IN THE BEGINNING GOD / THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION (3)/ THE SABBATH DAY

During the Sunday service, Pastor (Mrs) Silvia Lia Leigh preached from the Book of Genesis chapter two She said that we shall go and revisit the beginning of creation. The way Isaac dug Abraham’s well (Gen 26), we want to dig our Heavenly Father’s well of eternal life! The Bible starts with four simple words: “In the beginning God…”. The Bible takes it for granted that God exists and God is the creator of everything that is created. You cannot read the Bible without faith. You must believe these words. If not, to you, the Bible looks like a foolish book.

The doctrine of creation states that creation is a miracle. God, who alone is uncreated and eternal, formed and brought into existence everything outside of Himself. He did this out of nothing, just by the Word of His power. Everything God created was very good.

Just the way Isaac went to re-dig his father’s wells, covered by the dirt of the Philistines, so we shall search for the deeper revelation found in the story of Creation. The Word of God is simple. That is why even the children understand it. But the evil spirits of religion have confused and complicated many people. This complication is a religious seduction. The intent of the devil is for us to forget the simplicity of Christ! We need to reject these demons of religion, to dig deeper and find the Water of Life, bellow, which in fact, is our Lord Jesus Christ! This process is part of the preparation for revival. As you read the story of Creation, you should have a feeling that you have heard these things in the past. But the anxiety of life, the cares of the world, the pollution of empty religion have covered the revelation. We should dig to find the water of life again! Spiritual warfare should not be strange to a believer! Jesus is Lord!

“Thus, the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (Gen 2:1-3). Today, we shall look at the meaning of the Sabbath Day. In six days, God created the heavens and the earth. He finished His work. He then rested on the Sabbath Day, sanctified it, separated it and declared it to be holy! This is part of God’s original creation, even before sin entered humanity. For us, the believers, Sunday is Sabbath Day. By coming to the house of God, praising God, and hearing the Word of God, we declare that Sabbath is God’s Day. In the past, the Jews considered Saturday to be Sabbath. Some churches worship God on Saturdays. But for us, Sabbath is Sunday, which is also called Resurrection Day. Our Lord died on the Cross of Friday and rose from the grave on Sunday morning. Each time we come to church on Sunday morning we declare the Jesus died and rose again. This is the Gospel! Praise the Lord!

To remember the Sabbath day is one of the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it” (Ex 20:8-11).

We tend to forget God’s Word and God’s Day. We are commanded to remember it! To forget God’s Day is a sin! This forgetfulness is the dirt of the Philistines blocking the well of Abraham! We have no excuse to forget God’s command! For a believer, to stay at home on a Sunday morning, is sin! Except there is a problem beyond our power to control, we should go to the house of God and worship God every Sunday! This should be a holy habit! From Monday to Saturday, we can work and do business. But Sunday is different. We should not think that Sunday is the same as every other day. If you are a doctor or a nurse on duty, that is ok. For the sake of humanity, you can work if you are on call. But for the rest of us, no buying and selling should be done of Sunday! Keep it holy! Is God’s Day! As you can see, nobody in your house should work on Sunday; not the children, not the house helps, the unbeliever guests, or even the animals. Don’t expect your dog to bark and protect you from thieves on Sunday. God will do that! It may sound like a joke, but it is true! It is God’s Word!  

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.’ ” And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex 31:12-18)

The Sabbath is a sign of covenant between God the Creator and His people. God wrote this law with His finger. It was on the tablets of stones but now, it is written in our hearts. By coming to church on Sunday, you declare that you are saved, that you are a child of God; you are sanctified and made holy. Coming to church on Sunday is a sign, a forever sign that you have eternal life! God made many birds and fishes at the same time. But God created man one by one. Child of God, you are unique, special in the presence of God! By coming to church on Sunday, you declare that! In the Old Testament anyone who works during the Sabbath Day was to be killed. By going to work on the Sabbath, that one says that God has not finished His work. This is an insult to God! When Jesus died on the Cross He said: “It is finished!” (Jn 19:30). And salvation was finished! He then entered the eternal rest of victory! Christ Himself is the eternal Sabbath for His people! In the New Covenant, God does not kill us for committing sin. This is because Grace is greater than sin! But we should not willingly break or ignore His commands! A child of God is obedient to God’s Word!  On the seventh Day God rested and He was refreshed. The word ‘refreshed’ also means revival. If there is any time at all that we may experience revival, it should be on a Sabbath Day! We too, like God, must rest and be refreshed. More peace, more joy, more passion for Jesus in our hearts! This is the work of the Holy Spirit! Praise the Lord!  

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 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” (Deut 5:12-15).

On Sabbath Day everybody is resting; the master and the ‘house-boy’; the mistress and the ‘house-girl’. As you can see, all people, rich and poor, educated or not, are equal before God during the Sabbath. God created them all. Before the Cross, the ground is level! By keeping the Sabbath holy, by coming to church on Sunday morning, you declare that you are no longer in Egypt, that you are no longer a sinner going to hell. You declare that you are a sinner saved by grace, which indeed you are!

Jesus declared Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath (Mt 12:8). Many of His miracles were done during the Sabbath Day. He provoked the Pharisees, who represent religious spirits, and the dirt of the Philistines. The Pharisees added many rules for the people to obey during the Sabbath. They hated Jesus ‘breaking their rules’ thru miracles of healing. By doing this, they tried to prove that they are in charge of what happens on the Sabbath Day. They tried to take the glory for the religious services especially during the Sabbath. But Jesus proved that He is the Master or the Lord of the Sabbath. The religious Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus for bringing Lazarus from the dead. They also wanted to kill Lazarus, to remove any trace of the miracle (Jn 12:9-11). Jesus is proclaiming that He is the One who exercises authority even over the rules and regulations that govern the Sabbath day! As such, Jesus was proclaiming to the world, especially to the legalistic Pharisees, that He was greater than the Law and above the laws of the Mosaic Covenant because, as God in flesh, He is the Author of those laws. As Creator, Christ is the original Lord of the Sabbath. As the Creator is greater than His creation, so He has the authority to overrule the Pharisees’ traditions and regulations because He has created the Sabbath. Because Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath, He is free to do on it and with it whatever He pleases. Worship the Lord!