbath."
35:17
Why not? Because we don't think he could. It's the fourth commandment. Okay, we're reading into Paul. We're not reading Paul. Paul actually uses the word Sabbaths in Colossians. Okay, so I
35:29
mean we try to turn to the New Testament and find the, you know, the the Sabbath commandment. We can't find it in any explicit passage. And then we can't find any explicit passage that transfers the
35:40
Sabbath into the Lord's day. And yet there's a principle involved here. And that's why I said earlier that if this cadence of life that was exampled by God himself in creation becomes the cadence
35:53
of life for the righteous without the law. Could there not be a cadence of life for the righteous today without the law?
36:06
I think so. But I don't think it's a Sabbath. And I think there's a good reason why we're not Seventh Day Adventists. We're no longer celebrating the creation.
36:17
We're celebrating the new creation. Does that make sense? Yeah. We we to honor sat the Sabbath on Saturday is biblically correct and and and so
36:28
teologically wrong because that is the old creation, not the new one. The new one is Sunday, the day of Christ's
36:40
resurrection. If God had wanted Christ to rise on the Sabbath, he would have risen on Saturday. Okay. But that's Yes. Because what did he do on that day?
36:52
He said, "Let there be light." And Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4 that the the one who who spoke light into darkness has
37:02
now brought light into your hearts through which you have the knowledge of God through the face of Jesus Christ. That's like, yeah, that's it. That's the Lord's day.
37:29
So do it myself. It's all I'm saying. It's not commanded.
37:40
It's not commanded. H No, I didn't think you did either. I just want to make sure you understand what I'm saying. I do believe I do believe it's for us. I believe the Lord's day is for us, but I think it's
37:50
not just a replacement because it's the day of the new creation, not of the old. That's why I mean I've read some really good stuff from Seventh Day Adventist, but they sure have their calendar wrong
38:02
in my opinion. So, I'm not saying I actually do believe, but I have a hard time arguing time arguing in favor of it because I'm kind of like
38:12
what Paul said and that some men view every day the same and others view some days as special. And Paul does not adjudicate that
38:23
adjudicate that because I think just as it was before Sinai where men came to it apparently on their own this cadence of life. I think
38:35
so also in Christ we come to it on our own. But we come to it now by understanding what it all meant. And so what I'm saying is I don't think anybody
38:47
can stand in the pulpit and command a Lord's day observance schedule. This is what you may do and may not do on the
38:57
Sabbath. It's not the Sabbath, but that's what we call it. I don't see that you can do that. I think Paul takes that completely away from you in Romans 14, in Colossians 2. I think
39:10
it's completely taken away from you to to command or to to create a a particular ordinance within the church saying thou shalt. No, it's more like
39:22
thou wilt just as Abel did just as Job did and probably u Melkisedc. We we don't know that but I think the cadence
39:34
was there and I think it was patterned on creation because man was created in the image of God and much of pagan um practices actually do have a a kind of a
39:45
residual or vestigial um remnant of that original knowledge and I think that this is part of it although we don't find it in any pagan culture at all
39:57
command creation command creation and not command commanded. Now, that's my point. I think Paul makes it very clear in Galatians that the law
40:09
itself is the parentheses, not the church. It's not commanded. Now, there's no no way any, as I said last
40:22
week, if it is commanded, then it must be Saturday. We can't by some slight of hand turn the Sabbath into Sunday.
40:34
That's illegitimate. That's illegitimate. So if it's the Sabbath, let it be the Sabbath, but it's not commanded. And I and it and it's very important to realize that what Paul did in the in the
40:46
New Testament is he took down the three marks of distinction. This will be week 14, Lord willing. He took down the three marks of distinction that that visibly
40:58
made Jews different from Gentiles. He took down cir I better start with this
41:09
We're on film. He took down circumcision. Right. circumcision. Right. He took down dietary laws. He took down the Sabbath.
