By John Thiel, Hebrew Wilderness Wanderings Conference, Study 2, mp3

Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it [is] holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth [any] work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 

The children of Israel left Egypt a place where they were captives. It says they were there for 430 odd years. How many years were they in captivity? It wasn’t 400 years of captivity, it was when the next Pharoah came along and inflicted them. Maybe 350 years? Before that time where were the Israelites living? In Egypt. They were free but they were living in Egypt. What was the consequence of Abraham’s seed? The man of Gods offspring living in Egypt. What happened to the children of Israel while they were there in Egypt? Ezekiel was to speak to the Hebrews;

Ezekiel 20:5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I [am] the LORD your God; 6 In the day [that] I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which [is] the glory of all lands: 7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

Here they were and here God is saying to Ezekiel, I went to them and what did he say to them? Cast away every man the abomination of his eyes. Defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt. What did they do when they were in Egypt? They did what every human being will do when he is surrounded by a pagan mentality. Pagan lifestyle. You live long enough with it, what happens? Is this a human reality that what happened to them will happen to you and me too?

1 Corinthians 15:33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.

If you are in communication with evil around you, what will happen? It will corrupt you.

It is a law of the mind that it gradually adapts itself to the subjects upon which it is trained to dwell. {PP 596.2}

If you dwell and behold something long enough, it will cause an effect on you that you will gradually adapt yourself to that. Don’t be deceived it won’t happen. Communication with things that are evil will have an effect on you. That is the law of our mind. The children watch something long enough, what do they do? They copy it. Are adults any different?

An intimate, daily intercourse which occupies time without contributing in any degree to the strength of the intellect or morals is dangerous. {3T 125.2}

She said this in reference to those who associate with those of loose morals.

If the moral atmosphere surrounding persons is not pure and sanctified, but is tainted with corruption, those who breathe this atmosphere will find that it operates almost insensibly upon the intellect and heart to poison and to ruin. I{3T 125.2}

It operates almost insensibly. It operates upon the intellect and upon the heart to do what? To poison and ruin.

It is dangerous to be conversant with those whose minds naturally take a low level. Gradually and imperceptibly those who are naturally conscientious and love purity will come to the same level and partake of and sympathize with the imbecility and moral barrenness with which they are so constantly brought in contact. {3T 125.2}

Imbeciles

These are words of inspiration. Those people surrounded by other people that are of this low level, they will come to the same level and partake of and sympathise with the imbecility. The children of Israel were in the imbecility of pagan Egypt after 400 years what are they like on the low level of that pagan imbecility? God loved the posterity of Abraham knowing what they were doing. He came to them in Egypt and said I am the Lord your God, put away the imbecility of your idols. How disposed were the Israelites in Egypt to God’s call?

Ezekiel 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me

20:9 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they [were], in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt. 10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them. 12 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 sanctify them.

In their constant contact with Egypt, the low level of the imbecility and moral baroness that had affected them caused God to say they are going to rebel against me and I’m going to take them out of Egypt. What did he want to take them out for? Why were the Israelites taken out of Egypt? That God could give them his statutes, judgments and Sabbaths. That’s why. In other words he takes the people away from the corrupting influences so he can teach them his way. Is this written as we have contemplated 1 Corinthians 10:11? This was written as a type for us upon whom the ends of the world has come for our learning. Our meditation is the law of God and the restoration of the Sabbath. Here indeed was a people who needed to have the law of God restored and the sabbath restored to them.

The Word to Restore

While in Egyptian captivity for so long, what did God need to do regarding his Sabbath? What did God do for the Israelites?

Psalm 103:7 He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

He made known. When you use the word made known what does that mean?

Nehemiah 9:13 Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: 14 And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedst them precepts, statutes, and laws, by the hand of Moses thy servant:

He made known unto them the holy Sabbath. He made known to them. What was that? What did that mean? When you say he makes something known, did it exist already? It existed, they just didn’t know. He made known something to them they had lost sight of. This is an important reading as the Sunday keepers who teach out of the bible say the law was only of the Jews that it didn’t exist anymore. He made known what already existed. Be careful how you read your bible. What do those words mean? He made something known to them something they had lost because of their constant involvement with Egyptian idolatry.

Ezekiel 20:12 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 sanctify them.

When you read these scriptures in the light of this meditation, everything given them in the Hebrew history, is for us upon whom the ends of the worlds are come. What we are studying about the Sabbath is directly relevant. The children of Israel story commenced when in its fulfilment of the figure, in its reality? When Jesus came in the first advent, that was the beginning of the end of the world. In that time onwards, the Hebrew story is a story that we are to learn.

Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORD that doth sanctify you. 16 Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, [for] a perpetual covenant. 17 It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.

According to this, the Hebrew wilderness wanderings was a lesson for Gods people forever, a perpetual covenant. A reminder that the Sabbath existed and if it was lost, it was specifically functional to sanctify those who had become polluted by paganism around them. That I would sanctify them and take them away from that pollution.

He Needed To Sanctify Them

Ezekiel 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I [am] the LORD your God.

They had defiled themselves. They were imperceptibly brought to the low level of Egyptian idolatry. God had to ask them to put their idols away but they wouldn’t while they were in Egypt so now he took them out of Egypt to dissociate themselves away from the pollutions around them so they could do what they wouldn’t in Egypt.

Ezekiel 36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do [them].

They weren’t doing them in pagan surroundings. He separated them, he called them out of Egypt or he called them in Ezekiel’s time out of Babylon which is exactly the same scenario. I’m going to cleanse you from the corruptions that have affected you imperceptibly while you there. This is a lesson for those upon whom the ends of the world have come. Just as Israel of old was ignorance of God’s ways due to long years of association with Egypt, the Christian church ignorantly associated with the heathens around them and gradually became demoralised as did the Israelites of old.

2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and [by] our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Jesus could not come until first until there would be a falling away of the Christian world just like we saw in the Hebrew fellowship with Egypt.

2 Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way.

The mystery of iniquity was already working in the early Christian church. The early Christian church was surrounded by pagans. Jesus had launched the church, his true Israel and now as they were surrounded by paganism and like in Egypt there is a falling away.

Thousands were converted in a day. In a single generation the gospel was carried to every nation under heaven. But little by little a change came. The church lost her first love. She became selfish and ease-loving. The spirit of worldliness was cherished. The enemy cast his spell upon those to whom God had given light for a world in darkness, light which should have shone forth in good works. The world was robbed of the blessings that God desired men to receive. {8T 26.3}

Those comforts of paganism were cherished. by a falling away. It happened imperceptibly.

Even at that early date he saw, creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy. {GC 49.1}

Balaam

Balaam was working on the borders of the promised land and it was the same situation.

Little by little, at first in stealth and silence, and then more openly as it increased in strength and gained control of the minds of men, “the mystery of iniquity” carried forward its deceptive and blasphemous work. Almost imperceptibly the customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church. The spirit of compromise and conformity was restrained for a time by the fierce persecutions which the church endured under paganism. But as persecution ceased, and Christianity entered the courts and palaces of kings, she laid aside the humble simplicity of Christ and His apostles for the pomp and pride of pagan priests and rulers; and in place of the requirements of God, she substituted human theories and traditions. The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, {GC 49.2}

If you stand too firmly for the Lord, what do they people say to you? You have to compromise a bit. Don’t they say that to you? As you listen to these words, is your conscious awake? What is your experience today?

The nominal conversion of Constantine, in the early part of the fourth century, caused great rejoicing; and the world, cloaked with a form of righteousness, walked into the church. Now the work of corruption rapidly progressed. Paganism, while appearing to be vanquished, became the conqueror. Her spirit controlled the church. Her doctrines, ceremonies, and superstitions were incorporated into the faith and worship of the professed followers of Christ. {GC 49.2}

We often thrill at the thought of people being converted but we don’t watch carefully enough as the conversions were only superficial. The conversions weren’t a death to the old life. The world cloaked with a form of righteousness walked into the church. The simplicity and primitive godliness of the apostles was released when the gospel went to the people in high position and the pomp, glory and pride of paganism was attractive. Once again Israel’s wilderness wanderings that were designed as an object lesson, God had to make known and teach his church again and make known through the wanderings. He had to restore his laws to his church again. Is that not the scripture we keep reading in Isaiah 58?

Isaiah 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee…

Will do what? Restore the old paths. Repair the breach. This is something that God had to do repeatedly in the history of God’s people. Why? Because in each successive generation they remodelled the cause. God had to repeat the story of Israel coming out of Egypt and retaining them. Notice this purpose of restoration as we are dwelling upon the Sabbath let us recall this in more detail. The very scripture that Jesus said this day are fulfilled in your ears is connected with Isaiah 58. Those people that Jesus had released from captivity he said;

Isaiah 61:1 The spirit of the Lord GOD [is] upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to [them that are] bound; 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.

Release them from prison. Very quickly they ended up back in prison again. The people who have been released from captivity are meant to be doing that. That is what God did when he took them through the wilderness to restore his Sabbath and laws. It is a direct representation to those living in the last days.

