When I was a little girl, I was taught to fear God. We were careful to try and keep the law and especially the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the law that God was going to judge the whole world by. So we were careful to observe Friday sundown to Saturday sundown. We even had the very minutes posted in our church bulletins so we would know the very minutes that Sabbath began and when it ended!
The Sabbath and the Law were not anything I enjoyed, it was a requirement. It brought me closer to God, but just far enough away, that I never really could reach Him. I would try and try to be good, but time after time, I would fail. I had great intentions, but I never could follow the law perfectly.
On Sabbath, we were not allowed to play with toys, our parents were not allowed to conduct any business, basically, we could not do anything “fun”. I was always happy when the Sabbath was over! Then I could go back to my normal childhood life. It was drudgery for me. I had no concept of what it was truly meant to be. I didn’t know that the Sabbath was a shadow of great things to come. Christ is the substance of that shadow. (Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. Col 2:176-17)
The scriptures were clear “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy” Ex 20:8 “
So many of the New Testament scriptures never really made sense to me. I was trying to fit them into my church’s theology. That made a lot of the New Testament very difficult to understand.
I never got saved under the Law. The Law condemns us and leads to death! I never understood that the Law was a schoolmaster leading us to Christ. (Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come , we are no longer under a schoolmaster.Gal 3:24-25)It was a shadow of the substance…Christ! Until Jesus came and paid the price for us, we as a human race were under the Law, and will be forever. It was added to show us how very sinful we are! (Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made Gal 3:19) and (Moreover the law entered , that the offence might abound . But where sin abounded , grace did much more abound : 21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom 5:20-21)It will stand as an anvil over all unbelievers and it will judge them in the end. But when we repent and ask Jesus to come into our lives, (literally into our spirit) He sends the Holy Spirit into our heart as a down payment of the final possession. (In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. Eph 1:13-14)
Wow! What a beautiful truth! No wonder I couldn’t “keep the law” no wonder I didn’t enjoy the Sabbath. It was there, to point me to a relationship with Him. Now in Christ, I don’t keep just 10 Laws, I live by the life of the Spirit that has set me free from the law of sin and death. (For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. Rom 8:2)
I do not frustrate the GRACE of God. (I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. Gal 2:21)
Oh foolish Galatians(O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth , crucified among you? This only would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Gal 3:1-3)
In Hebrews 4, Paul sums it up this way (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 . 2For unto us was the gospel preached , as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said , As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.4For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.5And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.6Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein , and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:7Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said , Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.8For if Jesus had given them rest , then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.10For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.) Christ has fulfilled the Law!
God was showing us that we can’t live by the Law, but the power of the Spirit in me now, enables me to live by His faith. (I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Gal 2:20) I can’t do it on my own. If I could just keep the law perfectly, Christ would not have to have come and die for me. But He did come and die, so He could be my substitute and pay the price for my sins. So He could send the Holy Spirit into my heart (spirit) and adopt me into His family forever.
It is the perfect gift. He gives to all who will repent and receive it. Now the New Testament comes alive to all who will believe. The same spirit that is now in me, will respond to Jesus when He calls. He will change my mortal body(But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Rom 8:11)
No wonder I didn’t enjoy the Sabbath, I was trying to keep “a day”. Now in Christ every day is holy unto the Lord! I’m not a Christian on the Sabbath only, I am in Christ and have become His holy temple. He has taken up residence in me forever. I can worship Him anytime any day, every minute of every day. I don’t have to go to church to find Him there. He is with me always. I choose to “go to church and worship with other believers, on the day of His resurrection. We celebrate His risen life.
But I can also choose to worship at any other day or time, because He is forever in me.
Christ is the END of the Law! (For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth . Rom 10:4)
Be led of the Spirit of God, and you are not under the Law! (But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Gal 5:18)
Read all of Galatians!
Now I stand fast in the liberty (Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Gal 5:1)
So now, in Christ, I am free to love Him and know Him by His Spirit, that now lives in me. I live by much greater commandments as He speaks His will into my heart each day. And what of the Sabbath? Oh! that is the best part! He is my Sabbath rest and I have entered into Him and I have peace. No more to struggle trying to be good enough. I am accepted in Him. No longer a shadow. Now I love His Sabbath and His commands!
The Sabbath means to me...Jesus Christ! He is my Sabbath.