41:25
He did. He said some some people every day is the same. And don't be deceived by some who say you must observe Sabbaths. That's Colossians. Okay? Don't be led astray. So those three markers that that begin
41:38
at Sinai, at Sinai, okay? They begin at Sinai. They end at Golgtha. One mountain to another.
41:48
Okay. However, Lord, no, no, no, no, no, not at all.
42:26
Because we're we're to walk in maturity and not as children. And the wisdom of it. Yes. Exactly. What's the wisdom behind it? And frankly, I think some things, we
42:36
talked about this in Leviticus study. Um I I don't know that everything had a particular uh integral wisdom, particularly the dietary laws and the
42:46
idea of clean and unclean. Um we're we're the the people of Israel were clearly intended to be distinct from the other nations.
42:57
I believe the New Testament teaches that in Christ that distinction has gone away. I mean I think it's clear. He says there is no distinction between Jew and
43:08
Gentile, slave or free, male or female. That can only be sotiologically. So those markers of distinction are the
43:18
three things that Paul spends the most time in his letters tearing down. And the Sabbath is one of them. Okay.
43:29
However, the Sabbath goes back to Okay. So, the idea of God's rest continues.
43:41
That's where we get the writer of Hebrews. He goes into it in chapters he goes into quite a bit chapters three and four. But it's my rest. That's what's so important. He created an extra day to to
43:53
to illustrate to him to us him resting. A God who did not need to rest. Resting. And I do think he did it as an example.
44:05
And that's why I think that the pattern did continue even up to Sinai though it was never a command. And I think the pattern continues after Golgtha though
44:16
it is not a command. We don't need to be commanded if we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. And we have the word of God as a light unto our
44:27
path, a lamp unto our feet, or the other way around if I got it wrong again. We don't need the commands. But that doesn't mean that the righteousness, the
44:39
goodness, and the holiness of the law no longer exists. This is how Paul can say both. By the law shall no flesh be justified on the one hand, and on the
44:50
other, he can say the law is holy and righteous and good. He can say both without contradicting himself because it is no longer commanded. It's written on
45:01
our hearts. our hearts. So I think that pattern is written on our hearts. Now what we do see is the shift and that's something we won't be
45:11
able to get into because we're not really studying the Sabbath. We're studying sacred time. But there is a shift in the New Testament. the church clearly met on the days the day that Jesus met with his disciples, the day
45:24
that he rose. Okay? And and so I think that that's that is valid biblically that we shift to Sunday because of the resurrection. But I'm not sure I could
45:35
really um really um I I couldn't really quote chapter and verse, you know, except that the only two things in the New Testament
45:46
for which the possessive Lord's used are the Lord's day and the Lord's supper. Those are the only two places where that
45:57
particular form of curios is used in the New Testament. the Lord's day and the Lord's supper. I think that's significant. Okay. Um probably worth a
46:08
little bit more than I can give it tonight. Uh but let's let's let's look a little bit
46:26
Our major time milestones time milestones are linked to celestial phenomena phenomena. Right?
46:39
phenomena. Right? The day The day is the rotation of the earth around its axis. The month is the cycle of the moon from new to full to new. And the year is
46:51
the path of the earth in its orbit around the sun.
47:01
None of them are even numbers. And none of them are divisible by seven. That's the point. That's the point I'm making. And and and Israel, ancient Israel was the only known culture that
47:11
observed a 7 day week. Okay? No others did. Now, there are some who maintain the Babylonians did, but for the most part, that's never been confirmed. There's no archaeological
47:23
evidence that says the Babylonians, in fact, they say the Israelites borrowed it from the Babylonians. But no, there's actually no evidence that the Babylonians ever observed a seven day.
47:34
And if they did, they probably borrowed it from the Jews. So, look at the look at the um celestial
47:47
chronology. This is how we set time. Okay. So, we have the day. That's the Earth, right? The Earth's rotation. Well, it's what? Something like 24 point
47:59
um something, I don't know, three hours. It's not even. It's not 24. Okay. And then we have the month.
