The
Rest of the
Seventh Day
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God. Let us labour
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of
unbelief.”
Hebrews 4:9,11
The Greek word for “rest” in the verse above is Strong’s #4520, ‘Sabbatismos’ which means: a keeping sabbath
- a
keeping sabbath
- the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in
the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians
which comes from the Greek root word #4521, ‘Sabbaton’ which
means:
- the seventh day of each week
which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
- the
institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
- a
single sabbath, sabbath day
- seven
days, a week
which comes from the Hebrew word #H7676, ‘Shabbath’ which
means:
- Sabbath
- day
of atonement
- sabbath
year
- week
- produce
(in sabbath year)
Orthodox Judaism teaches that the first thing Almighty God
created long before the world, was the Sabbath of Rest, as He is the God of Rest, who
always dwells in perfect Rest.
“Six days thou
shalt do thy work, and on the
seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass
may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed.” Ex 23:12
“Wherefore the children of Israel shall
keep the sabbath,
to observe the
sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” Ex 31:16
Jesus, the Creator not only established this
eternal principle of rest on the seventh day but He
also blessed the seventh day and sanctified it (made it holy) at the end of His finished work of Creation in Genesis 2:2,3.
“Speak
unto the children of Israel, and
say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give
you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto
the Lord.” Lev 25:1
[The end of the Tribulation which MUST fall inside a seventh year,
Israel’s Sabbath year,
because the Tribulation MUST finish at the end of
Daniel’s ‘70th’ week, which MUST be a Sabbath
year because it MUST be the end of Daniel’s final 49th year and 490th
year, Yeshua the Messiah will take the remnant of Israel over
the Jordan and into the Promised Land for the last time, in order for
them to enter
a state of
eternal Sabbath rest. “Therefore
fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O
Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of
their captivity; and Jacob
shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.” Jer 30:10]
The very definition of the word Sabbath not only refers to the
seventh day but also to ‘the
seventh year,’ Israel’s
Sabbath year, which was established under the
Mosaic Law to bring rest to the land of Israel,
to its people and to their animals.
“But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou
shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard. That
which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither
gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land. And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy
servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant,
and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee. And for thy
cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the
increase thereof be meat.” Lev
25:4-7
Lev 25:3 establishes
the God’s eternal Sabbatical principle: “Six
years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard,
and gather in the fruit thereof;”
This principle of ‘six days’
for the world was first established by God in Genesis
1-2:2, followed by ‘the seventh day,’ which was a day of rest for the Lord.
The ‘sixth
day’ principle with the double portion on
the sixth day, was then established with Israel for the distribution
of the ‘manna’ from Heaven, in Ex 16:22,26,29:
“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. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is
the sabbath, in it there shall be none. See, for
that the Lord hath
given you the sabbath, therefore
he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days;
abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh
day.”
Another name for the seventh year is “the year of release.”
“At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a
release. And this
is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it;
he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called
the Lord's
release. Of a foreigner thou mayest
exact it again: but that
which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release;” Deut 15:1-3
“And if
thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the
seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt
not let him go away empty:” Deut 15:12-13
The Bible then says this about ‘seven times seven years
– forty and nine years
– and the
fiftieth year, called ‘the year of
Jubilee,’
which incorporates all the principles discussed above:
Lev 25:8-13:
“And thou
shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths
of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the
trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month,
in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto
you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return
every man unto his family. A jubilee
shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in
it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy
vine undressed. For
it is the jubilee; it shall be
holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the
field. In the year of this jubilee ye shall return every man unto his
possession.”
Lev 25: 20-23:
“And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the
seventh year? behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in
our increase: Then I will command my blessing
upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until
the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.
The
land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine, for ye are
strangers and sojourners with me”
[Compare
this text with 2 Kings 19:29-31, when ‘the
Assyrian’ king Sennacherib came down to destroy Jerusalem, for which archeology
has established a firm date of the spring of 702 B.C.,
which is exactly 245 years – 5 Jubilee cycles – before the beginning of
Daniel’s 490 years on Nisan 1, 457 B.C.
