Moses came before the people of Israel and made this proclamation: “You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day must be a Sabbath day of complete rest, a holy day dedicated to the Lord. Anyone who works on that day must be put to death” ~Exodus 35:2. The Sabbath is a command from God it is the 4th commandment in the Ten Commandments that God wrote with His own finger on the two tablets He gave Moses on Mt. Sinai. (See Exodus 25:16 and 31:18.) In Exodus 31 God promises death and separation from His community for anyone who works on the Sabbath. “You must keep the Sabbath day, for it is a holy day for you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; anyone who works on that day will be cut off from the community” ~Exodus 31:14. “These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God Himself” ~Exodus 32:16. This was the Covenant between God and the people of Israel. The account of creation says that God made everything in six days then on the seventh day He rested. On that day He looked at all that He had done and marveled at His creation and said it is good, it is Holy because it is the day God marveled in His work. Therefore the people of Israel worked six days and rested on the seventh worshiping their creator God reliving the account of creation over and over again. This may shock you but this promise of death and separation from God’s community for anyone who does not rest in the Sabbath is just as true today as it was when God gave this commandment on Mt. Sinai! Follow along a little further and I will show you how.
Jesus said: “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son” ~John 3:18. In Matthew 12:1-8 it was the Sabbath day Jesus and His disciples were hungry they were walking through a grain field so they started picking the grain and eating it as they walked. Some Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath by harvesting grain. Jesus tells the Pharisees that He is Lord of the Sabbath. “For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath” ~Matthew 12:8. Earlier Jesus said: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” ~Matthew 11:28. I found this so revealing and so significant and was just wowed by God. Jesus is the Sabbath! We are to rest from our works in Him. Quit trying and working so hard to earn your way to heaven rest from your labors and put your faith in Jesus Christ. You can’t earn your way to heaven you will never be good enough, take rest from your labor and rest in the Lord of the Sabbath Jesus Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” ~Ephesians 2:8-9. So do you see? If you do not rest from your works and put your faith in the Sabbath whom is the Lord Jesus Christ the promise is death and separation.
Thank God for Jesus! Thank God! Rest from all your labors and put your faith in Jesus Christ. If you do that you will be born again, God will give you a new heart with new desires you will move from death to life.
Rest from your labors in Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath,
Mike Peek