48:11
Well, of course, that's the moon's orbit and that's approximately 29.5
48:24
Okay, it's not divisible by seven. And of course, we have the year and these are
48:35
these are actually what we read in Genesis in the days of creation, this the the months and the years. Okay. Um the days, the months, and the years the Earth's orbit.
48:45
And that's what, something like 364.3 days. I don't know, something like that. Again, my point is it's not an even number. They they don't even out. You can't divide um if we had exactly 12
48:58
months, then we'd have 360 days, right? 12* 30. If if if a week was a quarter of a month, it wouldn't be seven days. That would be 28 days for the earth, the
49:10
moon to make its cycle, but it's 29 and a half. The point I'm trying to make is it seems like God purposely gave us celestial phenomenon that are
49:21
not divisible by a week. And even the week, as I said earlier, is kind of has an appendix day seven.
49:33
day seven. So seven is obviously that that was something God had ordained. God created the week. The week and the Sabbath go together and they begin with God. So the
49:46
the concept of the Sabbath is not one of commanded obedience. commanded obedience. It's more one of filial imitation.
49:56
And it's if if we think of it as a continued command, then I think we miss its meaning and its purpose, which still exists for us
50:08
even though the commandment no longer does. Now, I keep saying that and I know that probably uh like fingernails on a blackboard for those of you who remember what a blackboard is. Um when I say it's
50:20
not commanded and I I know that that was um that was something that I had to wrestle with as as well as I think many others and that is that we we are not commanded
50:31
to observe the Sabbath. But that does not mean that the sabbatical principle of God's rest does not remain. In fact the writer of Hebrews says not only have we entered it
50:43
but it yet remains to enter. So he seems to have cut through the fog and found the underlying meaning of the
51:08
I don't think we're commanded on any of them. Nowhere are we commanded. We're exhorted, you know.
51:21
Right. In fact, even even the fifth commandment um Paul actually seems to give us a caveat. Honor your father and mother mother in the Lord.
51:32
the Lord. You know, it's this is not no certainly we're not allowed to murder. We're not allowed to have other gods. We're not allowed to take the Lord's name in vain. But what I'm trying to
51:43
point out is that it's not because these are commandments. are commandments. It's because these are written on our hearts. We we got to make that transition unless we want to try to be old covenant Christians. That's an
51:55
interesting phrase. We'll put that up there. I like that. I think I know some of these. In fact, I know I know some of
52:11
Think about that. Is that possible? Yeah, they stay in the desert when the cloud moves on. Yeah, but have you I
52:24
don't know, maybe some of you are old covenant Christians or have been old covenant Christians. covenant Christians. But what was the fundamental promise of the new covenant?
52:35
I will write my law upon your hearts. I will take out of you your heart of stone and give to you a heart of flesh so that you will what? Be happy and prosperous
52:48
so that you will obey my commands, statutes, and ordinances. So that you I will circumcise your heart so that you may love me with all your heart.
53:01
That's the new covenant. So if if we don't make that transition, if we still have to have it commanded, then we are old covenant Christians and that is an oxymoron.
53:13
Okay? I I think that's that's what we're dealing with here. And and it's it's really um it's really important to the whole concept of biblical theology
53:24
because as I think Aaron, your illusion is absolutely accurate. We must move with the cloud. Now, I've said this many times before, but it's widely believed
53:34
in our culture and spewed by our that Muslims and Jews and Christians worship the same God.
53:45
That is a lie from the pit of hell. Now, I added Jews there because there are many evangelists who think that Jews and Christians worship the same God.
53:56
No, they don't. The cloud has moved. Israel's stayed in the wilderness. Okay? The the God of modern Judaism is not the
54:09
God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ because the Lord Jesus Christ is not their God. their God. They they worship a false god. I know
54:19
that that upsets the sensibilities of many conservative Christians, but it's true. You must worship God according to the latest revelation.
