In the Presence of the Lord We Find Rest
From The Pastor’s Desk
God created the heavens and the earth in 6 days and on the 7th day He “Rested”. I do not believe that God was “tired” or needed a rest. Rather, He was setting a powerful example to a world that would soon be found in sin and chaos – A world in need of “Rest”. The Hebrew word for the 7th day is “Shabbat” which translates as “He rested”. Thus, the concept of rest was from the very beginning. Then, when the children of Israel were escaping Egypt and facing hunger, God gave them a gift, with a warning. Manna (bread from Heaven) would fall from Heaven but only for 6 days. The people were commanded not to gather Manna on the 7th day. The
punishment for not “Resting” was death. Later, when God gave His “Law” to Moses on Mount Sinai the 4th commandment was “to keep the Sabbath holy and to do no work on that day, lest you die”. When the Messiah, Jesus, came to the world He was accused of violating this very law. He responded to His accusers saying, “the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath”. This Lord of the Sabbath is also Lord of our lives and the question arises: Are we as New Testament believers to keep a law given to Old Testament saints? Today, we will put this question of “Rest to Rest”.
Pastor Wayne
