God’s Gift for Busy People
1. Why did God Himself rest on the seventh day after the creation of the world? Gen. 2:2, 3.
Gen. 2:2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen. 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
OBSERVATION:
God does not need to rest from exhaustion because He does not get tired. Is. 40:28 … the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? However the Bible said, “He rested.” So what kind of rest was this? Sabbath means to repose, to cease, to celebrate and to rest. Notice one of the meaning is to celebrate. Is it possible to think that God’s rest was not from exhaustion but to celebrate the work of God’s creation? The first Sabbath was the first full day for Adam and Eve. Adam was pretty busy on the day that he was created, mainly naming the animals and receiving a wife. So what were Adam and Eve doing when they entered into God’s rest on that first Sabbath day? Do you think they were resting from exhaustion? I do not think so. I believe they were also celebrating the creation and the Creator. So when God rested (celebrated) on the seventh day from all His work, Adam and Eve were getting to know more of God’s creation and the fact that God is the Creator and Author of all things. They were not working that day but to learn and to know the Maker of all things. This is the true rest for both physically and spiritually. God wants what ever happened on that first Sabbath to be repeated every seventh day so that we will remember the Creator.
ANSWER:
Because God wanted to give us a day to remember Him as the Creator and God every seventh day for forever.
2. What did God do to the seventh day according to Gen. 2:3?
Gen. 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
ANSWER:
Blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.
3. What is the truth about when God bless something according to Num. 23:20 ?
Num. 23:20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.
ANSWER:
No man can “reverse” it.
Holy Time
1. What does the Bible say about how we should keep the Sabbath?
Ex. 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
ANSWER:
To keep it holy
OBSERVATION:
Holy - 6942. qadash, kaw-dash´; a primitive root; to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self), x wholly.
2. Who made the Sabbath holy?
Gen. 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
ANSWER:
God
OBSERVATION:
Sanctified -6942. qadash
3. How could we keep the Sabbath day holy?
OBSERVATION:
Notice how God made the Sabbath day holy; God rested from all His work. Therefore when we keep the Sabbath day holy, we must rest from all our works.
ANSWER:
Heb. 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
4. What else should we not do besides not working on the Sabbath day according to Isa. 58:13?
Is. 58:13 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
ANSWER:
Not doing our own pleasure
Not doing our own ways
Not speaking our own words
5. What shall we do on the Sabbath day?
Mark 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Luke 6:9 Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one thing; Is it lawful on the sabbath days to do good, or to do evil? to save life, or to destroy it?
ANSWER:
To do good and to save life. To do something good for others .
Experiencing the Joy of the Sabbath
1. Read Deuteronomy 5:12–15 carefully and compare it with Exodus 20:8–11.What do they add to each other?
Ex. 20:11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Deut. 5:15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
ANSWER:
Ex. 20:11 – Creation
Deut. 5:15 – Redemption
Ex. 6:6 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments
2. Observe the following texts on “stretched out arm”
OBSERVATION:
God revealed His mercy through “stretched out arm” Psa. 136:11 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever: Psa. 136:12 With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Nothing too hard for God through “stretched out arm” Jer. 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.
We should fear God and worship Him because He delivered us with “stretched out arm” 2Kings 17:36 But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.
CONCLUSION:
You can have the true rest in your heart, body, mind, and soul if you worship the Creator and the Redeemer. And also, the true rest comes from the knowledge that God is merciful and nothing is too hard for God to do.
Exit from the Burden and Enter Into His Rest
1. What reason did Moses give to Pharaoh regarding why he should let Israel go? Read Ex. 5:1.
Ex. 5:1 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
ANSWER:
To hold a feast
2. What kind of feast? Observe the possible answer by examining Pharaoh’s response.
Ex. 5:5 And Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens.
ANSWER:
“Rest from their burdens”
Rest means 7673. shabath, shaw-bath´; a primitive root; to repose, i.e. desist from exertion; used in many implied relations (causative, figurative or specific):—(cause to, let, make to) cease, celebrate, cause (make) to fail, keep (sabbath), suffer to be lacking, leave, put away (down), (make to) rest, rid, still, take away.
Is it possible that “rest” was not just taking a break but to keep the Sabbath day?
SOP:
Tidings of them and of the interest they were exciting among the people had already reached the king. His anger was kindled. "Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let [hinder] the people from their works?" he said. "Get you unto your burdens." Already the kingdom had suffered loss by the interference of these strangers. At thought of this he added, "Behold, the people of the land now are many, and ye make them rest from their burdens." {PP 257.5}
In their bondage the Israelites had to some extent lost the knowledge of God's law, and they had departed from its precepts. The Sabbath had been generally disregarded, and the exactions of their taskmasters made its observance apparently impossible. But Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the first condition of deliverance; and the efforts made to restore the observance of the Sabbath had come to the notice of their oppressors. {PP 258.1}
3. What was the first lesson for the Israelites after the crossing the Red Sea?
Ex. 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.
ANSWER:
Sabbath
OBSERVATION:
In the Bible, Ex. 16:23 is the first time the word “Sabbath” is recorded.
4. What was God trying to teach to the Israelites through Sabbath keeping?
Heb. 3:17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? Heb. 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? Heb. 3:19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
ANSWER:
Enter into His rest
5. Why many Israelites were not able to enter into God’s rest?
ANSWER:
Because they sinned. What sin? Believe not and unbelief.
Rom. 14:23 … whatsoever is not of faith is sin.
CONCLUSION:
God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He removed their burden of sin so they could keep the Sabbath. Why Sabbath?
God taught them the lesson of faith every 7th day by not sending any manna on that day.
Faith was the condition for them to enter into the land of Canaan and enter into God’s rest.
True rest comes from the experience of total trust and believing in God’s love and His word.
The Sign of Rest
1. According to Jesus how could we experience true spiritual rest?
Matt. 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matt. 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matt. 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
ANSWER:
Put on the yoke of Jesus and learn from Jesus’ example, His meekness and humility.
2. What experience is connected to putting on the yoke?
Lam. 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
Lam. 3:23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Lam. 3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Lam. 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Lam. 3:26 It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.
Lam. 3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
ANSWER:
Hope in God’s mercy and His faithfulness
Quietly wait and seek after the salvation of God
Is. 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
CONCLUSION:
Yoke is connected to rest experience.
True spiritual rest will manifest itself in meekness, humility, hope, patience, and confidence.
3. Who shall be able to stand when the four winds are let loose?
Rev. 6:17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Rev. 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
Rev. 7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
Rev. 7:3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
ANSWER:
Those who have the seal of the living God in their foreheads.
NOTE:
The living God is the Creator Act. 14:15
Therefore the seal or the sign of the Creator is the Sabbath Eze. 20:12, 20
Sabbath means rest.
Therefore only those who have the true rest (in addition to keeping the seventh-day Sabbath) in their foreheads or in their soul shall be able to stand during the last days.
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