54:30
And the latest revelation is not Muhammad, but it's also not the God of Abraham. It's the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Jesus, the father of Jesus
54:42
Christ. Okay? And to to you know that I think that's exactly right. If you're an old covenant Christian, the cloud has moved and you're still trying to stay in the wilderness. So, I'm going to
54:54
maintain that and and continue to upset people, but we don't need the commandment, but that does not mean that the law refu uh no longer is holy and righteous and
55:05
good. We don't need the Sabbath, but that does not mean we don't need the cadence, the seven-day cadence, and we do need God's rest,
55:17
which we have entered. All who believe in Jesus Christ, the writer of Hebrews says in chapter 4, have entered that rest. And yet he says later in the same chapter, there remains a Sabbath rest to
55:29
enter. That's the now and the not yet. But it speaks of the Sabbath as fulfilled. It speaks of the true Sabbath as
55:40
inaugurated. It is here in Christ. It's not a day anymore. It's a it's a way of life. Okay. So I I agree with this. I do think
55:53
that as long as this earth remains, it is good and solid to have this cadence. And I think that Christians who
56:03
u who reject that and treat and do whatever they want on all days, I can't command them not to. And I might say as Paul said, all things
56:15
are permissible, but not all things are profitable. Yeah, you you have the right to go golfing or whatever you do on Sunday.
56:25
You have the right to do that. Not doing you any good. Might be doing you harm because you're not you're not following the Lord's own cadence. Okay? But it's
56:36
not commanded. I can't I can't biblically tell anybody what to do on a Sunday. I can't even tell them to go to church.
56:51
Does that make sense? Do I can I say that they ought to? Yeah, I can say that they ought to. Can I Can I say that they ought to want to? Yeah, I can say that. But can I say they must?
57:02
That's not in my purview. That's the Holy Spirit. And I think again Paul just really is uh stunningly ambivalent on a
57:12
lot of things, you know, as far as what should or should not be done because I really think he believed that it's the Holy Spirit who will guide everybody into tr into the truth and it is the Holy Spirit
57:24
that will sanctify and bring to perfection what the Lord has started within us. And I think that means the concept of the Sabbath. So let's let's take a look. Any questions, comments?
57:49
because it's created. It's not something that we we can associate with any celestial uh phenomenon that we we can't say that the seven doesn't correspond to
57:59
anything the way our other major time markers do. Oh, yeah. Let's say the the lunar cycle was 28 days. I don't know how you would
58:11
get that a quarter is so sacred. Okay. In fact, I've read one rabbi who said that, okay, you you divide the month in half and then you divide it in half again. Why? I mean, why why do Because you're
58:24
because you're a rabbi. That's just what you do. Is that what you do with your pizza? I mean, why are you saying that? And he's just saying it with just verbic authority like oh you divide it in half
58:35
and then divide it in half again. What are you making origami? You know and but if you do that you don't get seven days. That's my my point is it doesn't factor. And that's always kind of fascinated me
58:46
is the seven-day week just it's it's not present in antiquity in any other culture than Israel. The seventh day was not strictly
58:56
necessary. So clearly it was created to teach us a lesson. And I believe it was created to point us esqueologically to the consummation which even the
59:07
rabbis say that in the age to come every day will be Shabbat. They understood that in the age to come every day would be Sabbath.
59:30
Right. That worked real well. Yeah. It is It is the seventh day is and and it's also very significant that uh as the church
59:41
became more gentile, the church maintained the 7 day week. It did not shift to the normal Greco Roman which I think was 10 days or
59:54
actually they was like 15. They had the ides and the khalins. I mean they had their they had their time too. But as the church very quickly became
1:00:04
predominantly gentile, it retained the Jewish cadence. Jewish cadence. I think there's a reason because the idea of the Sabbath rest, the rest, God's rest was always a part of God's
1:00:17
plan. What he did in the beginning, he was going to redo at the end. Okay? And and when we get to the new Jerusalem in in Revelation 20 21 and 22, there's no
1:00:30
moon, there's no sun. In in other words, we go back to Genesis 1 and we find out that the markers that set apart time aren't in the new
1:00:44
creation. So it's like time will itself be different then. Okay. So that's it's like everything the six days will be completely redone in a moment and
1:00:54
everything will be the seventh day. That's that's the Sabbath. I don't think you can capture that by arguing whether it should be Saturday or Sunday or whether you should go to the grocery
1:01:05
store. You know, I don't think that's I think you're missing the point alto together. Um and and so let's let's continue a little bit with the second one. Um and that is Deuteronomy 5. Okay.
