2 Chronicles 8: 12-13
Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar
of the Lord which he had built before the porch even after a certain rate
everyday offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, and
on the new moons and on the solemn feast three times in the year in the feast
of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks and in the feast of tabernacles
Isaiah 1:9-19
Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small
remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto
Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your
sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams,
and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of
lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this
at your hand, to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
abomination unto me; the new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I
cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and
your appointed feasts my soul hateth : they are a trouble unto me; I am weary
to bear them. And when ye spread forth
your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I
will not hear: your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean ; put
away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil ; Learn to
do well ; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for
the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your
sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye be willing
and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
Isaiah 58:13-14
If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou
delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 66:22-24
For as the new
heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the
Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new
moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to
worship before me, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 17:21-27
Thus saith the LORD; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no
burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; Neither
carry forth a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, neither do ye any
work, but hallow ye the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. But they
obeyed not, neither inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they
might not hear , nor receive instruction. And it shall come to pass, if ye
diligently hearken unto me, saith the LORD, to bring in no burden through the
gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no
work therein; Then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and
princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses,
they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
and this city shall remain forever. And they shall come from the cities of
Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and
from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt
offerings, and sacrifices, and meat offerings, and incense, and bringing
sacrifices of praise, unto the house of the LORD. But if ye will not hearken
unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in
at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the
gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not
be quenched.
Ezekiel 20:12-20
Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between
me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctifies them. But
the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in
my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do , he shall even
live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted : then I said , I would
pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I wrought for my name's sake, that it
should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. Yet
also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring
them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which
is the glory of all lands; Because they despised my judgments, and walked not
in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their
idols. Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them; neither did I
make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the
wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their
judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes,
and keep my judgments, and do them; And
hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know
that I am the LORD your God.
When one sets out to speak about the Sabbath one question
comes to the front over and over when we should assemble in a congregation; but
an honest answer to that question is not easily received by those who are on
either side of the debate. The answer is
that the Sabbath is not about assembling but instead it is rest. This does not
mean it is wrong to assemble just that it is not connected.
It is how one lives out the Sabbath not the performance that
is the focus of YHWH’s approval or indignation.
Yeshua said:
1)
come unto me all ye who labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest
2)
I came
that you might have life and life more abundant
3)
If you believed Moses you would believe on me
for Moses testifies of me
4)
I do not come to to destroy the law but to
fulfill the law
Some believe Yeshua fulfilled the penalty of the law and I
agree with them but if it stops there we are doomed to perform the acts of
death without penalty but we know He also said He gave us life.
Moses said:
1)
I set before you life and good and death and
evil
2)
Walk in all the ways the Lord thy God has
commanded that you may live
3)
You shall love Him with all heart, soul, and
might and these words I command you this day shall be in your heart
In the writings of Moses the word of YHWH tells us to honor
the completed work of YHWH by doing no labor of man on the Sabbath. The prophets
enlarge this message to conclude that the message of Moses was about who we are
not what we do.
Isaiah speaks of us doing the things Moses instructed as
actions by which we think we will please or earn from YHWH but YHWH’s reaction
is one of disgust and separation. Why because their desire is for their own
good. How many do things in their life because they desire to receive for
themselves.
Think for a moment what one is saying when they say my
reward is in heaven. Some few may refer to their groom being all the reward
they have need of but most would mean they will give now because they will be
rewarded later…making themselves the object of their benevolence.
If we would rest in the finished work of life we must have a
heart that has no self-motivation; and sense the only power source men can
produce is from the self they can never obtain true selflessness. Yet by faith
the self is crucified in Messiah and it remains dead the life of the resurrection
is YHWH’s Spirit making us to live…this is the only true rest, it is the only
way to have life.
Jeremiah speaks of bearing no burden on the Sabbath when we
enter the gate of Jerusalem. Yeshua said He was the gate of the sheep( this is
the gate in Jerusalem where the sheep
for burnt offerings are brought in) The Jerusalem above is His bride we are
living stones we are His temple, His city, His bride, a city without
foundations whose maker and builder is YHWH. If this is the testimony of the
Spirit then the only way we can believe we must do our part is if we draw back
min unbelief that YHWH has finished His work and delivered His life to us.
Ezekiel gives us two powerful witnesses of Yeshua for He says
He gave the Sabbath that His people would know that it is He that sanctifies
us. Yeshua alone sanctifies us no man by his self has ever done the work of
YHWH but in Yeshua and He in us it is YHWH who works in us.
Also he warns the people not walk in or observe the
judgements of their fathers, what was the conclusion drawn by their fathers
when Moses gave them the law? “We shall do all that He says”
This is the wrong judgment for Moses told them if they loved
YHWH with all they were the law would be in their heart and they would
diligently teach it to their children in their rising up and lying down ,
coming in, and going out, it would be bound in the work of their hands for all
to see and it would be always before their eyes.
This life must come from YHWH it cannot be produced by men.
It is the law which Yeshua fulfilled by bearing us in himself to death that all
who will have faith in Him alone may have the life described by Moses for Moses
was His witness.
If a man will find his life he will lose his life but if he
lose his life for my sake he shall find his life…simply if you try to make
yourself right you will find death, but if you give your life to me to crucify
in my cross I will share my life in you and we will be one.
