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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Finding
A Sabbath Rest While being raised in
1950's and 1960's Evangelical Christianity I was taught that Sunday was
the Sabbath, the day of rest. So
there were no trips to the grocery store, no dinning out at a restaurant,
no playing outside, and no stressful activities.
My sister and I played quietly on the living room floor.
Dad and mom took their traditional Sunday afternoon nap that was
sandwiched between our morning and evening service.
It was all because of Genesis 2:2. "By the seventh day
God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested
from all his work." If God rested on the
seventh day, and if the Jews of old were told to do the same, then we as
New Testament Christians must rest each Sunday, despite Sunday not being
the seventh day. Switching
days like this would have violated the Sabbath law and thus the entire
Law (James 2:10). I guess we
missed that one back then. Over the last several
years I've slowly departed from my youthful Evangelical understanding
about the creation account of Genesis.
This is due to ongoing research of the Hebrew language and the
ancient near-eastern culture in which the Genesis account is situated.
It includes how those cultures understood the gods or God resting.
Concerning the cultural
concepts of creation throughout the pre-Abrahamic, ancient Near East, a god resting was not equated with relaxing.
A god rested when he ruled from a place of authority once the
creative process was finished. From
such information I presently believe, as many Biblical scholars do, that God did not take a
nap on the seventh day. Instead,
He began to rule from His place of authority where He invited humans to
administer His creation (Genesis 1:28).
As Sabbath rest applies
to me as a Christian, my thinking is based on Hebrews 4:1 through 11.
This passage states that becoming a true believer means all my
human attempts to find God were failures.
I could now rest in a new-found relationship with the Creator God,
which has nothing to do with a special day. All days are special.
In New Testament terms,
God's Sabbath rest is all about forsaking the fight, the struggles or the
attempts to work our way to God on our human terms, although giving up the
fight is a struggle for many.
Once realizing all of our human attempts to find God will fail, we
turn away from them and hand our lives over to the Lord Jesus.
Only then will we find our Sabbath rest, a restful relationship
with God where we help administer His will on earth through the power of
His Spirit within us. It's the meaning of the New Testament Sabbath rest.
Postscript Most western-world
Christians no longer hold to the Sabbath rest I experienced in my youth,
but sadly, this change is not based on a better understanding of the
Bible. Like many changes in
church, such changes are concessions to outside influences and
not Scripture.
Scripture
References James 2:10 "For whoever keeps
the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all
of it." Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them
and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth
and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and
over every living creature that moves on the ground." Hebrews 4:1 - 13 "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, They shall never enter my rest.' And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: 'On the seventh day God rested from all his works.' 5 And again in the passage above he says, 'They shall never enter my rest.' 6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it 'Today.' This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
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