1:01:19
So here we're talking about creation. Um but now I want to talk about um actually this should have said time not space because I had already written
1:01:50
and I really wasn't planning on doing that. I was planning on doing a completely different topic on an actual reformer who I thought was very ecumenical and tolerant and very quickly learned that
1:02:02
he was no more tolerant than any of the rest of them. So I shifted topics and economics has always fascinated me. There's a lot of people who don't believe there's much to say in the Bible about economics. Uh when we get into the
1:02:15
holiness code in Leviticus, we're going to see there's a lot to be said about economics. Economics has always been um something that every single human being
1:02:25
participates in. We're all economic beings. We all buy and sell or we're bought and sold for or bought and sold. So the idea of the economy is not
1:02:36
something that just the economists deal with. It's something that we all deal with every single day. to think that God has something to say to that. We normally think, well, you know, God's obviously a capitalist.
1:02:49
Um, actually, if we look at the Old Testament and the paradigm of Israel, we find some really remarkable things that if if a culture were to actually
1:03:00
put into practice would radically redistribute wealth on a regular basis. And it's wrapped up in the Sabbath in
1:03:11
the idea of liberty, the idea of freedom from bondage, which means it's wrapped up in the whole concept of redemption and Exodus. So in Deuteronomy 5, when he
1:03:22
says, "You were slaves in Egypt." That's just not a that's not just a historical marker. As I said earlier, he's explaining why you are to observe the Sabbath in this manner that no one
1:03:35
associated with you, including your animals, is to do any work. Now, we know that there were exceptions. Jesus mentions that there are
1:03:45
exceptions. The Old Testament has case law to mention the exceptions. My in-laws were dairy farmers. cannot imagine the bellowing of those creatures
1:03:57
if they were not milked for an entire day. Okay. Um I don't know maybe that was different back then. They could hold it for two days but they could hold it hardly hold it an hour it seemed um
1:04:08
before they were belly aching to to be milked. So yeah there there are exceptions but the rule still stood and it was founded in their freedom from bondage. So what we're looking at here
1:04:42
It was a reset button. Now, if it had just been the Sabbath day, we could have said, "Oh, you know what? Everybody needs a rest." Now, I've heard that physically we need to rest every seven days. I need to rest more often than that, but
1:04:56
but that have you ever heard that? I mean, it's it's for our physical well-being. That's kind of like the treating the dietary laws as if there's some medical reason why you don't eat pork, okay, rather than just cook it
1:05:07
well. Um, well. Um, but what about the sabbatical year? What does that have to do? Do do we need to rest a full year after working six?
1:05:24
Oh, no. That's for the land. The land replenishes itself. See, there's always these these natural explanations as to why God gave us these these laws. And there there's no horicultural reason why the land needs to rest every seven
1:05:35
years, not every eight years or five years. Depends on what you're growing on the land. If you're growing cotton, you can deplete that in three years. Okay. If you're growing legumes, you're
1:05:46
replenishing. Is that right? You're replenishing it. Okay. I gotta check, you know. Um I don't eat beans or legumes. So,
1:05:57
uh but you know what I'm saying? And now we have fertilizer. So, obviously, we don't need the sabbatical year because we can do the artificial replenishing. What about the year of Jubilee when all debts are canceled?
