The Sabbath Takes on a New
Second Meaning of Redemption?
So as we have seen so far in Exodus 20:8-11 the Sabbath was
a reminder or commemoration of God’s work of creation. God is saying that we
should work six days and rest on the seventh. The reason is that He created the
world in six days and rested the seventh. God set an example for us right from
the start, an example He wants us to follow. The Sabbath is really an ordinance
of Creation. It came into existence before sin and it was instituted before the
cross of Christ was needed. So the original intention or meaning of the Sabbath
has to do with the fact that it was a sign of creation.
However everything changed when sin came into the world. The
Sabbath had a second additional function. The Sabbath took on new meaning when
sin entered the world. We can read about this in Deuteronomy 5:12-15. These
verses are just a repetition of the 4th commandment found in Exodus
20, but with an added new motivation clause,
or reason for keeping the Sabbath. This is the second or post-fall reason for
keeping the Sabbath. In this verse notice the motivation clause: “And remember
that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you
out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded
you to keep the Sabbath day.”
As you can now see by reading Deuteronomy 5:12-15 the reason
for keeping the Sabbath in this passage is not creation. It is redemption. The
sign of redemption from bondage was an annual feast instituted by God and
celebrated by the Jews, known as the Passover. This sacred ceremony pointed
forward to the liberation that would come through Jesus Christ. Because the God
who created is also the God who redeems, the fall of man brought about this
second or post-fall reason for keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a sign of
both Creation and redemption…..a sign not only of the Creator God, but of the
Redeemer God as well.
So to see this new sign/meaning of the Sabbath as redemption
lets look at John 5:45-46. In this passage Jesus is speaking to the Jews of His
day, saying, “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one
who accuses you….Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me.” Jesus was
saying to God’s people of that day that, “If you believe Moses and the writings
of Moses in the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy) you would believe in me, for Moses wrote all about
me.” In other words, “I am the central meaning and content of all the writings
of Moses. Moses was the writer, but I was the author.” The fact that Moses was
really writing about Jesus puts on a whole new light on Deuteronomy 8:3. Moses
tells us that the reason God gave Israel manna wasn’t just to provide them with
physical food. God’s primary intention was much deeper than that. There was
spiritual meaning in the manna, which pointed forward to Jesus Christ, a
meaning that Moses recognized when he wrote: “God gave the manna so you would
know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds
from the mouth of the Lord.” God gave Israel manna then to teach them that man
does not live by physical bread alone, but instead man should live by every
word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The manna really represented the word
of God, and God gave Israel the manna to teach them that if they were to
survive, they were to live by the word of God just as surely as they depended
on the manna provided by God in the wilderness. This is powerful and such an
example of the many redemption examples from the Bible that the Sabbath takes
on.
If you read Exodus 16 you will see that the bread did not
breed worms or stink on the Sabbath. This is also a redemption example and you
will see the connection with how it connects to Jesus’s death in just a bit. In
the week that Jesus died on the cross the Bible calls Friday the preparation
day. It was late on Friday and Jesus was hanging on the cross of Calvary, was
about to finish His work of redemption. He was about to finish providing the
means by which men and women could be delivered from slavery to sin, just as
Israel had been delivered from literal slavery to the Egyptians. What happened
in the Old Testament was literal, but when the fulfillment took place in the
New Testament it was spiritual. This is important to see and understand. In the
Old Testament we have the literal manna, literal rock, literal water, literal
taskmasters, literal passing through the Red Sea, and also the literal
deliverance. Each of these things pointed forward to what would be spiritual
realities in the future. Isn’t it beautiful how God paints the complete
picture!!
When God was done creating the world, the Bible tells us
that He “finished His works which He had created and made.” Similarly, when
Jesus died on the cross He said the words, “it is finished.” In the first case
the work of creation was complete. In the second case, it was the work of
redemption. So as Jesus was dieing on the cross it was late on the sixth day of
the week. Jesus finished His work of redemption late on the sixth day of the
week. The sun was about to set and you can read about that in John 19:30. After
being offered some sour wine, Jesus cried, “it is finished!” Then, bowing His
head, He gave up His spirit. So notice the order of days involved in this
series of events. It will help you understand why Sunday can’t be the seventh
day, it’s impossible for that to be the case. So many people are confused with
this. Sunday was the first day of the week, the day Jesus was resurrected on,
according to the creation by God, the Jewish calendar of today, as well as the
lunar calendar of today. Many people in Europe are confused more then others
because there calendars in many countries in Europe actually start on Monday. If
those calendars were correct, Sunday would be the seventh day, but that doesn’t
agree with the Holy Scripture of the Bible. In Luke 23:54-56 you can read that
Joseph of Arimethea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. He took the
body of Jesus down from the cross, wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a tomb
from rock, where no one had ever lain. Before the end of the day Jesus said,
“it is finished”. It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to
begin. They the women who was helping returned and prepared spices and fragrant
oils. The Bible says they rested on Sabbath according to the commandment. After
Jesus died late on Friday, and placed into the tomb Jesus was now resting on
the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week. Even in death Jesus rested
on the Sabbath and kept the commandment holy. Amazing!! We know this because in
Luke 24:1 we are told that Jesus was resurrected very early on the first day of
the week. On the seventh day, however He was resting in the grave. Jesus spoke
about His sacrifice in John 6:51, where Jesus said, “I am the living bread
which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live
forever. And the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for
the life of the world”. I have already mentioned that the manna which was
picked up on Friday in Exodus did not breed worms or stink on the Sabbath. When
Jesus rested in the tomb on the Sabbath day His flesh did not begin the process
of decomposing. His body was as fresh on the Sabbath as it had been on Friday
when He died. See the connection between the manna in Exodus and Jesus during
his death? Beautiful isn’t it!! Jesus was the living manna and living hope of
the world. Read Psalm 16:8-10 to see this. The Messiah would rest in the grave
with hope, and His body was not going to see decay or corruption. Both the
manna in Exodus and Jesus’s body represented the same thing in both the Old and
New Testaments and did the same thing. They were both fresh on the Sabbath.
Please remember that these facts don’t mean that when the
Israelites ate manna, or when we eat communion bread today that it is the
physical flesh of Jesus. No that’s wrong and not supported in the Bible. We
need to understand that Jesus’s flesh was simulated through these ceremonies. We
are not eating physical flesh, but rather consuming His living word. Remember
Jesus had to answer these questions himself while on earth. Read John 6:63. The people were basically
saying, “Oh He is trying to make us cannibals. We don’t want to eat His flesh.
That’s not only gross, but forbidden in the law of Moses”. But Jesus wasn't
saying to eat His physical flesh. He was saying that we could, and should
assimilate His flesh spiritually by
studying the Word of God.
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