A
couple weeks ago I wrote about God being bound, in a manner of speaking, to our
time. Every year the Israelites were to remember the
anniversary of their deliverance from Egypt and meet with God. But God also set up a weekly time to meet
with the people He created. And this was
begun by God Himself.
After Adam and Eve were created on
the sixth day of creation week, they got to witness the creative act of God in
creating the seventh day and making it a Holy Day. The first six days were filled with physical signs. Things appeared that could be seen. The
seventh day was not filled with physical evidence, but spiritual. The Scripture says: "God blessed the seventh day, and
sanctified it", (Genesis
2:3) What was it like on that first
Sabbath with no sin to mar the sight of the first people? To have the Creator
present Himself to talk with? Was the
first Friday night sundown, marking the first Sabbath beginning, more beautiful? You see my mind first goes to the
physical. That is because, with the
weight of centuries of sin, we think first of what can be seen and felt.
But what is a day filled with
blessing like? To sanctify means to set
apart for a holy purpose. To make
holy. What does holy mean in time? Ever since we have marked our weeks as
seven days. There have been efforts by
some nations to make the week another number of days long, but it always
fails. God marked the week with a holy
day at the end, and that is the way it is:
"He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast". (Psalm 33:9)
"The natural man does not accept
the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot understand them, in fact he thinks
they are foolish, because they are spiritually discerned." (1Corinthians 2:14) The Spiritual, the crown of creation, was the
Sabbath. With sin humanity chose another master and so were unable to understand and know the
spiritual. In order for us to understand
and know the blessings of God we must be born again. I may stop my work and read my Bible for the
24 hours of the seventh day, but unless I have been born again I am not able to
discern the blessings and the holiness of the day. "Unless a man is born again," says Jesus,
"he cannot see (understand, comprehend) the kingdom of God". (John 3:3)
Unless a person is born again, keeping
the first day of the week or the seventh day doesn't make any difference. "As long as I honor God on one day, what
difference does it make?" In that is
both the question and the answer. The
difference can only be seen with the eye of faith. Only the spiritual person born from above,
can know the difference.
Yet, because of God's infinite mercy
and the sacrifice of Jesus for us, the blessings of the seventh day still pour
out onto everyone, saint and sinner. The
sinner does not see and honor the One who gives life and everything they have
and enjoy. He takes without acknowledging the Giver. But those who have been born anew give thanks
and rejoice in the blessings they receive, leaving the Sabbath day filled again
with new life for the coming week. And
looking forward to spending another Holy Day with the Creator Who has bound
Himself to His creation in time.
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