1:06:09
in in in the sabbatical year, slaves are freed, land is resting, the year of Jubilee, everything's canceled. The boundary markers go back to the original. It's like Bill Gates gives up
1:06:25
And what kind of a world do we have otherwise? Well, it's the world we've always had, and that is a world of the halves and the have nots. And the halves are always in the distinct minority, and the have nots are the majority. And that's the reality of an of a non-
1:06:38
godlike earth. Okay. And and so God is God interested in the land? Yeah, we'll talk about that next week. Yes, he's very much interested in the land in as
1:06:49
much as the land is groaning, the earth is groaning for the redemption, its own redemption through the revelation of the sons of God. Romans 8. So, we can't dismiss the land as being important,
1:07:01
which makes us perhaps um environmentalists. You know, I wonder what it would be like if we actually put into practice the sabbatical years if we all took a year
1:07:13
off every seven. I think they do that in France. But, um what would it be? I we just can't even imagine that, can we? Well, apparently the Israelites couldn't either because
1:07:25
they didn't do it. I don't know that there's any I think if you if you figure the the dates it's pretty much 490 years uh that they it sounds pretty much like
1:07:36
they consecutively missed 70 sbatical years and God was keeping tabs. Okay. So that's how it reads to me. So they they didn't obey it and I doubt they obeyed
1:07:48
the year of Jubilee. Um, if they're not going to obey, you know, if they're not going to obey the sabbatical year, I can't imagine they're not only going to let the year, the land rest, but they're going to free all their slaves and return all the property
1:08:00
that they've accumulated that the prophets have have exorciated them for for adding land upon land. No. Okay. Every 50 years, you give it all back.
1:08:10
No, we're not going to do that. What would it have been like? Would it have been like the new earth? That's what it be like. be like. Yeah. What is it going to be like in the new earth? Will we work?
1:08:21
Well, I think we will because that was something we were put here to do, to tend and keep. We were not put here to be idle. Okay. Now, we won't bring forth
1:08:34
weeds when we sew. And I'm not even sure we'll all be farmers. Kind of hope not. Um I think it's kind of an interesting concept. What will work be like? What would it be like with everything works
1:08:47
correctly? What do we from my perspective? What will it be like if every wall is plum at every floor level? I don't know. Sometimes it seems like it would lose its charm, you know,
1:08:57
certainly lose its stress. It will be very much like rest. Yes. It was not labor to Adam until he fell. It was not by the sweat of his brow that he
1:09:09
would bring forth food. It was rest. It would be like God's labor which was not exhausting,
1:09:20
not exhausting, you know, it was a joy. Yeah. It was something he could turn and say, "This is very good." That that's what it would be like. And that's really a beautiful picture. And so there are two aspects, I
1:09:31
think, that the Sabbath reminds us of. That's what I'm trying to point out is that we're not commanded to observe the Sabbath, but we're reminded of God's rest. And so it's esqueological,
1:09:45
but it's also social, civil. It it deals with God himself resting, but also deals with what we have been brought out of,
1:09:56
and that is bondage. So if Israel is a paradigm of the church, which I believe that it is,
1:10:08
it seems that the whole concept of God's rest is is powerfully present in the church age. And again, that's what the writer
1:10:19
of Hebrews says. Let's go to what to him um and and read both chapter in chapter 3 and chapter 4 because we've talked
1:10:30
about that generation in the wilderness and how unique that generation was in its rebellion. But it especially God's response. Remember that generation did
1:10:41
not circumcise its children. It was if as if that generation's own circumcision became uncircumcision. And God said of them, and he quotes this several times.
1:10:53
Um he said, "He swore in his wrath, they shall not enter my rest." Okay. Um and
1:11:06
therefore, starting in chapter 4 verse one, therefore let us fear when a promise remains of entering his rest, his rest that anyone, lest anyone should seem to have come short of it. For
1:11:16
indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they had also. But the word that they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have
1:11:29
believed enter that rest, just as he said, as I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Although his works
1:11:40
were finished from the foundation of the world. So the whole emphasis is not on the Sabbath day, it's on God's rest. Okay? So to to to put it on a Sabbath
1:11:52
day, even if it's the first day of the week, is to miss the point. And that is that if the law is written on our hearts, then the Sabbath is every
1:12:06
day. Now again, Now again, the fullness of that awaits the consummation. But I don't think there's any enjoyment of what is promised.