King Hezekiah went before the Lord to pray and
ask Him what should Jerusalem do about that terrible Assyrian invasion: This was the Lord’s
answer, which was not only instructions to be carried out for that very year in
Jerusalem and Israel, but was also a telescoping prophecy clear down to the
first year that redeemed Israel will be back in the Land, at the end of the
Tribulation, in the spring of the year, after the final end of “the last Assyrian invader,” which proves that the conclusion of the 7 years of
Tribulation will end,
not only in a 7th year, but also in a 7th times
7th year – Daniel’s final 490th year,
in order that in that ensuing fall, beginning on Tishri 10, Messiah Yeshua will declare a holy year of Jubilee, and the trumpet
will blow throughout all the land, and all the Biblical requirements of “the fiftieth year of Jubilee”
(which is really year 1 of the next 49 years) will be completely fulfilled:
“And this shall be a
sign unto thee, Ye shall eat this year such things as grow of
themselves, and in the second year
that which springeth of the same; and in the third year sow ye,
and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. And the
remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear
fruit upward. For
out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape
out of mount Zion: the zeal of the Lord of hosts shall do this.”]
“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.” Ex 31:13
The Sabbath is: the Sabbath day,
the Sabbath year – (Israel’s
Sabbatical year) – the seven sabbaths of years – the 49th year, and
finally, Daniel’s seventy sabbaths of years – the
490th year.
Surely, surely there remaineth a sabbath rest for the people of God – beginning first with Christ’s own Body, followed 7 years later with the redeemed of all Israel! This
absolutely proves that the rapture of the Body of Christ, the beginning
of the 7 years of Tribulation, the ending of the Tribulation and the
opening of the Messianic Kingdom of David on Earth, all
must and will
take place inside Israel’s
Sabbath year.
The Body of Christ and the redeemed of Israel must
not only be “released” from their earthly bondage but must also enter their
eternal rest inside Israel’s
Sabbath year, in order to fulfill… “the sabbath of the Lord.”
If God Almighty has indeed appointed Israel’s
next sabbatical cycle to BEGIN, Israel’s
next Sabbath year will open on Tishri 1, 5775, Wed/Thurs,
September 24/25, 2014. 7 years
later, the following Sabbath year will open on Tishri 1,
5782, Mon/Tues, September 6/7, 2021.
The Lord God of Israel Himself, will
begin His eternal rest on Earth, inside the nation of Israel’s Sabbath year:
“For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation.
This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her
provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with
salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained
a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his
crown flourish.” Psalm 132:13-18
Eternal Rest Hymn
[A
very old, traditional English hymn]
Time’s clock is striking the hour,
Jesus will soon descend,
Clothed in the garments of power,
The reign of sin to end.
Then will this anthem be ringing
Like to a mighty flood,
Then ’round the throne we’ll be singing,
Glory and praise to God.
Refrain
Glory, glory to God!
Thus will the ransomed sing;
Glory, glory to God,
The everlasting King!
Praise Him, alleluia!
To that eternal sphere
We are waiting
For our translating;
The time is near.
In those bright mansions supernal,
Death cannot enter there;
Ages on ages eternal
His likeness we shall bear.
There will the once brokenhearted
Rest in the spirit know;
Sorrow forever departed,
Gladness shall overflow.
Refrain
Sighing forever is ended,
Foes shall oppress no more;
Voices in worship are blended
To Him Whom all adore.
Bathed in the light soft and tender,
Sealed for eternity,
Praise to the Lamb we will render—
Worthy of praise is He.
Refrain
Beautiful, wonderful story!
Jesus Himself the Light;
There in the kingdom of glory
Never shall fall the night.
Now I am singing of heaven,
While here I wage the strife;
Then will the victors be given
Crowns of eternal life.
Miriam
Howard
October,
2013