Isaiah 58:12 And [they that shall be] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. 13 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, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words: 14 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].

Did you notice that for every succeeding generation that had drifted back he had to keep taking them back again. The story of the Hebrew wilderness wandering lessons had to be repeated time and time again. Let us explore Israel to learn about the Sabbath so that it can be a sign of Gods restoration and sanctification in our life. People who read the ten commandments and the Sabbath applicable to the Jews only, never pick up the meaning of 1 Corinthians 10:11. These things of them learning about the Sabbath is specifically for them living at the end of the world. After the pagan Sunday keeping they would be restored from that idol and from all the other idols that had been taking place through the dark ages where God’s faithful people were being affected. The sanctification upon the people who the end o the world are come was they would have restored unto them the sabbath and all those laws. What is Jesus waiting for before he can take us into the promised land?

What Is Jesus Waiting For?

Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

Can you see the words that Jesus said to the Hebrews in Egypt? Get rid of your idols, take away your abominations. The children of Israel were to travel through the wilderness until all things lost in Egyptian captivity were restored. Then they could go into the Promised Land. So it is for the Hebrews of today, you and I. He cannot come back and take us to the heavenly Canaan until all things are restored. The Sabbath was to be made known to the Christian people who are God’s people in Babylon.

Come Out Of Her, My People

The call to come out of Egypt and Babylon was for the purpose so those who want to come into the Promised Land may be thoroughly restored from all their idolatry. That is what the whole program is for. Please come Lord Jesus, he can’t come until those who want to meet him in peace have restored all things so we will be comfortable in heaven. Idol worship and sun god veneration was to be put away in the Christian church. Let us learn from the wilderness experience. They were in the wilderness and they were getting hungry. No bread. Notice how God works before he gave them the Ten Commandments. They were a good way before Mount Sinai.

The Law of God before Sinai

Exodus 16:3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. 5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare [that] which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. 6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

Why did God put them through this exercise? That I may prove them whether they will walk in my law or not. The manna was given to prove the Israelites if they would keep Gods law or not.

Exodus 16:9 And Moses spake unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings. 10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

The children of Israel were murmuring.

James 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse [your] hands, [ye] sinners; and purify [your] hearts, [ye] double minded.

What were the children of Israel here? Were they double minded? Were they in need of purification? What were they meant to do? Draw near to God.

Exodus 16:10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God.

What did Aaron say to the congregation? Come near before the Lord as he has heard your murmurings.

Exodus 16:13 And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. 14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness [there lay] a small round thing, [as] small as the hoar frost on the ground.

Here was the story of the manna. They were to pick up the food according to their need for each day and if they picked up anymore than that what happened? It stunk.

Exodus 16:22 And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

Watch how the Sabbath was to be kept.

Exodus 16:23 And he said unto them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake [that] which ye will bake [to day], and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

16:24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.

16:25 And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day [is] a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

16:26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, [which is] the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

What did they do? They went out on the Sabbath and found none.

Exodus 16:27 And it came to pass, [that] there went out [some] of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.

Do you see how God was working and he had to keep on working. But before the Ten Commandments were given from Mount Sinai he sought to see if they would listen to them. Why would God do this with regards to the manna? It was a humbling experience that they went through this thing.

Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every [word] that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Manna Is a Symbol of the Word of God

He would teach them that if God says something, he meant it. He was trying to relieve them from the idol mentality that they gained in Egypt. He gave them manna as a figure for us today. We have spent time as to the manna that it is a symbol of the word of God. The word of God merely read intellectually is not going to save you. We must live by every word that proceeds out of Gods mouth. The Hebrew wilderness wanderings are there to teach us this and we if we have been affected by pagan influences then the story of the restoration and the sanctification of our life has to do with living by every word that proceeds out of Gods mouth. If we don’t, we will not be restored.  It was not until one and a half months later that Mount Sinai caused them to realise what he was trying to tell them. What did he do there? He made known his ways and judgments to them. At Sinai God came very close to the people, we talk about poetic fancy oh I’m so close to God, it’s so lovely Jesus is so lovely, Jesus is wonderful, when the Hebrews felt close to them, how did they feel? Lovely?

Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw [it], they removed, and stood afar off.

20:19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

20:20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

20:21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God [was].

Did you notice when we are told to draw near to God and he will draw near to you, it is not a comfortable experience. Why? Because if you have sinned in your life, the two clash. They still had idols in their life and God had to come near to them and give them a shaking to get all of the sin out of their life. It takes a bit of doing. Moses had to say don’t fear it is for a purpose if you will let God purify you. Today we who live at the ends of the earth all this was written as a lesson.

Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;

18:16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

18:17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well [spoken that] which they have spoken.

18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

Tell me, who is this prophet? This is Jesus. Because the people were afraid of God because sin made it so painful them, God drew near to man in the body of Jesus Christ. He then says listen to him. Indeed Jesus Emmanuel, God with us is the very one who gave those Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai. This is so important that we understand this that as we want to reach out for Gods people in Babylon that have been affected by babylonish imbecility that they would understand who Jesus really is.

Christ was not only the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness–the Angel in whom was the name of Jehovah, and who, veiled in the cloudy pillar, went before the host–but it was He who gave the law to Israel. [SEE APPENDIX, NOTE 7.] Amid the awful glory of Sinai, Christ declared in the hearing of all the people the ten precepts of His Father’s law. It was He who gave to Moses the law engraved upon the tables of stone. {PP 366.2}

Jesus Emmanuel was there and they couldn’t face him so he said I will give you another prophet, I will come in the form of a man and then you may hear me. All people who claim to be Christians and yet do not acknowledge that the one that gave those Ten Commandments and the Sabbath, do not acknowledge do not know their Jesus. They don’t know him because the same Jesus that wrote the Ten Commandments on tables of stone, what would he do when he became a man and to those that would draw near to him? Here the apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear.

2 Corinthians 3:3 [Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.

The very work of God trying to instil into the Hebrews the Ten Commandments by giving them with glory and power from mount Sinai, giving it to them on tables of stone, that is a figure of Jesus writing them in our hearts. It is a figure. If we understand that all this is written upon whom the ends of the world is come then every Christian who understands this principle that the Sabbath and the Ten Commandments is applicable to all the Christian church, they will go from Egypt to the promise land in reality.

Hebrews 8:10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:

31:33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

As he puts his law into the heart and the people are being sanctified as were the Hebrews through the wilderness wanderings, before we enter into the Promised Land, like the Hebrews of old, God has to prepare us through this whole program of sanctification.

Hebrews 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

3:16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? [was it] not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

We can come short of it like them. God was trying to lead them to his ways of the laws and the Sabbath using all efforts to try and purify them but their unbelief stopped it.

Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his.

The people of the Hebrews were given the Sabbath together with all the commandments so they could enter into the promised rest. Here is a connection in Hebrews, it says the one who rested on the sabbath from all his work, he calls upon us to enter into that rest – the Sabbath and the promised rest of eternal life. It is connected if we understand that all that the children of Israel went through was a lesson for us. It makes Hebrews 4 understandable. We hear the very one that gave the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai.  Jesus was among his own people and what does he say?

Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

Why was he? It was the same Lord in Sinai when he gave them the manna. Every Christian must know this. We who already understand this but see it in its beauty and understand it in God’s word and we can go to the people around us and we can show them with greater wisdom and knowledge. What I share with you is not merely for me to share with you but you with others.

A Land of Rest

When the children of Israel came into the Promised Land, Canaan was to be a land of rest and the Sabbath was to return every seven days and the seven sabbatical years to rest the land was to be the joy of eternal value to the Israelite nation but because they did not pick up on God’s leading, he has brought Jesus close to us. When we have finally crossed into the heavenly Canaan, what is written? In all these scriptural connections we want to let the people know around us that there in the heavenly Jerusalem, what will we do?

Isaiah 66:22 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.

66:23 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.

What will happen in the Canaan land? The Sabbath will be kept. I love the Jehovah’s witnesses coming to my door. They came to my door and I said ah the people of the kingdom hall. The kingdom, you have a kingdom do you? Whose kingdom is it? The kingdom of heaven. A kingdom has laws does it? Yes, yes.  What are the laws? Oh the Ten Commandments. You agree with me.  Do you mean the Ten Commandments?  So in the kingdom that you want to uphold before the people, what do you say of the fourth commandment? They found themselves trapped. I said do you believe the kingdom is going to be restored?  Of course we do.  So and when the kingdom is restored and we are all there with the king, what will we do? When it’s all restored? I showed them Isaiah 66. The Sabbath. Do you believe that we will always keep the Sabbath in that kingdom? They wanted to take me off course. If we are the children of the kingdom the Sabbath will be kept in that kingdom. God’s true people are learning to keep the Sabbath holy. Do you want to be in the kingdom and keep the Sabbath properly in the heavenly kingdom? Then learn to keep it here. We are not keeping it properly yet, we are learning and then we will enjoy it forever. May the Lord grant us a blessed Sabbath day.

Amen.