1:12:17
If we don't know what's been promised, if we don't meditate on what's been promised, we can't enjoy any of it now. But everything that has been promised to
1:12:28
us and secured for us by the Lord is present in us by the Holy Spirit.
1:12:39
Is that fair? Which means we have the ability by the power of the Holy Spirit to enjoy at least some measure of the
1:13:19
did nothing. You did nothing. It was a It became a
1:13:30
bondage. Yeah. Bondage. Yeah. Bondage. Yeah. Yeah. Now, I I the notes will talk about Isaiah 58 that if if you will call my Sabbath a delight,
1:13:40
the Lord's day, the the the day of God, a a a joy. Um so clearly, it's kind of like the book of Revelation that was written for our encouragement. How many
1:13:51
commentaries have you read on the book of Revelation that we're encouraging? Okay. So, obviously, we're not handling it correctly if if we're not and I think the Sabbath is the same thing. Whether you observe Saturday or Sunday, you
1:14:04
know, I do have an opinion. Uh if you observe no day at all, I have an opinion. Yeah, I definitely do. I think the opinion I I feel like Paul in in that not I not the Lord, but I do think
1:14:15
I have the mind of Christ. You know, I I think that we see throughout the scripture, that's what's important from Genesis, at least through Hebrews and on into Revelation definitely, but we see this
1:14:27
principle of God's rest. And that rest was established when the world was perfect. And that rest will be perfected when the world is renewed.
1:14:39
But we live in the now and not yet. So the writer of Hebrews can say both those who have believed have entered his rest.
1:15:08
Yeah. How do we, you know, how do we get that thought across and deep into our minds? We have entered that rest. And yet in the same chapter he goes on in in verse 9 to say there yet remains.
1:15:33
Yes. Uh yes it it I think it can go. It's it's wish Josiah was here. Um
1:15:45
the I'm not I'm not sure that that's not a participle. Uh and Uh and in Greek the participle al often absorbs
1:15:55
the verbal force. So enter are entering or have entered. I'd have, you know,
1:16:06
it's it I think it's saying basically the same thing because it's saying we who have believed that indicates that the believing is the entering. Okay? And
1:16:17
yet we all know that with the fullness of our of our salvation that it's not complete, right? We know that there yet remains a consummation when death itself
1:16:28
will be done away, will be conquered. I mean, it has been conquered, but will be done away. So, we still do physically die. we get sick, we're depressed, we're anxious, we're fearful. All of these
1:16:40
things are are in congruous with our identity as a new creation in Christ. I'm saying that the Sabbath rest is the same way. It belongs to us now and yet
1:16:51
it remains for us. And and so the reason we don't have these things now in large measure is because really don't understand that they're ours
1:17:02
that that they have been fulfilled for us in Christ. And so that we we don't have to wait until the millennium. Okay? We don't have to wait until the new earth to begin to enjoy the Sabbath,
1:17:15
God's rest. And it's not Sunday. It's it's every day. It's it's more now a way of life. It's a way of thinking
1:17:27
that displaces even the the chronological way that we think. I don't know that know that Are we are we not to think about things the same way Monday through Saturday as
1:17:39
we do on Sunday? Is Sunday somehow? Yes. Yeah. I I don't I think Sunday is a very convenient and proper day for the
1:17:50
church to assemble and to worship the risen Lord. I think that's what we do. That's why we do it. That's what the early church did. But I really think what we have also done is we've we've
1:18:02
kind of created Sunday as as you were saying, we've created it as somehow a different day than the other six. And and I think we've all experienced
1:18:12
this and we've all heard it and that is, you know, you're Sunday Christian and Monday you're something else, Monday businessman or whatever. That's not right. That's actually lip
1:18:23
service. That's honoring God with your lips and not your heart. If the law is written on our hearts, then every day is Sabbath. Every day is God's rest.
1:18:36
So, it's it's a lot bigger than just the argument. Uh and and really, it's really hard to find um this in in much writing today that again, everybody seems to
1:18:46
want to go back. Uh in fact, I have a whole compendium of essays trying to prove that the early church shifted from Sabbath to to the Lord's day. That wasn't hard.
1:19:07
Yeah, it is. It is. That's exactly right. It is part of our essence. That's 2 Corinthians 5. All things have passed away. Behold, all things are new. If any man be in Christ, again, Paul's grammar,
1:19:17
if any man be in Christ, new creation. There's no no pronoun and there's no verb. It's just if any man be in Christ, new creation.
1:19:28
new creation. And and this is all part of it. New creation. Well, what was the Sabbath? It was it was the apex of creation, right? It was not a day of creation. It
1:19:39
was a created day of rest. And so when he says a new creation, that's part of it. We don't need a commandment. That's what I'm trying to
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say. We don't need a commandment. In fact, if we need a commandment, maybe we really don't understand any of this. If we need to be told to do these things, do we really have the Holy Spirit in our
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heart? If we need to be told these things, do we have the law written on our heart? Okay? Because we're we read in Jeremiah 31 that that no man will
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need to teach his brother, saying, "Know the Lord, for all will know me from the greatest to the least." That's the new covenant. And and that's what the Sabbath
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represents in a biblical theological view. Okay? When we look at it from the point at which it was commanded at Sinai and then reiterated on the plains of
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Moab, but it refers immediately back to the creative and redemptive acts of God, Genesis and Exodus, right? And so
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we go back before we go forward because going back establishes the esqueological and the ecclesiological.
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This is the way Israel as the paradigm of God's grace. This is how they were to live. They were to work six days and on the seventh day everybody rested.
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And in the seventh year, nobody plowed the fields. Okay, this was a pattern that they that that indicated it it was
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uh it was a model like the tabernacle, which we've already seen. The tabernacle was the pattern of the heavenly, right? You know, so as they looked at the tabernacle, what they were supposed to
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see was the heavenly sanctuary according to which pattern Moses made the tabernacle. when they lived the Sabbath, they were to look at the creation in its
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perfection. And as we get into the prophets, especially Isaiah, we see that that perfection and that Sabbath pointed forward to the perfection that would be
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in the new age. Again, as the rabbi said, where every day is Shabbat. Okay, think about that. That that's such a peaceful concept to me is that every day
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is Sabbath. is Sabbath. Now, again, the rabbis messed up the Sabbath, too. Um, so what we're what I'm advocating here then
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when I say it's not a command really. Um, really. Um, there are no commands.
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And I know that that that sounds terrible. You do what you want. Well, what does Paul say? Let grace abound. That's, you know, let sin abound that grace may abound more. Right? That's what they would you would say against Paul and he'd say,
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"May it never be." How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you really need a commandment not to sin? Do you need a commandment to live
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according to the cadence of God's creation? Do you need a commandment to meditate on the new heaven and the new earth that is promised in Genesis?
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No, it doesn't need to be a commandment. In fact, I would submit to you it's far more powerful otherwise. Let's close in prayer.
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Father, we do thank you for the Sabbath knowing that it was not strictly necessary. You did not need to do anything in it and you did not need to rest. And yet, you created the Sabbath,
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day of perfection, to show us what the consummation would be like. that it would be a a time of constant rest with activity
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with equality. with equality. Can't even imagine. And we do look forward to it and ask that that you would bring these meditations into our life now that we would learn how to
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think sabbatically, that we would how to live sabbatically. We ask that you would bless this lesson in your word. For we ask in Jesus name. Amen.
